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State Department memo ordering halt on all US foreign aid makes exceptions for Israel and Egypt
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered a halt to virtually all US foreign aid, but made an exception for funding to Israel and Egypt, an internal memo shows.
“No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved… as consistent with President Trump’s agenda,” says the memo to staff seen by AFP.
US stops work on foreign aid after Trump orders review
The US State Department has issued a “stop-work” order for all existing foreign assistance and paused new aid, according to a memo seen by Reuters, fulfilling an order issued by President Donald Trump.
The cable, drafted by the Department’s Foreign Aid Bureau and approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, says waivers have been issued for military financing for Israel and Egypt. No other countries were mentioned in the cable.
Just hours after taking office on Monday, Trump ordered a 90-day pause in foreign development assistance pending a review of efficiencies and consistency with his foreign policy.
But the scope of the order was not immediately known and it was unclear what funding could be cut given that the US Congress sets the federal government budget.
Trump’s order is unlawful, argues a source familiar discussions in Congress on the move.
“Freezing these international investments will lead our international partners to seek other funding partners – likely US competitors and adversaries – to fill this hole and displace the United States’ influence the longer this unlawful impoundment continues,” the source says on condition of anonymity.
The State Department memo says effective immediately, senior officials “shall ensure that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, no new obligations shall be made for foreign assistance” until Rubio has made a decision after a review.
It says that for existing foreign assistance awards stop-work orders shall be issued immediately until reviewed by Rubio.
“It’s manufactured chaos,” says a former senior official with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Organizations will have to stop all activities, so all lifesaving health services, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, maternal and child health, all agriculture work, all support of civil society organizations, education,” says the official.
Hamas has added up to 15,000 fighters since start of war, US figures show
Hamas has recruited between 10,000 and 15,000 members since the start of its war with Israel, according to two congressional sources briefed on US intelligence, suggesting the Iran-backed terror group could remain a persistent threat to Israel.
The intelligence indicates a similar number of Hamas fighters have been killed during that period, the sources say. The latest official US estimates have not been previously reported.
The sources briefed on the intelligence, which was included in a series of updates from US intelligence agencies in the final weeks of the Biden administration, say that while Hamas has successfully recruited new members, many are young and untrained and are being used for simple security purposes.
The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence declines to comment.
On January 14, then-US president Joe Biden’s secretary of state Antony Blinken said the United States believed Hamas had recruited almost as many fighters as it had lost in the Palestinian enclave, cautioning that this was a “recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war.”
He did not provide further details about the assessment, but Israeli figures have put the total death toll of terror operatives in Gaza at around 20,000.
“Each time Israel completes its military operations and pulls back, Hamas militants regroup and re-emerge because there’s nothing else to fill the void,” Blinken said.
UN says 339 aid trucks entered Gaza on Friday
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says 339 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip today, on the sixth 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.
Rubio tells Chinese counterpart of concern over Taiwan, South China Sea
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio tells Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi about US concerns over Beijing’s actions in Taiwan and the South China Sea, the State Department says in a readout of their telephone conversation.
Israel to UN: Palestinian relief agency UNRWA must leave Jerusalem by Jan. 30
The UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA must “cease its operations in Jerusalem, and evacuate all premises in which it operates in the city” by Jan. 30, Israel’s UN envoy tells UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a letter.
A law banning UNRWA’s operation on Israeli land and contact with Israeli authorities takes effect on Jan. 30. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognized by most of the international community.
Israel readying to deport first group of Palestinian prisoners tomorrow
Tomorrow will see the first deportations of released Palestinian security prisoners, Haaretz reports, citing an unnamed security source.
Some of those will be sent to Gaza, instead of their homes in the West Bank, while others will be sent to Egypt.
Israel’s policy is largely to deport prisoners sentenced to life for murder, rather than allowing them to return to the West Bank or East Jerusalem.
Albag’s family: We’re elated over Liri’s release, but our hearts are torn over those left behind
Liri Albag, who was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)
The family of hostage Liri Albag issues its first statement responding to the news that she is among the four hostages being released tomorrow.
“We are incredibly excited, and yet our hearts are torn because Arbel Yehud and Agam Berger are being left behind for now. There will still be 90 hostages for whom everything must be done to bring them home.
Yehud is the last female civilian believed to be alive who was supposed to be released tomorrow. Reported disputes between Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is holding her, led to her exclusion on the list of the four hostages slated for release, in violation of the deal’s terms, which stipulate that female civilians will be released before female soldiers.
Berger is the fifth female soldier still held in captivity along with Albag, Karina Ariev, Danielle Gilboa and Naama Levy, who are slated to be released tomorrow.
Al Jazeera airs footage showing slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar at different parts of the war
Footage of since slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during the war with Israel aired on January 24, 2025. (Screen capture/X)
Al Jazeera airs hitherto unseen footage it says shows slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during different points of the war with Israel.
Sinwar can be seen wearing a military vest, walking through the battleground with a blanket covering his body so he can’t be identified from afar.
The footage shows the Hebrew word “north” graffitied on the wall of a building where Sinwar briefly resided, indicating that Israeli soldiers had operated in that home before he got there.
הערב שודר תחקיר ייחודי ב"אל-ג'זירה" שבו הובא תיעוד של התנהלות הנהגת חמאס בעזה במהלך המלחמה: סינוואר נע מוסווה בתל סולטאן (רפיח) – המקום שבו גם חוסל – ומנהל את הלחימה תוך תנועה בין מבנים הרוסים; מוחמד דיף בתכנון מתקפת ה-7 באוקטובר; הפקודה המקורית של היציאה למתקפה; וכן ראיון עם>> pic.twitter.com/U7MPWTiNmr
— מיכאל Michael Milshtein/ميخائيل ميلشطاين (@michael_mils) January 24, 2025
בתכנית באל-ג'זירה משודרות גם תמונות חדשות של יחיא סינוואר במהלך המלחמה https://t.co/oyEszVC92L pic.twitter.com/yFTOgXJkxE
— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) January 24, 2025
Emily Damari asked Hamas captors to release Keith Siegel before her
Former hostage Emily Damari and hostage Kieth Siegel. (Courtesy)
Channel 12 reports that when former hostage Emily Damari was told that she’d be released last week, she asked her Hamas captors to first free fellow hostage Kieth Siegel, who is 65 years old and believed to be in worse shape.
Damari’s request was denied.
Siegel is slated to be released later on in the first phase of the hostage deal.
