Jan. 26: Impromptu gatherings across Israel mark first time since 2014 without hostages in Gaza

IDF: Hezbollah artillery commander killed in strike on Lebanon’s Tyre

An Israeli strike in the coastal Lebanese city of Tyre earlier today killed a Hezbollah artillery commander, the IDF says.

According to the IDF, the Hezbollah operative Ali Nour a-Din headed an artillery team based out of a village in southern Lebanon.

The military says the operative advanced numerous attacks on Israel during the war, and recently worked to restore Hezbollah’s rocket capabilities in southern Lebanon.

“The terrorist’s activities constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military adds.

Impromptu gatherings across Israel mark first time since 2014 without hostages in Gaza

Activists in Kfar Saba take down a poster of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili after his body was returned from Gaza, marking the return of the final hostage, on January 26, 2026. (Danor Aharon/ Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Impromptu gatherings across Israel mark the first time in over 11 years without hostages being held in Gaza, following the return of Ran Gvili’s body to Israel tonight.

In Kfar Saba, a group of activists gather to symbolically remove the shirts, necklaces and pins calling for the return of the hostages. Others remove the poster of Ran Gvili from a wall that had once featured the photos of all 251 hostages, and which were taken down one by one as they were returned.

The group is joined by Ruti Strum, the mother of released hostages Eitan and Iair Horn.

In Tel Aviv, a small group gathers on Begin Road, where, for more than two years, anti-government activists took up the hostages’ cause during weekly Saturday night demonstrations.

Others have flocked to the city’s Hostages Square throughout the evening and into the night.

One such person, whom Israel Hayom identifies only as Elka, tells the news outlet that she cried when she found out that Gvili’s body had been located “because we waited for this for a long time and all the hostages are back.”

She says she headed to Hostages Square “because here is where the people of Israel are, and here the people of Israel are united and honoring the hostages and their families.

“There is no other place I could have been on this day, only here,” she adds, expressing hope that it will become a permanent space “to commemorate all of the victims and fallen of the October 7 war.”

IDF says it struck two Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon

The IDF says it struck two Hezbollah operatives in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon a short while ago.

No further details are immediately given by the military.

Earlier, the IDF said it carried out a strike against a Hezbollah operative in the coastal Lebanese city of Tyre.

Netanyahu: Antisemitism is a ‘battle over the future of civilization’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the gala event launching the government-sponsored International Conference on Combating Antisemitism, in Jerusalem, on January 26, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The fight against antisemitism is a global battle over the future of civilization, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says at a gala event launching the government-sponsored International Conference on Combating Antisemitism.

“Racism has existed throughout history. That’s not what antisemitism is,” Netanyahu tells attendees at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center. “Antisemitism began as a creed 2,500 years ago, 500 years before the birth of Christianity, with an ideological attack against the Jews that kept on metamorphosing over centuries.”

Netanyahu celebrated the return of the body of Ran Gvili, the final hostage held in Gaza, earlier today.

“We said we’d bring him back,” Netanyahu says. “He was the first to come in, and he was the last to leave. A hero of Israel. Rani is back. There are no more hostages in Gaza. It’s a tremendous achievement for our heroic forces, our soldiers, and our commanders.”

Addressing young Jews facing hostility abroad, Netanyahu urges defiance. “Don’t be afraid. Don’t cower. Speak up. Stand up. Fight back,” he says. “If we fight, we win.”

Netanyahu praises foreign dignitaries in attendance, including former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz, and Argentine Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona, as well as US antisemitism envoy Leo Terrell.

Earlier in the evening, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli presented an award of honor to Terrell “for his determined and sustained efforts to confront the growing wave of antisemitism in the United States, particularly on university campuses.” He also honored slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk with an award presented to his personal pastor, Rob McCoy.

Long Island Jewish school suspends teacher after arrest for alleged abuse

The Solomon Schechter School of Long Island, a Jewish day school in Nassau County, says it has suspended a teacher who was arrested for alleged abuse that took place more than a decade ago.

The alleged abuse does not involve the school or any of its students.

The NYPD confirms the teacher, 36, was arrested last week and charged with sexual abuse and acting in a manner injurious to a child younger than 17.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office says the victim reported three incidents of non-consensual sexual contact, in the area of Washington Square Village in Manhattan, in June and July of 2015.

The teacher was 25 years old at the time, a complaint says.

The victim, a 14-year-old girl who is now 24, says the suspect was her teacher at the time, the NYPD says.

The teacher was arrested by the NYPD and charged in a New York City court.

The teacher pleaded not guilty and was granted supervised release and given a protective order in favor of the victim.

A lawyer for the school tells The Times of Israel, “The safety and well-being of our students, faculty, and staff is our highest priority.”

“We were recently made aware of the arrest of a faculty member based on allegations relating to events alleged to have occurred more than a decade ago; none involve our school or our students,” the statement says. “The individual has been suspended pending review, and we are cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities.”

Ran Gvili’s body arrives at Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for full identification process

Israeli security forces pay their respects as a convoy carrying the body of a slain hostage Ran Gvili arrives at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv, January 26, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/ Flash90)

The body of slain policeman Master Sgt. Ran Gvili has arrived at the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv, ahead of a full forensic identification process.

Gvili’s body was located and identified earlier today at a cemetery in eastern Gaza City, 843 days after he was killed and abducted to the Strip by Palestinian terrorists.

Police officers escorted Gvili’s body from the Gaza border to the Nahal Oz army base, where a short ceremony was held, before taking the remains to Abu Kabir.

White House says 20 new countries agreed to join Board of Peace; doesn’t identify them

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (3L), Kosovo's President Vjosa Osmani (C-R), Argentina's President Javier Milei (R), applaud as US President Donald Trump (C) holds a signing 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)

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says 20 additional countries have “signed up to join US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.”

Leavitt does not identify the new members.

While the Board of Peace was only mandated by the UN Security Council to oversee the management of Gaza for the next two years, the Trump administration is aiming to use the panel to address other conflicts around the world.

It has faced pushback from other Western countries uncomfortable with the board’s apparent aim of usurping the UN.

Speaking during a press conference at the White House, Leavitt says the return of the last remaining Israeli hostage from Gaza is a “huge foreign policy feat” for Trump, Israel, and the whole world.

‘Our pride is greater than our sorrow’: Ran Gvili’s family remember him as ‘true hero of Israel’

From left: Mother Talik, brother Omri and father Itzik Shvili speak to reporters after the body of Ran Shvili, the last Israeli hostage in Gaza, is located and brought back to Israel by the IDF on January 26, 2026. Off-camera at left is Ran's sister Shira. (Channel 12 screenshot)

Talik and Itzik Gvili, along with two of their children, speak to the press following the return of their son’s body from Gaza.

Surrounded by family, Talik says she is “proud” to have finally reached this moment after more than two years of campaigning for the return of her police officer son, who was killed in battle on October 7, 2023, and his body taken to Gaza.

In particular, she says, the family is proud “because we know it is IDF soldiers who retrieved Rani from that damned place.”

“We are so proud of you, IDF soldiers, proud of the police, proud of the government, proud of everyone who gave us so much strength, proud of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, proud of US President Donald Trump,” she says, also mentioning by name US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and the government’s hostage pointman Gal Hirsch.

“Our pride is much, much stronger than our pain,” she says. “The people of Israel lives and is strong.”

“Rani came home as a true hero of Israel, and we are the proudest in the world,” she says.”

Itzik, who traveled to the Nahal Oz military base for a brief ceremony over his son’s coffin earlier this evening, says there was “strength” in the crowd of soldiers, police officers, and Ran’s friends, who gathered to escort him to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute.

“If you’d have asked Rani how he wanted to go, it would have been like this,” his father says. “This is his way.”

“He saved us, saved the people of Israel, saved Kibbutz Alumim, he saved everyone,” Itzik adds. “Rani always loved bringing people together, and he’s united the country. I don’t know how, but he did.”

Omri, Ran’s brother, echoes his mother’s words, saying: “Our pride today is much greater than our sorrow.”

“I had the prize of being the brother of an Israeli hero, who did the unbelievable,” he says.

Finally, Ran’s sister, Shira, thanks Trump, Witkoff, and Kushner in English.

“We are so grateful,” she says, adding that she believed Trump when he looked the family in the eye and promised to bring Ran back home.

Switching to Hebrew, she thanks the Israeli public that “never gave up” and the Tikvah Forum and all its volunteers. She thanks the families of the other hostages. “Even when your loved ones came home, you were still with us… You were our anchor in this insane situation…. We are a strong people. The people of Israel lives.”

Trump: After Gvili’s return, ‘now we have to disarm Hamas’

An image distributed by the Prime Minister's Office and apparently manipulated by Sara Netanyahu, showing her, center, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, second right, with US President Donald Trump, second left, flanked by the family of hostage Ran Gvili, December 29, 2025. (Amos Ben-Gershom / GPO / Sara Netanyahu)

US President Donald Trump says that Hamas helped Israel locate the body of the final Israeli hostage in Gaza, Ran Gvili, and stresses that the terror group must disarm, as attention shifts to the second phase of his Gaza plan, in an interview with the Axios news site.

“They worked very hard to get the body back,” Trump says of Hamas, adding that “They were working with Israel on it” and that search teams “had to go through hundreds of bodies” in the area to find Gvili.

