Jan 7: In Qatar, Blinken warns expansion of Gaza war threatens security across Mideast

Visiting Israel, German FM calls for ‘less intensive’ IDF combat in Gaza

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (left) meets with Foreign Minister Israel Katz in Jerusalem on January 7, 2024. (Rafi Ben Hakoun/Foreign Ministry)

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock urges Israel to ease its military campaign in Gaza and do more to protect civilians in the Strip.

“It is increasingly clear that the Israeli army must do more to protect civilians in Gaza. It must find ways to fight Hamas without harming large numbers of Palestinians,” she says.

“The suffering of many innocent people cannot go on like this. We need less intensive management of operations,” Baerbock says during a visit to Jerusalem.

Baerbock meets with her Israeli counterpart Israel Katz as well as with the families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, and says that Israel “can strongly count on our solidarity in the fight against the blind terror that seeks to wipe Israel off the map.”

IDF says two Al Jazeera journalists were killed in car with drone-operating terror operative

People check the car in which two journalists, Mustafa Thuria and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, were killed in a reported Israeli strike in Rafah in the Gaza Strip on January 7, 2024. (AFP)

The IDF responds to reports of the deaths of two Palestinian journalists in an Israeli airstrike the Gaza Strip earlier today, saying the pair, working for Al Jazeera, were in a vehicle with a terror operative who was operating a drone.

In response to a query on the matter, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit tells The Times of Israel that a military aircraft “identified and struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft in a way that put IDF forces at risk.”

The IDF says it is aware of “the claim that during the strike two other suspects who were with the terrorist in the same vehicle were hit.”

Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza correspondent Wael Al-Dahdouh, and Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for AFP who was also working for the Qatar-based TV outlet, both died in the strike in southern Gaza’s Rafah.

New election poll shows Gantz soaring while Netanyahu, Lapid sink

Minister Benny Gantz, right, shakes hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset in Jerusalem, on December 25, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

A poll published tonight by the Kan public broadcaster shows Benny Gantz’s National Unity party with a significantly stronger showing than Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

According to the poll, if elections were to be held today, National Unity would receive 33 seats (almost tripling its current 12), while Likud would get just 20 (compared to its current 32).

The centrist Yesh Atid led by Yair Lapid would receive 14 seats (dropping from 24), while the combined Religious Zionism-Otzma Yehudit slate would get 12 (a slight drop from its current 14).

Shas and Yisrael Beytenu would get 10 each, UTJ would get seven, Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am would get five each, while Meretz — which did not cross the electoral threshold in the last election — would get four, and the Labor party would get zero.

Kan says it polled 600 respondents with a margin of error of 4%.

Blinken warns Israel-Hamas war could ‘metastasize’ to wider region

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gestures as he arrives in Abu Dhabi on January 7, 2024. (EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / POOL / AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warns that the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could “metastasize” and threaten security in the wider Middle East.

“This is a moment of profound tension in the region. This is a conflict that could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering,” Blinken tells a news conference in Qatar.

The secretary of state departed Qatar and is arriving in the UAE before traveling to Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt.

COGAT says 198 trucks of humanitarian aid crossed into the Gaza Strip today

Israeli soldiers check an Egyptian truck carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip, at the Kerem Shalom Crossing, December 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

COGAT, the Defense Ministry body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, says that 198 humanitarian aid trucks were inspected and transferred to Gaza throughout today.

The organization says 113 of the trucks carried food and the rest water, medical and shelter equipment.

Of the 198 trucks, 121 were inspected at the Nitzana crossing and entered Gaza through Rafah, while the remaining 77 were inspected and entered through Kerem Shalom, COGAT adds.

198 humanitarian aid trucks were inspected and transferred to Gaza today (Jan. 7).
113 carried food, the rest carried water, medical and shelter equipment.
121 trucks inspected at Nitzana and transferred via Rafah Crossing.
77 trucks inspected and transferred via Kerem Shalom. pic.twitter.com/RSMWjuw9Cn

— COGAT (@cogatonline) January 7, 2024

This is one of the highest figures of trucks entering the Strip in recent weeks.

Israel has faced criticism that it is not allowing enough humanitarian aid into Gaza, while Jerusalem has accused the United Nations of failing to match its pace in transport and distribution and holding up aid deliveries.

Gallant to families of hostages: Operations in Gaza won’t end until they ‘return home’

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (center) meets with the families of hostages at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, January 7, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meets in Tel Aviv with the families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and promises the IDF is working to return them home.

“Military activities in Gaza will not end until the hostages return home,” he tells them.

Gallant’s office says that the minister answered questions by the families and “held an open discussion,” emphasizing that fighting will not stop until every one of them has returned back to Israel.

Houthis suggest Red Sea ships should deny Israel links to avoid being attacked

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon approaches the oiler USNS Kanawha (background) for replenishment-at-sea operation in the Red Sea on December 25, 2023 in this handout photo. (Elexia Morelos / US Department of Defense / AFP)

The Iran-backed Houthi rebel group proposes that ships transiting the Bab El-Mandeb strait in the Red Sea declare they have no connection with Israel and will therefore not be assaulted by the group, which has been terrorizing ships in the region for three months.

The Houthis suggest that their proposal is a “simple and inexpensive solution” to de-escalate tensions in the Red Sea.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of the group’s supreme revolutionary committee, publishes a post on his X account addressing international shipping companies and transportation ministries, instructing that each ship approaching the strait should broadcast the sentence: “We have no relation with Israel.”

If a ship makes the declaration but then heads for an Israeli port, it will be “blacklisted” and will be seized the following time it attempts to cross the Red Sea, Al-Houthi threatens.

The rebels have launched more than 100 drone and missile strikes toward targets in the Red Sea and Israel since the war erupted, according to Pentagon figures, endangering a transit route that carries up to 12 percent of global trade.

Families of hostages, who met officials in Doha, say Qataris were ‘attentive, sympathetic’

Ruby Chen, the father of Hamas hostage Itay Chen, speaks in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on January 7, 2024. (Screenshot)

Families of the hostages who flew to Qatar and met with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and other Qatari officials, gather at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, and reveal that their meetings in Doha were positive.

The families went to Qatar because the freeze in negotiations is “killing the hostages,” says Daniel Lifschitz, grandson of hostage Oded Lifschitz.

An aunt of hostage Shiri Bibas says that the Qatari government is committed to the release of the hostages, and believes a temporary pause in fighting will accelerate the process of negotiations.

“They were attentive, familiar with our stories and showed sympathy to us,” says Ruby Chen, whose son, Itay Chen, was abducted on October 7.

The Qataris view the hostage situation as a humanitarian crisis, and a top priority, says Chen, but “the gaps between the two sides are still large,” he adds.

Ronen Neutra, whose son, Omer Neutra, was also taken captive, says that the families of the hostages expect to receive an update on possible negotiations from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit tomorrow.

Screens at Beirut airport hacked with anti-Hezbollah messages

File: Planes at the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, on March 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

The information display screens at Beirut’s international airport were hacked today by domestic anti-Hezbollah groups.

Departure and arrival information was replaced by a message accusing the Hezbollah group of putting Lebanon at risk of an all-out war with Israel.

The screens displayed a message with logos from a hardline Christian group dubbed Soldiers of God, which has garnered attention over the past year for its campaigns against the LGBTQ+ community in Lebanon, and a little-known group that calls itself The One Who Spoke.

In a video statement, the Christian group denies its involvement, while the other group shared photos of the screens on its social media channels.

“Hassan Nasrallah, you will no longer have supporters if you curse Lebanon with a war for which you will bear responsibility and consequences,” the message reads, echoing similar sentiments to critics over the years who have accused Hezbollah of smuggling weapons and munitions through the tiny Mediterranean country’s only civilian airport.

Qatari PM: Killing of Hamas leader in Beirut makes hostage talks more difficult

Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani (R) speaks next to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a press conference in Doha on January 7, 2024. (EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / AFP)

Qatar’s prime minister says the killing of a Hamas leader by a purported Israeli drone strike in Beirut last week has affected Doha’s ability to mediate between the terror group and Israel over the release of hostages and ceasefire efforts.

However, the Gulf state will continue its efforts, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani says in a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Doha.

He also says that hostilities along the Red Sea shipping route are “unacceptable” and an unfortunate effect of the war in Gaza.

IDF chief says Hezbollah is paying heavier price, Israel will be ‘fighting in Gaza all year’

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (right) holds an assessment in the West Bank with the commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, Brig. Gen. Yaki Dolf, January 7, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says the military is exacting increasingly heavy prices from Hezbollah, as the terror group continues to carry out attacks on northern Israel.

“2024 will be challenging, we will be at war in Gaza, I don’t know if all year — we will be fighting in Gaza all year, that’s for sure,” says Halevi during a visit to the West Bank division.

“In the north, Hezbollah has decided to enter this war, we are exacting ever-increasing prices. It paid yesterday with seven deaths, it paid yesterday with two very, very important targets, and we are increasing the price it pays,” he says.

He says the IDF has the responsibility of returning Israel’s displaced northern residents to their homes, and this will come by either the military’s pressure on Hezbollah, “or we will end up with another war.”

Blinken says Palestinians must be allowed to ‘return home’ after war, laments journalists’ deaths in Gaza

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, meets with Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, right, at Lusail Palace in Lusail, Qatar, Jan. 7, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool photo via AP)

Speaking at a news conference in Doha, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says when he visits Israel this week he will tell Israeli officials that it is imperative they do more to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza.

Blinken also says that Palestinian civilians must be allowed to “return home” after the war and must not be pressed to leave Gaza.

The US secretary of state adds that the death of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza is an “unimaginable tragedy,” and that there are too many journalists being killed in the Strip.

Troops destroyed Islamic Jihad tunnel network in Gaza City’s Shejaiya — IDF

Troops of the Yiftah Brigade operate in a Hamas tunnel in Gaza City's Shejaiya neighborhood, in an image published January 7, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says troops of the Yiftah Reserve Brigade recently raided and later destroyed a tunnel network and the home of a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood.

In the eastern part of Shejaiya, the IDF says the reservists located a tunnel shaft belonging to Islamic Jihad, which led to an underground network. Nearby, the troops found a rocket launcher.

In the northern part of Shejaiya, the Yiftah Brigade located several tunnel shafts near the home of Ahmed Samara, who the IDF says is responsible for Islamic Jihad’s tunnels in northern Gaza.

The IDF says troops of the Yiftah Reserve Brigade recently raided and later destroyed a tunnel network and the home of a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood.

In the eastern part of Shejaiya, the IDF says the reservists located a tunnel… pic.twitter.com/OxZpuqOsKS

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 7, 2024

In Samara’s home, the IDF says troops recovered several weapons, an Islamic Jihad instructional booklet, a tactical plan for the October 7 onslaught and a book about Adolf Hitler.

While working to demolish the tunnels near Samara’s home, the IDF says operatives opened fire and set off explosive devices inside the underground passages.

It says the troops spotted suspicious activity from inside the tunnel before the explosion, retreated and called in artillery strikes.

Combat engineers later destroyed the tunnels, weapons and 12 buildings in the area above the underground network, some of which were booby-trapped, according to the IDF.

Tel Aviv University study shows after Oct. 7, mental stress has ‘skyrocketed’

Israelis take cover as an air raid siren sounds in the northern town of Katzrin in the Golan Heights, October 11, 2023. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

In the three months since the Israel-Hamas war began with the terror group’s deadly assault, the mental stress of Jewish Israelis has “skyrocketed” while the population is less active and sleeping less, according to a recent Tel Aviv University study, whose results were released today.

“Approximately 23% of adult Jewish Israelis who were not directly exposed to the horrors of October 7 suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (compared to 4.5% who were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder before the outbreak of the war),” the researchers found.

In comparison, they say, in the aftermath of 9/11, only 7.5% of the population in New York City were diagnosed with post-traumatic symptoms.

They also find that after the events of October 7, “about 55% of adult Jewish Israelis suffer from clinical anxiety at various levels, and about 23% suffer from clinical anxiety at a moderate to high level.”

Using data from about 5,000 smartwatch users, the researchers also find that since the beginning of the war there is a “significant decrease in the reported mood level, in physical activity as reflected in the number of daily steps, and in the reported quality of sleep, which was accompanied by a significant increase in time awake.”

IDF admits Mount Meron air traffic control base damaged by Hezbollah

This image from video shows a Hezbollah anti-tank guided missile hitting a radar dome at an Israeli Air Force air traffic control base on Mount Meron, January 6, 2024. (Screenshot: Telegram)

The IDF admits damage was caused to its air traffic control base on Mount Meron in a Hezbollah missile attack on Saturday.

Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets and anti-tank missiles at the base, which is some 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the Lebanon border, hitting two of the radar domes, footage published by the terror group showed.

The IDF does not elaborate on the damage to the base. But according to Hezbollah’s video, the radar domes were hit.

Still, the IDF says its air defense array continues to function, as there are backup systems.

The IDF is investigating the incident, in order to prevent similar attacks on the sensitive base.

Surveillance camera footage shows car-ramming at Jerusalem checkpoint

First responders at the scene of a car-ramming attack at an East Jerusalem checkpoint on January 7, 2024. (United Hatzalah)

Police release surveillance camera footage showing the alleged car-ramming attack at a checkpoint in East Jerusalem, close to the West Bank town of Biddu.

The video shows officers checking a van at the checkpoint and allowing it through before a second car arrives and allegedly accelerates into them.

Police release surveillance camera footage showing the alleged car-ramming attack at a checkpoint in East Jerusalem, close to the West Bank town of Biddu.

The 3-year-old girl who was mistakenly killed was in the van checked by forces before the second car which hit the officers. https://t.co/kk5IZCVe3s pic.twitter.com/1vQrLuCSEa

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 7, 2024

The officers chase after the second vehicle, and open fire at its occupants.

A three-year-old Palestinian girl who was mistakenly killed by the gunfire was in the first car, police say.

Police say the incident is under further investigation.

One Border Police officer was lightly wounded after being hit by the vehicle.

Pupils to return to Sderot and Sha’ar Hanegev in early February

File: Children go to school in Sderot (Anna Kaplan /FLASH90)

Pupils from Sderot and the Sha’ar Hanegev region are slated to return to their educational frameworks starting on February 4.

The Education Ministry and the Tekuma Authority, the government body in charge of rehabilitating the Gaza envelope area, have made the decision to prepare for the return of students, according to a statement.

Since shortly after the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, the populations of Sderot and the Sha’ar Hanegev region have largely been evacuated, with most settling temporarily in the Eilat area.

The ministry is preparing for about 25,000 students to return to these areas and preparations are reportedly already underway.

“The return of children to their educational institutions is a statement that we do not intend to surrender to terrorism in any way. The Education Ministry under my leadership has done and will continue to do everything for the students whose routines have changed,” Education Minister Yoav Kisch says in a statement.

One person lightly wounded after rocket from Gaza strikes home in border town

Damage caused by a rocket fired from Gaza in the border community of Yakhini, on January 7, 2024. (Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council)

One person is lightly wounded after a rocket struck a home in the Gaza border community of Yakhini, local authorities say.

The Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council says the rocket fired from Gaza also caused damage to property and sparked a fire in the town.

Police: Palestinian girl accidentally shot dead by officers responding to car-ramming attack

First responders at the scene of a car-ramming attack in East Jerusalem on January 7, 2024. (MDA)

Police say a Palestinian child was mistakenly killed by officers during a car-ramming attack at a checkpoint in East Jerusalem.

According to police, a car with a Palestinian man and woman arrived at the checkpoint near the West Bank town of Biddu and accelerated into a Border Police officer in her 20s.

The officer was lightly wounded, and other officers opened fire at the vehicle, killing both occupants.

“As a result of the shooting at the terrorists, a girl who was in another vehicle at the crossing was hit,” police say.

According to medics, the Palestinian girl, aged three, was critically injured by the gunfire and was declared dead at the scene a short while later.

Herzog to NBC: Israel does not support Gaza displacement, reveals Hamas document for ‘terror summer camps’

President Isaac Herzog appears on NBC's 'Meet the Press' on January 7, 2024. (Courtesy)

President Isaac Herzog reveals in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” what he says is a Hamas document discovered by the IDF in Gaza about summer camps hosted by the terror group.

Speaking on the news show, Herzog says that the recently recovered document “is a directive by the commanders of Hamas as to how to manage summer camps for children in order to disseminate the values of jihad. It says it clearly to disseminate the values of jihad, and the values of the resistance meaning terror, and how to make it a militarized society.”

WATCH: Responding to a statement from an Israeli cabinet minister, Israeli Pres. @Isaac_Herzog says the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza is “absolutely not” the position of the Israeli government.

“We are a democracy. … People can say whatever they want.” pic.twitter.com/Ol3bNDTSMf

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 7, 2024

The president says that while normally summer camps are about enabling “youngsters, kids and adolescents to become citizens of the free world and with liberty, with happiness with joy, with sports — here their entire aim is to make them terrorists.”

Herzog also says that the government of Israel does not in any way support encouraging mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, saying it is “totally not the position of the Israeli government or the Israeli parliament or the Israeli public.”

He notes that while some ministers have spoken out in favor of such a move, “people can say whatever they want, in a cabinet of 30 ministers, a minister can say whatever he wants, this is Israeli politics.”

Sister of two Hamas hostages unveils ‘shoes’ exhibit along Tel Aviv boardwalk

Osnat Sharabi, whose brothers Yossi and Eli are hostages in Gaza, next to a new exhibition of shoes in Tel Aviv on January 7, 2024. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

Every kind of shoe, from slippers and sneakers to sandals, boots, hiking shoes and heels now line Tel Aviv’s beach promenade, part of an installation created today by Osnat Sharabi, whose two brothers, Yossi and Eli Sharabi, were taken hostage on October 7 from Kibbutz Be’eri.

Sharabi brought two pickup trucks of donated shoes to the boardwalk Sunday morning, because “people have to enter our shoes, walk in our footsteps,” she says. “I’m also showing them the way home.”

Palestinian 4-year-old killed at scene of car-ramming attack in East Jerusalem

First responders at the scene of a car-ramming attack at an East Jerusalem checkpoint on January 7, 2024. (United Hatzalah)

A Palestinian child has been killed in unclear circumstances amid a car-ramming attack at a checkpoint in East Jerusalem.

According to United Hatzalah, as medics were treating a young woman who was hit by a car at a checkpoint near the Palestinian town of Biddu, a four-year-old girl was brought to them in critical condition.

The child was declared dead at the scene, it says.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service says it is taking the woman in her 20s to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek hospital in good condition.

Police say officers shot the alleged assailant, but do not immediately comment on the death of the young girl.

Blinken assures Abdullah that US opposes ‘displacement of Palestinians’ from Gaza

Jordan's King Abdullah II (center right) receiving US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (second from left) in Amman on January 7, 2024 in this handout photo. (Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken assures Jordan’s King Abdullah that Washington opposes the forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, before he departed Amman for Doha.

The palace says that the king had raised Jordan’s concerns over displacement in the meeting.

Speaking to Abdullah, Blinken “stressed US opposition to forcible displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza and the critical need to protect Palestinian civilians in the West Bank from extremist settler violence,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says in a statement.

Two people lightly wounded in car-ramming attack at East Jerusalem checkpoint

Police say two people are lightly wounded in a car-ramming attack at an East Jerusalem checkpoint, near the Palestinian town of Biddu.

The assailant has been “neutralized” by Border Police officers, police say.

Netanyahu reportedly slams cabinet meeting leaks, seeks polygraphs for attendees

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, leads a cabinet meeting at the Kirya IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, January 7, 2024. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Cabinet members and high ranking officials attending discussions of national security issues must be compelled to undergo lie detector tests, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares, arguing that too many details of government deliberations are being shared with the press.

“We have a plague of leaks and I am not willing to continue like this, which is why I directed the promotion of a law that everyone who sits in cabinets and security discussions, including the political and professional ranks — will undergo a polygraph,” Channel 12 reports Netanyahu as saying during the cabinet meeting.

The prime minister’s comments come on the heels of widespread press coverage of how a meeting called to deal with the question of postwar Gaza ended in acrimony and recriminations last Thursday, erupting into a loud and angry dustup between cabinet members and the top IDF leadership.

Ex-Supreme Court president Aharon Barak to serve as Israeli judge at Hague trial

Former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak at an event held by the Hebrew University, March 30, 2017. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

Retired Supreme Court Justice Aharon Barak, 87, will be Israel’s appointee to the 15-judge panel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague that will hear South Africa’s case against Israel accusing it of genocide in Gaza, the Foreign Ministry tells The Times of Israel.

Both parties in the case get to appoint a judge, who does not have to be from the country.

Barak, a Holocaust survivor, is well-respected internationally, and will be seen as anything but an ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Over the past year, the Netanyahu government has pushed a judicial overhaul plan aimed at sidelining powers assumed by Israel’s highest court which have been widely attributed to Barak’s tenure — and the retired judge has been vocally critical of the effort.

South Africa will present its case on Thursday, followed by Israel on Friday.

After stop in Jordan, Blinken arrives in Qatar amid whirlwind Mideast tour

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Doha, Qatar, during his weeklong trip across the Middle East, on Jan. 7, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken lands in Qatar from Jordan as he continues his regional tour to discuss the Israel-Hamas war.

He will first meet Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha, then will sit with Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. The two men will hold a joint press conference after their meeting.

After Qatar, Blinken will continue to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Egypt.

Rocket fired from Lebanon hits building in northern town of Metula

A rocket fired from Lebanon hit a building in the largely evacuated northern town of Metula, causing damage but no injuries.

Other rockets fired toward the area landed in open areas, the municipality says.

According to Hebrew media reports, the building that was hit was a hotel.

Smotrich says cabinet to vote on 2024 wartime budget this week

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich holds a press conference in Jerusalem, December 26, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that the cabinet is set to approve a 2024 wartime budget later this week, after ministers approved NIS 9 billion ($2.5 billion) in financial support for IDF reservists.

“The State of Israel puts the reservists and their families at the center and this is the anchor of the budget for 2024 that we will deliver this weekend,” Smotrich says in a joint statement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Israel last year approved a two-year budget for 2023 and 2024, but the ongoing war against Hamas has shaken government finances, requiring budget updates and additional spending.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Al Jazeera accuses Israel of ‘targeting’ two of its reporters slain in Gaza

Al Jazeera journalist Wael Dahdouh holds the hand of his son Hamza, who also worked for Al Jazeera and who was killed in a purported Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Jan. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

Al Jazeera condemns the killing and “targeting” of Palestinian journalists in Gaza after two reporters working for the Qatar-based television reportedly died in a strike on their car.

Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of its Gaza corresponent Wael Al-Dahdouh, and Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for AFP who was working for Al Jazeera, both died in the strike in Rafah.

“Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemns the Israeli occupation forces’ targeting of Palestinian journalists’ car,” the company says in a statement, accusing Israel of “violating the principles of freedom of the press.”

The IDF has denied that it targets civilians and did not immediately comment on the incident.

Kfir Brigade troops destroy more than 100 Hamas targets in Khan Younis — IDF

Troops of the Kfir Brigade operate in southern Gaza's Khan Younis in a handout image published January 7, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says troops of the Kfir Brigade have killed dozens of terror operatives and destroyed more than 100 Hamas targets in the Khan Younis area, including tunnels.

In one recent incident, the IDF says soldiers of the brigade operating in Bani Suheila, on the outskirts of Khan Younis, encountered a five-man Hamas cell and directed an aircraft to strike them.

The IDF says troops of the Kfir Brigade killed dozens of terror operatives and destroyed more than 100 Hamas targets in the Khan Younis area, including tunnels.

In one recent incident, the IDF says soldiers of the brigade operating in Bani Suheila, on the outskirts of Khan… pic.twitter.com/itGggtQfLh

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 7, 2024

After the gun battle, the troops located and destroyed a site where the operatives were holed up, the IDF says.

In another area of Khan Younis, the IDF says the Kfir soldiers found a large cache of weapons, including firearms, grenades, and explosives, some of which were hidden inside bags bearing the logo of UNRWA, the agency for Palestinian refugees in the Strip.

The IDF says combat engineers working alongside the Kfir Brigade destroyed a Hamas command center used by the terror group to plan the October 7 onslaught.

Other Hamas targets destroyed by the troops included observation and anti-tank missile launch positions, tunnel shafts, and underground passages, the IDF says.

Histadrut labor union backs 100-minute strike on 100th day since October 7

Israelis attend the weekly rally calling for the return of hostages held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, January 6, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Arnon Ben-David, the chairman of the powerful Histadrut labor union, says that he has agreed to a request by the families of the hostages to hold a 100-minute labor strike on January 14, which will be the 100th day since October 7, when they were kidnapped by Hamas.

The brief strike will entail halting work for 100 minutes and taking part in rallies to support the families of the Hamas hostages still being held captive in Gaza.

It is believed that 132 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 — including 25  bodies of those who have been confirmed to have been killed — remain in Gaza.

Woman hurt in morning’s West Bank attack taken to Jerusalem hospital in serious condition

Hebrew reports that a second person who was injured in this morning’s terror shooting attack on the West Bank’s Route 465 is in very serious condition.

The woman, a 42-year-old resident of Jaffa, was reportedly in the car that was driving behind 33-year-old Ammar Mansour, who was killed in the attack.

A Palestinian passerby took her to a hospital in Ramallah, the reports say, and she was transferred after several hours to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital.

The woman is a pharmacist who herself worked at Hadassah for 17 years, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

University of Haifa students suspended for incitement have punishment repealed

Eight Arab students at the University of Haifa who were suspended last week for post-October 7 social media posts that were seen as expressing support for Hamas have had their suspension repealed after an appeal, Haaretz reports.

The university reportedly announced yesterday that the suspension was no longer in effect, after an appeal by Adalah, a civil rights organization focusing on Israel’s Arab citizens. The students were to have been suspended pending the results of a disciplinary process, which the students will still undergo. The university has also started a mediation process with the students in question.

In a similar case, the Ben-Gurion University administration said today that it would seek suspension of a student also accused of making inflammatory posts after October 7, after the university’s own disciplinary committee gave the student a reprimand and 40 hours of community service.

Government okays $2.5 billion multi-stage plan of wartime assistance for IDF reservists

Three months into Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the cabinet approves a NIS 9 billion plan ($2.5 billion) wartime assistance program for IDF reserve soldiers, following claims that the state is neglecting the 360,000 Israelis who were called up for reserve duty in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught

The package expands the existing financial assistance available for reserve soldiers and their partners, with a special compensation track for self-employed reservists who lost their incomes while serving in the army over the past three months.

“The reservists will receive the money without delay,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares, announcing the program’s first tranche of NIS 1.5 billion ($400 million), followed by two additional phases that will come after the government approves the state budget for 2024.

“The program includes grants, discounts and benefits for reservists as well as their family members — spouses as well as children, and self-employed reservists,” Netanyahu says, adding that he “instructed the finance minister and the defense minister not to wait for the budget to be passed” but to find ready sources of funds immediately.

IDF says it found proof Hamas developed guided cruise missiles under Iranian guidance

Parts of what the IDF says is a cruise missile developed by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in an image published January 7, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Troops operating in Gaza City have discovered what the Israeli military says is technological equipment including components used by Hamas to build accurate missiles, a capability that until now the terror group was not believed to possess.

The IDF says Nahal Brigade soldiers and special forces recently raided a Hamas site in the area of Gaza City’s Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods, finding a tunnel shaft leading to an underground weapons manufacturing plant.

The soldiers found “components proving terrorists of the Hamas terror organization learned under Iranian guidance how to operate and build precision components and strategic weapons,” the IDF says.

The IDF shares images of what it says are the rocket engine and warhead of a cruise missile developed by Hamas.

Hamas is known to possess anti-tank guided missiles and small explosive drones — used at short range — as well as makeshift explosive-laden autonomous submarines, or underwater drones, but not long-range guided missiles.

The terror group also possesses shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, which are not effective against Israeli aircraft.

It is unclear if Hamas ever deployed its guided missiles, or was only in the development stage.

Grandson of Hamas founder Yassin said killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, talks to the media during a celebration to welcome him back to Gaza, held at the Islamic complex in Gaza City, June 25, 1998. (AP Photo/Adel Hana, File)

Palestinian media sources report the death in an Israeli airstrike of Ali Salem Abu Ajwa, the grandson of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who founded the Hamas terror group in Gaza in 1987 and served as its spiritual leader until he was killed by Israel in 2004.

Abu Ajwa, who reportedly died this morning, is claimed to have worked as a journalist in Gaza.

استشهاد الأعلامي علي سالم أبو عجوة حفيد الشيخ المؤسس القائد أحمد ياسين خلال غارة جوية استهدفته مُقبلاً pic.twitter.com/gzkwp8el0A

— رَوَنْد (@RawannddS) January 7, 2024

IDF says it struck several Hezbollah targets, including apparent arms depots

The IDF says it carried out airstrikes on several Hezbollah targets in Lebanon earlier today.

Troops struck a Hezbollah cell spotted near the southern Lebanese town of Marwahin, and fighter jets hit several buildings used by Hezbollah in Labbouneh, Majdal Zoun and Bint Jbeil, the IDF says.

It says that secondary explosions were seen in some of the buildings that were hit, indicating they were used as weapons depots.

The IDF also announces that last night, air defenses intercepted a “hostile aerial target” that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon, near the northern community of Even Menachem.

The IDF says it carried out airstrikes on several Hezbollah targets in Lebanon earlier today.

Troops struck a Hezbollah cell identified near the southern Lebanese town of Marwahin, and fighter jets hit several buildings used by Hezbollah in Labbouneh, Majdal Zoun, and Bint… pic.twitter.com/aPdxLeecBu

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 7, 2024

Netanyahu vows to keep up war on Hamas, warns Hezbollah ‘no terrorist is immune’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, leads a cabinet meeting at the Kirya IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, January 7, 2024. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

At the opening of the cabinet meeting at the Kirya IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu offers a message of unity, while signaling to the White House that Israel is not about to wind down its campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

“The war must not be stopped until we complete all of its goals — the elimination of Hamas, the return of all our hostages, and a promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel,” says Netanyahu. “I say this to both our enemies and our friends. This is our responsibility and this is the commitment from all of us.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due in Israel this week to discuss the war in Gaza and tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border.

As Netanyahu faces renewed protests calling for his resignation, and accusations of politicizing key discussions in the war cabinet, the prime minister says: ”We must put every other consideration aside, and continue together until total victory. This victory will only be achieved when we complete our goals and when we restore security to the residents of the north and the south alike.”

Netanyahu also sounds a warning to Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group after an escalation over the weekend in the simmering conflict on Israel’s northern border: “I suggest that Hezbollah learn what Hamas has already learned in recent months: no terrorist is immune. We are determined to protect our citizens and return the residents of the north safely to their homes. This is a national goal that we all share and we act responsibly to achieve it. If we can, we will do it through diplomatic means, and if not, we will act in other ways.”

Gantz appears to defend Netanyahu from report he may attack Lebanon for political gain

Despite mounting tensions between them, war cabinet minister Benny Gantz appears to defend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the Washington Post reports that the United States believes the premier may launch a war against the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon to improve his political standing.

In a statement released on X in Hebrew and English, Gantz says, “The only consideration here is Israel’s security, and nothing else. That is our duty to our country and our citizens.”

He says that “the reality where the citizens of Northern Israel cannot return to their homes – requires an urgent solution. The world must remember that it was the terrorist organisation Hezbollah that initiated the escalation. Israel is interested in a diplomatic solution, but if one cannot be found – Israel and the IDF will remove the threat. All of the War Cabinet’s members share this view.”

Tel Aviv resident jailed for 30 months over 2022 assault on fellow driver with helmet

The Tel Aviv District Court sentences Tel Aviv resident Aryeh Greenfeld, 36, to 30 months in prison and a suspended sentence of four months for a road rage incident in November 2022 in which he hit a driver on the head with his helmet.

Greenfeld, who was riding his motorcycle, hit a car driver several times on the head with his helmet on Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway, with the final blow briefly knocking the victim unconscious and causing him to be hospitalized with skull fractures and intracranial bleeding, before making a recovery.

Jordan’s King Abdullah says US must pressure Israel to agree to ceasefire in Gaza

Jordan’s King Abdullah has warned visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken of the “catastrophic repercussions” of the continuation of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, a palace statement says.

The monarch also told Blinken that Washington has a major role to play in putting pressure on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the statement says.

Fatality in West Bank terror shooting named as Israeli citizen from East Jerusalem

The East Jerusalem man killed in this morning’s shooting terror attack in the West Bank is named by Hebrew media as Ammar Mansour of the Beit Hanina neighborhood.

Mansour, 33, an Israeli citizen, was killed in his car on Route 465, with the IDF saying the motive was terror-related. The suspected Palestinian gunmen fled the scene and Israeli forces are searching for them.

Hebrew media say that a woman who had been in another car was injured in the attack and was taken by a Palestinian passerby to a hospital in Ramallah.

הנרצח בפיגוע הירי הבוקר בבנימין: עמאר מנסור, בן 33 מבית חנינא. אב ל2 ילדים.
אישה שהייתה איתו נפצעה, ופונתה לבית חולים ברמאללה ע״י פלסטיני שעבר במקום pic.twitter.com/2xAGk0xmvt

— Carmel Dangor כרמל דנגור (@carmeldangor) January 7, 2024

Ben-Gurion University to seek suspension over student’s ‘disturbing reaction’ to Oct. 7

Illustrative: Students walk around the campus at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba, on May 8, 2013. (Dudu Greenspan/ Flash90)

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is to appeal a Thursday ruling by its own disciplinary committee against a student who posted on social media in the days after the October 7 Hamas assault, the university says, pursuing a harsher punishment.

The student’s identity and the exact details of the posting are confidential, but it was an “inappropriate and disturbing reaction to the massacre,” according to a university statement.

Found guilty during the Thursday ruling, the student was given a “severe reprimand and 40 hours of community service” and, although the student took down the post and sent a letter of apology, the university will appeal and request suspension, a university spokesperson tells the Times of Israel.

“Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s administration strongly condemns the way the student addressed the October 7 massacre on social media. There is no room here for narratives or context – Hamas and its collaborators perpetrated murder and crimes against humanity. Any other way to present the events of that day is a lie and there is no room for the propagation of ‘fake news’ by anyone in the university community. The university will not tolerate any form of support for terrorism, the horrific murders of October 7, or racism, and will deal with any instances to the fullest,” the administration says in its statement.

Last week, eight students at the University of Haifa were suspended for allegedly praising the October 7 attack.

Rocket alarm sounds in Nahal Oz and Holit in Gaza border area

Air raid sirens blare in the evacuated Gaza border area Israeli communities of Nahal Oz and Holit.

There are no immediate response of impacts or casualties.

It appears to be the first projectiles launched from Gaza since around 6 p.m. yesterday, meaning the first in 17 hours.

IDF says deadly West Bank shooting was a terror attack

The IDF says the deadly shooting in the West Bank this morning was a terror attack.

In a statement, the IDF says it has launched a manhunt for the terrorists behind the attack on the Route 465 highway, close to the settlement of Ofra, and set up roadblocks in the area.

An Israeli man, identified by media reports as a 33-year-old East Jerusalem resident, was killed in the attack.

Report: US worries Netanyahu will launch war in Lebanon to save his political career

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) meets with US special envoy Amos Hochstein in Tel Aviv, January 4, 2024 (Prime Minister's Office via X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Officials in US President Joe Biden’s administration worry that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may launch a full-on war against the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon to stabilize his domestic standing and salvage his teetering political career, the Washington Post reports.

Netanyahu has dipped in opinion polls since the war began, with the public evidently attributing to him a significant portion of the blame for the failures that enabled Hamas’s October 7 massacres.

Multiple senior Israeli leaders have repeatedly said Hezbollah must be driven away from the Israel-Lebanon border, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 from 2006, vowing that if this isn’t achieved via diplomacy, it will be achieved militarily.

The Post cites over a dozen unnamed Biden administration officials and diplomats in its report, which says the US has dispatched senior envoys — presumably including Amos Hochstein and Secretary of State Antony Blinken — to Israel in order to prevent a full-blown war between the Jewish state and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The report says part of tensions between Jerusalem and Washington on the matter is due to the IDF having allegedly hit posts belonging to the US-backed Lebanese Armed Forces at least 34 times since October 7.

An Israeli official tells the US outlet that the country doesn’t deliberately target Lebanese army positions.

Modeling agent jailed for 7.5 years for sexually abusing 8 people, including teen girls

The Tel Aviv District Court sentences a 45-year-old modeling agent from central Israel to seven and a half years in prison after being convicted of a series of sexual offenses against eight people, including three underage girls.

Nir Sandler, a resident of Moshav Zeitan, used his position as head of his talent management firm, Passion Management, to abuse eight aspiring teenage models and actresses since 2013.

According to the charge sheet, filed in 2019, Sandler told them the sex acts were part of the “professional training” that they needed to undergo in order to get acting or modeling jobs.

3 National Unity party ministers to skip cabinet meeting, after Netanyahu-Gantz spat

In a possible sign of worsening tensions in the emergency government, three ministers from Benny Gantz’s National Unity party are set to skip today’s cabinet meeting, Hebrew media reports.

Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot and Chili Tropper — all from National Unity’s centrist Blue and White faction rather than Gideon Sa’ar’s right-wing New Hope — will not attend the weekly meeting of ministers headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The move comes after Gantz and Netanyahu publicly sparred, during a security cabinet meeting that had been meant to focus on a vision for postwar Gaza, over the conduct of ministers who slammed IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi for the military probe he announced into October 7 failures.

Some ministers have been absent from cabinet meetings since the war began due to scheduling issues.

IDF strikes Hamas Nukhba forces, finds Gaza arms, tunnels, destroys rocket launchers

IDF troops operate inside the Gaza Strip in a handout photo released for publication on January 7, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

In a recap of military operations in the Gaza Strip overnight and yesterday, the IDF says that in central Gaza’s al-Bureij, troops of the Golani Brigade spotted several Hamas Nukhba force members loading a car with weapons.

A drone spotted the cell entering the car, and carried out a strike against them, the IDF says, attaching footage of the overnight strike.

In central Gaza's al-Bureij, the IDF says troops of the Golani Brigade spotted several Hamas Nukhba force members loading a car with weapons.

A drone spotted the cell entering the car, and carried out a strike against them, the IDF says, attaching footage of the overnight… pic.twitter.com/qSjHr5Na8E

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 7, 2024

In the same area, another armed Hamas operative was spotted by a drone approaching forces. The IDF says Golani troops directed an airstrike on the gunman.

In the adjacent al-Maghazi, the IDF says Golani soldiers found a tunnel shaft with a cache of weapons hidden inside.

Also in central Gaza, the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade located a weapons manufacturing plant, and nearby, two tunnel shafts. The IDF says troops killed several Hamas operatives during battles in the area.

Meanwhile in northern Gaza, the IDF says troops of the Nahal Brigade spotted the location from which rockets were fired at Ashkelon last week.

It says that troops raided the site in Beit Lahiya yesterday, and located dozens of rocket launchers, which were later destroyed by combat engineers.

IDF troops find rocket launchers and rockets next to a tunnel shaft in the northern Gaza Strip’s Beit Lahiya, in a handout photo released for publication on January 7, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Border Police cop Shay Germay killed during counterterror op in West Bank’s Jenin

Border Police officer Sgt. Shay Germay, killed in a counterterror operation in Jenin, West Bank on January 7, 2024. (Israel Police)

A Border Police officer was killed during an overnight counterterror operation in the northern West Bank’s Jenin.

Sgt. Shay Germay, 19, from Karmiel, was in a vehicle hit by a roadside bomb during the raid, in which six Palestinians were killed. Three of her comrades in the Border Police vehicle were lightly to moderately hurt.

Germay’s family has been notified, with her death subsequently cleared for publication.

Forces launch manhunt for suspected terrorists; motive for shooting being probed

Israeli forces are searching for the suspected Palestinian terrorists who fatally shot an Israeli man in his 30s.

Route 465 and the nearby Route 60 highway have been temporarily closed to traffic in both directions as forces try to locate the shooters, who have fled.

According to Hebrew media, the motive for the attack is under investigation and multiple possibilities are being looked into.

Israeli man killed in suspected West Bank shooting terror attack

An Israeli man has been killed in a shooting on Route 465 in the West Bank, between the settlements of Eli and Ofra, in a suspected terror attack.

The victim, in his 30s, is declared dead by Magen David Adom medics at the scene.

Some Hebrew media reports say he’s Arab Israeli.

Four Border Police officers injured, 2 seriously, in overnight counter-terror op in Jenin

Four Border Police officers were wounded by a roadside bomb and six Palestinian were killed in an airstrike during an overnight raid in the West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp.

In a joint statement, the IDF and police say forces entered Jenin for a counter-terrorism operation, when an explosive device planted on the side of a road hit a Border Police vehicle.

Two officers were seriously wounded, another moderately, and the fourth was lightly hurt, according to police.

The IDF says that during the extraction of the wounded officers, an attack helicopter carried out an airstrike against a group of Palestinian gunmen hurling explosives at troops.

The Palestinian Authority health ministry says six were killed in the strike.

Israeli airstrike kills 6 Palestinians in Jenin, says PA health ministry

An Israeli airstrike killed six Palestinians in the West Bank city of Jenin, the Palestinian Authority health ministry said early on Sunday.

The strike targeted a gathering in Jenin, the health ministry added in a brief statement.

Berlin police open probe after Israelis speaking Hebrew attacked at local eatery

German police are investigating after a 27-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man from Israel said they were attacked at a restaurant in northern Berlin after a patron overheard them chatting in Hebrew.

The pair came under verbal assault by an Arabic-speaking man who was sitting nearby and who later attacked them physically as well, hurling a bottle at the woman and punching the man in the face, police said in a statement cited on social media and by public broadcaster Kan.

Both the attacker and a person sitting with him, also an Arabic-speaking man, according to police, fled the scene.

The police said the Israeli pair did not seek medical attention, despite sustaining some minor injuries.

An investigation has been launched, police said.

Pro-Palestinian protesters block Seattle freeway for several hours

Protesters calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war block Interstate 5 northbound, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 in downtown Seattle. (AP/Lindsey Wasson)

SEATTLE — Protesters calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war blocked northbound traffic on Interstate 5 in Seattle for several hours Saturday.

Additional demonstrators on a nearby overpass cheered in support of the blockade, which began around 1:15 p.m., the Seattle Times reported. The state transportation department said on the social media platform X that traffic at one point was backed up more than 6 miles (9.7 kilometers), and the agency asked drivers to use alternate routes.

Demonstrators chanted “Free, free Palestine” and “Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go.”

Seattle police posted on social media at 3:40 p.m. that officers gave a dispersal order, though protesters disputed receiving any such orders. Stormy weather, including hail, moved through the area, and protesters left the freeway around 4:45 p.m., according to the Times.

Trooper Rick Johnson with the Washington State Patrol said via X that while people had abandoned the freeway, 12 vehicles were left behind. He said the roadway would reopen when they were towed.

US defense chief pledges transparency after hospitalization

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday accepted responsibility for failing to disclose a recent hospitalization, following reports that even top White House officials and President Joe Biden were in the dark that he was ill and unable to carry out his duties.

The Pentagon waited until Friday evening to announce that Austin, 70, had been hospitalized four days prior “for complications following a recent elective medical procedure” — a breach of standard protocol at a time when the United States is embroiled in the Middle East crisis.

NBC News reported Austin was in the intensive care unit for four days, and remained at the hospital on Saturday.

“I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better,” Austin says in a statement.

“But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure.”

He adds that he would be “returning to the Pentagon soon,” thanking the doctors and staff at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for their care.

Qatari PM tells hostages’ families talks with Hamas harder after terror chief killed in Beirut — report

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani met with the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, who traveled to Doha on Friday in a bid to revive talks to return their loved ones from the Gaza Strip, according to an Axios report.

Thani told the families talks with Hamas were more complicated by the killing in Beirut on Tuesday of the terror group’s deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri and several other senior members of the Gaza-ruling group, in a strike that has widely been attributed to Israel. Following Arouri’s assassination, Hamas reportedly froze negotiations via Qatar and Egypt, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday claimed to the relatives of hostages that talks for their return were ongoing.

Axios reports that the Qatari PM told the visiting families that “it is more difficult to talk to Hamas after what happened in Beirut,” citing a Qatari official.

The families of six Israeli hostages held by Hamas traveled to Doha, which also hosts Hamas leaders, on Friday for meetings with officials, marking the first such instance.

The families met with Qatari Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, who heads the Qatari negotiations team, and later with the Qatari premier, according to the report.

Qatar is “painfully aware of the suffering of the remaining hostages and their loved ones,” the Qatari official tells Axios.

Qatar brokered the release of 105 hostages over a weeklong truce in late November and 132 hostages taken on October 7 by Hamas-led terrorists remain in the Palestinian enclave– not all of them alive.

Qatar and Egypt have been trying to broker a new deal that would potentially see dozens of hostages freed in exchange for a pause in fighting.

“We have engaged directly with the hostages’ families to share as much information as possible, and to assure them that Qatar is committed to using every resource to secure their release,” the official said, according to Axios.

“We are using every possible channel, and collaborating closely with our counterparts in the US and Israel…but Qatar is a mediator. It does not control Hamas,” the official said.

The official noted it was “increasingly difficult” to maintain the channels of communication open with Hamas following the “escalation of bombardment in Gaza and elsewhere, which candidly complicates the hostage negotiations.”

The official said Qatar would continue its communication with the hostages’ families.

French minister urges Iran to stop ‘destabilizing acts’

France’s foreign minister told her Iranian counterpart Saturday that “Iran and its affiliates” must stop “destabilizing acts” that could spark a broader conflict in the Middle East amid the war in Gaza.

During a telephone call with Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Catherine Colonna “delivered a very clear message: the risk of regional conflagration has never been so great; Iran and its affiliates must immediately cease their destabilizing acts,” according to a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

“Nobody would win from escalation,” it added.