The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they happened.
Yuval Raphael, Nova massacre survivor, to represent Israel at 2025 Eurovision
Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival, will represent Israel at the 2025 Eurovision.
Raphael, 24, wins the “Hakochav Haba” (Rising Star) reality contest, winning the most votes from the judges and the public, and will compete in the song contest in Basel, Switzerland, in May. Her song is slated to be selected next month by a committee convened by the Kan public broadcaster.
The amateur singer was with friends at the Nova festival when it came under attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. She survived by hiding under dead bodies inside a roadside bomb shelter.
“Music is one of the strongest ingredients in my healing process,” Raphael said during the final.
Raphael said she wants to appear in Europe and “tell them the story of the country, of what I went through, of what others went through,” speaking in an interview ahead of the final. “I want to tell the story — but not from a place of seeking sympathy. I want it to be from a place of standing strong in the face of this, and in the face of the boos I’m 100% sure will come from the crowd.”
UN says 808 aid trucks entered Gaza on Wednesday
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says 808 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip today, the fourth day of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
OCHA cites information received from Israeli authorities and the guarantors for the ceasefire agreement — the United States, Egypt, and Qatar.
Reports: Israel tells Hamas it expects release of hostage Arbel Yehud on Saturday
Israel has conveyed to Hamas that it expects the terror group to free hostage Arbel Yehud in Saturday’s upcoming release of four hostages from Gaza, under the ceasefire deal, according to multiple reports in Hebrew media.
Yehud is among the civilian hostages held by Gaza terrorists, and, as a female civilian, should be in the next batch freed. However, she is thought to be held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group and not Hamas, apparently leading to concern in Jerusalem that Hamas may attempt to put off her release.
Under the agreement, Hamas is expected to provide the names of the four hostages to be freed by Friday.
Yehud, now 29, was taken hostage with her boyfriend, Ariel Cunio, from their Kibbutz Nir Oz home on October 7.
Army says troops kill two Palestinian gunmen near Jenin

Troops of the Duvdevan commando unit, Shin Bet agents, and other IDF soldiers killed two Palestinian gunmen in the Wadi Burqin area near the West Bank city of Jenin, a short while ago, a military source says.
The troops had surrounded a building and carried out a tactic known as “pressure cooker,” which involves escalating the volume of fire against a building to flush suspects out.
After exchanges of fire that lasted some four hours, two gunmen were killed. The military is working to verify their identities.
Swiss prosecutors examine complaints against visiting Israeli president

Swiss prosecutors say they are examining several complaints against visiting Israeli President Isaac Herzog, as reports suggested NGOs are accusing him of “incitement to genocide” in Gaza.
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) confirms it received “several criminal complaints” against Herzog, who is at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos this week.
“The criminal complaints are now being examined in accordance with the usual procedure,” the OAG says in an email sent to AFP, adding that the office is in contact with Switzerland’s foreign ministry “to examine the question of the immunity of the person concerned.”
It provides no details on the specific complaints filed.
The Swiss Keystone-ATS news agency reports that one of the complaints came from an NGO called Legal Action Against Genocide. The NGO is calling for Herzog to be prosecuted “for incitement to genocide and crimes against humanity,” the news agency says.
The complaint, it says, deems he played “an active role in the ideological justification of genocide and war crimes in Gaza, by erasing all distinction between the civilian population and combatants.”
IDF acknowledges it did not kill commander of Hamas’s Beit Hanoun battalion
The IDF acknowledges that it did not kill the commander of Hamas’s Beit Hanoun battalion back in May, after footage published today showed the commander, Hussein Fayyad, alive.
In a statement, the IDF says that, after Fayyad was targeted in May, “it was determined with a high level of probability by the IDF and Shin Bet that he had been eliminated, following which an IDF spokesperson statement on the subject was issued.
“After further examination, it emerged that the intelligence findings upon which the Intelligence Directorate and Shin Bet relied were not accurate enough,” the military says.
US ambassadors to Jordan and Saudi Arabia end postings with Trump’s return
Two careers diplomats who were serving as US ambassadors to Jordan and Saudi Arabia have ended their postings upon US President Donald Trump’s return to office, a source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.
It is custom for all US ambassadors around the world to tender their resignations upon the start of a new administration. The new administration then decides whether to accept those resignations. The resignations of political appointees are almost always accepted, but those of career diplomats are often rejected.
Yael Lempert and Michael Ratley are two career diplomats appointed to their posts in Amman and Riyadh respectively by former US president Joe Biden.
The decision to accept their resignations indicates that the Trump administration looks to install political appointees more closely aligned with its worldview in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Biden had nominated career diplomat Stephanie Hallett to serve as the next ambassador to Bahrain. Her confirmation hearing was never held, though, leaving her future in limbo. Hallett had been serving as deputy ambassador to Israel and was elevated to the head of the mission in Jerusalem, after former US ambassador to Israel Jack Lew stepped down last week, upon the completion of the Biden administration’s term.
Lapid says he spoke with Trump’s intended ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee

Opposition leader Yair Lapid says he spoke earlier today with US President Donald Trump’s nominee to become the next ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.
“I look forward to seeing him out here, as the US ambassador to Israel, very soon, and working together to further strengthen the unique relationship between the US and Israel,” Lapid tweets.
Huckabee is expected to be confirmed by the Senate, but there is no timeline for when that will take place.
The former Arkansas governor is closely aligned with the settler right in Israel, so his decision to hold a call with Lapid indicates that he is looking to cooperate with additional facets of Israeli politics.
IDF says troops kill Gaza terror operative who posed a threat amid ceasefire

The IDF says troops still deployed inside the Gaza Strip during the ceasefire with Hamas opened fire on several threats in the past day.
In one incident in southern Gaza, the military says troops identified several gunmen “who posed a threat.” At least one of the gunmen, identified by the IDF as Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Akram Zanoun, was killed.
In other areas of Gaza, the IDF says troops fired warning shots, after identifying masked suspects approaching them.
“The IDF is determined to fully implement the terms of the agreement to return the hostages. The IDF is prepared for any scenario, and will continue to take all necessary actions to remove any immediate threat to IDF soldiers,” the military says.
“The IDF once again calls on Palestinian civilians to obey IDF instructions and not approach the forces deployed in the area,” it adds.
IDF said to establish dozens more West Bank checkpoints during ceasefire, clogging roads

The security cabinet ordered the IDF to establish dozens of additional checkpoints throughout the West Bank during the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire, which has led to mass traffic jams for Palestinians throughout the territory, Haaretz reports.
The move requires the army to stop and search every single Palestinian vehicle passing through the checkpoints, and was directed due to fears of potential unrest, given the release of Palestinian security prisoners as part of the hostage deal. However, Haaretz reports, the decision could itself spark unrest in the territory, with Palestinians now often unable to enter and exit their villages.
One resident of the Ramallah area tells Haaretz that she waited for three hours in traffic in order to get home and was unable to pick up her children from school. “There was never a situation like this — not even at the beginning of the war,” she says.
Another resident of a village outside Ramallah says it now takes eight hours to return home from the city. “What’s the reason for this? We don’t know. It’s a pressure cooker. It’s unbelievable. Going from Ramallah to the village is like going from one country to another,” he tells Haaretz.
Palestinians reported on WhatsApp groups monitoring checkpoints that 38 had closed roads completely, blocking movement.
According to the PA, there are currently 900 checkpoints throughout the West Bank.
Dozens block traffic on Route 6 after shooting of 2 settlers who allegedly attacked cop
Dozens of demonstrators are blocking traffic on Route 6 in protest of the shooting of two West Bank settlers by a police officer two nights ago. The officer has reportedly said the two attacked him, as Jewish extremists rampaged in a Palestinian West Bank village.
The protesters, mostly right-wing Orthodox youth, hold signs that read, “Wearing a kippah and payot is not a reason to shoot,” while sitting on the pavement.
A police spokesman says that officers have declared the demonstration illegal and are working to clear the route for traffic.
המחאה מתגברת: מאות מפגינים חסמו את כביש 6 ואת מחלף קסם לתנועה, במהלכה הניחו המוחים על הכביש צמיגים בוערים וסלעים, כמחאה על ירי השוטר במתיישבים שמחו על ההפקרות הבטחונית ביהודה ושומרון. "כיפה ופאות זה לא סיבה לירות" pic.twitter.com/oc4B4L7YCI
— חזקי ברוך (@HezkeiB) January 22, 2025
Last night, a similar scene took place in Jerusalem, where hundreds of protesters blocked routes leading in and out of the city, clashing with police officers on the scene, which led to 17 arrests.
A police spokesman said the protesters lit fires on roads and threw stones at police. injuring three officers as a result.
בלגן pic.twitter.com/0Yta6TPNzS
— نير حسون Nir Hasson ניר חסון (@nirhasson) January 21, 2025
Some were filmed climbing atop buses while traffic remained at a standstill.
Columbia University expediting probe into disruption of Israeli professor’s class
Columbia University says it is expediting an investigation into protesters who disrupted an Israeli professor’s class yesterday, the first day of classes for the spring semester.
Several protesters barged into professor Avi Shilon’s class on the history of modern Israel, shouting that the lecture represented “genocide” and handing out fliers showing a boot poised above a Star of David.
The university says in a statement that it is working to identify and discipline the student protesters, whose faces were covered with keffiyehs.
Columbia is also stepping up security by requiring those entering campus buildings to swipe their university IDs and directing campus security to “classes at increased risk for disruption.” Administrators are providing support to the affected students and the university is partnering with the NYPD to protect the campus, the statement says.
Columbia University: masked “free Palestine” activists storm into a class on the history of modern Israel disrupting and passing flyers to Jewish students on “crushing Zionism.”
This is racism and it’s a violation of student there. Disgusting! pic.twitter.com/IYL4Q9jSlx
— Emily Schrader – אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) January 21, 2025
“Columbia must be a community where we hold people responsible and accountable,” the statement says. “Actions taken to disrupt our classrooms and our academic mission and to intimidate or harass our students are not acceptable and are an affront to every member of our university community.”
The university’s statement appears more forceful than previous responses to anti-Israel conduct on campus. The statement was also posted to the university’s main account on X, while previous condemnations were usually posted to a more obscure university web page.
The Trump administration and Congressional Republicans have vowed to take a harder line against anti-Israel disruptions on campus.
Report: Smotrich held meeting to plan public campaign to resume Gaza war

