The Times of Israel liveblogged Monday’s events as they happened.
Donald Trump officially nominated as GOP presidential candidate

MILWAUKEE — Donald Trump wins formal nomination as the Republican presidential candidate and picked a right-wing loyalist for running mate, kicking off a triumphalist party convention in the wake of last weekend’s failed assassination attempt.
Trump announces 39-year-old Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his vice presidential pick, rewarding a one-time harsh critic who became one of his most reliable — and uncompromising — supporters in Congress.
Trump, 78, is guaranteed a hero’s welcome at the convention in Milwaukee, where delegates deliver their formal nomination two days after the scandal-plagued former president survived an assassination attempt at a rally.
“As Vice President, J.D. will continue to fight for our Constitution, stand with our Troops, and will do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” Trump posts on Truth Social.
While Trump is increasingly confident of a shock return to the White House — despite multiple legal problems and two impeachments during his first term — US President Joe Biden is reeling from weak polls and Democratic concerns over his health.
In the delegates count in Milwaukee, Eric Trump put his father over the threshold on behalf of the Florida delegation, calling him “the greatest president that ever lived.”
Rocket sirens wail in Kiryat Shmona, surrounding areas
Incoming rocket sirens are sounding in the northern communities of Kiryat Shmona, Margaliot, and Manara.
Red Alert [23:30:25] – 3 Alerts:
• Confrontation Line — Margaliot, Kiryat Shmona, Manara#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/TjIEbzA2sh
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) July 15, 2024
Aid groups accuse IDF of preventing aid from reaching Gaza

PARIS, France — Access to war-torn Gaza has become increasingly difficult for humanitarian groups, 13 leading NGOs warn, accusing Israel’s military of blocking much-needed aid from reaching the besieged Palestinian territory.
Denouncing “Israel’s systematic obstruction of aid and its ongoing attacks on aid operations,” the humanitarian organizations say that Israel had facilitated only 53 — less than half — of the 115 relief missions they had planned.
The aid groups slam what it called Israel’s “siege tactics” in its struggle against Palestinian terror group Hamas.
It says the so-called “humanitarian zone” where most of the strip’s population of 2.4 million people now reside had become “an active combat zone” and “extremely unsafe.”
The charities also criticize the bombing of United Nations schools used as shelters by displaced Palestinians.
At least six schools have been hit over the past nine days.
Israel has provided evidence that Hamas and other terror groups use schools, including those run by the UN, to store weapons and stage attacks against Israel.
“These recent events are exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe at a time when NGOs continue to come up against the obstacles imposed by the continuation of Israeli military operations on the ground,” a press release summarizing the 13 NGOs’ views warns.
Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council are among the charities to contribute to the document.
Since Israel began its ground offensive in the far-southern city of Rafah in May, humanitarian workers have faced major difficulties in delivering aid to the Gaza Strip’s south.
Israel’s capture at the beginning of May of the Rafah crossing brought aid deliveries to a “complete halt,” the NGOs added, without mentioning that it is Egypt that has refused to send trucks through the crossing while it remains under Israeli control.
Tons of “absolutely necessary aid” were left blocked at the crossing points in the south “due to the deterioration in security conditions,” the statement says.
More than 1,500 trucks of humanitarian aid containing medicines, first-aid kits, and basic necessities are stuck in the Egyptian city of Al-Arish as a result.
Meanwhile, in the north of the Gaza Strip — which has been isolated from the south by the Israeli army — aid delivery is “very limited.”
Oxfam says it took it five weeks to transport just 1,600 food parcels from Jordan to Gaza — a journey it said “should take no more than six hours.”
At Kerem Shalom, designated since May as a priority crossing point for humanitarian aid, the situation had “deteriorated significantly since Israel’s offensive in May,” the aid groups say.
This had made the crossing “unsafe to access from within Gaza and currently not logistically viable.”
Israel has repeatedly said there are no restrictions to the amount of aid that can enter Gaza and accuses the United Nations and other aid groups of failing to distribute aid deliveries.
“Yesterday, 211 trucks entered Gaza via Kerem Shalom,” Israeli government spokesman David Mencer says.
In addition, “eight trucks were collected on the Gaza side” of the Erez along with “103 from the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom,” he adds.
Biden campaign calls Trump’s VP pick a ‘far-right MAGA extremist’

WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden’s campaign dismisses Donald Trump’s newly-unveiled running mate J.D. Vance as a “far-right MAGA extremist.”
“Vance is a 2020 election denier, supports a national abortion ban, and voted against IVF access,” Biden’s team says.
The president says Vance “talks a big game about working people. But now, he and Trump want to raise taxes on middle-class families while pushing more tax cuts for the rich.”
Hezbollah says terror group member killed in Israeli strike on weapons depot
The Hezbollah terror group announces the death of a member killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes.
He is named as Amer Dagher, from Bint Jbeil.
The announcement comes after the IDF said it carried out a strike on a Hezbollah weapons depot in Bint Jbeil.
His death brings the terror group’s toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to 367.
Israel said to demand exile for those convicted of murder to be released in hostage deal

Israel is currently demanding that terrorists convicted of murder who are released as part of a hostage deal be exiled to Gaza or another country, Channel 12 news reports, citing senior Israeli officials aware of the details.
The demand has been made to avoid opposition to a deal from far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who have said they would withdraw from the government if such prisoners are released in exchange for hostages.
Israel could request that at least 50 terrorists convicted of murder — who are released in exchange for hostages — be exiled to Gaza or sent to another country, the report says.
Trump selects US Senator J.D. Vance, a former critic, as his running mate

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — Donald Trump selects J.D. Vance, a Republican US senator from Ohio, as his running mate, elevating a politician who once criticized the former president in acid terms, but has since become one of his most stalwart defenders.
He says on his Truth Social Network, “After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio.”
The selection of James David Vance, author of the bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” could increase the odds of Trump supporters turning out for the November 5 election, as the Ohio native is deeply popular with the Republican candidate’s base.
A staunch conservative from a Republican state, Vance is unlikely to bring many new voters into Trump’s corner, however, and may even alienate some moderates. Some Trump supporters had pushed him to select a woman or person of color as his No. 2 to expand a coalition that skews toward white men.
AP contributed to this report.
Ship carrying military advisers, materials to build missiles, said to vanish on way to Houthi-controlled Yemen
A ship carrying foreign military advisers and materials to manufacture missiles disappeared while en route to Houthi-controlled Yemen on Saturday, the UAE’s Al-Ain Al Ekhbariya reports, citing unnamed security sources in Yemen.
The report did not specify which country the foreign advisers were from, only that they were not from Yemen.
The ship was traveling from the Horn of Africa, and was scheduled to arrive on Friday, the report says.
Top Houthi officials and experts from Iran gathered to discuss the incident in Sana’a, concluding the ship may have been sunk by the United States, or other members of the international coalition currently defending vessels from attacks by the rebel group in the area.
Ex-envoy Friedman: Attempted assassination of Trump and Oct. 7 both inexcusable security failures

David Friedman, the Trump administration’s ambassador to Israel, says the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump “is our October 7” — a reference to the catastrophic Hamas invasion and slaughter in southern Israel nine months ago — in terms of the inexplicable security failures involved.
In an interview with Channel 12 news, Friedman is asked how it was that the gunman was able to target Trump: “What happened to the Secret Service, that lapse in security?”
Friedman replies: “Well, look, you had your October 7 — which at this point no one’s been able to explain how that could have happened, right? And this is our October 7.”
“It doesn’t make any sense to me whatsoever how somebody could crawl up on a roof in plain sight, have a clear sight at the president of the United States, or former president, giving a speech,” Friedman continues. “Snipers on the roof, from what I’m told, were delayed in taking shots. I mean the whole thing is inexplicable.
“But unfortunately, we’re getting used to that in this world — some really colossal failures of security and of intelligence that lead to these kinds of horrific results,” he adds.
Friedman, who notes that he did not see the shooting when it occurred — because, he was “embarrassed to say,” he was fast asleep in Israel (where it was the very early hours of Sunday morning) — says he was “incredibly concerned” when he saw what had happened. “This is a dear friend of mine.”
But, he adds, “When I saw how he jumped up, how he forced the Secret Service to let him up, even while his face was dripping blood, to make sure that everybody knew he was OK, to stand up, that’s the Donald Trump I knew.”
“With all the trauma around, I couldn’t help but smile, because that’s really the guy I knew… His instincts really came through in that event. A lot of people, I would assume, under those circumstances, would want to stay low, they’d want to stay out of the public sight. All he wanted to do was get up, stand up, raise his fist triumphantly that he had survived and he was fine. And that’s who he is.”

