Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they happened.
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel: Despite difficulties of war, Israel came out to vote today
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel holds a press conference on February 12, 2024, ahead of municipal elections scheduled for February 27. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Despite the lower-than-usual voter turnout in today’s municipal elections, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel says he is satisfied with the way in which they were held in light of the war.
“Despite the difficult times we are going through – the residents of the country came out to vote and make an impact,” he says from the election day headquarters in Tel Aviv.
“This is a badge of honor for everyone who came to the polls with the aim of shaping the faces of the communities where they live in the next five years. Good luck to all the candidates.”
British maritime security firm receives report of warship firing on merchant vessel off coast of Yemen
British Maritime Security Firm Ambrey received a report on Tuesday of an incident approximately 50 nautical miles west of Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, it says in an advisory note.
A merchant vessel reported that a warship was “firing,” it adds.
Voting stations close as councils begin to tally results of low-turnout local elections
As of 10 p.m., voting stations across Israel have closed and the municipal elections have come to an end with a voter turnout just shy of 50 percent.
In total, 49% of eligible voters cast ballots in the municipal elections, down from 56% in 2018.
The votes will now be counted, and results from smaller communities are expected to be released within just a few hours, while larger towns and cities will have a clearer picture towards the early hours of the morning.
The final results will not be immediately clear, however, due to the high number of IDF soldiers and reservists voting at military polling stations around the country.
Wife and children of senior Hamas official left Gaza for Egypt without Israel’s knowledge – report
The Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, on January 29, 2024. (Said Khatib/AFP)
The wife and children of senior Hamas member Sameh al-Siraj left Gaza for Egypt earlier today without Israel’s knowledge, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
According to the report, al-Siraj’s family left the Gaza Strip via the Rafah Crossing, although he was not with them, and his well-being and whereabouts are unknown.
In November, the IDF said it had struck a tunnel in which al-Siraj was hiding along with several other senior Hamas politburo members, but did not specify whether any of the officials had been killed.
Al-Siraj has served in the Hamas politburo since 2021 and is in charge of the Strip’s internal security.
Fragment of intercepted rocket lands on parked car in Ashkelon, no injuries reported
A large fragment of an intercepted rocket landed on a parked car in the southern coastal city of Ashkelon.
Medics say there are no injuries at the scene.
Footage shows damage to the car.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed to have fired rockets from Gaza at Ashkelon this evening.
A chunk of an intercepted rocket hit a car in Ashkelon, causing damage. MDA says no injuries. pic.twitter.com/lz2UHI7Twp
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) February 27, 2024
IDF says Hezbollah missile hit Mount Meron air traffic control base, no damage to site’s capabilities
Smoke rises in northern Israel following a rocket strike from southern Lebanon, Tuesday, February. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
The IDF acknowledges a missile fired from Lebanon struck the sensitive Mount Meron air traffic control base in northern Israel this afternoon.
Hezbollah had claimed to have caused damage to the base after firing anti-tank missiles at it.
The IDF confirms a missile hit the base, but says “there is no damage to the site’s capabilities.”
The IDF adds that it is currently striking Hezbollah sites in Lebanon in response to the missile attack and the barrage of 20 rockets on the Western Galilee.
Municipal election turnout at 45% as of 8 p.m., down from 53% in 2018
As of 8 p.m., some 3.2 million people, or roughly 45 percent of eligible voters, have cast ballots in Israel’s municipal elections, the Interior Ministry says.
At the same time in the 2018 elections, voter turnout was around 53%.
Rocket sirens sound in Ashkelon for first time in 10 days, Islamic Jihad claims responsibility
Incoming rocket sirens are sounding in the southern coastal city of Ashkelon for the first time in 10 days.
Alarms are also activated in several nearby communities.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group claims responsibility, saying it fired several rockets at the city.
There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
Rocket fire from the Gaza Strip has greatly subsided in recent months, amid the IDF’s ongoing ground offensive against Hamas.
Police rule out possibility that missing Safed girl Haymanut Kasau was kidnapped by relatives – report
Haymanut Kasau, 9, who went missing on February 25, 2024, from a Jewish Agency absorption center in Safed, northern Israel. (Courtesy)
Police have ruled out the possibility that 9-year-old Haymanut Kasau, who has been missing since Sunday evening, was kidnapped by a relative living abroad, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
Kasau was last seen in security footage at 7:45 p.m. on Sunday handing out municipal election leaflets outside the Jewish Agency absorption center in Safed, where she has lived for the past three years since immigrating with her family from Ethiopia, police have said.
According to Kan, alongside an extensive search operation in the field, the police are investigating the possibility that the girl was snatched by sex offenders. To this end, they have been monitoring people previously convicted of pedophilia.
Speaking to Kasau’s family at the Safed police headquarters, Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai vows that the police “will turn over every stone in an attempt to find her safe and sound.”
Explaining the categories, TV report says US plan would see 400 Palestinian prisoners freed for 40 hostages
Palestinians wave Hamas flags in the West Bank city of Nablus as they celebrate the release of Palestinian security prisoners. as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas for the return of Israeli hostages, November 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Channel 12 sets out what it says is the American proposal for a key part of a potential new hostage release deal with Hamas: the number and nature of the Palestinian security prisoners who would be released in exchange for hostages held captive in Gaza since October 7.
In all, the report says, the US proposed at the Paris talks on Friday that some 400 Palestinian terror inmates would be released in exchange for 40 Israeli hostages within the intended six-week truce.
Twenty-one Palestinian security prisoners would be freed by Israel in exchange for the seven Israeli women who were to have been released on the final day of the previous truce, at the end of November, when Hamas reneged on the terms and the truce collapsed; a three-to-one ratio.
Ninety Palestinian security prisoners would be released in exchange for five Israeli women soldiers held hostage; an 18-to-one ratio. Fifteen of those prisoners would be major terrorists with blood on their hands, including several mass murderers.
Another 90 prisoners would be released in exchange for 15 men aged over 50 among the hostages; a six-to-one ratio.
One hundred and fifty-six prisoners would be released in exchange for 13 Israeli male hostages who are ill or injured; a 12-to-one ratio.
Finally, according to the Channel 12 report, some 40 additional Palestinian security prisoners who were freed in the 2011 deal for the release of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, but who were since rearrested for further terrorist activities, would also be freed.
The report, which is unsourced, says the US proposal was put on the table in Paris, where the US, Israel, Egypt and Qatar agreed on a new framework proposal for the potential deal.
It notes that despite US President Joe Biden’s optimistic talk yesterday of a hoped-for deal by March 4, Israel remains pessimistic about an imminent deal coming to fruition.
Netanyahu pushes back after Biden says Israel will lose global support over its ‘incredibly conservative government’
File: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets then US Vice President Joe Biden upon his arrival to the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, Wednesday, March 9, 2016. (Debbie Hill, Pool, via AP)
After US President Joe Biden warned Israel that it will lose global support with the current makeup of the government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu puts out a video responding directly, arguing that there is widespread support in the US for the Israeli government.
“From the beginning of the war, I have been leading a diplomatic campaign whose goal is to deflect the pressure to end the war prematurely, and at the same time to also gain support for Israel,” says Netanyahu.
