Jan. 24: Hamas delegation meets Turkish intel chief to discuss Gaza ceasefire

Hamas delegation meets Turkish intel chief to discuss Gaza ceasefire

A Hamas delegation led by senior politburo official Khalil al-Hayya met with Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin in Istanbul today, Turkish media reports.

The group discussed the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, the state-run Anadolu Agency reports, including plans to increase the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip and the reopening of the Rafah Crossing.

The report adds that the Hamas delegation thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his country’s role in upholding the ceasefire and for “Ankara’s increasingly prominent role in the plan’s second phase.”

Report: Four injured in settler attack on home in Birzeit, near Ramallah; three Palestinians said arrested

Four people have been injured in a settler attack on a home in the Palestinian Christian town of Birzeit, near Ramallah in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority’s official Wafa news agency reports.

According to the report, settlers descended on a home located on the outskirts of the town, close to an IDF checkpoint, and pelted its occupants, a woman and her son, with stones.

Nearby residents intervened and retaliated in kind, throwing stones at the settlers, Wafa reports.

Israeli troops were then dispatched to the scene, where they used tear gas and arrested three Palestinian youth while at the same time allowing the settlers to leave, the report said.

The woman whose home was targeted was hit in the head by a rock and seriously injured, and was taken to a hospital in Ramallah, Wafa reports.

Her son and two other residents of the town were also injured, although the report does not specify their conditions.

Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian Christian family at their home in Birzeit. When youth of the family defended a woman from being beaten, Israeli soldiers arrived and detained the Palestinians while the settlers left. Four members of the family were injured. pic.twitter.com/bysnoKEyho

— Xavier Abu Eid (@xabueid) January 24, 2026

In response to a query by The Times of Israel, the IDF says that it dispatched troops to Birzeit following reports of stone-throwing by Palestinians against Israeli civilians.

One of the Israelis was lightly hurt and taken to a hospital, the army says, adding that it also detained one suspect and handed him over to the police for further questioning.

Report: Netanyahu barred Herzog from being on stage during Trump’s Board of Peace event in Davos

Paraguay's President Santiago Pena (second from left), Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (fifth from left), Kosovo's President Vjosa Osmani (center right), Argentina's President Javier Milei (sixth from right), Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (fourth from right), Bulgaria's former Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov (third from right), Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (second from right) and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev pose with US President Donald Trump (center) holding a signed founding charter at the "Board of Peace" meeting during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2026. (Fabrice Coffrini / AFP)

The White House twice asked the Prime Minister’s Office to allow President Isaac Herzog to sit on the stage in Davos for the Board of Peace unveiling ceremony on Thursday, Channel 12 reports.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused the request, saying that he was the one invited to the ceremony.

Netanyahu stayed away from the World Economic Forum, as Switzerland is party to the International Criminal Court and said it would enforce the arrest warrant against Netanyahu if he landed on Swiss territory.

Herzog’s office declines to comment on the report.

Thousands protest the government, demand return of Ran Gvili’s body at demonstrations across Israel

Anti-government protesters gather in Tel Aviv's Habima Square, on January 24, 2026. (Yair Palti/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Thousands of protesters are gathered throughout the country to demonstrate against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, and for the return of the remains of the final hostage, police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili.

In Tel Aviv’s Habima Square, the banners, posters and flags held by the hundreds-strong crowd appear focused on a variety of issues, ranging from the government’s attempts to weaken the High Court of Justice to the plight of missing Ethiopian Israeli child Haymanut Kasau.

Similar anti-government protests are taking place in Jerusalem, Kfar Saba, and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, in Gvili’s hometown of Meitar, a crowd gathers to hear from former hostages and their relatives as the Gvili family keeps up its efforts to secure the return of his body from Gaza, more than three months after the start of a ceasefire.

Speakers at the rally include former hostage Eitan Horn, and Dani Miran, the father of released hostage Omri Miran.

PM’s Office: Netanyahu’s meeting with Witkoff, Kushner underway in Jerusalem

The meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top White House advisors Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner begins in Jerusalem, the Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel.

