Feb. 28: Zelensky expresses gratitude to Trump, US people after being berated at White House

Deputy AG: Any move to fire Shin Bet chief necessitates legal review by attorney general

Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar attends a farewell ceremony in honor of then-police chief Kobi Shabtai at the National Police Academy in Beit Shemesh, on July 14, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Amid widespread reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is looking to remove Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar, Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon wrote in a missive publicized today that “such a decision relating to the head of a security body, certainly one that holds law enforcement powers, necessitates proper procedure based solely on substantive considerations.”

In his response to a query by the Civil Democracy Movement NGO, Limon added: “If such a process is considered, in order to ensure its compliance with the necessary procedural and substantive safeguards, the political leadership must first submit the matter for prior review by the attorney general before advancing it.”

EU top diplomat says ‘free world needs new leader’ after Trump-Zelensky clash

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas holds a press conference during the EU's foreign affairs council at the EU headquarters in Brussels on February 24, 2025. (JOHN THYS / AFP)

The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas vows to stand by Kyiv and questions America’s leadership of the West after the extraordinary clash between President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge,” Kallas writes on social media following the Oval Office confrontation. “Ukraine is Europe! We stand by Ukraine.”

Illinois man found guilty of murder, hate crime for killing 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy in wake of Oct. 7

Joseph Czuba, then 71, stands before Circuit Judge Dave Carlson for his arraignment at the Will County courthouse in Joliet, Illinois, October 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

A jury finds an Illinois landlord guilty of murder and hate crime charges for a brutal 2023 attack on a Palestinian American family in which he killed a 6-year-old.

Joseph Czuba, 73, was charged in the fatal stabbing of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen, on Oct. 14, 2023, in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago.

Authorities alleged the family — who were renting rooms in Czuba’s house — was targeted because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas that was sparked by the terror group’s devastating assault on Oct. 7, 2023.

Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes over the crime that renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination in the Chicago area’s large and established Palestinian community.

The trial featured detailed testimony from police officers, medical workers, Czuba’s ex-wife, and Shaheen, who described how Czuba attacked her with a knife before going after her son in a different room.

Prosecutors say that the child had been stabbed 26 times. He was found naked with a knife still in his side.

Wadee Alfayoumi’s father, Oday Al Fayoume, seated right, and his uncle Mahmoud Yousef attend a vigil for Wadee at Prairie Activity and Recreation center in Plainfield, Illinois, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

EU chiefs tell Zelensky ‘you are never alone’ after he is berated by Trump at White House

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky leaves the White House after meeting with US President Donald Trump, in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa assure Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky of Europe’s unwavering support after his extraordinary clash with US leader Donald Trump, telling him: “You are never alone.”

“Be strong, be brave, be fearless,” write the European commission and council presidents in a joint statement on social media, telling Zelensky: “We will continue working with you for a just and lasting peace.”

Freed hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen sings song of hope in message to remaining captives

Sagui Dekel-Chen, watched by his wife Avital and two of their daughters, sings with the Tamari Project in a clip released on February 28, 2025 (Screen grab: YouTube/The Tamari Project)

Freed hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen records a cover of the song “Keren Shemesh” (Ray of Sunshine) in a call for the remaining captives to be released.

He says that he is not a singer, but “a dad who sings” and would sing to himself and imagine himself dancing with his daughters and wife while he was held in Gaza.

The clip of the Benaia Berabi cover features Dekel-Chen and his family in their temporary home, alongside musicians from the Tamari Project, founded by Dekel-Chen’s brother, Itay, in memory of Tamar Kedem Siman Tov, who was murdered on October 7 along with her husband Johnny and their three young children Shahar, Arbel and Omer.

Dekel-Chen, who was released 13 days ago under the first phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal, which is set to end tomorrow, ends with a message to those still held.

“Don’t lose hope. I send warmth and love every day,” he says. “To my friends who don’t see sunlight there in captivity, be strong.”

Dekel-Chen was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023. His wife Avital gave birth to their third daughter while he was in captivity.

Zelensky expresses gratitude to Trump, American people after he was berated by US president

US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025 (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expresses gratitude to the American people after his clash with US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance earlier today.

“Thank you @POTUS, Congress, and the American people. Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that,” he says on X.

Lebanon president says will ask Saudi Arabia to resume $3-billion grant to army

Newly elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun delivers a speech at the parliament building in Beirut on January 9, 2025 (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun will ask Saudi Arabia to reactivate a $3-billion aid package to the Lebanese army in his visit to the kingdom next week, Aoun says in an interview with Asharq television.

Aoun, who was serving as commander of Lebanon’s army before he was elected president on January 9, is set to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday in his first trip abroad.

He tells Asharq he will ask Riyadh “if it is possible to reactivate the grant” halted in 2016, after Lebanon failed to condemn attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.