“Now we have to disarm Hamas like they promised,” Trump continues.

Amid widespread skepticism that Hamas will peacefully disarm under Trump’s plan, Trump notes that there was also skepticism that all hostages would be returned under the plan’s first phase, but that outcome proved possible, the report adds.

“Nobody believed we would bring back all the hostages. It was a great moment,” Trump says, adding that his top advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner briefed him about the recovery this morning, before Trump spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who “was thrilled” about the development.

“Please tell the parents I am very happy,” Trump adds, in a message to the Gvili family.

Turkish FM meets Hamas delegation in Ankara amid mediators’ efforts to disarm terror group

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met earlier today with a Hamas delegation headed by Khalil al-Hayya in Ankara amid efforts by the Gaza ceasefire deal mediators to advance the decommissioning of the terror group’s weapons and the demilitarization of the Strip.

The Turkish foreign ministry posts pictures from the meeting but does not provide additional information.

Hamas has vowed to hold onto its weapons, and sources familiar with the negotiations have told The Times of Israel that the mediators are pushing for a gradual handover of the group’s weapons — a framework Israel opposes.

Minister of Foreign Affairs @HakanFidan met with Hamas delegation headed by Halil el-Hayya, Member of Hamas Political Bureau, in Ankara. pic.twitter.com/t5zvyuSIap

— Turkish MFA (@MFATurkiye) January 26, 2026

Gaza hospital says it received nine Palestinian detainees from Israel after Ran Gvili’s body recovered

Central Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital says it received nine living Palestinian detainees released by Israel, shortly after the military said it had recovered the body of the last hostage held in the Palestinian enclave.

“Nine Palestinian detainees from Gaza arrived at the hospital a short while ago via Red Cross teams, after the occupation released them today,” the hospital says in a statement.

Prominent Holocaust survivor says Mamdani is helping him find new housing

Sami Steigmann, a Holocaust survivor known for his public speaking, says New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has offered to help him find new housing, ahead of tomorrow’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Mamdani was supposed to meet with Steigmann tomorrow for a brief photo-op, but that meeting has been canceled in favor of a longer, private meeting. The date for the meeting has not yet been determined, Steigmann says.

Steigmann, 86, adds that Mamdani has offered to assist him in finding new housing because his building lacks an elevator and he struggles to climb the stairs to his apartment in Harlem.

A spokesperson for Mamdani confirms his office is in touch with Steigmann.

The Blue Card, an organization that assists Holocaust survivors in the city, confirms Steigmann’s account and says that it is arranging for Mamdani to visit other survivors tomorrow.

Mamdani will deliver food to several survivors at their homes and hear their stories, a spokesperson for the Blue Card says. The head of the Blue Card, Masha Pearl, was on Mamdani’s transitional committee.

Steigmann was involved in an incident late last year when a Brooklyn middle school denied him a speaking opportunity due to his support for Israel, causing an uproar. Steigmann has been re-invited to the school, where he will speak next month.

Steigmann is firmly supportive of Israel, while Mamdani has identified as an anti-Zionist, but Steigmann says, “I don’t prejudge.”

“Do I have questions for him? Absolutely, but that will be done in a private conference and I will do it in a non-controversial way,” Steigmann says. “The hope is that he will listen, but I’m not interested in confrontation.”

“He’s doing something that I never expected for him to do and this is to sit with me privately,” Steigmann adds. “It’s a sign of goodwill, so if he’s willing to do that, why should I be an attack dog?”

Mamdani also won praise from Jewish groups for shoveling snow in a Jewish area of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, during a blizzard yesterday.

“That’s hand on leadership,” the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn says on X. “Thank you [Mamdani]
for being out on the streets ensuring that the city is moving.”

Italy summons Israeli ambassador after Italian police held at gunpoint in West Bank

Italy has summoned Israel’s ambassador to protest after two Italian policemen were threatened at gunpoint by an Israeli during a field visit in the occupied West Bank, the foreign ministry says.

The two carabinieri officers, stationed at Italy’s consulate general in Jerusalem, “were stopped in Palestinian territory, near Ramallah, probably by a ‘settler’ under the threat of an automatic rifle,” a foreign ministry statement says.

According to a government source, an Israeli, believed to have been a settler, forced the two men to kneel at gunpoint and subjected them to an improvised interrogation.

The soldiers were travelling in a vehicle with diplomatic license plates and carrying diplomatic passports.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wanted the Israeli ambassador in Rome to receive a “strong protest” over the incident, the foreign ministry says in a statement.

Italy’s embassy to Israel has already submitted a formal protest to the Israeli government, contacting the foreign ministry, the Israeli military, the police, and the Shin Bet domestic security agency.

The two policemen returned unharmed to Italy’s consulate general in Jerusalem following the incident.

‘I’m proud of you, my son’: Itzik Gvili speaks over his son’s coffin near Gaza border

Itzik Gvili, the father of the last hostage returned from Gaza under a US-brokered ceasefire exchange deal, said he was proud of his son after his coffin arrived in Israel on Monday.

“You should see the honors we’re giving you here. All the police are with you, all the army is with you, all the people are with you. I’m proud of you, my son,” Gvili says at a ceremony held shortly after his son’s remains were returned at the Nahal Oz military outpost near Gaza.

‘Rani is on his way’: Ran Gvili’s sister awaits return of her brother’s body to Israel

Shira Gvili, sister of Ran Gvili, whose body is still held hostage in Gaza, speaks at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on December 5, 2025. (Lior Rotstein/ Hostages Forum/ File)

Shira Gvili, the sister of slain hostage Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, whose body was recovered from Gaza today, says she feels “a crazy sense of release,” now that her brother’s body is being brought back to Israel for burial.

“I feel relieved. I’m sad,” she says, describing the complex emotions in a brief video statement. “I’m very sad that it ended like this, but it had to end sometime, and I’m so glad he’s coming home.”

“Rani is on his way,” she says. “Rani is coming.”

Islamic Jihad operative captured by Israel provided intel that aided search for Gvili, Shin Bet says

A Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative who was captured by Israeli forces in Gaza City a month ago provided information that strengthened Israel’s intelligence that the body of slain policeman Master Sgt. Ran Gvili was located at a cemetery in the area, the Shin Bet security agency says.

The Shin Bet says that the Islamic Jihad operative had been involved in military activity against Israeli forces during the war, and was suspected of being “knowledgeable about the details of the burial location” of Gvili.

During his interrogation, the operative “described his involvement in transferring the body between several locations and also identified additional individuals who were aware of its whereabouts,” the security agency says.

The Shin Bet says that the interrogation led to intelligence that “strengthened the understanding” that Gvili’s body was buried at the cemetery in eastern Gaza City, where Israel had prior indications.

Over the weekend, the IDF launched a search operation at the cemetery. After forensic experts, including over 20 dentists, tested some 250 bodies, Gvili’s remains were identified.

Zamir: Return of Ran Gvili’s body marks end of one of IDF’s ‘principal missions’

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir joins troops in Gaza City for a ceremony honoring slain hostage Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, after his body was recovered in Gaza City, on January 26, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says the military has completed one of its principal missions in the Gaza Strip with the return of slain policeman Master Sgt. Ran Gvili.

“For more than two years, we have been waiting for this moment, the return of the last hostage,” Zamir says during a visit to eastern Gaza City today, after Gvili’s body was located at a cemetery.

“The body of Ran Gvili has been found, and with this, in effect, one of our principal missions has come to an end: the return of all the hostages, the living and the fallen, to their homes, to their country, to their families,” he says.

“We have completed a war objective. The campaign continues ahead of us; we will continue to pursue our enemies wherever they may be,” Zamir adds.

Police hold ceremony for fallen officer Ran Gvili at IDF’s Nahal Oz base

Police chief Daniel Levy (left) and Itzik Gvili (center) at an Israel Police ceremony for Gvili's slain hostage son, police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, at the IDF's Nahal Base, on January 26, 2026. (Israel Police)

A brief ceremony is being held by the police at the IDF’s Nahal Oz base near the border with Gaza, in memory of slain policeman Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, whose body was recovered from the Strip today.

Gvili’s father, Itzik, and Police Commissioner Daniel Levy are attending the ceremony.

Gvili’s body will soon be escorted by the police to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv. A funeral will be held on Wednesday.

Itzik Gvili meets with Zamir, IDF Southern Command chief after his son’s body returned from Gaza

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor stand with Itzik Gvili in southern Israel, after the body of his son, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili was recovered from Gaza and returned to Israel, on January 26, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor meet with Itzik Gvili, the father of slain police officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, after his body was recovered from Gaza and returned to Israel.

Footage published by the army shows Zamir embracing Itzik Gvili.

הרמטכ״ל זמיר בחיבוק עם איציק גואילי, אביו של רני, על גבול הרצועה. pic.twitter.com/nyp4QqQRG8

— רגע NEWS (@reganews_israel) January 26, 2026

Gvili’s body is soon to be escorted by the police to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv. A funeral will be held on Wednesday.

Kushner touts help from ‘many cooperative Gazans’ in locating hostage bodies

US President Donald Trump’s top aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner touts the coordination between the US, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and “many cooperative Gazans” who helped locate and return the bodies of all deceased hostages from Gaza.

