The Times of Israel liveblogged Friday’s events as they unfolded.
Iran’s shutdown of the internet, which activists fear is aimed at masking the true scale of a deadly crackdown on protests by the regime, has now lasted over eight days, says a monitor.
“Iran is in hour 192 of a national internet blackout imposed by the regime after protests spread to multiple cities,” says Netblocks.
“Though news is limited due to the information vacuum, reports indicate thousands have been killed in the subsequent crackdown,” the monitor says.
“The total internet blackout in Iran now exceeds the core duration of the 2019 shutdown, and there is still no partial or regional restoration,” says Netblocks. “In 2019, it was only after connectivity was restored that the scale of the brutal crackdown became known.”
A French prosecutor seeks a one-year jail term for an Iranian woman accused of promoting terrorism online in a case linked to a possible prisoner swap with two French citizens.
Judgment in the case is expected on February 26.
Mahdieh Esfandiari, a 39-year-old Iranian, was arrested in France in February on charges of promoting and inciting terrorism on social media.
The arrest was over comments she is said to have made, including some on Palestinian terror group Hamas attacking Israel on October 7, 2023, according to French authorities.
She is accused of having written posts for a channel called “Axis of the Resistance” in 2023 and 2024 on platforms including Telegram, X, Twitch and YouTube.
She was released after some eight months in pre-trial detention in October pending her trial, which started Tuesday. It was scheduled long before the latest protests erupted in Iran.
The prosecutor requests a four-year jail term, including three years suspended, for Esfandiari, but says it would not be necessary for her to be re-incarcerated.
Esfandiari, who has translated into French works from a publisher linked to the Iranian authorities, told the court she had been involved with the “Axis of the Resistance” project, but had not written its posts.
Of the October 7 Hamas attack in 2023, she said: “It’s not an act of terrorism, it’s an act of resistance.”
Before this week’s trial, Iran’s authorities had already said they would be willing to exchange Esfandiari for two French citizens they are holding.
Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris were arrested in Iran in May 2022, but were freed in November after more than three years in prison on espionage charges their families vehemently denied.
They were immediately taken by French diplomats to France’s mission in Tehran, but are still waiting to leave Iran.
The European Union’s aviation regulator urges the bloc’s airlines to avoid flying in Iran’s airspace.
“The presence and possible use of a wide range of weapons and air-defense systems, combined with unpredictable state responses …. creates a high risk to civil flights operating at all altitudes and flight levels,” the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) says in a bulletin on potential conflict zones.
With ongoing tensions and the potential for US military action, which has placed Iranian air defense forces on a heightened state of alert, there is an increased likelihood of misidentification within Iranian airspace, the advisory says.
A senior officer who served under former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Herzi Halevi was questioned under caution yesterday on suspicion of passing details of the Bild leak affair investigation to the Prime Minister’s Office, Channel 12 news reports.
Aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are suspected of leaking classified intelligence to the German tabloid in the summer of 2024 in order to influence Israeli public opinion over hostage negotiations with Hamas.
Channel 12 says the officer was questioned on suspicion of leaking to Netanyahu’s chief of staff Tzachi Braverman that an investigation was underway, and is suspected of passing a list of names to the PMO of those suspected of leaking the documents to Bild.
The report says the individual now serves in a senior and sensitive position in the IDF. His home was searched, and his cellphone was seized, the outlet says.
Halevi, who led the military at the time that the classified documents were leaked, was questioned on Wednesday by investigators. He is not a suspect in the affair and was not questioned under caution, according to Hebrew media reports.
Channel 12 says Halevi told the investigators that while the unnamed officer was the pointman with the PMO and in contact with Braverman, he does not believe that the officer leaked information.
The Bild affair was triggered by the execution of six Israeli hostages at the hands of their Hamas captors, when Israeli troops approached the tunnel where they were located in the southern Gaza city of Rafah at the end of August 2024.
The execution sparked massive public uproar against the government, which critics saw as the obstacle in ceasefire negotiations due to Netanyahu’s perceived prioritization of an amorphous “total victory” over Hamas at the expense of hostages’ lives.
Israel believes that US President Donald Trump may still take military action against Iran, according to two unsourced Hebrew-language media reports.
Channel 12 news says the prospect of action is still on the table, while the Kan public broadcaster says a potential decision by the US president to order strikes would be dependent on the outcome of diplomatic efforts.
According to Kan, Israel believes that if the aim of potential action is to overthrow the Iranian regime, the US does not have sufficient military assets in the region.
Trump has suggested that he called off a strike against Iran over the regime’s crackdown on protesters after an alleged decision by Tehran not to execute 800 protesters.
Harsh repression that has left several thousand people dead appears to have succeeded in stifling demonstrations that began Dec. 28 over Iran’s ailing economy and morphed into protests directly challenging the country’s theocracy.
AP contributed to this report.
Former CENTCOM chief Michael Erik Kurilla says that if the Iranian regime were to fall or be taken down, care would need to be taken not to “create something even worse.”
Kurilla tells the Israeli American Council (IAC) National Summit in Florida that military action alone will not be enough to “deliver the goods” and that it needs to be joint action by the military, political, diplomatic and economic wings of government.
“It needs to be the whole of government and candidly, it needs to be an international effort,” he says.
Kurilla’s tenure as CENTCOM chief, which ended in August, saw intense cooperation with Israel, including action against Iran.
US President Donald Trump indicates Iran’s alleged decision to cancel the planned execution of 800 protesters is what convinced him not to attack Iran.
Trump is asked by reporters outside the White House if Arab and Israeli officials convinced him not to strike Iran, as has been reported.
“Nobody convinced me. I convinced myself. You had yesterday scheduled over 800 hangings. They didn’t hang anyone. They canceled the hangings. That had a big impact,” Trump responds.
This appears to be the closest Trump has come to suggesting that he called off a strike against Iran over the regime’s crackdown on protesters.
Earlier in the month, he had pledged to strike Iran if it killed protesters, which it has reportedly done to the tune of several thousand.
But on Wednesday, Trump announced that he had been informed by Iran that the killing of protesters had stopped and on Thursday, the White House claimed that 800 executions planned for Wednesday had been called off.
It’s unclear whether Trump misspoke just now when he said the executions had been planned for Thursday, and not Wednesday as press secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday.
