Jan. 29: Red Cross says it has no control over Hamas conduct during hostage handovers

Meta agrees to pay $25 million to settle lawsuit with Trump over Jan. 6 suspension

This combination of pictures shows Mark Zuckerberg (L), CEO of Meta, on January 31, 2024, and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on September 17, 2024 (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS and JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP)

WASHINGTON — Meta has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by US President Donald Trump against the company after it suspended his accounts following the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to three people familiar with the matter.

It’s the latest instance of a large corporation settling litigation with the president, who has threatened retribution on his critics and rivals, and comes as Meta and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have joined other large technology companies in trying to ingratiate themselves with the new Trump administration.

The people familiar with the matter speak on the condition of anonymity Wednesday to discuss the agreement. Two people say that terms of the agreement include $22 million going to the nonprofit that will become Trump’s future presidential library and the balance going to legal fees and other litigants.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the settlement.

Man killed, another seriously injured in car crash in Haifa

A man has been killed and another has been seriously injured in a car crash in Haifa.

The crash occurred when the pair’s car hit a pole and overturned.

Police are investigating.

Shas walks back threat to topple government if draft exemption bill not passed soon

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri attends a vote at the assembly hall of Knesset in Jerusalem, on December 31, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)

The ultra-Orthodox Shas party backs down from a threat to topple the government unless it passes a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service.

Speaking with Channel 12, Shas spokesman Asher Medina states that his party “will not topple the right-wing government. There is no threat and no ultimatum.”

Speaking with ultra-Orthodox radio station Kol Berama yesterday, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two months to resolve the status of yeshiva students, warning that if the matter is “not resolved, we’ll go to elections.”

Following Deri’s statement, Shas MK Erez Malul said in an interview with Kan radio on Tuesday evening that without his party, Netanyahu does not have the votes to pass a budget.

“United Torah Judaism will not vote in favor of the budget, Ben Gvir is in the opposition. How will this pass? This is not a threat, this is an ultimatum,” he said.

The 2025 state budget must be passed by the end of March or the government will automatically fall, triggering early elections.

While the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction of the United Torah Judaism party has previously also linked threats to the budget to the draft issue, the party’s non-Hasidic Degel HaTorah faction appeared to reject such a move today.

Addressing a conference in the southern city of Eilat this afternoon, Deputy Transportation Minister Uri Maklev stated that the government is “stable” and will not fall because “there is no other alternative.”

According to the pro-government Channel 14, Netanyahu warned the leaders of the coalition’s ultra-Orthodox parties that “this is not the time for threats or inflammatory rhetoric.”

Zakaria Zubeidi, Mahmoud Atallah among high-profile terrorists set for release Thursday

Zakaria Zubeidi, after being recaptured in northern Israel on September 11, 2021, following his escape from Gilboa Prison. (Courtesy)

Israel is expected to free a number of high-profile terrorists tomorrow in exchange for the three Israeli hostages slated for release tomorrow — Arbel Yehoud, Agam Berger, and Gadi Mozes.

Among the 110 prisoners to be released are Zakaria Zubeidi, Mahmoud Atallah, and Ahmed Barghouti, according to multiple Hebrew media reports. Authorities have yet to give official information on the prisoners to be set free.

Zubeidi, who will return home to the West Bank, organized dozens of attacks during the Second Intifada while heading the al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades in Jenin. He was one of six prisoners who briefly escaped from Gilboa prison in 2021, before being recaptured.

Atallah, who is serving a life sentence for murdering a Palestinian woman suspected of collaborating with Israel, will be released to Nablus. He was indicted last September for repeatedly sexually assaulting female guards at Gilboa Prison.

Barghouti, a senior military official in Fatah, received 13 life sentences for carrying out a series of terror attacks during the Second Intifada that killed 12 Israelis. He will be deported abroad via Egypt.

Of the 110 prisoners to be released tomorrow, 33 are serving life terms for deadly attacks, 47 are serving long prison terms, and the remaining 30 are women and minors, according to Kan.

Prisoners will be transported to two main reception points, Ofer and Ktzi’ot prisons, before being released home or deported, says a Prison Service spokesperson.

After the three Israeli hostages are confirmed to have returned, prisoners headed for the West Bank will be escorted by the Red Cross to a release point, and those being deported or released into Gaza will be escorted by the special Prison Service units to the Kerem Shalom Crossing.

No prisoners will be exchanged for the five Thai hostages slated to be freed tomorrow, since they are being released under a separate agreement between Hamas and Thailand.

Palestinian Authority reports at least 10 dead in IDF’s West Bank drone strike

The Palestinian Authority health ministry reports at least 10 dead in the IDF drone strike in the West Bank town of Tamun.

The military said it targeted a cell of armed terror operatives.

Two soldiers seriously wounded in car crash in Jordan Valley

Two IDF soldiers were seriously wounded in a car crash in the Jordan Valley earlier today, the military says.

The two, a male reservist and a servicewoman, were in a military truck that overturned. The IDF says the circumstances of the crash are under investigation.

White House official confirms Witkoff entered Gaza, met top PA official

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) meets with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff in his office in Jerusalem on January 29, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

A White House official confirms to The Times of Israel that US President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff entered Gaza earlier today before meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

The White House official also confirms that yesterday, in Saudi Arabia, Witkoff met with Hussein Al-Sheikh, a top aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Earlier today, Sheikh published a seemingly cryptic post on X saying, “The statements circulating and its contents in the media regarding a meeting between a Palestinian delegation and US President Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, are inaccurate.”

“We hold Envoy Witkoff in high regard and appreciate his efforts. We look forward to working with him and the Trump administration to advance the cause of peace,” he added.

It is unclear what reports he was referring to, as the only relevant one published over the past day was an Axios story revealing that a meeting had taken place between himself and Witkoff in Riyadh.

It is unclear whether Sheikh was seeking to deny that a meeting had taken place, and he did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.

It was the first meeting between Witkoff and a senior PA official, and indicates the Trump administration’s recognition that its efforts to advance a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia will have to include a Palestinian component.

IDF drone strikes terror cell in northern West Bank, army says

The IDF says it carried out a drone strike in the northern West Bank town of Tamun a short while ago.

The strike targeted a cell of armed terror operatives, according to the military.

The strike comes as part of a major counterterrorism offensive in the northern West Bank.

The IDF says it will provide further details on the strike soon.

Turkey pans IDF strike it says killed 3 citizens trying to cross from Lebanon to Israel

Turkey condemns an Israeli strike it says killed three of its citizens who attempted to illegally cross from Lebanon to Israel.

The ministry has not given the time or location of the incident, but it seems to be referring to a January 11 strike on suspects near the border.

“It has been learned that the three Turkish citizens, with whom contact had been lost while attempting to cross illegally from Lebanon to Israel, lost their lives as a result of an Israeli airstrike in the region,” the foreign ministry says in a statement.

The ministry says it is working to repatriate their bodies to Turkey “as soon as possible.”

“We condemn in the strongest terms this unlawful attack that resulted in the death of our citizens,” the ministry says, urging Israel to “immediately end its aggressive policies that disregard human life and escalate tensions in our region.”

Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa named interim president

A handout picture released by Syria's transitional government shows the country's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa waiting for the arrival of Spain's foreign minister at the presidential palace in Damascus on January 16, 2025. (Syria's Transitional Government / AFP)

Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has been named president for a transitional period, the Syrian state news agency (SANA) reports, citing commander Hassan Abdel Ghani.

Sharaa is also authorized to form a temporary legislative council for the transitional phase, which will carry out its task until a new constitution is adopted, SANA reports, citing Abdel Ghani.

The announcements emerge during a meeting in Damascus attended by commanders of armed groups that fought alongside Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to oust Bashar al-Assad from power.

IDF confirms interceptor that killed man in August was from experimental defense system

A SPYDER surface-to-air missile is fired in a test in an undated photograph. (Defense Ministry)

Nearly six months after an Israeli man was killed by a defective interceptor missile during a Hezbollah drone attack on northern Israel, it is now confirmed to have been from an experimental air defense system that was previously not in use by the Israeli Air Force.

On August 6, Hezbollah fired several explosive-laden drones at Israel. The IDF said at the time that it managed to shoot down at least one of the drones.

During the attack, an interceptor missile missed one of Hezbollah’s drones and hit the Route 4 highway near Nahariya. Mikhael Sammarah, 27, originally from Kafr Yasif in northern Israel and a student in the Czech Republic, was critically wounded by the interceptor impact, and he died days later.

The Kan public broadcaster reports that the interceptor missile was launched from the Israeli-made SPYDER short-range air defense system, which Israel exports to several countries and normally does not use itself.

The IDF confirms the details, saying that during the war it worked to improve its response to the increasing drone threat, and therefore began to use the SPYDER system for the first time.

“During the fighting, it was decided to procure the system in accordance with the urgent operational need, and after an operational and professional analysis,” the military says in response to the report, adding that it received all relevant approvals.

The IDF says the investigation into the deadly incident on Route 4 led to “immediate lessons” that were implemented, while the SPYDER system continued to be used.

IDF says it fired warning shots against Gaza suspects in several cases

The IDF says it fired warning shots to disperse suspects who “posed a threat” to troops in several areas of the Gaza Strip in the last few hours.

In another incident, in central Gaza, a drone strike was carried out as a warning, after a vehicle attempted to travel to north Gaza via an area that is prohibited for vehicular traffic, per the ceasefire agreement, the military says.

Defense Minister Katz speaks with new American counterpart Pete Hegseth

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks with the media, as he arrives on his first official day at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on January 27, 2025. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Defense Minister Israel Katz spoke for the first time with his new American counterpart, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, his office says.

According to a readout issued by Katz’s office, the minister congratulated Hegseth upon entering the role, and “thanked him for the US’s commitment and efforts to work for the release of all the hostages.”

Katz also thanks Hegseth for releasing shipments of arms that were held up by the previous administration.

“The two discussed the strengthening of security cooperation between the countries and advancing common interests, in light of Israel’s achievements in the campaign against Iran and its proxies,” the readout says.

Katz’s office adds that the pair decided to maintain direct contact and meet soon.

Israel to free 110 Palestinian prisoners tomorrow — 33 of them serving life sentences

In return for tomorrow’s return of three civilian hostages, Israel will free 110 Palestinian security prisoners, of whom 33 are serving life terms for deadly attacks.

Israel is not freeing prisoners for the five Thai hostages to be freed, as that release comes under a separate arrangement between Hamas and the Thai government.

Israel said to demand Hamas clarify status of Shiri Bibas and her two kids

Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas (Courtesy)

Israel has demanded that Hamas clarify the condition of hostages Shiri Bibas and her two small boys, Ariel and Kfir, according to Hebrew media.

The three are set to be returned to Israel under the current ceasefire and hostage release deal. While women and children were to be freed first under the deal, bodies are to be handed over later in the deal. Fears for the fate of the Bibas trio have grown, as Hamas has not returned them among the first hostages released.

Hamas has said that 25 of the 33 hostages to be returned under the current phase are alive, without offering specifics on the condition of individuals.

IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari has said that there are “grave concerns” for the lives of Shiri and her two children.

The government is now said to be demanding a clear answer on the matter in order to provide it to their family.

IDF footage shows Jenin airstrike on Palestinian who hurled bomb at troops

The IDF releases footage showing an airstrike against a Palestinian who hurled an explosive device at troops operating in Jenin last night.

The drone video shows the Palestinian hurling the bomb from a rooftop in the West Bank city, and it explodes near an army vehicle.

Minutes later the operative was targeted by the drone.

The military says secondary explosions were identified, indicating that the operative had additional bombs on him to attack troops with.

Ailing Harvey Weinstein begs to have #MeToo retrial sooner after judge sets April 15 date

Harvey Weinstein appears in State Supreme Court for a hearing in his sexual assault case on January 29, 2025, in New York. (Jefferson Siegel /The New York Times via AP, Pool)

Harvey Weinstein begs a judge to hold his #MeToo retrial as soon as possible, telling him, “I don’t know how much longer I can hold on” with cancer, heart issues and harsh conditions at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex.

The disgraced movie mogul objects after Judge Curtis Farber says the retrial will start April 15, imploring him to swap with another, unrelated trial the judge has in March.

“Everyday I’m at Rikers Island, it’s a mystery to me how I’m still walking,” Weinstein says at a hearing in state court in Manhattan.

“I’m holding on because I want justice for myself and I want this to be over with,” he says.

Weinstein, 72, is being treated for numerous health conditions, including chronic myeloid leukemia, heart issues, and diabetes. He complains to Farber that jail officers gave him the wrong pills this morning and failed to pick him up for court in a timely fashion.

“I’m asking and begging you, your honor, to move your trial,” Weinstein says, suggesting that even a week’s head start would be helpful.

Red Cross says it has no control over Hamas conduct during hostage handovers

Red Cross vehicles are seen leaving a Gaza City square after collecting four Israeli hostages on January 25, 2025. (Screencapture/ YouTube)

Ahead of the slated release of eight hostages from Gaza tomorrow (three Israelis and five Thais), the International Committee of the Red Cross says it does not have any control over how Hamas conducts itself during the handover process, in light of Hamas’s questionable conduct during previous releases.

Freed hostages have noted handovers while surrounded by hostile mobs as being particularly frightening and traumatic.

“The ICRC is in contact with all sides regarding the terms of the release of hostages and detainees,” organization spokesman Gilad Grossman says in response to a query from the Times of Israel. “While we bring up our concerns, we are not the ones who determine these terms.”

During the release on January 19 of Doron Steinbrecher, Romi Gonen, and Emily Damari, the hostages were surrounded by an unruly crowd. When IDF soldiers Naama Levy, Liri Albag, Daniella Gilboa, and Karina Ariev were freed on Saturday, they were paraded on a stage in fake military uniforms while holding Hamas documentation. A Red Cross official also signed documents while sitting on the Hamas stage.

“Our mission is to ensure that we carry out what the sides have requested from us,” Grossman adds. “So far, we have successfully helped with the return of seven hostages, and are ready to carry out any further agreed-upon release operations.”

The organization declined to comment on whether it expects any changes during the releases scheduled for tomorrow and Saturday.

The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on the issue.

Brother of Gaza hostage: So many things can make this deal fail, but Trump gives us hope

Gal Gilboa-Dallal, whose brother Guy Gilboa-Dallal, is held hostage in Gaza, in a video call with journalists on January 29, 2025. (screenshot)

Gal Gilboa-Dallal, brother of 23-year-old hostage Guy Gilboa-Dallal, who was taken captive from the Nova desert rave during the October 7 attack, has said that seeing hostages being released offers a sense of tremendous hope for his family.

In a conversation with journalists sponsored by Media Central and the Hostages Forum, Gilboa-Dallal adds that it also worries his family, knowing that the second stage of the deal — in which his brother would be released — is anything but assured.

“So many things can make this deal fail,” he says.

What also gives his family hope is the involvement of US President Donald Trump, says Gilboa-Dallal.

“We trust that Trump will use his strength and pressure to make sure the deal will be signed,” he says. “That’s the man we look up to, to bring my brother home.”

Gilboa-Dallal’s mother recently had open heart surgery, due to an affliction that began troubling her after his brother was taken hostage.

“We say that this affects the body,” says Gilboa-Dallal. “I’m tired of seeing [Guy’s] pictures, I want to see him.”

Far-right MEP disrupts EU Holocaust ceremony to decry ‘Jewish genocide in Gaza’

A moment of silence for victims of the Holocaust at the European Union Parliament has been broken by a Polish MEP accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.

Grzegorz Braun of the far-right Confederation party twice shouted, “Let’s pray for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza,” during the official Holocaust commemoration at the European Parliament.

As soon as the moment of silence ended, parliament president Roberta Metsola called on Braun to leave the chamber, a decision that was applauded by participants.

The European Jewish Congress calls the outburst “a vile display of antisemitism in the heart of European democracy.”

“Disrupting a solemn moment of silence with hateful rhetoric is not only a grave insult to the memory of the Holocaust victims but also a disturbing reminder that the same antisemitic narratives that fueled history’s darkest times continue to persist today,” the EJC writes on X.

Grzegorz Braun supplements minute of silence for jews with "Let's pray for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza"

He is escorted out of EU parliament afterwards pic.twitter.com/PyNlwenL78

— Polish Connection (@PoleConnection) January 29, 2025

Braun later says that he did not “disrupt” the event but rather “supplemented” it.

“I shared the observation that apparently all victims are equal, but some are more equal than others,” he posts on X.

Last December, Braun disrupted a Hanukkah event at the Polish parliament with members of the Jewish community, taking a fire extinguisher and walking across the lobby of parliament to where the menorah candles were, creating a white cloud and forcing security guards to rush people out of the area.

He then took to the podium in the chamber where he described Hanukkah as “satanic” and said he was restoring “normality.”

Netanyahu meets Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff in Jerusalem

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) meets with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff in his office in Jerusalem on January 29, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting in his office with Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.

Netanyahu’s office does not provide any other details of the meeting. Earlier, Witkoff reportedly visited the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza alongside Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, after arriving in Israel from meetings in Saudi Arabia.

IDF chief: We’re proud to facilitate ceasefire, will be just as proud to return to combat

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (L) speaks with officers in the Netzarim Corridor in the central Gaza Strip, January 28, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi visited the Netzarim Corridor in the central Gaza Strip yesterday, the army now says.

During the visit, Halevi said the military “takes pride” in enabling the hostages to be released under the ceasefire deal with Hamas, and is “just as proud to return to combat if necessary.”

“We are an army that takes great pride in implementing the policy, in implementing the decision to bring the hostages home. And we will be just as proud to return to combat if necessary,” he says.

Turkey’s Erdogan meets with Hamas leader, delegation in Ankara

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Hamas leader Muhammad Ismail Darwish in Ankara, Erdogan’s office says in a statement.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Intelligence Chief Ibrahim Kalin also attend the meeting, as do other Hamas officials.

Israel says UN aid agency UNRWA ‘riddled’ with Hamas operatives

Israel alleges that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) is full of Hamas operatives and reaffirms its commitment to end ties with the agency this week.

“UNRWA equals Hamas. Israel has made public irrefutable evidence UNRWA is riddled with Hamas operatives,” government spokesman David Mencer tells journalists as Israel prepares to cut ties with the agency on Thursday.

“Israel makes clear… if a state funds UNRWA, that state is funding terrorists. UNRWA employs over 1,200 Hamas members, including terrorists who carried out the October 7 massacre,” Mencer says. “This isn’t aid, it’s direct financial support for terror.”

Israel, backed by Washington, will cease contact with UNRWA from Thursday, a move that has drawn condemnation from aid groups as well as US allies.

UNRWA has long clashed with Israeli officials, who have repeatedly accused it of undermining the country’s security. But Israeli anger at the body rose dramatically after the Oct. 7 attack, as several agency employees took part in the killings and kidnappings, and officials allege that many hundreds have ties to terror groups.

Trump administration to cancel student visas of all ‘Hamas sympathizers’

Masked protesters wearing Hamas headbands protest against Baruch College's Hillel student group, in New York City, June 5, 2024. (Luke Tress/JTA)

US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order today to combat antisemitism and pledge to deport non-citizen college students and other resident aliens who took part in pro-Palestinian protests, a White House official says.

A fact sheet on the order says Trump will order the Justice Department to “aggressively prosecute terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews.

“To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” Trump says in the fact sheet. “I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”

MKs give preliminary nod to bill allowing Israelis to directly purchase West Bank land

A view of the West Bank settlement of Eli, on October 30, 2024. (Sharon Aronowicz / AFP)

Lawmakers vote 58-33 in favor of allowing the direct purchase of West Bank land by Israeli citizens during a preliminary reading in the Knesset.

The bill, sponsored by MK Moshe Solomon (Religious Zionism), has the backing of the Knesset Land of Israel Caucus and was written in collaboration with the pro-settlement Regavim group.

It seeks to reverse what its backers have decried as a “discriminatory and racist” legal provision that prevents non-Muslims from buying real estate in the West Bank — left over from the period when Jordan controlled the area.

Until now, such transactions could only be conducted by specially approved companies granted permission by Israeli military authorities to operate in the West Bank.

The bill’s advancement is “an important step on the path to strengthening settlement and restoring our basic right – the right to purchase land in our homeland,” declares Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, one of the co-chairs of the Land of Israel Caucus, following the vote. “Today, in the State of Israel, the homeland of the Jewish people, there are areas where Jews are discriminated against and cannot purchase land. This is an intolerable, immoral and un-Jewish situation. This law seeks to put an end to this discrimination, to restore to us the basic right to buy land in all parts of the Land of Israel.”

After the bill was approved by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation earlier this week, the Peace Now settlement watchdog organization called it “yet another annexation move initiated by the messianic right.”

“The proposal seeks to allow settlers to purchase land without any oversight throughout the West Bank, effectively making them ‘landlords’ in the West Bank in both symbolic and practical terms,” the dovish group said.

Israeli hostages to go free tomorrow: Arbel Yehoud, Agam Berger, Gadi Moshe Mozes

Left to right: Arbel Yehoud, 29, Agam Berger, 19, and Gadi Moshe Mozes, 80, are the hostages set for release on January 30, 2025 (Courtesy)

The Israeli hostages set to be released by Hamas tomorrow are Arbel Yehoud, 29, Agam Berger, 19, and Gadi Moshe Mozes, 80, Israeli officials say.

The names were given to Israel by Hamas via mediators Egypt and Qatar.

The families of the three hostages have been notified.

In addition, five Thai hostages will be freed by Hamas tomorrow, Israeli officials confirm. There are eight Thai hostages still in Gaza, along with one Nepalese and a Tanzanian. However, two of the Thai citizens have been declared dead, as has the Tanzanian.

Heading to the White House, Netanyahu seeks cancellation of next week’s trial hearings

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives testimony in his trial on corruption charges in a courtroom of the Tel Aviv District Court, December 18, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

In his latest request to delay testimony in his criminal trial, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asks that next week’s hearings be canceled owing to his invitation to the White House to meet with US President Donald Trump.

Netanyahu’s defense attorney Amit Hadad says in a letter to the Jerusalem District Court that the two leaders will discuss “issues of decisive importance to Israel’s foreign relations and security,” and notes that Netanyahu will be the first foreign leader to meet with Trump since he took office.

“Given the importance of the visit,” which will last most of the week, Hadad asks the court to cancel all of next week’s court hearings.

The State Attorney’s Office says it agrees to the cancelation, but asks the court to either extend the length of Netanyahu’s days of testimony upon his return, or increase the number of days per week.

Hadad says the defense opposes that request, and asks the court to hold a hearing before making a decision, adding that he is “saddened” that the prosecution is conditioning its agreement to cancel next week’s hearings, “instead of praising the important visit.”

Last week, Hadad asked the court to allow Netanyahu to testify just once a week, citing Netanyahu’s recovery from his recent surgery and due to the demands of his position as prime minister, managing the ceasefire agreements with Hamas and Hezbollah. The court refused the request, although it did shorten by two hours the duration of each day of testimony.

Netanyahu began his testimony on December 10, and although he was supposed to testify three days a week, has only testified a total of seven days so far due to his surgery and other matters.

Reports: 5 Thai hostages to be released from Gaza Thursday in addition to 3 Israelis

Hebrew media outlets are reporting that along with the three Israeli hostages to be freed tomorrow, five Thai nationals held hostage in Gaza since the Oct. 7 attack are to be freed tomorrow as well.

The reports have not been officially confirmed at this stage.

IDF says it has killed some 18 gunmen, detained over 60 in Jenin and Tulkarem raids

An IDF soldier gestures during a raid in Jenin in the West Bank on January 27, 2025. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)

The IDF says troops have killed some 18 gunmen and detained over 60 wanted Palestinians during an ongoing raid in Jenin and Tulkarem in the northern West Bank.

The offensive, dubbed Operation Iron Wall, was launched last week.

Over the past two days, the IDF says troops neutralized over 100 explosive devices in Jenin and seized numerous other weapons. In Tulkarem, another 30 bombs were neutralized and other weapons were captured, according to the military.

Bill that would let government appoint Kan governing council passes preliminary reading

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi at an Economic Affairs Committee meeting at the Knesset on December 18, 2024 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

A bill giving the government substantially increased influence over the Kan public broadcaster’s governing council passes a preliminary reading 53-48 in the Knesset plenum.

The bill, sponsored by Likud MK Osher Shekalim, aims to allow the government to appoint, upon the recommendation of the communications minister, all 12 members of the powerful body. The council is empowered to appoint senior officials to the public broadcaster, determine its working procedures, set its various policies, and lay out and approve its annual work plan. However, it has not been able to operate since November, when the end of the tenure of two members brought it down below a quorum seven members.

It is the task of the governing council’s search committee to appoint new members to the council, but that body also cannot function at present since the previous chairman, Moshe Drori, appointed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, resigned in November. Karhi has also not appointed a new chairman of the search committee.

Addressing the Knesset plenum, Karhi says: “No one will stop the media reform. This reform and these changes are intended to protect citizens, to expand diversity, to provide a free and competitive market.”

In response, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares that “the media’s job is to make sure the public hears and knows everything the government doesn’t want them to hear and know. That’s why Minister Karhi wants to neuter the broadcasting authority. That’s the whole purpose of the law.”

Israel confirms it has received list of three hostages to be freed from Gaza tomorrow

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a security assessment in Jerusalem to discuss the ceasefire deal with Hamas, January 17, 2025. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Israel confirms that it has received a list of the three hostages slated to be freed from Gaza tomorrow.

The Prime Minister’s Office says that it will announce the names of the hostages on the list only after updating the families.

Unnamed sources cited by Hebrew media outlets say the list meets the agreements between the sides and is acceptable to Israel.

Israel said earlier this week that civilian Arbel Yehoud and soldier Agam Berger are slated to be released along with a third unnamed hostage. US media reports have said the third hostage is expected to be US-Israeli dual citizen Keith Siegel, but this is not confirmed.

US Mideast envoy Witkoff said to visit Gaza’s IDF-held Netzarim Corridor

Steve Witkoff, then a US investor, attends the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 18, 2024. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP)

US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has completed a visit to the Gaza Strip alongside Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, according to reports in Hebrew media.

Kan news and Channel 12 say Witkoff visited the IDF-held Netzarim Corridor, which separates northern Gaza from the Strip’s center and south.

According to Kan, Witkoff was shown inspections of Palestinian vehicles, which in recent days have been allowed to move northward under the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

There is no official US comment on the matter.

Sissi says Egypt ‘cannot take part’ in forced displacement of Gazans

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi gestures during a meeting with the French armies minister at the Ittihadia presidential Palace in Cairo on November 15, 2023. (Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says that the forced displacement of Gazans is an “injustice that we cannot take part in,” after US President Donald Trump floated a plan to move Palestinians from the territory to Egypt and Jordan.

“The constants of Egypt’s historic position on the Palestinian cause…. can never be compromised,” Sissi says during a news conference in Cairo with Kenyan President William Ruto.

Sissi says Egypt supports “the establishment of a Palestinian state and the preservation of its capabilities, particularly its people and its territory.”

He adds that Egypt is “determined to work with President Trump, who seeks to achieve the desired peace based on the two-state solution.

“We believe that President Trump is capable of fulfilling this long-awaited goal of establishing a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”

After the Israel-Hamas ceasefire came into force on January 19, Trump touted a plan to “clean out” the Gaza Strip, reiterating the idea on Monday as he called for Palestinians to move to “safer” locations such as Egypt or Jordan.

Hamas officials claim delays in aid delivery to Gaza may affect tomorrow’s hostage release; Israel: ‘Fake news’

People walk past trucks of humanitarian aid at a parking point in Cairo as they wait to travel to cross the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, January 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Israel denies as “fake news” accusations from Hamas that humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip are lagging, in violation of a hostage-ceasefire deal that went into effect last week.

Two Hamas officials accuse Israel of delaying the delivery of aid to Gaza and warn that it could impact the release of abductees held since the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.

“We warn that continued delays and failure to address these points (delivery of key aid) will affect the natural progression of the agreement, including the prisoner exchange,” a senior Hamas official tells AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, says the Palestinian terror group has asked mediators to intervene in the issue.

Hamas officials claim Israel is failing to send key aid items — such as fuel, tents, heavy machinery and other equipment — into the Gaza Strip, as agreed for the first stage of the accord that took effect on January 19.

“According to the agreement, these materials were supposed to enter during the first week of the ceasefire,” the senior Hamas official says.

But Channel 12 news reports that contrary to Hamas claims, over 3,000 aid trucks have already entered the Strip since the beginning of the week. Under the first phase of the ceasefire, 4,200 trucks are meant to enter per week, putting Israel ahead of schedule.

The two Hamas officials say said the group raised the issue during an ongoing meeting with Egyptian mediators in Cairo this morning.

The latest claim by Hamas comes as Israel waits for the terror group to announce the name of a third hostage set to be released tomorrow, along with civilian Arbel Yehoud and soldier Agam Berger, both women.

EU earmarks 3 billion euros in financing, investments for Jordan in new ‘strategic’ partnership

Jordan's King Abdullah II (right) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrive for a signing ceremony of EU-Jordan bilateral agreements at the EU headquarters in Brussels on January 29, 2025. (Nicolas Tucat/AFP)

BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Union promises 3 billion euros ($3.1 billion) of financing and investments for Jordan as part of a new “strategic” partnership.

“With the current geopolitical shifts and growing crises in the region, strengthening the EU-Jordan partnership is the right decision at the right time,” European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen says.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II was in Brussels to oversee the signing of the agreement, which runs from 2025 through 2027.

“Jordan is playing a critical role to consolidate the ceasefire in Gaza and the EU acknowledges the importance of Jordan as a regional hub for humanitarian assistance,” von der Leyen says.

“Jordan’s leadership in supporting Syria’s transition highlights its pivotal role in shaping the region’s future.”

Settler group advocates Gaza policy of ‘Occupy, expel, settle’

The Nachala settlement movement launches a new campaign against the ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas, with the tagline “Occupy, expel, settle.”

A campaign flier says Netanyahu has “no mandate” to continue with what the organization dubs the “total capitulation” of the agreement.

Nachala says in announcing the campaign that “a reality in which Hamas sets the rules and kidnapping Jews becomes the thing that pays off the best” would represent a criminal failure to think of the future.

“You don’t sell Israel’s security and you don’t give up on one part of the Land of Israel. There’s only one solution, a blue and white Gaza,” the flier says.

“Occupy, expel, settle the entire Gaza Strip.”

This appears to be the first time Nachala has included the term “expel” in reference to the residents of Gaza in its campaign material. The organization has campaigned and lobbied heavily for reestablishing Jewish settlements in Gaza during the war, which was halted last week after 15 months of fighting.

A spokesperson for Nachala says the organization will be organizing conferences and demonstrations as part of the campaign in the coming weeks.

A flier for a new campaign by the Nachala settlements organization calling for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza and the establishment of Jewish settlements in the territory. (Courtesy Nachala)

Netanyahu to fly to Washington Sunday, meet Trump Tuesday, return to Israel Thursday — PM’s office

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara exit the official Wing of Zion plane in Washington, DC, on July 22, 2024. (Lazar Berman/ Times of Israel)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to depart for Washington on Sunday to meet US President Donald Trump and will return to Israel on Thursday.

According to his office, Netanyahu will take off from Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday morning, meet with Trump in the White House on Tuesday and depart from DC on Thursday.

The PMO does not detail any other planned meetings for the five-day trip and says the schedule is subject to change.

Report: Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich may owe British tax authorities up to £1 billion

Russian oligarch and politician Roman Abramovich is in the Old City of Jerusalem for his son's bar mitzvah on December 20, 2022. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)

Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich may owe British tax authorities as much as £1 billion (NIS 4.5 billion), according to analysis of documents cited by British media.

The reports from The Guardian and the BBC, based on leaked papers and court filings, say his companies may not have paid taxes on profits from an elaborate offshore investment scheme.

Abramovich, former owner of Chelsea Football Club and an Israeli citizen since 2018, gave almost half of his fortune to over 200 hedge funds, according to the files cited by the BBC.

The oligarch’s lawyers say he “always obtained independent expert professional tax and legal advice” and “acted in accordance with that advice,” the BBC reports.

Defense minister says IDF will remain in Jenin after ongoing raid ‘to ensure terror doesn’t return’

Defense Minister Israel Katz (left) and the commander of the West Bank division, Brig. Gen. Yaki Dolf are seen in the Jenin refugee camp, January 29, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Israel Katz vows that the IDF will remain in the West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp even after an ongoing military operation there, “to ensure the terror does not return.”

“We declared a war on Palestinian terror in Judea and Samaria,” Katz says during a visit to Jenin, using the biblical name for the West Bank.

“Operation Iron Wall comes to defeat the terror infrastructure built in the Palestinian refugee camps with Iranian financing and supply,” he says.

Katz says the Jenin camp “will not return to be what it was.”

“After the operation is completed, IDF troops will remain in the camp to make sure terror does not return,” he says.

“I send a clear message from here to the Palestinian Authority: Stop funding terrorism and murder of Jews, and start fighting terror seriously. Anyone who funds the families of terrorists and murderers, and educates his children to destroy Israel, endangers his very existence,” Katz adds.

US Mideast envoy said to visit Gaza ahead of meetings with Israeli officals

US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff visited the Gaza Strip this morning, according to Hebrew media reports, ahead of meetings with officials in Israel scheduled for this afternoon.

The Kan broadcaster airs footage of his convoy leaving the Strip.

The US envoy is in the region for discussions on the second of three stages in a Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal that came into effect last week. Witkoff has asserted his commitment to reaching the second phase amid concerns that Israel will resume fighting after the first stage is over.

Seven hostages have been freed as part of the current deal, which mandates the release of 33 so-called “humanitarian hostages” held by terrorists in Gaza during its first 42-day phase, with fighting stopped in the Strip.

השיירה של סטיב וויטקוף יצאה מעזה@shemeshmicha pic.twitter.com/s2cPV4fYx6

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) January 29, 2025

Navy detains Palestinian suspect on fishing boat off Gaza coast, releases him after questioning

Earlier today, the Israeli Navy detained a Palestinian suspect on a fishing boat after he crossed a maritime boundary off the coast of southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.

The suspect was taken for questioning, and shortly after was released back to the Gaza Strip, according to the military.

The IDF has warned Palestinians against entering the sea amid the ongoing ceasefire with Hamas.

Syria’s new leader asked Russia to hand over Assad and close aides — sources

Bullet holes deface a mural depicting the toppled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in Adra town on the northeastern outskirts of Damascus, Syria, December 25, 2024. (Sameer Al-Doumy / AFP)

MOSCOW – Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa requested that Russia hand over former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his close aides during discussions with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, according to sources close to the talks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declines to comment on whether that demand had been raised.

Separately, the Kremlin says Russia is working to build dialogue with the new administration in Syria as Moscow seeks to secure the future of its military bases there.

Bogdanov traveled to Damascus this week for the first talks with Syria’s new leaders since Moscow’s ally Assad was toppled late last year. Assad and members of his family fled to Moscow.

Lebanese health ministry: Five injured in Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon

The Lebanese health ministry says five people have been injured in an Israeli drone strike in the southern Lebanese town of Majdal Selm.

Last night, 24 people were reported injured in Israeli airstrikes in Nabatieh, a major town in south Lebanon. The IDF said in a statement it had struck Hezbollah vehicles that were transporting weapons on the edge of Nabatieh.

The strikes come amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanon-based terror group that came into effect in November.

PA warns Israel’s ban on UNRWA will stoke tensions as Palestinian refugees will lose services

The entrance to an UNRWA boys' school in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz, November 7, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, condemns the Knesset’s decision to bar operations of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which was adopted in October and is slated to enter into force tomorrow.

In a statement, the spokesman calls the decision “unacceptable” and a “provocation” to the Palestinian people, and says that it will contribute to raising tensions in the region due to its impact on the services provided to Palestinian refugees.

He further accuses Israel of attempting to suppress the Palestinians’ “right of return” and “liquidate” the Palestinian refugee issue, and calls on the UN to pressure Israel to revert its decision.

UNRWA —  the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East — provides education, health care and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The UN says it is the backbone of humanitarian operations for Palestinians.

Despite widespread international opposition, Israeli lawmakers in late October passed two bills that essentially bar the UN agency from operating in Israel and severely curtail its activities in Gaza and the West Bank.

Without coordination with Israel, it will be almost impossible for UNRWA to work in Gaza or the West Bank, since Jerusalem would no longer be issuing entrance permits to those territories or allowing coordination with the IDF.

The agency has faced criticism from Israel that has escalated since the war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught on southern Israel, including claims that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the deadly assault.

Israeli intelligence shared with the US assesses that more than 10 percent of UNRWA’s staff in Gaza have ties to terrorist factions and that educational facilities under the organization’s auspices consistently incite hatred of Israel and glorify terror.

FM says Australia not doing enough to protect Jewish community, after apparent Sydney synagogue attack plot foiled

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar attends a hearing of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, January 21, 2025. Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accuses Australia of not doing enough to protect its Jewish community after Sydney police foiled an attack plot believed to be aimed at a synagogue.

“The attempted antisemitic terror attack at a synagogue in Sydney is intolerable,” writes Sa’ar.

The latest incident, the foreign minister says, “joins a long list of antisemitic attacks in Australia, including setting fire to a childcare center in Sydney, firebombing a synagogue in Melbourne, and many other antisemitic attacks.”

Sa’ar says the “epidemic of antisemitism is spreading in Australia almost unchecked. We expect the Australian government to do more to stop this disease!”

Smotrich on Shas threat to topple government over Haredi draft: ‘You can’t leave a country at war with no budget’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks in the assembly hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 29, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Responding to the ultra-Orthodox Shas party’s threat to vote against the state budget and topple the government unless it passes a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich insists that he is “not willing to make concessions” on the issue.

“I really hope that we will succeed in bringing a good conscription law that will completely change the situation and that will conscript the Haredim into the army because they are needed. It is simply an existential national security necessity,” Smotrich declares from the Knesset rostrum.

Israel needs a “large, smart, aggressive [and] deadly army” and “we are not willing to make concessions here… We are presenting our Haredi partners and brothers with a real demand to change” and “take part in the great mitzvah and national, Zionist, Jewish, moral, and ethical duty” of military service, he says.

“I hope that we will find the balance and there will be a law and there will be a budget,” Smotrich continues, calling on the Haredim to at least pass the budget before dissolving the Knesset if an agreement cannot be reached.

“You cannot leave a country at war without a budget,” he says.

Speaking with ultra-Orthodox radio station Kol Baramah yesterday, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri gave Prime Minister Benjamin two months to regulate the status of yeshiva students, warning that if “it’s not regulated, we’ll go to elections.”

Following Smotrich’s comments, sources in the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party tell the Ynet news site that “the government is on the verge of dissolution” and warn that it, too, will vote against the budget if it is brought to a vote without the prior passage of a conscription law.

Report: Trump’s Mideast envoy arrives in Israel after visiting Saudi Arabia

Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has reportedly landed in Israel after visiting Saudi Arabia, amid efforts to negotiate the second and third stages of a nascent hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and the Hamas terror group.

The Kan broadcaster reports that Witkoff met with both Saudi and Palestinian officials in Riyadh to discuss the postwar government of the Gaza Strip.

Witkoff flew directly from Riyadh to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport this morning in his private jet, according to Kan.

Axios reported yesterday that the US envoy will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials this afternoon.

סטיב וויטקוף, שליחו של הנשיא טראמפ, סיים ביקור בריאד ונוחת ממש עכשיו בנתב"ג. זו גם טיסה ישירה מסעודיה לישראל. הטיסה במטוסו הפרטי N103WG

???????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/w9piDc2r9z

— איתי בלומנטל ???????? Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) January 28, 2025

IDF says it foiled overnight attempt to smuggle 13 assault rifles into Israel from Egypt using a drone

Weapons captured by IDF troops on the Egyptian border, January 29, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says it foiled an attempt to smuggle weapons into Israel from Egypt overnight, using a drone.

The drone was spotted crossing the border from Egypt into Israel and was shot down by troops dispatched to the scene.

The soldiers found that the drone was ferrying 13 assault rifles, according to the IDF.

In recent months there have been frequent attempts to bring weapons over the Egyptian border using drones.

IDF troops demolish West Bank home of Palestinian terrorist involved in 2023 shooting attack

IDF troops demolish the home of a Palestinian terrorist in the West Bank village of Shuweika, January 29, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says troops operated in the West Bank village of Shuweika near Tulkarem overnight and demolished the home of a Palestinian terrorist involved in a deadly shooting attack.

Tamer Faqha was part of a cell that killed off-duty IDF reservist Sgt. First Class (res.) Elhanan Klein near the West Bank town of Bayt Lid on November 2, 2023.

Faqha was killed, along with other members of the cell, by Israeli forces in May.

As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly terror attacks.

US F-35 military jet crashes at Alaska base; pilot safe after ejecting

A US Air Force pilot is seen parachuting to safety after he ejected from his F-35 fighter jet moments before it crashed during a training exercise at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, January 28, 2025. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A US Air Force pilot is reported to be safe after a single-seat F-35 fighter jet crashed yesterday during a training exercise at a base in Alaska.

The pilot experienced an “inflight malfunction” but was able to eject from the aircraft, Col. Paul Townsend, commander of the 354th Fighter Wing, tells a news conference. The plane crashed during the landing phase of the flight at Eielson Air Force Base, he says.

The pilot had declared an inflight emergency prior to the crash and is in stable condition and being evaluated at a medical facility, he adds.

The crash, which occurred early yesterday afternoon, caused significant damage to the aircraft, the Air Force says in a statement.

Eielson Air Force Base is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Fairbanks.

Townsend says in the statement that the Air Force will conduct “a thorough investigation in hopes to minimize the chances of such occurrences from happening again.”

JUST IN: F-35 fighter jet crashes at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. The pilot survived pic.twitter.com/zEuPNY8jqk

— BNO News (@BNONews) January 29, 2025

Hamas expected to confirm name of third hostage to be freed tomorrow along with Arbel Yehoud, Agam Berger

Hostages Arbel Yehoud, left, and Agam Berger, held by terrorists in Gaza since October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)

Hamas is today expected to provide Israel with the name of a third hostage to be freed from Gaza tomorrow under a hostage-ceasefire deal along with civilian woman Arbel Yehoud and soldier Agam Berger.

It has been reported that Keith Siegel, 65, a US native, will be released this week, though there has been no confirmation and it is unclear if this will happen tomorrow or on Saturday, when three more hostages are set to be freed from Gaza.

In exchange for the hostages, Israel will free Palestinian security prisoners — 30 for each civilian, and 50 for Berger including 30 terrorists serving life sentences.

The extra batch of hostages to be released this week was added to the schedule after a dispute over the implementation of the truce deal with Hamas in Gaza was resolved on Monday.

Seven former hostages have been released under the Gaza deal so far — three civilians and four IDF soldiers — who were kidnapped on October 7, 2023, when some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, mostly civilians, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.

Eighty-seven of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza this month.

Shas MK doubles down on Deri’s threat to topple government over Haredi draft exemption law

Shas MK Erez Malul addresses the plenum during a Knesset debate on the so-called 'Rabbis Bill,' November 12, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Shas MK Erez Malul doubles down on the ultra-Orthodox party leader Aryeh Deri’s threat to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government if the coalition fails to pass a bill exempting Haredim from military service.

Speaking with Kan radio, the lawmaker declares that should the bill not pass, “the government does not have a majority.”

He says that without his party, Netanyahu does not have the votes to pass a budget: “United Torah Judaism will not vote in favor of the budget, [Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar] Ben Gvir is in the opposition. How will this pass? This is not a threat, this is an ultimatum.”

The 2025 state budget must be passed by the end of March or the government will automatically fall, triggering early elections.

Speaking with ultra-Orthodox radio station Kol Baramah on Tuesday, Deri gave Netanyahu two months to regulate the status of yeshiva students, warning that if “it’s not regulated, we’ll go to elections.”

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is currently debating a bill regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment.

“Who would have dreamed that Torah scholars would be called criminals,” Deri asked, complaining that members of the national religious community have become “partners in this hate campaign.”

Police fraud investigation unit detains three on suspicion of tampering with government construction tenders

Police in the Lahav 433 fraud investigations unit detained three people this morning, including the former CEO of a government-owned company, on suspicion of tampering with the tender-issuing process to benefit a contractor who built their homes.

According to the allegation, the three hired the unnamed contractor five years ago to construct houses on a moshav in northern Israel. In return for the services, two of the suspects granted him preferential treatment in obtaining government tenders.

Police say that one suspect, who was in direct contact with the contractor, helped him to get the tenders.

To this end, a second suspect, who served as the company director at the time, “passed him information to ensure that the contractor won the tender,” a police spokesman says.

Police have brought the suspects in for questioning.

Report: Sydney pub fires trivia host over antisemitic comments, Nazi references

A Sydney pub has fired trivia host Jarred Keane after he made repeated Nazi references and mocked the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, Sky News Australia reports.

During a trivia night at the Iron Duke Hotel, Keane allegedly performed a Nazi salute and made offensive remarks. One attendee, Jonathan Sankey, grandson of Auschwitz survivor and Sydney Jewish Museum founding member Olga Horak, recorded part of the event, and later confronted Keane about the offensive content, Sky News says.

Keane then reportedly doubled down on his comments and took to Instagram to ridicule Sankey, stating that Zionists were “not welcome” at his events and using explicit language to describe them. He further claimed that his trivia nights were fun “unless you’re a conservative or a Zionist” and accused Israel of genocide.

Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has adamantly rejected allegations of genocide during its war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

The Iron Duke Hotel confirmed Keane had been dismissed and distanced itself from his statements, Sky News says.

Jarred Keane is a wannabe comedian. He thinks it's funny to laugh at the Holocaust. He thinks the horrors of six million civilians being shot, gassed, tortured and dehumanised is a joke.

What kind of deadbeat degenerate behaves so appallingly?

Full story here:… pic.twitter.com/n29Kloj3u8

— David Hollyoake ????️ (@Holly_Da) January 29, 2025

Family of Liri Albag eats sushi — former hostage’s favorite food — for first time in 477 days

Freed hostage Liri Albag runs to hug her siblings in the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva on January 25, 2025. (Haim Zach/GPO)

After waiting 477 days for IDF soldier Liri Albag to be released from Hamas captivity in Gaza, her sisters post a photo of the family eating sushi together.

“On the second day of the war, our siblings made a promise that we wouldn’t eat sushi until Liri returned home as it was her favorite food. 477 days later, we can breathe again and eat sushi,” the Albag sisters write in the post.

“On the second day of the war, our siblings made a promise that we won’t eat sushi until Liri returns home as it was her favorite food. 466 days later, we can breathe again and eat sushi ????????????”

Live life to its fullest, Liri, you deserve it. pic.twitter.com/2Yo2kDPvPG

— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) January 28, 2025

Albag was one of seven women released — three civilians and four soldiers — from Gaza so far as part of a hostage-ceasefire deal with the Palestinian terror group that came into effect last week.

The Soashi sushi restaurant in Petah Tikva that provided the celebratory meal made an extra effort with the delivery when it became clear that it was for Albag and her family.

“The moment I heard that Liri Albag’s favorite food is sushi, and her siblings had been waiting for her to eat together, it was clear to me that I would do everything to make their dream come true,” the restaurant owner writes in a post on Instagram.

Eighty-seven of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas in its brutal October 7, 2023, onslaught remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Police arrest 12 over Hamas celebration for released terrorist in East Jerusalem

Demonstrators in East Jerusalem's Kafr Aqab neighborhood celebrate the release of former Palestinian prisoner Ashraf Zughayer, convicted of aiding Hamas terror attacks, in a parade on January 25, 2025. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Israeli security forces arrested 12 people last night in East Jerusalem on suspicion of participating in a pro-Hamas demonstration celebrating the release of a terrorist freed under the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal, according to a police spokesperson.

Police say that they found Hamas flags, fireworks, a pellet gun and a large sum of money during last night’s raids.

Though police did not specify the demonstration in question, the arrests come a few days after footage of a parade celebrating the Saturday release of Ashraf Zughayer, a Hamas terrorist convicted in 2002 of driving suicide bombers to carry out attacks, circulated on social media.

The footage shows crowds of people parading through Jerusalem’s Kafr Aqab neighborhood while waving Hamas flags, with Zughayer himself atop a slow-moving pickup truck at the center of the demonstration.

مشاهد من استقبال الأسير المقدسي المحرر أشرف زغير في كفر عقب ، يذكر أنه محكوم بالمؤبد 6 مرات وستين عاماً، وقد أفرج عنه اليوم ضمن صفقة طوفان الأحرار pic.twitter.com/XyirBYGtTf

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) January 25, 2025

In a post on X earlier this week, Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King had called on police to take action against the demonstrators and track down the owner of the Ram pickup truck seen in the video.

“How many Dodge Ram vehicles are there in Jerusalem?” King asked in the post.

@IL_police @Dovrut_Police
כמה רכבים מדגם דודג'ראם יש באזור ירושלים?
בטוחני שבתוך כמה שעות,אם רק תתאמצו, תאתרו את בעל הרכב שנעשה בו שימוש בתהלוכת החמאס השבת בכפר עקב. pic.twitter.com/uM2EiICOXH

— אריה קינג Arieh King (@arieh_king) January 25, 2025

Released hostage’s sister urges Trump to help free all Gaza captives: ‘Thank you for choosing good over evil’

Yarden Gonen, whose sister Romi was recently released from Hamas captivity in Gaza after 471 days, speaks at a rally in Tel Aviv, January 28, 2025. (Lior Rotstein/Hostages Forum)

Yarden Gonen, whose sister Romi Gonen was freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza last week, calls on US President Donald Trump to help secure the release of the remaining 87 of the 251 hostages abducted by the Palestinian terror group on October 7, 2023.

Romi is one of seven female hostages released by Hamas under a hostage-ceasefire deal that came into effect last week. A total of 33 hostages, not all of them alive, are set to be released in the initial 42-day phase of the accord.

“President Trump – thanks to you, I can hug my sister again. It gave our country hope that with strong leadership and determination, we can bring everyone back,” she says in English at a Tuesday evening rally in Tel Aviv.

“Please help us complete what you’ve started and bring every last hostage home, as you so powerfully declared since you were elected. Thank you for choosing the good over the evil.”

She also thanks former US president Joe Biden for his efforts in securing the hostage deal, which began on his last day in office.

Romi Gonen reunites with her family at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, January 19, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

Gonen speaks directly to the hostages still held by terrorists in Gaza: “Know that your families are doing everything they can and will never give up on you. We will never give up on you. Stay strong, survive.”

On her sister, who was held hostage in Gaza for 471 days, she says, “The day of her return to Israel will forever be the day of her rebirth. In her own words, ‘there is life after death.'”

“And what a life awaits you, my love,” she says with a smile.

Sydney police uncover explosives, possibly intended for synagogue

Police in Sydney have found a caravan containing explosives, with a note suggesting it may have been intended to blow up a Jewish synagogue, Australian media reports.

New South Wales police kept the discovery secret for nine days before it was leaked to the media. The find is being investigated as a serious terror threat, reports said.

New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson tells a news conference that arrests have been made connected to the incident, without disclosing how many or what the charges are.

The report follows a massive uptick in antisemitic activities in Australia in recent months. These have included arson attacks on synagogues and community centers in Sydney and Melbourne and anti-Jewish and anti-Israel graffiti on properties or vehicles in areas with large Jewish populations.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed to adopt tougher measures to protect the country’s Jewish community, but there has been no noticeable decline in incidents yet.

EXPLOSIVES TARGETING SYNAGOGUE.

Ever-mutating antisemitism begins with words, that mainstream & normalize it.

Days after #InternationalHolocaustRemembrance commemorations erase Jews & antisemitism – modern lethal strain is ready to activate.

In Sydney ???????? too. #NeverAgainIsNow pic.twitter.com/xUeRyHoZrx

— מיכל קוטלר-וונש | Michal Cotler-Wunsh (@CotlerWunsh) January 29, 2025

Reuters contributed to this report.

Trump signs executive orders cutting funding for child gender transitions, ridding US military of ‘transgender ideology’

US President Donald Trump looks on after delivering remarks at the House Republican Members Conference Dinner at Trump National Doral Miami, in Miami, Florida on January 27, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at cutting federal support for gender transitions for people under age 19 and another ridding the military of what he calls “transgender ideology,” in his latest moves to roll back protections for transgender people across the country.

“It is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures,” the first order says.

It directs that federally-run insurance programs, including TRICARE for military families and Medicaid, exclude coverage for such care and calls on the Department of Justice to vigorously pursue litigation and legislation to oppose the practice.

The language in the executive order — using words such as “maiming,” “sterilizing” and “mutilation” — contradicts what is typical for gender-affirming care in the United States. It also labels guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health as “junk science.”

On his Truth Social platform, Trump calls gender-affirming care “barbaric medical procedures.”

On the executive order relating to the military, the US president tells a Republican congressional retreat in Miami, “To ensure that we have the most lethal fighting force in the world, we will get transgender ideology the hell out of our military.”

Trump has previously promised to bring back a ban on transgender troops and demonized any recognition of gender diversity.

Report: Trump envoy told Netanyahu US will delay rebuilding north Gaza until buffer zone is secured

Displaced Palestinians arrive in the northern Gaza Strip for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, January 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has reportedly promised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US will postpone the process of rebuilding northern Gaza until security plans are agreed upon to ensure the security of Israeli communities near the border with the Strip.

Al-Araby Al Jadeed cites an American plan, to be funded by the US and Gulf countries, to prevent a reoccurrence of the Hamas terror group’s brutal October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel that sparked over 15 months of fighting in Gaza.

The report claims that Washington wants to delay reconstruction in northern Gaza to make the area uninhabitable in the long term and to promote US President Donald Trump’s recent proposal that Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations increase the number of Palestinian refugees they are accepting from the Strip to “just clean out” the war-torn area.

Israel began to allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza this week, under a hostage-ceasefire deal with the Iran-backed terror group that came into effect last week.

Reconstruction of northern Gaza is set to begin in the final stage of the three-phase accord.

Report: Hezbollah handed over massive underground missile facility to Lebanese army

Hezbollah propaganda video appearing to show underground missile facility in Lebanon. August 16, 2024 (Screenshot)

The Hezbollah terror group has reportedly handed over an underground missile facility to the Lebanese Armed Forces, as Jerusalem and Beirut agreed to extend the deadline for Israeli troops to depart southern Lebanon as part of a truce that came into effect in late November.

Al-Arabiya reports that the subterranean facility in southern Lebanon, which has large tunnels through which trucks can drive, was emptied of all heavy equipment before the LAF took control of it.

The Saudi-owned outlet airs footage purporting to show Lebanese troops inspecting the premises.

تقع في جنوب #لبنان.. وسائل إعلام لبنانية تكشف عن تسلم الجيش اللبناني منشأة عسكرية تابعة لحزب الله #العربية pic.twitter.com/j2QscuCYzs

— العربية (@AlArabiya) January 28, 2025

Hezbollah boasted about the missile facility, dubbed Imad 4, in an August propaganda video — before Israel launched its military campaign that wiped out most of the Iran-backed terror group’s top leadership, including long-time chief Hassan Nasrallah.

حزب الله : عماد 4 الصواريخ الدقيقة pic.twitter.com/4WycSBK7KO

— Leb Now (@leb_now) August 16, 2024

Israel has said that it needs to stay past the 60-day deadline stipulated in the ceasefire agreement to ensure that Hezbollah does not reestablish its presence in southern Lebanon, because the LAF has not deployed to all areas south of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border with Israel, as agreed.

The White House said in a statement on Sunday that the deadline for the IDF to withdraw has been extended to February 18.

Trump invited to Japan for 80th anniversary of A-bombs to urge ‘strong leadership’ on abolishing nuclear weapons

The shell of a building stands amid acres of rubble in this view of the Japanese city of Hiroshima, Aug. 8, 1945. (AP Photo/Mitsugi Kishida)

TOKYO – The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have invited US President Donald Trump to visit this year for the 80th anniversary of the World War II atomic bombings, according to Japanese officials.

In a joint letter to Trump, the mayors urge him to come and “listen to the testimonies of the hibakusha (bomb survivors) in person, take to heart their fervent wish for peace, and deepen your understanding of the inhumanity of nuclear weapons.”

“It is our sincere hope that you will break away from the notion of nuclear reliance and take strong leadership in the abolition of nuclear weapons and the realization of lasting world peace,” they wrote in the January 28 letter shared with AFP this morning.

The United States dropped an atomic bomb on each Japanese city on August 6 and 9, 1945 — the only times nuclear weapons have been used in warfare. Days later Japan surrendered. Around 140,000 people died in Hiroshima and some 74,000 others in Nagasaki including many who survived the explosions but died later from radiation exposure.

Washington has never apologized for the bombings.

Barack Obama became the first sitting US president to come to Hiroshima in 2016, followed by Joe Biden in 2023. Trump did not make the trip during his first term, despite the two mayors inviting him according to Japanese media.

Police open murder investigation after man shot dead on northern highway

Police announce the opening of a murder investigation after a man is shot dead in his car on a highway outside the northern city of Migdal Haemek.

The victim is a 38-year-old resident of Nazareth, according to Hebrew media reports.

Rubio says US, Egypt must work together so Hamas ‘can never govern Gaza or threaten Israel again’

New Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone with his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty, according to the State Department, following US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Egypt house Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

A US readout says the two “discussed the latest developments in Gaza,” with Rubio touting Egypt’s roles in brokering the hostage-ceasefire deal and providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

“He also reinforced the importance of holding Hamas accountable. The secretary reiterated the importance of close cooperation to advance post-conflict planning to ensure Hamas can never govern Gaza or threaten Israel again,” the statement adds.

Qatar, Turkey to host Palestinian murder convicts released in hostage deal — officials

Israeli security forces stand guard as buses transporting Palestinian prisoners being released as part of a hostage-ceasefire deal with the Hamas terror group leave the Ketziot prison in the Negev desert on January 25, 2025. (Gil Magen-Cohen/AFP)

Qatar and Turkey are slated to host the Palestinian murder convicts who were released and subsequently deported to Egypt as part of the hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, two officials tell The Times of Israel.

Israel demanded that the Palestinians convicted of the most serious crimes not be released to Gaza or the West Bank. Egypt agreed to serve as a temporary landing spot for those murder convicts, 70 of whom were released last week and are now reside in Cairo.

Turkey has agreed to take in around 15 of those Palestinians and Qatar is expected to take in the remainder, though talks are ongoing and an additional country may be asked to host some of the prisoners deported later on in the deal, according to a regional official and an Arab diplomat familiar with the matter.

The decision on where to send the various Palestinian murder convicts is done in coordination with Israel, the two officials say.

White House: Biden earmarked $50M for Gaza condoms; Biden official calls claim a ‘feverish dream’

The White House claims the previous administration had earmarked $50 million for a condom distribution program in the Gaza Strip, but does not offer evidence to back up the claim, which a former senior Biden official dismisses as a “feverish dream.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says the expenditure was discovered in Trump’s first week including by the new Department of Government Efficiency led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Musk’s initiative and the budget office “found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza,” Leavitt tells her debut press conference.

“That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money,” she says.

Andrew Miller, who served as deputy assistant secretary for Israeli-Palestinian affairs under former US president Joe Biden, calls the claim “outlandish.”

“It’s possible that $50 million is put aside for sexual health or something of that nature, which would include gynecology and many other services, but definitely not condoms alone,” he tells The Times of Israel.

The US Agency for International Development’s spending on injectable contraceptives, contraceptive implants, IUDs, male condoms, oral contraceptives, Standard Days Method and female condoms amounted to $60 million in the fiscal year of 2023, and that was across the entire globe.

Moreover, no condoms went to the Middle East and the only country to receive a small amount — $45,000 — in other contraceptives was Jordan. Seven million dollars in condoms were distributed globally in the 2023 fiscal year, figures from the most recently produced USAID report show, with the vast majority of the those funds earmarked for Africa.

Condoms generally cost less than one dollar each in the United States and much less in bulk. Just over two million people live in Gaza, nearly all of which has been heavily damaged in the 15-month war with Israel.

Man shot dead in northern city of Zarzir

A man in his 40s was shot dead in the northern city of Zarzir tonight, according to the police and medics.

According to local Arabic-language media, the victim’s name is Abdel-Moneim Jandawi.

First responder Amir Elisha says his team “saw the injured man unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing with penetrating wounds on his body” and eventually declared him dead at the scene.

Police have opened an investigation into the shooting and say the circumstances were criminal rather than terror-related.

Since the start of 2025, 18 Arab Israeli citizens have been killed in violent incidents, amid a years-long epidemic of crime in the community.

Ex-hostage Soussana credits Liri Albag with saving her life as captors tortured, threatened her

Released hostage Amit Soussana speaks during a rally calling for the release of Hamas captives held in Gaza, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, January 18, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Amit Soussana, a hostage kidnapped to Gaza on October 7, 2023, and freed in a hostage deal in November of that year, says fellow captive Liri Albag, who was released on Saturday after 477 days, saved her life by convincing their terrorist captors that she, Soussana, was not an IDF officer.

In an interview with Channel 12’s “Uvda” investigative program, Soussana, 40, says the captors bound her hands and legs together while one beat her with a stick and the other threatened her with a sharp metal object, and demanded that she admit being in the military, claiming they had seen as such on TV.

She says the captors brought other hostages, including Albag, to ask her to come clean.

A guard told her, “You have 40 minutes to tell us the truth, or else I kill you,” while pointing a gun at her head, she says.

She says Albag talked to the guard and managed to persuade the captors that Soussana wasn’t in the military.

“I told her when she came back: ‘I don’t know if they would have killed me or not; as far as I’m concerned, you saved my life.'”

Released hostage Liri Albag is seen with her parents Eli and Shira after being freed from Hamas captivity on January 25, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)

Soussana also says that in the first three weeks of her captivity, she was kept alone in an apartment with two guards who tied her legs with a metal chain and with two locks to a window, “like an animal.”

She again recounts the sexual assault she endured by one of the captors, a story she first revealed in an interview with The New York Times last year.