Channel 12 reports that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich held a meeting in recent days aimed at organizing a public campaign to stop the hostage deal in Gaza after the first phase ends, and to resume the war as he has been calling for.
The network says the meeting included bereaved families of Israelis killed in the war, relatives of hostages — apparently those who oppose the deal — and strategists.
A participant says the meeting focused on mobilizing public and international support for resuming combat.
A senior figure who attended the meeting tells Channel 12: “We were invited to an urgent, secret, and unofficial meeting. Its purpose was to formulate a strategy to pressure the public so that we could resume combat immediately after the first phase of the deal concludes.”
In response, Smotrich’s office says he “regularly meets with bereaved families and families of hostages. The content of these personal discussions always remains confidential.”
Reports: Netanyahu plans to hand over all 3 Otzma Yehudit portfolios to Haim Katz

Media reports indicate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to give all three of Otzma Yehudit’s portfolios to Tourism Minister Haim Katz, after the far-right party quit the coalition this week, over the Gaza ceasefire-hostage release deal.
This according to Ynet, Channel 12, Walla, and others.
Ynet says one reason for this is Netanyahu’s desire to signal to Otzma Yehudit’s Itamar Ben Gvir that the portfolios are waiting for him, should he wish to return to the coalition.
The move would leave a single minister in charge of four portfolios, including the key national security file.
Witkoff hopes to expand Abraham Accords after Gaza truce, says Qatar a strong candidate
More from Trump envoy Witkoff’s Fox News interview:
Asked what he told the parties during the Gaza negotiations, Witkoff says he highlighted Trump’s threat of “all hell to pay” in the region if the hostages were not released by his January 20 inauguration.
Arab officials from mediating countries have told The Times of Israel that Witkoff’s role was essential in bringing the hostage deal across the finish line, particularly due to the pressure he placed on Netanyahu.
He notes that he was not involved in the crafting of the deal, whose framework was advanced by the Biden administration. “Our job was to speed up the process because it felt like it had bogged down… It doesn’t happen without the president,” Witkoff says.
The US envoy is very close to the president and was seated close to him during Monday’s inauguration. He was seen briefly speaking to former president Joe Biden at the end of the ceremony. Witkoff tells Fox News that he was thanking Biden for allowing him to work on the hostage deal, adding that the former president thanked him in response.
Witkoff speaks to his goal of expanding the Abraham Accords, insisting that all countries in the region could eventually join the alliance.
“Normalization is an amazing opportunity for the region. It’s basically the beginning of the end of war [which] means that the entire region becomes investable [and] financeable,” he says. “Banks do not have to underwrite whether the Houthis, Hezbollah, or Hamas are going to fire a missile and take down a hyper-scale data center.”
He notes that a precondition to expanding the Abraham Accords has been a ceasefire in Gaza.
“First, we needed the hopeful moment, and I’d like to think that we’ve achieved that, and we’ll build on that. Then on top of that, we needed to show people that we could stop the violence and that we could have conversation and dialogue. This is the beginning of that,” he adds.
Asked who are potential candidates for joining the Abraham Accords, Witkoff highlights Qatar, lauding the role of its prime minister in mediating between Israel and Hamas. Doha has long asserted that it will not normalize relations with Israel until a Palestinian state has been established.
Witkoff asserts his commitment to reaching hostage deal’s second phase

US President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff asserts his commitment to reaching the second phase of the Gaza hostage deal, in light of concerns that Israel will resume fighting after the first stage is over.
“We have to make sure that the implementation goes well, because if it goes well, we’ll get into phase two, and we’re going to get a lot more live bodies out,” Witkoff says, in an interview with Fox News.
While Trump has said that he wants to see all of the hostages released and the war end, he admitted on Monday that he is not confident that the ceasefire will hold. Asked about that lack of confidence, Witkoff says he does not disagree with the president and that implementation of the second phase will likely be more difficult than the initial agreement.
Witkoff reiterates his plan to soon visit Israel and Gaza in order to see the deal through on the ground, but he does not give an exact timeline for when he will depart.
He says he will visit both the Philadelphi Corridor border stretch between Israel and Gaza, along with the Netzarim Corridor that bisects the upper and lower halves of the Strip. Witkoff adds that he will be part of an inspection team of outside observers responsible for ensuring that people entering the latter corridor are unarmed and do not have “bad motivations.”
Witkoff says senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk’s recent statement to The New York Times that Hamas is prepared to enter a dialogue with the new Trump administration would be welcome if accurate.
Delta said considering moving up resumption of Tel Aviv-New York route

US carrier Delta Air Lines is considering bringing forward the resumption of its Tel Aviv-New York route, Israeli financial daily Globes reports.
Back in October, Delta extended the cancellation of all flights to and from Israel through March 31, citing the “ongoing conflict in the region.”
When contacted by The Times of Israel, a representative for Delta says that the carrier has not yet issued an update on the resumption of services to Israel.
Delta would be the first US carrier to announce that it is resuming its services to Israel, after American Airlines halted services to Tel Aviv until September 2025 and United Airlines suspended its flights for the foreseeable future due to security concerns.
Delta canceled its flights to Israel following the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught, finally resuming them in June 2024, before canceling them again on July 31, after the targeted assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Syrian FM says scrapping sanctions ‘key’ to country’s stability