“We have significant support in this area,” continues Netanyahu, pointing to a Harvard Harris poll published Monday showing 82 percent of people in the US support Israel in its war against Hamas.
“This gives us another source of strength to continue our war against Hamas until total victory,” Netanyahu concludes.
In recent days, Netanyahu has been more forceful in pushing back against Biden in interviews and statements.
In a TV interview last night, Biden said that if Israel continued with the “incredibly conservative government they have, and [far-right National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir and others… they’re going to lose support from around the world. And that is not in Israel’s interest.”
IDF chief Halevi: Hezbollah will pay ‘very high price’ for attacks on northern Israel
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi speaks during an assessment in northern Israel, February 27, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi warns that Hezbollah will “pay a very high price” for its continued attacks on northern Israel.
“Hezbollah decided on October 7th, in the evening, that it is joining. For that it must pay a very high price,” Halevi says during an assessment in northern Israel, with the chief of the Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, and the commander of the 146th Division, Brig. Gen. Yisrael Shomer.
Halevi says the IDF is “taking the right steps” to enable some 80,000 displaced Israelis from Lebanon border communities to return to their homes. He says that as a result of the IDF’s actions, “Hezbollah is no longer close to the fence.”
“I think that if we do the right thing, [the residents] will return first of all because of the security. To bring the people back here with security and quality of life, the state will know how to make an effort,” he adds.
Hezbollah claimed to have fired rockets at the 146th Division’s base this afternoon. There were no damage or injuries.
Just 39% of eligible voters cast ballots by 7 p.m., down 10% from 2018
As of 7 p.m., 39.2 percent of people eligible to vote in today’s municipal elections have cast their ballots, data from the Interior Ministry shows, a significant decrease from the previous local elections in 2018.
During the 2018 municipal elections, 49.2% of eligible voters had cast their ballots by the same hour.
Hezbollah prepared to halt fire if Hamas agrees to temporary truce with Israel, sources claim
This picture taken from an Israeli position along the border with southern Lebanon shows rockets fired from Lebanon into Israel on February 26, 2024. (Jalaa Marey/AFP)
Lebanon’s Hezbollah will halt fire on Israel if its Palestinian ally Hamas agrees to a proposal for a truce with Israel in Gaza – unless Israeli forces keep shelling Lebanon, two sources familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking claim.
A temporary truce observed by Israel and Hamas as part of a hostage release deal in late November led to a week of calm across the Lebanese-Israeli border in late November, and as Hamas weighs a new proposal, officials close to the Lebanese terror group believe the same could happen again.
“The moment Hamas announces its approval of the truce, and the moment the truce is declared, Hezbollah will adhere to the truce and will stop operations in the south immediately, as happened the previous time,” one of the two sources close to the heavily armed, Shi’ite Muslim group says.
But if Israel continued shelling Lebanon, Hezbollah would not hesitate to carry on fighting, both sources say.
The Hezbollah media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Biden meets with Congress leaders in attempt to prevent looming shutdown, pass aid for Israel, Ukraine
US President Joe Biden is meeting with the top four leaders of Congress to press them to act quickly to avoid a looming government shutdown early next month and to pass emergency aid for Ukraine and Israel.
Biden is hosting House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. US Vice President Kamala Harris is also in attendance.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says Biden invited the leaders to the Oval Office meeting because he wants to make sure US national security interests are “put first.” She says those interests include continuing to fund the government.
“Look, what the president wants to see is we want to make sure that the national security interests of the American people get put first, right?” she said Monday as Biden flew to New York. “It is not used as a political football, right? We want to make sure that gets done.”
“And we also want to see that, you know, that the government does not get shut down,” Jean-Pierre says, adding that keeping the government open and functioning is a “basic, basic priority” of Congress.
Gallant: Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas hoping to turn Ramadan into ‘second stage of October 7’
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (center) speaks with commanders at the Central Command HQ near Jerusalem, February 27, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Israel has identified that Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas are aiming to take advantage of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and turn it into “the second stage of October 7, and ignite the ground.”
Speaking during an assessment at the IDF Central Command, Gallant says, “Hamas’s main goal is to take Ramadan, with an emphasis on the Temple Mount and Jerusalem, and turn it into the second phase of their plan that began on October 7. This is the main goal of Hamas, it is being amplified by Iran and Hezbollah.”
“We must not give Hamas what it has not been able to achieve since the beginning of the war and converge the combat fronts,” Gallant warns.
In comments apparently aimed at National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Gallant warns against “irresponsible statements from people who are supposed to be responsible” that could result in an escalation within a short time.
Ben Gvir has sought to impose restrictions on West Bank Palestinians and prevent them from praying at the Temple Mount during Ramadan, and is even reportedly pushing for banning Arab Israeli citizens below the age of 70 from visiting the site amid the month of fasting.
At voting stations across Israel, more than 1,000 people sign up to be organ donors
More than a thousand people signed up to be organ donors at polling booths across the country by mid-afternoon, says the ADI National Transplant Center.
The center made it easy for those arriving to vote in the municipal elections to register as donors by placing special sign-up booths near polling stations in communities throughout the country.
Any Israeli citizen 17 and older, regardless of health status, is eligible to register for an ADI organ donation card. The Organ Transplant Law passed in 2008 gives signers of an ADI card priority for themselves and close family members on the transplant waiting list should they need one in the future.
The National Transplant Center has shared the stories of generous families of recently fallen soldiers who decided to donate their fallen sons’ organs. In some cases, the soldiers had signed ADI cards in the past and their families followed through on their wishes.
In the case of some of the soldiers, the lives of as many as five or six people were saved thanks to their donated organs.
Just 31% of eligible voters cast ballots by 5 p.m., down 9% from 2018
Only 31 percent of people eligible to vote in today’s municipal elections had cast their ballots as of 5 p.m., according to data from the Interior Ministry, marking a 9% decrease in comparison to 2018.
During the 2018 municipal elections, 40% of eligible voters had cast their ballots by the same hour.
Inside the Israeli prison system, 48% of eligible voters are said to have cast their ballots.
US and UK impose sanctions on Iranian Guard Corps deputy commander, Houthi member
Newly recruited Houthi fighters attend a protest march against the US-led strikes on the Iran-backed group in Yemen and the war in the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, February 21, 2024, in Sanaa, Yemen. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
The United States and Britain announce fresh sanctions against an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) deputy commander, alongside a member of the Iran-backed Houthis.
Yemen’s Houthis have been targeting shipping in the Red Sea area for months, persisting in attacks despite repeated US and British strikes aimed at degrading their ability to threaten the vital global trade route.
Brian Nelson, US Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, says the latest sanctions underscore resolve in targeting efforts by the IRGC Quds Force and Houthis to evade sanctions and fund more attacks in the region.
The Quds Force is the IRGC branch responsible for foreign operations, with officials saying it supports militant groups across the region, including the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah.
As the Houthis “persistently threaten the security of peaceful international commerce, the United States and the United Kingdom will continue to disrupt the funding streams that enable these destabilizing activities,” Nelson says.
