Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Saturday’s events as they happened.
Fatah vows not to let Hamas ‘replicate its actions’ in West Bank, slams Iran
Palestinians hold yellow Fatah movement flags as they demonstrate in support of the Palestinian security forces in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, December 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party issues a rare statement vowing not to “allow Hamas, which sacrificed the interests of the Palestinian people for Iran and caused destruction in the Gaza Strip, to replicate its actions in the West Bank.”
The statement comes as Fatah seeks to rally public opinion in support of its ongoing security operation in the Jenin refugee camp targeting Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other armed terror groups who have gradually gained prominence in the northern West Bank.
The statement notably calls out not just Hamas, but also Iran, which Fatah accuses of bankrolling the various armed groups throughout the West Bank, particularly the so-called Jenin Brigade.
Fatah tears into Hamas’s decision to launch a war against Israel with its October 7 onslaught, which Abbas’s party says has led to the death or injury of over 200,000 Palestinians and “catastrophic conditions” in the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas is now attempting to stir security chaos in the West Bank, thereby continuing its policy that brought disaster upon the Palestinian people,” Fatah says, appearing to again reject Hamas’s strategy of armed conflict with Israel.
Tel Aviv police scuffle with demonstrators after declaring rally outside army HQ is illegal
Tel Aviv police push anti-government, pro-hostage deal protesters to the sidewalk outside the Begin Road entrance to the IDF headquarters after declaring the demonstration illegal.
Protesters initially ignored police orders, triggering a large shoving match between activists and law enforcement that saw officers drag away at least two people.
Amid the kerfuffle, protesters chant “Ben Gvir is a terrorist,” referring to the far-right national security minister’s convictions on charges of supporting a terror organization and incitement to racism.
Police remove roadblocks and order a resumption of traffic as officers form a human wall in front of the sidewalk to stop protesters from going back on the road.
Some 200 protesters remain from what has been a demonstration of around 1,0000 people that features speeches from several relatives of Hamas hostages.
Former captive Ilana Gritzewsky, whose boyfriend Matan Zangauker is still a hostage, tells the crowd that she’s “lost everything, but I’m here fighting even when it feels impossible.”
“I fight so our soldiers won’t die,” she says, and for “a deal, an end to the war and to revive our nation.”
“Being in Hamas captivity is to reach the depths of fear and humiliation,” she says, adding that she sometimes wakes up screaming from nightmares.
“My greatest fear is not what was, but what will be,” she says. “My fear is that Matan and the other hostages won’t come back to us and my nightmares will be their reality.”
Shai Mozes, nephew of hostage Gadi Mozes and ex-captive Margalit Mozes, says “support for the fight to bring back the hostages should be self-evident.”
However, he continues, “there are people in the State of Israel who fight us and smear us as enemies of the state. We won’t forget them, and won’t forgive.”
“It’s been a year already that considerations such as revenge, settlement and political survival have gained the upper hand over what should be the only consideration — saving the life of Israeli citizens.”
“Military pressure kills the hostages. Withholding humanitarian aid starves the hostages,” he says.
“The only way to bring back all the hostages — the living for rehabilitation, the murdered foe burial — is to end the war,” says Mozes.
Trump envoy returns to Qatar for hostage talks after meeting Netanyahu in Jerusalem
Steve Witkoff arrives at a campaign rally for Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show, October 5, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
US President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is returning to Qatar to participate in the ongoing hostage negotiations after meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, a source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.
Witkoff will be joined by a senior Israeli delegation that Netanyahu has dispatched to join mid-level Israeli negotiators already in Doha, as talks appear to near their peak.
Cops briefly detain clown in mock police uniform at Jerusalem protest
Police arrest clown protester at a hostage families protest in Jerusalem on January 11, 2025. (Jess Flom)
Jerusalem police officers arrest Hashoteret Az-Oolay, a mainstay of the city’s protest scene, outside the prime minister’s residence at a hostage families demonstration.
Decked out in clown makeup and a mock police uniform, Az-Oolay is a frequent face at the hostage families protests, where she hands out heart-shaped stickers to protesters, police and bystanders.
Her arrest incensed nearby demonstrators and the news quickly made its way to the rally’s main stage.
Police just arrested Hashoteret Az-Oolay at the Jerusalem motzash demo and protesters are incensed pic.twitter.com/c6pUsYcNJQ
— charlie summers (@cbsu03) January 11, 2025
Dana, emceeing the rally, lauds Az-Oolay as the “most well-known figure of Jerusalem’s protests.”