He doesn’t elaborate on those efforts, but Ynet reported on Friday that a Palestinian informant retrieved the body of Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul from a locked refrigerator in January 2025, wrapped it in a rug and carried it on his shoulder for 1.5 kilometers to IDF troops in Gaza.

“Coordination and trust were built between individuals and organizations where none previously existed. This produced tangible results,” Kushner says in an X post.

“Helping the people of Gaza start a new chapter free from the tyranny of Hamas is a critical mission to prevent future death and destruction for Israelis and Palestinians,” he continues. “This will also eliminate a flashpoint manipulated by disingenuous actors to mobilize antisemitism and other forms of division and hatred.”

“We are trying new approaches, hoping to achieve new outcomes. This is an end, but also a new beginning,” Kushner adds.

Islamic Jihad claims it gave Israel the coordinates for Gvili’s body 3 weeks ago

Palestinian Islamic Jihad claims to have provided the coordinates for the remains of Ran Gvili, the last hostage in Gaza, three weeks ago, it announces after Israel found his body in a cemetery in Gaza City today.

“Based on new information, we gave the coordinates of the last prisoner’s body to mediators three weeks ago,” says the spokesman for PIJ’s armed wing, al-Quds Brigades, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Hamza.

“The enemy purposely delayed coordination and search operations” for the body, he claims, referring to Israel.

PIJ has previously said that while it initially held Gvili’s body in Gaza, it later handed it over to Hamas.

Body of Ran Gvili back in Israel, marking first time without hostages in Gaza since 2014

IDF troops stand by the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, after it was located at a cemetery in eastern Gaza City, on January 26. 2026. (Courtesy)

The body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili has been brought back to Israel from the Gaza Strip after 843 days, the military says in a statement, confirming that no hostages now remain in the Strip.

The military says it informed Gvili’s family that their son has been identified and was returned to Israel for burial. A funeral is planned for Wednesday.

“As such, the return of all of the living and deceased hostages from the Gaza Strip to the State of Israel has been completed,” the army says.

It marks the first time since 2014 that there are no hostages held in Gaza.

In addition to the 251 hostages taken on October 7, 2023, two Israelis who had been captured after entering Gaza of their own accord in 2014 and 2015 — Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed — were released during the war, and the bodies of two IDF soldiers killed during the 2014 Gaza War — Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul and Lt. Hadar Goldin — were recovered.

“Throughout the entire war, IDF troops operated day and night, on the front lines and deep in enemy territory, while greatly endangering their lives, with unwavering determination and a deep commitment to the sanctity of life, in order to establish the conditions that would allow the return of all the hostages, the living and the deceased as one,” the military says.

The IDF says the return of the hostages, including Gvili, “was carried out over two years of intense combat and represents the promise between the IDF and the citizens of the State of Israel, to never leave anyone behind.”

IDF troops carry the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, after it was located in eastern Gaza City, January 26, 2026. (Courtesy)

‘Most thought it would be impossible’: Trump celebrates return of final hostage

US President Donald Trump speaks before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Jan. 20, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

US President Donald Trump celebrates the return of the final deceased hostage from Gaza.

“Just recovered the last Hostage body in GAZA. Thus, got back ALL 20 of the living Hostages, and ALL of the Dead! AMAZING JOB! Most thought of it as an impossible thing to do. Congratulations to my great team of Champions!!!” he writes on Truth Social.

USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier arrives in region amid Iran tensions

Illustrative: This undated photo provided by the US Navy on April 13, 2022, shows USS Abraham Lincoln, front, and other warships sail in formation during a US-Japan bilateral exercise at the Sea of Japan. (US Navy via AP)

The United States Central Command announces that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and accompanying warships have arrived in the Middle East.

The move comes to boost the US’s available firepower and defensive capabilities in the region, giving President Donald Trump the option to launch an attack on Iran against the backdrop of the regime’s killing of protesters.

CENTCOM posts photos on X showing sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln performing “routine maintenance as the aircraft carrier sails in the Indian Ocean.”

“The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is currently deployed to the Middle East to promote regional security and stability,” CENTCOM says.

Sailors aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) perform routine maintenance as the aircraft carrier sails in the Indian Ocean, Jan. 26. The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is currently deployed to the Middle East to promote regional security and stability. pic.twitter.com/dkuN946hce

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 26, 2026

Syria thwarts weapons smuggling attempt to Lebanon, state media says

Damascus thwarted today an attempt to smuggle weapons into Lebanon, state media reports, days after Israel struck several border crossings between the two countries, saying they were used by Hezbollah.

The official SANA news agency says security forces intercepted the shipment in a car in the Bureij area, near the border with Lebanon.

Quoting a security source, SANA says authorities seized “nine anti-tank guided missiles, 68 RPG rounds, two 107mm rockets, and five boxes of ammunition” before raiding the smugglers’ hideout in the nearby Nabek district.

Lebanon and Syria share a porous, 330-kilometre (205-mile) border that is notorious for smuggling.

Under deposed president Bashar al-Assad, Syria was a key node of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance” against Israel and enabled the transfer of weapons and money from Iran to Hezbollah.

The terror group played a crucial role during Syria’s civil war, fighting alongside Assad’s forces and helping to keep him in power as he cracked down on a popular revolt.

The new government in Damascus, dominated by the Islamists who toppled Assad, has rejected Iranian influence and attempted to cut off the supply of weapons to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah chief warns any attack on Iran also targets terror group

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem says that any attack on Tehran would also target the terror group, and warns that any new war on its backer would ignite the region.

“Faced with aggression that does not distinguish between us… we are targeted by any potential aggression and determined to defend ourselves,” he says in a televised address to supporters at a solidarity rally for the Iranian regime.

“We will choose at that time how to act… but we are not neutral,” he says, warning that “a war on Iran this time will ignite the region”.

Lapid slams PM, Bismuth over ‘shameful farce’ of conscription law

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid leads a Yesh Atid faction meeting in the Knesset, on January 26, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid challenges Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth to justify their continued support for their Haredi conscription bill after senior ultra-Orthodox rabbis were captured on tape boasting that the controversial legislation will not lead to an increase in enlistment and will only serve to put off any real change.

“Why are you continuing this shameful farce after the rabbis’ tapes revealed that it is a complete fraud?” he asks during a press conference ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset. “Who are you deceiving? You have been exposed. Everyone knows. The game is over.”

In the recordings, several prominent rabbinic leaders affiliated with the Knesset’s ultra-Orthodox parties could be heard openly stating that they have no plans to allow Haredi youth to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces.

“In the Israeli Knesset, there are not only 61 Knesset members who are against this law, there are 71, maybe even 81. They just need to grow a backbone, decide that they are not willing to deceive the fighters, and are not willing to deceive the bereaved families, and are not willing to deceive themselves,” Lapid declares.

“This law will not pass, because there is a limit. We will stop it and there will be a real conscription law here. Whoever does not enlist will not receive a single shekel from the state,” he adds. “We will turn off the tap for them and you will see how quickly they will enlist.”

In the recordings broadcast by Channel 12 news, Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, one of the senior leaders of the stream of ultra-Orthodox Jewry known as “Lithuanian,” says the law is meant to buy time rather than fundamentally influence enlistment patterns.

“In the end, the law will fall after a few years, but we’ve gained years,” he could be heard saying.

Meanwhile, Degel HaTorah spiritual leader Rabbi Dov Lando could also be heard speaking, and even more bluntly, about the legislation, in response to a visitor to his home appearing to express concern over the bill.

“What they are saying is nonsense. It won’t happen. We will not go to the army,” Lando said. “No one will go to the army.”

Right-wing influencer seen at event hosted by Herzog after pepper-spraying activists in the West Bank

A group of right-wing activists pepper-sprayed a left-wing activist and tried kicking down the door of a shed that he locked himself in while fleeing from them, according to left-wing Israeli group Herd of Justice, which accompanies Bedouin shepherd communities in the West Bank.

Hours later, one of the activists was spotted at an event hosted at the official residence of President Isaac Herzog.

The incident earlier today took place in a Bedouin enclave near Duma in the northern West Bank, Herd of Justice says.

Footage published by Herd of Justice shows several right-wing activists, including Mordechai David, who regularly harasses anti-government protesters in Tel Aviv, and Roi Star, a minor social media personality, taking turns kicking the door and succeeding in breaking off a small part of it. An older left-wing activist tries to step in but is pushed away.

In another video, Star, who appears to clutch a microphone, can be heard admitting that he pepper-sprayed a left-wing activist. Star claims he has footage of the left-wing activist threatening to hit him. He has not published such footage.

Two Prominent Kahanist tiktoker's showed up this week in Duma and victimized activists with ????️ spray.

Unlike the Israeli "left", the right know the main objective of this government is to ethnically cleanse the WB.
Hope this will be a wake up call for solidarity????????. pic.twitter.com/FTJUGJclLk

— Herd of Justice (@JustHerds) January 26, 2026

On his own social media account, David, who has earned praise from several government ministers for attacking protesters in Tel Aviv, posts several videos of himself announcing that today his organization, Brotherhood of Brothers for Justice, is expanding its activity to the Jordan Valley, where he accuses “left-wing anarchists” of intimidating settlers.

The announcement comes as Bedouin rights groups say dozens of families have been forced to flee their enclaves in the area due to harassment from new settler outposts.

Star, who admitted to pepper-spraying the left-wing activist, is filmed several hours later attending an event at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem later in the day, according to Haaretz journalist Liza Rozovsky, who shares a video of Star eating hors d’oeuvres as a woman plays a harp.

Rozovsky says the president’s residence has not commented on hosting Star.

הנבל והנבל. בצהריים מתעלל בפלסטינים בדומא, אחר הצהריים מתכבד באירוע של בית ז'בוטינסקי בבית הנשיא, לקראת הרצאה של שגריר ארה"ב מייק האקבי. קבלו את רועי סטאר. תגובת בית הנשיא טרם נמסרה https://t.co/JUEOE7gzqc pic.twitter.com/yFki5cXusY

— Liza Rozovsky (@lizarozovsky) January 26, 2026

Troops joined by IDF chief sing national anthem in Gaza ceremony after locating final hostage

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor and other officers and troops salute the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, after it was located today in eastern Gaza City, footage shows.

The forces can be heard singing Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor and other officers and troops salute the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, after it was located in eastern Gaza City, January 26, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)

Gvili’s body will soon be brought out of the Strip, ahead of a funeral in his hometown of Meitar, which is planned for Wednesday.

Netanyahu: An Iranian attack on Israel will be ‘one mistake too many’

Any attempt by Iran to harm Israel “will be met by a determined response,” warns Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“It will be a very big mistake, one mistake too many,” says Netanyahu at the special Knesset session honoring Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Netanyahu says there will be more normalization deals with Arab and Muslim states.

Netanyahu: The next phase of Gaza ceasefire is disarming Hamas, not reconstruction

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) speaks at a special session in honor of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama (center) at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, January 26, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The next phase of the Gaza ceasefire, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is “disarming Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.”

“The next phase is not reconstruction,” he stresses, speaking at a special Knesset session honoring Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. “The next phase is disarming Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu repeats.

Netanyahu says that it is in Israel’s interest “to advance this phase, and not to delay it.”

“It will happen the easy way, or the hard way,” says Netanyahu. “But it will happen.”

Columbia University Hillel welcomes new president as anti-Zionist group derides ‘fascist admin’

A pro-Israel protester outside Columbia University in Manhattan, April 22, 2024. (Luke Tress)

Columbia University’s Hillel director welcomes the school’s newly-appointed president, while the university’s anti-Zionist activist coalition accuses her of fascism.

Yesterday, Columbia announced the appointment of Jennifer L. Mnookin, the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as the university’s next president.

Mnookin will replace interim president Claire Shipman on July 1. Mnookin will be the fourth university president since the October 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel threw the Ivy League university in New York into turmoil. The campus has been quiet recently.

“The last few years have been difficult for the Jewish and Israeli communities at Columbia. While challenges remain, there is a vibrant, joyful, proud Jewish community,” Brian Cohen, the head of Columbia’s branch of Hillel, says in a statement. “I am hopeful that President-elect Mnookin will bring the reputation, experience, and understanding that we need to build on the strong foundation. All of us at [Columbia Hillel] look forward to working with her.”

Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the coalition of activist groups that has led anti-Israel protests on the campus, says Mnookin “called riot police to beat up and arrest students for their Gaza Solidarity Encampment” at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“She’ll fit in perfectly with the rest of the school’s fascist admin,” the group says on X.

The university does not recognize Columbia University Apartheid Divest as a student group.

Source: Israel to hand over more Palestinian bodies after Gvili’s return

Israel will hand over at least 15 bodies to Gaza’s Health Ministry after the IDF locates the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, a source with knowledge of the details tells The Times of Israel.

In the past, transfers of Palestinian bodies have usually taken place the day after bodies are received by Israel, but that has to be confirmed.

The ratio of Palestinians bodies handed over for every hostage body returned is usually 15:1, but as Gvili is the final slain hostage, Israel might hand over more.

The Prime Minister’s Office does not respond to requests for confirmation.

Guinness World Records said to lift ban on Israeli submissions as Jerusalem celebrates ‘largest kidney donation ever’

A Jerusalem event organized by the Matnat Chaim organization celebrates over 2,000 kidney transplants carried out in Israel, January 25, 2026 (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

Guinness World Records has lifted its ban on submissions from Israel and the Palestinian territories and will accept an Israeli record for the largest kidney donation ever, according to Israeli officials.

“2,000 Israeli kidney donors are making the largest donation ever, in a selfless act of solidarity and humanity,” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar writes on X, adding that the contribution “finally receive[s] the celebration it deserves by the Guinness World Records, which revoked their original distorted decision to deny Israeli kidney donors their rightful recognition.”

President Isaac Herzog, who attended a ceremony last night to honor the 2,000 kidney transplants carried out in Israel, says that “the flawed decision to reject the submission to the Guinness Book of World Records, simply because it came from Israel, was reversed, and now it is officially a world record,” in a statement from his office.

Last night’s event was organized by Matnat Chaim (Gift of Life in Hebrew), an organization that facilitates voluntary kidney donations in Israel.

GWR did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation that the ban was lifted or that the Israeli submission was accepted.

Last month, a GWR spokesperson confirmed that the company was not accepting record submissions from Israel, the West Bank or Gaza, citing the current “sensitive” situation amid the war with Hamas. The spokesperson told The Times of Israel that Guinness has had a policy not to accept new record submissions from the region since November 2023, the month after Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7.

‘If there is no budget, we will go to elections,’ Smotrich reportedly tells PM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attend a vote at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a stormy meeting with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni and Shas chief Aryeh Deri after the planned first reading of the 2026 budget was postponed from today until Wednesday due to the ongoing fight over legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service.

According to Hebrew media reports, the meeting descended into shouting, with Ynet reporting that Smotrich said he would only advance the 2026 budget bill if he receives assurances that it won’t be tied to the exemption bill.

“I am not a hostage or a yo-yo. We have an economy to manage. If there is no budget, we will go to elections,” national broadcaster Kan quotes Smotrich as telling the meeting.

“If there is no conscription law, there will be elections,” Gafni hits back, prompting Smotrich to accuse him of making empty threats, arguing that the Haredim have a greater interest in the budget’s passage than he does.

“I will not bring a budget on Wednesday if the Haredim do not commit to approving it,” Smotrich threatens, to which Deri replies that the matter “depends on the rabbis, we need to bring it to them.”

Prior to the meeting, Channel 12 reported that Smotrich sent a message to Netanyahu declaring that if the budget doesn’t pass its first reading today the Knesset should be dissolved.

In response, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid tweeted: “Smotrich, just a reminder, the bill I submitted to disperse the Knesset will come up to the plenum next Wednesday.”

Asked about Smotrich’s threat to dissolve the Knesset, Lapid told reporters during his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting that the far-right politician has little credibility when it comes to such threats and tends not to follow through.

Hamas: Return of last hostage shows we are committed to Gaza ceasefire

Hamas terrorists search for the remains of Israeli hostage Ran Gvili in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, January 7, 2026. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Hamas says that the return of the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili proves its commitment to the terms of the Gaza ceasefire.

“The discovery of the body of the last Israeli captive in Gaza confirms Hamas’s commitment to all the requirements of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, including the prisoner exchange,” says Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem in a statement.

“Hamas will continue to adhere to all aspects of the agreement, including facilitating the work of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and ensuring its success. We call on the mediators and the United States to compel the ‘occupation’ to stop violating the agreement and to implement its required obligations.”

UAE: We will not allow our territory to be used in an attack on Iran

The United Arab Emirates stresses in a statement that it will not allow its “airspace, territory, or waters to be used in any hostile military actions against Iran,” and that it will not support any attack logistically.

The UAE Foreign Ministry emphasizes that the country believes that “dialogue, de-escalation, adherence to international law, and respect for state sovereignty” are the best way to deal with ongoing crises.

Soldiers recorded singing Hebrew song in Gaza City cemetery after finding Ran Gvili’s body

Footage shows IDF soldiers singing at the cemetery in eastern Gaza City, where the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili was located and identified.

The soldiers are heard singing Ani Ma’amin (I Believe). With the lyrics, “I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah, and, though he tarry, I will wait daily for his coming,” it is a Jewish statement of faith often invoked as a symbol of resilience.

Gvili’s body was identified a few hours ago after the IDF tested some 250 bodies at the Muslim cemetery where he was buried by Palestinian terrorists following his abduction on October 7, 2023.

IDF troops sing at a cemetery in eastern Gaza City, where the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili was located and identified, January 26, 2026. (Courtesy)

Police, IDF chiefs speak with family of Ran Gvili after his body is located in Gaza

Itzik Gvili, second from right and Talik Gvili, third from right, at a Friday gathering for their son Ran Gvili, the last fallen hostage held in Gaza, near Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on January 9, 2026. (Courtesy)

Police Commissioner Daniel Levy and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir spoke with the family of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili after the slain police officer’s remains were located in Gaza City earlier today.

Levy updated Gvili’s father, Itzik Gvili, on the details of the recovery and “extended a warm embrace to him and his family on behalf of the officers and warriors in the Israel Police,” police say in a statement.

Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer, was killed defending Kibbutz Alumim in southern Israel during the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Levy stressed the “determination and bravery” evinced by Gvili, “an officer in the Yasam [counter-terror] unit who shielded Israeli civilians with his body, sacrificing his body and soul.”