Poll: 63% of Israeli public wants Netanyahu to resign
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen outside his office at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 20, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Almost two-thirds of the Israeli public believes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should follow the lead of IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and announce his resignation, a poll aired by Channel 12 shows.
Sixty-three percent of respondents said Netanyahu should resign, 27% said that he should not resign, and 10% said that they didn’t know.
Even among coalition voters, 33% of respondents said Netanyahu should resign. Fifty-three percent of them said that he shouldn’t and 14% said they didn’t know. Ninety-two percent of opposition voters said he should resign.
Asked who is responsible for the failures that allowed Hamas’s October 7 onslaught to take place, 52% of the public says everyone is equally responsible, 20% say the government is fully responsible, 12% say the IDF is fully responsible, 9% say the Shin Bet security service is fully responsible and 7% say they don’t know.
Asked who they trust more to secure the release of the hostages between US President Donald Trump and Netanyahu, 53% of respondents said Trump, 23% said Netanyahu, while 24% said they were unsure.
The poll was conducted by Midgam / iPanel. Channel 12 did not state the margin of error.
IDF says troops in Gaza opened fire several times over past day in response to ‘threats’
Over the past day, the IDF says troops still deployed inside the Gaza Strip opened fire on several threats.
In several areas of Gaza, the IDF says it fired warning shots at suspects who “posed a threat” to troops, after which they withdrew.
In central Gaza, troops fired warning shots at a suspect who did not disperse, after which the IDF says soldiers opened fire again at the suspect “to remove the threat.”
“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.
Backing Israeli plan to remain in Lebanon, White House calls for ‘short, temporary extension’ of IDF withdrawal
Troops of the 769th “Hiram” Regional Brigade operate in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo issued on January 24, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The White House calls for a “short, temporary extension” to the 60-day deadline for Israel to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon as part of the ceasefire reached in November with Lebanon.
The 60-day deadline is slated to expire on Sunday.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would not complete its withdrawal in time which will violate the terms of the ceasefire.
Appearing to back Netanyahu’s stance, the White House says, “President Trump is committed to ensuring Israeli citizens can safely return to their homes in northern Israel, while also supporting President Aoun and the new Lebanese government.”
“All parties share the goal of ensuring Hezbollah does not have the ability to threaten the Lebanese people or their neighbors. To achieve these goals, a short, temporary ceasefire extension is urgently needed,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes says in a statement.
“We are pleased that the IDF has started the withdrawal from the central regions, and we continue to work closely with our regional partners to finalize the extension,” he adds.
In the first public confirmation of such a delay, following weeks of speculation, Netanyahu’s office declared in a statement that “the IDF’s withdrawal process is conditional,” citing what he said are Lebanon’s and Hezbollah’s obligations under the agreement, though the Iran-backed terrorist organization is not a party to the deal signed between Jerusalem and Beirut.
Netanyahu said that since Lebanon “has not yet fully enforced” its obligations under the ceasefire, “the phased withdrawal process will continue, in full coordination with the United States.” The original 60-day deadline was slated for Sunday, January 26.
The prime minister said that the terms of the deal were worded “with the understanding that the withdrawal process may continue beyond 60 days.”
The deal’s text says that the withdrawal process “should not exceed 60 days.”
Families of Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, Liri Albag informed they’ll be released tomorrow
Israeli soldiers held hostage by Hamas, who are due to be released on January 25, 2025: Top (L-R) Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa; bottom (L-R) Naama Levy, Liri Albag. (Courtesy)
The families of hostages Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag have been notified that they are expected to be released by Hamas tomorrow.
The four are IDF surveillance soldiers kidnapped by Hamas from the Nahal Oz post during the October 7, 2023, onslaught.
Hamas published their names several hours ago. Officials told the families of the four soldiers that the list could still change.
Additionally, officials spoke with the families of Agam Berger, another surveillance soldier held by Hamas, and Arbel Yehud, a civilian whom Israel requested be freed this weekend.
The list was published at 5 p.m. but the IDF had asked Israeli media not to publish until the families were notified.
The agreement requires Hamas to release all of the female civilian hostages before moving on to the category of female soldiers, followed by elderly hostages, followed by seriously ill hostages.
On Wednesday, Israel conveyed to Hamas that it expects the terror group to free Yehud in this weekend’s release of four hostages.
Yehud is among the civilian hostages held by Gaza terrorists, and, as a female civilian, should be in the batch freed tomorrow. 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.
Israel has a host of options before it regarding how to respond to the Hamas violation.
It could pull out of its commitment to allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza tomorrow or it could change or limit the list of Palestinian prisoners it is supposed to release in return for the four hostages.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations with his security chief earlier this evening to decide how to respond. A final decision on what steps Israel will take has not been made, but Netanyahu has decided to move forward with the list that Hamas has provided, rather than blowing up the entire deal.
For each of the living female civilian hostages, the deal provides for Israel to release 30 Palestinian prisoners. For each of the living female IDF soldiers, 50 prisoners are to be released. The prisoners to be freed in exchange for living female soldiers include Palestinians serving life sentences for murder and other acts of terror.
The Hostage Family Forum representing the vast majority of families of Israeli captives welcomes the news of Ariev, Gilboa, Levi and Albag’s release after 477 days in captivity.
The forum says it will continue fighting to ensure all remaining hostages are released.
Israeli drone strike kills two in major ongoing West Bank operation
An Israeli drone strike on a vehicle near the West Bank town of Qabatiya killed two people, the Palestinian health ministry confirms on what is the fourth day of a large-scale Israeli operation in the nearby city of Jenin launched after the truce in Gaza.
The Israeli military says an airstrike had hit a vehicle with what it said was a “terrorist cell” inside but gave no further details.
The military has been carrying out a major operation in Jenin aiming to crack down on Palestinian terror groups it says are backed by Iran, launched just two days after a ceasefire took effect in the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
At least 12 Palestinians have been killed in the operation, Palestinian health officials say, including two claimed by the armed wing of Hamas. The Israeli military says it had also arrested 20 wanted suspects and seized weapons.
Armored bulldozers and diggers have demolished houses and dug up roads in the crowded refugee camp adjacent to Jenin, a major center of armed militant groups, where thousands of people have left their homes.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Thameen Al-Kheetan said he was deeply concerned about the use of unlawful lethal force and said the Jenin operation raised serious concerns about unnecessary or disproportionate force.
Israeli officials say the operation in Jenin is part of a multifront war against an axis of Iranian-backed groups in the West Bank, southern Lebanon and Yemen.