Netanyahu is discussing the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire with the senior aides to US President Donald Trump, says the PMO.

CENTCOM chief meets with Zamir amid Iran tensions

CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper speaks during the funeral of slain Israeli-American hostage Cpt. Omer Neutra at the Kiryat Shaul Military Cemetery in Tel Aviv, on November 7, 2025. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Amid the ongoing tensions with Iran, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir met this evening with United States Central Command head Adm. Brad Cooper, who arrived in Israel overnight, The Times of Israel has learned.

Intelligence Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder and Operations Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Itzik Cohen also participated in a meeting with the military chiefs.

The IDF has been on high alert and has carried out preparations in recent weeks after US President Donald Trump threatened military action against Iran, against the backdrop of the regime’s killing of protesters.

White House confirms Witkoff, Kushner in Israel to meet with Netanyahu on Gaza

US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, right, and White House adviser Jared Kushner arrive before US President Donald Trump holds a news conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the State Dining Room of the White House, September 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The White House confirms that US President Donald Trump’s top aides Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have arrived in Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss efforts to advance Washington’s 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war.

US officials briefing reporters say the administration is working closely with Israel to recover the body of the last remaining hostage, Ran Gvili.

The Trump aides plan to discuss with Netanyahu efforts to demilitarize Gaza and advance long-term peace, one of the US officials on the briefing says.

Former mayor of Kafr Yasif arrested at protest against police inaction amid deadly crime wave

Police arrest the former mayor of Kafr Yasif during a protest in the northern Arab town over the police’s handling of the violent crime besetting the community.

Law enforcement says the politician, Shadi Shweiry, a prominent figure in the left-wing Hadash party, was arrested after he attacked police officers. Party activists claim the opposite, that Shweiry was violently arrested by police in what they dub “an attack on the right to protest.”

A brief clip of the incident shared by police shows a Border Police officer shoving Shweiry into a dense crowd of protesters, upon which Shweiry lunges back with a wooden sign pole, knocking a recording device from the hands of the officer filming.

He will appear in court later tonight, where police are expected to request an extension of his remand.

One of the organizers of the demonstration was also detained, and later released from the police station, for “violating the conditions of the protest,” police say. Hadash says the woman arrested is another party member, who directs the party’s activities in Acre and the surrounding area.

The demonstration on Route 70 drew hundreds of protesters from Kafr Yasif and neighboring towns, who blocked the major road despite the police’s attempts to prevent them from doing so.

كفر ياسيف: متظاهرون يغلقون شارع 70 الرئيس خلال وقفة منددة باستفحال الجريمة وتواطؤ الشرطة

تصوير: إيناس مريح (عرب 48)
التفاصيل: https://t.co/fZ1BORyytq pic.twitter.com/0y8u2P1msD

— موقع عرب 48 (@arab48website) January 24, 2026

The protesters, several of them bereaved families of homicide victims, chanted, “stop the crime” and “our children’s blood isn’t cheap.” Frustration in Arab society has been mounting in recent days over the deadly gang violence that, in less than a month into the new year, has claimed 21 lives.

“At the same time he [Shweiry] was arrested, there was another murder in Nazareth,” says Hadash-Ta’al MK Ofer Kassif, who attended the protest. “But there, the police aren’t present; they are present against the protesters, not against the crime.”

He is referring to this evening’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old Jamal Mazawi, who was pronounced dead at the hospital after being shot just outside the major Arab city.

Arab cities and towns throughout Israel went on a day-long strike Thursday, decrying police’s failure to stem near-daily homicides. A massive protest took place in the northern city of Sakhnin that afternoon, drawing tens of thousands of Arab citizens.

Man shot by immigration officers in Minneapolis has died, hospital record shows

US federal immigration officers deploy pepper spray at observers after a shooting, January 24, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

A 51-year-old man shot Saturday by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis has died, a hospital record obtained by The Associated Press shows.

The person was shot amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, Gov. Tim Walz says. The details surrounding the shooting weren’t immediately clear.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin tells the AP in a text message that the person had a firearm with two magazines and that the situation was “evolving.”