Asked how Trump is now, Friedman says, “He’s really OK, he’s even better than OK. He sees, probably, some real divine providence in the fact that he could have lost his life had the bullet been one millimeter in a different direction.”
Friedman adds that he personally is “kind of optimistic about where this will take us — both [Trump] personally and as a country, that it’ll maybe bring us back to a place of greater civility within our discourse.”
If Trump is reelected, says Friedman, “you’ll get the same president Trump as we had from 2017 to 2021,” marked by “strong support for Israel.”

Regarding Trump’s observations on the war, he says, “Most Israelis, I would think, would support a quick, decisive victory by Israel. Now, it hasn’t been quick but it’s certainly moving now towards being decisive. He supports that completely.”
Trump, says Friedman, “thinks the war should end when Israel’s victorious — not before that” and backs a decisive Israeli victory against “these horrific terrorist foes.” Trump, he says, is “100 percent behind Israel.”
Asked about his own potential future role, Friedman says he thinks about it “all the time,” but stresses: “It’s up to him. I’ll be honored to serve the United States in whatever way he thinks is best.”
IDF strikes Hezbollah arms depot in southern Lebanon
A Hezbollah weapons depot in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil was struck by Israeli fighter jets a short while ago, the IDF says.
Another building used by the terror group in Kafr Kila was also struck, the military adds.
A Hezbollah weapons depot in southern Lebanon's Bint Jbeil was struck by Israeli fighter jets a short while ago, the IDF says.
Another building used by the terror group in Kafr Kila was also struck, the military adds. pic.twitter.com/AuajCvNl4a
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) July 15, 2024
Donald Trump has decided on VP pick; Rubio and Burgum counted out

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) — Donald Trump has made his decision on his vice presidential pick, according to a person familiar with his thinking who speaks on the condition of anonymity.
Trump’s pick is expected to appear at the Republican National Convention later this afternoon, when the vice president is formally nominated.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has been informed that he is not Trump’s vice presidential pick, according to a person familiar with their conversation. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has also been told that he will not be chosen as Trump’s running mate, AP sources say.
National Unity offers conditional support for bill to extend mandatory army service

The opposition National Unity party lists its conditions for supporting a bill to extend mandatory military service for males to three years.
First, it says, the bill must be a temporary measure for two years, “until the recruitment rates from among all populations, including the ultra-Orthodox society, are increased.” In its current form, the measure will last for the next five years.
Second, it requests that combat and combat-support soldiers, who must serve 36 months under the law, be given a significantly higher compensation for their service, equal to that of soldiers who sign on for a career service.
Third, the party requests the military send out recruitment orders for ultra-Orthodox and Arab citizens for IDF and other forms of national service.
MK Gideon Sa’ar tells reporters he will support the bill in its current form.
PM: Lapid should speak out against incitement against me, ‘he doesn’t do anything’

Speaking to Channel 14, Benjamin Netanyahu says Opposition Leader Yair Lapid should publicly denounce incitement against the prime minister and his family. “I would expect him to act like I acted, to come out against these things. When I was the opposition leader, I came out against these things. He doesn’t do anything.”
He also says he expected Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and law enforcement officials “to act against these crimes that risk [leading to] political assassination.”
Netanyahu has been highlighting the incitement issue since the assassination attempt against presidential candidate Donald Trump.
On Saturday’s strike against Hamas military leader Muhammad Deif, Netanyahu says, “There are interesting indications” that the attack was successful. “I don’t want to say anything categorical until we receive more information.”
Netanyahu insists that the strike will make a hostage release deal more likely: “Hamas is weak. The more you strike it, you move the deal forward. That is what has changed….after months where it thought it was safe. It sees it is not safe. The IDF went with strength into the Philadelphi Route, it conquered the Rafah Crossing, killed hundreds of terrorists there, killed hundreds of terrorists in the central Gaza Strip. This pressure, and the firm stance of the political echelon, mine, is slowly bringing them to change, to surrender, or at least to show flexibility.”
“We have to increase the pressure now,” he continues. “The more we increase the pressure, then we will be able to release the maximum number of hostages in the first stage, while also moving us toward our goal of eliminating Hamas.”
Netanyahu pledges that Israel will remain on the Philadelphi Route, despite Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s recent statements that a deal would allow Israeli troops to withdraw from the Egypt-Gaza border.
TV report: Gallant tells hostage families to meet urgently with PM, since deal can and should be done

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told relatives of IDF observation soldiers held hostage by Hamas at a meeting earlier today that a hostage-truce deal is closer than it has ever been and that the security establishment sees no insurmountable security obstacles to it, Channel 12 reports.
He reportedly advised the families to schedule a meeting in the next few days with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make sure the opportunity is not missed.
“When a deal was not possible, I told you,” the report, which it says is based on multiple sources, quotes Gallant as saying. “Now it is [possible], so I’m telling you: it’s closer than it has ever been. There is complete unanimity in the defense establishment — the IDF, the Shin Bet and the Mossad — that there is no insurmountable security obstacle to the deal from their point of view.”
Gallant reportedly went on: “The matter is not parked with us [in the defense establishment]. It is critical to move ahead with decisions in the near future. It’s important to finalize the processes in the coming days, before the prime minister’s trip to Washington or in the course of his visit. After that, it will be much more difficult and complicated.”
Netanyahu heads to the US next week, to address a joint session of Congress and for talks at the White House with President Joe Biden.
The families reportedly asked Gallant how exactly they should proceed, and whether Netanyahu is sabotaging the deal.
The defense minister, in response, reportedly said: “You should arrange a meeting with the prime minister before he flies to the US. He’s the one who decides.”

In response to the report, Gallant’s office says that he holds frequent meetings to update families of hostages, but does not comment on the reported content of such meetings and is unhappy when material is leaked from them.
A source in the Prime Minister’s Office says that to secure the release of the hostages, pressure must be increased on Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and not on Netanyahu.
Smotrich says internal army investigations into Oct. 7 ‘are a grave mistake’
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich dismisses the army’s internal investigation into its handling of the fighting at Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, arguing that such probes “are a grave mistake by the chief of staff.”
“The Israel Defense Forces and those at its head should be concerned with only one thing and that is to win the war,” the far-right minister tells reporters ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.
“The Israel Defense Forces and those at its head should be concerned with only one thing and that is to win the war and defeat Hamas in the south, Hezbollah in the north, and return the hostages,” he insists, arguing that a leadership which failed cannot investigate itself.
“These investigations are rightly met with complete distrust within the army as well as outside it,” he continues, stating that only a new military leadership will be able to extract lessons from what happened on October 7.
Reacting to the results of the army’s probe last week, Kibbutz Be’eri said that it was not enough to restore their trust in the army and called for a state commission of inquiry to be opened.
Hundreds attend Tel Aviv screening of documentary on Hamas’s Oct. 7 sexual violence

Hundreds of people are attending a screening at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square of “Screams Before Silence,” a documentary film on the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas-led terrorists during their October 7 massacre.
Agam Goldstein-Almog, who was freed in November as part of a week-long truce deal, speaks at the event, calling for an immediate deal to release the hostages from captivity.
“I was given the opportunity to participate in such an important film, a film that is a historical documentation of the sexual crimes of Hamas in the brutal terrorist attack,” she says.
Dermer, Hanegbi discuss hostage-truce talks with Blinken in Washington
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi met earlier today with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says.
The trio discussed the ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas, focusing on practical steps for closing the gaps between the sides, Miller says.
They also discussed planning for the post-war management of Gaza, improving the distribution of humanitarian aid in the Strip, and the ongoing tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, Miller says.
Later today, Dermer and Hanegbi will be participating in the US-Israel Strategic Consultative Group at the White House, which will discuss cooperation on a range of bilateral issues including the Iran nuclear threat.
The SCG was tentatively planned to take place last month, but was postponed after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly accused the US of withholding weapons from Israel.
Unanimous assessment in security establishment is that Deif is dead, TV report claims