Report: PIJ internal dispute caused Hamas violation of hostage deal
Channel 12 reports that an internal dispute within the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group led to Hamas’s violation of the hostage deal.
PIJ is holding one of the hostages who was slated to be released tomorrow.
The wing of the terror group in Gaza apparently is objecting to her release and is currently facing pressure from the PIJ leadership abroad to comply with the deal, Channel 12 says.
Israel prison service says it has received list of Palestinian security inmates slated for release tomorrow
Israel’s prison service says it has received the list of Palestinian security inmates to be released tomorrow as part of the hostage deal.
Red Cross staff will meet the prisoners being released at the Ofer prison in the West Bank before they will be transferred either to the West Bank or Gaza Strip, the prison service says.
Hostage releases may take place earlier in the day tomorrow than originally planned
Israel believes that tomorrow’s release of four hostages will take place earlier tomorrow than the 4 p.m. original schedule, Hebrew media reports.
Arabic media reports that Hamas has indicated that the releases will take place in the early afternoon. Some Hebrew media reports say the hostages may be released in the morning.
Last week, three hostages were released in the late afternoon.
Hamas is said to have an interest in tomorrow’s processes beginning early, since Israel is slated to allow Palestinians displaced from northern Gaza to begin to return on foot after the hostages are freed.
Report: Qatari PM assures Israel female hostage left off today’s list will be released next week
Channel 12 reports that Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani passed along what Israel takes to be an assurance that Doha will make sure that the female hostage left off the list of those slated to be released tomorrow, in violation of the deal, will be released in next week’s batch.
Signing off as envoy to US, Herzog urges maintaining bipartisan nature of ties
Israel's Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog speaks during a roundtable discussion about gender-based violence against Israeli women during Hamas's October 7 massacre, on Capitol Hill on February 14, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)
Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog signs off on his final day as envoy. He is being replaced by Yechiel Leiter.
“The past three-plus years, and especially the last 15 months when Israel was thrown into a vicious war of existential consequences, have presented unprecedented challenges to Israel-US relations. Yet, our shared values, converging interests and unique affinity have withstood the pressure and proved that our partnership is indeed unbreakable,” Herzog tweets.
“May the alliance between Israel and the United States remain steeped in our shared values, friendship, joint strategic outlook and the principle of bipartisanship,” Herzog says.
Today marks the end of my tenure as Israel's Ambassador to the United States. Representing the State of Israel in the heart of our closest and most vital ally, America, has been the honor of my lifetime.
The past three-plus years, and especially the last 15 months when Israel… pic.twitter.com/uG5CYAfWPo— Ambassador Michael Herzog (@AmbHerzog) January 24, 2025
Israeli officials say Hamas violation doesn’t warrant blowing up hostage deal
An Israeli official tells Channel 12 that Israel “will not repeat the mistake that we made in the previous deal.”
In the previous hostage deal in November 2023, Israel decided to resume fighting after Hamas violated the deal’s terms regarding who it would release on the seventh day.
The Israeli official reveals that not everyone in the decision-making process supported the decision to resume fighting rather than extend the first deal further.
Channel 12 cites another Israeli official who characterizes Hamas’s latest violation as not one that warrants dismantling a hostage-release mechanism that is overall working thus far.
The list of hostages released by Hamas earlier tonight includes four female soldiers, even though Israel maintains that it has not finished releasing all remaining living female civilians, as required by the deal.
NYPD: Man wanted for drinking 2 bottles of synagogue’s liquor
New York police are searching for a man who broke into a synagogue and drank its liquor.
The NYPD releases images of the man, who appears to be wearing a kippa, and asks for the public’s help identifying him.
In one image, the suspect appears to be toasting a security camera.
The suspect is wanted for burglary. He entered the synagogue “by manipulating the basement door,” the NYPD says.
WANTED-BURGLARY: On 12/7/24 an unidentified individual entered a synagogue @NYPD107pct by manipulating the basement door. Once inside, the individual opened two bottles of liquor and consumed the liquor. Any info call us at 800-577-TIPS Reward UP to $3,500. pic.twitter.com/x3zEW5hFMR
— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) January 24, 2025
“Once inside, the individual opened two bottles of liquor and consumed the liquor,” police say.
The incident took place last month in Queens. The synagogue is not identified.
Police offer a reward of up to $3,500 for information.
Trump says will sign order ‘maybe getting rid of’ US disaster agency FEMA
US President Donald Trump says as he visits hurricane-hit North Carolina that he will sign an executive order to overhaul or possibly scrap the federal agency that helps states cope with disasters.
“I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA,” Trump tells reporters, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Yemen’s Houthis to release dozens of hostages on Saturday, group says
Yemen’s Houthi group will free dozens of hostages on Saturday, calling the move a “unilateral humanitarian initiative,” Abdul Qader al-Murtada, head of the Houthi-run prisoner affairs committee, says.
IDF says it targeted cell of gunmen in drone strike in West Bank city of Qabatiya
The IDF and Shin Bet confirm carrying out a drone strike against a car in the West Bank city of Qabatiya this evening, saying it targeted a cell of gunmen.
The strike comes amid an ongoing major raid in the Jenin area.
The military publishes footage of the strike.
כוחות צה"ל, שב"כ ומג"ב ממשיכים במבצע לסיכול טרור בצפון השומרון, במסגרתו חוסלו למעלה מעשרה מחבלים, נעצרו כ-20 מבוקשים והוחרמו אמצעי לחימה נוספים.
במסגרת המבצע, כלי טיס של חיל האוויר תקף לפני זמן קצר, בהכוונה מודיעינית של שב"כ, רכב ובו חוליית מחבלים במרחב קאבטיה שבחטיבת מנשה>> pic.twitter.com/GqkCokW8LD
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 24, 2025
Israel agrees to accept the four hostages Hamas plans to release tomorrow; protests violation to mediators
Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, along with activists block the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, during a protest calling for the captives' release, January 24, 2025. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)
Israel has agreed to accept the four female hostages that Hamas has said it plans to release tomorrow, even though the list breaches the terms of the deal.
Israel has informed the mediators that the list of four female hostages Hamas published earlier this evening violates the agreement, which requires the terror group to release all living female civilians before releasing female soldiers, Channel 12 reports.
But after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations with his security chiefs, it was ultimately decided to move forward with the list that Hamas has provided, despite the violation. Participants in the meeting determined that while Hamas violated the agreement, the violation was not serious enough to blow up the entire deal.
Hamas has reportedly informed the mediators that it remains committed to the deal and that there were simply technical complications that led to the violation.
Under the agreement, Hamas is required to first release civilian women, followed by female soldiers. Arbel Yehud, one of the female civilian hostages still held hostage is being held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, not Hamas.
“Israel is preparing to receive the female hostages tomorrow,” a security source is cited saying in Hebrew media reports.
It is not yet clear whether Israel will retaliate with punitive steps of its own that violate the terms of the agreement. Israel is slated to begin allowing Palestinians to return to northern Gaza tomorrow. It is also required by the deal to release 50 Palestinian security prisoners for each female soldier freed.
The families of the four female hostages have not yet been formally notified by the government that their loved ones will be released tomorrow.
Those notifications are expected to take place shortly, Channel 12 says.
Later this evening, Israel is slated to publish the list of Palestinian security prisoners that it will release tomorrow.
Witkoff to lead US delegation to Poland ceremony marking 80th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff speaks at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, January 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
The White House announces that Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and nominee for commerce secretary Howard Lutnick will lead the US delegation to the commemoration ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oświęcim, Poland.
Witkoff is then expected to continue to Saudi Arabia and Israel where he will work to advance the ongoing hostage deal. Witkoff has expressed his plan to visit the Philadelphi and Netzarim Corridors inside Gaza to make sure the deal is being properly implemented.
Other members of the delegation to Poland include Trump’s nominee for ambassador to France Charles Kushner, Isaac Perlmutter, Laura Perlmutter, Allison Lutnik, Robert Book, Michael Friedman, Boris Epshteyn, US Chargé d’Affaires in Poland Daniel Lawton and US Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Ellen Germain.
Israel reportedly carries out deadly drone strike in West Bank city near Jenin
Palestinian media outlets report an Israeli drone strike in the West Bank city of Qabatiya, near Jenin.
Several are reported dead. The IDF has not yet commented.
اللحظات الأولى بعد قصف طيران الاحتلال مركبة في بلدة قباطية جنوب جنين. pic.twitter.com/ozANxJRtBg
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) January 24, 2025
Report: Smotrich plans to temporarily resign from gov’t in order to return to Knesset
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting of his far-right Religious Zionism party, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 20, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Haaretz reports that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich plans to temporarily resign from his cabinet post on Saturday night for 48 hours.
The resignation is required for Smotrich to return to the Knesset. Smotrich had left the Knesset as part of the Norwegian Law, which allows ministers to resign for the next party member on their list to serve in the Knesset instead of them while they serve in the cabinet.
Smotrich wants to return to the Knesset to boot a member of the fellow far-right Otzma Yehudit party, MK Yitzhak Kroizer.
Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party and Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party ran on a joint list in the previous election.
Last week, Otzma Yehudit resigned from the government in protest of the hostage deal.
One of its ministers, Amichai Eliyahu, decided to return to the Knesset, leading Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot to lose his seat.
To restore the balance of power with Otzma Yehudit and to provide the coalition with an extra vote in the Knesset, Smotrich has decided to temporarily resign and return to parliament.
He will resume his cabinet posts after the required 48-hour period wait period concludes.
Hostages’ families block Tel Aviv highway, demanding PM stick to all three phases of ceasefire
Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, along with activists block the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, during a protest calling for the captives' release, January 24, 2025. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)
Dozens of family members of the hostages and the families’ supporters have blocked Tel Aviv’s major highway in a protest demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not succumb to pressure from his far-right coalition partners to resume the war before the hostage deal is fully implemented.
“Going back to war will be a death sentence for those left behind. We are intensifying our struggle and will not let extremists who are out of touch with the people and who are working against Israel’s interests bury the hostages in the tunnels,” the families say in a joint statement.
German government reportedly plans further deportation flight to Afghanistan
Germany is planning to fly a group of convicted criminals of Afghan nationality to their home country for the second time since the Taliban took power, the newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung reports.
The newspaper quotes the interior ministry as saying it was working on the measure with the help of a regional partner and eyeing a departure shortly before the Feb. 23 general election.
IDF says it carried out strikes in southern Lebanon to ‘remove threats’ over past several days
The IDF says that in recent days it carried out strikes in southern Lebanon to “remove threats,” and troops have also demolished Hezbollah weapon depots and observation posts.
“The IDF is continuing to operate in accordance with the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military says, days before it is supposed to withdraw from south Lebanon under the ceasefire agreement.
“The IDF remains deployed in southern Lebanon, continues to monitor Hezbollah’s attempts to return to southern Lebanon, and will operate against any threat posed to IDF troops and the State of Israel,” the IDF adds.
Earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that the IDF would stay in some areas of southern Lebanon beyond day 60 of the ceasefire agreement, which is on Sunday.
Netanyahu said that since Lebanon “has not yet fully enforced” its obligations under the ceasefire, “the phased withdrawal process will continue, in full coordination with the United States.”
PM holds consultations on how to respond to Hamas violation of hostage deal
Members of security forces loyal to Hamas stand guard in front of a destroyed police compound in Gaza City, on January 22, 2025, on the fourth day of a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Israel’s security chiefs are reportedly holding consultations regarding how to respond to the list of female hostages Hamas released that violates the terms of the deal.
The agreement requires Hamas to release all of the female civilian hostages before moving on to the category of female soldiers, followed by elderly hostages, followed by seriously ill hostages.
On Wednesday, Israel conveyed to Hamas that it expects the terror group to free hostage Arbel Yehud in this weekend’s release of four hostages.
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.
Israel has a host of options before it regarding how to respond to the Hamas violation.
It could pull out of its commitment to allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza tomorrow or it could change or limit the list of Palestinian prisoners it is supposed to release in return for the four hostages.
For each of the living female civilian hostages, the deal provides for Israel to release 30 Palestinian prisoners. For each of the living female IDF soldiers, 50 prisoners are to be released. The prisoners to be freed in exchange for living female soldiers include Palestinians serving life sentences for murder and other acts of terror.
Abiding by Trump executive order, Treasury Department terminates sanctions against violent settlers
Israeli settlers flash middle fingers from rooftops as they taunt Palestinian locals near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, as they mark a yearly Jewish religious event in Hebron in the West Bank on November 23, 2024. (Hazem Bader/AFP)
Falling in line with the executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on his first day in office, the US Treasury Department announces the termination of the sanctions authorized by former president Joe Biden against violent settlers destabilizing the West Bank.
Seventeen individuals and 16 entities were designated as a result of the sanctions regime, which was itself an executive order signed by Biden last February amid mounting frustration over Israel’s failure to crack down on rampant settler violence.
All frozen assets belonging to sanctioned settlers have been released.
The sanctions against the northern West Bank Palestinian terror group Lions Den, which was also designated through Biden’s executive order, have also been removed. The group is largely dormant, though.
List of names of female hostages published by Hamas violates terms of deal
The list of names published by Hamas of the female hostages that the terror group is set to release tomorrow is in apparent violation of the ceasefire agreement.
Senior Israeli officials are holding consultations on the issue.
Under the agreement, in the first sets of releases during the 42-day Phase One of the deal, female civilians are to be released first, then female soldiers. On Sunday, on the day the ceasefire deal came into effect, female civilian hostages Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher were freed.
Israeli officials have requested that media outlets not publish the names until the families of the hostages have been notified.
Netanyahu’s office confirms receiving names from Hamas; says it will comment shortly
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirms that Israel has received from the mediators the list of hostages to be released by Hamas tomorrow.
The PMO says Israel will issue a comment on the list later.
Hamas publishes names of four female hostages to be released tomorrow
A passerby looks at photos of the hostages in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, January 23, 2025. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)
Hamas publishes the names of four female Israeli hostages who are set to be released by the terror group tomorrow after 477 days in captivity.
Israeli officials have requested that media outlets not publish the names until the families of the hostages have been notified.
There are seven remaining female hostages from the original list of 33 to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire deal.
These are civilians Arbel Yehud, 29, and Shiri Silberman Bibas, 33; and soldiers Liri Albag, 19, Karina Ariev, 20, Agam Berger, 21, Danielle Gilboa, 20, and Naama Levy, 20.
Israel had conveyed to Hamas that it expects Yehud to be released this weekend.
France’s Barrot calls for international mission in Gaza in second phase of ceasefire
An international assistance mission for the Gaza Strip should be considered once Israeli troops withdraw as part of the second phase of the ceasefire accord, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot tells reporters.
Syria cancels port management contract with Russian firm, sources say
Syria’s new ruling administration has canceled a contract with a Russian firm to manage and operate the country’s Tartous port that was signed under former President Bashar al-Assad, according to three Syrian businessmen and media reports.
Syrian government spokespeople either say they cannot confirm the reports or did not respond to requests for comment.
Semi-official Syrian newspaper Al-Watan on Thursday quoted the head of Tartous customs, Riad Joudy, as saying that the investment contract had been annulled after the Russian firm, STG Stroytransgaz, failed to fulfill the terms of the 2019 deal, which included investments in infrastructure.
The report is confirmed by three Syrian businessmen, including one with work at Tartous Port.
STG Stroytransgaz is a major construction company whose mandate was to invest and develop the commercial port, Syria’s second-largest after Latakia.
The contract is separate from the Russian naval base in Tartous, built by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and part of a decades-old military agreement between Moscow and Damascus on the use of the Mediterranean port.
Russia and Syria’s new ruling administration have said they are in talks over the future of Russia’s military presence in Syria after Islamist rebels ousted Russia’s ally Assad on Dec. 8, 2023.
Hamas confirms deaths of senior officials months after Israel said they were killed in airstrike
Months after they were killed, Hamas acknowledges that an Israeli airstrike last summer eliminated Rawhi Mushtaha, the de facto prime minister of the Gaza Strip, along with another top official.
The Israel Defense Forces said in October 2024 that an airstrike on a tunnel in northern Gaza three months earlier had killed Mushtaha, along with Hamas officials Sameh al-Siraj, who held the security portfolio in Hamas’s political bureau, and Sami Odeh, the head of Hamas’s “general security mechanism.”
Hamas in a statement confirms the deaths of Mushtaha and Odeh.
Despite Levin boycott, Judicial Selection Committee moves ahead with Sunday meeting to pick Supreme Court president
Members of the Knesset’s Judicial Selection Committee have been notified that the panel will convene on Sunday to select the next Supreme Court president and deputy president.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin had petitioned the High Court of Justice to prevent the meeting, as he doesn’t have the votes to prevent the selection of liberal-leaning judge Isaac Amit as the next Supreme Court president.
The High Court rejected his petition, but Levin is still reportedly planning to boycott Sunday’s meeting.
Iran arrests two young women for dancing in cemetery — report
Iranian police arrested two young women after the publication of a video in which they danced in a Tehran cemetery without adhering to the country’s strict dress code, local media reports.
“Not long ago, two people, in the cemetery of martyrs in Tehran, disregarding the sacred site, recorded a video clip with inappropriate clothing and movements that were outside of custom and Sharia” Islamic law, a police statement carried by Tasnim news agency says.
The move “caused strong public protests, especially from the families of the martyrs and the two were arrested by the police and handed over to judicial authorities,” the statement adds.
Under rules imposed after the 1979 Islamic revolution, women must cover their hair and neck and wear loose-fitting clothes in public. They are also not allowed to dance in public places.
But many women have pushed the boundaries by allowing their head coverings to slide back and reveal more hair, especially in Tehran and other major cities.
The trend has been more evident, especially since protests erupted following Mahsa Amini’s death in custody in September 2022. She had been arrested by the morality police for allegedly violating the dress code.
Hundreds of people, including dozens of security personnel, were killed in the subsequent months-long nationwide protests and thousands of demonstrators were arrested.
Saudi Arabia in talks with Europe and US to lift Syrian sanctions, minister says
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan says in Damascus that his country was engaged in an active dialogue with Europe and the US to help lift economic sanctions imposed on Syria.
UN says more of its staff detained by Houthis in Yemen
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have detained “additional UN personnel,” a United Nations statement says after 13 staff were held last June.
“Yesterday, the de facto authorities in Sanaa detained additional UN personnel working in areas under their control,” the office of the resident United Nations coordinator for Yemen says, without saying how many were arrested.
PM says Israel won’t complete full withdrawal from Lebanon by Sunday deadline
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Knesset in Jerusalem, December 23, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not complete its full withdrawal from southern Lebanon by the 60-day deadline set under the ceasefire deal with Hezbollah.
In the first public confirmation of such a delay, following weeks of speculation, Netanyahu’s office says in a statement that “the IDF’s withdrawal process is conditional on the Lebanese Army deploying in southern Lebanon and fully and effectively enforcing the agreement, while Hezbollah withdraws beyond the Litani.”
Netanyahu says that since Lebanon “has not yet fully enforced” its obligations under the ceasefire, “the phased withdrawal process will continue, in full coordination with the United States.” The original 60-day deadline was slated for Sunday, January 26.
The prime minister says that the terms of the deal were worded “with the understanding that the withdrawal process may continue beyond 60 days.”
The deal’s text says that the withdrawal process “should not exceed 60 days.”
The IDF is currently deployed to several villages in southern Lebanon, mostly in the eastern sector. The Lebanese Armed Forces have deployed to villages in the western sector in recent weeks as the IDF has withdrawn.
The Israeli military is preparing for the possibility of renewed hostilities with Hezbollah. The Iran-backed terror group warned yesterday that it would not accept the IDF staying in southern Lebanon beyond the 60 day limit.
Netanyahu asks to testify in criminal trial just once next week instead of 3 times; prosecution opposes request
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the district court in Tel Aviv on December 23, 2024, to attend the fifth day of testimony in his trial on corruption charges. (Debbie Hill/Pool/AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked to cut down the number of days of testimony in his criminal trial next week from three to one, citing his recovery from a prostate removal surgery he underwent last month.
The court initially postponed his testimony by two weeks following the surgery, and then by an additional week after his lawyer Amit Hadad requested it be pushed back again due to “post-operative medical developments.”
According to reports, Hadad has now requested that the premier only be required to appear in court one day next week — either on Wednesday or Thursday — due to what he says is an infection that Netanyahu developed in the week following surgery.
Hadad says that Netanyahu’s recovery process requires him to make a “gradual return” to full activity, and asserts that he was advised to “avoid continuous activity for more than three hours without rest over the next week, and to avoid long journeys, and sitting or standing for long periods,” Ynet reports.
He argues, therefore, that testifying three times in Tel Aviv next week would go against medical advice.
The prosecution opposes the request, saying that it reviewed Netanyahu’s medical records and did not see a reason to grant it. Instead, it says it is willing to grant longer breaks during the hearings and will shorten each session by a small amount.
Levin said set to skip meeting on Supreme Court president after his request to delay it denied
Justice Minister Yariv Levin will refuse to attend Sunday’s Judicial Selection Committee meeting, Hebrew media reports, after the High Court rejected his request to delay selecting a Supreme Court chief justice, which it instructed him to do by January 26.
In protest of the court’s decision, Levin says he will skip the committee meeting. It is not clear whether a vote would be held in his absence on the appointment of acting Chief Justice Isaac Amit to the position on a permanent basis.
Taliban minister says ICC should prosecute Israel, US as court seeks warrants for its leaders
The International Criminal Court should prosecute the US and Israel, not the Taliban, declares Afghanistan’s deputy interior minister, Mohammad Nabi Omari.
“If these were fair and true courts, they should have brought America to the court, because it is America that has caused wars,” he says at an event in Khost city attended by an AFP journalist, adding that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should also be brought before the court.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan said earlier this week that he is seeking arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan over the persecution of women, a crime against humanity.
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have barred women from many jobs and most public spaces, and have excluded them from education beyond sixth grade.
The ICC already has an arrest warrant out for Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
UK warns of apparent Iranian attempts to force ships into its waters
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A warning has gone out to seafarers in the Persian Gulf over what appear to be attempts by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to compel ships to enter Iranian waters.
A notice from the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations says that there have been “several incidents involving VHF radio challenges to vessels.”
“It is assessed that these are most likely part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ large-scale exercise, Great Prophet XVIII,” UKMTO says.
Iran has been engaged in an extraordinary two-month-long military exercise across the country after being twice hit by Israel in retaliation for two separate ballistic missile attacks launched by Tehran
While Iran has a history of harassing and impounding vessels, it hasn’t directly launched many such attacks recently. Instead, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been attacking ships since November 2023.
Iranian media has reported a likely Guard exercise in the Persian Gulf coming this weekend as well.
UN rights chief warns of ‘rampant’ antisemitism, says Jews face increasing threats
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk addresses media personnel in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP/Mahmud Hossain Opu)
Antisemitism is “rampant” 80 years after the Holocaust, the UN’s rights chief Volker Turk says, also denouncing increasing attacks on diversity as US President Donald Trump rolls back inclusion measures in the United States.
Turk, in a statement marking Holocaust Remembrance Day, recalls how eight decades ago on Monday, the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camps were liberated.
“Exhausted, emaciated, terrified, and sick, those 7,000 were all that remained of 1.3 million men, women and children who had been deported to Auschwitz,” Turk says.
He says Holocaust Remembrance Day is a wake-up call to the dangers of indifference, complacency and apathy, and a reminder of the duty to stand against intolerance.
“Today, hateful rhetoric is reverberating across much of our world,” the UN high commissioner for human rights says.
“Antisemitism is rampant, on our streets and online. Jews face increasing intimidation, threats and physical violence,” he warns.
He urges people to fight for dignity and human rights, and to condemn and prevent antisemitism, bigotry, intolerance and hatred.
“Discrimination and dehumanization are winning out over solidarity and compassion; diversity is viewed as a threat rather than something to be treasured; and many leaders are undermining and weakening the rule of law,” Turk says.
Turk does not name any particular country or leader, but his appeal comes as President Trump has ramped up anti-diversity measures since taking office on Monday.
In particular, Trump has suspended employees from diversity programs and promised to sweep away policies in favor of transgender people.
High Court rejects Levin’s latest request to delay picking Supreme Court Chief
The High Court of Justice rejects Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s request to delay the appointment of a Supreme Court president after he said he required more time due to fresh allegations of misconduct against the leading candidate, acting president Isaac Amit.
The Supreme Court, acting as the High Court, had ordered Levin three times to appoint a new president. The latest order was on January 16, when it gave him until January 26 after allegations of misconduct were raised against Amit.
Levin has yet to schedule a hearing of the Judicial Selection Committee, which appoints the Supreme Court president, before Sunday’s deadline.
In its response to his request for another delay, the court points out that the allegations against Amit, and his response, have been received by the Judicial Selection Committee, and there is no reason to put off convening it.
“If the committee believes that it needs additional time to fully discuss the allegations raised before it…it is assumed that it will decide on the matter during its meeting on January 26, 2025,” the decision states.
The court says that Levin should therefore raise the issue with the committee when it meets on Sunday, and not with the High Court.
Hamas confirms it will publish later today names of hostages slated for release Saturday
A demonstrator takes part in a protest calling for the release of Israeli hostages, in Tel Aviv on January 23, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)
Senior Hamas leader Zaher Jabarin confirms that the terror group will publish the names later today of the four hostages set to be released tomorrow, per the terms of the ceasefire-hostage release deal that came into effect last Sunday.
Once Hamas has shared the names of the four hostages, Jabarin says Israel will be expected to provide it with the list of Palestinian security prisoners it will release in exchange.
He claims that the ceasefire agreement is holding “despite some violations by the Israeli occupation” but does not elaborate as to what alleged violations he is referring to.
Israel expects Hamas to release Arbel Yehud tomorrow, along with three more of the seven female hostages still in captivity. The others are Shiri Silberman Bibas, 33; Liri Albag, 19; Karina Ariev, 20; Agam Berger, 21; Danielle Gilboa, 20 and Naama Levy, 20.
Yehud and Silberman Bibas are both civilians, while Albag, Ariev, Berger, Gilboa and Levy are soldiers.
For each of the female soldiers, Israel will release 50 Palestinian prisoners, 30 of them convicted terrorists who are serving life sentences.
Early Monday, Israel released 30 prisoners for each of the three civilian female hostages — Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher — Hamas set free the previous afternoon.
Columbia University suspends protester who disrupted Israeli professor’s class
Columbia University says it has suspended one of the protesters who disrupted an Israeli professor’s class earlier this week, pending a full investigation.
The protesters had barged into professor Avi Shilon’s class on the history of modern Israel on Tuesday, shouting that the lecture represented “genocide” and handing out fliers showing a boot poised above a Star of David.
The university says that efforts to identify additional protesters are still ongoing. The group had covered their faces with keffiyehs, making it difficult to identify them.
“Disruptions to our classrooms and our academic mission and efforts to intimidate or harass our students are not acceptable,” the university says.
January 23, 2025 Update on University Actions on Classroom Disruption: https://t.co/TUFahZPR26 pic.twitter.com/1T8c5ad872
— Columbia University (@Columbia) January 23, 2025
‘I want to hug my son too’: Hostages’ families say ceasefire deal must be implemented in full
(L-R) Ella Ben Ami, Vicky Cohen and Ayelet Samerano at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square on January 24, 2025.(Paulina Patimer)
Vicky Cohen, the mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen; Ella Ben Ami, the daughter of hostage Ohad Ben Ami and released hostage Raz Ben Ami; and Ayelet Samerano, whose son Yonatan Samerano was killed on October 7 whereupon his body was taken to Gaza by an UNRWA social worker, speak at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square about the necessity of seeing through out all stages of the ceasefire deal in order to bring all the remaining 94 hostages home.
“I also, as a mother, want to hug my son who was sent to protect the border,” says Cohen, whose son was abducted from the Nahal Oz army base on October 7 and isn’t on the list of 33 hostages expected to be released in the first stage of the deal. “Officials say that any end to the deal is a death sentence for those who are left in Gaza. We’re exhausted from this journey that began on October 7 and we need to finish it and move on to rehabilitating ourselves.”
Ella Ben Ami, whose father Ohad Ben Ami is on the list of 33 hostages set to be released throughout the first phase of the deal, says the joy that all of Israel experienced last Sunday when the three female hostages were released is something that every family needs to experience.
“Since my parents were captured and my life was ruined I haven’t yet been in therapy,” says Ben Ami. “I feel like I’ll open it all up and I won’t be able to figure it all out.” She adds that a therapist recently told her that she’ll deal with all of it once her father is released.
Ayelet Samerano speaks about the mother of Oron Shaul, who was finally able to bury her soldier son, more than a decade after he was killed.
“I don’t wish any mother this sense of uncertainty for even one day,” says Samerano. “Every minute for us feels like forever. We dream of the moments that Romi, Doron and Emily’s mothers experienced on Sunday.”
Samerano tells US President Trump and the UN that they have been doing great work. “Don’t stop,” she says. “Continue and do whatever you can to bring the last one home.”
Risk of clash between nuclear powers is growing, Russian security official warns
Russian security official Sergei Shoigu warns in an interview published this morning that the risk of an armed clash between nuclear powers is rising.
Shoigu, the secretary of President Vladimir Putin’s Security Council, tells TASS news agency: “Against the backdrop of increasing conflict and aggravation of geopolitical rivalry in the world, the risks of a violent clash between major states, including with the participation of nuclear powers, are growing.”
The former defense minister charges that NATO is increasing activities on its eastern flank, close to Russia and Belarus, and rehearsing offensive as well as defensive scenarios there.
NATO says it is Russia that is raising tensions, including by announcing in 2023 that it was deploying tactical nuclear weapons in its ally Belarus, which borders three NATO countries.
Shoigu says that Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 in a war that is still ongoing, and Belarus are taking preventive measures against Western attempts aimed at “destabilizing the situation… from within.”
He reiterated that Belarus is now under the protection of Russia’s nuclear arsenal, as a consequence of changes that Putin announced last year to Russia’s doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons.
“The Russian ‘nuclear umbrella’ now ensures the protection of our closest ally in the same framework scenarios in which Russia allows a nuclear response for its own defense,” he says.
“Namely, when repelling an attack using weapons of mass destruction or aggression using conventional weapons that creates a critical threat to sovereignty or territorial integrity.”
13-year-old with no underlying conditions dies from flu in Safed
Ziv Medical Center says that a 13-year-old boy suffering from the flu has died shortly after arriving to the Safed hospital in critical condition.
The teen, who had no underlying conditions and had previously only had mild flu-like symptoms, was rushed to the hospital yesterday after his condition deteriorated significantly. Despite intubation and CPR attempts, he died shortly after arrival.
The Walla news site reports that health authorities are still working to determine the cause of death, but believe it to have been a complication of the flu.
No decision made on IDF withdrawal from Lebanon during late-night security cabinet meeting — report
Israel is likely to keep troops stationed in parts of southern Lebanon beyond the deadline stipulated in the ceasefire agreement signed in November, although the security cabinet has yet to make a decision, Hebrew media outlet Ynet reports, citing an unnamed senior Israeli official.
According to the report, the security cabinet received an overview of the situation on the ground during a lengthy meeting last night but did not come to an agreement as to whether the government should greenlight the IDF’s withdrawal or push for a 30-day extension.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, the Israel Defense Forces is required to cede all of its positions in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese Armed Forces by January 26. However, Israel has reportedly requested a 30-day extension, asserting that the Lebanese army has deployed too slowly across the region, allowing Hezbollah time to regroup.
Speaking to the news outlet ahead of the cabinet meeting, an unnamed senior official assesses that the withdrawal would not be fully carried out by Sunday, and that the IDF would instead keep troops stationed in certain areas for the time being. The official stressed, however, that if it were to do so, it would be in coordination with the US President Donald Trump’s administration.
The Walla news site, meanwhile, reports that Israel has yet to receive the US’s blessing to extend the IDF’s deployment in Lebanon, and talks are ongoing.
The report comes after Army Radio reported yesterday that Trump was less inclined to grant a 30-day reprieve than was his predecessor Joe Biden, and wants the full withdrawal completed by Sunday.
Israel’s outgoing ambassador to the US Michael Herzog nevertheless told the radio network that he believes Jerusalem and Washington would “reach an understanding” on the matter.
‘Improper political intervention’: AG slams Levin’s request to delay picking Supreme Court chief
Left: Justice Minister Yariv Levin speaks during a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 11, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); Right: Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a conference at the University of Haifa, December 15, 2022. (Shir Torem/Flash90)
Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara warns Justice Minister Yariv Levin to abandon his latest attempt to delay the appointment of a Supreme Court president after he requested a fresh extension last night, citing fresh allegations of misconduct against leading candidate Isaac Amit.
The Supreme Court, sitting in its capacity as the High Court, has ordered Levin three times to appoint a new president and gave him until January 26 to do so.
New allegations earlier this week that Amit had sat on cases in which he had conflicts of interest prompted Levin to demand answers from Amit and an investigation. Rather than an investigation, however, the Judicial Selection Committee’s legal advisor was instructed by Baharav Miara to pass the allegations and Amit’s response to the committee for it to review and decide.
Levin has yet to schedule a hearing of the Judicial Selection Committee, ahead of the deadline on Sunday.
In response to his request for another extension, Baharav Miara tells Levin that at this stage, all the necessary information is in the hands of the committee, and as such, there is no reason for additional delays.
She criticizes the various “different and contradictory” ways in which Levin has sought to bring a complaint and open an investigation into Amit without convening the Judicial Selection Committee, saying that it “raises serious concerns that the goal is to avoid enforcing the decisions of the Supreme Court.”
“The allegations and responses are with the committee, and you have the opportunity to bring it any material you believe relevant,” she writes. “Therefore, there is no room at this time for further consideration by a party external to the committee, including legal and public advisory bodies.”
She further warns that his efforts to launch an investigation into Amit through non-traditional channels are “an attempt at improper political intervention” and “a further violation of the separation of powers.”
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
Hostages’ families urge EU Parliament to rethink hosting Diaspora Minister Chikli on Holocaust Memorial Day
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli speaks at the AJC Global Forum in Tel Aviv, on June 14, 2023 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Ahead of International Holocaust Memorial Day next week, relatives of the Gaza hostages and leading members of dozens of Jewish communities in Europe have asked members of the European Parliament to rethink hosting Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli as a keynote speaker on a panel, the Haaretz daily reports.
The panel, titled “Indoctrinating hatred of Jews: What has changed in 80 years?” is to be hosted on January 28 by MEP Lukas Mandl of Austria and MEP Andrey Kovatchev of Bulgaria as part of a larger event.
In a letter to the panel’s co-hosts, the families of the hostages suggest that Chikli’s inclusion on the panel would be inappropriate, due to his opposition to a hostage deal and the support he has signaled for controversial far-right European politicians.
The signatories include 41 relatives of the hostages, and 32 Jewish community leaders, according to Haaretz.
Chikli’s stance on a hostage deal, they write, “is in stark contrast to the values of empathy and solidarity that should guide us, particularly on Holocaust Remembrance Day.”
They argue too, that his endorsement of far-right politicians including France’s Marine Le Pen and Romania’s Calin Georgescu, who has praised notorious antisemites and Nazi collaborators, “call into question his credibility.”
“His presence in the conference risks legitimizing figures and ideologies that conflict with the core objectives of the European Parliament,” the letter states.
IDF says pre-planned drill to be held this morning at Tel Aviv HQ, warns booms will be heard
The IDF says it will be carrying out a pre-planned drill at the Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv this morning.
During the exercise, security vehicles will be driving around the area, and there will be sounds of explosions, the military says.
US says Rubio ‘welcomed continued flow of aid into Gaza’ during call with Sa’ar
The US readout on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s conversation with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar is largely the same as the one it issued on the call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Notably, though, it notes that Rubio “welcomed continued flow of aid into Gaza,” indicating that the issue will continue to be at top of mind for the US under the new administration.
The readout on the call with Sa’ar also includes Rubio’s praise for Israel’s “ongoing efforts to implement” the ceasefire with Hezbollah, as next week’s deadline for Israeli troops to withdraw from Lebanon quickly approaches.
Rubio also “conveyed the mutual understanding that the pursuit of peace in the region requires addressing the threats posed by Iran,” the State Department adds.
Trump’s Mideast envoy to reportedly stop in Israel after visiting Saudi Arabia
Special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff speaks during the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena, in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP)
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Israel next week after first making a stop in Saudi Arabia, Israeli television reports.
According to Channel 12 news, Witkoff’s trip to Israel is expected to focus on negotiating the second phase of the hostage release and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, the first stage of which took effect this Sunday.
Witkoff is also planning to visit the Gaza Strip, which he confirmed publicly to the network earlier this week.
Video shows Hamas executing several alleged ‘collaborators’ in Gaza
Hamas operatives executed several alleged “collaborators” in the Gaza Strip today, according to a video shared by popular online media channel Gaza Now.
Gaza Now, which boasts 1.7 million followers on Telegram, publishes a video showing more than a dozen Hamas operatives, many of them in uniform, opening fire on three men lying on the ground.
The video is captioned “The moment of punishing the agents of the Zionist occupation who caused the killing of thousands of our Palestinian people in Gaza.”
The video could not immediately be verified.
Hamas has regularly issued death sentences for people found guilty of “collaboration” with Israel, executing dozens of Palestinians in recent years.
Trump says Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal ‘should hold’
US President Donald Trump says the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal he helped finalize “should hold.”
The comments appear to soften ones he made earlier this week when he said he was not confident that the agreement would hold.
Asked to elaborate on those comments, Trump tells reporters, “It’s a very tricky place.”
Trump credits his Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff for securing the agreement that had been elusive for months. Noting that “both sides” liked Witkoff, Trump says, “That deal would have never been made without Steve.”
“The deal should hold, but if it doesn’t there will be a lot of problems,” Trump warns.
Amid reports that Trump is planning to tap Witkoff to handle US diplomacy with Iran, Trump is asked whether he’ll want him to be negotiating directly with Iran.
“No, but he’s certainly somebody I would use,” Trump says.
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