Iran had not publicized plans to execute 800 protesters.
US President Donald Trump thanks Iran’s leadership, saying Tehran called off the executions of hundreds of protesters arrested in a brutal crackdown.
“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” Trump writes on his Truth Social network.
Earlier this week, Trump told Iranian protesters that “help is on its way,” but since then appears to have backed away from taking military action against the Islamic Republic.
The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group has verified that 3,428 protesters have been killed by security forces.
That toll is based on cases IHR has verified itself or via two independent sources. It also includes data received from sources within the health ministry for January 8 to 12, the organization said in a recent report.
The organization warns the toll is likely much higher, but the lack of access to information due to the internet blackout imposed on January 8 has severely hampered verification.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone call on Iran yesterday, Axios reports.
The call was the second time the two leaders spoke in two days, the outlet says.
Axios says the White House and the Prime Minister’s Office both declined to comment.
During the first call, Netanyahu reportedly asked Trump to delay potential plans for an American strike on Iran so that Israel could have more time to prepare for any potential retaliation by Tehran.
Trump threatened to strike Iran over its mass killings of protesters in anti-regime demonstrations, but has since then appeared to back away from taking military action.
Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel and US military bases in the Middle East if attacked.
Senior officials from American allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Egypt have also been urging the Trump administration not to attack Iran.
The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group says it has verified that 3,428 protesters have been killed by security forces.
That toll is based on cases IHR has verified itself or via two independent sources. It also includes data received from sources within the health ministry for January 8 to 12, the organization said in a recent report.
The organization warns the toll is likely much higher, but the lack of access to information due to the internet blackout imposed on January 8 has severely hampered verification.
AFP contributed to this report.
The United Nations Human Rights Council should hold an urgent session to discuss the “alarming violence” in Iran, several countries urge.
In a letter addressed to the council’s president, Britain, Germany, Iceland, Moldova and North Macedonia request that the UN’s top rights body “hold a special session to address the deteriorating human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“A special session is needed because of the importance and urgency of the situation,” reads the letter, seen by AFP.
It highlights “credible reports of alarming violence, crackdowns on protesters and violations of international human rights law across the country.”
The request, which requires the backing of at least a third of the council’s 47 members to go through, is made as Iran reeled from some of the biggest anti-government protests in its history, and a crackdown that monitors said had left thousands dead.
The demonstrations appeared to have subsided Friday in the face of the harsh repression and a week-long internet blackout.
The UN Security Council in New York met on Thursday to discuss the situation in Iran.
There had already been broad support among rights council members for the special session request, a source close to the matter tells AFP.
Countries have been given until Monday to back the requested session, for which no date has yet been set.
Five anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian activists plead not guilty to breaking into a British military air base and damaging two planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The five are accused of breaking into the Brize Norton Royal Air Force base in central England in June and spraying red paint over two Voyager aircraft used for refueling and transport.
Campaign group Palestine Action, which has since been banned by the UK government, said it was behind the incident.
Lewie Chiaramello, Jon Cink, Amy Gardiner-Gibson – also known as Amu Gib, Daniel Jeronymides-Norie and Muhammad Umer Khalid appear at London’s Old Bailey court by videolink from prison.
They plead not guilty to damaging property and entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the interests or safety of the UK.
Their trial is due to start in January 2027.
Britain’s crime commissioner for the West Midlands says the region’s police chief will retire following mounting criticism for the force’s recommendation to ban soccer fans of Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv from attending a game at Aston Villa last year, which was based on erroneous and AI-generated information.
The ban caused a diplomatic dispute, coming shortly after an antisemitic attack that killed two men at a synagogue in northwest England and when tensions were high because of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Chief constable Craig Guildford’s immediate retirement followed his force’s recommendation for a ban on away fans from the Europa League match in central England, police and crime commissioner Simon Foster says.
His retirement comes just days after interior minister Shabana Mahmood said she no longer had confidence in him after a report by the police watchdog.
“The findings of the Chief Inspector were damning. They set out a catalogue of failings that have harmed trust in West Midlands Police,” Mahmood says in a statement following the announcement. “By stepping down, Craig Guildford has done the right thing today.”
The Trump administration issues fresh sanctions further targeting the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen and the transfer of oil products, weapons and other so-called dual-use equipment that it says helped fund the group.
The action targets 21 individuals and entities as well as one vessel, including some alleged front companies in Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control says in a statement.
“The Houthis threaten the United States by committing acts of terror and attacking commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says in the statement.
The move builds on previous US Treasury action to pressure the Houthis’ “vast revenue generation and smuggling networks, which enable the group to sustain its capability to conduct destabilizing regional activities,” including the Red Sea attacks, the department adds.
The Houthis — whose slogan calls for “Death to America, Death to Israel, [and] a Curse on the Jews” — began attacking Israel and maritime traffic in November 2023, a month after the October 7 Hamas massacre in southern Israel.
Tehran’s regional sway has been weakened by Israel’s attacks on its terror proxies in the region.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The son of Iran’s late shah says he is confident the Islamic Republic will fall in the face of mass protests and calls for intervention.
“The Islamic Republic will fall — not if, but when,” Reza Pahlavi tells a news conference in Washington, DC. “I will return to Iran.”
Pahlavi has lived in exile in the United States since the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled his pro-Western father.
Many protesters have chanted Pahlavi’s name in mass protests that have swept the country and been ruthlessly repressed.
Pahlavi has said he wants to be a figurehead to lead a transition to a secular democracy, although he has plenty of detractors.
Pahlavi has repeatedly called for intervention by US President Donald Trump, who has so far not acted.
“Iranian people are taking decisive actions on the ground. It is now time for the international community to join them fully,” Pahlavi says.
He calls on the international community to “protect the Iranian people by degrading the regime’s repressive capacity, including targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard leadership and its command and control infrastructure.”
He also calls on all countries to expel diplomats from the Islamic Republic.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon says an IDF drone dropped a grenade near its peacekeepers during a patrol in southern Lebanon yesterday.
In a statement, UNIFIL says peacekeepers on a planned patrol near the town of Odaisseh along the Israel-Lebanon border were warned by locals of a potential danger at a home and discovered an explosive device connected to a detonating cord.