“The UK will also sanction a Houthi security minister for threatening the peace, security and stability of Yemen by supporting attacks against shipping in the Red Sea,” British authorities say in a statement.
Among those targeted are Mohammad Reza Falahzadeh, current deputy commander of the IRGC Quds Force.
Houthi member Ibrahim al-Nashiri was also named by the United States over support of the group’s militant efforts.
The Treasury also announces sanctions against the owner and operator of a vessel used to ship Iranian commodities — Hong Kong-based Cap Tees Shipping Co — to support both the Houthis and IRGC Quds Force.
“The revenue generated through these illicit networks enables the Houthis’ militant efforts, including numerous terrorist attacks in the region using advanced unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles,” the US Treasury says.
Hezbollah claims to have targeted Israeli air traffic control base on Mount Meron
Hezbollah claims to have targeted a sensitive Israeli air traffic control base atop Mount Meron in northern Israel for a second time today.
In a statement, the terror group says it fired anti-tank missiles at the base at around 3:45 p.m., causing damage.
No rocket sirens sounded at that time.
The IDF has not yet publicly commented on the claims, although there are no reports of injuries from attacks on northern Israel today.
Earlier today, Hezbollah fired some 35 rockets at the base, causing no damage as many of the projectiles were intercepted and others hit open areas.
Footage shows Hezbollah rockets impacting close to motorists on northern Israel highway
Footage shows rockets impacting close to motorists on a highway in northern Israel earlier, following a barrage launched from Lebanon by Hezbollah.
The clip shows a group of people driving on Route 89 in the Western Galilee, as rockets slam into the road just a few dozen meters in front of them.
The terror group claimed to have targeted the headquarters of the IDF’s 146th Division in the area.
There were no reports of injuries in the attack.
Footage shows rockets impacting close to motorists on a highway in northern Israel earlier, following a barrage launched from Lebanon by Hezbollah. pic.twitter.com/ZrpEzgBP5Q
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) February 27, 2024
Close to 9,000 people call for Israel to be excluded from Venice Biennale art fair
Almost 9,000 people, including artists, curators and museum directors, have signed an online appeal calling for Israel to be excluded from this year’s Venice Biennale art fair and accusing the country of committing “genocide” in Gaza through its response to the deadly October 7 Hamas terror onslaught.
“Any official representation of Israel on the international cultural stage is an endorsement of its policies and of the genocide in Gaza,” says the online statement by the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) collective.
ANGA says the Venice Biennale had previously banned South Africa over its apartheid policy of white minority rule, and excluded Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano says the appeal was an “unacceptable, as well as shameful … diktat of those who believe they are the custodians of truth, and with arrogance and hatred, think they can threaten freedom of thought and creative expression.”
He says in a statement that Israel “not only has the right to express its art, but also the duty to bear witness to its people” after being attacked by “merciless terrorists.”
The Venice Biennale press office has not immediately responded to a request for comment.
Signatories of the appeal include Palestine Museum US director Faisal Saleh, activist US photographer Nan Goldin and British visual artist Jesse Darling, who won last year’s Turner Prize.
In a mixed Jerusalem neighborhood, residents brave rainstorm to vote on city’s future
Rachel Nasco outside a Jerusalem polling station, February 27, 2024. (Jeremy Sharon/Times of Israel)
Although some voters at a polling station in the mixed Jerusalem neighborhood of Katamonim brave the hail and rain to vote in the municipal elections, the adverse weather conditions may further depress already low turnout in the capital.
Iris Ben Tzvi, who has lived in Katamonim, for 30 years says she voted for Yosi Havilio for mayor and his Jerusalem Union party for the city council because “his platform spoke to me,” but also because she is concerned that the ultra-Orthodox parties will gain a majority on the council.
She worries that the scale of the current war and the tragedies it has wrought have made people apathetic about local politics, and expresses concern that large numbers of soldiers currently away from home will not vote and that the rain will also reduce turnout among the non-Haredi community.
“I’m a secular woman… If there is a Haredi majority on the city council there will be less funding for the secular community, and women’s rights will be at risk,” says Ben Tzvi.
Rachel Nasco, another long-time resident of Katamonim, is far more sanguine about ultra-Orthodox dominance of the city council.
“Why shouldn’t they have a majority,” she says, although she herself is not Haredi. “Why shouldn’t we have more tradition? I’m very traditional, I think it’s very important for the country that we have that.”
Nasco voted for the incumbent mayor Moshe Lion and Likud for the city council, though she acknowledged that Likud’s political fortunes have “declined a bit” nationally.
“Voting for Likud is in my blood, it’s something I’ve always done. Having a Likud representative on the council is important to me,” she says.
Nasco is full of praise for Lion, who has formed a strong alliance with the ultra-Orthodox parties, saying “I saw a great improvement, on the roads. with the light rail, on the sidewalks, and in terms of refuse collection.”
US treasury secretary Janet Yellen: I urged Netanyahu to bolster West Bank economy
US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen gives a press conference a day ahead of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meetings in Sao Paulo, Brazil, February 27, 2024. (Andre Penner/AP)
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says she has urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take steps to shore up the West Bank’s economy by reversing steps taken after the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught in southern Israel.
“The United States has urged the Israeli government to release clearance revenue to the Palestinian Authority to fund basic services and to bolster the economy in the West Bank,” Yellen says during a press conference ahead of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Brazil.
“I welcome news that an agreement has been reached and that funds have started to flow,” she says of Norway’s decision to accept the Israeli framework for transferring tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority last week.
“I also recently outlined in a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a number of steps that the US believes must be taken,” she says, adding that the steps include “reinstating work permits for Palestinians and reducing barriers to commerce within the West Bank.”
“These actions are vital for the economic well-being of Palestinians and Israelis alike,” Yellen says.
Beit Shemesh activist arrested on suspicion of offering cash for votes
Campaign workers in Beit Shemesh. (Sam Sokol)
Police arrest a second Beit Shemesh resident on suspicion of voter fraud for allegedly offering money to residents who planned on staying home on election day in order to induce them to vote for a candidate of his choice.
According to police, the unnamed suspect is an activist campaigning on behalf of one of the parties contesting the local election. His arrest comes less than a day after the Jerusalem District Police’s fraud unit detained another Beit Shemesh resident also suspected of offering cash for votes.
A number of other suspects were also detained “and the extent of their involvement” is currently being probed by law enforcement, the police stated.
Apparently in response to initial reports of election fraud attempts, volunteers at the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael party’s local campaign headquarters received instructions to report suspicious activity to police while canvassing at polling stations.
Agudat Yisrael has come out in support of former mayor Moshe Abutbul, the Shas candidate.
During the 2013 election, local police discovered hundreds of identity cards in an apartment and car believed to belong to supporters of Abutbul, as well as a cache of clothing that apparently served to disguise individuals who voted multiple times on election day.
Investigators suspected that Shaya Brand, an associate of Abutbul, had organized a plan to identify nonvoters and pay them for their identity cards so that Abutbul supporters could use them to cast fraudulent ballots.
In response, the Jerusalem District Court ordered new elections, which Abutbul won with 51 percent of the vote.