Syria’s top diplomat says lifting economic sanctions imposed during the rule of ousted president Bashar al-Assad is “key” to restoring stability in the war-torn country.
For weeks, Syria’s new authorities have been lobbying Western powers to scrap restrictions that had targeted Assad’s administration over his brutal 2011 crackdown on anti-government protests, which triggered the country’s civil war. But the international community has been hesitant to roll back the measures, with many countries — including the US — saying they are waiting to see how Syria’s new rulers exercise their power before doing so.
“Removing economic sanctions is the key for the stability of Syria,” Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani says in a conversation with former British prime minister Tony Blair at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The sanctions, he adds, were imposed for the benefit of Syrians, but are now “against the Syrian people.”
Iran arrests 10 Bahai women in ‘shocking’ raids, group says
Iranian authorities today arrested 10 women members of the Bahai community, a representative group says, warning of escalating repression against one of the country’s biggest non-Muslim religious minorities.
“Security forces arrested 10 Bahai women, without arrest warrants or prior notification, in a series of shocking home raids,” the Bahai International Community (BIC), which represents at the United Nations the interests of faith members worldwide, says in a statement.
It says security agents scaled walls, coerced neighbors, and even posed as utility workers to force entry into the women’s homes, “subjecting them to distressing and invasive searches.”
The women face charges including participation in conducting “deviant” educational and propaganda activities contrary to Islamic law.
“The Iranian government has once again shown its true face,” says Simin Fahandej, BIC representative at the UN in Geneva, calling the raids “yet another senseless act against women who are completely innocent.”
“Their so-called ‘crime’ was to serve their local communities, and now the Iranian government has detained them in violent home raids,” she says.
Report: Bennett aide met Haredi leader to discuss possible deal to topple government
A report says Shalom Shlomo, who served as former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s cabinet secretary, met recently with Motti Babchik, a senior adviser to Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, to discuss a potential deal on ultra-Orthodox conscription, if Haredi parties topple the government.
According to Channel 13, the pair discussed a deal to bring down the government by blocking the passage of the 2025 state budget, in exchange for Bennett passing a conscription law more amendable to the ultra-Orthodox politicians — who are working to block the mass conscription of their constituents.
Babchik, a prominent member of the Gur Hasidic group, carries significant influence in ultra-Orthodox circles. He was previously an aide to former UTJ chief Yaakov Litzman. Babchik maintains relationships with political figures across the spectrum, with the leaders of National Unity, Otzma Yehudit and New Hope attending the wedding of the Hasidic powerbroker’s daughter last September, joining then-defense minister Yoav Gallant and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.
A spokesman for Bennett denies the report, telling Channel 13 that there were “absolutely” no talks and that the Haredim need to be “drafted immediately.” Shlomo also dismisses the report, stating that he was “not conducting any negotiations. My meetings are not about politics.”
In a statement, Goldknopf’s office calls the report “fake news,” insisting that “there was no meeting” between Babchik and Shlomo “regarding the draft law or the overthrow of the government.”
“On December 1, a meeting was held at the Construction Ministry with [Histadrut labor federation chief] Arnon Bar David and a number of professional figures, in which Shalom Shlomo was present on behalf of the Histadrut and dealt only with professional issues. Beyond that, there was no meeting between the two,” Goldknopf’s bureau states.
IDF says it found a drone carrying a pipe bomb in the West Bank
A drone armed with a pipe bomb was found earlier today near the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, the military says.
Sappers neutralized the device. The IDF says it is further investigating the incident.
רחפן עם חפץ חשוד שנראה כמו מטען נפל בגזרת יצהר.
זו הפעם השניה שמגיע כזה רחפן מהכפר מדמא. בפעם הקודמת היה מחובר בלון גז קטן ולא מטען אמת.
הפעם נראה דומה למטען צינור. בבדיקת חבלנים. pic.twitter.com/koGImyIrcW
— מה חדש. What's new❓ (@Gloz111) January 22, 2025
14 Jewish athletes inducted into International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe’er and basketball star Amar’e Stoudemire are among the 14 Jewish athletes being inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame was founded in 1981 to honor Jewish athletes and sports heroes throughout the world. In light of the global rise of antisemitism following October 7, 2023, it has expanded its online presence to promote understanding, pride, and tolerance through the universal language of sports, the organization says in a statement.
The new inductees will join some 500 other Jewish athletes, including 40 Israelis.
The 2025 inductees include:
Amar’e Stoudemire, the National Basketball Association Rookie of the Year in 2003, who played in six NBA All-Star games and was named to All-NBA teams five times. He was on the US 2004 Olympic team that won a bronze medal and later played on championship teams in Israel for both Hapoel Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv. He formally converted to Judaism and adopted the name Yahoshafat Ben Avraham in 2020.
Shahar Pe’er, who represented Israel in two Olympics and won five singles and three doubles titles on the World Tennis Association Tour. She reached her peak with a World No. 11 ranking in 2011.
Abraham Kurland, a champion Greco-Roman wrestler in the 1930s and 1940s. He was favored to win the gold medal in the 1936 Olympics, but refused to participate because of their location in Nazi Germany.
Gary Jacobs, arguably the greatest Jewish boxer of the past half-century, according to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He won the European, Commonwealth and British championships in the 1980s and 1990s.
We're proud to announce the 2025 Class of Inductees into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame! 🔯 🏅These remarkable individuals have made history with their unparalleled achievements in sports and media, inspiring generations with their dedication, resilience, and excellence.Follow along to honoring their legacy and celebrate their incredible contributions to the global sports community. Stay tuned for more highlights and profiles coming your way!Learn more ➡️ https://jewishsportshof.org/
Posted by International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Hanoch Budin, who won eight medals representing Israel at six Paralympics between 1984 and 2004, setting two world records along the way.
Israel’s Oren Smadja, who won Olympic bronze medals for Israel as a judoka athlete in 1992 and as Ori Sasson’s judoka coach in 2016.
Andres Cantor, an Argentine broadcaster, famous for bellowing “Goooooooooooal” in soccer matches. He won six Emmy Awards and covered many World Cups and Olympic Games for Telemundo and Universo.
NY Jewish man arrested in 2022 synagogue shooting scheme sentenced to 2.5 years in prison
Matthew Mahrer, an autistic Jewish man who helped a neo-Nazi obtain an illegal firearm in 2022, has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison in a New York court.
Mahrer and his accomplice, Christopher Brown, were arrested in Manhattan after Brown threatened to shoot up a synagogue. Police recovered the firearm in Mahrer’s apartment. The incident received widespread attention and Mahrer’s case split local Jewish community members.
At Mahrer’s sentencing today, his family and supporters as well as Jewish community members calling for a harsh sentence filled the courtroom.
Mahrer’s lawyer pled for an alternative to prison, but the judge said that was not an option due to sentencing guidelines.
“I could not be more grateful that no one was hurt and I’m sorry to everyone, especially my family,” Mahrer tells the court. “I’m never going to stop trying to be a better person.”
Some of Mahrer’s family and supporters wept after the sentencing was announced.
In addition to the prison time, Mahrer will be under legal supervision for two years after his release.
Antisemitic acts at ‘historic’ highs in France, Jewish council says

France saw nearly 1,600 antisemitic acts in 2024, a slight dip from the year before but still at levels unseen in recent years as the Israel-Hamas war raged in Gaza, the country’s main Jewish organization says.
The figure of 1,570 incidents marked a six percent fall from the 1,676 recorded in 2023 but well above the numbers in the past decade or so.
By comparison, 436 antisemitic acts were recorded in 2022 and since 2012 they have fluctuated between 311 and 851 per year.
“For the second consecutive year, we are facing a historic number of antisemitic acts,” says the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF), an umbrella body of French Jewish groups, in a report based on figures from the Jewish community and the ministry of the interior.
CRIF has emphasized that antisemitic incidents surged in France in 2023 following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which was followed by Israel’s war in Gaza.
The figures only cover acts that have been the subject of a complaint, and therefore “this does not cover the entire phenomenon of antisemitism in France,” CRIF president Yonathan Arfi says. “Unfortunately, a large part of the phenomenon does not give rise to complaints, particularly in schools.”
Head of Hamas Beit Hanoun battalion appears to be alive after IDF said he was killed
The commander of Hamas’s Beit Hanoun battalion, Hussein Fayyad, who the IDF says was eliminated in May, appears to be alive.
Footage shared by Palestinian media shows a man identified as Fayyad speaking today at a funeral.
On May 24, the IDF said Fayyad was killed in a tunnel in a joint operation carried out by the 98th Division and special forces of the Air Force and elite Yahalom Combat Engineering unit.
It would not be the first time that the IDF has announced the death of a Hamas commander and later backtracked after determining that its intelligence at the time was not accurate.
The military has not yet commented on the reports that Fayyad is alive.
ظهور أسطوري للقائد ذو الأرواح السبع، حسين فياض (أبو حمزة)، قائد كتيبة بيت حانون، متحدثاً عن مفهوم النصر في الحرب.
جدير بالذكر أن المتحدث باسم جيش العدو دانيال هاغاري أعلن عن اغتياله في 23 مايو 2024، إثر اشتباك معه وجهاً لوجه في نفق في جباليا. pic.twitter.com/WMO6q390n4
— Saeed Ziad | سعيد زياد (@saeedziad) January 22, 2025
Belgian panel: Railway should apologize but not pay for sending Jews to Nazi camps

The Belgian railway company that sent Jews to Nazi death camps should not have to pay compensation to survivors, a panel commissioned by the Belgian government has concluded.
The official report, released on Friday, ended a five-year investigation into the role that the Belgian National Railway Company played in the Holocaust. Between 1942 and 1944, the railway carried more than 25,000 Jews and 353 Roma to Auschwitz and other concentration camps. Fewer than 1,200 people returned alive.
Belgium’s government opened an independent probe of the railway company, known by the acronym SNCB, in 2019. It invited a research center, the Study and Documentation Center for War and Contemporary Society, to investigate the railway’s role in the Holocaust. Last week, a committee revealed its recommendations based on what the researchers learned.
The committee said that SNCB should offer an official apology to survivors and urged expanded Holocaust education and commemoration initiatives, but stopped short of recommending reparations. Instead, they said the deportation trains were the “collective responsibility” of Belgian authorities and a silent, complacent Belgian public.
“The ultimate responsibility cannot therefore be attributed to a single person or even to a single company,” said the report.
One member of the commission, Belgian Supreme Court Judge Sidney Berneman, spoke strongly against the report’s conclusions. Berneman’s parents were Holocaust survivors from Poland who settled in Antwerp after the war.
“It is with a bitter feeling that I must give the final report a resounding fail and cannot in good conscience endorse it,” Berneman said. “The report does not honor the memory of thousands of Jews.”
IDF’s Givati Brigade pulls out of northern Gaza’s Jabalia amid ceasefire
In recent days, the IDF’s Givati Brigade was withdrawn from northern Gaza’s Jabalia during the ceasefire with Hamas.
The military says the brigade is now preparing for future operations.
The Givati Brigade lost 86 soldiers and commanders during the war, including during the October 7, 2023, onslaught.
"לאורך כל הדרך, הפגנתם מקצועיות, רעות ורוח לחימה שהיא דוגמה ומופת לערכי צה"ל" – כוחות חטיבת גבעתי נערכים למשימות הבאות
לכל הפרטים: 👇https://t.co/jYMC40V27S pic.twitter.com/NPx8fi4kR7
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 22, 2025
Syrian defense minister says open to talks with Kurds, but ready to use force

Syria’s defense minister says Damascus is open to talks with Kurdish-led forces on their integration into the national army but stands ready to use force should negotiations fail.
“The door to negotiation with the (Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces) is currently open,” Murhaf Abu Qasra tells reporters. “If we have to use force, we will be ready.”
Last month, an official told AFP that an SDF delegation had met Syria’s interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who heads the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that spearheaded the rebel offensive that ousted Bashar al-Assad.
Sharaa had told Al Arabiya television that Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the new national army so that weapons are “in the hands of the state alone.”
The US-backed SDF spearheaded the military campaign that ousted the Islamic State jihadist group from its last territory in Syria in 2019. The group controls much of the oil-producing northeast, where it has enjoyed de facto autonomy for more than a decade.
“They offered us oil, but we don’t want oil, we want the institutions and the borders,” Abu Qasra says.
Former Auschwitz commandant’s house to host antisemitism research center
A house once inhabited by a Nazi commandant of the Auschwitz extermination camp will be turned into a research center fighting against antisemitism and extremism, a US non-profit says.
The former house of Rudolf Höss, the longest-serving commandant of the Auschwitz camp, will open to the public on January 27, the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation by the Red Army.
Since World War II, the house has belonged to a private owner, according to the media.
The “CEP (Counter Extremism Project) will transform the former Commandant’s House into the Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism, and Radicalization (ARCHER),” the nonprofit says in a press release.
“The ordinary house of the greatest mass murderer will now be converted into the extraordinary symbol” of the fight against extremism and antisemitism, CEP’s Mark Wallace says.
Directly adjacent to the camp that has become a symbol of the Holocaust, the house with a large garden where Höss and his family lived was recently featured in Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar-winning film “The Zone of Interest.”
The center will be designed and developed in collaboration with the Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind, best known for his work on the Jewish Museum in Berlin.
Afghan man stabs and kills two in Germany, including a child

A knife attacker in Germany killed a two-year-old child and a man and seriously wounded two others Wednesday, say police, who arrested an Afghan suspect at the scene.
The stabbings happened in a public park in the center of the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg at around 11:45 a.m. (1045 GMT), they say.
They are the latest in a series of deadly knife attacks to have shaken Germany in recent months, fueling concerns over public safety.
The attacker targeted a group of children from a daycare center who were in the park, German media reports. “Two people were fatally injured,” police say, while another two were seriously hurt and receiving treatment in the hospital.
The suspect, a 28-year-old man from Afghanistan, was arrested “in the immediate vicinity of the crime scene.”
Police say investigations into the “background of the crime” are ongoing, without indicating a possible motive for the attack.
German media reports that the man is said to have had psychological issues and received treatment several times.
Ships carrying key missile propellant ingredient to sail from China to Iran — report
Two Iranian cargo ships are set to transport a key ingredient for missile propellant from China to Iran in the coming weeks, the Financial Times reports, citing intelligence from Western security officials.
The cargo on board the Golbon and the Jairan, some 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate, could be used to manufacture fuel for hundreds of mid-range missiles, the report notes.
The officials who spoke to the paper did not know whether Chinese authorities were aware of the shipments.
Officials in Beijing’s embassy in Washington tell FT that China is “not familiar” with the matter, while asserting that it is committed to “maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East and Gulf region.”
Sa’ar tells UN envoy Israel committed to upholding Lebanon ceasefire

Several days before Israel is meant to fully withdraw from Lebanon under the ceasefire deal there, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar tells the visiting UN envoy on Lebanon that Israel is committed to upholding the agreement as long as its security is maintained.
“I emphasized that Israel is committed to implementing the ceasefire agreement, but will not compromise on its security,” Sa’ar says of his meeting with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis. “There is an opportunity for Lebanon to break free from the Iranian occupation and build a better future!”
By January 26, Israeli troops are scheduled to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon to complete the ceasefire deal reached in November, with the Lebanese Army deploying in the area alongside international peacekeepers. Under the terms of the deal, the Hezbollah terror group is required to pull its forces back north of the Litani River, and Israel has warned that any violations of the deal will be answered in kind.
Separately, Sa’ar will depart tomorrow for a diplomatic trip to Hungary that was slated for last week but was pushed off when he returned early from Europe in order to take part in the cabinet discussions and vote on the ceasefire-hostage release deal.
Report: Documents show Google aided Israel with advanced AI tools amid war

The Washington Post says it has seen documents according to which Google employees actively assisted Israel in gaining access to certain advanced AI technology quickly after the war in Gaza began.
The report says Israel’s Defense Ministry sought to expand its use of Vertex AI, a Google service applying AI algorithms to data. One worker warned internally that a delay in granting access to the tech could push Israel to switch to competitor Amazon.
The paper notes that while the documents confirm Google’s cooperation with Israeli defense officials, they do not detail how precisely the AI technology was intended for use.
Iran’s Zarif: We didn’t know about Oct. 7, Israel failed in its goals in Gaza
At the Davos World Economic Forum, Iran’s Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif says Tehran was caught by surprise by Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
“We didn’t know about October 7. Actually we were supposed to have a meeting with the Americans on [the nuclear deal’s] renewal on October 9, which was undermined and destroyed by this operation,” he says during an interview.
The top official asserts that Israel has failed in its Gaza war objectives.
“Right now as you look at Gaza… Netanyahu did not achieve his goal of destroying Hamas, Hamas is still there. Israel had to come to a ceasefire,” he says. “I wouldn’t suggest anybody start rejoicing over destroying Hamas as well as the Palestinian resistance, or cutting Iran’s arms, because the resistance will stay as long as they’re occupied.”
He goes on: “The resistance is not dead. I can tell you that the wishes for the resistance to go away have been based on a misrepresentation, a framing by Israel, that this is not an Israeli-Palestinian issue but an Israeli-Iranian issue.”
Iran did not know about Oct 7 prior, actually was planning to meet the US officials to talk JCPOA renewal on Oct 9 — Javad Zarif at WEF pic.twitter.com/VdeWnc3OiJ
— RT (@RT_com) January 22, 2025
He downplays allegations by Israel and many Western nations that Iran has built a network of Middle East proxies beholden to its expansionist plans.
“Find me a single instance when these groups, which are I think erroneously called Iranian proxies, operated on our behalf,” he demands.
Zarif also denies widespread reporting that Israel took out much of the country’s air defense capabilities during an air offensive in October 2024 that was a retaliation for two Iranian missile and drone barrages on the country.
“The story about destroying our air defense is a story and there is a reason behind it,” he says. “We suffered [some damage], but it didn’t mean that we lost our air defense.”
Zarif, who was the lead negotiator on the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers, denies Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon, even when confronted with the Western assessment that Iran can break out toward creating the material for several bombs within days, if it chooses.
“Had we wanted to build a nuclear weapon we could have done it long time ago. A program to build nuclear weapons is not going to be like our program. You build nuclear weapons in hidden laboratories that are not subject to international inspection,” he says.
Western nations say Iran’s nuclear enrichment program has no feasible civilian application. The UN nuclear watchdog has long complained of Iranian impediments to its inspection work.
US State Department says it’s aware of reports Tel Aviv attacker had American green card
A State Department spokesperson tells The Times of Israel that the US is aware of reports that the assailant in last night’s Tel Aviv stabbing attack had an American green card.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and to the families of all those affected,” the spokesperson adds in a statement.
Katz announces Amir Baram, Eyal Zamir, Tamir Yadai are candidates for next IDF chief