The unanimous assessment in Israel’s security establishment is that Hamas’s military commander Muhammad Deif was killed in Saturday’s airstrike on a compound in the Al-Mawasi area, Channel 12 reports.
The TV report, which is unsourced, says the IDF is “certain” that Deif and Rafa’a Salameh, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, were in the same building at the time of the strike in the southern Gaza Strip.
The IDF and Shin Bet yesterday confirmed that Salameh was killed in the airstrike, the report notes. “The assessment of all in the Israeli security establishment,” it says, is that Deif was also “eliminated.”
US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, meanwhile, has told Jewish leaders at a White House briefing that there are indications, but not confirmation, that Deif was killed, Jewish Insider reports.
On Saturday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was “not yet absolutely certain” that Deif was dead. Last night, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said Hamas was “trying to hide the results” of the attack.
The TV report says Hamas is going to great lengths to cover up what became of Deif, including by guarding the entrances and exits of the hospital where those who were injured in the strike are being treated — an apparent reference to Nasser Medical Center in Khan Younis.
Ex-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen said to decide not to enter politics

Former Mossad spy agency director Yossi Cohen has decided not to enter politics, after months of speculation about whether he would form a new right-wing party at the next elections, Channel 12 news reports.
Instead, Cohen will extend his contract for two more years as director of Israel operations at SoftBank, a leading holding firm that primarily invests in companies operating in the technology, energy, and financial sectors, the report says.
Last month, polling found a right-wing alliance of Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman, former prime minister Naftali Bennett, New Hope head Gideon Sa’ar, and former Mossad director Yossi Cohen would be the largest faction in the Knesset if elections were held today, winning 25 seats.
Netanyahu says violence similar to Trump shooting could be copied in Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that political violence similar to the assassination attempt on Trump could happen in Israel.
Speaking to Channel 14, the second time he has given an interview to the right-wing outlet over the past month, Netanyahu says, “It can happen because there is incitement to violence and murder of elected officials, of ministers, of the prime minister, of his family.”
Netanyahu says that incitement has reached new levels “that we haven’t known before.” He says that the location of his family is shared publicly, which leads to threats from Hamas against them.
“No one is doing anything about it,” he says.
High Court gives state 10 days to answer petitions to close Sde Teiman detention site

The High Court of Justice issues a provisional order against the state over the controversial Sde Teiman detention facility, where allegations have been made that camp guards severely abused captured unlawful Palestinian combatants held at the site, giving the state just 10 days to respond to petitions demanding it be closed.
In response to a petition by several human rights groups demanding Sde Teiman be shut down, the court orders the state to explain why the operation of the facility should not be conditioned on “compliance with the conditions set forth in the law on the imprisonment of illegal combatants.”
Provisional orders switch the burden of proof from the petitioners to the respondent, in this case, the defense minister and the Military Advocate General, and generally indicate that the court sees merit in the petition.
In the decision by Acting Supreme Court President Uzi Vogelman and Justices Daphne Barak-Erez and Ofer Grosskopf, the court notes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a directive in a Security Cabinet meeting last Thursday that the Israel Prison Service and the IDF find “an immediate solution” for the transfer of all Sde Teiman prisoners who have been at the facility for more than 14 days to permanent detention facilities.
The court gives the state until July 18 to update it as to whether the prime minister’s instructions have been implemented, and until July 25 to file its full response to the petition.
The petitioning organizations, including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, have alleged that the physical abuse of terrorist detainees at Sde Teiman, officially labeled by Israel as unlawful combatants, and the poor conditions of their incarceration could constitute war crimes.
In response to the petition, the IDF pledged to the court at the beginning of June to transfer all unlawful combatants held at Sde Teiman out of the facility. But since it has yet to be fully emptied, the High Court ordered the state at the end of June to update it as to the current conditions under which the remaining detainees were being held, including their food, health care, and hygiene.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, 166 detainees remain in Sde Teiman out of some 1,400 unlawful combatants originally held there, as of last week.
Jewish Agency says 22,000 new immigrants landed in Israel since Oct. 7
Since October 7, 22,000 new immigrants have arrived in Israel, according to the Jewish Agency and Aliyah and Integration Ministry.
There has been a 510% increase in the number of case files opened in France alone since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, totaling 6,440 people, compared to 1,057 people during the same period a year ago.
Eight hundred people have immigrated from France since October 7.
Israeli negotiating team set to fly out for hostage deal talks this week
An Israeli negotiating team will fly out this week despite uncertainty after Saturday’s attempted assassination of Muhammad Deif, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
The official declines to indicate who will be flying, and whether the talks will be in Doha or in Cairo.
The official maintains that the fact that Hamas has not walked away from talks “further supports the prime minister’s position that continued military pressure and a firm stance brings Israel closer to its goals — the defeat of Hamas and the return of the hostages.”
“Now is the time to ramp up military pressure,” continues the official, adding that regardless of whether Deif is dead, “Hamas has suffered a major blow.”
Netanyahu to give interview to Channel 14 tonight

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will conduct an interview tonight on Channel 14, an outlet widely seen as sympathetic to him.
Netanyahu gave an interview last month to Channel 14, but continues to avoid other Israeli outlets.
Pro-regime Syrian businessman killed in alleged Israeli strike
Prominent Syrian pro-regime businessman Baraa Katerji was killed in an alleged Israeli air strike near the Lebanese-Syrian border, three security sources tell Reuters.
BREAKING – Prominent pro-regime Syrian businessman Baraa Katerji killed in Israeli strike near Lebanese-Syrian border – three security sources @Reuters pic.twitter.com/0mxwAxTdpN
— Timour Azhari (@timourazhari) July 15, 2024
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
IDF delaying pilot program for female tank troops to Nov. 2025

In a response to a High Court petition, the IDF says it is delaying a planned pilot program for female soldiers to serve in the Armored Corps.
Currently, female soldiers can serve in tanks in the IDF’s Border Defense Corps, as part of an all-female tank company in the Caracal mixed-gender light infantry battalion, which operates along the Egyptian border — not in wars or in fighting deep behind enemy lines.
The program in the Armored Corps was meant to start sometime this year. The military, in its response to a petition asking it to open additional roles to female recruits, says that the pilot will begin in November 2025 at the earliest.
The IDF claims that it does not have enough tanks right now for the pilot program, as it requires them for operations in the war.
“During the course of the war, many tanks were damaged, which are disabled at this stage and are not used for combat or training, and it is not expected that new tanks will soon be introduced into the corps,” the IDF claims in its response.
Several senior officers in armored units fighting in the Gaza Strip have previously told The Times of Israel that very few tanks had been disabled during the fighting, and damaged vehicles are quickly repaired and sent back into the battlefield.
Consumer prices accelerate at expected rate, inflation at 2.9%, data shows
Consumer prices in Israel quickened in June, led by an increase in housing prices, and culture and entertainment costs, data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday.
The consumer price index (CPI), a measure of inflation that tracks the average cost of household goods, increased by 0.1 percent in June in line with analysts’ expectations of between 0% and 0.1%. That’s after the May CPI monthly figure of 0.2%
The June print brings annual inflation over the past 12 months to 2.9%, up from 2.8% in May and 2.5% in February. The government’s annual target range of inflation is between 1% and 3%.
In June price increases were seen in the cost of culture and entertainment, which were up 1.2%, housing prices edged up 0.5%, and food prices rose 0.3% according to the statistics bureau. These were offset by notable declines in the price of fresh vegetables and fruits, which fell 2.5%, and transport and communication costs declined 0.4%.
In the real estate market, rents on renewal of contracts rose 2.2% in June, and rents on contracts for new tenants went up 4.2%.
Army says rocket sirens in Kerem Shalom were false alarms
Rocket sirens that sounded in the southern community of Kerem Shalom a short while ago were determined to be false alarms, the military says.
Opposition to Israel galvanizes far-left activists at ‘March on RNC’