After establishing a security cordon and preparing to check another house, a drone that had been hovering overhead dropped a grenade some 30 meters from the peacekeepers, UNIFIL says, prompting a request to halt fire.
UNIFIL adds that no one was injured.
The force accuses Israel of endangering peacekeepers and violating UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
In response, the IDF says that it had identified several suspects near a structure being used for “terrorist purposes” by Hezbollah and directed a drone to locate them and prevent threats to troops in the area.
After determining the individuals were UNIFIL personnel, the military says the drone was redirected, and the munition was dropped “as required” in an open area roughly 370 meters away from the UN force, contradicting UNIFIL’s account.
New York City Speaker Julie Menin announces a five-point legislative plan to combat antisemitism.
Jews were targeted in hate crimes in the city last year more than all other groups combined, according to police data released earlier this month.
Menin, during a briefing at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan, says the plan includes an educational initiative; a buffer zone around schools and houses of worship where protests will not be allowed; two security programs for schools and houses of worship; and a hotline to report antisemitic incidents that will collate data about patterns of incidents.
“Antisemitism is rising all around our city and around the country. It’s not merely impossible to ignore, it’s irresponsible for us, as a city council, to not address it head on,” Menin says, while flanked by a bipartisan group of Jewish and non-Jewish City Council members.
“Combating antisemitism should not be just an ideological issue,” she says. “Everyone must come together to calm tensions, to bridge divides and recognize that we are one city, united, in the fight against antisemitism.”
Menin is a Jewish moderate, and the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, who recently became the City Council speaker, a powerful position where she can serve as a counterweight to Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The chief constable of the UK’s West Midlands police is expected to resign amid criticism of his handling of a ban on visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv fans for a soccer match last year, British media reports.
British interior minister Shabana Mahmood said earlier this week she no longer had confidence in Chief Constable Craig Guildford after he eventually admitted AI was to blame for erroneous evidence given to MPs over the decision to ban Israeli fans from a game against Aston Villa.
Scrutiny has increased on West Midlands police after multiple pieces of evidence used to justify the ban decision proved flawed, with the force rejecting allegations that the move was motivated by politics rather than fan safety.
The police classified the game in Birmingham in November as “high risk,” citing previous Maccabi games, including a Europa League encounter in Amsterdam, which saw clashes between locals and Israeli fans in which Dutch police have said the Israelis were targeted.
Police also cited a game between West Ham and Maccabi Tel Aviv that never took place.
When questioned about this by lawmakers earlier this month, Guildford insisted that the error was the result of a Google search and that the force had not used artificial intelligence in its research.
However, in a letter to MPs on Wednesday, Guildford admitted that the erroneous information was due to the use of Microsoft Copilot, an AI chatbot.
There will be “no impunity for the perpetrators” of the crackdown in Iran, France’s foreign minister vows, as the European Union readies new sanctions against Tehran.
“The President of the European Commission has launched a designation process that will lead to those responsible for this repression being targeted by EU sanctions,” Jean-Noel Barrot tells journalists in Belgrade.
“We will contribute to this work.”
Barrot says France made its position clear at yesterday’s UN Security Council meeting and will also continue to discuss further “consequences” at international forums.
“We stressed that the indiscriminate state violence unleashed on demonstrators was unacceptable, intolerable, and inhumane, and that there would be absolutely no impunity for the perpetrators of this repression, which is the most violent in Iran’s contemporary history,” he adds.
Israel has become the first country to sign a joint declaration on artificial intelligence with the United States, the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement.
The statement says the agreement is a continuation of the US’s Pax Silica Initiative to cooperate on supply chains for AI, which includes Israel, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Australia.
The Prime Minister’s Office says that Israel and the US will continue their partnership via “joint research, development, investment, and commercialization across a broad range of strategic sectors, including: artificial intelligence (AI), energy technologies and storage, advanced computing infrastructure, space, edge innovation, additive manufacturing, and semiconductors.”
According to the statement, the partnership “includes renewed focus on protection of sensitive technologies and supply chains, strengthening a secure and trusted environment for investment and collaboration.”
The Prime Minister’s Office says that US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee praised cooperation between the two nations on “the most important and challenging issues of our time – access to critical minerals, resilience of supply chains, the development of AI, quantum computing, and next generation technology that will benefit both America and Israel and fundamentally change the world.”
The Munich Security Conference, one of the world’s top security forums, says it is withdrawing an invitation to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi after the Tehran government’s crackdown on protests across Iran this week.
“Several weeks ago, invitations were extended to individual government representatives from Iran. In light of current events, the Munich Security Conference will not be maintaining these invitations,” it says in an emailed statement.
This year’s gathering of security experts and policymakers takes place on February 13-15. The organizers say they aimed to invite participants who could provide significant policy insights, but always consider political developments before finalizing the list.
The Berlin foreign ministry says Germany is against inviting Iranian officials given the events in Iran, where thousands have been reported killed in a crackdown on demonstrations against clerical rule.
Legendary conductor Zubin Mehta, who led the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for nearly 50 years, says that he has canceled all his performances in Israel in protest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies regarding the Palestinians.
“I cancelled all my engagements in Israel this year because of my objection to Mr Netanyahu’s way of treating the whole Palestinian issue,” Mehta says in an interview with India Today, adding that he hopes that Netanyahu will be voted out of office at the next elections.
The 89-year-old Indian maestro cancelled a number of performances in Israel at the end of last year, citing health issues.
Exclusive: Where Zubin Mehta has a message for artists in India and across the world: don’t stay silent, speak out on political issues of public interest . Listen in to the music maestro. Full interview on Republic Day with a true legend ⭐️ https://t.co/gKgUOOsRHP
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) January 15, 2026
The IDF says troops shot and killed an individual who ran at troops holding a large rock in al-Mughayyir in the West Bank.
Palestinian media names the individual as 14-year-old Muhammad Naasan.
Troops imposed a cordon on the village following reports of violence targeting Israeli civilians.
????عاجل || مصادر محلية من قرية المغير تؤكد ارتقاء الطفل محمد سعد سامي نعسان برصـاص الاحـتلال أمام مسجد المغير خلال اقتحام القرية قبل قليل . pic.twitter.com/CerbNP4Dma
— شبكة يافا الإخبارية (@yaffa_ps) January 16, 2026
According to the military, forces were dispatched to the area after receiving a report that several suspects had thrown stones at Israelis, set tires on fire, and blocked an access road.
Upon arrival, troops received reports that gunfire had been directed at Israelis. No injuries were reported.
The IDF says dozens of suspects were identified throwing stones, and that one attacker ran toward the forces holding a large rock. The military says troops first fired warning shots into the air and then opened fire at the assailant, killing him.
Security forces are continuing to search the area and have imposed roadblocks and a cordon on the village in an effort to apprehend suspects involved in the incident.
DEIR HAFER, Syria (AP) — Scores of people carrying their belongings arrive in government-held areas in northern Syria ahead of a possible attack by Syrian troops on territory held by Kurdish-led fighters east of the city of Aleppo.
The Syrian army said late Wednesday that civilians would be able to evacuate through the “humanitarian corridor” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday. The announcement appeared to signal plans for an offensive against the Syrian Democratic Forces in the area east of Aleppo.
There were limited exchanges of fire between the two sides.
The SDF closed the main highway, but about 4,000 people were still able to reach government-held areas on other roads, Syrian state TV reported.
A US military convoy arrived in Deir Hafer in the early afternoon, but it was not immediately clear whether those personnel will remain. The US has good relations with both sides and has urged calm.
Fighting broke out last week as negotiations stalled between Damascus and the SDF over an agreement reached in March to integrate their forces and for the central government to take control of institutions including border crossings and oil fields in the northeast.
The US special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, posted on X today that Washington remains in close contact with all parties in Syria, “working around the clock to lower the temperature, prevent escalation, and return to integration talks between the Syrian government and the SDF.”
The IDF says it has boosted readiness along all of Israel’s borders in recent weeks as the military continues to monitor regional developments amid heightened tensions with Iran.
“In recent weeks, we have strengthened capabilities and increased readiness along all borders,” IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin says in a video statement released ahead of Shabbat. “The IDF is prepared and ready at all times and on a broad scale, both defensively and offensively.”
Defrin reiterates that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has been holding ongoing situational assessments and stresses that the military is managing the situation “in a measured, professional and responsible manner,” with forces at “full readiness for a wide range of scenarios.”
Acknowledging heightened public anxiety amid threats of Iranian retaliation in the event of a US attack on the Islamic Republic, Defrin urges Israelis to rely only on official information.
“Rely solely on IDF Spokesperson announcements and official channels,” he says, warning against the spread of rumors that could cause public concern.
He adds that “there is no change to the Home Front Command’s guidelines” going into the weekend, and says the public will be updated “when there is a real need to do so.”
The Lufthansa group of carriers says it is extending the cancellation of night flight operations to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport through January 31, citing the “current situation in the Middle East.”
The move comes as the Lufthansa group – whose carriers also include SWISS, Austrian Airlines, and Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings – decided last week to operate flights to and from Tel Aviv since Thursday, 15 January as daytime flights through January 19, in anticipation of a potential Iranian attack.
“This means that crews will fly back directly without an overnight stay on site,” Lufthansa says in a statement. “These former connections operating during nighttime have mostly been rescheduled to operate during daytime.”
“Only few connections needed to be canceled during this period,” the airline says.
The German airline group says that “affected passengers will be automatically rebooked and proactively contacted.”
Former hostage Agam Berger, one of the five surveillance soldiers taken captive from the Nahal Oz army base on October 7 and released from captivity in January 2025, plays “Habayta,” (Home) on the violin, her first time performing at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square.
Berger joins the Kabbalat Shabbat service and gathering for Ran Gvili, whose hostage body is the last one still held in Gaza.
Gvili, a police officer in the Yasam unit, battled Hamas terrorists at Kibbutz Alumim on October 7, 2023, before he was killed, his body abducted to Gaza.
His family is calling for the government to stop advancing to phase two of the Gaza ceasefire until Gvili’s body is returned home to Israel.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will hold talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Tuesday, as Germany seeks to step up deportations of Syrians.
A German government spokesman says Berlin has an “interest in deepening and finding a new start with the new Syrian government.”
Among topics on the agenda will be “the return of Syrians to their home country,” he confirms.
Roughly one million Syrians fled to Germany in recent years, many of them arriving in 2015-16 to escape the civil war.
Merz, who fears being outflanked by the far-right AfD party on immigration, has previously insisted that there is “no longer any reason” for Syrians who fled the war to seek asylum in Germany.
In December, Germany carried out its first deportation of a Syrian since the civil war erupted in 2011, flying a man convicted of crimes to Damascus.
But rights groups have criticized such efforts, citing continued instability in Syria and evidence of rights abuses.
An “Israeli enemy strike” on a vehicle in Mansuri in south Lebanon killed one person today, Lebanon’s health ministry says.
It also confirms that a strike on Mayfadun in south Lebanon last night killed one person.
Israel said Thursday’s attack killed a Hezbollah operative that it alleged “took part in attempts to reestablish Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the Zawtar al-Sharqiyah area.”
The Israel Defense Forces does not immediately comment.
The Israel Defense Forces says in a statement that it has arrested five people in the West Bank since yesterday evening in connection with two separate incidents, both involving Molotov cocktails.
Forces operating near villages in the northern West Bank identified two terrorists who were planning to throw Molotov cocktails at a road in a civilian area, the army says.
The soldiers fired at them to eliminate the threat — wounding one — and arrested both of them, according to the IDF.
Additionally, forces operated in Kafr Malik, northeast of Ramallah, following an incident in which assailants threw an explosive device and a Molotov cocktail at a road leading to a military base at Mount Hatzor.
According to the military, neither device detonated and there were no injuries.
The IDF says three people suspected in the incident were arrested overnight.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A cleric leading Friday prayers in Iran’s capital demands the death penalty for protesters detained in a nationwide crackdown.
He also issues a call for the arrest of “individuals who supporters the rioters in any way.”
Cleric Ahmad Khatami’s sermon, carried by Iranian state radio, sparks chants from those gathered for prayers, including: “Armed hypocrites should be put to death!”
Executions, as well as the killing of peaceful protesters, had been two of the red lines laid down by Trump for possible military action against Iran over the protests.
Khatami, appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a member of both the country’s Assembly of Experts and Guardian Council, describes the protesters as the “butlers” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “Trump’s soldiers.” He insists their plans “had imagined disintegrating the country.”
“They should wait for hard revenge from the system,” Khatami says of Netanyahu and Trump. “Americans and Zionists should not expect peace.”
In his sermon, Khatami also provides initial statistics on damage from the protests. He claims 350 mosques, 126 prayer halls and 20 other holy places sustained damage.
Another 80 homes of Friday prayer leaders — an important position within Iran’s theocracy — were also damaged, he says.
Khatami says 400 hospitals, 106 ambulances, 71 fire department vehicles and another 50 emergency vehicles sustained damage.
As a public cleric, Khatami would have access to such data from authorities, and mentioning it at Friday prayers likely means Iran’s government wanted the information to be communicated without having to formally address the public.
President Isaac Herzog mourns American-Israeli reservist Joshua Boone, who was found lifeless earlier this week, and urges the IDF and security establishment to put a special emphasis on supporting “lone soldiers” — soldiers who have no family support system, including immigrants who serve in the army without having relatives in the country — who are suffering mental health issues.
“I just finished an emotional conversation with the parents and partner of Joshua Boone, of blessed memory — a reservist lone soldier who immigrated to Israel from the United States, served more than 700 days of reserve duty, and ended his life in tragic circumstances,” the president writes on social media.
“I’m sorry to say, with great pain, that in recent years I’ve spoken with many parents of lone soldiers, who left their families and their countries to serve and to protect the State of Israel, whom the unbearably heavy cost overcame,” he says.
Herzog calls on the IDF and all security bodies to “deepen the effort to emotionally support, to accompany and bolster the mental resilience of soldiers and reservists, with a particular emphasis on the lone soldiers who have left lives of comfort and come from far away without the support of family here in Israel, and for whom the burden is especially heavy.”
In recent days, Boone’s loved ones have been campaigning for him to be recognized as a fallen soldier and receive a military burial, even though he was not on active duty at the time of his death
Boone, a native of Idaho, originally served in the Golani Brigade and later volunteered to serve in other units after the war broke out on October 7, 2023, racking up more than two years of service in total.
Boone decided only a few weeks ago to take time off from military service in order to address the post-traumatic stress he had accumulated on the front line, a friend told the Knesset.
Mossad director David Barnea has arrived in the US for consultations about Iran’s deadly crackdown on protests and a potential American military response, the Axios news site reports.
The spy chief is expected to meet with White House envoy Steve Witkoff in Miami, the report says, adding that the latter is managing direct communications between the US and Iran.
It is unclear whether Barnea will meet with US President Donald Trump, who is expected to be at his Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida, over the weekend, the report says.
Israel is reported to have asked Trump to delay any military action against Iran, as the Jewish state is expected to come under fire in retaliation for any major US action there.
Israeli officials believe, however, that the US may still strike in the coming days, according to Axios.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani posts on social media in support of anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, after a judge yesterday overruled a block on the Trump administration’s effort to deport him.
“Last year’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was more than just a chilling act of political repression; it was an attack on all of our constitutional rights,” Mamdani writes on X. “Now, as the crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech continues, Mahmoud is being threatened with rearrest. Mahmoud is free—and must remain free.”
Last year's arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was more than just a chilling act of political repression, it was an attack on all of our constitutional rights. Now, as the crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech continues, Mahmoud is being threatened with rearrest. Mahmoud is free—and…
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) January 15, 2026
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has sought to deport Khalil, an Algerian national who holds permanent resident status in the US, on the basis that letting him remain in the country would undermine “US policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence in the United States.”
Khalil, who graduated from Columbia University last spring, was affiliated with Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a student coalition that has endorsed violence, called for “the total eradication of Western civilization,” backed the October 7 attack, applauded US-designated terror groups, distributed Hamas propaganda at a university library, and supported an activist imprisoned for assaulting Jewish Columbia students.
In interviews, however, Khalil has personally condemned the targeting of civilians, including during the October 7 attack.
Mamdani was a vocal supporter of Khalil during the recent mayoral election. The democratic-socialist mayor has a history of anti-Israel activism. Jewish groups have accused him of tolerating violent rhetoric and antisemitism from inside his political camp.
The IDF says the strike it carried out last night in the area of southern Lebanon’s Zawtar al-Sharqiyah targeted and killed a Hezbollah operative who was involved in efforts to rehabilitate the group’s terror infrastructure.
According to the military, the operative’s activity constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.
צה"ל חיסל מחבל חיזבאללה שעסק בשיקום תשתיות של ארגון הטרור בדרום לבנון
צה"ל תקף וחיסל אתמול מחבל מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה שעסק בניסיונות שיקום התשתיות במרחב זוטר אל-שרקיה שבדרום לבנון.
פעילותו של המחבל היוותה הפרה בוטה של ההבנות בין ישראל ללבנון.
צה"ל ימשיך לפעול על מנת להסיר כל… pic.twitter.com/GXWEmSvTmc
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 16, 2026
The IDF and Shin Bet confirm they carried out strikes across the Gaza Strip yesterday against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives in response to what they describe as a “blatant violation” of the October ceasefire agreement earlier this week, during which gunmen opened fire on troops in western Rafah.
The joint statement follows reports from Gaza that a strike in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah killed Muhammad al-Hawli, a commander in Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades. Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan confirmed Hawli’s death, claiming at least five others were killed in the strike, including Hawli’s wife and daughter, and accusing Israel of seeking to undermine the ceasefire.
Separately, Arabic media reported that an Israeli airstrike last night hit a home in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing Ahraf al-Khatib, a commander in Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades, along with his wife, and wounding several others.
The IDF and Shin Bet say they view any breach of the ceasefire with the “utmost seriousness” and will continue acting against attempts by terror groups in Gaza to carry out attacks against troops or civilians.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday, the Kremlin says.
Putin will continue efforts to de-escalate the situation in the region, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters.
Pezeshkian’s office says he thanked Putin for “Russia’s position,” adding that “the role and direct involvement of the United States and the Zionist regime in recent events in Iran is evident.”
Earlier on Friday, Putin discussed Iran and the Middle East with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call, according to the Kremlin.
The IDF says a Black Hawk helicopter crashed this morning during an attempt to recover it after it had made an emergency landing earlier this week due to severe weather.
According to the military, the helicopter had landed in an open area in the Gush Etzion area on Tuesday due to difficult weather conditions.
During the recovery operation today, the damaged aircraft became detached while being airlifted and crashed. No injuries were reported.
Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar has ordered the establishment of a military investigative committee to probe the incident.
Black Hawk helicopters, known in the IAF as the Yanshuf — Owl in Hebrew — are used for both routine transportation missions and to drop off and pick up troops during military operations.
דובר צה"ל:
במהלך השבוע (ג'), נחת מסוק מסוג 'ינשוף' בעקבות תנאי מזג האוויר בשטח פתוח בחטיבת עציון.
הבוקר (ו'), במהלך ניסיון איסוף המסוק, אירעה תאונה והמסוק התקול התנתק והתרסק – אין נפגעים.מפקד חיל האוויר, אלוף תומר בר, הנחה על הקמת ועדת חקירה חיילית לתחקור התאונה. pic.twitter.com/aWp7LqgyOH
— מה חדש. What's new❓ (@Gloz111) January 16, 2026
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in the Middle East and Iran by phone today, the Kremlin says.
Putin offered Russia’s help in mediating with regard to Iran, and told the Israeli leader he was “in favor of intensifying political and diplomatic efforts to ensure stability and security in the region,” the Kremlin added.
Emergency services have located the body of Moshe Lodimer, 16, who was swept away by the Nahal Modi’im stream in the West Bank during a heavy rainstorm on Tuesday.
Search and rescue operations started after Lodimer’s friend, who was swept away alongside him but managed to escape, reported him missing in the immediate wake of the incident.
The Fire and Rescue Service says 15 teams, comprising dozens of firefighters trained in complex rescue operations, worked around the clock alongside the Israel Police and ZAKA.
The latter says its volunteers are at the scene to assist in the handling of the body.
In a statement, Deputy Fire Chief Shlomi Harush emphasizes that citizens must stay away from flood sites, stressing that when someone is near an overflowing stream, he must distance himself from it for his safety.
בתום ארבעה ימים> אסון טראגי: אותרה גופתו של הבחור משה לודמיר ז"ל שנסחף בנחל במודיעין עילית >>
https://t.co/pYLOEJNq1p pic.twitter.com/Jt0MXkC6nc— חדשות בחדרי חרדים (@behadrei_bhol) January 16, 2026
A Kabbalat Shabbat service calling for the release of the remaining hostage body, that of slain police officer Ran Gvili, will take place at 2 p.m. in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, organized by the Kibbutz Movement and Kibbutz Eyal.
Gvili, a member of the Yamam police unit, was killed battling terrorists at Kibbutz Alumim, and his body was abducted to Gaza, where it is still being held.
Former hostage Agam Berger will perform “Habayta” (Home) on the violin, her first performance at Hostages Square since her February 2025 release.
The Gvili family and supporters will repeat their message that there should be no move into phase two of the Gaza plan while there is one remaining hostage body.
Rallies will be held in Meitar, the Gvili family’s home community and at the Kshatot Junction in the south, attended by members of the Gvili family, Merav Leshem Gonen, mother of former hostage Romi Gonen, and bereaved family members who lost loved ones on October 7 and in captivity.
Other support demonstrations and vigils will take place throughout the weekend at numerous locations across the country.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced Wednesday the launch of phase two of President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the war in Gaza, including the establishment of a new technocratic Palestinian administration for the Strip. The US has said it is working for the return of Gvili’s body, but will not hold up phase two for that purpose.
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — A South Korean judge sentences former president Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday to five years in prison for obstructing justice and other crimes linked to his disastrous martial law declaration and in its chaotic aftermath.
It is the first in a series of verdicts for the disgraced ex-leader, whose brief suspension of civilian rule in South Korea on December 3, 2024 prompted massive protests and a showdown in parliament.
On Friday, Judge Baek Dae-hyun at Seoul’s Central District Court said he found Yoon guilty of obstruction of justice by blocking investigators from detaining him. Yoon was also found guilty of excluding cabinet members from a martial law planning meeting.
“Despite having a duty, above all others, to uphold the Constitution and observe the rule of law as president, the defendant instead displayed an attitude that disregarded the… Constitution,” Baek said. “The defendant’s culpability is extremely grave.”
Prosecutors had called for a 10-year prison term, while Yoon had insisted no law was broken. Yoon has seven days to appeal.
An Israeli airstrike on a home in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp last night reportedly killed Ahraf al-Khatib, a commander in the al-Quds Brigades, Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s armed wing.
According to Arabic media, the strike targeted the Khatib family home, killing him and his wife and wounding several others.
Israel has not commented on the reports.
The strike that was said to have killed Khatib came hours after Israel reportedly killed at least six people including Muhammad al-Hawli, a commander in Hamas’s armed wing, in a strike on his family home in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan confirmed Hawli was killed. Israel has not commented on the alleged assassination.
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan vows to remain the world’s “most important” AI chipmaker, after reaching a trade deal with the United States that will reduce tariffs on the island’s shipments and increase Taiwanese investment on US soil.
Taiwan is a powerhouse in producing chips — a critical component in the global economy — but the United States wants more of the technology made in America.
Under the deal, Washington will lower tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15 percent, down from a 20 percent “reciprocal” rate meant to address US trade deficits and practices it deems unfair.
Taiwan’s dominance of the chip industry has long been seen as a “silicon shield” protecting it from an invasion or blockade by China — which claims the island is part of its sovereign territory — and an incentive for the United States to defend it.
“Based on current planning, Taiwan will still remain the world’s most important producer of AI semiconductors, not only for Taiwanese companies, but globally,” Taiwanese Economic Affairs Minister Kung Ming-hsin assured reporters on Friday.
Production capacity for the advanced chips that power artificial intelligence systems will be split about 85-15 between Taiwan and the United States by 2030 and 80-20 by 2036, he projected.
China’s foreign ministry said it “resolutely opposes” the deal.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The prime minister of Yemen’s internationally recognized government has been replaced by his foreign minister after the premier submitted his government’s resignation, the country’s Saudi-backed presidential body says.
Prime Minister Salem Saleh bin Braik will be replaced by Dr Shaya Mohsen Zindani, as the latter is tasked with forming a new government.
The move comes after weeks of tensions between Gulf allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates following a failed push by Abu Dhabi-backed separatists to seize most of Yemen’s south.
The offensive was rolled back by Saudi strikes and allies on the ground, forcing the UAE to withdraw its troops from the country before Riyadh moved to boost its influence in the country’s internationally recognized government.
A Presidential Leadership Council statement published on Saba cites “efforts to restore state institutions, strengthen the unity of sovereign decision-making” and “defeating the coup” as reasons for the premier’s resignation.
Braik’s government, previously split between UAE and Saudi-backed figures, had undergone a purge, with UAE-aligned ministers dismissed and the presidential council chairman declaring that all southern factions would unite under Saudi command.
Both the Saudi- and internationally-backed government and the UAE-backed separatists are distinct from the Iran-backed Houthi terror group, which controls about half the country, including its capital Sanaa, and has launched frequent attacks on Israel throughout periods of the Israel-Hamas war.
The Shin Bet and the Israel Police say they have arrested a 51-year-old woman from northern Israel in recent weeks on suspicion of acting on behalf of Hamas during the war triggered by the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.
According to a joint statement, Rania Dandan, a resident of Kiryat Motzkin, allegedly assisted Hamas “out of a desire to support resistance against the State of Israel,” including by helping to run fictitious Hamas-linked social media profiles, which spread unspecified “false information” that the security agencies say was aimed at sowing fear within Israeli society.
Her alleged actions are said to be part of a larger Hamas campaign run from abroad, tied to its West Bank network, which includes efforts at “psychological warfare” through disinformation.
An indictment was filed against Dandan by the Haifa District Attorney’s Office. The Shin Bet and Israel Police say they will continue to act to thwart terrorist activity and bring those involved to justice.
Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham plans to travel to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he announces, without specifying the timing of his visit.
The announcement comes less than a month after Graham’s last visit to Israel and amid heightened tensions over Iran’s deadly crackdown on protesters.
“I am traveling to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team at this crucial time in the history of the Middle East,” he writes on X.
“The goal is to build on the historic opportunities created by President Trump’s unprecedented leadership, to stand up to evil, and to support the people who are sacrificing for freedom,” he continues.
“The Trump-Netanyahu alliance has thus far been one of the strongest partnerships in the history of the US-Israel relationship, and I am hopeful it will pay dividends in the near future,” the senator writes.
“We live in a time of great consequence with the Middle East on the verge of previously unimaginable change. Standing together and following through on our commitments only makes us stronger,” he concludes.
Graham is a close ally of US President Donald Trump and among the more hawkish members of the latter’s political camp.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney hails a “new strategic partnership” with Beijing as he holds talks with President Xi Jinping in the first visit by a Canadian leader to China in eight years.
The two countries had been locked in years of diplomatic spats after the retaliatory arrests of each other’s citizens and a series of tit-for-tat trade disputes.
But Carney has sought to turn the page on the testy relations, in a bid to reduce reliance on the United States, its key economic partner, as US President Donald Trump aggressively raises tariffs on Canadian products.
Addressing Xi in the Great Hall of the People, Carney says that “together we can build on the best of what this relationship has been in the past to create a new one adapted to new global realities.”
Welcoming Carney, Xi says China-Canada relations reached a turning point at their last meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in October, and hails “a new chapter in turning China–Canada relations toward improvement.”
HAVANA (AP) — Thousands of Cubans line one of Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies of 32 officers killed during the US attack on Venezuela, as the island remains under threat by the Trump administration.
Soldiers march stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and place the urns on a long table next to the pictures of those killed. Tens of thousands of people pay their respects, saluting the urns or holding their hands over their hearts, many of them drenched from standing outside in a heavy downpour.
The mass funeral is one of only a handful that the Cuban government has organized over the past half-century.
The soldiers were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the January 3 raid on his residence to seize the former leader and bring him to the US to face drug trafficking charges.
Tensions between Cuba and the US have spiked, with Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela’s money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff says President Donald Trump had tears in his eyes after a visit from freed hostages who were released in October as part of a US-brokered ceasefire deal.
“When we got the last 20 [living] hostages [released] and their families came to the White House, the president pulled me aside. I saw the tears. He doesn’t like anyone to see the tears,” Witkoff recalls, at the Israeli-American Council conference in Florida.
The businessman-turned-diplomat says Trump told him, “‘This is the greatest day I’ve ever had in the White House.’”
UTRECHT, Netherlands — An explosion on a residential street in the center of the Dutch city of Utrecht has injured at least four people, an emergency services official says.
The cause of the blast is not immediately known.
The explosion, which caused a fire and widespread damage, sent people running into nearby shopping streets. Firefighters have tried to douse the flames but were not immediately able to enter damaged homes because of fears of structural damage.
Emergency services spokesman Sjaak Haasnoot says the four people injured were taken to a hospital. The extent of their injuries is not known. It is unclear if anyone was killed.
HOLLYWOOD, Florida — US special envoy Steve Witkoff suggests that the Trump administration prefers a diplomatic resolution, rather than a military one, to the ongoing tensions with Iran.
Asked in an onstage interview at the Israeli-American Council conference in Florida if he thinks a US military strike against Iran is likely, Witkoff responds, “I hope there’s a diplomatic resolution. I really do.”
The US envoy says a diplomatic agreement with Iran would address four issues: “(1) nuclear enrichment, (2) missiles — they have to cut back on their inventory; (3) the actual [nuclear] material that they have, which is roughly 2000 kilograms enriched anywhere between 3.67% and 60%; and (4) the proxies.
Witkoff suggests that Iran may be willing to compromise on all four issues because its economy is in such dire straits.
“If they want to come back to the League of Nations, we can solve those four problems diplomatically, then that would be a great resolution. The alternative is a bad one,” he says.
Asked if he has a message to the people of Iran who want the regime to fall, Witkoff responds, “They’re incredibly courageous people, and we stand with you.”
Trump threatened repeatedly to strike Iran if the regime killed protesters, something it did to the tune of several thousands.