The shooting happened amid widespread daily protests in the Twin Cities since the January 7 shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was killed when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fired into her vehicle.

Walz, a Democrat, says in a social media post that he has been in contact with the White House after the shooting. He urges President Donald Trump to end what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest-ever immigration enforcement operation.

“Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now,” Walz says in a post on X.

DHS distributes a photo of a handgun, they say was on the person who was shot.

After the shooting, an angry crowd gathered and screamed profanities at federal officers, calling them “cowards” and telling them to go home. One officer responded mockingly as he walked away, telling them, “Boo hoo.” Agents elsewhere shoved a yelling protester into a car.

Trump threatens Canada with 100% tariff over possible deal with China

US President Donald Trump says he will impose a 100% tariff on Canada if it makes a trade deal with China and warns Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that a deal would endanger his country.

“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,” Trump writes on Truth Social.

“If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% Tariff against all Canadian goods and products coming into the U.S.A.”

Carney during a recent visit to China called the Asian superpower a “reliable and predictable partner” and in Davos encouraged European leaders to seek investment from the world’s second-largest economy.

Trump suggests that China will try to use Canada to evade US tariffs. “If Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken,” Trump says, using a title for Carney that refers to Trump’s past calls for Canada to become the 51st US state.

Tensions between the US and its northern neighbor have grown in recent days.

Trump on Thursday withdrew an invitation for Canada to join his Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts. That about-face followed Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he openly decried powerful nations using economic integration as weapons and tariffs as leverage.

US federal officers shot another person in Minneapolis, governor says

US federal officers have shot another person in Minneapolis amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, says Governor Tim Walz.

Walz, a Democrat, says in a social media post that he had been in contact with the White House after the shooting, and calls on US President Donald Trump to end the crackdown in his state. The details surrounding the shooting are not immediately clear.

Yesterday, thousands of demonstrators protesting the crackdown on immigrants crowded the city’s streets in frigid weather, calling for federal law enforcement to leave.

Protesters have gathered daily in the Twin Cities since January 7, when 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Federal law enforcement officers have repeatedly squared off with community members and activists who track their movements.

Activists raise number of protesters arrested in Iran to nearly 41,000, put death toll at 5,200

The number of people arrested and killed during the mass wave of anti-regime protests that raged in Iran earlier this month has continued to rise, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which puts the death toll at 5,200 and arrest figures at nearly 41,000.

Figures have trickled out of Iran despite the now two-plus week long internet blackout, and while there have been no further demonstrations in Iran for days, activists say the number of dead and detained protesters is expected to increase.

The group’s figures have been accurate in previous unrest and rely on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths. That death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest there in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran’s government offered its first death toll on Wednesday, saying 3,117 people were killed. It said 2,427 were civilians and security forces, and labeled the rest as “terrorists.” In the past, Iran’s theocracy has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.

The activist agency on Saturday also increased the total number of people arrested to 40,879 — a significant jump from the more than 27,700 people in its previous update.

US theater cancels Israeli comedian’s show, saying ‘we don’t support genocide’

A screenshot from a mock video tour of a damaged hotel in Gaza created by Israeli comedian Guy Hochman on January 6, 2024. (Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

A theater in Beverly Hills, California, says it canceled a show by Israeli comedian Guy Hochman, after a pressure campaign from anti-Zionist activists.

Fine Arts Theater Beverly Hills posts on Instagram that it received complaints about Hochman.

“We researched online and could not find any proof of the accusations other than from the original accuser,” the theater’s statement says.

The theater says it gave Hochman “the opportunity to refute the allegations” and asked him to make public statements “that he did not support the genocide, rape, starvation and torture of Palestinian civilians.”

Do you make all artists sign this crap or just the Jewish Israeli ones, Fine Arts Theatre?

Smells like a discrimination lawsuit. pic.twitter.com/9hjvtRkXlF

— Tali Goldsheft (@TaliGoldsheft) January 24, 2026

“He declined to do so. He is now banned from our facility. Our company is not political and does not ask the political beliefs of those that rent from us,” the statement says. “We want to make it very clear that we don’t support genocide.”