MILWAUKEE — Several hundred far-left activists have embarked on a “March on the RNC,” shouting a variety of anti-Israel chants as they encircle the perimeter of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The march is organized by a coalition of different groups that fight against racism, for reproductive rights, for the LGBTQ community, and for immigrant rights.
But the issue that appears to most galvanize those present is the Israel-Hamas war, with large swaths of protesters wearing Palestinian keffiyah scarves, waving Palestinian flags and holding signs decrying Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
While the messaging at a press conference ahead of the march is overwhelmingly critical of the GOP and former US president Donald Trump, one of the speakers condemns the attempt on his life over the weekend and one participant is spotted holding a sign that reads “Ballots not bullets.”
Among the speakers at the press conference is a pro-Palestinian activist who seems to equate the policies of US President Joe Biden and those of Trump on the war.
“In the debate, we heard Trump say that Israel must be allowed ‘to finish the job.’ We know what that means. That Trump not only supports the genocide, he wants to intensify it,” says US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) National Chair Hatem Abudayyeh.
“But Trump in Milwaukee this week and Genocide Joe Biden in Chicago next month shouldn’t forget that the vast majority of the world stands with Palestine and its right to self-defense and resistance in Gaza
“That the Palestinians and the Lebanese and the Yemenis and hundreds of millions of other Arabs in the region will continue to resist and ultimately defeat the US and Israeli war machines,” she continues.
“Before South African apartheid was defeated, our international movement had built a consensus that South Africa had no right to exist as a racist, white supremacist, settler-colonialist, apartheid state. Today, there is the same worldwide consensus that Israel also has no right to exist as a racist, white supremacist, settler-colonialist, apartheid, Zionist state. It is on its last legs, as is the US empire,” Abudayyeh declares.
Rocket sirens blare in Kerem Shalom on Gaza border
Incoming rocket sirens sound in Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, on the border with the Gaza Strip.
Red Alert [18:08:00] – 1 Alert:
• Gaza Envelope — Kerem Shalom#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/2fZ3SA37Do
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) July 15, 2024
EU slaps sanctions on far-right activists, West Bank outposts

The European Union announces several sanctions on Israeli far-right activists.
The EU sanctions Bentzi Gopstein for his role as head of the Lehava anti-miscegenation group, and Baruch Marzel, accusing him of calling for ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Settler activists Zvi Bar Yosef, Moshe Sharvit, and Isaschar Manne, and illegal outposts Moshe’s Farm and Zvi’s Farm are sanctioned over their alleged role in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
The EU also sanctions the Tzav 9 organization for its protests that block humanitarian aid trucks heading toward the Gaza Strip.
Alleged Israeli strike reported on car near Syrian town close to Lebanese border
Lebanese media report an alleged Israeli airstrike on a car near the Syrian town of as-Saboura, close to the border with Lebanon.
Casualties are reported in the attack.
No further details are immediately available.
غارة "إسـ ـرائـ ـيلية" تستهدف سيارة داخل الأراضي السورية على مقربة من الحدود اللبنانية#ملحق pic.twitter.com/QpDkWbEuzJ
— Mulhak – ملحق (@Mulhak) July 15, 2024
Lone wolf found responsible for crossbow attack on Israeli embassy in Serbia last month

BELGRADE, Serbia — An investigation showed that a crossbow attack at the Israeli embassy in the Serbian capital last month was the act of a lone extremist, a Serbian minister says.
On June 29, a member of a special police unit was shot in the neck with a crossbow outside the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, after which he opened fire and killed the attacker.
“No broader organization has been identified in the preparation of the terrorist act” and the attacker had no accomplices, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic tells reporters.
The attacker belongs to the Wahhabi movement — a purist form of Islam that dominates in Saudi Arabia — whose followers can be found in many countries, Dacic says.
Security services continue to monitor their activities in Serbia, the minister adds.
Likud accuses Lapid of ‘bringing the next political murder closer’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party accuses Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid of refusing to condemn incitement against him after the opposition leader called the premier a “crybaby and a coward” for holding a two-hour discussion in the cabinet about the issue.
“Lapid and company refuse to condemn the acts of incitement and the calls for the assassination of the prime minister and his family members. Lapid’s silence normalizes the violence and brings the next political murder closer,” a spokesman for Likud charges in a statement to the press.
Following this weekend’s assassination attempt against former US president Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs screened a compilation of video clips showing critics of the government engaging in “incitement against the prime minister” during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
Suspected Hezbollah operative nabbed in Germany, accused of acquiring drone parts
BERLIN, Germany — A suspected member of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has been arrested in Germany, accused of procuring components for drones believed to be used in attacks on Israel, German prosecutors say.
The man named as Fadel Z was arrested on Sunday, prosecutors say in a statement, adding that he was “strongly suspected of membership of a foreign terrorist organization” and alleging that he “procured components, particularly engines, for the assembly of drones” for use against Israel.
IDF jets strike two buildings in south Lebanon where Hezbollah operatives were spotted
Two buildings in southern Lebanon’s Mays al-Jabal, where the IDF says it spotted Hezbollah operatives, were struck by fighter jets earlier today.
The IDF says it also shelled areas near Odaisseh with artillery to “remove threats.”
Meanwhile, three rockets were launched from Lebanon at Kiryat Shmona this afternoon. Two struck open areas, and one was intercepted by the Iron Dome, the military says.
There are no reports of injuries.
Two buildings in southern Lebanon's Mays al-Jabal, where the IDF says it spotted Hezbollah operatives, were struck by fighter jets earlier today.
The IDF says it also shelled areas near Odaisseh with artillery to "remove threats."
Meanwhile, three rockets were launched from… pic.twitter.com/5uLUOQIlBd
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) July 15, 2024
Smotrich calls on Netanyahu to annex West Bank if World Court declares settlements illegal

Pledging to work toward “the application of de facto sovereignty” in the West Bank no matter what happens, hard-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the territory should the International Court of Justice declare Israeli settlements illegal.
“I hereby call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: If the International Court of Justice in The Hague does decide that the settlement enterprise is illegal – respond to them with a historic decision of applying sovereignty to the territories of the homeland,” Smotrich tells reporters ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset. “No one will move the people of Israel from their land.”
The ICJ is set to deliver an advisory, non-binding opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s “occupation of Palestinian territories” on July 19. While Israel has ignored such opinions in the past, the ICJ ruling next week could add political pressure over the nine-month-old war against Palestinian terror group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“In the meantime, until the application of sovereignty, I will continue, with God’s help, on my path of working for the development of the settlement [movement], for the application of de facto sovereignty and to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state through massive construction, regulating settlements, building roads and other measures in the field,” Smotrich adds.
Turning to the Israeli hostage release-ceasefire proposal currently being negotiated with Hamas, Smotrich asserts that the deal would serve as a “lifeline” for the terrorist group.
“Last week I stood here with a picture of [Hamas’s Gaza ruler Yahya] Sinwar and warned that if we agree to a dangerous deal that would give Sinwar a victory, we will lose the war,” he says, warning that coming to an agreement “will endanger Israel’s future and security.”
“We must not give it this lifeline. It is our duty to bring it closer to another rope, the hanging rope,” he says, questioning why the heads of Israel’s security agencies would support the deal.
“I do know that after October 7 and time and time again they are wrong in their strategic assessments, from Oslo to the expulsion from Gush Katif and the concepts of ‘Hamas deterred’ that preceded the massacre,” he says. “I love them, appreciate them, and respect them but am saying that they are wrong. In this case, common sense is so clear that one does not need to be a great general to understand the magnitude of the error.”
Agencies contributed to this report.
US federal judge dismisses Trump classified documents case