A police convoy will escort Gvili’s remains to the Abu Kabir forensic institute later today, the statement adds.

Zamir speaks to Gvili’s family by phone as well.

“We are all deeply moved, embracing you, and thanking all the IDF soldiers who worked on this mission. I am very glad that we are bringing you this news, which brings a great deal of relief,” Zamir says.

“We have completed the mission of returning all the hostages, both the living and the fallen, and upheld the very significant IDF value of leaving no one behind,” he says.

Talik Gvili, the slain police officer’s mother, says that the news is “a relief, after these two and a half years, even though we hoped for a different ending.”

IDF reveals the intel that led it to the burial location of Gvili’s body

With the recovery of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili’s body from Gaza, the IDF discloses its intelligence assessments regarding where the slain police officer’s remains were believed to have been held.

The army says that the intelligence indicating Gvili was buried at the cemetery in eastern Gaza City had been known for a while, though recently the picture was made clearer by intelligence-gathering operations and information confirmed by Hamas to Israel via mediators.

Last week, the IDF received new information that strengthened its assessments that Gvili was buried at the cemetery in eastern Gaza City. A search operation began over the weekend, and today his body was found.

The search took place on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line, though some forces were deployed over it, on the Hamas side, for security purposes, military officials say.

Another intelligence lead had suggested that the slain hostage was buried in a tunnel around a kilometer from the cemetery, also on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line.

Combat engineers dug into the tunnel and scanned it, but ultimately, nothing was found.

Other leads included the possibility that Gvili was buried at Shifa Hospital or in another cemetery in Gaza City. However, both sites are on the Hamas side of the ceasefire line, and therefore no searches took place there.

Katz: The return of Ran Gvili is a ‘painful moment of closure’

Defense Minister Israel Katz calls the recovery of the remains of police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili “a painful moment of closure.”

“It is a moment that underscores the State of Israel’s commitment to its soldiers and citizens: to bring every single one home, as we promised the families and the Israeli public,” Katz says in a statement released by his office.

He also offers his condolences to Gvili’s family and thanks the IDF’s “heroic soldiers for their extraordinary determination and commitment to returning all of our hostages and protecting our citizens.”

Gvili’s body was found in Gaza City cemetery, identified by dental, fingerprint match; 250 bodies were checked, all being returned to their graves

The body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili after being located by Israeli troops at a cemetery in eastern Gaza City, January 26. 2026. (Courtesy)

The body of the last hostage held in the Gaza Strip, police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili was identified on the ground by Israeli forensic experts, according to the military.

The IDF began exhuming hundreds of bodies at a Muslim cemetery in eastern Gaza City over the weekend, and until today, had tested around 250 of them for a potential match to Gvili.

A few hours ago, dentists deployed to the cemetery were able to confirm that the dental structure of one body matched Gvili’s. In addition, fingerprints and other tests were carried out to confirm his identity, according to the military.

Gvili’s body is now being brought back to Israel for burial.

The IDF says it will be returning all of the other exhumed bodies to their graves and cleaning up the cemetery, out of respect for the dead.

Hadash-Ta’al chair Odeh urges Jews to join rally against violent crime in Arab society

Hadash-Ta'al chair Ayman Odeh attends a faction meeting, at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on January 26, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Hadash-Ta’al chairman Ayman Odeh invites Israeli Jews to attend a mass demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening and join their Arab counterparts’ struggle “to live in personal security.”

“On Saturday night in Tel Aviv, there will be a huge demonstration. We call on the Jewish public to come and participate with us,” declares Odeh, who is flanked by the families of Arab victims of crime during his party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.

“There is no half democracy, and there is no half equality, and there is no half living together; this is the struggle of all of us to live in personal security,” he adds.

The Arab leadership in Israel last Thursday held a nationwide general strike over the police’s failure to stem an ongoing wave of violent crime and near-daily killings besetting the community.

Arab society experienced its deadliest year on record in 2025, with 252 homicide victims. And since the start of January, 20 more people have lost their lives to violent crime. Polling in the past year has shown that the vast majority of Arab society lacks trust in law enforcement.

Netanyahu: Return of Ran Gvili’s body is ‘extraordinary achievement’ for Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enters the Knesset plenum in Jerusalem, January 19, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Speaking to the media in the Knesset, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the return of the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili “is an extraordinary achievement for the Israel Defense Forces, the State of Israel, the citizens of Israel, because you gave us the backing to complete the work.”

“We promised, and I promised, to bring everyone back, and we brought everyone back,” he says, “to the very last one.”

“Rani is a hero of Israel. He went in first, he came out last. He came home,” says Netanyahu.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also welcomes Gvili’s return, writing that “the vow has been fulfilled” and thanking Israel’s security forces “for their tremendous efforts,” in a Hebrew-language post on X.

IDF: Body of final hostage Ran Gvili has been located in Gaza, will be returned to Israel for burial

Police officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili.(Courtesy)

Following searches at a cemetery in eastern Gaza City, the IDF says the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili has been located and identified.

Gvili’s family was updated by military representatives that his body is being brought back to Israel for burial.

Gvili was the final hostage yet to be returned since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led invasion and massacre in southern Israel, in which 251 hostages were abducted.

This means that no hostages will remain held in the Strip for the first time since 2014.

Gvili, a 24-year-old policeman, was killed defending Kibbutz Alumim in southern Israel during the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Related: Interview — Final hostage Ran Gvili’s mother says she trusts Israel to bring her son home

Gantz accuses PM of ‘eliminating the people’s army instead of eliminating Hamas’

Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of destroying the capabilities of the IDF through the advancement of a draft exemption law rather than disarming Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Addressing reporters ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Gantz insists that the move to phase two of US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza “must begin with the dismantling of Hamas’ rule and military power.”

“Now, when we no longer have live hostages in the Gaza Strip, we also have no operational limitations. We need to finish the job. We need to reach an agreement with President Trump on a deadline by which Hamas disarms and leaves power,” Gantz says.

“In order to finish this move, the IDF must be reinforced,” and efforts to pass a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service “is not only corrupt and destructive to the economy…it sabotages our ability to bring about the final overthrow of the Hamas government.”

“It’s crazy to me that after everything we’ve been through, the government is still engaged in eliminating the people’s army instead of eliminating Hamas,” Gantz declares, adding that Likud and Religious Zionism MKs with whom he has spoken in recent weeks are very much against the bill, which he says “will not pass.”

IDF says it hit a Hezbollah operative in Lebanon’s Tyre

The IDF says it struck a Hezbollah operative in the coastal Lebanese city of Tyre a short while ago.

No further details are immediately given by the Israeli military.

Footage published by Lebanese media shows a vehicle on fire following the strike.

مشاهدٌ من استهداف مسيرة اسرائيلية لسيارة قرب عبد طحان في مدينة صور pic.twitter.com/7oQ620GxGu

— Lebanon Debate (@lebanondebate) January 26, 2026

Liberman rebuffs calls for opposition parties to stage joint run in next elections

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman speaks at a faction meeting in the Knesset on January 5, 2026. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman appears to dismiss Yashar! party chairman Gadi Eisenkot’s efforts to forge a united opposition list ahead of the next election, declaring that what is important is that the opposition “present a shared vision and shared values, not just a technical unification.”

Addressing reporters ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Liberman insists that “we can’t just complain that the draft law is a bad law” but rather must “present one draft law common to all” and “present a united front from now on.”

Liberman also calls for a similar approach for a range of issues, from the establishment of a national constitution to public transportation on Shabbat.

Asked about Eisenkot’s proposed merger with Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid and former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s Bennett 2026 party, Liberman replies that he will respect whatever decision that they make, adding that “we must present an alternative, but not a technical and artificial one, but a substantive one.”

“We are currently working on this, to reach an agreement with all the parties in the opposition, all the parties of the bloc that serve to reach a single proposal in these areas, to stand behind a single proposal,” Liberman states.

IDF says PA police fired shots at Israeli motorist, who tried to bypass West Bank checkpoint

The gunfire toward an Israeli motorist near the West Bank city of Nablus earlier today was carried out by Palestinian Authority security forces, the IDF says, adding that the incident was not a terror attack.

The military says that the Israeli man had mistakenly entered Nablus, and while trying to leave, accelerated around a PA checkpoint to bypass it.

The PA security forces, who were stationed at the checkpoint — within Area A of the West Bank, which is under PA civil and security control — opened fire at the car as it passed the checkpoint.

“Upon learning of the incident, the coordination and liaison mechanisms between the Israeli security establishment and the Palestinian mechanisms were immediately activated to examine the circumstances of the case,” the IDF says, adding that “the incident is being reviewed through dialogue conducted between the sides.”

Security officials again warn that entry into Area A is illegal for Israeli civilians under Israeli law and poses a serious danger to their lives.

Tourism ministry develops plan to evacuate some 42,000 tourists in event of new Iran war

Citizens of Poland and Austria assemble at a hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel, for evacuation amid heavy strikes on Israel by Iran, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

The Tourism Ministry says it has put together a plan to evacuate the estimated 42,000 tourists now in Israel if the country is forced to shut its airspace amid fears of fresh conflict with Iran.

The ministry tells Channel 12 that even though it is not the sole responsibility of the ministry, it has developed plans for contacting the tourists and organizing transport to land border crossings.

“The ministry is ready to act immediately should the need arise,” the ministry says.

Yesterday, Israeli airlines announced they were easing the terms under which passengers can cancel tickets if necessary, amid concerns that a war with Iran may break out, which would likely ground flights.

As Israel remains on high alert over any potential escalation, a number of airlines have canceled some flights to and from the Middle East. During the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June 2025, Israeli airspace was effectively shut, leaving tens of thousands of people stranded.

US President Donald Trump is sending an aircraft carrier and other forces to the region and has repeatedly warned Iran that he could strike over the violent suppression of protests in Iran that killed thousands.

Smotrich said to challenge ultra-Orthodox parties to go to elections if they won’t pass state budget

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a Religious Zionism faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 5, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has reportedly dared the Haredi parties to dissolve the Knesset, declaring that if they cannot support the 2026 state budget, Israel should hold early elections.

Speaking with the Ynet news site, a source close to Smotrich stated that the far-right politician was “no longer willing to link the budget law to the [ultra-Orthodox] draft law.”

“If they are not willing, then they should bring a law to dissolve the Knesset,” the source stated, adding that “there is a country here to manage. If we don’t want to vote on a budget, we will go to elections.”

According to Channel 12, Smotrich sent a similar message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declaring that if the budget doesn’t pass its first reading today the Knesset should be dissolved.

Earlier today, the government announced that today’s planned first reading of the 2026 state budget bill will be postponed until Wednesday.

Haredi political sources tell The Times of Israel that the delay is related to the ongoing fight over legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service. Smotrich is currently meeting with  Netanyahu along with Shas chairman Aryeh Deri and Degel HaTorah leader Moshe Gafni to discuss the matter.

Under Israeli law, if the government fails to pass the budget by the end of March, the Knesset will automatically dissolve, triggering early elections three months later. Elections are currently slated to be held by late October.

Aside from Netanyahu meeting with Smotrich, Gafni and Deri, coalition whip Ofir Katz is also making efforts to solve the crisis and was photographed walking with United Torah Judaism MK Uri Maklev while speaking on the phone with Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs.

Italy to push EU to list IRGC as terrorist organization

Iranian late president Ebrahim Raisi (3rd L) visiting the navy base of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, in a picture released on February 2, 2024. (Iranian Presidency/ AFP)

Italy will present a proposal this week in Brussels for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to be listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union, says Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

“The losses suffered by the civilian population during the protests demand a clear response,” writes Tajani on X, saying that he is coordinating the IRGC listing with others.

The foreign ministers of the 27 EU member states are convening Thursday in Brussels.

Netanyahu holding emergency meeting with several coalition leaders over budget impasse

Knesset member Aryeh Deri looks at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a vote on the state budget at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri and Degel HaTorah chief Moshe Gafni will attend an emergency meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this afternoon to discuss the crisis over the state budget, Hebrew media reports.

A spokesman for Smotrich confirms that he will meet the premier at 2 p.m. but does not elaborate.

Earlier, a spokeswoman for coalition whip Ofir Katz announced that today’s planned first reading of the 2026 state budget bill will be postponed until Wednesday.

Haredi political sources tell The Times of Israel that the delay is related to the ongoing fight over legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service.

According to the Maariv daily, legal adviser Miri Frenkel Shor, who has expressed significant criticism of the draft exemption bill, has called for the addition of several amendments to the legislation, which are opposed by the Haredim. Late-night discussions of the issues failed to bring about an agreement, leading to the delay of the budget vote.

In addition to being finance minister, Smotrich also controls the Religious Zionism party, which is currently weighing its position on the controversial legislation regulating Haredi enlistment.

Mob boss Yaniv Zaguri gets 3 life sentences for killing witnesses

Crime kingpin Yaniv Zaguri gets three life sentences for his involvement in the murders of a gangster-turned-state witness, his ex-wife and another prosecution witness.

Zaguri was convicted last month of the murder of his former right-hand man, Tal Korkus, Korkus’s ex-wife Devorah Hirsch and another witness for the prosecution, Elisha Sabah.

Korkus had testified against Zaguri in a 2008 trial that led him to serve seven years

In addition to jail time, Zaguri must pay compensation to the victims’ families amounting to NIS 774,000 ($246,730).

The mob boss was escorted into the courtroom under heavy security, reportedly with police snipers positioned on the roof of the court building. Channel 12 reports police have assigned the judge in the case Natan Zlochover heavy security following threats on his life.

Zaguri is sentenced alongside three others: his protege Arik Ital, implicated in the murders of Korkus and Sabah, who will serve two life sentences for two counts of premeditated murder, Moshe Rubin, and Amir Ben Shimol, both accomplices in Hirsch’s murder. The latter two will each serve one life sentence.

Rubin and Shimol gunned Hirsch down in 2016 in front of her three children, just before she was scheduled to meet with Zaguri in a bid to make amends. Sabah was murdered in a restaurant in Netanya in 2017, after he had testified against one of Zaguri’s gangsters.

Zaguri placed a hit on Korkus later that year. He was killed in a car explosion in Ashkelon.

The sentence handed down today caps off a trial that went on for more than seven years following Zaguri’s indictment. Zlochover describes the case as a “very bad crime film that is extremely difficult to watch, whose plot is written in blood by evil, anger and revenge,” in today’s sentence.

Cambodia to join Trump’s Board of Peace

US President Donald Trump speaks at a Board of Peace charter announcement during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Cambodia will join US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, the country’s prime minister Hun Manet says in a Facebook post.

Joining the board demonstrates Cambodia’s goodwill and strong commitment to global peace, Hun Manet writes.

UAE conglomerate to take legal action against Lebanon over $1.7B investment losses

Lebanese security forces and press stand outside a branch of Credit Libanais bank held up by an angry depositor demanding access to his savings, in the capital Beirut's southern suburb of Haret Hreik on October 5, 2022. (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

A conglomerate based in the United Arab Emirates says it will take legal action against Lebanese authorities over a dispute regarding its investments in the crisis-hit country, saying it has suffered $1.7 billion in investment losses.

The Dubai-based Al Habtoor Group’s businesses in Lebanon were hit hard by the country’s historic economic meltdown that began in late 2019. The country also suffered from the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war, for which the World Bank estimates the costs of reconstruction and recovery at $11 billion.

Lebanon’s economic meltdown, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the country’s ruling class, deprived people and businesses in the country from accessing their money stuck in the banking sector.

Al Habtoor Group runs, among other things, a hotel in a Beirut suburb as well as Habtoor Land, a giant theme park east of the Lebanese capital. Last year, Al Habtoor Group said it had reversed plans to dismantle the Metropolitan Palace Hotel.

Al Habtoor Group says that in recent years, its investments “have suffered severe and sustained harm” as a direct result of measures and restrictions imposed by Lebanese authorities and the central bank of Lebanon that prevented the Group from “freely accessing and transferring lawfully deposited funds held in Lebanese banks.”

It said that the situation was compounded by the prolonged political, economic, financial and social crises facing Lebanon and the country’s failure to ensure a stable and secure environment for operations and investments. It said damages and losses to the Group’s assets and properties in Lebanon exceed $1.7 billion.

Rights group says confirmed Iran protest toll nears 6,000

Bodies lie in body bags on the ground as people stand amid the scene outside Kahrizak Forensic Medical Centre in Tehran, Iran, in this screen capture from a video obtained from social media, January 11, 2026. (Social Media/via REUTERS)

A US-based rights group says it has confirmed the deaths of 5,848 people in a wave of protests in Iran suppressed by security forces, warning that it was still investigating thousands more potential fatalities.

The protests started in late December, sparked by economic grievances, but turned into a mass movement against the Islamic republic, with huge street rallies for several days from January 8.

Rights groups have accused authorities of an unprecedented crackdown by shooting directly at the protesters, and the demonstrations have, for now, petered out.

NGOs tracking the toll have said their task has been impeded by a now 18-day internet shutdown, warning that confirmed figures are likely to be far lower than the actual toll.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had confirmed that 5,848 people had been killed, including 5,520 protesters, 77 minors, 209 members of the security forces and 42 bystanders.

But the group added it was still investigating another 17,091 possible fatalities.

At least 41,283 people have been arrested, it said.

Unconfirmed reports have put the toll at over 30,000.

Government delays first vote on budget amid ongoing dispute over ultra-Orthodox draft law

Ultra-Orthodox Jews protest against Haredi conscription outside the IDF Recruitment Center at Tel Hashomer, January 4, 2026. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Today’s planned first reading of the 2026 state budget bill will be postponed until Wednesday, a spokeswoman for coalition whip Ofir Katz announces.

Speaking with The Times of Israel, a Shas party source says he understands the delay is related to disagreements over the government’s bill exempting yeshiva students from military conscription.

A senior United Torah Judaism source confirms that the two issues are linked. Asked what the specific issue is, the source replies that “there are difficult problems with the law” but does not elaborate.

A second source tells The Times of Israel that the delay is the result of a demand by the party’s Degel HaTorah faction. While a spokesman for Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni does not elaborate, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee member Moshe Tur-Paz (Yesh Atid) says that the Haredim are “not satisfied with the dialogue with the [committee] legal advisor and demand to see her approve the law.”

“Otherwise they will not vote in favor and go to the polls,” he adds.

According to the Maariv daily, legal adviser Miri Frenkel Shor, who has expressed significant criticism of the bill, has called for the addition of several amendments to the legislation which are opposed by the Haredim. Late night discussions of the issues failed to bring about an agreement, leading to the delay on the budget vote.

Despite declaring that they would not support the 2026 state budget until the coalition passes its controversial bill, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party and the Degel HaTorah faction of UTJ have both previously indicated that they plan to vote in favor of the budget in its first reading.

According to Channel 12, following the first reading of the budget bill, the two Haredi parties will withhold their support for further votes on the budget until the exemption bill’s legislative process is completed.

“The reason the budget is not up for a vote today is that the Haredim have realized that the evasion law will not pass. We will not let it pass,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares in a video statement.

Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik informed lawmakers last Sunday that a first reading of the budget must be held by this week because at least two months must pass between the first and second readings of the budget, the latter of which must be held by the end of March.

Under Israeli law, if the government fails to pass the budget by the end of March, the Knesset will automatically dissolve, triggering early elections three months later. Elections are currently slated to be held by late October.

Government tells court it has authority to shut down Army Radio

View of the Army Radio headquarters in Jaffa, on January 5, 2026 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The government and Defense Minister Israel Katz defend their controversial decision to shutter IDF-run Army Radio in a preliminary response submitted to the High Court of Justice, arguing that “there has been no government, no defense minister, and no chief of staff” who did not at some point consider closing the station.

In the filing, the government describes Army Radio as an “anomaly” for its engagement in current affairs and political broadcasting from within a military unit and insists the decision to close it was made with “full legal authority.”

The response comes a week after Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara warned that the move is part of a years-long effort by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to “restrict the free press” and “exert pressure” over it.

Baharav-Miara argued that shutting down the public broadcaster requires legislation rather than a cabinet decision, and said the High Court should therefore annul the move.

The government counters that Baharav-Miara’s statement omitted the fact that previous legal authorities supported closing the station through an executive decision, citing, among others, former attorney general Avichai Mandelblit, who in 2022 concluded that the move falls under government authority.

Mandelblit, however, also said at the time that passing a Knesset bill would be preferable to relying solely on a cabinet vote.

The response further claims that when Army Radio was launched in 1950 under then-prime minister David Ben-Gurion, the original government decision “did not include within the established station broadcasts of current affairs or news,” but rather programming intended to serve military and social goals, including education and morale.

It adds that the station was initially meant to operate only for a one-year trial period, after which the government was supposed to reassess its framework – a review the document says never took place.

In late December, the High Court issued an interim injunction freezing the cabinet decision to close Army Radio until it delivers a final ruling on petitions challenging the move.

Antisemitism conference kicks off with Knesset session attended by European far-right leaders

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli speaks at plenary session of Israel's Knesset ahead of the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism, January 26, 2026 (Zev Stub/Times of Israel)

A morning plenary session of Israel’s Knesset, ahead of the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism, has begun, attended by a wide range of delegates, including European far-right-wing politicians.

European lawmakers, including Fabrice Leggeri of France’s National Rally party, Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats and Sam van Rooy of Belgium’s Vlaams Belang party address the plenum about the dangers of antisemitism in Europe, particularly those stemming from radical Islamic elements.

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, who opens the meeting, says that post-war Europe has become vulnerable to takeover from within by forces that do not share its values, primarily political Islam.

“A notable example of this is the elimination of Holocaust education in Western Europe,” Chikli says, citing recent data showing that the number of British schools commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day has dropped by nearly 60 percent in the past two years.

The session opened the two-day international gathering, entitled “Generation Truth,” which features speakers from nationalist parties in Spain, France, Belgium, Sweden and Brazil, along with thinkers and influencers associated with conservative causes.

It comes ten months after a government conference on combating antisemitism was panned by Jewish leaders due to its inclusion of far-right European politicians.  Many mainstream Jewish leaders will not take part in the event.

Knesset data shows 55,000 children under 3 are in unsupervised daycare in Jerusalem

Rescue and security forces work at the scene of a mass-casualty incident at an unlicensed daycare in Jerusalem's Haredi-majority Romema neighborhood, on January 19, 2026 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Over 55 thousand children under the age of three in Jerusalem are in unsupervised daycare frameworks, the Knesset Research and Information Center informs lawmakers during a discussion of early childhood education called in the wake of the deaths of two infants at an unlicensed Jerusalem daycare last week.

According to the research body’s report, 55.1 thousand children are currently outside the supervised daycare system in the capital with an additional 13.4 thousand in Beit Shemesh, 12 thousand in Bnei Brak, 7.5 thousand in Tel Aviv and 6.1 thousand in Rahat.

Only 21 percent of children under three in Jerusalem are registered at supervised daycares, a number lower than the 44% in Bnei Brak, 45% in Ashdod, 49% in Netanya, 53% in Haifa, 55% in Holon, 58% in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, 61% in Petah Tikva, 61% in Rishon LeZion and 62% in Beer Sheva.

The data is presented to the Knesset Education Committee, which is holding a joint discussion with the Knesset Welfare Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child in the wake of the tragic deaths of Leah Goloventzitz, 4 months old, and Aharon Katz, 6 months old.

Both died and another 53 babies and toddlers were injured to varying degrees in an incident at an unlicensed Jerusalem daycare last Monday, prompting the arrest of three of the caregivers working there.

Footage from the scene showed serious overcrowding, with children sleeping on mattresses placed under a toilet in a bathroom. Police believe the two babies died of heat exhaustion and dehydration linked to a faulty heating system in the illegal daycare.

Haredi politicians blamed the incident on efforts to conscript ultra-Orthodox men to the IDF, which has led to cuts to daycare subsidies for the children of evaders. The incident also led to widespread rioting by Haredim opposed to autopsying the children.

Discussing the incident in the Knesset Education Committee today, Labor MK Naama Lazimi accuses United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf of trying “to whitewash the disaster” and of being “part of the problem.”

In response, committee chairman Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism) accuses Lazimi of inciting against the Haredi public.

עימות בין ח"כ לזימי לח"כ גולדקנופף בדיון בועדת החינוך על אסון המעון בירושלים: "אתה בא לפה בשם החברה החרדית ומטייח את האסון. אתה חלק מהבעיה ולא הפתרון".
יו"ר הועדה, ח"כ סוכות: "את משתמשת באסון כדי להסית נגד הציבור החרדי" pic.twitter.com/2zDJVOLxPy

— חזקי ברוך (@HezkeiB) January 26, 2026

Drone footage shows IDF search for body of slain hostage Ran Gvili in Gaza

Drone images published by Army Radio show the ongoing search operation at a Muslim cemetery in eastern Gaza City for the remains of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last remaining hostage held in the Strip.

The photos show soldiers and engineering vehicles at the cemetery, where the IDF says it has been exhuming bodies in an attempt to locate and identify Gvili’s remains.

The search is taking place on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line, though some forces have been deployed slightly over it, on the Hamas side, for security purposes, military officials say.

The operation — which began over the weekend — could last several days at most, according to IDF estimates, as hundreds of bodies are believed to be buried at the cemetery.

תיעודים בלעדיים: כך נראה מעין הרחפן מבצע ״לב אמיץ״ לחיפוש אחר רן גואילי, בבית הקברות בפאתי סג׳עיה

ניתן לראות גם את הכלים ההנדסיים שפעלו הבוקר במרחב,
וגם בחלק מהתמונות רואים את הבטונדה שמסמנת את הקו הצהוב – כלומר האזור של החיפושים יושב ממש על הקו הצהוב.

מסביב – סג׳עיה ההרוסה… pic.twitter.com/7AJkOd9jrb

— דורון קדוש | Doron Kadosh (@Doron_Kadosh) January 26, 2026

Visiting Albanian PM to meet Netanyahu, address Knesset

Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama arrives for a meeting in Paris, at the Elysee Palace, on January 6, 2026. T (Yoan VALAT / POOL / AFP)

Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama is in Israel for a two-day visit, which will include participation in the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism on Tuesday.

Rama was in Jerusalem’s Old City to visit the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre this morning. He is slated to meet privately with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at 11 a.m., followed by a meeting that includes the two leaders’ aides.

At 2 p.m., Rama will be welcomed at the Knesset and will meet with Knesset speaker Amir Ohana.

At 4:15 p.m., there will be a special session in the Knesset, which will include speeches by Rama, Netanyahu, Ohana, and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.

Albania, which is around 50% Muslim, is one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe.

Shots fired at Israeli motorist in West Bank, no injuries

An Israeli motorist came under fire while driving near the West Bank city of Nablus a short while ago, the military says.

No injuries are reported in the suspected attack, which took place at Mount Ebal.

The IDF says it has dispatched troops to the scene.

High Court questions state’s claim that security risks to IDF forces justify Gaza press access ban

Mourners pray over the bodies of the Palestinian journalists Abd Shaat and Anas Ghoneim who were killed in an Israeli strike on an Egyptian committee's vehicle, during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Justices in the High Court hearing over press access to Gaza question the state’s contention that allowing journalists independent access to Gaza would endanger Israeli forces.

“Journalists want to enter independently. What risk do they pose to IDF forces?” Justice Chaled Kabub asks the state’s representative, Yonatan Nadav.

Nadav says he can only explain the state’s position behind closed doors, which the justices agree to hear after the court session.

Justice Ruth Ronen also points out that the security situation has changed since the petitions by the Foreign Press Association were first filed back in 2024, specifically in light of the ceasefire which came into effect in October 2025.

“You can no longer say it’s the same risk. You must explain what else must take place for journalists’ entry to be permitted,” she told Nadav.

“It’s not enough to claim security concerns without explaining it,” Ronen insists.

Justice Noam Sohlberg says at the end of the closed-door hearing with state representatives that the court will issue a decision on the case.

The FPA filed its petition in September 2024 demanding unfettered press access for foreign journalists to Gaza in the face of the government’s policy allowing only embeds for Israeli journalists, and to a lesser extent for foreign journalists, in which reporters enter specific areas of Gaza with IDF forces.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels threaten new Red Sea attack as US aircraft carrier heads toward Iran

Supporters of Yemen's Houthis brandish weapons during a rally condemning Israel, in Sanaa on October 17, 2025. (Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP)

Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels threaten new attacks on ships traveling through the Red Sea corridor, likely trying to back Iran as it worried about an approaching US aircraft carrier after President Donald Trump threatened military action over its crackdown on nationwide protests.

A short video by the Houthis includes previously published images of a ship on fire, with the caption: “Soon.” The rebels do not elaborate, but they attacked over 100 ships in the Red Sea as part of a campaign the Houthis said pressured Israel over its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis halted their fire after a ceasefire in the conflict, though they’ve repeatedly warned they could resume fire if needed.

They also fired hundreds of missiles and rockets at Israel over the past two years.

The Houthi threat comes as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and guided missile destroyers with it move toward the region. Trump has said the ships are being moved “just in case” he decides to take action against Iran. Trump already has laid out two red lines for attack — the killing of peaceful protesters and Tehran conducting mass executions of those it has arrested in a massive crackdown over the demonstrations.

Abandoned baby found in Hadera

Police say that an abandoned baby was found in the city of Hadera.

The child, swaddled in blankets, was found at the entrance of the National Insurance building in the city, police say.

The baby has been handed over to social services, and police are searching for the parents.

Hebrew media reports said the baby appeared to be about two weeks old.

Private jet with 8 aboard crashes on takeoff in Maine

A private aircraft carrying eight people crashed on takeoff at Maine’s Bangor International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration says.

The Bombardier Challenger 600 crashed around 7:45 p.m., and there was no immediate word on the conditions of those aboard. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

The crash occurred as New England and much of the United States grappled with a massive winter storm. Bangor had undergone steady snowfall along with many other parts of the country.

The airport issued a statement that emergency crews were on the scene at the airport, which was closed after what it described as an incident involving a single aircraft departing the airport.

A Bombardier Challenger 650 business jet, N10KJ, has crashed during takeoff from Bangor International Airport in Maine.

The airplane was carrying eight people at the time of the accident. No word has been released on the conditions of the plane's occupants.

The crash occurred… pic.twitter.com/L3IXyy7fUH

— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) January 26, 2026

Bennett files police complaint against Likud over doctored image of him celebrating with Arab party leaders

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s Bennett 2026 party filed a police complaint against the ruling Likud party after it shared a manipulated image showing Bennett and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid celebrating with Arab politicians following the announcement that Arab parties would work toward reuniting in a new joint list ahead of the upcoming Knesset election.

קואליציית המשרתים pic.twitter.com/MdTigYbVkF

— הליכוד (@Likud_Party) January 22, 2026

“The Bennett 2026 party has filed a police complaint against the Likud party for malicious forgery, regarding an edited and false photo that was published on the official account of the Likud party,” Bennett’s party says in a statement — adding that the party will submit a petition to the Central Elections Committee as well.

“The State of Israel is facing a fateful election campaign, therefore it is necessary to set red lines now,” the petition continues. “We will fight every attempt to produce fake news that poisons the discourse and divides the country.”

Bennett previously included the Islamist Ra’am party in his short-lived “government of change.” He is widely seen as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s primary challenger for the premiership.

17 members of Israeli soccer team arrested in match-fixing probe

The Israel Police say that 17 people affiliated with a soccer team in Israel’s second-tier league have been arrested in a match-fixing and money laundering probe.

Those arrested include current players and senior administrators of the team on suspicion they were involved in match-fixing over a period of several years, police say.

Police did not identify the team, saying only that they played in the National League, Israel’s second division. However, Hebrew media reports say the team is F.C. Kiryat Yam, based in a town near Haifa.

Those arrested are also suspected of ties to a criminal organization that is believed to have used the club to launder millions of shekels, including through illicit gambling and signing multiple contracts with players, police say.

The police conducted the investigation in conjunction with the Israel Football Association.

IDF says yesterday’s strikes on Lebanon targeted Hezbollah weapon depots

Lebanese soldiers inspect the scene following an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Dounine on January 25, 2026. . (Photo by MAHMOUD ZAYYAT / AFP)

The IDF says its wave of airstrikes last night against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon hit weapon depots and other infrastructure.

One building at the Hezbollah facility that was struck had been used by the terror group’s elite Radwan Force to advance attacks on Israel, the army says.

The strikes came after the military earlier on Sunday said it killed two Hezbollah operatives and targeted other infrastructure belonging to the terror group.

Gold prices pass $5,000 for first time amid fears of global instability

An employee displays gold bars at a store of the Korea Gold Exchange in Seoul on January 26, 2026. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)

Gold surges to a record high above $5,000 an ounce, extending a historic rally as investors piled into the safe-haven asset amid rising geopolitical uncertainties.

The metal soared 64% in 2025, its biggest annual gain since 1979, driven by safe-haven demand, US monetary policy easing, robust central bank purchases including China’s fourteenth straight month of buying in December, and record inflows into exchange-traded funds.

Prices have risen more than 17% this year.

The latest catalyst “is effectively this crisis of confidence in the US administration and US assets, that was set off by some of the erratic decision-making from the Trump administration last week,” says Kyle Rodda, a senior market analyst at Capital.com.

US President Donald Trump abruptly stepped back on Wednesday from threats to impose tariffs on European allies as leverage to seize Greenland.

Over the weekend, he said he would impose a 100% tariff on Canada if it followed through on a trade deal with China.

He has also threatened to hit French wines and champagnes with 200% tariffs in an apparent effort to pressure French President Emmanuel Macron into joining his Board of Peace initiative.

“This Trump administration has caused a permanent rupture in the way things are done, and so now everyone’s kind of running to gold as the only alternative,” Rodda adds.

Venezuela’s new leader slams US pressure: ‘Enough orders from Washington’

Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez delivers her first state of the union address at the National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela, January 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez says she has had “enough” of orders from Washington, in reference to pressure from the United States since the strikes and capture of deposed autocrat Nicolas Maduro.

“Enough orders from Washington on politicians in Venezuela. Let Venezuelan politics resolve our differences and internal conflicts. Enough of foreign powers,” Rodriguez says in an address to oil workers in the eastern state of Anzoategui.

Ministers Ben Gvir, Strock decry decision to open Rafah Crossing at cabinet meeting – report

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attends a National Security Committee meeting at the Knesset on December 31, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

At a security cabinet meeting tonight, far-right ministers reportedly slammed Israel’s decision to open the Rafah Border Crossing after it completes a search for the last deceased hostage, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, in Gaza.

“We did great things like kill tens of thousands of terrorists, but we still haven’t completely eliminated Hamas,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said, according to quotes reported by the Walla news site.

“We have to dismantle and disarm it. Enough with [Jared] Kushner and [Steve] Witkoff’s naivety — if Rafah Crossing opens, it will be a big mistake and a very bad message,” he reportedly said.

Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock reportedly charged that Israel was handing over Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, which the government has accused of backing terrorism and has insisted cannot have a role in governing the enclave.

“This cabinet will eventually make a decision to send our soldiers to fight Hamas because no one else will do it, and then what will we tell them?” she said, according to Walla.

Rubio tells Iraqi PM government controlled by Iran can’t put Baghdad’s interests first

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani delivers a speech during a campaign event for the Reconstruction and Development Coalition list ahead of the parliamentary elections, in the central city of Najaf on November 2, 2025. (Qassem al-KAABI / AFP)

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds a call with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, in which the two discuss the transfer and detention of Islamic State members in Iraqi facilities and Iraq’s ties with Iran, according to the State Department.

“(They) discussed ongoing diplomatic efforts to ensure countries rapidly repatriate their citizens in Iraq, bringing them to justice,” the State Department says in a statement.

Rubio also “emphasized that a government (in Iraq) controlled by Iran cannot successfully put Iraq’s own interests first, keep Iraq out of regional conflicts, or advance the mutually beneficial partnership between the United States and Iraq,” it says.

University of Wisconsin chancellor tapped as next Columbia U president

Jennifer Mnookin attends UCLA Black Law: 50th Anniversary Solidarity Gala at The Beverly Hills Hotel on April 4, 2019, in Beverly Hills, California. (Leon Bennett/Getty Images/AFP)

Columbia University has selected University of Wisconsin Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin as its president, The New York Times reports, citing sources.