Defense Minister Israel Katz says he will begin to interview three candidates for the position of next IDF chief of staff starting on Sunday.
The candidates are Maj. Gen. Amir Baram, the current deputy chief of staff; Maj. Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir, the Defense Ministry director-general; and Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai, the former Ground Forces chief.
The process comes after IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said he would be resigning on March 6.
IDF tells Palestinians in Jenin hospital to stay inside as it clears suspected bombs
The IDF says it instructed Palestinians at a hospital in the West Bank city of Jenin to remain inside the medical center for several hours as troops cleared suspected improvised explosive devices planted in the area by terror operatives.
“Following concerns of IEDs on roads near the Jenin hospital, security forces operated in the area overnight to neutralize the IEDs,” the military says in response to a query.
“As a result, those staying at the hospital were asked to remain inside it to maintain their safety. After the forces’ activity in the area, exit from the hospital was made possible through organized and safe routes,” the IDF says.
The IDF says troops did not enter the hospital and are not surrounding other medical centers in Jenin.
The military has been operating in Jenin since yesterday, in a major raid dubbed Operation Iron Wall. The Palestinian Authority health ministry has reported nine dead in Jenin and another fatality in a nearby village.
Suspect in attack on Australia’s Newtown Synagogue captured, second arrest expected

A man has been arrested and charged for allegedly vandalizing and attempting to set on fire the Newtown Synagogue near Sydney, Australia, earlier this month, the New South Wales Police Force says.
The arrest of a second suspect is also expected soon, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb says.
The Newtown Synagogue was attacked on January 11 before dawn, when vandals spray-painted red swastikas outside the synagogue’s entrance and tried to burn it down. Security videos showed two men working together.
The 33-year-old suspect was apprehended by Strike Force Pearl detectives in an overnight raid in Camperdown. Police also seized a number of items which have been taken for further examination. The suspect was first taken to St Vincent’s Hospital under police guard, and upon release was taken to the police station. He was charged with numerous crimes, including destroying property with fire and damaging property. The suspect was denied bail.
Numerous synagogues around Australia have been attacked since the firebombing of the Adass Synagogue in Melbourne attracted international attention in December. The day before the Newtown Synagogue was attacked, the Sydney Southern Synagogue was graffitied with the words “Hitler on top” and “Free Palestine.”
Strike Force Pearl was established in December 2024 after the arson attack on the Adass Synagogue to investigate antisemitic hate crimes in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. The team includes counter-terrorism and special tactics officers.
It was Strike Force Pearl’s ninth arrest, the New South Wales Police note.
Coalition shoots down opposition bill calling for state commission of inquiry into Oct. 7

The coalition defeats an opposition bill calling for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the events of October 7 by a vote of 45-53.
Arguing against the bill, sponsored by National Unity MK Orit Farkash Hacohen, Science Minister Gila Gamliel (Likud) declared that the launching of such a probe must wait until the end of the war “and not during the fighting” — though a ceasefire is currently in effect — and promotes the idea of an alternate commission composed of representatives chosen by both the coalition and opposition.
“To evade responsibility, the coalition today harmed Israel’s security, the bereaved families and the families of the hostages,” National Unity says in a statement about the vote.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party tweets a list of MKs who oppose the measure, stating that they “once again spat in the faces of the bereaved families and the families of the hostages.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out any inquiry until after the war. Additionally, in a press conference last month, he said that “a state commission is not acceptable to a considerable portion of the people. A government inquiry is not acceptable to another portion. What is needed is to find a different mechanism that will get to the truth and that is acceptable to most portions of the people.”
Critics allege Netanyahu seeks to establish a panel with fewer powers than a state commission, fearing it will implicate him in the disaster.
Video: Terrorist stops for pizza shortly before carrying out Tel Aviv stabbing attack

Channel 12 news airs footage of the terrorist who carried out last night’s terror attack in Tel Aviv buying slices of pizza at a nearby eatery before stabbing and wounding four people a short time later.
“I only realized later when I got home and images were circulating on WhatsApp. That’s when I saw a photo of the terrorist,” Chaim Bassan, the owner of Pizza and Tortilla, tells the outlet.
“He was so close to us. We saw him. We talked to him,” Bassan says.
The stabbing attack on Tel Aviv’s Nahalat Binyamin Street was carried out by Moroccan national Abdelaziz Kaddi, a US green card holder, according to an ID found on his body.
“A few minutes after he left the pizzeria, people began to run,” Bassan says. “They were shouting ‘terrorist’ and I heard gunfire. So we ran.”
“It didn’t occur to me that it was anything to do with him,” Bassan says, adding that Kaddi spoke to him in English with an Arabic accent and that he had remarked to him on his choice of language as he thought it was unusual.
“He ate outside, and he even returned his plate, which not all Israelis do,” Bassan says.
דקות לפני הפיגוע אמש בתל אביב המחבל עצר לקנות פיצה מפיצרייה סמוכה לזירת הפיגוע. pic.twitter.com/aH38oPf4iI
— מה חדש. What's new❓ (@Gloz111) January 22, 2025
Houthis release crew of Israel-linked ship over a year after seizing vessel off Yemen coast

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have released the crew of the Galaxy Leader more than a year after they seized the vessel off the coast of Yemen, Al Masirah TV, which is owned by the Houthis, reports.
The Galaxy Leader is owned by a British company, which is in turn owned by an Israeli businessman.
It had been chartered by a Japanese company when it was captured on November 19, 2023 by the Houthis, who said they were acting in “solidarity” with people in the Gaza Strip.
The crew was handed to Oman in the wake of the ceasefire and hostage release deal that was agreed to by Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Video: Fire blazes in Palestinian home following apparent arson attack by Israeli extremists on Sunday

Yesh Din rights organization publishes footage of a Palestinian home set ablaze Sunday night by Israeli assailants, apparently extremist settlers, with the residents still inside, including children.
The home in the West Bank village of Sinjil belongs to the family of Abd al-Ghani Fuqha. The footage shows three members of the family trying to extinguish the fire by pouring water on the flames and beating them out.
Three of members of the Fuqha family suffered burns and smoke inhalation.
Sinjil was one of three central West Bank Palestinian villages attacked Sunday night by Israeli ultranationalist extremists, likely from nearby settlements and illegal outposts.
According to the UN Human Rights Office, six Palestinians were injured in Sinjil alone, including three children aged between 14 and 16.
Further extremist attacks against Palestinian civilians were carried out in the villages of Jinsafut and al-Funduq
Members of the Fuqha family, including children, try to put out a fire in their home in the West Bank Palestinian village of Sinjil set by Israeli ultranationalist extremists, likely radical settlers, January 19, 2025. (Courtesy Yesh Din)
Government defeats opposition bill to apply Israeli sovereignty to West Bank’s Jordan Valley
An opposition bill to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley fails 32-56 in a preliminary reading in the Knesset due to opposition by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline right-wing government.
The Jordan Valley is part of the West Bank.
While the coalition opposes the bill, MK Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party, which left the government this week, votes in favor.
Several members of Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party also support the measure, as did Benny Gantz’s National Unity party, while members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party vote against it.
A source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel that National Unity supports the measure because control of the Jordan Valley is a “strategic asset” and it is certain to be part of Israel under any potential future Trump administration peace plan.
Yesh Atid gave its MKs free rein to vote as they wished.
“How symbolic. The government of the [Haredi draft] evasion law is overturning the applying-sovereignty law,” writes Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman on X following the bill’s failure.
A bill to annex the West Bank brought by Yisrael Beytenu in March 2023 was also defeated by the government.
בעד החלת ריבונות בבקעת הירדן:
ישראל ביתנו
המחנה הממלכתי (כולל גנץ ואייזנקוט)
יש עתיד (כולל בן ארי, בליאק, ומיקי לוי)
וכל זה עוד לפני השיחה הראשונה עם טראמפ בנושא זה…
סיבה נהדרת לאופטימיות, עידן חדש בפתח, בע"ה! pic.twitter.com/80HD0axVc2— אורית סטרוק (@oritstrock) January 22, 2025
Asked why he opposes the bill, Religious Zionism MK Ohad Tal says, “Sovereignty must be applied after organized work in cooperation with the government, not by law in the Knesset,” and adds, “This is just trolling.”
“We can’t vote for it just because it’s right,” agrees Likud MK Tally Gotliv. “We need to do it in a way that is reasonable and at the right time,” and in cooperation with the United States.
“The opposition’s decision to push populist bills without conducting the necessary groundwork is nothing more than a political stunt,” Likud MK Dan Illouz tells The Times of Israel.
“With President Trump reelected, we have a historic opportunity to advance Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, but it must be done wisely. Rushing ahead with symbolic legislation that has no chance of progressing beyond a preliminary reading only weakens our cause and undermines Israel’s ability to act decisively.”
UN chief praises Trump’s ‘large contribution’ to Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres hails US President Donald Trump’s diplomatic efforts to secure a hostage release and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas after some 15 months of war.
“There was a large contribution of the robust diplomacy of the at-the-time president-elect of the United States,” he says at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Arab officials told the Times of Israel last week that they believe Trump and his envoy Steve Witkoff were responsible for the breakthrough that led to the deal.
Iran says Swiss national who died in prison had taken photos of military sites
A Swiss national who Iranian authorities said took his own life while in an Iranian jail after being arrested on suspicion of espionage had taken pictures of military sites, Iran’s judiciary spokesperson says.
Switzerland had demanded detailed information on the reasons for the arrest of the 64-year-old man, who had been traveling in Iran as a tourist, and a full investigation into the circumstances of his death earlier this month.
“The person had entered the country from Dogharoun (bordering Afghanistan) in October as a tourist in a car fitted with various technical equipment meant for different purposes,” the judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir says.
The spokesperson says the detainee had hanged himself with a piece of cloth after turning off his cell’s light and placing himself out of the view of security cameras.
“After passing through several provinces, he entered Semnan province and was arrested while being in a military-restricted zone,” Jahangir says. “He was arrested on charges of taking pictures of the military zone and collaborating with hostile states.”
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have in recent years arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.
Rights groups accuse Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests. Iran denies this.
Qatar PM says talks on stage 2 of hostage-ceasefire deal should start as soon as possible: ‘We’re pushing for this’

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani tells the Walla news site that he is ready to start talks as soon as possible on the second stage of the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal, even ahead of the deadline date for the discussions to begin.
The Qatari prime minister tells the outlet that he plans to speak to Mossad head David Barnea this week to begin discussing negotiations on the second phase of the agreement: “We are pushing for this.”
An unnamed senior Israeli official tells the site that they have “no problem” beginning the talks before day 16.
“Negotiations on the first phase have lasted months, and reaching an agreement on the second phase may also take a long time,” the official says. Previously, Israeli officials have said the discussions will begin on day 16.
An Israeli official tells the site that Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Barnea held talks on the deal during their Cairo meetings with Egyptian intelligence officials this week, but notes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet held a meeting on the second phase of the deal.
The official adds that Israel will continue to demand that Hamas not be permitted to govern Gaza after the war. According to Walla, Egypt has been working with Palestinian factions in recent weeks to establish a what it calls a “civilian committee” to potentially run Gaza alongside the international community and representatives of the Palestinian Authority.
Edelstein says defense committee to restart work on contentious Haredi draft bill

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Likud MK Yuli Edelstein announces his committee will restart work on the government’s controversial ultra-Orthodox enlistment bill next week, with lawmakers debating specific provisions of the bill.
The legislation has long been stuck in the committee, with Edelstein insisting that he will “only produce a real conscription law that will significantly increase the IDF’s conscription base.”
Next week the committee is scheduled to hold discussions on the bill on Monday and Thursday. On Tuesday, outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi is slated to address the committee in a closed hearing.
Herzog to address special UN assembly to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day
President Isaac Herzog will address a special UN assembly next week marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day as well as meet with the UN chief during his visit, his office says.
Herzog will depart for New York on Sunday and deliver the keynote address at the UN gathering marking the day on Monday, January 27, which is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. He will be accompanied by Marianne Miller, who survived the Theresienstadt concentration camp and is the mother of famed Israeli comedian Adir Miller.
During his visit to New York, Herzog is also slated to meet with UN Secretary-General António Guterres for the first time since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. The pair will discuss “advancing international efforts to secure the release of hostages held captive by Hamas terrorists in Gaza,” his office says.
IDF says troops seized weapons, including rocket launchers, in south Lebanon

IDF troops operating on the Lebanese side of Mount Dov in recent days captured numerous weapons, the military says.
The IDF says members of the 810th “Mountains” Regional Brigade located and seized anti-tank missiles and launchers, rocket launchers, machine guns, and other weapons.
The IDF is still deployed to some areas of southern Lebanon, in accordance with a ceasefire agreement.
Katz threatens to halt Haredi draft legislation unless it preserves system of full-time yeshiva study

Defense Minister Israel Katz threatens to halt legislation on the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men unless it ensures the preservation of the “Torah world” — the network of full-time yeshivas that form the backbone of ultra-Orthodox society.
Within the coming decades, Haredim will constitute a third of Israel’s population and their integration into the country’s economy and security services is critical, Katz states, reiterating his stance that both “significant recruitment” to the military and the maintenance of the yeshiva system are nonnegotiable.
“There is an opportunity here to create broad consensus. I announced in the [Foreign Affairs and Defense] Committee that if I see during the [legislative process] that I cannot achieve one of the two goals, I will stop the legislation,” he says.
He issues a challenge: “Anyone who says that they know how to recruit 100 percent [of the Haredim] please recruit them.”
Earlier today, Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, told a Knesset committee that while it would take time to recruit all eligible Haredi young men, he would implement whatever is required by law.
PM’s office partially denies report it agreed to allow Palestinian Authority to run Rafah crossing

Israel partially denies a report in a Saudi-owned news outlet that it has agreed to allow the Palestinian Authority to take control of the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt when it reopens.
However, the statement from the Prime Minister’s Office notes that the PA currently plays some role in approving exit visas and it also leaves open the possibility for it to play a larger role in the future.
The PMO statement accuses the PA of trying to “create the false impression that it controls the crossing.”
The PMO notes that the IDF is currently deployed at the crossing point and “nobody passes through it without supervision and approval from the IDF and Shin Bet.” It claims that “non-Hamas Gazans” provide technical management of the crossing with international oversight, and the PA provides the stamp on passports allowing Gazans to exit the Strip.
The report in the UK-based Asharq Al-Awsat said that during conversations this week in Cairo between Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Mossad head David Barnea and Egyptian intelligence officials, they agreed to allow the PA to manage the crossing “under international and UN supervision.”
The report, citing a source familiar with the meetings, noted that the current arrangements are temporary and “concern this stage only of the ceasefire.”
The PMO also admits that the current arrangement at the crossing is for the “first stage of the deal and will be reexamined later.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly vowed that the PA cannot assume control of Gaza after the war, although many international observers and Israeli defense officials have suggested it is the most viable alternative.
Top Netanyahu confidant Dermer says Israel hasn’t pledged to accept Palestinian state in talks on Saudi ties

Israel has made no commitment regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state within the context of talks on potential normalization with Saudi Arabia, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer tells lawmakers.
“There is no promise regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state, at all,” Dermer declares from the Knesset rostrum.
This is believed to be the first time that Dermer, who is not an MK, has spoken in the Knesset plenum since his swearing-in as a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet in December 2022. He rarely gives public statements in general.
Turning to Gaza, the key Netanyahu confidant says the government is working on a plan for the postwar governance of Gaza and stresses the need to “engage both the United States and the powers in the region” to ensure the management of the enclave “according to the framework set by the prime minister.”
“We will talk less and do more,” he asserts.
Regarding Lebanon, Dermer states that Israel has “the ability to enforce any violation and will do what is necessary to maintain the security of the residents of the north,” who have borne the brunt of terror group Hezbollah’s missile attacks.
Herzog meets Zelensky, UN nuclear watchdog chief on sidelines of Davos forum