But on Wednesday, Trump announced that Tehran had notified him that the killing of protesters had stopped, leading to speculation that Washington would not strike Iran. In the past day, though, the US has been shifting additional military assets to the region.
“We communicated with the Iranians yesterday, and one of the things we were concerned about were the killers that were rumored to be on the way — mass hangings, and that’s been shut down,” Witkoff says.
New Zealand has “temporarily” closed its embassy in Tehran, Iran, and moved consular operations to Ankara, Turkey, officials in Wellington say Friday.
All New Zealand diplomatic staff left Iran on commercial flights during the past day, New Zealand’s foreign ministry says in a statement. The move follows remarks Thursday by Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who said his government was “appalled by the escalation of violence and repression” in Iran.
“We condemn the brutal crackdown being carried out by Iran’s security forces, including the killing of protesters,” Peters posted on X.
The foreign ministry repeats official advice that New Zealanders should avoid travel to Iran and “leave now” if they are already there. It says the ability of New Zealand’s government to provide consular help to the country’s citizens in Iran was “extremely limited.”
US President Donald Trump says Washington will reach an agreement with Hamas that will see it fully disarm, threatening the terror group if it doesn’t get on board.
“With the support of Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar, we will secure a COMPREHENSIVE demilitarization agreement with Hamas, including the surrender of ALL weapons, and the dismantling of EVERY tunnel,” Trump says in a Truth Social post.
“Hamas must immediately honor its commitments, including the return of the final body to Israel, and proceed without delay to full demilitarization,” Trump adds. “As I have said before, they can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The people of Gaza have suffered long enough. The time is now.”
The US has claimed that Hamas officials, during a meeting with Trump’s top aides on the eve of the October 2025 ceasefire deal, agreed to disarm — something the terrorist group has denied.
The US has been in talks with mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, which have assured Washington that Hamas will agree to a gradual disarmament plan that would begin with the terror organization giving up its heavy weaponry and the launch of a “buy-back” program for lighter weapons, according to the US official and two Arab diplomats, who said the goal is to begin implementing the program in the coming weeks.
A senior US official briefing reporters on Wednesday said all terror infrastructure in Gaza will be destroyed and “heavy weaponry, like RPGs, rocket launchers and missiles” will “need to be put into a place where they’re not being used.”
But he notably made no mention of light weapons, which Israel is also insisting be part of the disarmament program, arguing that AK-47s are what Hamas uses to maintain its control of Gazans in the Strip.
Trump’s comments in the Truth Social post went further than those by his aide in the briefing, insisting that every weapon must be handed over, something Hamas is unlikely to accept.
Hamas officials have publicly asserted that the organization will only agree to give up its weapons in a negotiated process that results in the establishment of a Palestinian state — something that Israel rejects.
Trump echoes the announcement made by his envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday, saying “we have OFFICIALLY entered the next phase of Gaza’s 20-Point Peace Plan!”
“Since the ceasefire, my team has helped deliver RECORD LEVELS of Humanitarian Aid to Gaza, reaching civilians at HISTORIC speed and scale. Even the United Nations has acknowledged this achievement as UNPRECEDENTED. These results have set the stage for this next phase,” Trump writes.
While basic food supplies have indeed increased significantly since the start of the ceasefire, lack of sufficient shelter has become a major issue, with aid organizations lamenting Israeli restrictions on metal poles necessary to stabilize tents that have been widely filmed falling apart amid the winter winds. Israel says those materials could be used by Hamas for weapons and therefore has not allowed them into Gaza, where hundreds of thousands are living in tents.
“As chairman of the Board of Peace, I am backing a newly appointed Palestinian Technocratic Government, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), supported by the Board’s high representative, to govern Gaza during its transition,” Trump adds, apparently referring to former UN envoy to the Mideast Nickolay Mladenov
“These Palestinian leaders are unwaveringly committed to a peaceful future!” Trump says of the 15 NCAG members, who met for the first time on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump will further monitor Iran’s response to demonstrations before deciding on the extent of possible strikes against the country, after being advised that a major attack is unlikely to topple the Islamic Republic and could lead to a broader conflict, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Citing US officials, the report says Trump’s advisers told him the US needs more military assets in the Middle East to carry out a significant attack, as well as to protect both American troops in the region and allied nations like Israel if Iran responds.
The newspaper says both US officials and unspecified Middle Eastern partners told the White House that wide-scale strikes were unlikely bring down the regime and that while a more targeted attack could improve morale among demonstrators, it was unlikely to the end the deadly crackdown on protesters.
According to the officials in the report, Trump called for military assets to be moved into position if he chooses to order intensive strikes, but has yet to ultimately decide on what he will do.
US President Donald Trump announces that the Board of Peace tasked with overseeing the postwar management of Gaza has been formed.
“The members of the board will be announced shortly,” Trump says in a Truth Social post.
The US has been aiming to hold the first meeting of the Board of Peace on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.
The Times of Israel reported last month that the US had informed interlocutors that it secured commitments from Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany to have their leaders join Trump on the Board of Peace.
The US was seeking to more than double that number, but was having limited success to date, a senior Arab diplomat said last week, adding that Washington is considering filling spots on the panel with the heads of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Economic Forum.
But briefing reporters on Wednesday, a US official was bullish about the Board of Peace’s makeup, saying that Trump was personally involved in selecting who would receive an invitation to join him on the panel. The official added that invitations were sent out earlier in the day to “a lot of countries” and that “there has been a very overwhelming response.”
France’s UN Ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont says that “given the scale and brutality of the repression” against protesters, the international community must denounce the violence.
He reiterates France’s call for the immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained and suspension of the death penalty and calls for the rapid convening of a special session of the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to address the situation in Iran and investigate rights violations.
Britain’s Deputy Ambassador Archibald Young condemns Iran’s actions “in the strongest possible terms” and pays tribute “to the courage of the Iranian people, particularly Iranian women.”
The United Kingdom has told Iran’s foreign minister that “Iran must urgently change course” and respect the fundamental rights of Iranians, “including the right to protest without fear of violence or repression.”
If it doesn’t, Young says the Group of Seven major industrialized nations, including the UK, has made clear that it will impose additional sanctions.
“The world is watching,” he says.