IDF says 20 rockets fired from Lebanon at Western Galilee region, no reports of injuries
Some 20 rockets were fired from Lebanon at the Western Galilee a short while ago, according to the IDF.
The Iron Dome air defense system intercepted some of the projectiles, while others hit open areas.
There are no reports of damage or injuries.
The barrage comes after this morning Hezbollah fired some 35 rockets at Mount Meron.
Footage reportedly of Iron Dome interceptions over the Western Galilee. pic.twitter.com/Fs7TGHASDI
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) February 27, 2024
Border Police: Palestinian suspect tried to breach West Bank security barrier, is shot dead
Border Police say a Palestinian suspect who attempted to infiltrate through the West Bank security barrier in East Jerusalem was shot dead.
The suspect, named by the Palestinian Authority health ministry as Nizar Hassasna, 34, allegedly tried to breach through the barrier near the village of al-Muntar.
Police say an officer carried out a “suspect arrest procedure,” during which he opened fire at the suspect. Hassasna was declared dead by medical officials a short while later.
Police say the incident will be investigated further.
In new IDF footage, Maglan commandos raid a Hamas site in Gaza’s Khan Younis
Weapons captured by the Maglan unit in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, in a handout image published by the IDF on February 27, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF releases new footage of the Commando Brigade’s Maglan unit operating in the western Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
The IDF says the commandos are raiding Hamas sites in the area and killing dozens of operatives each day, including in close-quarters combat, ambushes with sniper fire, and by calling in airstrikes.
The Maglan unit has also captured Hamas operatives and seized weapons, the IDF says.
In a recent incident, the IDF says that as Maglan troops raided a Hamas site in Khan Younis, they spotted four gunmen running toward them. Three of the operatives were killed by the commandos, while the fourth gunmen surrendered, according to the IDF.
At the site, the troops captured a cache of weapons, including an assault rifle hidden under a bed, rockets, grenades, explosive belts, shoulder-launched missiles, explosive devices and other military equipment, the IDF says.
After sirens sound in Western Galilee, residents report seeing multiple Iron Dome interceptions
Incoming rocket sirens are sounding in numerous towns in the Western Galilee.
The alerts are activated in the communities of Manot, Admit, Avdon, Ya’ara, Arab al-Aramshe, Hanita, Eilon, Goren, Neveh Ziv, Klil, Abu Snan, Yarka, and Amka.
Residents of the area report seeing multiple Iron Dome interceptions, following what appears to be another major rocket barrage from Lebanon.
תיעוד היירוטים בשמי מעלות@Doron_Kadosh pic.twitter.com/gqpemKq2AO
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) February 27, 2024
Voter turnout remains low, just 26% of eligible voters cast ballots by 3 p.m.
Israelis at a voting station during the Municipal Elections, in Moshav Haniel, on February 27, 2024. (Chen Leopold/Flash90)
Voter turnout remains low, with only 26 percent of eligible voters casting their ballots in municipal elections as of 3 p.m., according to data from the Interior Ministry.
This year’s voter turnout, totaling some 1,842,645 votes cast, continues to lag behind the last local elections in 2018, when 32.6% had voted by the same time.
2018 saw a higher turnout than any vote since 1989, but was also the first time since 1989 that election day was declared a national vacation day.
Some 26% have voted in Ashdod and Bnei Brak while turnout rose to 23% in Tel Aviv, 21% in Haifa and 20% in Beersheba. In in Jerusalem, 16.4% of eligible voters have cast ballots. The city with the highest turnout so far is 56.5% in the northern Arab town of Mi’ilya.
Biden: Israel will lose global support if it maintains its ‘incredibly conservative government’
US President Joe Biden (left) with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2023. (Haim Zach/GPO)
Israel’s government is going to lose international support if it maintains its “incredibly conservative government,” US President Joe Biden told NBC’s Seth Meyers in an interview last night.
Appearing on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” Biden discussed the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and the ongoing attempts to secure a temporary ceasefire and hostage release deal by international mediators.
Biden, who stressed that he is a Zionist, said the “only way Israel ultimately survives… here’s the deal, they also have to make up, take advantage of an opportunity to have peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians who are being used as pawns by Hamas.”
He added: “I think that if we get that temporary ceasefire, we’re going to be able to move in a direction where we can change the dynamic — and not have a two-state solution immediately but a process to get to a two-state solution, a process to guarantee Israel’s security and the independence of the Palestinians.”
”
He also briefly reiterated his disagreements with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his right-wing government.
“Israel has had the overwhelming support of the vast majority of nations. If it keeps this up with this incredibly conservative government they have, and [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir and others… they’re going to lose support from around the world, and that is not in Israel’s interest,” he says.
In Tiberias, Haredi boys harass mayoral candidate hostile to their community
Ron Cobi, second from left, is heckled by Haredi boys on February 27, 2024. (Canaan Lidor/Times of Israel)
Outside an elementary school in Tiberias, about a dozen Haredi boys trail Ron Cobi, a mayoral candidate whose campaign revolves around limiting the presence of the growing community to which the children belong.
The children gather around Cobi, who arrived at Ehrlich Elementary School to vote in the local elections. One of them hurls a wad of unused voting slips at Cobi, but the notes scatter around before hitting the politician. The children shout: “Bye-bye Ron Cobi, Bye-bye!”
Two policemen shoo the boys away.
The encounter reflects a yearslong hostility between the Haredi community of Tiberias and Cobi, a former mayor whose first term in 2018 was cut short because he couldn’t pass a budget, prompting the interior ministry to appoint a caretaker mayor and council. “You see, this is what the rest of the country will all look like unless we put a stop to it,” Cobi tells journalists documenting the exchange.
Tiberias’s population rose from 45,000 to 51,000 in five years, a growth whose engine is the arrival of Haredi families to new neighborhoods on the mountains overlooking the city’s lakeside center. Haredim now make up 20% of the population, and some locals say that this development is responsible for the decline in tourism and nightlife here, although others dispute this explanation.
Cobi is in a neck-to-neck race with Yossi Naba’a, a former communications technology executive, who is secular but enjoys the endorsement of influential Haredi rabbis.
Gallant extends administrative detention of settler activist Ariel Danino by three months
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has extended the administrative detention of prominent settler activist Ariel Danino by three months the day before the original order was due to expire, the right-wing legal aid group Honenu says.
Danino was put into administrative detention on October 29 and, prior to Gallant’s decision, was due to be released on February 28.
While it was unclear what prompted Gallant and the Shin Bet to place him in detention in the first place, the original order cited “a reasonable foundation to assume that state security/public security requires” him to be held in detention.
His wife Avia Danino tells Honenu that her husband “is a hero and a pioneer who experienced firsthand the rapacity of the system that does everything to silence those who warn and expose its shamelessness, instead of directing its resources to eradicating terrorism.”
Administrative detention is primarily used for Palestinian terror suspects — about 1,000 of whom are currently held in custody under the practice — but the orders have also been used with a handful of Jewish-Israeli terror suspects in recent years.
The tool is typically used when authorities have intelligence tying a suspect to a crime but do not have enough evidence for charges to stand up in a court of law.
Its use against settler extremists has become more common recently, as many of them maintain their right to silence and refuse to cooperate with investigations.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
Suspected drone infiltration alarms sound in Upper Galilee region
Suspected drone infiltration alarms are sounding in the Upper Galilee, close to Mount Meron.
The alarms are activated in the communities of Tziv’on, Peki’in, Hurfeish, Tzuriel, Har Halutz, Harashim, Beit Jann, and the Sdeh Meron School.
The IDF is investigating the cause.
The sirens come after Hezbollah fired a barrage of 35 rockets at an Israeli air traffic control base atop Mount Meron this morning, causing no damage or injuries.
ABC News: Netanyahu was ‘surprised’ by Biden saying truce deal was close
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, February 17, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “surprised” by US President Joe Biden’s assertion that an Israel-Hamas hostage and truce deal was close, ABC News reports, citing a senior Israeli political source.
Biden said he hoped for a ceasefire in Gaza “by next Monday.” In response Israel, Hamas and Qatari mediators have all expressed caution about progress toward a deal.
Police respond to 2 separate violent incidents near polling stations in south
A policeman is seen in Ar'arat an-Naqab during municipal voting on February 27, 2024 (Israel Police)
Police report officers responded to violent incidents in two communities amid the municipal vote.
In a neighborhood of Ar’arat an-Naqab in the Negev, officers were working to restore order and using riot dispersal measures amid violent clashes between two factions of a local family near polling stations.
In one incident in the community, gunfire was heard and cops fired at a vehicle with armed men inside. A chase ensued and the vehicle was stopped but the gunmen fled on foot.
In Zrahia, a religious community in southern Israel, police arrested three suspects in a brawl near a polling location.
Police say in a statement they are continuing their efforts “to ensure orderly and fair elections.”
In Beit Shemesh, Goldknopf hopes former mayor Abutbul wrests back Haredi control
Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf (center right) listens to mayoral candidate Moshe Abutbul of Shas (center left) at Agudat Yisrael's campaign headquarters in Beit Shemesh, February 27, 2024 (Sam Sokol)
Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf arrives at the local campaign headquarters of his Agudat Yisrael party in Beit Shemesh to voice support for Deputy Agriculture Minister Moshe Abutbul of Shas, the former mayor, who is fighting to regain his old position in the municipal election.
Abutbul is running against national religious incumbent and former school principal Aliza Bloch and Degel Hatorah candidate Shmuel Greenberg — who despite being Haredi is a former former IDF serviceman with a masters degree in public policy.
“We are supporting Moshe Abutbul [because] he has 10 years of experience here in Beit Shemesh leading the city,” Goldknopf tells The Times of Israel — explaining why his party, which generally runs together with Degel Hatorah as part of the United Torah Judaism list in national elections, supports the Shas candidate rather than Greenberg.
“Now he is returning to continue what he was doing in the past with even more strength. He was also in the Knesset and learned the parliamentary side of things,” he continues, calling the former mayor “a major Torah scholar, observant and God-fearing.”
Asked if he believes the ultra-Orthodox will regain control of the city following their defeat in the 2018 election, Goldknopf replies that he hopes so because “the last time Abutbul was in power nobody had any complaints and everybody worked well together.”
Abutbul has in fact been at times a divisive figure in the city. His term in office coincided with a series of violent attacks by extremists seeking to enforce their stringent standards of modesty and gender segregation on the wider public.
Report: In concession, Israel may free 15 high-profile prisoners for female soldiers
The New York Times reports that Israel has made a significant concession in hostage talks talks with Hamas, indicating it would consider freeing 15 Palestinians convicted of serious terror charges and who have a high profile, in exchange for the return of five female soldiers held hostage by Hamas.
It cites two officials in the know, and says this willingness represents a new position by Jerusalem.
It is not clear whether this concession was part of the new framework proposal agreed upon in Paris and conveyed to Hamas. Israel and international mediators are awaiting Hamas’s response to the latest offer.
As of 1 p.m. 17.7% of voters cast ballots in local elections, compared to 24% in 2018
As of 1 p.m., 17.7 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in Israel’s municipal elections, according to data from the Interior Ministry.
This year’s voter turnout, which totals some 1,256,916 votes cast, continues to lag behind the last local elections in 2018, when 24% voted by that time. Data is not immediately available on earlier elections (2018 saw higher turnout than any vote since 1989, but was also the first time since 1989 that election day was declared a sabbatical).
Some 19.2% have voted in Ashdod, 18% in Bnei Brak, 16.3% in Tel Aviv and 12% in Jerusalem. The city with the highest turnout so far is Kiryat Ono with 55.2% of eligible ballots cast.
Haredi resident of Jerusalem’s Bayit Vegan sees show of strength in local vote
Voters arrive at a polling station in Jerusalem's largely ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Bayit Vegan, February 27, 2024 (Jeremy Sharon)
A polling station in the largely ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Bayit Vegan is doing brisk business, as a steady and substantial stream of men and women, in many cases with children in tow, turn up to cast votes in the municipal elections.
Voter turnout will likely be a key factor in the elections in Jerusalem and the Haredi community has traditionally very high rates of voter participation, largely due to rabbinic orders to vote as a matter of religious obligation.
Elazar, who declines to give his last name, says he voted for the ultra-Orthodox Bnei Torah party for the city council and for incumbent Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion.
But Elazar, a student in the flagship Ponovitz Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, says local municipal issues are not a motivating factor for him in casting his vote, and neither is he even aware of what issues face the capital. “As a community, we don’t look at what is done [by the municipal politicians]; the elections are a chance for us to show what our numbers are and our political strength,” says the young yeshiva student.
Bnei Torah represents the Jerusalem Faction, an extremist splinter faction of the mainstream ultra-Orthodox community. The Jerusalem Faction has been frozen out of national politics due to a low-grade civil war it waged within the ultra-Orthodox community several years ago, and largely sees itself as having been politically persecuted by the mainstream parties.
Aryeh, who also declines to give his last name, says he voted for Lion for mayor and Agudat Yisrael, which represents the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic communities, for the city council.
“Lion has been a great mayor, he’s helped all the residents, Haredi, secular, the Arabs — who thank God don’t come out to vote,” says Aryeh.
Qatar says no breakthrough on Gaza deal, but it’s ‘upbeat and optimistic’
Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari (video screenshot)
Qatar cannot comment on remarks by US President Joe Biden that a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas could be agreed next week, a foreign ministry spokesperson says.
Majed Al-Ansari tells a press conference there is no breakthrough to announce on a ceasefire and hostage deal, but that Qatar is “pushing hard” for the agreement sketched out in Paris to be accepted by Israel and Hamas.
He says Qatar is “upbeat and optimistic on Gaza mediation talks.”
IDF confirms killing three gunmen in West Bank this morning, including commander
The IDF confirms it carried out a raid in the Tubas area in the northern West Bank this morning, killing Ahmed Jamal Daraghmeh, a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative and two other gunmen.
According to the IDF, Daraghmeh, 26, the commander of the so-called Tubas Battalion, was previously involved in shooting and explosive device attacks against troops.
He was killed by troops of the elite Duvdevan unit. Another two gunmen, named as Muhammad Samih Bayadseh, 32, and Osama Jabr Zalat, 31, were also killed by the commandos, the IDF says.
The IDF says the troops also found a command room where local terror operatives used surveillance cameras to observe army activity.
One soldier was lightly wounded amid the raid, the army says.
It says 14 wanted Palestinians were detained in overnight raids across the West Bank, including in Nablus and Hebron.
IDF publishes Hamas bodycam footage, showing group’s methods in Gaza
The IDF reveals footage from the camera of a Hamas gunman, found after a battle in northern Gaza last week during which an Israeli soldier was killed.
Amid operations by the Nahal Brigade’s 932nd Battalion in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood on February 20, a Hamas cell opened fire at the troops from a building, killing Staff Sgt. Avraham Wovagen.
The battalion directed airstrikes on several Hamas cells in the area, including the gunmen that killed Wovagen.
Later in the day, the battalion raided the building from which the attack was carried out, and in it soldiers located a cache of weapons including anti-tank missiles, sniper rifles and handguns, the IDF says. Also among the items was a camera left behind by the Hamas operatives, which the IDF says “reveals the method of firing anti-tank missiles and the nature of the enemy’s activity in the area.”
The video shows Hamas operatives breaking a hole in a wall to later fire missiles through, and surveilling IDF engineering and other armored vehicles in the area.
Minister Goldknopf says it’s a ‘mitzvah’ to vote for Hasidic Agudat Yisrael party
File: Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf attends a conference in Tel Aviv on March 22, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf it is a “mitzvah” to vote for the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael party — one of the parties that make up the national United Torah Judaism party — in local elections.
Goldknopf says the ultra-Orthodox public must listen to its rabbis as “they and only they determine our conduct.”
“This is the time to express absolute loyalty and obedience — and vote for Agudat Yisrael.”
Historically, Haredi Jews largely vote in blocs for the same candidates and on the issues laid out by community leaders.
This approach can be seen in every election.
IDF confirms strikes against Hezbollah sites after rocket barrage
The IDF confirms it carried out strikes against Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon in response to the rocket barrage this morning on Mount Meron.
Sites hit by fighter jets included a Hezbollah compound and other infrastructure belonging to the terror group in Jibchit, Mansouri and other villages in south Lebanon, according to the IDF.
The IDF also says it shelled an area near Yaroun with artillery to “remove a threat.”
The barrage of some 35 rockets was launched at an air traffic control base atop Mount Meron. According to the army, no damage was caused to the base and there are no injuries.
הבוקר זוהו כ-35 שיגורים שחצו משטח לבנון לעבר מרחב הר מירון בצפון הארץ, אין נפגעים ולא נגרם נזק ליחידת הבקרה האווירית שבמרחב >> pic.twitter.com/D6P8OB4mHZ
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) February 27, 2024
PA President Abbas accepts resignation of PM Shtayyeh and his government
This handout picture provided by the Palestinian Authority's Press Office (PPO) shows PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh (L) presenting the resignation of his government to Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah on February 26, 2024. (Thaer GHANEM / PPO / AFP)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accepts the resignation of Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh and his cabinet and asks him to stay on as a caretaker until a permanent replacement is appointed.
Shtayyeh submitted his resignation yesterday, together with all his government ministers, to allow for the formation of a government in broad consensus among Palestinians following the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The US wants a reformed PA to govern Gaza once the war is over.
Around 30,000 soldiers in Gaza and on bases cast votes as of 10 a.m.
This handout photo released by the Israel Defense Forces on February 27, 2024, shows soldiers casting their municipal elections ballots at a polling site in the Gaza Strip, amid the war there against Hamas. (Israel Defense Forces)
As of 10 a.m., some 30,000 active duty and reserve service members in the Gaza Strip and on military bases across Israel have cast ballots in the municipal elections, the Israel Defense Forces says.
After holding early voting for Israeli troops deployed to Gaza and other fronts, the IDF today opened up polling stations for all other soldiers. In a statement, the military says it is currently operating 570 polling sites around Israel.
Soldiers inside and outside Gaza started voting from February 20.
Because of the current conflict, the number of so-called “double envelope” ballots, cast outside of voters’ municipal jurisdictions due to various limitations, will stand at some 400,000 — a huge increase over 95,000 such ballots cast in the last municipal elections in 2018.
Earlier this month, Interior Ministry Director-General Ronen Peretz said that due to the large number of double-envelope ballots expected, it will likely not be possible to announce official election results until several days after the election.
‘Choose the Hostages’: Families travel between polling stations to keep plight in view
A bus serving the Hostages and Missing Families Forum as family members ride between Israeli cities on municipal elections day, February 27, 2024 (Courtesy Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
Throughout election day for local municipalities, families of the 134 hostages are standing at 134 polling stations where they would be voting, with photos of the hostages and reminders that they are prevented from their democratic right to choose and vote.
Black-and-yellow “Choose the Hostages” signage points out the basic rights refused to them.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum is inviting voters to come to the polls to vote, meet the families and support them.
The forum has a bus filled with hostages’ relatives that is going between polling stations throughout the day in Ashdod, Rehovot, Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva and Bnei Brak.
Beit Shemesh resident arrested for suspected voter fraud
A view of the city of Beit Shemesh on September 5, 2021. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
A Beit Shemesh resident was arrested yesterday evening for suspected voter fraud after he “allegedly offered money to citizens in exchange for voting for a specific candidate,” the Israel Police announce.
The 20-year-old “planned to falsify and disrupt the elections in the city” by offering cash for the use of other residents’ identification cards in order to vote multiple times.
“Large police forces, visible and hidden, continue to operate in and around polling stations all over the country to ensure the proper conduct of the elections,” police say in a statement.
On Monday, Channel 12 correspondent Inbar Twizer tweeted an image of what she said was a leaked document linked to extremist elements in the city outlining a plan to stuff ballot boxes with “at least 2,500 additional votes.”
Israeli official: Don’t know what Biden’s optimism is based on
The Ynet news site cites an unnamed senior Israeli who downplays the US president’s comments on a Gaza truce being close at hand.
The official says he doesn’t understand “what his optimism is based on.”
Israeli officials yesterday said Hamas appeared set to reject the latest proposal by international mediators.
Voting starts slow in Jerusalem’s working class Pat neighborhood
Jerusalem resident Shlomo Cohen speaks after voting in the municipal elections, February 27, 2024 (Jeremy Sharon)
In the working-class Jerusalem neighborhood of Pat, the municipal election festivities are not yet in full swing, with just a slow trickle of voters turning up to the voting station at the beginning of the morning.
“Everyone is off eating kubbeh,” says resident Shlomo Cohen with a wry smile.
Cohen says he voted for incumbent Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, who he also voted for back in 2018, but declines to say who he voted for in the city council. He says only that although he voted for the Shas list in 2018, he changed his vote this time around.
He says his vote was not at all influenced by the national political situation, insisting that there are very different issues at stake in municipal elections.
“When you’re voting in local elections you have to look at social issues. The local authorities are not responsible for national security,” he observes, in reference to the current war.
For Cohen, the most important issue in the city is to ensure that young couples can afford to live in the city and provide them with affordable housing to stop the flight of this segment of the population from the capital. He also says that the city council needs to do more to help special needs children and their parents, an issue that is close to his heart, as the head of the Lin Association of Parents for Special Needs Children.
Percentage of votes cast as of 10 a.m. stands at 3.9% — lower than 2018
The percentage of votes cast in local elections as of 10 a.m. stands at 3.9% of eligible voters.
This is compared to 5.3% in the previous municipal elections in 2018, which saw 59.5% participation by election day’s end.
Notably, the 2018 result was itself high compared to past results: 2003, 2008 and 2013 saw rates of 49.3%, 51.9% and 51.1%, respectively.
Hamas official: Biden comments on a Gaza ceasefire coming soon are premature
A Hamas official tells Reuters that US President Joe Biden’s comments on the prospects of an imminent halt to Gaza fighting are premature and do not match the situation on the ground.
The official says there are “still big gaps that need to be bridged” before a truce.
Israeli airstrikes report in several towns across southern Lebanon
Lebanese media reports Israeli strikes in several towns across southern Lebanon, in what appears to be a response to Hezbollah’s rocket barrage on Mount Meron this morning.
The most distant strikes are reported on the outskirts of the village of Baisariyeh, some 30 kilometers from the Israeli border.
Footage posted to social media shows smoke rising from the targeted sites
الغارة التي استـ هدفت أطراف البيسارية في جنوب لبنان https://t.co/f2frgwENbA pic.twitter.com/eCnwDzwgym
— Ali Bk (@Bk_Hanas) February 27, 2024
غارة عنيفة على بلدة المنصوري بقضاء صور جنوب لبنان https://t.co/FfSBwFXBzB pic.twitter.com/vU3YQSsoZ5
— Ali Bk (@Bk_Hanas) February 27, 2024
President Herzog encourages Israelis to vote: Local government has ‘dramatic’ impact
President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal vote in the Jerusalem municipal elections, February 27, 2024 (Maayan Toaf / GPO)
President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal cast their votes in the local elections at the Jerusalem High School for the Arts.
“We have done our duty and voted in the municipal election for mayor and city council in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel,” Herzog says.
“Local government impacts our lives in a very dramatic way. Every area of life for the citizens of Israel is cared for by local authorities. Therefore, if we really want to influence the direction of our lives, it is best to go out and vote in the local authority elections. This has been proven all the more so in the war. In a state of emergency we see the municipalities, the local authorities and councils handling and facing a host of challenges of the highest importance.
“I call on the citizens of Israel — go vote and make an impact.”
IDF says multiple Hamas gunmen killed in fighting throughout Gaza
The IDF says it struck a Hamas command center and a launcher used to carry out a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip on southern Israel yesterday morning, within several hours of the attack.
According to the IDF, several hours after the rocket fire on Kissufim and Re’im, the Israeli Air Force struck several Hamas targets in central Gaza. The sites included an apartment used as a command center to carry out the rocket fire, another apartment from which Hamas gunmen opened fire at troops, and a rocket launcher used in the attack, according to the IDF.
Meanwhile, the IDF says it is continuing a large-scale operation in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, during which the 401st Armored Brigade is raiding Hamas sites and killing gunmen, including by calling in airstrikes. The IDF says troops operating in Zeitoun located a weapons depot, a weapons manufacturing plant, rocket launchers, and unspecified “systems” used by Hamas against forces in Gaza.
Amid the operation, the IDF says, the troops also located a tunnel shaft where several Hamas gunmen were hiding. “The troops destroyed the shaft and eliminated the terrorists,” the IDF says.
In central Gaza, the IDF says the Nahal Brigade killed several more Hamas operatives and raided sites used by the terror group, locating weapons. Combat engineers operating with Nahal destroyed dozens of “military” buildings used by Hamas, the IDF adds.
Meanwhile, in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the IDF says soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade and 7th Armored Brigade captured several Hamas operatives who attempted to flee the area along with evacuating civilians. Troops of the two brigades also killed several Hamas gunmen in Khan Younis, the IDF says.
The Givati Brigade, meanwhile, operated in eastern Khan Younis to clear the area of Hamas infrastructure, including in areas close to Israeli border communities, the IDF says.
With municipal voting ongoing, interior minister says no logistical barrier to a national election in wartime
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel holds a press conference on February 12, 2024, ahead of municipal elections scheduled for February 27. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Despite the ongoing war in Gaza, there are no logistical barriers to holding national elections, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel of Shas states.
Speaking with Army Radio as Israelis across the country head to the polls for municipal elections, Arbel says that “on a technical level there is no obstacle to holding national elections, but there must be a decision by the Knesset to do so.”
Arbel’s comments come a day after Opposition Leader Yair Lapid told reporters in the Knesset that the municipal elections held across most of the nation prove that it is possible to go to the polls during wartime.
While members of Netanyahu’s government have spoken out against calls to hold national elections during wartime, arguing that they would have a negative effect on the country during a time of crisis, Lapid countered that “we need elections as soon as possible.”
“It is technically possible, it is possible in terms of the army, it is even possible to do it without tearing the people apart. In the last few weeks, people held parlor meetings, put up posters, activated campaign staffs, and no disaster happened. Israeli democracy worked,” he said.
Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the prospect of early elections during the war, stating that “the last thing we need right now is elections” and arguing that voting for a new Knesset would further divide Israelis.
“What we need now is unity,” he said.
Even some members of the opposition have questioned the need for elections before the end of hostilities, with Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman calling it “impractical” to hold elections during wartime.
After holding early voting for Israeli troops deployed to Gaza and other fronts, the Israel Defense Forces today opened up polling stations for all other soldiers. In a statement, the military announced that it is currently operating 570 polling sites around Israel.
Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets at the Upper Galilee
Dozens of rockets have been fired from Lebanon at the Upper Galilee, according to the IDF.
Sirens sounded in the communities of Zivon, Sassa, Safsufa, and Dovev.
There are no reports of injuries in the attack.
Hezbollah claims responsibility for the barrage, saying it targeted the Mount Meron base in response to Israeli airstrikes yesterday near northeast Lebanon’s Baalbek.
The sensitive Israeli air traffic control base has been targeted by Hezbollah several times amid the ongoing war.
מטח כבד להר מירון: כ-30 רקטות שוגרו משטח לבנון, לא דווח על נפגעים | תיעוד @rubih67 pic.twitter.com/uNakQCyAc8
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 27, 2024
Biden says Israel would halt Gaza action during Ramadan under truce deal
US President Joe Biden says Israel agreed that it would halt its Gaza offensive during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan under a truce deal that is being negotiated.
“Ramadan’s coming up and there’s been an agreement by the Israelis that they would not engage in activities during Ramadan as well, in order to give us time to get all the hostages out,” Biden says in an interview with late-night comic Seth Meyers on the US network NBC.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander among those killed in West Bank clashes
A Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander was killed by Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Tubas this morning, Palestinian media report.
The Palestinian Authority health ministry says three men were shot dead during clashes in Tubas and the nearby Far’a camp.
They are named by the ministry as Ahmed Jamal Daraghmeh, 26, Muhammad Samih Bayadseh, 32, and Osama Jabr Zalat, 31.
Palestinian media identify Daraghmeh as the commander of a local wing of Islamic Jihad in the area, known as the Tubas Battalion.
استشهاد قائد كتيبة طوباس"أحمد دراغمة"، برصاص قوات الاحتلال الإسرائيلي، خلال الاقتحام المتواصل لمخيم الفارعة جنوب طوباس بالضفة الغربية. pic.twitter.com/C7uC40AT9W
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) February 27, 2024
Israelis begin voting in municipal elections delayed twice since Oct. 7
Polls open up nationwide so residents can cast their ballots in the municipal elections, which were slated for late October but delayed twice as a result of the Hamas-led terror onslaught that month and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza against the terror group.
Polling sites in most locales will remain open until 10 p.m., though in some communities and military bases they will close earlier.
Seven million Israelis are eligible to take part in today’s vote, in which they will select the mayors and local council heads of 197 municipal authorities and 44 local councils. However, with entire areas of Israel still under attack, elections in the areas that were evacuated near Gaza and the border with Lebanon will be held nine months from now, on November 19.
IDF: 1/3 of army polling booths opened early for troops in Gaza, W. Bank and along Lebanon border
This handout photo released by the Israel Defense Forces on February 27, 2024, shows soldiers casting their municipal elections ballots at a polling site in the Gaza Strip, amid the war there against Hamas. (Israel Defense Forces)
After holding early voting for Israeli troops deployed to Gaza and other fronts, the Israel Defense Forces will open up polling stations for all other soldiers as the rest of the country votes in today’s municipal elections.
A statement from the IDF says it will operate 570 polling sites throughout the day, a third of which opened early for troops serving in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and along the Lebanese border.
There will also be mobile polling stations for far-flung bases, Iron Dome batteries and civilian defense teams.
While polls in civilian areas will open at 7 a.m., voting in the military will not start until 8 a.m. The IDF says no votes can be cast after 9 p.m., “in accordance with operational needs.”
Palestinians report 3 killed in West Bank clashes with Israeli troops
Three Palestinians were killed during overnight clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority’s officiala Wafa news agency reports.
Two of the men were killed in Tubas and the third was killed in the nearby al-Faraa refugee camp, according to Wafa, which says the clashes erupted after Israeli forces arrived to carry out operations.
There is no immediate statement from the military on the clashes.
US military says it destroyed Houthi drone boats, anti-ship cruise missiles
WASHINGTON — The US military says it has destroyed three unmanned surface vessels and two anti-ship cruise missiles that were prepared to launch towards the Red Sea from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
The US military’s Central Command also says on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it destroyed a aerial drone that was over the Red Sea. All the weapons “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and to the US Navy ships in the region,” it says.
Saudi Arabia denies commerce minister held formal meeting with Israeli counterpart Barkat
Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, Saudi Arabia's minister of commerce, attends a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Kuwait City on November 21, 2018. (Yasser Al-Zayyat/AFP)
ABU DHABI — Saudi Arabia denies that a meeting took place between its commerce minister and his Israeli counterpart, after a viral video showed their interaction on the sidelines of a World Trade Organization conference in Abu Dhabi.
The kingdom’s state news agency SPA reports, citing an official Saudi source, that Commerce Minister Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi was standing alongside his Nigerian counterpart when “an unknown individual approached the minister to offer greetings.”
He “later identified himself as the minister of economy in the Israeli occupation government,” SPA says, quoting the official Saudi source.
Economy Minister Nir Barkat mentioned the interaction earlier Monday, voicing confidence that the countries can “make history together,” his office said.
Trade ministers from around the world gathered on Monday for the four-day WTO meeting which aims to set new global commerce rules.
The interaction between Qasabi and Barkat was a rarity given the lack of formal relations between their countries, though the United States has sought to bring them closer.
The source also stresses the kingdom’s “steadfast stance on the Palestinian cause and its support for the resilience of the Palestinian people against Israeli aggression,” according to SPA.
Israel agreed at Paris hostage talks to freeing 400 Palestinian prisoners — report
Illustrative: Palestinians wave Hamas flags in the West Bank city of Nablus as they celebrate the release of Palestinian security prisoners. as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas for the return of Israeli hostages, November 24, 2023. (AP Photo/ Majdi Mohammed)
As part of a framework for a hostage deal hashed out during recent talks in Paris, Israel agreed to release some 400 Palestinian prisoners — among them terrorists convicted of “heavy” crimes, according to Qatari state-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera.
Citing unidentified sources, the report says Israel also agreed to the gradual return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza, barring those of “military service age,” and the entry of further aid and temporary shelters into Gaza, including heavy machinery and equipment.
Additionally, the report says Israel proposed moving its forces out of crowded parts of Gaza and stopping reconnaissance flights for 8 hours a day as part of a six-week truce accompanying the release of Israeli hostages.
Biden says hoping for ceasefire in Gaza by next Monday: ‘We’re close. We’re not done yet’
US President Joe Biden eats ice cream at Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, February 26, 2024, in New York, as Seth Meyers watches. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
NEW YORK — US President Joe Biden says he hopes to have a “ceasefire” in the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas by next week, apparently referring to a truce deal, currently being negotiated, under which hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7 would be released.
“Well I hope by the beginning of the weekend. The end of the weekend. My national security adviser tells me that we’re close. We’re close. We’re not done yet.
“And my hope is that by next Monday [March 4] we’ll have a ceasefire,” he says during a political visit to New York.
Biden gets ice cream with Seth Meyers .
Ceasefire: “My national security adviser tells me that we’re close, we’re close, it’s not done yet. And my hope is that by next Monday."
Border: "I've been planning to go Thursday. What I didn't know is my good friend apparently is going" pic.twitter.com/Lwde3FB6yk— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) February 26, 2024
Greece agrees to lead EU maritime security operation in Red Sea
FILE - A freight train line at the port of Piraeus during its inauguration on June 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Louisa Gouliamaki, Pool, File)
ATHENS, Greece — Greece has formally agreed to participate in and lead a European Union maritime security operation in the Red Sea to protect commercial shipping from attacks by Houthi militants in Yemen.
A security committee headed by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday ordered the participation of a Greek frigate in the Aspides operation – named from the Greek word for “shield” – that was launched last week.
The mission will be run from a military base in Larissa, in central Greece, under the command of Greek navy Cdre. Vasilios Griparis.
Greece, a major commercial shipping power, has been directly affected by the Houthi attacks. The port of Piraeus, near Athens, reported a 12.7% drop in activity at its container terminal in January, on an annual basis.
“We all understand that participation in this operation involves risks, significant risks,” Defense Minister Nikos Dendias says while on a visit to the navy frigate Hydra at a naval base near Athens.
The frigate departed on the mission late Monday.
“Greece, as a maritime power with a leading role in global shipping, attaches great importance to the need to safeguard the freedom of navigation, as well as the life of Greek seafarers,” Dendias says.
Germany, Italy and France will also provide warships for the mission, joining the Hydra, while Italy will assume tactical command, according to Greek officials.
Officials in Athens have described the Aspides mission as defensive, adding that Greece would not take part in US-led attacks against Houthi military targets in Yemen.
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