President Isaac Herzog holds meetings with a series of world leaders on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Herzog met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi and a series of other foreign leaders.
Yesterday he also met on the sidelines of the conference with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and, during his own session, said he saw “clear potential” for reaching a deal on the next stages of the ceasefire.
The president’s office does not provide detailed readouts of the conversations, but notes that Herzog “emphasized the urgent and critical need to return the hostages held captive by Hamas, and to fully implement all stages of the hostage deal” in each of the meetings.
In a post on X, Zelensky says that he and Herzog discussed “important issues of Ukrainian-Israeli cooperation,” and that he welcomed the news of the three hostages released this week. The Ukrainian leader says they talked about “shared challenges, collaboration – particularly in the security sphere – and ways to achieve a just peace for Ukraine.”
IDF personnel chief: Haredi draft a ‘clear operational need,’ effective sanctions needed for those who dodge

The conscription of ultra-Orthodox men is a “clear operational need,” Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, tells the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
“We all understand the need. On the first day of the war I buried 98 people,” says Bar Khalifa, the former commander of the 36th Division who led troops during months of fighting against Hamas in Gaza.
“I have no intention of changing the IDF’s stated position in the slightest,” he declares, adding that the military needs 6,000-7,000 additional combat troops.
The army has previously told the committee that, assuming it is provided with the necessary resources, it will be able to absorb Haredim “without any restrictions” starting in 2026.
However, Defense Minister Katz has instead pushed for gradually increasing the number of Haredi men drafted into the military until it hits 50 percent of the annual eligible Haredi draft cohort in 2032.
Says Bar Khalifa: “We are making a crazy, enormous effort. I am convinced that as we progress and succeed in recruiting our Haredi brothers, they will enlist with us. What we are preparing for them will allow us to successfully recruit them. We have invested millions, we are investing enormous resources and will expand as much as necessary.”
Bar Kalifa also urges “much more effective sanctions” on individuals who dodge the draft in order to improve enlistment numbers.
Trump administration working on 2nd phase of hostage-ceasefire deal – report

The Trump administration has begun work on the second phase of the ceasefire-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, Politico reports.
Officials and advisers to US President Donald Trump’s Republican Party say they worked with the Biden administration, but admit it will not be easy to push the phased agreement through.
“What Biden left us with is the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end,” one official tells the outlet.
Officials tell Politico that US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and newly confirmed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will begin work on the matter almost immediately.
Deputy AG: Draft law advanced by Katz doesn’t meet IDF’s needs, contravenes High Court ruling

The principles of a draft law being advanced by Defense Minister Israel Katz fail to meet the manpower needs of the IDF, contravening the High Court of Justice’s ruling last summer that ultra-Orthodox men must no longer get an exemption from military service, Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon tells lawmakers.
“The High Court of Justice ruling is the legal starting point according to which we examine every proposal regarding conscription. It has three components: general conscription, an administrative obligation on the army to enforce it equitably, and a prohibition on the state providing funding” for draft dodgers, Limon tells the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
“The scope of conscription presented by the minister is lower than the army’s needs, and the rate of conscription also does not match the army’s needs in terms of force building,” Limon says.
In June, the court ruled that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the military since there was no longer any legal framework to continue the decades-long practice of granting them blanket exemptions from army service.
Katz’s barebones outline calls for gradually increasing the number of Haredim drafted into the military until it hits 50 percent of the annual eligible Haredi draft cohort in 2032.
IDF says it ‘hit more than 10 terrorists’ during ongoing raid in West Bank’s Jenin

The IDF says it has “hit more than 10 terrorists” during an ongoing raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, dubbed Operation Iron Wall.
“During the past day the forces hit more than 10 terrorists,” the military says, adding that several airstrikes were carried out, and numerous explosive devices were neutralized.
The operation is still ongoing.
The Palestinian Authority health ministry reported nine dead in Jenin and another fatality in a nearby village.
Reports: Body of Hamas operative who killed Border Police officer in 2021 found in Gaza

Reports in Palestinian media claim that the Hamas operative who killed Border Police officer Staff Sgt. Barel Hadaria Shmueli during a riot on the Gaza border in August 2021 was killed during fighting in Jabalia.
The reports identify the operative as Muhammad Maher Abu Jasser, and say his body was recently found during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The military and Shin Bet have not yet confirmed the details.
ارتقاء البطل القسامـ.ـي// محمد ماهر أبو جاسر.
الذي تمكن من القضاء على قناص إسرائيلي من المسافة صفر أبان مسيرات العودة "السلمية" في 2021 في الحدود الشرقية لقطاع غزة.لا تنسوا الشهداء من دعائكم pic.twitter.com/oQCfz9Vqp8
— احمد فوزي – Ahmed Faozi (@AFYemeni) January 21, 2025
On August 21, 2021, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip held a large demonstration along the Gaza border, near the defunct Karni Crossing. At one point during the demonstration, dozens of rioters rushed the border barrier, up to a hole in the concrete wall that was being used by Israeli snipers as a firing position.
One man, apparently Abu Jasser, armed with a gun, approached the hole in the wall, stuck his pistol through it, and fired three times. One of these shots struck Shmueli in the head, critically wounding him. He died of his injury days later.
Report: Shin Bet, Mossad chiefs and Egypt intel head agree Rafah crossing to be run by Palestinian Authority

An unnamed source tells Asharq Al-Awsat that an agreement was reached at a meeting between Israeli security chiefs and the head of Egyptian intelligence that the Palestinian Authority will manage the Gazan side of the Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt, under “international supervision and monitoring by the UN.”
The Cairo meeting was held Monday-Tuesday between Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, Mossad chief David Barnea and Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad.
The source tells the London-based newspaper that no date has been set for the reopening of the key border crossing.
According to the source, there is still no agreement on the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along the border between Gaza and Egypt, but “the differences of opinion are technical, and they will be resolved.”
“Israel proposed partial withdrawals from the corridor, but Egypt did not accept the idea and insists on a complete withdrawal and a return to the situation as it was before the war,” the source tells the outlet.
Health Ministry warns of ‘smoking epidemic’ killing 8,000 people a year in Israel
The Health Ministry says that the rate of smoking –- including cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and hookahs –- claims the lives of approximately 8,000 people each year, including 10 percent who are nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke, according to its annual report.
The proportion of Israelis who smoke daily is 23%, while the OECD average is about 20%. The report also states that 26% of the adult population suffers from secondhand smoke, which can cause cancer and other diseases.
One in six children and teenagers has experimented with smoking either cigarettes or electronic smoking products and their use is on the rise, the report says.
“The smoking epidemic is one of the most destructive public health crises,” says Sharon Alroy Preis, the ministry’s head of the Public Health Division. “E-cigarettes are seen as healthy products, but they are dangerous, especially for children and teenagers.”
In 2023, tobacco taxation generated NIS 8 billion for the state, with over NIS 6 billion from imported cigarettes.
The ministry is promoting measures to monitor and regulate the accessibility of smoking and nicotine products for the entire population, especially teenagers, Health Minister Uriel Busso says.
“A challenging road still lies ahead as we face sophisticated players, tobacco companies, new smoking products, and importers who are looking for every possible way to introduce their products to the market,” he says.
Busso calls on all citizens who are smoking to quit, and invites them to seek free professional help through the ministry’s hotline and healthcare organizations.
Off-duty officer who lost hand in Gaza helped chase down terrorist in Tel Aviv attack

An off-duty IDF tank officer who had lost a hand during fighting in the Gaza Strip was among those who attempted to neutralize a terrorist who stabbed four people in Tel Aviv last night.
“I fought in Gaza about a year ago. I was injured and lost my right hand. Today I am at the Tactical Command College, in the company commander course,” Cpt. “Aleph” says in a video distributed by the IDF.
“I went out with my friends from the course to Nahalat Binyamin, and during the outing, a terrorist came and tried to stab one of us. As soon as I noticed the incident, I tried to hit the terrorist and we chased him,” he says.
The Armored Corps officer was lightly hurt in the attack, and says he will return to his course tomorrow.
The terrorist, a Moroccan national with a US green card, was eventually shot dead at the scene.
As US Senate readies vote on Pentagon nominee, Hegseth’s former sister-in-law says he abused his ex-wife