“She is a figure of love, giving, acceptance and helping others — and it’s her that the police choose to arrest,” she says to the crowd, which responds with chants of “shame” toward law enforcement.
After around half an hour, the police return her to Paris Square, the location of the rally.
At least 2 detained during anti-government, pro-hostage deal rally in Tel Aviv
Cops detain at least two people at the anti-government, pro-hostage deal protest outside the Begin Road entrance to the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, after demonstrators largely ignored orders to vacate the road and the police’s declaration of the protest as illegal.
Mother of captive soldier calls hostage video a testament to Netanyahu’s ‘ongoing failure’
Shira Albag, mother of captive soldier Liri Albag, speaks during a rally calling for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, January 11, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
During the weekly rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, the mother of captive surveillance soldier Liri Albag addresses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, saying the video Hamas released last week of Liri was a “living testament to your ongoing failure.”
“Have you watched the video?” Shira Albag asks. “Did you sleep well at night?”
She says Liri does not look like herself in the video. “We saw Liri dimmed, afraid, fighting for her life every moment and every minute of the day.”
“Look at her eyes,” she says. “Eyes we know so well. Eyes that scream from inside: ‘Get me out of hell. Don’t forget me.'”
Referring to Youssef and Hamza Ziyadne, whose bodies the IDF recovered from Gaza this week 15 months after they were kidnapped alive, Shira Albag tells Netanyahu that the father and son “survived the depths of hell and were murdered because you didn’t make the right decision in time.”
She adds that hostage negotiations “must not end without a deal to bring Liri and all the hostages home.”
Again addressing Netanyahu, she says: “You have the power, you have the moral authority.”
“The time to act is now,” Shira Albag continues. “Not tomorrow, not in a week. Now!”
Speaking in English, outgoing US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew tells the hundreds-strong crowd that “we join you in the hope that the talks in Doha succeed.”
“The United States demands the release of seven of our hostages, four of whom we know to be dead — now!” Lew declares, saying the last word in Hebrew to applause.
“There could a ceasefire tomorrow, and an end to the suffering of Gazans, if Hamas releases the hostages,” adds Lew.
British Ambassador Simon Walters also speaks, but in Hebrew, drawing on his childhood in war-torn northern Ireland as an example of the sacrifices needed to make peace.
“Every step toward peace was very painful, but that is the only way,” he says.
“Hamas is fully responsible for these crimes, but practically, we know the only way to bring the hostages home is through negotiations,” he says.
Also in Hebrew, German Ambassador Steffen Seibert pledges his government’s support for the hostages.
He calls for an end to the “indescribable suffering of hundreds of thousands of Gazans.”
“I know this is not a popular thing to say” to some in Israel, Seibert says. “But these tragedies are linked.”
IDF announces 4 soldiers killed, 6 wounded during fighting in northern Gaza
Soldiers killed in northern Gaza's Beit Hanoun on January 11, 2025: (L-R) Sgt. Yahav Maayan, Sgt. Maj. (res.) Alexander Fedorenko, Staff Sgt. Danila Diakov, Sgt. Eliav Astuker. (Courtesy)
Four IDF soldiers were killed and six were wounded during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip this morning, the military announces.
The slain troops are named as:
Sgt. Maj. (res.) Alexander Fedorenko, 37, a truck driver in the 14th Armored Brigade’s 79th Battalion, from Bat Yam.
Staff Sgt. Danila Diakov, 21, of the Nahal Brigade’s 931st Battalion, from Maale Adumim.
Sgt. Yahav Maayan, 19, of the Nahal Brigade’s 931st Battalion, from Modiin.
Sgt. Eliav Astuker, 19, of the Nahal Brigade’s 931st Battalion, from Ashdod.
According to an initial IDF probe, the soldiers were hit by an explosive device set off by terror operatives, as well as gunfire in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun.
Among the six wounded troops, two are listed in serious condition.
The IDF has intensified its offensive against Hamas in the far north of the Gaza Strip recently, in an operation that has been ongoing since October. The offensive is now focusing on the Beit Hanoun area, after raids in Jabalia and Beit Lahiya.
Legal scholar tells Tel Aviv rally that proposed changes will make judiciary ‘a little Knesset’
Legal scholar Barak Medina tells some 1,000 anti-government protesters in Tel Aviv that the agreement reached this week between Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar regarding changes to the Judicial Selection Committee will “destroy the judiciary as an independent branch of government,” making it “nothing more than a little Knesset” in which judges are appointed for their political positions.
It may not have been a coincidence, he asserts, that Levin and Sa’ar’s ceremonious announcement of the agreement Thursday coincided with the eve of the Tenth of Tevet, a Jewish fast day marking the start of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem that led to the destruction of the First Temple in the sixth century BCE.
Medina is a former Hebrew University rector now representing 112 hostage relatives in a petition to the High Court accusing the government of denying the captives’ basic rights by failing to secure their release. Speaking at Tel Aviv’s Begin-Kaplan Junction, also known as Democracy Square, he says “the High Court is almost the last remaining recourse for the hostages” and their families, citing “the petition to make [the court] order the government to explain the abandonment” of the hostages.
He says the government has no mandate to overhaul the judiciary and should devote its time only to ending the war in Gaza, pulling out of the Strip and bringing back the hostages.
Limor Livnat, a stalwart-turned-critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, also slams the Sa’ar and Levin agreement.
“How wonderful,” she says acidly. “The coalition is able to agree with itself. They may yet agree to cancel the elections.”
Reading out a litany of provocative statements by Likud ministers this week, the ex-minister says “no ministers are dealing with their offices’ affairs, the cost of living is soaring and 80,000 citizens have left the country — doctors and tech workers.”
“And we haven’t even said a word about the convicted felon who is making a mockery of Netantahu and all of us, [National Security Minister] Itamar Ben Gvir.”
“[Former Prime Ministers] Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir — the fathers of the party I grew up in, which I served my entire life to better the country and its citizens — are turning in their graves,” Livnat adds.
“Better days are coming,” she continues.”We’re not going anywhere — we’re going to win.”
The Democracy Square rally features singer Dana Berger performing her aptly named 1998 hit “Waiting for Him.” She says the previous time she performed there was during the last weekend of anti-government protests before Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking the war in Gaza.
The rally ends in time for participants to join anti-government hostage families protesting for a hostage deal down the block, in front of the Begin Road entrance to IDF headquarters. In tandem, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum holds a rally at Hostages Square, a block away.
Hamas publishes propaganda video following ex-hostage’s plea for sign of life from husband
David Cunio was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)
The Hamas terror group issues a propaganda video after former hostage Sharon Cunio earlier this week published an Arabic video urging her husband David’s captors to send a video showing that he is still alive.
The Hamas video does not show signs of life of David Cunio, or any information regarding his current wellbeing.
Rather, the terror group shows an older clip with Sharon, David, and one of their children in Gaza in the early days of the war, along with text mocking her request.
Israel says Hamas’s hostage videos are deplorable psychological warfare.
Demanding hostage deal, demonstrators march through Jerusalem to PM’s home
Hundreds of demonstrators demanding a hostage deal are marching in downtown Jerusalem to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home.
The protest takes place as the premier sends a delegation of high-level negotiators to Qatar, to reach a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas.
“I have just one thing to say to you, to the government and prime minister — don’t return without a deal,” says Itamar, a protest organizer, before marchers set out from Zion Square.
Police are redirecting traffic on King George Street as protesters continue to Paris Square, where they will hear speeches from hostage family members.
Trump envoy said to tell Netanyahu that president-elect wants hostage deal by Jan. 20
Former US president Donald Trump (left) hosts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Florida, July 26, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting today that the US president-elect wants a hostage deal by his inauguration on January 20, according to Hebrew media reports.
Channel 12 news says that Witkoff stressed both sides must show flexibility to get an agreement across the finish line.
Gantz says open to discussing judicial proposal if it’s not ‘a prelude’ to revived overhaul
Leader of the National Unity Party MK Benny Gantz leads a faction meeting of the party at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on December 16, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)
While National Unity chairman Benny Gantz believes Israel should remain focused on winning the current war, Gantz says he is willing to discuss Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s proposed changes to the judicial system.
“To carry out a broad and correct reform in the judicial system that will strengthen democracy, broad agreements are needed, time is needed and, above all, trust is needed,” Gantz says in a lengthy video statement, arguing such changes are “not something that should be done in a hurry during wartime.”
Despite his reservations, Gantz says that many disagree with him while calling for talks on the issue between coalition and opposition representatives.
However, he continues, several conditions must be met before any talks can be held, including the selection of a new Supreme Court president and “stopping all proposals that harm democracy in the current Knesset.”
“The coalition must commit that the government will stop all moves for regime changes and initiatives that harm the judicial system,” including the current push to fire the attorney general, he declares.
“Ministers in the government will uphold court rulings or be fired,” Gantz continues. “Our goal in striving for agreements is to stop the rift in the nation, provide peace, and deal with urgent issues for the country, and not turn it into a prelude to a return to a coup d’état.”
Netanyahu dispatches top negotiators to Doha talks after meeting defense brass, Trump envoy
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets US President-elect Donald Trump's Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff at his office in Jerusalem, January 11, 2025. (Prime Minister's Office Spokesperson)
After holding a situation assessment on hostage talks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decides to send Mossad chief David Barnea, IDF hostage point man Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, and his political advisor Ophir Falk to Doha to join efforts to reach a deal with Hamas, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Netanyahu was joined at the meeting by Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israel’s security chiefs, and negotiators from the Biden and Trump administrations. He met with Trump’s incoming US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff in Jerusalem earlier in the day.
Hostage families urge deal that will return all the captives, end war in Gaza
Relatives of hostages held in Gaza deliver weekly remarks to the press outside IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, amid a push to reach a ceasefire deal for the release as a new US administration is set to take office.
“It’s clear to us at this very moment that those unwilling to end the war will try to thwart the deal. Netanyahu said the time is ripe to release everyone, but he’s refusing to do the only thing to bring them back and that’s ending the war,” says Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan was taken captive during the Hamas-led October 2023 attack that started the ongoing war.
She adds: “Imagine the moment when the end of the war and the return of all the hostages is declared. Imagine the happiness among the nation, the joy in the streets, the citizens celebrating the sanctity of life and mutual responsibility.”
Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of slain hostage Yoram Metzger, urges a deal that will free the hostages and end the war.
“Instead of the hostages returning alive, we are receiving the captives in body bags. Only in Israel is total failure sold as ‘a heroic operation,'” Metzger says. “We don’t want you to send more soldiers who lose their lives while extracting bodies. We don’t want more soldiers to fall in a pointless war.”
“How much more blood must be spilled for Netanyahu’s personal interests, for messianic delusions at the expense of the the hostages and soldiers?”
Several said hurt in settler attack on Palestinian town in West Bank
The Palestinian Authority’s Wafa news agency reports several injuries after dozens of masked settlers allegedly attacked residents and property in the West Bank town of Turmus Ayya.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF, which Army Radio reports dispatched troops to the scene to end rock-throwing between the sides.
כ-50 מתנחלים, חלקם חמושים באלות, ירדו לכפר הפלסטיני תורמוסעיא ויידו אבנים לעברו, כ-70 פלסטינים יידו לעברם אבנים וזיקוקים – לא ידוע על נפגעים; כוח צה''ל הגיע למקום והפסיק את יידוי האבנים, אין עצורים@Doron_Kadosh pic.twitter.com/gDre08Gn3c
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) January 11, 2025
Israeli official denies ‘significant progress’ made in Doha hostage talks
An Israeli official denies that there’s been a breakthrough in the hostage deal talks following reports in Qatar’s al-Araby al-Jadeed that the terms of a deal have been agreed on by the teams in Doha, and in Kan news that there’s been progress in the talks.
“There is no significant progress,” the official tells The Times of Israel.
IDF releases footage showing gunmen using West Bank mosques to attack troops
The IDF releases footage showing how Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank have used mosques to launch attacks on Israeli troops and carry out other terror activities.
“Time and time again, the IDF detects terror activity by terrorists at civilian infrastructures, including mosques, hospitals and clinics, and educational institutions,” the military says in a statement.
In a first example, the IDF says that during a raid in Jenin on November 19, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on troops from within a mosque in the city.
The following morning, the military says troops returned to the mosque to search it, where they found on its bottom floor a shooting range and training area, as well as firing positions and observation posts.
“Dozens of shell casings from the shooting that took place the night before were found near every window in the mosque,” the IDF says.
During the same operation in November, the IDF says a drone identified a large group of gunmen opening fire at troops from outside another mosque in Jenin.
In a separate raid in Tulkarem on December 25, the military says a drone spotted terror operatives hurling explosive devices at troops from the roof of a mosque in the city.
Footage released by the IDF on January 11, 2025, showing the use of mosques in the West Bank by Palestinian gunmen. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF says drone strike ‘removed threat’ from Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon
The IDF says it carried out a drone strike earlier today in southern Lebanon after spotting several Hezbollah operatives leaving a building known to be used by the terror group.
The strike hit the operatives “to remove a threat,” the military says.
According to Lebanese media, the strike was carried out in the village of Kounine. Lebanon’s health ministry reports two wounded in the strike.
#عاجل |
إذاعة الجيش الإسرائيلي: سلاح الجو نفذ قبل قليل غارة على بلدة كونين جنوبي لبنان#south24 pic.twitter.com/7Jt9Xoyo4m— South24 | عربي (@South24_net) January 11, 2025
Trump’s Ukraine envoy attends Iranian opposition event in Paris
Keith Kellogg, AFPI Co-Chair of the Center for American Security, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee full committee hearing on the conflict in Ukraine, February 28, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
PARIS — US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg is in Paris, attending an event at Paris-based Iranian opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), according to TV footage carried by the group.
Retired Lieutenant-General Kellogg, who is set to serve as Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, postponed a trip to European capitals earlier this month until after Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
He has previously spoken at NCRI events, most recently in November, but his presence in Paris, even if in a personal capacity, suggests the group has the ear of the new US administration.
Lebanese army says completing deployment in western sector of south Lebanon after IDF withdraws
The Lebanese army says it is completing its deployment of troops to the western sector of southern Lebanon, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
In a post on X, the Lebanese Armed Forces says it is deploying to the border towns and villages of Naqoura, Aalma ash-Shaab, Dhayra, Aitaroun, Bint Jbeil, Tayr Harfa, Majdal Zoun, Salhani, and Qouzah.
The LAF says it is working to strengthen its positions in the area, in coordination with UNIFIL and a five-member committee supervising the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
The LAF also warns locals to not approach the area until engineering units have scanned the towns and cleared them of unexploded ordnance and other debris.
تستكمل وحدات الجيش الانتشار في رأس الناقورة – صور وبلدات في القطاع الغربي علما الشعب، الضهيرة، عيترون، بنت جبيل، طيرحرفا، مجدل زون، الصالحني والقوزح بعد انسحاب العدو الإسرائيلي، وتعمل على تعزيز التمركز وتأمين النقاط المهمة، بالتنسيق مع قوة الأمم المتحدة المؤقتة في لبنان –… pic.twitter.com/61q04Sw5zS
— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) January 11, 2025
The IDF is still deployed to some areas of southern Lebanon, and has until the end of the month to withdraw under the ceasefire agreement.
IDF to remain along Philadelphi Route until end of ceasefire’s last phase — report
Israeli soldiers patrol along the Philadelphi corridor in the Gaza Strip on September 13, 2024. (Sharon ARONOWICZ / AFP)
A senior source in Hamas tells the Qatari outlet al-Araby al-Jadeed that the framework of a ceasefire-hostage deal between Israel and the Palestinian terror group has been completed, with mediators now waiting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval before announcing the agreement.
The outlet also reports that under the deal, Israel would not fully withdraw from the Philadelphi Route along the Gaza-Egypt border until the last day of the agreement’s final phase, after gradually pulling out forces during the earlier two stages.
Denmark said to send Trump private messages about boosting US military presence in Greenland
Denmark sent private messages to US President-elect Donald Trump’s team expressing willingness to discuss boosting security in Greenland or increasing the US military presence there without claiming the island, Axios reports, citing two sources.
Trump, who takes office on January 20, has described US control of Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, as an “absolute necessity.” He did not dismiss the potential use of military or economic means, including tariffs against Denmark.
Axios says that the Danish government wants to convince Trump that his security concerns can be addressed without claiming Greenland.
A spokesperson for the Trump transition team doesn’t respond to a request for comment on the Axios report.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said earlier this week that she had asked for a meeting with Trump, but did not expect it to happen before his inauguration. Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede too said he was ready to speak with Trump but urged respect for the island’s independence aspirations.
Denmark has previously said that Greenland is not for sale.
IDF carries out drone strike on Hamas cell operating out of former school in northern Gaza’s Jabalia
The IDF says it carried out a drone strike a short while ago against a group of Hamas operatives operating out of a former school in northern Gaza’s Jabalia.
According to the military, the Hamas operatives were using the Halawa School building to plan and carry out attacks against troops in Gaza and against Israel.
Palestinian media say the complex was serving as a shelter for displaced Gazans, and the strike killed at least eight people, including two children, and wounded over 30 others.
The IDF says it took “numerous steps” to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, including by using a precision munition, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.
Lebanese PM visits Damascus in first such visit since Syrian civil war erupted in 2011
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), shows Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati (L) shaking hands with Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa before their meeting in Damascus on January 11, 2025. (SANA/AFP)
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrives in Damascus, on the first such visit since before civil war broke out in Syria in 2011.
His visit comes as the neighboring countries seek better relations after Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad last month.
Mikati tells a news conference with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus that the two countries will work together to secure the land borders and address the delineation of land and sea borders.
The visit comes days after Lebanese lawmakers elected the country’s army chief Joseph Aoun as president, ending a more than two-year vacancy.
Report: High-level delegation to Doha, if okayed, to include Mossad, Shin Bet chiefs, IDF point man on hostage deal
Ronen Bar (left), head of the Shin Bet security services, speaks with Mossad chief David Barnea during the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem, May 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
A senior Israeli official is quoted as saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to decide this evening whether the progress made in hostage talks in Qatar today justifies sending a high-level delegation to Doha to try to close a deal with the Hamas terror group.
Israeli journalist Barak Ravid reports that the delegation would include Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, the IDF’s point man in the negotiations for a hostage-ceasefire deal in Doha.
Source confirms Netanyahu set to meet Trump’s Mideast envoy in Jerusalem today
President-elect Donald Trump speaks as Steve Witkoff listens, during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, January 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP/ Evan Vucci)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet incoming US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff in Jerusalem today, a source familiar the meeting confirms to The Times of Israel.
Witkoff, US President-elect Donald Trump’s designated point person on the Middle East, met with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha yesterday, who briefed him on the ongoing hostage negotiations that the Gulf state is mediating between Israel and Hamas.
The meetings come amid cautious optimism in Washington that a deal could be cinched before Trump takes office on January 20, though mediators have reportedly downplayed claims of progress in the efforts to free Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian terror group in Gaza and end the ongoing war.
Pro-Palestinian event in Denmark axes speaker from group that files war crimes complaints on IDF soldiers
A Pro-Palestinian conference in Denmark cancels the participation of an anti-Israel group that works to file complaints against IDF soldiers for alleged war crimes.
In a post on X, the Hind Rajab Foundation says its representative was already in Copenhagen to attend the European Palestinian Network Conference, where he was set to join a panel discussion.
“Mr. Haroon Raza traveled to Copenhagen to represent the HRF, but moments ago, the organization informed him that the Hind Rajab Foundation’s participation was canceled due to information disseminated in the Israeli press, falsely linking us to resistance movements in Lebanon and Palestine,” the group writes.
There is no official statement from the conference organizers on the cancellation.
The organization, which proclaims in the post that its “sole mission remains the pursuit of justice and accountability for the victims and perpetrators of this ongoing genocide,” is named after six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed in Gaza in January.
Her death was blamed on the IDF, but an initial probe conducted by the army said that there were no troops in the area at the time.
Hebrew media reported this week that Israeli authorities are aware of at least 12 such cases in which complaints have been filed abroad against IDF soldiers accusing them of war crimes in Gaza.
Netanyahu ready to give Mossad chief green light to fly to Doha tonight for hostage talks — reports
Mossad chief David Barnea attends a state ceremony marking the anniversary of the Hamas October 7 attack, at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leaning toward giving Mossad chief David Barnea the green light to travel to Doha tonight to join talks to secure a deal to free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, according to Hebrew media reports.
Channel 13 news quotes two sources involved in the negotiations as saying that Netanyahu’s likely decision comes amid “general cautious progress” in the talks with mediators in Qatar.
A senior Israeli official says the high-level delegation will depart in the next 24 hours if Netanyahu decides to give the go-ahead, the network adds.
The report notes that Hamas has still not provided a list of living hostages to Israel.
Israeli analyst Ben Caspit cites sources close to the mediators as saying that Barnea has already been given the green light to travel to Qatar.
“He will leave in the coming hours or Saturday night. Unless there is a last-minute change, of course,” Caspit writes in a post on X.
The reports come after officials in Washington expressed cautious optimism yesterday about the prospects of closing a hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza before the end of US President Joe Biden’s term. CIA Director William Burns assessed the ongoing negotiations in Doha as “quite serious,” while White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said he believes a hostage deal is possible before January 20.
Hebrew media has reported that the Mossad chief joining the talks is a key sign of real progress towards closing a deal to free 94 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 still held in Gaza.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
Syrian authorities foil Islamic State plot on shrine in Damascus — state media
Syria’s Intelligence Directorate has foiled an attempt by the Islamic State to target the Sayeda Zinab shrine in the capital Damascus, state news agency Sana reports.
It says members of the cell were arrested before they were able to carry out an attack.
Settlers said to raid Palestinian village in West Bank in fourth such incident this week
Israeli settlers reportedly raid a Palestinian village in the West Bank, in at least the fourth such violent incident this week.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa says a young man was shot in the foot during clashes with both the settlers and Israeli security forces in the village of Yatma, south of Nablus.
Unverified footage posted to social media appears to show settlers and Palestinian youths throwing rocks at each other.
There is no immediate comment from Israeli security forces.
The string of reported attacks apparently come in revenge for a terror shooting early this week in which Palestinian gunmen killed two elderly women and an off-duty cop and wounded at least eight others in the area.
عاجل | مواجهات عنيفة من النقطة صفر بين الشبان ومليشيات المستوطنين في قرية يتما جنوب نابلس. pic.twitter.com/InqIhw1Cvx
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) January 11, 2025
WATCH: IDF footage shows drone strike on terror operatives in northern Gaza
The IDF releases footage showing a drone strike on terror operatives during operations in northern Gaza’s Jabalia.
According to the military, troops of the Givati Brigade operating a drone spotted three gunmen approaching the forces and hiding in a building.
In the clip published by the IDF, one of the gunmen can be seen in the building.
All three operatives were killed in a drone strike and gunfire by the Givati troops, according to the military.
Inside the building, the IDF says the troops later found a tunnel shaft that had been used by the operatives.
IRGC claims to arrest spy cell gathering intelligence for a Persian Gulf country — Iranian media
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claims to have arrested a cell of spies on suspicion of gathering intelligence on sensitive sites for one of the Persian Gulf countries, according to a statement cited by Iranian media.
Tehran regularly announces arrests of individuals suspected of serving as operatives collaborating with Israel, the US, and sometimes Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but the veracity of such claims is unclear.
IDF says one rocket fired from Gaza at Kerem Shalom border area intercepted; no injuries reported
One rocket launched from the southern Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom area was intercepted by air defenses, the military says.
Sirens had sounded in the border community of Kerem Shalom amid the attack.
There are no reports of injuries or damage.
Report: US envoy Hochstein guaranteed Israel will withdraw from southern Lebanon before January 26
US special envoy Amos Hochstein addresses a press conference after meeting with Lebanese interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in Beirut on January 6, 2025. (Ibrahim Amro/AFP)
A Hezbollah-aligned newspaper claims US envoy Amos Hochstein said Washington guarantees that Israel will fully withdraw from southern Lebanon before the 60-day deadline stipulated in the November 27 truce that halted 14 months of fighting between the two sides.
According to the Lebanon-based Al-Akhbar newspaper, Hochstein made the promise when he was in Beirut earlier this week.
The US envoy was also reportedly updated on an agreement between the Lebanese military and the Iran-backed terror group on Hezbollah pulling its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border — and dismantling any remaining military infrastructure in the south, as stipulated by the ceasefire agreement.
Under the terms of the deal that Hochstein helped to broker, the Lebanese army is to deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdraws.
Agencies contributed to this report.
IDF says rocket sirens in southern city of Sderot near Gaza border were false alarms
The IDF says rocket sirens that sounded a few minutes ago in the southern city of Sderot were false alarms.
Alerts are also sounded in other communities near the border with the Gaza Strip.
Kyiv says Russia launched 74 drones at Ukraine overnight; most downed; no casualties reported
KYIV – Russia launched 74 drones at Ukraine overnight, Kyiv’s air force says in a statement early this morning, adding it had downed 47 of them, while 27 others disappeared from radars without reaching their targets.
The Ukrainian air force says buildings and vehicles in seven different regions have been damaged by falling debris from downed drones, but that no casualties were reported.
Biden slams ‘really shameful’ Meta decision to scrap US fact-checking on Facebook, Instagram
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Joe Biden blasts Meta for scrapping fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram in the United States, calling the move “really shameful” after a global network warned of real-world harm if the tech giant expands its decision to other countries.
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg triggered alarm earlier this week when he announced the Palo Alto company was ditching third-party fact-checking in the United States and turning over the task of debunking falsehoods to ordinary users under a model known as “Community Notes,” popularized by X.
The decision was widely seen as an attempt to appease US President-elect Donald Trump, whose conservative support base has long complained that fact-checking on tech platforms was a way to curtail free speech and censor right-wing content.
“I think it’s really shameful,” Biden tells reporters at the White House when asked about the announcement.
“Telling the truth matters,” he says, adding that the move was “completely contrary to everything America’s about.”
The International Fact-Checking Network has warned of devastating consequences if Meta broadens its policy shift beyond US borders to the company’s programs covering more than 100 countries.
South Korea says black boxes on Jeju Air jet stopped recording four minutes before deadly crash
Fire and smoke rise from the tail section of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft after the plane crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province, some 288 kilometers southwest of Seoul, on December 29, 2024. (Yonhap/AFP)
SEOUL – The black boxes holding the flight data and cockpit voice recorders for the crashed Jeju Air flight that left 179 people dead stopped recording four minutes before the disaster, South Korea’s transport ministry says.
The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Thailand to Muan, South Korea, on December 29 carrying 181 passengers and crew when it belly-landed at the Muan airport and exploded in a fireball after slamming into a concrete barrier.
“The analysis revealed that both the CVR and FDR data were not recorded during the four minutes leading up to the aircraft’s collision with the localizer,” the transport ministry says in a statement, referring to the two recording devices.
The localizer is a barrier at the end of the runway that helps with aircraft landings and was blamed for exacerbating the crash’s severity.
The damaged flight data recorder had been deemed unrecoverable for data extraction by South Korean authorities, who sent it to the United States for analysis at the US National Transportation Safety Board laboratory.
But it appears that the boxes holding clues to the flight’s final moments experienced data loss, leaving authorities trying to find out what happened.
South Korean and US investigators are still probing the cause of the crash.
Australian PM condemns ‘vile graffiti’ on second Sydney synagogue in two days
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemns antisemitic graffiti drawn on a Sydney synagogue this morning, asserting that those responsible “should face the full force of the law.”
“The vile graffiti we’ve seen overnight, including at the Newtown Synagogue, is abhorrent and needs to stop immediately. Australia is a better place than this,” he says in a statement on X.
Police said earlier today that a house in Sydney’s east, a hub of the city’s Jewish community, was also daubed with antisemitic graffiti and that they were also probing offensive comments on a street poster in the suburb of Marrickville.
“We made it illegal to use Nazi and other hate symbols because there’s no place in Australia for antisemitism. The people that committed these crimes should face the full force of the law.”
Photos from Newtown Synagogue show swastikas spray painted in red across the front of the building.
Another day, another Synagogue in Australia graffitied with swastikas.
But this is just any Synagogue, it’s my dear friend Rabbi Eli Feldman’s synagogue in Newtown.
This is an absolute antisemitic pandemic in Australia. The @AlboMP has utterly abandoned the Jewish community. pic.twitter.com/gQlFzmWSz6
— Arsen Ostrovsky ????️ (@Ostrov_A) January 11, 2025
Eisenkot says IDF chief Halevi should resign: ‘Won’t be forgiven’ for October 7
Incoming IDF Southern Command chief Herzl Halevi (L) at a ceremony in Beersheba on June 6, 2018 which Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot. (IDF)
Opposition National Unity MK Gadi Eisenkot says IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi should resign, along with “those who had a role on October 7, from division commanders and their counterparts to the prime minister.”
Speaking with Channel 13 news, Eisenkot says he “differentiates between those who were elected and those appointed.” While praising Halevi, Eisenkot — himself a former chief of staff — says the currently military chief “will not be forgiven” for the “giant failure” of October 7.
Report: Hamas agreed unresolved issues can be pushed off until later phase of ceasefire
Smoke rises following an explosion in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, January 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
A Hamas source tells the Qatari newspaper al-Araby al-Jadeed that the terror group has agreed to put off several unresolved points of contention with Israel until a later phase of the proposed ceasefire-for-hostage deal, if the next stages are implemented without delay and as required.
The source says Egyptian, Qatari and American mediators backed Hamas’s latest message to Israel in the negotiations, and that Cairo showed flexibility about agreeing to have the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Philadelphi Route along the Gaza-Egypt border take place at a later stage.
Additionally, the source says that since talks began, they are now “at the closest point [yet] to completing the agreement,” adding that Hamas and mediators are expecting a response from Israel to the Palestinian terrorist organization’s proposal in the coming hours. Israel has maintained it won’t agree to any ceasefire that prevents it from resuming fighting, as the three-phase deal would ultimately require.
Sydney synagogue defaced with antisemitic graffiti, day after another synagogue vandalized
SYDNEY — A synagogue in Sydney was daubed in antisemitic graffiti, police say on Saturday, a day after the antisemitic vandalism of a separate synagogue in the New South Wales state capital.
Australia has seen a series of antisemitic incidents in the last year, including graffiti on buildings and cars in Sydney, as well as an arson attack on a synagogue in Melbourne that police have ruled as terrorism.
In the latest incident, police say they were notified of graffiti on the synagogue, in the inner suburb of Newtown, early Saturday.
A house in Sydney’s east, a hub of the city’s Jewish community, was also daubed with antisemitic graffiti, police say, adding they are also probing offensive comments on a street poster in the suburb of Marrickville.
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