WASHINGTON — The federal judge presiding over the classified documents case of former US president Donald Trump in Florida dismisses the prosecution because of concerns over the appointment of the prosecutor who brought the case.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon grants the defense motion to dismiss the case.
Lawyers for Trump had argued that special counsel Jack Smith was illicitly appointed and that his office was improperly funded by the Justice Department.
A spokesperson for Smith and a lawyer for Trump didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Police nab 2 pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters for ‘criminal damage’ at London war memorial

LONDON, United Kingdom — UK police arrest two pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrators after a protest at Britain’s Cenotaph war memorial in central London.
A Palestinian flag was laid in front of the Cenotaph and “180,000 killed” was spray-painted on the ground in front of the monument, photos and video footage showed, drastically inflating the unverified Hamas-run health ministry figure of over 38,000 dead during the war in Gaza.
Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle and some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.
The Cenotaph is the focus every year of of national events to commemorate Britain’s war dead.
“Two women were quickly arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and are in custody,” the Metropolitan Police says on X, adding that damage was caused to the road and not to the monument itself.
In a statement, the Youth Demand group says its supporters had taken action to “commemorate the thousands killed in Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza.”
It says Youth Demand was calling for a two-way arms embargo on Israel and for the new UK government to halt all new oil and gas licenses granted since 2021.
Supporters planned to disrupt the State Opening of Parliament by head of state King Charles III on Wednesday, it adds.
IDF reportedly struck near emergency responders after attack targeting Deif
During Saturday’s attack on a compound in the southern Gaza Strip where Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif and another top commander were, the IDF launched an additional airstrike near emergency responders, The New York Times reports.
The NYT says it reviewed videos from the scene, which show that after several large munitions struck the compound, one additional small missile hit a nearby busy street, impacting in front of two vehicles marked as belonging to the Hamas-run “Civil Defense” emergency agency.
من مجزرة خانيونس … الاستهداف الثاني الذي كان للدفاع المدني pic.twitter.com/ktYgfldo0Z
— حسن اصليح | Hassan (@hassaneslayeh) July 13, 2024
The videos show a plume of smoke rising near the rescue vehicles, about 90 meters from the compound, the report says. Images published by the paper show that the vehicles sustained shrapnel damage.
The report says the additional strike “apparently” killed and injured first responders.
The additional strike was carried out by the IDF ostensibly to prevent the Hamas-run rescue services from reaching Deif and Rafa’a Salameh, the other top commander.
The IDF told the paper that it had “struck military targets of the utmost significance” but that the strike “will be examined.”
Sa’ar denies PM approached him to serve as defense minister

Gideon Sa’ar says he has not been contacted by Benjamin Netanyahu to serve as defense minister, following a report that the prime minister has been mulling offering him the cabinet position currently held by Likud’s Yoav Gallant in order to bring him back into the coalition.
“It is not correct that I received an offer like that… to serve as defense minister,” Sa’ar tells reporters ahead of his New Hope party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.
Last week, Kan News reported that Netanyahu has been discussing the possibility with his associates.
Sa’ar announced his party’s departure from the coalition in March after his demand to be admitted to the high-level war cabinet was denied. He has since harshly criticized the government’s management of the war in Gaza and has said he would be willing to make “concessions” to create a right-wing bloc opposing Netanyahu.
Last month, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman claimed that he had been approached with a proposal that he take over the post of defense minister. Netanyahu’s Likud party denied that any such proposal had been made.
Members of the government have called on Netanyahu several times to fire Defense Minister Gallant and last Sunday the prime minister reportedly accused him of working to topple the government during a heated cabinet meeting. Associates of Netanyahu have reportedly been deliberating Gallant’s possible ouster in the coming months, according to an unsourced Channel 12 report aired last week.
According to the report, Netanyahu’s inner circle considers Gallant a renegade within the coalition due to positions that have often put him at odds with the premier, including on Haredi conscription, the war with Hamas in Gaza and the handling of disagreements with the US administration.
Far-right activist and rapper ‘The Shadow’ receives voluntary police officer rank
Far-right activist Yoav Eliasi, known by his rap name “The Shadow,” received the ranks of a voluntary police officer as a member of Tel Aviv’s civilian security squad.
“Yesterday I was honored to receive the rank of an officer for my activities in establishing a civilian unit that arrested dozens of illegal residents and works night and day to maintain the security of the city,” Eliasi writes on his Facebook page.
He is pictured receiving his rank from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Police say 14 volunteers received their ranks, which would be granted to squads throughout the country as well.
Eliasi has previously used his social media platforms to call for the castration and organ harvesting of slain Palestinian assailants and has compared left-wing Israelis to an AIDS epidemic.
הצל קיבל אמש דרגות קצונה מבן גביר ומפקד מחוז ת"א. "זה ניצחון עבורי אחרי שנים שאני נלחם על האמת שלי", אמר.
אמרתי לכם שיש למשטרה עוד לאן להידרדר. pic.twitter.com/arhTWxWV86
— Josh Breiner (@JoshBreiner) July 15, 2024
Report: Hamas, Fatah to hold talks on postwar Gaza in Beijing next week

Senior Hamas and Fatah officials are set to meet in China next week for talks on the Gaza Strip’s postwar administration, The New York Times reports, citing officials from both groups.
According to the report, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh will lead the terror group’s delegation while Fatah deputy chair Mahmoud al-Aloul will lead his party’s representatives for meetings in Beijing.
The officials will meet China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on July 21 and July 23, while the two delegations will hold talks on their own during their time in China.
While Hamas has expressed openness to handing over civilian administration in Gaza, it has refused to give up its armed struggle against Israel, the report notes.
The terror group violently ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip in 2007 and has ruled there ever since.
Rocket sirens sound in Kiryat Shmona, surrounding towns
Incoming rocket sirens are sounding in the northern communities of Kiryat Shmona, HaGoshrim, Kfar Yuval, Ma’ayan Baruch, and Beit Hillel.
Red Alert [16:15:30] – 5 Alerts:
• Confrontation Line — Kiryat Shmona, HaGoshrim, Kfar Yuval, Ma'ayan Baruch, Beit Hillel#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/GYe6LFY5QC
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) July 15, 2024
Liberman says he spoke to former PM Bennett over weekend amid talk of comeback
Amid rumors that Naftali Bennett is preparing for a political comeback, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman says that he met with the former prime minister as recently as this weekend and will do so again on Wednesday.
Liberman does not directly respond when asked if he plans on running together with Bennett in the next elections, merely saying that he is in touch with “everybody.”
The Kan public broadcaster reported in May that Liberman and Bennett are in the middle of discussions regarding the creation of a right-wing union that could offer a “governing alternative” to Netanyahu.
Liberman’s remarks come shortly after New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar told reporters that Bennett intends to return to politics.
Responding to a question from The Times of Israel during his party’s faction meeting last Monday, Sa’ar said that the last time he met with Bennett “was on the eve of the Shavuot holiday and I understand that that’s his plan.”
Liberman tells the Times of Israel that he met with Bennett as recently as two days ago and will do so again on Wednesday pic.twitter.com/2DmkxM2q5t
— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) July 15, 2024
IDF says drone alert sirens in Upper Galilee were false alarms
Suspected drone infiltration sirens that sounded in the Upper Galilee a short while ago were determined to be false alarms, the military says.
Lapid calls PM a ‘crybaby and a coward’ after he held 2-hour meeting on incitement against him

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being a “crybaby and a coward” after the premier held a two-hour debate yesterday in the cabinet about incitement against him.
Reading a threatening letter wishing death and illness upon him and his family, Lapid asks journalists ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset if he had ever brought up the issue before.
“Have you heard about it? Did I hold a press conference? Did I hold a two-hour special faction discussion? Yes, there are threats and there is incitement. It’s a terrible and sad part of the world we live in. Everyone who reaches a senior position goes through it,” he declares.
And while violence and threats against the prime minister are unacceptable, damaging to democracy, and must be prosecuted, “Netanyahu is not a victim, he is a crybaby and a coward,” Lapid insists.
“Every soldier in Gaza is more threatened than he is, every IDF fighter in Jenin is in more danger than he is. The man who set up the poison machine, who brought in foreign billionaires and set up an incitement machine that is slowly taking over all the media in Israel, complains that they are inciting against him.”
Following this weekend’s assassination attempt against former US president Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs screened a compilation of video clips showing critics of the government engaging in “incitement against the prime minister” during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
The screening was followed by a two-hour debate on the issue, during which ministers pointed fingers at the justice system, law enforcement, and the attorney general for what they said was unchecked violent speech by members of the public against Netanyahu and his family.
“There is no two-hour discussion about the 101 victims of Kibbutz Be’eri, there is no two-hour discussion about the soldier who was seriously injured in the north by a drone. What about the threat to her life? Is her life less important? Why is there no two-hour discussion about the five female observation soldiers held hostage in Gaza,” Lapid asks. “Only incitement against [Netanyahu] is worth two hours of discussion? Is that the only thing that matters?”
“I don’t remember him saying anything when Naftali Bennett’s child received an envelope with a bullet and threats against his life,” he adds, referring to a threat against the then-prime minister in 2022.
Drone infiltration warning sirens sound in north after daylong lull
Drone infiltration warning sirens are sounding in northern Israel after a lull of over 24 hours.
The sirens are sounding in the communities of Ramot Naftali, Malkia, Dishon, Iftach and the Mevo’ot Hahermon Regional Council.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
Red Alert [15:19:41] – 5 Alerts:
• Confrontation Line — Ramot Naftali, Malkia, Dishon, Mevuot Hermon Regional Council, Iftach#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/KrrpWKIzNE
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) July 15, 2024
Palestinian official says fuel shortage shut all wells in central Gaza district

Central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah Municipality says that all the city’s wells have shut down due to lack of fuel used to pump out water, the London-based Qatari newspaper Al-Araby al-Jadeed reports.
An Israeli strike in the city killed one person earlier in the day, according to the outlet.
US Secret Service director says she’s confident in Republican convention security plan

The director of the US Secret Service says she’s confident in the plan to secure the Republican National Convention that begins today in the wake of an attempt on the life of presidential candidate Donald Trump.
In a statement, Kim Cheatle says the security plans for the event are “designed to be flexible.”
“The Secret Service will continuously adapt our operations as necessary to ensure the highest level of safety,” she says.
Cheatle says the plan will change as necessary to ensure the continued safety of attendees at the Milwaukee event.
A man shot at Trump from a rooftop near a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday. Trump is recovering and will attend the convention. US President Joe Biden ordered a national security review of the incident over the weekend.
Russian-US journalist Masha Gessen sentenced to 8 years jail in absentia by Moscow court

A Russian-American journalist who accused the Russian army of carrying out crimes in Ukraine was sentenced in absentia to eight years jail by a Moscow court on Monday.
Masha Gessen, a regular contributor to the New Yorker, was declared wanted in Russia last year after alleging its military killed civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha in March 2022, an accusation the Kremlin denies.
The court sentenced Gessen to eight years jail for “knowingly spreading false information about the use of the Russian army,” according to a statement from the Moscow city court service.
Shortly after launching its offensive in Ukraine, Russia made independent reporting on the conflict illegal and outlawed criticism of its armed forces.
Gessen, who now lives in the United States, is a prominent LGBTQ activist and long-time critic of President Vladimir Putin, penning a scathing biography of the Russian leader in 2012.
Liberman says government effort to push draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox harms national security

Slamming the enlistment law currently being debated in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman complains that the government is pushing hard to exempt yeshiva students even as it is lengthening active duty soldiers’ terms of service and calling up reservists for repeated stints in the army.
“This harms security and the unity of the nation,” he tells reporters ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.
Liberman also slams United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf for his statement that he would be willing to support legislation to cancel the upcoming Knesset recess in order to pass the enlistment bill.
“That says everything,” Liberman says.
Lebanese media reports Israeli drone strike near border
The pro-Hezbollah television network al-Mayadeen reports an alleged Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon.
The report says the strike was carried out in the town of Marwahin on the border. The report does not give details on the target of the strike.
There is no comment from the IDF.
Brother of hostage stages sit-in after being barred from Knesset, joined by Labor MKs

Only a week after being forcibly removed from a Knesset committee meeting, the brother of hostage Itzik Elgarat stages a sit-in at the entrance to the Knesset alongside several Labor MKs to protest not being allowed back into the building.
Returning to the legislature at the invitation of Yesh Atid MK Mickey Levy, Danny Elgarat is stopped by Knesset security and sits down next to a door. He is soon joined by Labor chairman Yair Golan and MKs Gilad Kariv and Naama Lazimi — who block passage through the security checkpoint and appeal to members of the opposition to take part in their protest.
“After being forcibly removed from the Rothman committee last week, Danny Elgarat is not allowed to enter the Knesset today. Is this the attitude toward kidnapped families? This is the attitude towards those whom the state has abandoned,” tweets Golan.
Sitting at the Knesset entrance, Elgarat states that he was told he needs to draft a letter of apology and commit not to disrupt Knesset proceedings before being allowed to return to parliament.
הסירוב של משמר הכנסת להכניס את דני אלגרט, אחיו של החטוף איציק אלגרט, לכנסת מגיע מלמעלה. מגיע הישר ממי שרוצים כנסת נאמנת שלטון שלא ישמעו בה דברי אמת וביקורת על המחדל וההפקרה.
במדינה מתוקנת, משפחות חטופים לא צריכות להיאבק בשביל להחזיר את היקרים להן ולא צריכים להתחייב מראש להשמיע… pic.twitter.com/CySFOh9KBb
— 🎗 Naama Lazimi – נעמה לזימי (@naamalazimi) July 15, 2024
Last Monday, Knesset guards on Monday forcibly dragged Elgarat out of a meeting of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chairman on the orders of chairman Simcha Rothman after he interrupted the brother of another abductee speaking out against the latest hostage agreement being negotiated between Israel and Hamas.
After Rothman ordered Elgarat’s removal, the latter refused to move, yelling that he would not comply and was dragged out of the room. He was subsequently photographed receiving medical attention while lying facedown in a Knesset hallway.
This is the second time that Elgarat has been blocked from returning to the Knesset since the incident.
Two days after he was removed, Elgarat came back but was refused entry.
Azerbaijan reopens its embassy in Iran as the two countries try to ease tensions

The embassy of Azerbaijan in Tehran resumes its work today after more than a year of negotiations between the two countries to ease tensions, Iran’s semi-official media outlets report.
A source in the Azeri embassy in Tehran tells The Associated Press that the embassy has resumed its operations in the Iranian capital, but says it won’t be officially announced until the Iranian foreign ministry confirms the development.
But Azeri website news.az quotes Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry as saying that its embassy in Iran has restarted work at a new address in Tehran. The report adds that the embassy reopened following negotiations between Azerbaijan and Iran.
Relations between Tehran and Baku, which have been tense for a long time, soured further after a gunman in January 2023 stormed Azerbaijan’s embassy in Iran’s capital, killing its security chief and wounding two guards.
Iran said the attack was based on a personal cause, and said the gunman’s wife had disappeared after a visit to the embassy, but Azeri President Ilham Aliyev called the assault a “terrorist attack.” Baku accused Tehran of supporting hardline Islamists who tried to overthrow its government, a charge Tehran denied.
In April 2023, Azerbaijan expelled four Iranian diplomats from Baku. A month later, Iran expelled four Azeri diplomats, who had been working in Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the northwestern city of Tabriz.
The attack spiked long-simmering tensions between the two neighboring countries.
Relations between the two also remain tense because Azerbaijan in March 2023 opened an embassy in Israel. Azerbaijan maintains close ties to Israel, which Tehran views as its top regional enemy. Iran has repeatedly opposed improving relations between Azerbaijan and Israel.
Liberman says lack of budget for next year indicates Netanyahu could dissolve Knesset in November

Avigdor Liberman, head of the opposition Yisrael Beyteinu party, says he believes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will dissolve the Knesset and call fresh elections in November.
Speaking at a conference organized by the Calcalist newspaper, Liberman was commenting on the failure of the current government to start meaningful work on next year’s national budget.
“They are not submitting the budget, because they don’t want to pass it,” Liberman says. “My conclusion is that Prime Minister Netanyahu will himself dissolve the Knesset in November.”
“I hope we will manage to dissolve it sooner. We want a wall-to-wall broad Zionist coalition. Without that we can’t fix anything,” he says.
Speaking later in the day at a meeting of his faction at the Knesset, Liberman doubled down on his assessment that Netanyahu would call a vote in November, adding that holding elections prior to the end of the year could serve to postpone the prime minister’s pending testimony in his corruption trial
Hamas says 80 Palestinians killed in last day, Gaza toll at 38,664

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says the Palestinian death toll since the terror group launched the October 7 attack on Israel now stands at 38,664.
The ministry says 80 Palestinians were killed in the last 24 hours. The figures do not differentiate between civilians and terror operatives.
The toll cannot be independently verified and includes more than 15,000 Hamas gunmen Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Outcry at Knesset as bereaved parents protest plans to fund legal defense of Hamas terrorists

Bereaved parents vocally object to the state funding the legal defense of Hamas terrorists during a heated debate in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice committee.
“If someone here supports legal representation for terrorists stand up. If not let’s end the discussion,” right-wing news site Israel National News quotes Itzik Bonzel, who lost his son Amit during the fighting in Gaza, as declaring during the hearing.
“It’s a shame for the people of Israel that this discussion is being held over our children’s blood. There’s no way that the murdered victims will fund the Nukhba terrorists’ legal representation,” he says.
Bonzel also complains that lawmakers delayed arriving at the hearing in order to avoid hearing from him and other bereaved parents.
“This isn’t stupidity, this is deliberate evil against our people,” states Galia Hoshen, who lost her daughter Hadar on October 7. “My daughter was murdered and I have to fund legal representation for those who murdered her?”
The committee is debating a bill to prohibit the Public Defender’s Office’s from providing legal representation to those defined by law as illegal combatants.
Last week, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich both harshly condemned the Israel Courts Administration over its request for funding for legal representation for captured combatants suspected of carrying out the October 7 atrocities in southern Israel.
Their comments came after it emerged that courts dealing with Palestinian detainees captured during the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza ruled that the prisoners needed legal representation when appearing before them.
Since the Public Defender’s Office has refused to represent these detainees, who are among the approximately 2,000 suspected Palestinian terrorists caught inside Israel or in Gaza since October 7, the courts ordered that they be given private counsel in accordance with Israeli law, which also stipulates that funding for such legal representation come from the state.
Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas steps down to become EU’s top diplomat

Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas steps down as the leader of the Baltic country to become the foreign policy chief of the European Union later this year.
Kallas, Estonia’s first female prime minister, handed in her formal resignation to President Alar Karis during a brief meeting at the Presidential Palace in the capital, Tallinn, on Monday.
Estonia under Kallas has been one of Europe’s most vocal backers of Ukraine following the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
But she is considered largely untested on foreign affairs matters farther from home, including in the Middle East. She has voiced support for Israel’s right to defend itself in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre, but has also decried the humanitarian situation in Gaza since Israel’s offensive in the Strip.
She will replace Josep Borrell, whose tenure was marked by outspoken criticism of Israel.
Putin has no plans to contact Trump after assassination attempt, says Kremlin

The Kremlin says that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not contacted Donald Trump after the assassination attempt on the Republican US presidential candidate and has no plans to do so.
Asked if security measures around Putin would now be beefed up, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says the Russian leader enjoyed the appropriate level of protection and that all necessary measures were being taken.
The Kremlin said on Sunday it did not believe the Biden administration was responsible for Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump, but accused it of creating an atmosphere that provoked the attack.
Vessel reports being attacked by manned and unmanned craft off Yemen’s Hodeidah

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) says it had received a report of a merchant vessel being attacked by three small craft 70 nautical miles southwest of Yemen’s Hodeidah city.
An unmanned small craft collided with the vessel twice and two manned small craft fired at it, according to UKMTO.
The vessel and crew were reported safe, and it was proceeding to the next port of call after it conducted “self protection measures,” UKMTO says.
Since November, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group has been launching drone and missile strikes in shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The group says these actions are in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s war with Hamas.
Herzog tells UK’s Lammy Israel fighting Iranian efforts to undermine global stability

Hosting British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Jerusalem, President Isaac Herzog stresses that there is no war more just than the one Israel is fighting now, against “an empire of evil that wants to undermine the stability of the world and is rushing to the bomb [and] undermining international trade.”
He also tells his guest that Iran is “trying to surround Israel by its proxies.”
“We are a nation seeking peace, and I believe that we must find peace with our neighbors,” Herzog says.
The president adds that Israel is “working tirelessly” to bring the hostages home.
“I sincerely hope that there will be a hostage deal soon. It is a very important step,” says Herzog, both on its merits and to help end the conflict,” says Herzog.
Lammy, wearing the yellow ribbon that has become a symbol of the movement to bring the hostages home, says that he hopes that “we see a hostage deal emerge in the coming days, and I am using all diplomatic efforts. Indeed, last week with the G7 nations, and particularly with Secretary of State Blinken pressing for that hostage deal.”
He also expresses his hope to see a ceasefire, to end the suffering and the “intolerable loss of life” in Gaza.
Lammy does not call for the toppling of Hamas as part of a ceasefire, something he avoided mentioning in his statements ahead of the trip as well.
After their meeting, the two speak with the family of Tamir Adar from Kibbutz Nir Oz, whose body is being held by Hamas after its terrorists murdered him.
First Lady Michal Herzog raises the issue of Hamas sexual violence with Lammy.
440 people diagnosed with West Nile Fever, 32 fatalities — Health Ministry
The Health Ministry announces that 440 people have been diagnosed with West Nile Fever since the outbreak began in June.
A total of 32 people who were diagnosed with the virus have died.
The virus is not transmitted from person to person, the Health Ministry said. All patients are from the central region of the country, where humid conditions provide a good breeding ground for mosquitoes that spread the virus to humans.
In general, about 80% of those infected do not develop symptoms of West Nile Fever. About 20% of those infected will show symptoms of varying severity. The risk of significant illness is higher among the elderly and individuals with compromised immunity.
Nova families tear their shirts in act of mourning at Knesset protest

Family members of the hundreds killed at the Nova music festival on October 7 gather at the Knesset to protest the lack of work being done to conserve the massacre site and create a memorial to the fallen.
Many of them tear their shirts, a traditional Jewish act of mourning, during the protest.
“We lost our children, the most precious thing. You could not keep them safe and now for nine months there is no progress, nothing is happening,” says Shimon Buskila, who lost his son Yarden. “I feel like I’m in the first day of shiva [the seven-day Jewish mourning period], and that’s why I have torn my shirt.”
“All we are asking is that someone take responsibility for the Re’im forest, because it is abandoned and no one is taking responsibility,” says Hadas Semel, whose sister Sharon was killed.
Netanyahu to meet with families of observation soldiers who fell on Oct. 7

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet tomorrow for the first time with the families of the IDF observation soldiers who were killed on October 7 when Hamas terrorists overran their Nahal Oz base on the Gaza border.
The meeting will take place in his office in Jerusalem.
The meeting comes after the families created a forum called “Their Voices” to lobby for an inquiry into the events at the base. They are also asking for the IDF to release the recordings of their daughters speaking over the radio during their final shifts.
The attack on the Nahal Oz base, less than a kilometer from the Gaza border, came at the start of the assault carried out by Hamas, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and seized 251 hostages.
During the attack on the base, 15 IDF surveillance soldiers were killed and six were taken hostage. In total, 66 soldiers were killed in the assault on the base.
Syrians vote in parliamentary poll with Assad’s Baath party running virtually unopposed

Syrians in government-held areas are voting in their fourth parliamentary election since civil war erupted in 2011, a poll expected to keep President Bashar Assad’s ruling Baath party in power.
The Baath party — in power since 1963 — and its secular left-wing and Arab nationalist allies are running virtually unopposed, with independents the only alternative.
More than 1,500 people are standing for 250 seats in the largely rubber-stamp parliament, after some 7,400 candidates withdrew in recent days, according to Syria’s Supreme Judicial Elections Committee.
“We have to take responsibility for electing good people and not repeating the mistakes of the past in voting for old names who can’t change anything,” says health ministry employee Bodoor Abu Ghazaleh, 49, among those voting at a polling station in Damascus.
Under Syria’s quota system, 127 seats are reserved for candidates who are workers or farmers, while the remaining 123 are open to other professions.
The Baath party is expected to secure most of the seats in the legislative ballot, which is held every four years.
With help from key allies Iran and Russia, Damascus has regained control of much of the territory it lost early in Syria’s 13-year-old civil war, which began with the repression of anti-government protests.
Trump: ‘I’m supposed to be dead,’ many think I was saved by God

Former US president Donald Trump tells the New York Post he was “supposed to be dead” after surviving an assassination attempt that he described as a “very surreal experience.”
“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump told the Post in an interview aboard his plane en route to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention where he is set to be confirmed as the party’s presidential candidate.
It was a “very surreal experience,” he recounts, with a white bandage covering his right ear, the paper said.
The 78-year-old Trump was hit in the ear by a gunman at a campaign rally on Saturday.
He was left with a bloodied face while a bystander was killed and two other people were wounded.
Trump tells the Post he would have been dead had he not tilted his head slightly to the right to read a chart on illegal immigrants while addressing the rally.
“By luck or by God, many people are saying it’s by God I’m still here,” he says.
He praises the Secret Service agents for killing the shooter.
“They took him out with one shot right between the eyes,” he says.
“They did a fantastic job,” he added. “It’s surreal for all of us.”
The image of Trump raising a defiant fist as Secret Service agents bundled him away made front pages around the world and spread virally on social media.
“A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen,” the former president tells the Post, adding, “They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture.”
IDF says clashes, airstrikes continue across Gaza

The IDF says clashes between troops and Hamas operatives continue across the Gaza Strip.
The military says soldiers from the 8th Brigade killed a terrorist who was trying to plant a roadside bomb in central Gaza.
Soldiers from the Nahal reconnaissance unit killed a squad of operatives armed with RPGs in face-to-face combat, the army says.
In addition, dozens of targets were hit in airstrikes in the past 24 hours and the navy also attacked targets, the IDF says.
Motives of Pennsylvania man who tried to assassinate Trump remain elusive
The 20-year-old man who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump first came to law enforcement’s attention at Saturday’s rally when spectators noticed him acting strangely outside the campaign event. The tip sparked a frantic search, but officers were unable to find him before he managed to get on a roof, where he opened fire.
In the wake of the shooting that killed one spectator, investigators are hunting for any clues about what may have driven Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, to carry out the shocking attack. The FBI says they are investigating it as a potential act of domestic terrorism, but the absence of a clear ideological motive by the man shot dead by Secret Service allowed conspiracy theories to flourish.
The FBI says it believes Crooks, who had bomb-making materials in the car he drove to the rally, acted alone. Investigators have found no threatening comments on social media accounts or ideological positions that could help explain what led him to target Trump.
Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. His senior year, Crooks was among several students given an award for math and science, according to a Tribune-Review story at the time.
He tried out for the school’s rifle team but was turned away because he was a bad shooter, said Frederick Mach, a current captain of the team who was a few years behind Crooks at the school.
Jason Kohler, who says he attended the same high school but did not share any classes with Crooks, says Crooks was bullied at school and sat alone at lunch time. Other students mocked him for the clothes he wore, which included hunting outfits, Kohler says.
In interview, Trump says he rewrote RNC speech: ‘A chance to bring the country together’

Former US president Donald Trump tells The Washington Examiner that he has rewritten the speech he was set to deliver at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Thursday after being the target of an attempted assassination at his rally Saturday.
“The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” he tells the news outlet in an article posted Sunday evening.
In the interview, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee says he will now call for a new effort at national unity, noting that people from different political views have called him.
“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together. The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago,” he says.
Trump also reflects on the moment a bullet pierced the upper part of his right ear. He says he was saved from death because he turned from the crowd to look at a screen showing off a chart he was referring to.
“That reality is just setting in,” he tells the news outlet as he boarded his plane in Bedminster, New Jersey, for Milwaukee. “I rarely look away from the crowd. Had I not done that in that moment, well, we would not be talking today, would we?”
Biden: ‘We resolve differences at the ballot box, politics must never be a literal battlefield’

US President Joe Biden says “we can’t, we must not go down” the road of political violence in American after the attempted Trump assassination.
In a prime-time national address, Biden says that political passions can run high but “we must never descend into violence.”
“We can do this,” Biden implores, saying the nation was founded on a democracy that gave reason and balance a chance to prevail over brute force. “American democracy — where arguments are made in good faith. American democracy where the rule of law is respected. Where decency, dignity, fair play aren’t just quaint notions, they’re living, breathing realities.”
Biden speaks for about five minutes from the Oval Office and notes that the Republican National Convention is opening in Milwaukee on Monday, while he himself will be traveling the country to campaign for reelection.
He says that during the RNC, he has “no doubt” Republicans will “criticize my record and offer their own vision for this country.” But he promises in campaigning to lay out “our vision.”
The president says passions will run high on both sides and that the stakes of the election are enormous.
But he adds, “it’s time to cool it down” and notes not just the weekend attack on Trump but also the possibility of election-year violence on multiple fronts.
He used the address to urge all Americans not to accept an escalation in political violence as normal.
“We debate and disagree, we compare and contrast … but in America we resolve our differences at the ballot box,” Biden says in his address.
He adds: “Politics must never be a literal battlefield. God forbid a killing field.”
In Oval Office, Biden urges Americans ‘to take a step back’ after Trump assassination attempt

WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden uses the formal setting of the White House Oval Office to stress the need for divided Americans to come together after a would-be assassin wounded Republican rival Donald Trump.
Trump’s shooting “calls on all of us to take a step back,” Biden says. Thankfully Trump was not seriously injured, he says.
It’s Biden’s third use of the formal setting of the Oval Office to comment on issues of major importance to Americans since he took power in 2021.
Canada’s Trudeau speaks with Trump, condemns assassination attempt

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken with former US president Donald Trump.
“The Prime Minister condemned yesterday’s appalling assassination attempt and reiterated there’s no place for political violence. The Prime Minister wished the former President well and offered condolences to the shooting victims and to the family of Corey Comperatore,” Trudeau’s office says in a statement.
Trump arrives in Milwaukee for RNC day after assassination attempt
MILWAUKEE — Former US president Donald Trump has landed in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, a little more than 24 hours after he was wounded in a failed assassination attempt, according to son Eric Trump.
“Touchdown in Milwaukee with @realdonaldtrump,” Eric Trump posts on X with a video peering through the cockpit as pilots landed the Republican presidential candidate’s plane, dubbed “Trump Force One.”
US Secret Service says ‘fully prepared’ to secure GOP convention after Trump attack

MILWAUKEE — The US Secret Service insists the agency is “fully prepared” to maintain security at the Republican National Convention, and that it’s not changing its protocols even after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
“We’re fully prepared and have a comprehensive security plan in place, and we’re ready to go,” Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, the Secret Service’s RNC Coordinator, tells reporters, expressing confidence that the event will be protected by the “highest level security.”
FBI says it is investigating Trump shooting as ‘potential domestic terrorism’

The FBI says that the attempt to shoot Donald Trump is being investigated as a potential act of domestic terrorism, adding that the shooter acted alone and had no known ideology.
“We are investigating this as an assassination attempt, but also looking at it as a potential domestic terrorism act,” Robert Wells, assistant director of the FBI counterterrorism division, tells reporters.
The gun used in the attempted assassination was an “AR-style 556 rifle” that was purchased legally, FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek tells reporters.
Authorities believe the semi-automatic weapon was bought by the shooter’s father, but do not yet know how he accessed the weapon or whether he took it without his father’s knowledge, the FBI says.
The FBI says it has not yet identified any ideology ascribed to the shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot dead by Secret Service agents yesterday.
Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.
Sure, we'll remove all ads from your page and you'll unlock access to some excellent Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.

We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel