Jan. 1: Dozens protest in Negev over fatal shooting of Bedouin man

Man seriously wounded in stabbing in Rishon Lezion

A man in his 20s has been wounded in a stabbing in Rishon Lezion overnight, Magen David Adom says.

MDA paramedics attended to the man and took him to the hospital. He is in serious condition, the organization says.

‘Fight against darkness’: Foreign Ministry X account appears to back Iran protests

A social media account belonging to the Foreign Ministry appears to express support for the mass cost-of-living protests in Iran, as a minister voices hope that the demonstrations will signal the fall of the country’s theocratic regime.

A post on the Foreign Ministry’s Farsi-language account displays a cartoon featuring a lion and sun — an image that was on Iran’s flag until the 1979 Islamic Revolution — with the lion’s paw resting on an hourglass. At the bottom of the hourglass is the emblem on Iran’s current flag.

“The rise of Iranian lions and lionesses to fight against darkness,” the post says in Farsi. “Light triumphs over darkness.”

خیزش شیرمردان و شیرزنان ایرانی برای نبرد با تاریکی.
نور بر تاریکی پیروز است. pic.twitter.com/oyz4qpHdpf

— اسرائیل به فارسی (@IsraelPersian) January 1, 2026

The growing demonstrations, focused on the cost of living and Iran’s ailing currency, are spreading across the country, and saw six people killed on Thursday.

Another post on the account from earlier in the day includes a cartoon of Iran’s leaders panicking in the face of protesters. The caption, in Farsi, reads, “The destruction calendar they had set for Israel has now been set for themselves.”

Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel posts a video supporting the protests, which she predicts will bring about the fall of the regime.

“Your protests, by women and men, young people and students, mothers and fathers, are justified,” she says in English. “The regime is weakening every day, and these are its final moments.”

On Monday, Gamliel had posted a selfie wearing a hat reading, in all-caps, “Make Iran great again.” She tagged the son of Iran’s deposed shah, a leading critic of the regime.

Soon ????????@PahlaviReza pic.twitter.com/Q6mIvnmtY9

— גילה גמליאל – Gila Gamliel (@GilaGamliel) December 29, 2025

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli also posts in support of the protests. His post includes an apparently AI-generated image of a demonstration, with someone waving the lion-and-sun flag. The image says, “I stand with the people of Iran.”

US Sen. Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, likewise predicts that Iran’s leader will fall, and attributes that outcome to Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June 2025, which also saw the US strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“Losing wars has consequences,” he writes. “Israel’s 12-day campaign against the Iranian regime & President Trump’s historic decision to destroy its nuclear program have exposed the regime’s weakness to the Iranian people & the world. The Iranian people are rising up & the Ayatollah’s days are numbered.”

Culture minister says ‘Gaza is ours,’ Palestinians are ‘guests until a certain point’

Culture Minister Miki Zohar attends an evening in memory of actor Yaacov Cohen in Tel Aviv, December 4, 2024 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Culture Minister Miki Zohar, of the ruling Likud party, says Gaza belongs to Israel, and that Palestinians in the territory are “guests” whom Israel is merely allowing to live there for now.

“Gaza is also ours. We’re just letting them be there as guests until a certain point, but Gaza is ours,” Zohar says in an interview with the Kan public broadcaster.

He has expressed similar sentiments in the past.

Zohar makes the comments while explaining why he is considering denying funds to the Israeli film industry over its giving the top Ophir award, Israel’s most prestigious film prize, to a movie about a Palestinian boy from the West Bank who is denied an entry permit to visit the beach in Israelץ

While Zohar acknowledges having not watched the film, he claims that it portrays the IDF negatively and presents Israel as an occupier.

“Judea and Samaria is ours,” he says, using the biblical term for the West Bank. “We’re not occupiers in our own land.”

He adds that filmmakers who wish to receive government funds should “produce films that Israelis like to see. Not what Europeans like to see.”

Netanyahu lands back in Israel after Florida visit

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lands back in Israel after his visit to Mar-a-Lago to meet with US President Donald Trump and his top advisers.

It was Netanyahu’s fifth trip to the US and sixth meeting with Trump in 2025.

Rabbi beaten up in Jaffa; police said to suspect attacker had nationalistic motive

A rabbi employed at a yeshiva in Jaffa, central Israel, was attacked in the street near his workplace this evening, in what the police are said to suspect was a nationally motivated act of violence.

According to Hebrew media reports, the perpetrator beat the rabbi with his fists, bruising and cutting his face. The rabbi is receiving treatment for the light injuries at Wolfson Medical Center.

The Israel Police confirm that an investigation has been opened into the incident, and police forces are searching the area to locate the suspect.

The motive of the attacker is still unclear, although Channel 12 reports that the police are probing the possibility that it was a nationalistic attack.

Three Jewish people unaccounted for after blaze in Swiss ski resort bar

Three Jewish people are missing in the wake of the deadly fire in a bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, according to Hebrew media reports.

The ZAKA search and rescue organization has dispatched a team from its international branch to assist in recovery efforts.

Around 40 people were killed in the blaze, and 115 were injured.

According to Chabad, several members of the local Swiss Jewish community are among the injured.

There are no reports of Israelis having been affected by the fire.

Mamdani nods to Jewish, Palestinian New Yorkers during swearing-in speech

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani waves next to his wife, Rama Duwaji, during his public inauguration ceremony at City Hall in New York on January 1, 2026. (Angela Weiss/AFP)

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is sworn into office on the steps of City Hall.

US Sen. Bernie Sanders, whom Mamdani has said is his political hero, swears Mamdani into office, the mayor taking the oath with his hand on a Quran held by his wife.

In his speech, promising a “new era,” Mamdani vows to adhere to his radical policy proposals, set an example by governing from the left, and represent all New Yorkers, including Jews, Palestinians, and those who oppose him.

“I know there are some who view this administration with distrust or disdain,” he says. “I promise you this: if you are a New Yorker, I am your mayor.”

Listing the array of New Yorkers who he will represent, he mentions “Yiddish speakers,” those who attend “shuls,” and “Russian Jewish immigrants in Brighton Beach.”

“They will be Palestinian New Yorkers in Bay Ridge who will no longer have to contend with a politics that speaks of universalism but makes them the exception,” he says to applause.

“It will be loud, it will be different, it will feel like the New York we love,” he says.

“Where else could a Muslim kid like me grow up eating bagels and lox every Sunday?” he says, referring to a stereotypical Jewish American dish.

Mamdani says he will “transform the culture of City Hall to one of ‘no’ to one of how.'”

“I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist,” he says. “I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical.”

“There are many who will be watching. They want to know if the left can govern. They want to know if the struggles that afflict them can be solved,” he says. “So standing together with the wind of purpose at our backs, we will do something that New Yorkers do better than anyone else — we will set an example for the world,” he says.

Herzog tells Swiss counterpart that Israel is ready to help after deadly ski resort blaze

Flowers are laid near the site where an fire ripped through a crowded bar in the Alpine ski resort town of Crans-Montana on January 1, 2026. (Maxime Schmid/AFP)

President Isaac Herzog speaks with his Swiss counterpart, President Guy Parmelin, after some 40 partygoers were killed and 115 were injured in a blaze at a bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana.

Herzog’s office says in a statement that the president expressed his condolences to Parmelin on behalf of the country and told him that Israel was ready to assist in any way it could, as Swiss authorities face the challenging task of identifying the victims.

He told the Swiss president that Israel has both “experience and advanced capabilities” that it has honed over the years, “in the fields of locating and identifying victims of fires, as well as in the treatment of burn victims in fire-related incidents.”

Parmelin thanked Herzog, the president’s office says, and told him that the Swiss Foreign Ministry “has been instructed, if required, to remain in contact with the Embassy of Israel in Switzerland.”

Hamas civil defense: Mother and young child killed in fire in Gaza City displaced peoples’ camp

At least two people have been killed by a fire that broke out among tents housing displaced Palestinians near western Gaza City’s Yarmouk Stadium this evening, according to Hamas’s civil defense agency.

The agency says it retrieved the bodies of a mother and a young child who were killed in the fire. Another man who suffered burns was also rescued, the agency says.

“The relevant authorities are working to find out the specifics of the incident,” it says.

Footage published by Palestinian media shows first responders next to smoldering tent remains.

???? *فيديو | جانب من نشوب حريق داخل خيمة في مركز إيواء اليرموك بمدينة غزة*. pic.twitter.com/rWIzfzTew8

— شبكة يافا الإخبارية (@yaffa_ps) January 1, 2026

Katz, Zamir visit IDF Intelligence Directorate unit, stress readiness on multiple fronts

From left to right: Chief of Military Intelligence Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir visiting an operational unit of the Military Intelligence Directorate, January 1, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir visited an operational unit of the Military Intelligence Directorate earlier today, the Defense Ministry says.

The visit was held alongside chief of the Intelligence Directorate Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, and other senior defense officials. According to the Defense Ministry, they received a comprehensive briefing on the various fronts and the unique challenges each one brings.

Both Katz and Zamir stress that the IDF is continuously operating against and preparing for security threats, both defensively and offensively.

Mamdani’s inauguration ‘block party’ fizzles 

People wait in line in lower Manhattan for the 'block party' event to mark the inauguration of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, on January 1, 2026. (Luke Tress/The Times of Israel)

Thousands gather in the biting cold in lower Manhattan for the inauguration of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The Mamdani team had announced the public “block party” event for supporters several blocks from City Hall, where the official ceremony is taking place.

A huge crowd is stranded outside the event security perimeter and there is little movement forward. The temperature is well below freezing.

The crowd complains and attempts to understand the security arrangements and access to the event. Some are watching the event on their phones and others stand on tiptoes or scaffolding for a view of the entrance.

There is no music, announcements, screens or information from organizers.

“Do you think we’ll witness anything?” one man asks his friends.

“I think it’s over,” his friend says.

A nearby woman says, “This is insane.”

“They didn’t plan this very well,” her friend replies.

One man distributes yellow “Zohran for NYC” pins.

Some of the crowd starts to drift off after well over an hour waiting in line.

Attorney General to High Court: Netanyahu should be made to explain why he hasn’t fired Ben Gvir

Left to right: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir seen after a visit at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on August 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90); Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on April 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara asks the High Court of Justice to demand an explanation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as to why he hasn’t fired National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whom she says has systematically worked to undermine the independence of the police.

She issues the request in a 65-page document as part of a case in which petitioners are arguing for Ben Gvir’s dismissal from the National Security Ministry, where he oversees the Israel Police.

Baharav-Miara notes that the court recently clarified that the operational independence of the police and the need to prevent political interference in their day-to-day operations were “fundamental principles in the structure of the democratic Israeli regime.”

And yet, she charges in an attached statement, Ben Gvir is “abusing his position to improperly influence the activities of the Israel Police in the most sensitive areas of law enforcement and investigations, and is violating basic democratic principles.”

As such, she says, “a conditional order is needed that would require the prime minister to explain why he is not removing National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from his position.”

Baharav-Miara has long asserted that Ben Gvir is violating the principle of police independence, and last month said that the claims of petitioners asking the court to order Ben Gvir’s dismissal from office have become “anchored in a legal and factual foundation.”

Shortly after Baharav-Miara files the document to the High Court, Ben Gvir takes to X to write: “Criminal, I’m ignoring you!” in an apparent response to the attorney general.

Another three protesters reported killed in Iran clashes

Fresh clashes between demonstrators and security forces have killed three people in western Iran, according to the Fars news agency, on the fifth day of cost-of-living protests.

“Around 6:00 pm today, a group of rioters took advantage of a protest gathering in Azna, in Lorestan province, to attack a police commissariat. Three people were killed and 17 others wounded in clashes,” Fars says, in apparent reference to civilian victims.

Earlier, the news agency reported that two people had been killed in southwest Iran.

Swiss police say around 40 people killed, 115 hurt in blaze at ski resort bar

Flowers are laid near the site where an fire ripped through a crowded bar in the Alpine ski resort town of Crans-Montana on January 1, 2026. (Maxime Schmid/AFP)

Some 40 people were killed when a fire ripped through a crowded bar in the luxury Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana as young revellers rang in the new year, police say.

“We count around 40 people who have died and around 115 injured, most of them seriously,” Frederic Gisler, police commander in the Wallis canton in southwestern Switzerland, tells reporters, as Swiss President Guy Parmelin described the fire as “one of the worst tragedies that our country has experienced.”

Saudi Arabia sets execution record in 2025, putting 356 people to death

Saudi authorities executed 356 people in 2025, according to an AFP tally, setting a new record for the number of inmates put to death in the kingdom in a single year.

Analysts have largely attributed the surge in executions to Riyadh’s ongoing “war on drugs” launched in recent years — with many of those first arrested only now being executed, following legal proceedings and convictions.

Official data released by the government says 243 people were executed in drug-related cases in 2025 alone, according to AFP’s tally.

The figures from 2025 mark the second consecutive year Saudi Arabia has set a new record for executions, after authorities executed 338 people in 2024.

Duaa Dhainy, a researcher at the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights, tells AFP the record-breaking numbers are “proof that promises regarding human rights reforms in Saudi Arabia have no value.”

She adds that the executions served as a message of “intimidation and fear for everyone,” including “migrant workers, minors and political opponents.”

The Berlin-based organization confirms that Saudi Arabia executed 356 people in 2025, highlighting that it is the first time more foreigners were executed than Saudis in a calendar year.

Saudi Arabia resumed executions for drug offenses at the end of 2022, after suspending the use of the death penalty in narcotics cases for around three years.

Since launching its war on drugs, the country has increased police checkpoints on highways and at border crossings, where millions of pills have been confiscated and dozens of traffickers arrested.

Foreigners are largely bearing the brunt of the campaign to date.

The Gulf kingdom has faced sustained criticism over its use of the death penalty, which rights groups have condemned as excessive and in marked contrast to the country’s efforts to present a modern image to the world.

Israeli security prisoner dies; prison service refuses to disclose cause of death

An Israeli citizen held as a security prisoner has died behind bars under unknown circumstances. The Israel Prison Service declines to disclose the cause of his death.

The deceased inmate is Hassan Issa Alkshalaa, a young man from the Bedouin city of Rahat, according to Arabic outlets.

He was reportedly detained in one of the facilities comprising the Beersheba prison complex and was due to go free in six months.

The prison service says that the circumstances of the prisoner’s death are confidential. The incident has been reported to police, according to the agency.

It is unclear what security offenses he was being held on. Unlike criminal prisoners, security inmates are detained for committing “security offenses,” which can range from deadly terror attacks to publishing what Israel deems incendiary content online. Almost all security inmates are Palestinian or Arab Israeli.

Alkshalaa is one of around a hundred security prisoners to die in Israeli custody since the start of the two-year war in Gaza, according to Physicians for Human Rights-Israel.

The past two years have seen Israel’s prison population expand even further beyond its official capacity, leading to acute overcrowding, as rights groups warn of increasingly dire conditions for inmates — particularly in security facilities.

A recent report from the Public Defender’s Office attested to security prisoners being subjected to malnutrition, widespread scabies and regular beatings by guards.

The worsening conditions for security inmates are a point of pride for National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who regularly touts the drastic shift taking place on his watch.

15-year-old said killed by Israeli fire in Gaza yesterday; no comment from IDF

The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip says in a 2 p.m. report that Gaza hospitals have received the body of one Palestinian killed by IDF gunfire over the past 24 hours, and the body of another person killed before that.

The statement does not identify the dead or say where they were killed.

Arabic media reported yesterday afternoon that a 15-year-old boy was killed by IDF gunfire in the Israeli-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line in the southern Strip’s Mawasi, near Khan Younis. The boy’s body was reportedly brought to Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital.

The IDF has not commented on the reports.

According to the Hamas health ministry, Israel has killed 71,271 people in Gaza since the war was sparked by the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, including 416 people killed amid the Gaza ceasefire since October 11.

The figures cannot be independently verified and do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in Gaza as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.

Iranian media reports two protesters killed in clashes in southwest Iran

Clashes between protesters and security forces in southwest Iran today killed two people, according to the Fars news agency, the first civilians to die since cost-of-living demonstrations broke out over the weekend.

“The number of victims in Lordegan today amounts to two,” Fars says, after reporting clashes, stone throwing and property damage in the city about 650 kilometers (400 miles) south of Tehran.

Trump says he takes more than recommended daily dose of aspirin as he wants ‘nice, thin blood’

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing an executive order reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug in the Oval Office of the White House, December 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

US President Donald Trump says in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he is taking a larger daily dose of aspirin than his doctors recommend.

“They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart,” Trump tells the paper in an interview published today. “I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?”

Trump, 79, is the second-oldest person to ever hold the presidency, following his Democratic predecessor, US president Joe Biden, who dropped his 2024 reelection bid amid questions about his fitness for the job and was aged 82 when he left office a year ago.

Trump’s health has been in the spotlight in recent months due to bruises that have been spotted on his hands and an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) exam that he was reported to have undergone in October, as well as instances where the Republican president closed his eyes during public events.

Daily use of aspirin can lower the chances of heart attack or stroke for people over the age of 60, according to the Mayo Clinic, which says a low dose of aspirin is most commonly 81 milligrams.

The president’s doctor, Sean Barbabella, tells the Journal that Trump takes 325 milligrams of aspirin daily for cardiac prevention.

The bruising is the result of him shaking so many hands, according to the White House, which said last month the MRI was preventative.

When asked about the MRI, Trump and Barbabella tell the Journal that the president actually got a CT scan.

Barbabella said Trump’s doctors had initially said they would perform either an MRI or a CT scan but decided to do the latter “to definitively rule out any cardiovascular issues.”

It revealed no abnormalities, according to Barbabella.

Eyal Ostrinsky elected as new chairman of JNF-KKL

Eyal Ostrinsky (Courtesy/Reuven Kopitchinski)

Eyal Ostrinsky has been elected as the new chairman of the Jewish National Fund-KKL, sources in the organization say.

Ostrinsky, who represents the pluralistic/liberal bloc of parties in the World Zionist Organization, will serve for the next 2.5 years following today’s board of directors vote. He will be replaced by a representative of Likud for the second half of the five-year term, as agreed upon in a WZO power-sharing deal signed in November.

A long-time veteran of KKL and WZO, Ostrinsky most recently served as chief of staff to the WZO vice chairman and KKL board member Yizhar Hess.

KKL-JNF owns approximately 13% of the total land in Israel (roughly 2.5 million dunams or 620,000 acres), and commands an annual budget of more than a billion dollars to be used for Jewish causes.

Dozens protest in Negev over fatal shooting of Bedouin man

Protesters hold posters displaying the faces of men from the Bedouin village of Bir Hadaj who have been killed in recent years in what they characterize as extrajudicial killings, on January 1, 2026. (Courtesy)

Around a hundred demonstrators, mostly from the Bedouin village of Bir Hadaj, are protesting over the killing last week of 22-year-old Ayoub al-Toukhi by an armed civilian in a vehicle with a soldier, near the Egyptian border.

The protesters, gathered at the Bir Asluj intersection in the Negev, hold posters displaying the faces of six men from the town who have been killed over the past four years in what they characterize as extrajudicial killings.

6 תושבי ביר הדאג׳ נרצחו מאז 2022 על ידי יהודים. pic.twitter.com/XBNoASFa0t

— חד״ש Hadash (@Hadash_org) January 1, 2026

Al-Toukhi’s suspected killer was released Sunday to house arrest with restrictions by a judge in the Beersheba Magistrate’s Court.

He reportedly works in a defense company that deals in drones and had been accompanying IDF troops during a drill at the border last week.

That night, as he was driving back from the exercise in his jeep, accompanied by a soldier, the pair encountered al-Toukhi and his cousin, Muhammad, driving north on Route 211.

Under the impression that the pair were running guns across the Egyptian border, the soldier — who was driving the jeep — began pursuing the pair of Bedouin men.

They slowed down next to the car, which is when al-Toukhi began driving off-road. According to Muhammad, who recounted the incident to Haaretz, his cousin’s driver’s license had expired, and he was afraid of getting in trouble for traffic violations.

The pair did not realize they were being ordered to stop, as the vehicle from which shots were fired was a civilian vehicle and its occupants were dressed in civilian clothing.

The civilian then opened fire at the tires of al-Toukhi’s vehicle, using both his personal weapon and the soldier’s firearm, causing the vehicle to veer off course.

Despite initial reports that the cousins had been involved in arms trafficking, Muhammad was released without a court hearing because no evidence was found linking him to the purported offense, Haaretz reports.

Lawyers for Muhammad told the newspaper that he denies any involvement in smuggling.

Speaking at the protest, MK Walid Alhawashla from the Islamist Ra’am party says that the cousins posed no danger to anyone and “are not suspected of anything. The shooting was carried out without cause by a civilian who took the law into his own hands.”

“This was a criminal incident that led to the unnecessary death of an innocent civilian, and it must not be allowed to pass without consequence,” Alhawashla adds, calling on the police to investigate the incident and bring the shooter to justice.

Syria says ISIS planned New Year’s Eve attacks on churches across the country

Syria says a suicide bomber who killed a security forces member in Aleppo on New Year’s Eve was in the Islamic State group, which planned attacks on churches and gatherings.

ISIS recently increased its attacks in areas of Syria controlled by the Damascus authorities, and was blamed for an attack last month in Palmyra that killed three Americans.

The interior ministry says in a statement it had information that ISIS planned “suicide operations and attacks targeting New Year’s celebrations in a number of governorates, particularly the city of Aleppo, by targeting churches and civilian gathering spots,” prompting security to be tightened.

In Aleppo’s Bab al-Faraj neighborhood, one officer “became suspicious of a person who was later found to be affiliated with Daesh,” the statement says, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

While being interrogated, the man “opened fire, resulting in the martyrdom of one of the police officers, and then he blew himself up, wounding two officers while they were trying to intervene to arrest him.”

Report: Hezbollah receives ‘last-chance advice’ from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey to surrender its arms to Lebanese state

Lebanese officials cited by UK-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat say Hezbollah has received “last-chance advice” from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey to hand over its weapons to Lebanon’s government.

According to the sources, the countries warned Hezbollah that failing to do so could isolate Lebanon politically and economically, and lead to a war with Israel that would deepen anti-Hezbollah sentiment within Lebanon.

Beirut had been under heavy US pressure to disarm Hezbollah south of the Litani River — located about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border with Israel — by the end of 2025.

But Hezbollah has refused to surrender its arms to the Lebanese state, saying the plan serves foreign interests.

Protesters, security forces clash in southwest Iran — local media

Protesters and security forces clash in southwest Iran, the Fars news agency reports, days after demonstrators first took to the streets over economic hardships.

“Some protesters began throwing stones at the city’s administrative buildings, including the provincial governor’s office, the mosque, the Martyrs’ Foundation, the town hall and banks” in the city of Lordegan, Fars says, adding that police used tear gas and that an unspecified number of people had been injured.

Barkat vows to bankroll lawsuit against ex-MAG, Ch. 12 reporter over Sde Teiman leak

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

Economy Minister Nir Barkat announces that he will bankroll a lawsuit by several IDF reservists against former military advocate general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, Channel 12 correspondent Guy Peleg and others over the airing of leaked footage from the Sde Teiman holding facility last year depicting soldiers’ alleged abuse of a Gazan detainee.

Speaking with Radio Galey Israel, Barkat — who recently told Channel 14 that he would file his own NIS 12 million ($3.7 million) lawsuit against the network over a report on his alleged conflicts of interest — says he has established a legal fund of NIS 2 million ($627,572) and “will provide legal assistance also to those who want to sue them.”

In a subsequent tweet, Barkat says he will put some of this money toward the reservists’ lawsuit and that it is “time to stop the bullying by the fading and hate-filled channel.”

According to the Maariv daily, four soldiers filed an NIS 5 million ($1.5 million) lawsuit on Tuesday against Peleg and Channel 12, Tomer-Yerushalmi, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, and national broadcaster Kan relating to “the damages they suffered following the publication of the video related to the Sde Teiman affair.”

Peleg, Channel 12’s legal correspondent, last year aired a leaked video depicting the alleged abuse of a Palestinian prisoner in Sde Teiman last year, after receiving the footage from Tomer-Yerushalmi — against whom there is enough evidence for an indictment, the police have reportedly determined. Police have reportedly found no evidence to indicate that Baharav-Miara had any knowledge of or involvement in the leak.

Both Education Minister Yoav Kisch and Justice Minister Yariv Levin said this week that they would not grant interviews to Channel 12, with Levin calling on the network to apologize to the soldiers accused of misconduct at Sde Teiman.

Report: Israel lets commercial traders bring ‘dual-use’ goods into Gaza barred to aid groups

Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid on the Egyptian side of the Rafah Border Crossing wait to cross into the Gaza Strip, early on October 15, 2025. (AFP)

Israel is operating a parallel import system into Gaza that allows commercial traders to bring in goods barred to humanitarian organizations, including items classified by Israel as “dual-use,” The Guardian reports, citing military, diplomatic and humanitarian sources.

Lifesaving items – such as medical and shelter equipment – appear on an Israeli blacklist of dual-use items, which the government says must be tightly restricted because they could be exploited and weaponized by Hamas or other terror groups in the Strip.

Despite this, Israeli authorities have for at least a month reportedly allowed private businesses to import several dual-use goods – including generators and metal pallets – through the same checkpoints that currently block such items for aid groups, the Guardian claims.

The equipment is now being sold openly in Gaza markets, according to the news outlet.

“It seems highly improbable that the Israelis don’t know about them,” one diplomatic source told the Guardian. “It’s very shocking that these things are able to enter through commercial channels.”

The IDF does not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.

The report comes amid mounting pressure on humanitarian operations in Gaza. Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry announced this week that the licenses of 37 international nonprofits operating in Gaza and the West Bank would expire today, after the groups failed to meet new registration requirements. The ministry said the rules are intended to prevent ties to terror groups, while the Defense Ministry insisted the move would not affect aid delivery.

Former Supreme Court presidents, dozens of judges demand PM halt attacks on judiciary

Illustrative: All 15 High Court justices preside over a court hearing on petitions against the government's 'reasonableness law' at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, September 12, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Four former Supreme Court presidents along with dozens of other retired Supreme Court and lower court judges call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rein in the vitriolic rhetorical attacks of cabinet ministers and coalitions MKs against the judiciary, the Supreme Court, and its current head Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, that have been made in recent days.

The judges say the “unbridled” attacks have used language that could be understood as incitement to violence, and assert that the vilification of the judiciary has the potential to do immediate damage to Israel’s legal system, which would undermine Israeli democracy and Zionism itself.

The letter was signed by former Supreme Court presidents Uzi Vogelman, Esther Hayut, Dorit Beinisch and Aharon Barak, and included a total of 142 retired judges.

A spokesperson for Netanyahu did not respond to a request for comment.

“We, retired judges and presidents of the courts in Israel, hereby express our deep concern in light of the campaign of smears, verbal violence, insults and contempt that have been uttered for some time toward the judges of Israel and the person who stands at their head, Supreme Court President Isaac Amit,” write the judges.

These attacks have become “a daily spectacle of unbridled systemic outrage threatening the democratic basis of the country,” the judges continue, and point to comments by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that the government would “trample” on Amit as implying “incitement to actual acts of violence” against the Supreme Court president.

“Without a properly functioning judicial system and without independent judicial review, Israeli democracy will give way to the wild arbitrariness of a coercive government and a profound fracture of the Zionist dream,” they continue in reference to denunciations by the government of Supreme Court rulings in recent months.

“We, retired judges and presidents of all the courts in Israel, hereby call on the prime minister to act immediately with all means at his disposal to put an end to the dangerous phenomena of dangerous attacks against the judiciary and President Amit, who deserves full trust and praise for the manner in which he fulfills his duties,” they write.

They also call on the law enforcement agencies to ensure judges’ safety.

Rights group says Iran executed at least 1,500 people in 2025, a 35-year record

Iran executed at least 1,500 people last year, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group says, in what it calls an “unprecedented” hike in the use of capital punishment.

“It is unprecedented in the last 35 years. As long as Iran Human Rights has existed, we have never had such numbers,” its director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam says.

Palestinians report dozens arrested by Israel in West Bank overnight

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society organization claims that 50 Palestinian have been arrested by Israeli forces across the West Bank since last night, chiefly in the Ramallah area.

The organization says that most of the arrested Palestinians are people who had  been previously jailed by Israel, including one woman.

The IDF does not immediately respond to a request for comment, including on what precipitated the relatively large wave of arrests.

Separately, the Palestinian Authority identifies the man killed by the IDF in the northern West Bank earlier today as Khitab Daraghmeh, 26, of the village of Luban a-Sharqiya near Nablus.

عاجل| مصادر عائلية: استشهاد الشاب خطاب محمد سرحان ضراغمة (26 عاماً) من قرية اللبّن الشرقية جنوب نابلس بعد إصابته واحتجازه من قبل الاحتلال فجر اليوم. pic.twitter.com/6QLV6xynsF

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) January 1, 2026

The IDF said troops shot and killed a Palestinian as he and others threw stones at them near the village. No troops were injured, according to the military.

WAFA, the PA’s official news agency, says another young man was taken to a hospital in stable condition after being wounded by the IDF gunfire.

Four Israelis indicted for arms smuggling network across Egyptian border

Four Israeli citizens indicted for involvement in an arms smuggling network across the Egyptian border, in a graphic released on January 1, 2026. (Shin Bet)

Security agencies say they have uncovered a weapons smuggling network that operated along Israel’s southern border with Egypt using drones, arresting four Israeli citizens from the Negev who were allegedly involved in the operation.

In a joint statement, the Shin Bet, the IDF and Israel Police say the suspects were detained about a month ago following a joint investigation into drone-based arms smuggling from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula into Israel.

According to the probe, the network carried out multiple significant weapons smuggling attempts using drones. In one incident, four MAG machine guns were seized after an IDF force shot down a drone transporting the weapons. Investigators also found that members of the cell monitored IDF radio communications and were involved in additional smuggling activity along the Egyptian border.

Indictments were filed today against the four suspects at the Beersheba District Court by the Southern District Attorney’s Office.

The security agencies warn that weapons smuggling into Israel serves as a supply channel for terror groups and poses a serious threat to national security, stressing that they will continue efforts to thwart such activity and prosecute those involved.

Somaliland denies it agreed to accept Gaza refugees or host Israeli military bases

Residents wave Somaliland flags as they gather to celebrate Israel’s announcement recognizing Somaliland’s statehood in downtown Hargeisa, December 26, 2025. (FARHAN ALELI / AFP)

Somaliland issues an official denial that it would accept Gazan refugees or allow Israel to establish military bases on its soil in exchange for Israeli recognition.

“The Government of the Republic of Somaliland firmly rejects false claims made by the President of Somalia alleging the resettlement of Palestinians or the establishment of military bases in Somaliland,” the foreign ministry of Somaliland writes in an official post on X.

Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would recognize the independence of Somaliland, becoming the first UN member state to do so. The move drew outrage from Somalia as well as many Middle Eastern and African countries, and a rebuke from the EU.

The president of Somalia — which claims Somaliland as part of its territory — claimed during an interview on Al Jazeera yesterday that Israel had demanded such terms in exchange for its recognition.

“Somaliland’s engagement with the State of Israel is purely diplomatic, conducted in full respect of international law and the mutual sovereign interests of both countries,” the foreign ministry statement continues.

“These baseless allegations are intended to mislead the international community and undermine Somaliland’s diplomatic progress. Somaliland remains committed to regional stability, and peaceful international cooperation.”

Israel’s announcement of the recognition made no reference to quid pro quo demands or conditions.

Court grants Sara Netanyahu NIS 120k after lawsuit by ex-worker closed

Sylvie Genesia, a former employee at the Prime Minister's Residence arrives for a court hearing in her lawsuit against Sara Netanyahu, wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at the Regional Labor Court in Jerusalem, May 5, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court orders a former worker in the Prime Minister’s Residence to pay Sara Netanyahu NIS 120,000 ($38,000).

According to the ruling, Sylvie Genesia is ordered to pay the sum, which includes legal fees, after failing to submit necessary filings to the court on time, the Ynet news site reports.

The judge emphasizes in the ruling that it does not mean the court accepts Netanyahu’s version of events, but merely that Genesia has failed to comply with court regulations and repeated requests, and the case has therefore been closed.

Genesia, who worked as a member of the cleaning staff at the Prime Minister’s Residence on Balfour Street, sued Netanyahu and the HR company that employed her for NIS 650,000 ($179,400) in damages for mistreatment she says she experienced while working at the residence.

Netanyahu countersued for NIS 200,000 for defamation and invasion of privacy.

500,000 people turn out for pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul

Demonstrators gather on the Galata Bridge holding Palestinian and Turkish flags during a pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul, Turkey, January 1, 2026. (AP/Khalil Hamra)

Thousands of people join a New Year’s Day rally for Gaza in Istanbul, waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and calling for an end to the violence in the tiny war-torn territory.

Demonstrators gather in freezing temperatures under cloudless blue skies to march to the city’s Galata Bridge for a rally under the slogan: “We won’t remain silent, we won’t forget Palestine,” an AFP reporter at the scene says.

More than 400 civil society organizations were present at the rally, one of whose organizers was Bilal Erdogan, the youngest son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Police sources and Anadolou state news agency says some 500,000 people had joined the march, at which there were speeches and a performance by Lebanese-born singer Maher Zain of his song “Free Palestine.”

“We are praying that 2026 will bring goodness for our entire nation and for the oppressed Palestinians,” says Erdogan, who chairs the board of the Ilim Yayma Foundation, an educational charity that was one of the organizers of the march.

Police arrest husband, son, after woman found dead in Kiryat Yam apartment

Paramedics and police at the scene of a suspected murder in Kiryat Yam on January 1, 2025. (Magen David Adom)

Police are investigating a suspected murder after first responders discovered a woman’s body in an apartment in Kiryat Yam, on the outskirts of Haifa.

The victim, around 60 years old, was found by paramedic teams and swiftly pronounced dead on the spot, Magen David Adom says.

Officers dispatched to the scene arrested her husband and son, ages 51 and 44, who had been in the apartment with the deceased woman.

Forensic analysts are trying to determine the cause of her death, police say.

High Court orders state to defend law allowing for firing of teachers who identify with terror

Illustrative: Arab students at the Noreen school, in the Jerusalem Arab neighborhood of Beit Hanina, on January 17, 2023. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

The High Court of Justice issues a conditional ruling ordering the state to explain why a November 2024 law authorizing the Education Ministry to fire teachers who publicly identify with an act of terrorism should not be repealed.

The ruling, in response to petitions by a group of teachers and the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee, gives the government until the end of April to defend the legislation, whose passage drew condemnation from human rights advocates.

According to the Israel Hayom daily, the petitioners argued that the law violates the right to due process and grants “exclusive powers of investigation, examination, trial and punishment to political entities.”

Co-sponsored by MKs Zvika Fogel (Otzma Yehudit) and Amit Halevi (Likud), the law grants the director general of the Education Ministry the authority to fire, without prior notice, teachers who have either been convicted of a security or terror offense or have “published a direct call to carry out an act of terrorism or published words of praise, sympathy or encouragement for an act of terrorism [or] support for or identification with it.”

It also allows the ministry to cut or reduce funding for schools in which such expressions have been found, if it has been determined that “the management of the educational institution knew or should have known about their existence.”

In a statement, recently appointed Knesset Education Committee chairman Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism) says that his panel will hold an urgent hearing on the ruling, claiming that the court is “endangering the future of the state.”

“It is imperative to state things clearly: Those who identify with terrorism cannot and are not allowed to teach students. The High Court that insists on protecting teachers who support terrorism is disconnecting itself from the security reality and from the basic responsibility for the safety and education of Israeli children,” says Sukkot.

The Education Committee will convene to “to ensure that budgets are denied to educational institutions that identify with terrorist organizations.”

Amit Saar, top IDF intelligence officer on Oct. 7, dies of cancer at 47

Brig. Gen. Amit Saar, head of the Military Intelligence research department, speaks at a Gazit conference in Tel Aviv, December 5, 2022. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90/File)

Brig. Gen. (res.) Amit Saar, who headed the Military Intelligence Research Department at the time of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, died overnight at age 47 after a battle with brain cancer.

Saar led the department from late 2020 and served as Israel’s top intelligence evaluator for over three years.

According to a Haaretz report in November 2023, Saar twice warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier that year that domestic tensions over his government’s controversial judicial overhaul plans were encouraging Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas to potentially take military action against Israel. His analytical focus, however, reportedly remained largely on the northern front, and he did not foresee the scale of Hamas’s assault.

Saar stepped down in April 2024 to undergo treatment for a malignant tumor, having already indicated he would resign over the intelligence failures.

In a farewell letter to officers, he wrote, “We did not meet what was expected of us, what we expect of ourselves.”

At the time, the IDF described Saar as “an officer full of merit” who made significant contributions to Israel’s security, with then-chief of staff Herzi Halevi thanking him for his years of service.

First new Israeli immigrants of 2026 arrive from Australia

The Sacks family from Australia arrives in Israel on January 1, 2026. (Immigration and Absorption Ministry)

The first new immigrants to Israel in 2026 are the Sacks family from Sydney, Australia, the Immigration and Absorption Ministry says.

The family – father Trevor, mother Dalit and daughter Ashira – received their Israeli identity cards upon landing at Ben Gurion Airport at 6:08 a.m. this morning. The couple’s son, Levi, had previously immigrated to Israel and enlisted in the IDF.

The family was very close with one of the victims killed at the terror attack at Bondi Beach on Hanukkah last month, a ministry representative notes.

Nearly 22,000 new immigrants arrived in 2025, according to data from the ministry, and a raft of new measures designed to encourage immigration have been launched in recent months, including 0 percent income tax rate for immigrants arriving in 2026.

“We are working for the aliya of Australian Jews to Israel and have already taken and will continue to take significant steps toward that end,” says Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer.

Only half of Hamas tunnels in Israeli-controlled area of Gaza said to have been destroyed

Troops of the Nahal Brigade operate in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in a handout photo issued on November 26, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Only half of the Hamas terror tunnels on the Israeli-controlled side of the “Yellow Line” in Gaza have reportedly been destroyed by the IDF so far.

According to a report in the Walla news site, citing estimates from the security establishment, Defense Minister Israel Katz has instructed the IDF to increase its operations to locate and destroy such tunnels.

The site reports that IDF troops, including combat engineers, are working around the clock on such efforts, including deploying new methods of making the tunnels unusable.

Under the peace plan put forward by US President Donald Trump, the International Stabilization Force is slated to begin deploying in Gaza this month, accompanied by a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area.

Israeli forces currently hold about 53% of the Strip under their control.

IDF kills stone-throwing assailant in northern West Bank

IDF troops shot and killed a Palestinian assailant overnight after coming under a stone-throwing attack near the West Bank village of Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, the military says.

According to the IDF, troops from the 636th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit were carrying out an operation along a main route in the northern West Bank when several suspects began hurling stones at them.

The soldiers opened fire, killing one of the attackers and injuring two others, the IDF says, adding that no Israeli troops were injured in the incident.

First baby born in Israel in 2026 welcomed in Jerusalem hospital

Shira-Leah and Uri Rozman with medical staff at Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus, with the first baby born in Israel in 2026. (Courtesy)

The first baby born in Israel in 2026 arrived at Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus in the capital at 1 minute past midnight, the hospital says.

The baby is the fifth child for Shira-Leah and Uri Rozman.

Other hospitals around the country also welcomed new babies just after the start of the new year.

Almo Inguda, 40, from Ashdod, gave birth at 1:36 a.m. at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, the hospital says. Her fifth son is the first baby born this year at the hospital.

Inguda says that when she immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia, “everyone in my family automatically wrote their date of birth on their identity cards as if we were born on January 1, so I didn’t want to give birth on that date. But of course, it’s not something that can be chosen, and that’s how it turned out.”

At Shamir Medical Center, Karin Shalkov, who works as a nurse there, and her husband, pediatrician Dr. Lior Shalkov, welcomed a baby boy at 1:11 a.m., the hospital says.

Soldier found dead in southern Israel, bringing IDF’s 2025 death toll to 152

A soldier was found dead yesterday in southern Israel in what is being investigated as an apparent suicide, the military says, bringing the total number of IDF fatalities in 2025 to 152.

According to the IDF, Military Police have opened an investigation into the death. The findings of the probe will be transferred to the Military Advocate General’s Corps upon its completion, the army adds.

According to the army, 22 cases this year are currently under investigation or were previously examined on suspicion of suicide, including 12 conscripts, one career service soldier and nine reservists.

The IDF also clarifies that Sgt. Yosef Haim Tzvi Serlin, a trainee in the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504, who died after being hurt during a training exercise, will be counted among training accident fatalities rather than deaths from illness. As a result, 14 soldiers are now listed as having died from illness in 2025, while one death is categorized as a training accident.

Billionaire philanthropist Morris Kahn dies at 95

Morris Kahn attends a ceremony at the Knesset on May 6, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

Israeli billionaire and philanthropist Morris Kahn has died at age 95, according to the Ynet news site.

Kahn, a native of South Africa, moved to Israel in 1956.

He co-founded Amdocs, a management-and-billing software firm for large telecom outfits, and in recent years has increasingly focused his attention on philanthropy and venture philanthropy in the scientific and medical fields, including founding an underwater observatory in Eilat and as the chairman of SpaceIL.

Several killed in New Year’s explosion at Swiss ski resort town, say police

Several people have been killed and others injured when an explosion ripped through a bar in the luxury Alpine ski resort town of Crans Montana, Swiss police say.

“There has been an explosion of unknown origin,” Gaetan Lathion, a police spokesman in Wallis canton in southwestern Switzerland tells AFP. “There are several injured, and several dead.”

He says the explosion took place at around 1:30 am in a bar called Le Constellation, which is popular with tourists, as revelers rang in the new year.

Images published by Swiss media show a building in flames, and emergency services nearby.

“The intervention is still ongoing,” he says.

Ben Gvir: Nobody should ‘touch a hair on the head’ of Supreme Court chief Amit

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attends a National Security Committee meeting at the Knesset on December 31, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says that nobody should “touch a hair on the head” of Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, after his ally, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, said he must be “trampled.”

“Nobody should dare to touch a hair on his head,” Ben Gvir tells the Kan Reshet Bet public radio station. “We have a serious disagreement with him, he is causing division and polarization among the people, but from that to harming him — God forbid.”

Ben Gvir also responds to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments in a Fox News interview that most of the violent settler extremists in the West Bank are “teenagers who come from broken homes.”

“Most of the hilltop youth” — a term used to describe the young extremist settler movement who try to establish illegal outposts — “that we’re talking about don’t come from broken homes,” says Ben Gvir. “But to come from a broken home, to rehabilitation yourself and to establish an outpost is a good thing,” he adds.

The minister says there are “a small handful” of them who use violence, “and that’s wrong, but most of the hilltop youth are sweet kids who love the country.”

Volunteer in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard killed in protests, say authorities

Storekeepers and traders walk over a bridge during a protest against the economic conditions and Iran's embattled currency in Tehran on December 29, 2025. (FARS NEWS AGENCY / AFP)

A volunteer member of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was killed in a western province during widening demonstrations sparked by the Islamic Republic’s ailing economy, authorities say, marking the first fatality among security forces during the protests.

The death last night of the 21-year-old volunteer in the Guard’s Basij force may mark the start of a heavier-handed response by Iran’s theocracy over the demonstrations, which have slowed in the capital, Tehran, but expanded to other provinces.

The state-run IRNA news agency reported on the Guard member’s death but did not elaborate. An Iranian news agency called the Student News Network, believed to be close to the Basij, directly blames demonstrators for the Guard member’s death, citing comments from Saeed Pourali, a deputy governor in Iran’s Lorestan province.

The Guard member “was martyred… at the hands of rioters during protests in this city in defense of public order,” he reportedly says. Another 13 Basij members and police officers suffered injuries, he adds.

The protests took place in the city of Kouhdasht, over 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Tehran.

France warns of ‘probable or imminent’ volcanic eruption on Reunion island

A person looks at the eruption of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano on La Reunion island, July 3, 2023. (Richard BOUHET / AFP)

France’s Reunion island warns of the “probable or imminent eruption” of its Piton de la Fournaise volcano, one of the most active in the world.

All access to the volcano has been closed after the The Piton de la Fournaise Observatory detected a “seismic crisis” starting at around 4:47 am (0047 GMT), the island’s prefecture says on X.

“This indicates that magma is leaving the magmatic reservoir and propagating toward the surface,” the observatory says in a statement.

The prefecture declares an Alert Level 1, warning on X that an eruption is “probable or imminent.” It also orders the closure of the volcano’s caldera as of 6 a.m., January 1.

Anti-Zionist Zohran Mamdani sworn in as mayor of New York City

New York State Attorney General Letitia James (left) administers the oath of office to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (center) as his wife Rama Duwaji looks on, January 1, 2026, in New York City. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)

Zohran Mamdani, the young upstart of the US left, is sworn in just after midnight to take over as New York mayor for a four-year term sure to see him cross swords with US President Donald Trump.

The 34-year-old Democrat, an avowed anti-Zionist, took his oath of office at an abandoned subway stop under City Hall just after midnight to take the helm of the United States’ largest city. He will be New York’s first Muslim mayor.

Netanyahu rings in 2026 with Trump at Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve party

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands next to US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at the president's New Year's Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on January 1, 2026. (Screenshot: Instagram, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara are spotted alongside US President Donald Trump at the latter’s New Year’s Eve party at the Mar-a-Lago resort in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump mentioned earlier this week that Netanyahu would be attending the party.

US military strike on suspected drug vessels kills 5; US Coast Guard searching for survivors

The United States Coast Guard is searching for survivors of a US military strike against a convoy of suspected drug vessels in the Pacific Ocean, US officials say.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has carried out more than 30 strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific since September in a campaign that has killed at least 110 people.

In a statement, the US military’s Southern Command says the military had carried out a strike against three vessels.

“Three narco-terrorists aboard the first vessel were killed in the first engagement. The remaining narco-terrorists abandoned the other two vessels, jumping overboard and distancing themselves before follow-on engagements sank their respective vessels,” US Southern Command writes on X.

“A total of five narco-terrorists were killed during these actions – three in the first vessel and two in the second,” it adds.

A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, says eight people had abandoned their vessels and were being searched for.

The Coast Guard tells Reuters it deployed a C-130 aircraft to look for survivors and was working with vessels in the area.

This is not the first time there have been survivors of a US strike under the Trump administration. In October, two survivors were repatriated to their home countries after surviving a US military strike.

The lethal strikes on drug vessels are part of a broader campaign that the Trump administration says is aimed at cutting off the supply of illegal drugs. Legal experts and Democratic lawmakers have questioned the legality of the strikes.

15 injured in explosion in Nazareth; police say cause of blast not immediately clear

Fifteen people have been injured in an explosion in Nazareth, Hebrew media reports, citing the police.

Three of those injured are in serious condition.

The blast occurred at a business in the northern city, and firefighting teams are working at the scene to extinguish the blaze.

The cause of the explosion is not immediately clear.