A New York City theater canceled a show by Hochman earlier this week after anti-Zionist protests.

After reports of gunfire near Ramallah-area settlement, IDF says troops scanning area

IDF troops are conducting scans near the West Bank settlement of Talmon, close to Ramallah, after gunfire was heard in the area, the military says.

The IDF says it dispatched troops to the settlement area after it received reports of shooting from the direction of the Palestinian village of Ein Qiniya. No injuries were caused in the incident.

The troops are scanning the area, blocking roads, and encircling Ramallah, the army says.

Hundreds more Islamic State detainees being transferred from Syria to Iraq, Iraqi officials say

Syria's (L) and Iraq's national flags are pictured near the Iraqi-Syrian border, in Al-Qaim, west of Iraq on January 23, 2026. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

Hundreds of Islamic State (ISIS) group detainees are being transferred from Syria to Iraq, the second batch since the US announced plans to relocate the jihadists there, two Iraqi security officials tell AFP.

“The prisoner transfer operation is ongoing, with US forces transporting detainees by land and air,” an Iraqi security official says, adding that “up to 1,000 ISIS  detainees are expected to arrive in Iraq today.”

Another security source confirms the transfer was underway, saying the detainees — who include Iraqis and Europeans — will be distributed among at least three prisons in Iraq.

The group is the second batch of 7,000 ISIS  suspects, previously held by Syrian Kurdish fighters, that the US military said it would transfer to Iraq after Syrian government forces recaptured Kurdish-held territory.

Europeans were also among the 150 senior ISIS  detainees who were the first to be transferred on Wednesday, two Iraqi security officials told AFP Friday.

The transfer is expected to take several days.

Khamenei has gone into hiding ahead of possible US attack, opposition-affiliated news site reports

This handout photograph provided by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him speaking in Tehran on January 17, 2026. (KHAMENEI.IR / AFP)

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has gone into hiding in a Tehran bunker, according to the opposition-affiliated Iran International news site, as the country prepares for a possible US attack amid heightened tensions over the brutal crackdown of protests earlier this month.

According to the report, which cites “information received” by the opposition news site, Khamenei went underground after senior officials assessed an “increased risk of a potential US attack,” as the US moves significant military forces into the region.

The report adds that the supreme leader’s bunker is fortified, and contains a system of “interconnected tunnels.”

While Khamenei is in hiding, his third-born son, Masoud Khamenei, has taken over day-to-day operations in his father’s office and is serving as the “main channel for communication” with government leaders, the report says.

Trump says US forces used ‘Discombobulator’ energy weapon during Venezuela raid

A fire at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela's largest military complex, is seen from a distance after a series of US strikes in Caracas on January 3, 2026. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump says that the US military used a mysterious new weapons system dubbed the “Discombobulator” during the operation to capture then-Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro in Caracas earlier this month, Trump tells the New York Post.

“The Discombobulator. I’m not allowed to talk about it,” Trump says.

According to Trump, the weapon “made [Venezuela’s] equipment not work,” suggesting that the system was used to disrupt the Venezuelan air defense and radar systems, allowing US forces to carry out the raid with near-impunity.

“They never got their rockets off. They had Russian and Chinese rockets, and they never got one off. We came in, they pressed buttons and nothing worked. They were all set for us,” Trump tells the US news outlet.

The US president’s comments came after being asked by the press about recent reports that the Biden administration purchased a pulsed energy weapon that is suspected to have been used in Caracas.

The outlet also quotes one of Maduro’s former guards, who says that during the night of the US raid, “suddenly all our radar systems shut down without any explanation.”

“The next thing we saw were drones, a lot of drones, flying over our positions. We didn’t know how to react,” he says, adding that US helicopters then appeared overhead, carrying special forces troops.

“At one point, they launched something; I don’t know how to describe it. It was like a very intense sound wave. Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside,” the guard says.

“We all started bleeding from the nose,” he recounts. “Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move. We couldn’t even stand up after that sonic weapon — or whatever it was.”

Over 9,000 flights canceled as major winter storm wreaks havoc across US

People walk on an ice covered beach along the shore of Lake Michigan, January 23, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

More than 9,000 flights across the US set to take off over the weekend have been canceled as a major storm expected to wreak havoc across much of the country threatens to knock out power for days and snarl major roadways.

Roughly 140 million people are under a winter storm warning from New Mexico to New England. The National Weather Service forecast warns of widespread heavy snow and a band of catastrophic ice stretching from east Texas to North Carolina.

Forecasters say damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival that of a hurricane.

Ice and sleet that hit northern Texas overnight were moving toward the central part of the state on Saturday, the National Weather Service in Fort Worth says.

“Dangerously cold temperatures and wind chills are spreading into the area and will remain in place into Monday,” the agency says on X. Low temperatures will be mostly in the single digits for the next few nights, with wind chills as low as minus 12 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 24 Celsius).

About 68,000 power outages were reported across the country at 8 a.m. ET, about 27,600 of them in Texas. Snow and sleet continue to fall in Oklahoma.

Trump admin in talks with major US oil companies to quickly ramp up Venezuelan crude production – report

The United States is in talks with Chevron, other crude producers, and major oilfield service providers about a plan to quickly raise Venezuela’s crude production, Bloomberg News reports, citing senior administration officials.

Officials have discussed deploying SLB, Halliburton and Baker Hughes to repair and replace outdated equipment, and refresh older drilling sites, the report says.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Additionally, according to US President Donald Trump, the US has taken the oil that was on seized Venezuelan tankers earlier this month, and will process it in American refineries, the president tells the New York Post in an interview published earlier today.

Man shot dead in Nazareth amid unrelenting crime wave in Arab community

A man has been shot to death in the northern city of Nazareth, as the crime wave in the Arab community continues to spiral.

The man, 37, was unconscious and suffered serious wounds when medics arrived at the scene, the Magen David Adom ambulance service says.

He was taken to a nearby hospital but was later declared dead, MDA says.

Police say that the shooting is crime-related and is under investigation.

IDF: Gaza airstrike killed terrorists who crossed Yellow Line, planted bombs; Palestinians: two killed were brothers aged 14, 15

The Israeli Air Force struck and killed several Palestinian terror operatives who crossed the Gaza ceasefire line and planted explosives near troops in the Strip’s north earlier today, the military says.

According to the IDF, the operatives were identified crossing the Yellow Line, planting a bomb in the ground, and approaching troops of the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade “in a way that posed an immediate threat.”

The IAF then struck and “eliminated the terrorists to remove the threat,” the military says.

Palestinian media reported that two boys were killed in a drone strike in the Strip’s north around noon. They were identified as Mohammad and Suleiman al-Zawar’a, ages 15 and 14, respectively.

According to the reports, they were killed while collecting firewood near the now-defunct Kamal Adwan Hospital, which is situated on the Hamas-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line.

German media says US Border Patrol official’s look similar to that of Nazis

US Customs and Border Protection Commander Gregory Bovino (C) stands flanked by fellow federal agents during a protest against ICE outside the Bishop Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 15, 2026. (Octavio JONES / AFP)

A senior United States Border Patrol official has sparked conversation among German media over his greatcoat, which pundits say resembles those worn by Nazis.

Gregory Bovino is a significant figure in an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, which has sparked widespread protests among locals.

The Guardian highlights some of the comments made by German outlets.

An article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: “Other countries also had these coats, but Bovino’s outfits complete the Nazi look: a closely cropped haircut, as if he had taken a photo of [assassinated SA leader] Ernst Röhm to the barber.”

Der Spiegel writer Arno Frank comments that Bovino “stands out from this thuggish mob, just as an elegant SS officer stands out from the rowdy SA mob. The dashing undercut is also spot on; all that’s missing for the perfect cosplay is a monocle.”

Family of Ran Gvili says pressure should be on Hamas to return body, not Israel to open Rafah Crossing

Photos of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage in Gaza, displayed in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, on January 22, 2026. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

The family of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili expresses concern that pressure is being directed at Israel to move forward on easing life in Gaza, rather than on Hamas to return the hostage’s body, in response to US pressure on Jerusalem to open the Rafah Border Crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

“President [Donald] Trump himself said this week in Davos that Hamas knows where our son is. We wonder why the pressure is being directed at the wrong place. The pressure should not be on the Israeli government to continue to fulfill its part of the agreement while Hamas is deceiving the entire world and refusing to return the last kidnapped person, in accordance with the agreement it signed,” the family says in a statement.

The statement comes as US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are visiting Israel in order to request that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu open the Rafah Border Crossing, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

The Gvili family calls on Netanyahu to tell the US envoys that efforts should be made to return Ran if they want to move forward with regional peace and the reconstruction of Gaza.

While Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war envisioned the reopening of Rafah at the start of the ceasefire that was reached in October, Israel has sought to limit its use to the exit of Gazans while insisting on the return of the final hostage and the disarmament of Hamas before making the gate fully operational.

Recognizing that Israel wasn’t going to budge on the issue, Gaza mediators decided to go ahead and announce Rafah’s reopening this week during the signing ceremony for the Board of Peace in Davos, Switzerland, an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel yesterday.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.

Air France resumes Dubai service after temporary halt over Iran tensions

Illustrative: An Air France plane is parked at the Ben Gurion International Airport, outside of Tel Aviv, August 14, 2025. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

PARIS, France — Air France resumes its Dubai service after temporarily suspending it the day before due to the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, the airline says.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened strikes on Iran over the crackdown on the protest movement that recently erupted across the Islamic Republic.

The French airline says it was “monitoring developments” in the region “to ensure the highest level of flight safety and security.”

Dutch airline KLM, which belongs to the same group as Air France, also halted flights until further notice to cities in the Middle East.

KLM said it would not fly through the airspace of several countries in the region, including Iraq and Iran, according to the Netherlands’ state broadcaster.

Trump, on Thursday, said a US “armada” was heading toward the Gulf and that Washington was watching Iran closely, even after downplaying the prospect of imminent military action and saying Tehran appeared interested in talks.

Gaza hospitals receive 4 killed by IDF, baby dead from cold over past 48 hours, says Hamas-run health ministry

Palestinians walk along a street market in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Gaza hospitals have received twelve people wounded and four people killed by the IDF over the past 48 hours, the Strip’s Hamas-run health ministry says in an afternoon report.

It does not identify the dead, say where the people were killed, wounded, or specify the severity of the wounds.

Mohaed Abu Selmiya, director of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, was cited by The Associated Press on Thursday, saying the hospital received the bodies of four Palestinians killed by IDF tank shelling in eastern Gaza City. The IDF has not commented, but attributes such strikes to ceasefire violations by Hamas.

According to Palestinian media, the four people were killed on the Hamas-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line. They were not identified in the reports.

Meanwhile, the Hamas-run ministry says in its daily report that a three-month-old baby boy died of cold exposure in Gaza. He is identified as Ali Abu Zur.

The ministry says he died at the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Deir al-Balah, in the Strip’s center. Palestinian media reported he died on Thursday.

IRGC chief says force has ‘finger on the trigger’ as US fleet heads to Middle East

Then-commander of the ground forces of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, attends a military parade as part of a ceremony marking the country's annual army day in Tehran, Iran, on April 17, 2024. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a force that was key in putting down recent nationwide protests in a crackdown that left thousands dead, is “more ready than ever, finger on the trigger,” its commander says, as US warships headed toward the Middle East.

Nournews, a news outlet close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reports on its Telegram channel that the commander, Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, warns the United States and Israel “to avoid any miscalculation.”

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guards and dear Iran stand more ready than ever, finger on the trigger, to execute the orders and directives of the Commander-in-Chief,” Nournews quotes Pakpour as saying.

Tension remains high between Iran and the US in the wake of a bloody crackdown on protests that began on December 28, triggered by the collapse of Iran’s currency, the rial, and swept the country for about two weeks.

Syrian government, Kurds to extend truce by one month — sources

Syrian government troops are seen at an abandoned checkpoint between government-controlled Raqqa and Hassakeh, controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in northeastern Syria, January 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

DAMASCUS, Syria — The Syrian government and Kurdish forces have agreed to extend a ceasefire set to expire today, as part of a broader deal on the future of Kurd-majority areas, several sources tell AFP.

No official announcement has yet come from Damascus or the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), but two sources say the truce is to be extended by one month.

On Tuesday, Damascus and the SDF agreed to a four-day ceasefire after Kurdish forces relinquished swathes of territory to government forces, which also sent reinforcements to a Kurdish stronghold in the northeast.

A diplomatic source in Damascus tells AFP the ceasefire, due to expire on this evening, will be extended “for a period of up to one month at most.”

A Kurdish source close to the negotiations confirms “the ceasefire has been extended until a mutually acceptable political solution is reached.”

A Syrian official in Damascus says the “agreement is likely to be extended for one month,” adding that one reason is the need to complete the transfer of Islamic State group jihadist detainees from Syria to Iraq.

All sources request anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to the media.

After the SDF lost large areas to government forces, Washington said it would transfer 7,000 IS detainees to prisons in Iraq.

Europeans were among 150 senior IS detainees who were the first to be transferred on Wednesday, two Iraqi security officials told AFP.

Bedouin rights group: 15 families forced to flee Jordan Valley community due to settler harassment

A Palestinian resident of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank burns trash, January 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Fifteen families dismantled their homes and left the West Bank Bedouin community of Ras Ein el-Auja this morning due to ongoing settler harassment, Bedouin human rights organization Al-Bidar says, less than a month after a new settler outpost was set up close to the community in the Jordan Valley.

The group says there is a “lack of any real protection” and accuses Israeli forces of providing cover for the harassment.

According to left-wing Israeli group B’Tselem, 26 other families left the livestock-based community on January 8, a week after settlers set up a new outpost less than 500 meters (545 yards), or within grazing distance, from their homes. Two families had already left in August, the rights group says.

The community was originally home to some 700 people from more than 100 families that have lived there for decades.

B’Tselem says the settler intimidation has included daily acts of violence committed by young Israelis — some of them minors — as well as armed settlers backed by military and police forces. The settlers carry out daily incursions into the community’s territory, theft of the livestock belonging to the Bedouin community, vandalism of property and physical attacks on residents, the group says.

AP contributed to this report.

US reportedly asks Italy to be founding member of Gaza stabilization force

The US has asked Italy to join the International Stabilization Force for Gaza as a founding member, Bloomberg News reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Reuters cannot immediately verify the report.

Four Israelis arrested for alleged possession of cocaine, ecstasy in Thailand

In this July 5, 2020, file photo, fishing vessels and boats used to ferry tourists sit idle along a deserted beach on the popular tourist island of Koh Phangan, Thailand. (AP Photo/Adam Schreck)

Four Israelis are arrested for alleged illicit drug possession in Koh Phangan, Thailand, local media reports.

Police raided a luxury villa in the city of Surat Thani, following up on complaints by local residents of loud music and strangers visiting the premises, the Thai Public Broadcasting Service reports.

Officers found cocaine and ecstasy pills during a search of a house, and arrested four Israelis, aged 27-29, who they allege organized the party, Thai PBS reports.

Police say the suspects face drug possession charges and will have their visas revoked, according to the report.

Iran executes two for 2023 bus bombing linked to ISIS

Iran executed two men for the 2023 bombing of a bus carrying pilgrims, identifying them as linked to Islamic State, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reports.

The news agency says the attack killed a toddler and injured several others on a bus travelling from Tehran to Ilam, a province in the west that borders Iraq.

The two men were involved in planting the bomb on the bus, Mizan says.

Iran aiming to rebuild forces, may try to obtain nuke, US defense strategy says; calls Israel ‘model ally’

A man cycles past an anti-US mural on a street in the Iranian capital Tehran on January 6, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

The Pentagon releases a priority-shifting National Defense Strategy that chastises US allies to take control of their own security and reasserts the Trump administration’s focus on dominance in the Western Hemisphere above a longtime goal of countering China.

The Pentagon document says that while Iran had suffered setbacks in recent months, it was aiming to rebuild its military, with Tehran leaving open the possibility that it could “try again to obtain a nuclear weapon.”

Even with US troops heading to the region, the document says Israel is a “model ally” and could be further empowered to defend itself.

“Israel has long demonstrated that it is both willing and able to defend itself with critical but limited support from the United States. Israel is a model ally, and we have an opportunity now to further empower it to defend itself and promote our shared interests, building on President Trump’s historic efforts to secure peace in the Middle East,” the document specifies.

12-year-old dies from shark attack in Australia’s Sydney Harbor

SYDNEY, Australia — A 12-year-old boy bitten by a shark in Australia’s Sydney Harbor has died of his injuries, his family says.

Nico Antic’s parents say their son died of the injuries suffered when a large shark attacked him last week as he and his friends were jumping into the water.

“We are heartbroken to share that our son, Nico, has passed away,” Lorena and Juan Antic say in a statement.

At the time of the attack, the children were leaping into the water off a six-meter (20-foot) rock in the eastern Sydney suburb of Vaucluse.

Recent heavy rain had drained into the harbor, turning the water murky, police say.

Antic was suffering from heavy bleeding when he was pulled into a police boat and taken to the hospital in critical condition.

“Nico was a happy, friendly, and sporty young boy with the most kind and generous spirit. He was always full of life and that’s how we’ll remember him,” his parents say.

The Sydney shark attack that eventually killed Antic was one of four recorded in the span of two days, which prompted officials to close dozens of the city’s beaches.

It was Sydney’s third recent shark-related death.

‘This time we’ll treat any attack as an all-out war against us,’ senior Iran official threatens

Traffic rolls along a main throughfare under a banner with images of past and present leaders that reads in Farsi, "Domino fall," as daily life returns to the streets following nationwide protests, in the Iranian capital Tehran on January 19, 2026. (Atta Kenare/AFP)

Iran will treat any attack “as an all-out war against us,” a senior Iranian official says ahead of the arrival of a US military aircraft carrier strike group and other assets in the Middle East region in the coming days.

“This military buildup — we hope it is not intended for real confrontation – but our military is ready for the worst-case scenario. This is why everything is on high alert in Iran,” says the senior Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“This time we will treat any attack — limited, unlimited, surgical, kinetic, whatever they call it — as an all-out war against us, and we will respond in the hardest way possible to settle this,” the official says.

Police free 5 suspects arrested over disappearance of IDF soldier nearly 2 decades ago

Guy Hever at 17. The 20-year-old soldier exited a guard post on the Golan Heights and vanished without a trace. (Courtesy of Rina Hever)

Police have released five suspects without charge after they were arrested last month on suspicion of involvement in the disappearance of missing IDF soldier Guy Hever, according to Hebrew media outlets.

A court had previously issued a sweeping gag order on publishing details on the three-decade-old case, with reports claiming there had been a “dramatic breakthrough” in the investigation.

In August 1997, Hever, a sergeant, left his post on a base in the Golan Heights carrying only his rifle. The base, Camp Thunder, was less than 23 kilometers (14 miles) from the Syrian border.

No trace of Hever has ever been found, and the case remains one of Israel’s most confounding mysteries.

Report: CENTCOM chief to visit Israel on Saturday amid regional tensions

Commander of the United States Central Command Adm. Brad Cooper is expected to arrive in Israel on Saturday for meetings with senior officials amid heightened regional tensions, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

According to the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya network, Cooper recently made a low-profile visit to Syria to assess whether Damascus was adhering to its ceasefire commitments with the Syrian Democratic Forces, after meeting Thursday with SDF leaders in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

Earlier Friday, Channel 12 news reported that White House adviser Jared Kushner and US special envoy Steve Witkoff are also set to land in Israel tomorrow for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They are expected to discuss Hamas and Gaza, with an emphasis on efforts to secure the return of Ran Gvili, the last remaining hostage still held in Gaza, as well as possible discussions regarding Iran.

Cooper last visited Israel in September, in what was his first official trip to Jerusalem since assuming command of CENTCOM.