Saudi Arabia once spent billions in Lebanon, depositing funds in the central bank, helping to rebuild the south after the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war, and supporting a number of Lebanese politicians, only to see Hezbollah grow more powerful with Iran’s support and its influence spread across the Middle East.

But recent months have seen seismic political shifts in the region, with Israel pummeling Iran-backed Hezbollah last year after over a year of attacks by the terror group, and Hezbollah’s Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad toppled in December.

“I hope and I await from Saudi Arabia – and especially the Crown Prince – to correct the relationship in the interests of both countries,” Aoun says, saying he hoped for strengthened economic and political ties.

Lebanon faces a huge reconstruction bill following a year of Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah, but Lebanese officials and diplomats say foreign support – including from the Gulf – is contingent on Beirut enacting long-awaited financial reforms.

Aoun says Lebanon is committed to those reforms but hopes that the reconstruction aid, in turn, will come “step by step” to allow for rebuilding so that Lebanese displaced from destroyed villages in the south can return home.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Vatican says pope, hospitalized with pneumonia, suffered isolated breathing ‘crisis’

Candles and a photo of Pope Francis are seen in front of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, in Rome, February 22, 2025, where the Pontiff has been hospitalized since Friday, February 14.(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Francis, in hospital with pneumonia, suffered a bronchial spasm today that resulted in him breathing in vomit, requiring non-invasive mechanical ventilation, but he responded well and remained conscious and alert at all times, the Vatican says.

Francis, 88, has been in Rome’s Gemelli hospital for two weeks, after being admitted on February 14 with a severe respiratory infection that triggered other complications.

“This afternoon…the Holy Father experienced an isolated bronchospasm crisis,” says the latest detailed update about the pontiff’s condition.

The pope, it says, also had “an episode of vomiting with aspiration and a sudden worsening of the respiratory condition.” He then received the help of “non-invasive mechanical ventilation,” it says.

Francis, says the statement, “has remained alert and well-oriented” and is continuing his treatments.

Friday’s news followed three days of more positive updates, with the Vatican saying previously that the pope had been showing a “slight improvement” as he fights what has been termed a “complex” infection caused by two or more micro-organisms.

Minister says he didn’t watch interview with freed hostage because he was ‘dealing with more important things’

Economy Minister Nir Barkat attends a vote on the state budget at the Knesset plenum in Jerusalem, March 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Economy Minister Nir Barkat says he didn’t watch last night’s chilling interview with freed hostage Eli Sharabi because he was “dealing with more important things.”

“What could be more important?” Barkat is asked during the interview on Channel 12.

“Matters in the world. I have a role, I am a minister,” he responds.

In last night’s interview, Sharabi described being chained, beaten and starved by Hamas terrorists throughout his 16 months of captivity, with the abuse getting worse when his captors perceived Israel to be worsening the conditions of captured Hamas operatives.

The 53-year-old lost 40 percent of his body weight. His wife and two teenage daughters were murdered by terrorists on October 7, 2023.

Eli Sharabi is interviewed on Channel 12’s “Uvda” program, in a segment aired on February 27, 2025. (Channel 12/screenshot)

Ukraine’s Zelensky leaves White House early after he’s berated by Trump, Vance

US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky listen to US Vice President JD Vance (R) as they meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025 (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is leaving the White House early after a contentious Oval Office meeting with US President Donald Trump, a White House official says.

The announcement comes after Trump and US Vice President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian president.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump repeats that Zelensky was “disrespectful.”

“I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations,” Trump writes. “I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE.”

“He can come back when he is ready for Peace,” he adds.

Zelensky had been scheduled to have lunch with Trump and both leaders were going to sign a minerals deal during a joint news conference.

Instead, Zelensky’s armored SUV abruptly pulled up to the door of the West Wing moments after Trump’s post.

UN chief says Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal ‘must hold,’ as first phase due to expire

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at the opening of the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, on February 24, 2025. (Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal “must hold,” with just hours to go before the initial phase expires.

The truce’s first phase is due to expire tomorrow morning, after largely halting more than 15 months of fighting in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the terror group’s October 7, 2023 onslaught.

“The ceasefire and hostage release deal must hold. The coming days are critical. The parties must spare no effort to avoid a breakdown of this deal,” Guterres says in New York.

Trump tells Zelensky to be ‘thankful’ in Oval Office clash, says he must either ‘make a deal’ with Russia ‘or we’re out’

US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025 (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

US President Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky openly argue in the White House as they clash on the need for compromising with what the Ukrainian president called Russia’s “killer” leader.

Trump berates Zelensky as they sit in the Oval Office, telling him to be more “thankful” and saying, “You’re in no position to dictate what we’re going to feel.”

And he tells the Ukrainian president that he either “make a deal” with Russia “or we’re out.”

US Vice President JD Vance, sitting nearby, also attacks Zelensky, calling him “disrespectful.”

Zelensky appears to try to speak but is cut off.

The extraordinary outburst came after Trump said Ukraine will have to make “compromises” in a truce with Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor three years ago.

“You can’t do any deals without compromises. So certainly he’s going to have to make some compromises, but hopefully they won’t be as big as some people think,” Trump says.

Trump lashes out at Zelensky, who he says is “not acting at all thankful” and not “nice.”

“You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people,” Trump says. “You’re gambling with World War Three, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country — this country.”

‼️A heated back and forth between @ZelenskyyUa, @POTUS, and @VP now in the Oval. pic.twitter.com/j1YCy4Jm3K

— Misha Komadovsky (@komadovsky) February 28, 2025

UK government calls urgent meeting with BBC over Gaza documentary narrated by son of Hamas minister

Illustrative: Protesters holding placards and Israeli flags join a gathering outside the headquarters of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) in London on October 16, 2023, to appeal to the corporation to call Hamas 'terrorists.' (Daniel Leal/AFP)

The British government calls an urgent meeting with the BBC over the making of a documentary about children’s lives in Gaza that was narrated by the 13-year-old son of a deputy minister in the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas government.

Announcing the meeting with BBC Chair Samir Shah, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy says: “I want assurances that no stone will be left unturned.”

The BBC said yesterday that there had been “serious flaws” in “Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone,” made by an independent production company, and removed it from its online platform, five days after it was first broadcast on television.

The broadcaster said that it shared the blame for the “unacceptable” flaws with production company Hoyo Films.

The production company revealed that they paid the boy’s mother “a limited sum of money” for the narration. The BBC is seeking additional assurance that no money was paid directly or indirectly to the Hamas terror group.

US federal task force to visit 10 campuses to tackle antisemitism

Police patrol as workers clean up anti-Israel graffiti at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus after police evicted pro-Palestinian protesters, May 2, 2024. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP)

The US Department of Justice says an antisemitism task force will visit 10 university campuses that saw antisemitic incidents since October 2023.

The visits stem from US President Donald Trump’s executive order to combat antisemitism that was issued last month, part of a wider effort by the new administration to pressure universities to crack down on anti-Jewish discrimination.

The task force tells the 10 universities it is aware of “allegations that the schools may have failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from unlawful discrimination,” the Department of Justice says.

The head of the task force, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Leo Terrell, says the group will meet with university leaders, students, staff and law enforcement.

“The task force’s mandate is to bring the full force of the federal government to bear in our effort to eradicate antisemitism, particularly in schools,” Terrell says in a statement.

The universities that will be visited are:
Columbia University
George Washington University
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
New York University
Northwestern University
The University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Berkeley
The University of Minnesota
The University of Southern California

The visits are announced after anti-Israel protesters at Barnard College, an affiliate of New York’s Columbia University, invaded a campus building on Wednesday, injuring a university employee. The protest was widely condemned by state and national lawmakers.

Report: Israeli team returning from Cairo as result of Hamas rejecting proposal to extend 1st phase of deal

Protesters at Begin Gate in Tel Aviv on February 22, 2025, call for the release of all remaining hostages. Poster on the left reads: "The defender of Israel he is not," referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Yoav Loeff / Pro-Democracy Protest movement)

The Israeli negotiating team is returning from Egypt as a result of Hamas opposing Israel’s proposal to extend the ongoing first phase of the hostage-ceasefire by an additional 42 days, Channel 12 reports.

The Channel 12 report comes soon after it is said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold consultations this evening with senior ministers and defense officials on the subject of the hostage-ceasefire deal. It is rare for the premier to hold such discussions on a Friday evening, the Jewish Sabbath.

An Israeli delegation dispatched to Cairo yesterday for “intensive” talks on the future of the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas was said to have proposed the first phase extension.

Hamas reportedly opposes the extension and insists on proceeding to the second phase of the deal as originally agreed. The second phase is meant to include steps leading to a permanent end to the war, including a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip.

A diplomatic source said the Israeli delegation was to return from Cairo Friday night.

PM to hold Friday night consultations on hostage deal with senior ministers, defense chiefs

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to the District Court in Tel Aviv, to testify in his ongoing corruption trial, February 24, 2025. (Moti Milrod/Pool)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold consultations this evening with senior ministers and defense officials on the subject of the hostage-ceasefire deal, the Walla news site reports.

It is rare for the premier to hold such discussions on a Friday evening, the Jewish Sabbath.

The consultations will involve the heads of the defense establishment along with Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Shas leader Aryeh Deri, the outlet says.

The report comes after an official told Hebrew media that the negotiating team is set to return from Cairo this evening.

Haaretz says the consultations will be by telephone.

Two Egyptian sources said earlier today that Israel is seeking an extension of the ongoing first phase by an additional 42 days. Hamas opposes the extension and insists on proceeding to the second phase of the deal as originally agreed, the sources told Reuters.

The second phase is meant to include steps leading to a permanent end to the war, including a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip.

Report: Israel lobbying US to keep Syria ‘weak’ by allowing Russian bases to remain there

A portrait of Russia's President Vladimir Putin hangs above as Russian military trucks enter the Russian-leased Syrian military base of Hmeimim in Latakia province in western Syria on December 29, 2024. (Aaref Watad / AFP)

Israel is lobbying the United States to keep Syria weak and decentralized, including by letting Russia keep its military bases there to counter Turkey’s growing influence in the country, four sources familiar with the efforts say.

Turkey’s often fraught ties with Israel have come under severe strain during the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack and Israeli officials have told Washington that Syria’s new Islamist rulers, who are backed by Ankara, pose a threat to Israel’s borders, the sources say.

The lobbying points to a concerted Israeli campaign to influence US policy at a critical juncture for Syria, as the Islamists who ousted Bashar al-Assad try to stabilize the fractured state and get Washington to lift punishing sanctions.

Israel communicated its views to top US officials during meetings in Washington in February and subsequent meetings in Israel with US Congressional representatives, three US sources and another person familiar with the contacts say. The main points were also circulated to some senior US officials in an Israeli “white paper,” two of the sources say.

All the sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to diplomatic sensitivities.

The US State Department and National Security Council did not provide a response to questions for this story. The office of Israel’s prime minister and the foreign ministries in Syria and Turkey did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

It is not clear to what extent US President Donald Trump’s administration is considering adopting Israel’s proposals, the sources say. It has said little about Syria, leaving uncertainty over both the future of the sanctions and whether US forces deployed in the northeast will remain.

Israel has publicly declared its mistrust of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist faction that led the campaign that toppled Assad and which emerged from a group that was affiliated to al Qaeda until it cut ties in 2016.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel will not tolerate the presence in southern Syria of HTS, or any other forces affiliated with the new rulers, and demanded the territory be demilitarized.

Following Assad’s ouster, Israel carried out extensive airstrikes on Syrian military bases and moved forces into a UN-monitored demilitarized zone within Syria. Earlier this week, Israel struck military sites south of Damascus, including weapons depots. The Israel Defense Forces has said that it will continue to act to prevent all weapons deliveries to Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.

Israel is deeply concerned about Turkey’s role as a close ally of Syria’s new rulers, three US sources say, describing the messages delivered by Israeli officials. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who leads the Islamist-rooted AK Party, said last year that Islamic countries should form an alliance against what he called “the growing threat of expansionism” from Israel.

Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel was concerned Turkey was supporting efforts by Iran to rebuild Hezbollah and that Islamist groups in Syria were creating another front against Israel.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Israel’s negotiating team set to return from Cairo; ‘Talks will continue tomorrow,’ official says

Demonstrators raise placards and chant slogans during a protest calling for the release of hostages held captive in Gaza since the October 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian terrorists, in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on February 22, 2025. (Jack Guez / AFP)

Israel’s negotiating team is expected to return from Cairo tonight, an official tells Hebrew-language media.

“Talks will continue tomorrow,” the official says, giving no further details.

Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas on the next phase of the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal restarted in Cairo yesterday.

Two Egyptian security sources said earlier today that the Israeli delegation in Cairo is trying to reach a deal to extend the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal for an additional 42 days. Hamas opposes the extension and insists on proceeding to the second phase of the deal as originally agreed, the sources said. The second phase is meant to include steps leading to a permanent end to the war.

Lebanon seizes $2.5 million bound for Hezbollah, sources say

File: A Middle East Airlines commercial aircraft prepares to takeoff on the tarmac of Beirut International Airport on November 1, 2024. (Anwar AMRO / AFP)

Lebanon’s Beirut airport authorities seize $2.5 million in cash destined for terror group Hezbollah, concealed with a man arriving from Turkey, three sources say.

One of the sources says it is the first time such a seizure has been made. There is no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

Lebanon PM says he will demand Israeli troops withdraw from ‘the so-called five points’

A Lebanese army officer shows Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam an Israeli military position on the horizon, in the southern village of Khiam, February 28, 2025. (Rabih DAHER / AFP)

Lebanon’s new prime minister, Nawaf Salam, uses a tour of areas near the border with Israel to demand a full Israeli withdrawal and to promise residents of border villages a safe return to their homes and reconstruction.

“This is the first real working day of the government. We salute the army and its martyrs,” Salam says in the southern port city of Tyre while meeting residents of the border village of Dheira. “We promise you a safe return to your homes as soon as possible.”

The government is committed to the reconstruction of destroyed homes, which “is not a promise but a personal commitment by myself and the government,” Salam adds.

Israel withdrew its troops from most of the border area earlier this month, but left soldiers at what it said were five key posts inside Lebanon, in what Lebanese officials called a violation of the US-brokered ceasefire that came into effect on November 27.

Salam says his government is gathering Arab and international support in order “to force the enemy to withdraw from our occupied lands and the so-called five points.”

“There is no real and lasting stability without full Israeli withdrawal,” he says.

Hamas sources said to oppose extension of ceasefire’s first stage

Palestinians live among the rubble of their homes which were destroyed in the war between Israel and Hamas, in the city of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on February 23, 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Hamas sources quoted by Haaretz contend that if the terror group were to agree to extend the first phase by continuing to free batches of hostages, it would be losing the only major leverage it currently has.

“If there isn’t a clear deadline for the end of the war and a full [IDF] withdrawal, the release of all the hostages can’t be expected,” an unnamed source is quoted as saying.

The sources float a potential compromise that would see the return of sick or slain captives in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners serving lengthy jail terms, alongside improvement in the inmates’ conditions and more aid entering Gaza.

Released hostage Omer Wenkert: I almost forgot how sweet freedom is

Freed hostage Omer Wenkert flies with his parents Niva and Shai to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, February 22, 2025. (IDF Spokesperson's Office)

Omer Wenkert, who was freed from Hamas captivity a week ago, shares his first post on Instagram after returning home, celebrating his return to freedom.

“It happened. I’m free! There is no price for freedom and I almost didn’t remember how sweet and nice it is,” he writes alongside a slideshow of photos from the past week, including a video of him dancing with his father outside.

"אין מחיר לחופש, גאה להגיד שהבסתי את השבי": הפוסט המרגש של שורד השבי עומר ונקרט – והריקוד עם אבאhttps://t.co/AKdoPXIaMV pic.twitter.com/ODhwk6Mm2V

— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) February 28, 2025

“I’m usually a man of words, but today there are none in my mouth. 505 days of a heroic struggle. I’m proud to say, ‘I defeated captivity,'” he writes. “And now I’m embarking on a new path! Confusing, challenging, complicated, crazy, happy, exhausting, complex, uplifting, different, independent and wonderful!”

Wenkert says his new path “on every level is my return to life and to freedom.” He says he will soon complete all his medical checks in the hospital “and please God arrive at the threshold of my door, a moment I’ve been waiting for.”

Palestinian peace activist pays condolence visit to Bibas, Lifshitz families ‘to ask for forgiveness’

Palestinian political activist Samer Sinjilawi (second from L) pays a condolence visit to Yarden Bibas (center) on February 28, 2025. (Courtesy Samer Sinjilawi)

Palestinian peace activist Samer Sinjilawi pays condolence visits to the families of slain hostages Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, and Oded Lifshitz.

“As I gave [former hostage] Yarden [Bibas] and [Lifshitz’s daughter] Sharon my condolences, I struggled to hold back my tears, but when they hugged me I couldn’t stop the tears,” Sinjilawi writes on X.

“Yarden told me how much it meant to him that a Palestinian had come to visit.”

Sinjilawi adds: “I feel it is our duty as Palestinians to share the pain and grief of these families, to say loud and clear that we condemn these murders, and to apologize and ask for forgiveness.”

“I think both Yarden and Sharon needed to hear these words from me. I can only hope I have done something, however small and fleeting, to ease their pain,” he continues.

After spending several years in Israeli prison for violence committed as a teen during the Second Intifada, Sinjilawi has worked to advance reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Over the past year, he has worked to advance a joint plan from former prime minister Ehud Olmert and former Palestinian Authority foreign minister Nasser al-Kidwa for a two-state solution.

Border control officers threaten to shut down airport on Sunday in 9-hour strike

El Al planes, parked at the Ben Gurion Airport in Lod, Israel, on March 16, 2018. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

Border control officers are threatening to strike for nine hours on Sunday, shutting down every entry point into the country, including Ben Gurion Airport.

If the strike goes ahead, every crossing point into the country will be shut, including the Allenby Crossing from Jordan, which is likely to see heightened traffic during Ramadan, as well as the border crossings to Sinai.

The airport would be effectively shut from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., leading to many flight cancellations and delays.

The workers with the Population and Immigration Authority are demanding better pay and better personal protection.

Pessi Cohen reburied in Kibbutz Be’eri 16 months after she was killed

Pessi Cohen (Courtesy)

Pessi Cohen, who was slain in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, is being reburied in Be’eri today, 16 months after she was laid to rest in Hod Hasharon.

Pessi, 68, was killed alongside three visiting family members — her sister, Hani Sitton, brother-in-law Zizi Sitton and nephew Tal Sitton.

At the time, all four were buried in Hod Hasharon as security restrictions didn’t allow any funerals in Be’eri, huge swaths of which were destroyed in the Hamas onslaught.

Pessi’s home in Be’eri was the site of a standoff between Hamas terrorists who holed up inside with 14 Israeli hostages, and IDF forces who gathered outside. Only one of the hostages ultimately survived.

An IDF probe of the incident found that troops fired light tank shells at the home before engaging the Hamas captors in a gunfight, and that most of the hostages “were likely murdered by the terrorists.”

IDF chief presents October 7 military probes to municipal heads of Gaza border area

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi attends a Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 28, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi met earlier today with mayors and heads of local councils in the Gaza border area and presented them with the IDF’s investigations into the military’s failures during the lead-up to the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, and on the day itself.

Halevi was joined by the head of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, head of the Home Front Command, Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, commander of the Gaza Division, Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, and representatives from the Israeli Air Force and Military Intelligence Directorate.

“The commanders presented the main conclusions and lessons learned, with an emphasis on the IDF’s preparations going forward, and the learning process and implementation of lessons for the security of the region,” the military says.

45,000 compete in Tel Aviv Marathon with symbolic yellow balloons

Runners participate in the Tel Aviv Marathon on February 28, 2025. (Sportphotography/Tel Aviv Marathon)

Felix Kimutai of Kenya wins the Tel Aviv Marathon as 45,000 runners take part in the annual event, according to the Tel Aviv Municipality.

Kimutai finishes in a time of 2:12:13 but falls short of breaking the course record set in 2023 by fellow countryman Mibei Dominic Kipngeno, which stands at 2:10:11.

Omosa Teresiah Kwamboka of Kenya won the women’s race in 2:37:36.

At the start of the marathon, as well as the half marathon and 10km and 5km races, 59 yellow balloons were released to symbolize the hostages still being held in Gaza.

Hamas urges international community to pressure Israel to move to next ceasefire phase

Gazans, including young children, and Hamas gunmen gather shortly before the release of three Israeli hostages in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on February 22, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

Hamas urges the international community to pressure Israel to enter the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire “without delay,” a day before the first phase is set to expire.

“We call on the international community to pressure the Zionist occupation to fully adhere to its obligations under the agreement and to immediately enter the second phase of the agreement without any delay or evasion,” Hamas says in a statement.

Egyptian security sources: Israel seeking six-week extension of ceasefire’s first phase

International Red Cross (ICRC) vehicles arrive at the scene shortly before Hamas fighters release of three Israeli hostages as part of the seventh hostage-prisoner swap, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on February 22, 2025. (Eyad Baba/AFP)

Two Egyptian security sources say that the Israeli delegation in Cairo is trying to reach a deal to extend the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal for an additional 42 days.

Hamas opposes the extension and insists on proceeding to the second phase of the deal as originally agreed, the sources tell Reuters. The second phase is meant to include steps leading to a permanent end to the war.

US aid cuts force UNICEF to scale back Lebanon nutrition programs, official says

Residents walk amid the rubble of destroyed buldings as they return to the southern Lebanese village of Meis al-Jabal on February 18, 2025. (Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

US aid cuts have forced the UN children’s agency UNICEF to suspend or scale back many programs in Lebanon, with more than half of children under the age of two experiencing severe food poverty in the country’s east, an official says.

“We have been forced to suspend or cut back or drastically reduce many of our programs and that includes nutrition programs,” UNICEF’s deputy representative in Lebanon, Ettie Higgins, tells reporters in Geneva via video link from Beirut.

Western diplomat: Israel planning more intensive fight when war resumes, but broader ‘misguided’ strategy unchanged

A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows an Israeli army tank stationed on a hill overlooking northern Gaza on February 12, 2025. (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Israel is gearing up to return to war against Hamas, believing that the ceasefire and hostage release deal will not continue for more than several weeks, a senior Western diplomat tells The Times of Israel.

While the IDF’s tactics are slated to shift from the last year of fighting, with Israeli military and political officials pledging a more intensive military campaign, the Western diplomat briefed on Jerusalem’s preparations says there does not appear to be a strategic shift in Israel’s approach regarding the advancement of an alternative to Hamas.

The government is still prioritizing the dismantlement of Hamas’s governing and military capabilities, believing that no alternative can be established in Gaza until the terror group has been defeated, the Western diplomat says.

However, the diplomat maintains that this approach is “misguided,” arguing that planning and implementation for an alternative to Hamas must happen simultaneously with the IDF’s fighting against the group.

“Otherwise, what you will have is indefinite Israeli occupation and Hamas insurgency,” the diplomat says.

3 arrested in connection to murder in Daliyat al-Karmel last year

Police have arrested three people in the north on suspicion of murdering a young man last October in the Druze town of Daliyat al-Karmel, a spokesman says.

An indictment was filed against the three murder suspects, who are accused of fatally shooting 20-year-old Amid Halabi as he sat in his car with a friend, who was also badly injured by the attackers’ bullets.

During their four-month investigation, Coastal District police discovered that one of the murder suspects they apprehended had also been involved in shooting and throwing a grenade near a family home in Isfiya. The revelation led police to arrest four residents of the village, including a father and a son, in connection to the incident.

‘I’m sorry you came back in a coffin’: Funeral ceremony for slain hostage Tsahi Idan begins

Mourners embrace at a public memorial ceremony for slain hostage Tsachi Idan, a fan of Hapoel Tel Aviv, who was killed in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP/Leo Correa)

At a ceremony at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv ahead of his funeral procession, family members of slain hostage Tsahi Idan ask to be forgiven for not being able to save him.

“Our government made very difficult decisions with unbearable consequences,” says Noam, Tsahi’s sister, during the ceremony. “I’m sorry, from all of us, that you came back in a coffin, and not on your feet, as you left.”

Noam says that in captivity, Tsahi endured “a situation that even the devil himself couldn’t write.”

She says that the country “must bring back all of the hostages as quickly as possible,” calling it the “most important struggle we have.”

After the Bloomfield ceremony, Tsahi’s coffin will proceed through several locations in central Israel before he will be buried in Kibbutz Einat next to his daughter, Maayan, who was murdered by Hamas on October 7 in front of him.

‘Public safety’ restrictions to be in place on Temple Mount during Ramadan, says Israel

Muslims take part in Friday prayers in the shadow of the Dome of the Rock Mosque in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem, August 2, 2024. (AP/Mahmoud Illean)

Israel says it will implement what it calls “safety restrictions” at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins over the weekend.

“The usual restrictions for public safety will be in place as they have been every year,” Israeli government spokesman David Mencer says in an online briefing to journalists.

Last year, Israeli authorities only allowed men aged 55 and older and women over 50 to enter the mosque compound “for security reasons,” while thousands of Israeli police officers were deployed across Jerusalem’s Old City.

Mencer indicates that precautions will be taken again this year, amid high tensions during the shaky ceasefire in Gaza.

“What we cannot, of course, and no country would countenance, is people seeking to foment violence and attacks on anyone else,” he says, without detailing this year’s police deployment.

8 people arrested for spitting at church in Jerusalem’s Old City, say police

Police arrest a minor suspected of spitting toward a church in Jerusalem's Old City, February 27, 2025. (Israel Police)

Eight people were arrested last night on suspicion of spitting on a church in the Old City of Jerusalem, police say.

According to the police, the suspects include both adults and minors, and two of them were also arrested in connection with a similar incident that occurred two months earlier.

“We will not tolerate expressions of hatred toward anyone, Christians, Jews or Muslims, in the Old City or anywhere else in Jerusalem,” says Commander Dvir Tamim, chief of the David area of the police’s Jerusalem District. “We condemn this ugly phenomenon that harms the unique fabric of life that has existed in this area for many years, which includes visitors, worshippers and travelers of all religions, side by side.”

Tamim says tensions will be particularly heightened in the Old City in the coming period, with the start of Ramadan, and he calls for calm in the area. He also says that police will continue to use technological means, including high-tech cameras, to identify and catch suspects in such incidents since most go unreported.

IDF drone strike in north Lebanon kills Hezbollah weapons operative, says military

An IDF drone strike yesterday in northern Lebanon’s Hermel District killed a Hezbollah operative involved in procuring weapons for the terror group amid the ongoing ceasefire, the military says.

According to the IDF, Mohammed Mahdi Ali Shaheen was “coordinating terrorist transactions for the purchase of weapons on the Syria-Lebanon border, since the understandings between Israel and Lebanon came into effect.”

Shaheen is described by the IDF as a prominent member of Hezbollah’s regional division in the Beqaa Valley area, involved in smuggling weapons from Syria to Lebanon. As part of his role, Shaheen was responsible for making procurement deals with smugglers and suppliers, mediating the arrival of shipments, and distributing them to various Hezbollah units, the military says.

The IDF says his actions “posed a threat to Israel and its citizens, and constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”

On Wednesday, a separate IDF drone strike in northeastern Lebanon killed Mahran Ali Nasser al-Din, a prominent member of Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, which is responsible for smuggling weapons into Lebanon.

Murdered hostage Tsahi Idan to be laid to rest today after public funeral procession

Tsahi Idan was taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from his Kibbutz Nahal Oz home. (Courtesy)

Tsahi Idan, who was murdered in captivity and his body returned to Israel this week from Gaza, will be laid to rest this afternoon in Kibbutz Einat after a public procession.

The procession will set off from Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv, as Idan was a devout Hapoel Tel Aviv fan.

It will pass through a number of points in central Israel, where people are expected to line the streets with Israeli flags, before reaching Kibbutz Einat.

Idan will be buried alongside his 18-year-old daughter, Maayan, who was murdered on October 7 by Hamas terrorists who shot through the door of their reinforced room in Kibbutz Nahal Oz before taking Tsahi captive. His wife, Gali, and their three other children, survived.

Freed hostage whose wife and daughters were killed on Oct. 7 says he’s ‘not angry’

Eli Sharabi was taken captive on October 7, 2023 by Hamas terrorists while his wife Lianne and their two daughters, Noiya and Yahel, were killed. (Courtesy)

Freed hostage Eli Sharabi says he became especially close with 24-year-old Alon Ohel while they and two other Israelis were held hostage in Gaza under cramped, painful conditions.

“I adopted him from the first minute,” Sharabi says. “24/7 together. I know everything about him and his family.”

Sharabi, 53, tells Channel 12’s “Uvda” investigative program the men were able to draw strength from one another. But Ohel took it very hard when he learned that Sharabi and the two others, Or Levy and Eliya Cohen, were being released.

Sharabi says that when he was released with Levy on February 8, Ohel grabbed him and refused to let go until their guard tore him away. He says there were “moments of hysteria” and it took about 15 minutes to calm him down.

“It was a very hard moment,” he says. “He said he was happy for me. I promised him I won’t leave him there. I will fight for him.” Cohen was released two weeks later, leaving Ohel alone.

Alon Ohel, taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 from the Supernova rave. (Courtesy)

Sharabi, who lost over 30 kilograms (66 pounds) in captivity, says terrorists held the four hostages in iron chains, and sometimes beat or humiliated them, and they subsisted for months on a single plate of pasta each day.

He says that the hunger pains were unbearable and that getting his captors to give them a dried-out date or a quarter of a piece of bread felt like a victory.

“You could know what happened in the news just from their conduct,” Sharabi says when asked if their captors were exposed to Israeli media, “and therefore… [Israeli leaders’] comments in the media have a lot of power.”

“Any irresponsible remark, the first to suffer [the consequences] was us,” he continued. “[The captors] come to us and say, ‘They’re not giving our prisoners food, you won’t eat. They’re beating our prisoners, we’ll beat you. They don’t get a shower, you won’t get a shower.’ It’s all the time there.”

Eli Sharabi is interview on Channel 12’s “Uvda” program, in a segment aired on February 27, 2025. (X screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Sharabi was abducted on October 7, 2023, from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri. Sharabi says he had no access to the news and only learned after his release that his wife and two daughters were killed in the Hamas-led attack, and that his brother was kidnapped that day and later died in captivity, with his body still held in Gaza.

Despite the pain, he says that he feels lucky to be alive and fortunate for the time he spent with his wife Lianne, and daughters, Noiya and Yahel.

“I’m not angry,” he says. “I was lucky I had Lianne for 30 years, I was lucky I had those amazing daughters for years.”

Trump: ‘Good talks’ underway on Gaza

US President Donald Trump says “good talks” are underway regarding Gaza.

Earlier tonight, Egypt announced that indirect talks on the terms of the second phase had commenced in Cairo.

Trump makes the comments at a joint press conference at the White House with visiting UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who uses the opportunity to tacitly knock the US president’s call to relocate all Palestinians out of the Strip.

Starmer says Palestinians should be allowed to return and rebuild their lives in Gaza, adding that he believes a two-state solution is the only path to lasting peace in the region.

After Trump-shared video turned Gaza into luxury resort, satirical retort brings Palestine to Mar-a-Lago

A satirical video envisioning "Palestine's Mar-a-Lago." (Screen capture)

An Arab American community leader has created a satirical response to the “Trump’s Gaza” AI video that the US president shared on social media earlier this week.

The video posted by Trump appeared to depict a version of his controversial proposal for Washington to take over Gaza, relocate its residents and turn the enclave into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

After the Trump-shared video appeared to bring Mar-a-Lago to Gaza, the Arab American community’s response brings Gaza to Mar-a-Lago.

The “Palestine’s Mar-a-Lago video was shared exclusively with The Times of Israel by a community leader who requested anonymity.

An Arab American community leader’s satirical response to ‘Trump’s Gaza’ AI video shared by the US president

“The response jabs at Trump’s desire to impose an outside culture onto Gaza when he wouldn’t be willing to accept the same in his own home,” says the Arab American community leader.

Whereas “Trump’s Gaza” is played to techno music, the background music in “Palestine’s Mar-a-Lago” is oriental and offers a tour of the president’s luxury resort in Florida with what the narrator describes as “a twist.”

“It has been transformed into a vibrant celebration of Palestinian culture,” the narrator exclaims, highlighting the resort’s boasting of Palestinian flags, a statue of former Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, and Palestinians too.

“This unique setting is not just about visuals. It’s a reminder of the resilience and spirit of the Palestinian people. It’s a mix of beauty, culture and a bit of political satire,” the narrator says. “Even [former UK prime minister] Boris Johnson had something to say, calling Mar-a-Lago ‘A fantastic place for Gazans.'”

“The opulence of Mar-a-Lago infused with the spirit of Palestine. It’s a unique blend that you won’t see anywhere else,” says the narrator.