Pete Hegseth’s former sister-in-law says in an affidavit to senators that US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon abused his second ex-wife to the point where she once hid in a closet and gave friends a code word to use in a crisis.
“I believe that Samantha feared for her safety,” Danielle Hegseth, who was married to Pete Hegseth’s brother, says in a signed affidavit after a Jan. 18 request from Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Pete Hegseth denies abusing Samantha Hegseth.
Reuters has reviewed a copy of the affidavit, dated Jan. 21, which also contains allegations against Hegseth of alcohol abuse and remarks that Danielle Hegseth found offensive, including shouts of “No means yes!” at a bar in 2013, which she said she witnessed.
In the affidavit, she understood Hegseth meant to indicate a belief that men don’t need to obtain sexual consent from women.
“As I told the FBI, I have also heard Hegseth say that women should not have the right to vote and that they should not work,” she tells NBC News.
Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore is quoted by NBC saying that Samantha has “never alleged that there was any abuse, she signed court documents acknowledging that there was no abuse and recently reaffirmed the same during her FBI interview.”
Samantha Hegseth could not be reached for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Samantha Hegseth is quoted telling NBC News, which first reported the affidavit: “There was no physical abuse in my marriage.”
The accusations came as the Republican-led US Senate prepares for a vote on Hegseth’s confirmation. The slim Republican Senate majority means that Hegseth can lose support from no more than three senators to be confirmed, if Democrats and independents unite against him.
Danielle Hegseth alleges Pete Hegseth was abusive to Samantha.
“Samantha also told me that she once hid in her closet from Hegseth because she feared for her personal safety,” she says in the affidavit, without providing further details.
She also describes Samantha’s plan “if she felt she needed to get away from Hegseth” that involved her texting a code word, which she did not specify in the document. If Danielle Hegseth received that code word, she had to contact another friend to fly to Minnesota to help.
“Samantha did text me this code word sometime in 2015-2016, and I did call the other person to let that person know Samantha needed help,” Danielle Hegseth says. She does not disclose the name of the friend in the affidavit and Reuters was unable to confirm her account.
Several episodes surrounding Hegseth have sparked concern among Democrat lawmakers, including the 2017 sexual assault allegation against Hegseth that did not result in charges.
Hegseth has also been accused of excessive drinking and financial mismanagement at veterans’ organizations. Hegseth has vowed to abstain from alcohol if confirmed and said he made financial errors while running those organizations but denied wrongdoing.
In a 2021 incident first reported by Reuters, Hegseth was branded an “insider threat” by a fellow member of the Army National Guard over his tattoos. During his Senate confirmation hearing, Hegseth noted the incident, which led him to be pulled from Guard duty in Washington during Biden’s inauguration.
IDF to test sirens today in Hazeva and Snir
The military says the Home Front Command will carry out a test of rocket sirens in two communities today.
Sirens will sound at 10:05 a.m. in Hazeva, and at 11:05 p.m. in Snir.
In the case of an actual attack, the sirens will sound twice, according to the IDF.
Trump touts $500 billion AI project from Softbank, Oracle, OpenAI

US President Donald Trump announces a major investment to build infrastructure for artificial intelligence led by Japanese giant Softbank, cloud giant Oracle and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.
The venture, called Stargate, “will invest $500 billion, at least, in AI infrastructure in the United States,” Trump says in remarks at the White House.
“This monumental undertaking is a resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential,” he says.
OpenAI’s chief executive Sam Altman, SoftBank’s chief Masayoshi Son and Oracle founder Larry Ellison attend the announcement.
Their project is committed to invest an initial $100 billion and up to $500 billion over the next four years in the project, according to Son.
The venture comes as big tech players are scrambling to meet AI’s voracious computing needs, as well as find the electric power necessary to expand the new technology.
Trump says Stargate will be building the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of advancements in AI, including the construction of “colossal data centers.”
OpenAI later says in an X post that the project “will not only support the re-industrialization of the United States but also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies.”
Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN welcomes ceasefire, calls for release of ‘all hostages and detainees’
The Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN welcomes the Gaza ceasefire and calls for “the release of all hostages and detainees, some of whom are nationals of ASEAN Member States.”
“We also call for a full, safe, rapid, and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance for the Palestinians, including through the
continuation of UNRWA’s role and mandate, and for the immediate reconstruction in Gaza,” its chair Malaysia says in a statement, additionally urging a two-state solution.
‘There is life after death,’ freed hostage Romi Gonen writes in first social media post since release

Freed hostage Romi Gonen shares a first post on her Instagram account since she was freed Sunday from Hamas captivity in Gaza, writing that “there is life after death.”
The post includes a photo of Gonen and her mother embracing after her return to Israel, which she says “I can’t believe I’m screenshotting right now… sometimes dreams come true.”
“I wanted to stop a moment and say thanks to the people of Israel, my family and friends. The prayers and strength you sent accompanied us the entire way and helped us believe this nightmare will ultimately end.”
“It will take more time to process and thank you all. It must be remembered that there are 94 more hostages in Gaza who are dying for us to save them. The people of Israel live and with the help of God we’ll continue to receive good news in the coming weeks.”
Trump considering Mideast visit but ‘not yet,’ again claims credit for hostage deal

US President Donald Trump says he’s thinking about visiting the Middle East but indicates the trip won’t take place in the immediate future.
“We’re thinking about going to the Middle East — not yet,” Trump says in remarks to reporters.
His Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, though, confirmed Monday that he’s planning to travel to Gaza in order to see through the implementation of the hostage deal.
“We have a thing called ‘the hostages are coming back’ going on right now,” Trump adds.
He laments that some of the hostages are not in good condition and references Emily Damari, who was released on Sunday but had two of her fingers amputated after being shot during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught.
“If I weren’t here, that they wouldn’t be back ever,” Trump says of the hostages.
Indeed, Arab diplomats speaking to The Times of Israel have credited Trump and Witkoff for helping bring the deal across the finish line, particularly by pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Biden couldn’t get it done, and it was only the imposition that I put on as a deadline that they got it done,” Trump says.
Last month, Trump threatened “all hell to pay” in the Mideast if the hostages weren’t released by his January 20 inauguration.
Israeli Columbia prof targeted by protesters: I invited them to join the class, they just shouted
An Israeli historian targeted by anti-Zionist protesters says he invited the activists to join the class, but was shouted down.
Avi Shilon, an Israeli historian, was teaching a class on the history of modern Israel on Tuesday, the first day of the semester, when three anti-Israel activists barged in to read a speech and throw anti-Israel fliers at the students.
Shilon tells The Times of Israel he was teaching about the conflicting Israeli and Palestinian narratives surrounding Israel’s 1948 War of Independence at the time of the disruption by the protesters, whose faces were covered in keffiyehs.
“I was trying to be unbiased as I’m used to being and then they knock on the door and for me, as an Israeli, they looked like mehablim,” he says, using the Hebrew word for terrorists.
He says he was surprised, but mostly concerned for the students in his class.
“I didn’t know how to react because if you would be aggressive they can claim that you pushed them or something, and if you’re going to be more calm they can continue, so I suggested to them to join the class and to learn about the conflict,” he says. “They just shouted ‘genocide,’ ‘criminals,’ and didn’t reply.”
Shilon, a Mizrahi Jew whose family came to Israel from Baghdad, tried speaking with the protesters in Arabic.
“They didn’t understand Arabic, of course. They don’t understand the conflict,” he says.
Columbia’s administration sent security shortly after the protesters left, and Shilon’s department head called him immediately. Campus security will likely guard the class going forward, he says.
Other courses on Israel and Zionism at Columbia are taught by harsh critics of Israel who are not Israeli. Shilon believes the administration hired him, the only Israeli historian teaching at the university, to provide some balance. He was a visiting professor at New York University from 2019 to 2022 and taught one course at Columbia during that time.
Columbia President Katrina Armstrong condemned the disruption to Shilon’s class and vowed a swift investigation.
Police: Officers shoot three Palestinians hurling stones at them in Shu’afat refugee camp
Border Police officers have shot three Palestinians who were hurling stones at them in the Shu’afat refugee camp near Jerusalem.
According to police, dozens of Palestinians began to riot during an operation in Shu’afat.
Undercover officers “who felt their lives were in danger,” opened fire on three and hit them, police say in a statement.
Their conditions are not immediately known.
Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.
Sure, we'll remove all ads from your page and you'll unlock access to some excellent Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.

We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel