Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they happened.
IDF confirms strike on senior commander in Hezbollah’s Radwan force
The IDF confirms carrying out a strike in southern Lebanon this evening, killing a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force.
According to the military, Ali Jaafar Maatouk, also known as Habib Maatouk, was an operations officer in the Radwan force’s Hajjar regional unit, which is responsible for attacks on northern Israel’s Ramim Ridge region.
Another operations officer in the same Radwan unit, along with several more Hezbollah operatives, were killed in the same strike, in the southern Lebanon town of Jmaijmeh, the IDF says.
The IDF says the commanders and operatives carried out numerous attacks against Israel.
A separate strike targeted a Hezbollah command room in the nearby town of Majdal Selm, the IDF says. Fighter jets also struck a building used by the terror group in Shaqra, the military adds.
מטוסי קרב תקפו הערב מפקדה של כוח רדואן בה שהו מחבלים של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב ג׳מיג׳מה, לצד מפקדה נוספת של הארגון במרחב מג׳דל סלם>> pic.twitter.com/XyD7rAHQnR
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 18, 2024
White House official insists Biden preparing to ‘hit the campaign trail next week’ — report
A senior White House official denies reports that US President Joe Biden is now open to stepping aside in the presidential race, ABC News reports.
“Anyone who has talked to Joe Biden in the last 24 hours can tell you that is not true,” the senior White House official is quoted as saying, adding that the only thing that has changed with the president’s campaign is his COVID diagnosis yesterday.
“He is preparing to hit the campaign trail again next week,” the official insists.
Some Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate have called on Biden to step aside in the race amid concerns about his fitness for the job at age 81 and his standing in opinion polls as the election draws nearer.
Hezbollah confirms death of commander in Israeli strike in southern Lebanon
Hezbollah operative Ali Jaafar Maatouk, also known as Habib Maatouk, killed by an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on July 18, 2024. (Hezbollah Media Office)
Hezbollah announces the death of Ali Jaafar Maatouk, also known as Habib Maatouk, who is reported to be a senior commander in the terror group’s elite Radwan Force.
Maatouk was killed in a strike on a building in the southern Lebanon town of Jmaijmeh.
Hezbollah does not detail his rank or role in the terror group, although media reports said he had replaced a Radwan regional unit commander killed by Israel in April.
His death brings the terror group’s toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to at least 369.
IDF: Palestinian who tried to infiltrate into Israel from Gaza killed in drone strike
Israeli tanks stand near the Israel-Gaza border as seen from southern Israel, July 14, 2024. (AP/Tsafrir Abayov)
A Palestinian man who attempted to infiltrate into Israel earlier this evening was killed in a drone strike, the IDF says.
According to the military, soldiers monitoring surveillance cameras spotted the suspect approaching Israel’s border barrier from the southern Gaza Strip.
Troops were dispatched to the scene, and the suspect began to flee back to Gaza. A short while later, he was struck by a drone and killed, the IDF says.
It says the suspect did not cross the barrier amid the incident.
Report: Hezbollah officer killed in IDF strike had replaced commander killed by Israel in April
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Boustane near the border with Israel on July 18, 2024. (Kawnat Haju/AFP)
The Hezbollah field commander killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon this evening is named by Al-Arabiya as Habib Maatouk.
According to the report, Maatouk had replaced Ali Ahmed Hussein, a senior commander in the terror group’s elite Radwan force, who was killed in an IDF strike in April.
Hussein held a rank equivalent to a brigade commander, and was charged with attacks on northern Israel’s Ramim Ridge, the IDF said at the time.
Report: Field commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces killed in south Lebanon strike
A field commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces was one of at least two people killed in an alleged Israeli strike on south Lebanon, two security sources say.
The IDF has not commented on the strike.
At least 2 dead, over a dozen injured in Israeli strike on house in south Lebanon — report
At least two people have been killed and more than a dozen injured in an Israeli strike on a three-story house in Jmaijmeh in south Lebanon, three security sources say, adding the search for survivors in the rubble was ongoing.
The report comes amid ongoing near-daily attacks along the border by Hezbollah-led forces in Lebanon, in a campaign the terror group says is to support Gaza amid the war there.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 12 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 368 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 67 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
Report: Detained Oct. 7 terror suspects to be transferred to Israeli hospitals for treatment
This undated photo taken in the winter 2023 and provided by Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower group of former Israeli soldiers, shows blindfolded Palestinians captured in the Gaza Strip in a detention facility on the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel. (Breaking The Silence via AP)
Suspected “unlawful combatants” currently receiving treatment at the controversial Sde Teiman detention facility will be transferred to civilian hospitals in the center of the country, Channel 12 reports, without citing sources.
The term refers to Hamas terrorists captured on and after October 7 when terrorists rampaged through the country’s south, murdering some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.
Most of the detainees at the southern facility are suspected of having participated in the attack.
The suspects are reportedly being transferred due to a shortage of medical staff at the Sde Teiman facility. Details of the hospitals in central Israel are not published for fear of riots, the report adds.
Health Ministry officials have confirmed the report, according to Channel 12.
The IDF is currently in the process of phasing out the use of the military-run detention camp amid allegations of abuse of inmates there.
IDF: Fighter jets strike Hamas operatives gathered at UNRWA site in Gaza City
Troops of the Commando Brigade operate at UNRWA's headquarters in Gaza City, in a handout photo published July 12, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
A group of Hamas operatives gathered at a United Nations facility in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood were struck by a fighter jet a short while ago, the IDF says.
According to the military, the UNRWA site was used by Hamas as a command center.
The IDF says it carried out “many steps” to mitigate harm to civilians, including using aerial surveillance and “precision munitions.”
In recent weeks, more than 50 airstrikes have been carried out against Hamas sites embedded within schools and other sites used as shelters for civilians, according to the IDF.
Israel goalkeeper Daniel Peretz to sit out Paris Olympics after leg injury
Maccabi Tel Aviv goalkeeper Daniel Peretz tries to keep the ball inside during the first leg playoff Conference League soccer match between PSV and Maccabi Tel Aviv at the Philips stadium in Eindhoven, Netherlands, Feb. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Israel goalkeeper Daniel Peretz will miss the Paris Olympics after suffering a muscle tendon injury in his thigh, his club Bayern Munich announces.
Peretz will be out for several weeks and has returned to Munich, the Bundesliga team adds.
The 24-year-old joined Bayern last year from Maccabi Tel Aviv and has played twice for the club in all competitions.
Peretz was one of three players aged over 23 in Israel’s Olympic squad including from Sean Goldberg and Omri Gandelman. Israel will begin its campaign against Mali on July 24.
It will also face Japan and Paraguay in Group D.
Protesters near Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem lambast upcoming Knesset summer break
Anti-government protesters demonstrate outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem on July 18, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
Hundreds of anti-government demonstrators are protesting on Jerusalem’s Azza Street demanding a hostage deal and lambasting the Knesset’s three-month recess, slated to begin at the end of the month.
“A Knesset on recess is a Knesset that forsakes!” the protesters chant.
Although the demonstrators intended to demonstrate in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence, police barricades are keeping them a few hundred meters away from their destination.
Earlier this evening, protesters marched from the government campus to their current spot on Azza Street. So far there have been no arrests or clashes with police.
IDF: Two off-duty soldiers, two civilians wounded in blast near West Bank settlement Hermesh
Two off-duty IDF soldiers and two civilians were wounded in a blast near the northern West Bank settlement of Hermesh earlier today, the military says.
The victims are listed in light and moderate condition.
According to an initial IDF probe, the explosive was detonated as one of the Israelis got out of a car and attempted to open a gate on a road in the area of the settlement.
The IDF says it is searching for the assailants who planted the bomb.
Man killed, wife and baby seriously injured in shooting in Bedouin city of Rahat
Illustrative: Police investigate a murder in Shfaram on June 28, 2023. (Flash90)
A 40-year-old man has been killed and his wife and baby seriously injured in a shooting in the Bedouin city of Rahat.
Magen David Adom paramedics evacuated the three to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where doctors pronounced the man dead. The woman, also 40, and her baby are in a serious condition and receiving medical treatment.
Police have arrested a suspect, the man’s brother, who was in possession of a gun.
The incident reportedly comes amid an ongoing criminal family feud.
The anti-violence monitor group the Abraham Initiatives says that over 120 Arabs have been killed in violent crime since the beginning of the year.
TV report: Israel’s negotiators draw up fresh clauses to meet PM’s new hostage deal demands, won’t resume talks until he approves them
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with IDF troops in Rafah, on the Gaza-Egypt border, July 18, 2024. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)
Israel’s team indirectly negotiating a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas has been drawing up new clauses to take account of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recently added demands for ongoing Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor and Rafah border crossing, and his insistence on preventing armed gunmen from returning to northern Gaza when displaced residents return in the first phase of the deal, Channel 12 reports.
The negotiating team headed by Mossad chief David Barnea will not resume talks in Qatar until the new formulas have been approved by Netanyahu and his ministerial colleagues, the report says.
Israel’s May 27 proposal — published in full by The Times of Israel last week — does not specify the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah Crossing as locations where Israeli troops will be allowed to remain, and its wording does not set out a mechanism whereby armed gunmen would be prevented from returning to northern Gaza.
Tonight’s TV report says the negotiators intend to present their new texts for definitive approval by Netanyahu and his senior ministerial colleagues. Once that approval is obtained, they will convey the updated clauses to US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, and then to Hamas.
The report underlines that these texts mark a departure from the May 27 proposal, which was approved by Netanyahu and his now dismantled war cabinet and publicly detailed by US President Joe Biden on May 31. It is not clear from the TV report if the fresh formulations will be part of an amended proposal, or an appendix to the May 27 proposal.
As things stand, the report says, Barnea, the head of the negotiating team, has not set a date to fly to Doha to resume talks with the mediators, and he is not expected to fly out in the next few days.
The negotiating team believes the new texts “will break the deadlock” in the negotiations, the TV report says, quoting unnamed Israeli sources, but talks on finalizing the details of the deal with Hamas would still take several more weeks.
Ronen Bar (left), head of the Shin Bet security services, speaks with Mossad chief David Barnea during the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem, May 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
It says Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar has also been working with Egyptian and American mediators recently on formulas to resolve the same two security issues.
The report quotes Netanyahu saying privately in recent days that a deal is close, but that further military pressure on Hamas is still required: “We are getting close to achieving the goals of the deal, the distance is shrinking,” Channel 12 quotes him saying. “If we hit [Hamas] harder militarily, we’ll be able to bring a deal to fruition. Hamas is starting to crack.”
Netanyahu made similar comments publicly when in Rafah earlier today, and at a press conference on Saturday night.
The TV report paraphrases unnamed sources in the security establishment warning, however, that this is the moment of truth for a deal and that time may not be working in Israel’s favor — both because of the daily danger to the lives of the hostages and because there is no knowing what other developments might derail a deal in the coming weeks if it is not done now.
Channel 12 also quotes unnamed cabinet sources charging that Netanyahu is deliberately putting off a finalized deal, and speculating that this is either to ensure his coalition survives until the start of the Knesset summer recess at the end of July or in order to try to present Hamas as the rejectionist side.
These sources say that the prime minister’s stance puts the deal “at risk.”
Police internal affairs division drops charges against officers accused of violence at 2023 protests
The chief of the Tel Aviv police’s Yasam special patrol unit, Yair Hanuna (at rear), arrests Moshe Radman, a leading anti-overhaul protester during a demonstration protest against the judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv, on March 23, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) announces it has closed its investigation into Chief Superintendent Yair Hanuna and other police officers from the Tel Aviv Police District over their actions during anti-government protests in the city in March and July last year.
According to DIPI, the evidence, including videos, collected over one complaint demonstrated that the complainant’s claim that he had been assaulted by several police officers who hit him when he was handcuffed, was not true.
DIPI says that videos shown by the media of the incident had been selectively edited “to distort the incident” and that the complainant, Amitai Abudi, had “violated the public order” by kicking an object toward a water cannon and resisting arrest in a way “that justified the use of force by the police officers.”
In another incident, DIPI stated that the complainant, Omer Gat, refused repeated requests by the police to leave the site, including by Hanuna, he was “arrested lawfully with the use of reasonable force,” which did not injure Gat in any way.
In the third incident, DIPI found that an arrest had been lawful after the complainant, Uri Bichonski, tried to set an object on fire on the Ayalon Highway and then fled from the police to avoid being arrested.
The department said that no evidence had been found to attribute an injury sustained by Bichonski as he fled the police to the arresting officers when they detained him.
The decision to close these investigations comes after DIPI indicted five other officers for throwing stun grenades toward protestors during an anti-government demonstration in March 2023 in violation of police protocol.
Report: Netanyahu working to set up meeting — or at least call — with Trump on US trip
Associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are working to set up a meeting — or at least a phone call — with Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump during his visit to the US next week, the Kan broadcaster reports.
Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with US President Joe Biden — who is currently self-isolating after being diagnosed with COVID yesterday — and US Vice President Kamala Harris.
Blinken marks 30 years since AMIA bombing, amid ‘alarming surge in global antisemitism’
People hold pictures of victims during a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary the Mutual Israelite Association of Argentina (AMIA) bombing attack in Buenos Aires on July 18, 2024. (Tomas Cuesta/AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issues a statement marking the 30th anniversary of the Iran-backed Hezbollah bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Blinken notes Hamas’s October 7 onslaught replaced the AMIA bombing — in which 85 were killed — as the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
Blinken says the anniversary comes amid an “alarming surge in global antisemitism,” particularly since October 7. This includes in the US, which has also seen an uptick in Islamophobia and hate crimes against Muslims, he says.
The secretary notes yesterday’s adoption of Global Guidelines for Condemning Antisemitism by envoys from more than 30 countries who are also in Buenos Aires to attend an event marking the AMIA bombing anniversary.
IDF: Two suspected drones from Lebanon shot down by air defenses
Two suspected drones that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon in the past hour were shot down by air defenses, the IDF says.
Additional sirens had sounded over fears of falling shrapnel following the interceptions.
Anti-government protesters march near Gaza border, demanding probe into Oct. 7 failures
Protesters march near the Gaza border, calling for a State Commission of Inquiry to investigate the failures that lead to Hamas's October 7 onslaught, July 18, 2024. (Pro-Democracy Movement/Dafna Yosha)
Anti-government demonstrations gather around the country, calling for a State Commission of Inquiry into “the negligence that led to the October 7 attack” and for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since.
Near the Gaza border, protesters are on the second day of a “March of Abandonment and Bravery,” walking today from Kibbutz Be’eri to Kibbutz Re’im.
Be’eri was one of the hardest hit communities in Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw thousands of terrorists burst across the border into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, mostly civilians. Hundreds were killed and dozens kidnapped at an outdoor music festival near Re’im.
In Jerusalem, meanwhile, hundreds of protesters are marching to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence on Azza Street, calling for the hostages’ release and for early elections.
Protesters march in Jerusalem, calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and for early elections, holding a banner that reads, ‘He who abandoned them, must return them,’ July 18, 2024. (Pro-Democracy Movement/Ori Koren)
They march behind a large banner bearing a photo of Netanyahu that reads, “He who abandoned them, must return them.”
‘They’re dying slowly in body and soul’: Three former Hamas hostages beg Netanyahu to close deal
Former Hamas hostages Raz Ben Ami, left, and Adina Moshe, right, at a press conference in Tel Aviv, July 18, 2024. (Hostage and Missing Families Forum)
Three former Hamas hostages hold a press conference in the so-called Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, calling on the government to close a deal to secure their release from Gaza.
The three women were among 105 civilians who were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November.
“What we experienced in 49 days, the 120 [remaining] hostages have been experiencing for almost six times the amount of time we lived in terror in Hamas captivity,” says Danielle Aloni, who was kidnapped on October 7 along with her her husband David Cunio and daughter Emilia. Cunio is still captive in Gaza.
“They have been abandoned there. For nine and a half months, they’ve been miserable, they’re suffering, they’re dying slowly in body and soul, even those who are still alive.”
Former Hamas hostage Danielle Aloni speaks at a press conference in Tel Aviv, July 18, 2024. (Hostage and Missing Families Forum)
Addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of his trip to Washington next week, released hostage Adina Moshe says, “I call on you prime minister: save those who you can. There are live hostages. There’s no time.”
It is believed that 116 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, of whom 42 have been confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
“Sign the deal, you will be the one who returns the living and the dead for burial. Be the one who allows us all to get out of this hell, to feel again like Jews, Israelis, who do everything for our brothers and do not abandon them,” Moshe adds.
Raz Ben Ami, whose husband Ohad remains in Hamas captivity, pleads, “Bibi, you tell me, how will I be able to go on if you don’t sign your deal now and give me Ohad back?”
“If the deal doesn’t go through this time, does that mean I should start forgetting about him? I ask you, I demand of you: first the deal and then the flight,” she adds, referencing Netanyahu’s imminent trip to the US.
Biden not deterred by Knesset resolution rejecting Palestinian statehood, White House says
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, July 8, 2024. (AP/Susan Walsh)
The Biden administration is not deterred by the resolution passed yesterday by the Knesset rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“I think the best way I can respond to that is to just reiterate our firm belief in the power and the promise of a two-state solution,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby tells reporters.
“That is not something that President Biden is going to give up on, and we’re going to keep doing everything we can to try to achieve that outcome,” he continues.
“We know it is not going to happen tomorrow, and we know it’s not going to be without difficulty, and we also know that it requires courage and leadership in the region to bring it about,” Kirby adds.
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel dodges repeated efforts to respond specifically to the legislation.
However, he says, “It can be safely implied that a piece of legislation that is in opposition to a two-state solution is not something that we would be thrilled about.”
White House: VP Harris will meet Netanyahu in DC next week
Then-senator Kamala Harris, left, hosted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his Jerusalem office, November 2017. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
US Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli premier is in Washington next week, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby tells reporters in a briefing.
A second US official tells The Times of Israel Harris and Netanyahu will meet separately from the Oval Office sit-down that US President Joe Biden will have with the prime minister.
A third White House official says, “We anticipate the Vice President will have an opportunity to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu while he is in Washington.”
The Harris-Netanyahu meeting could carry more significance amid intensifying pressure for Biden to step out of the presidential race.
Rocket alert sirens sounding in northern towns near Lebanon border
Sirens are ringing in northern communities near the border with Lebanon, warning of incoming rocket fire.
The sirens can be heard in largely evacuated towns including Hanita, Eilon, Idmit, Ya’ara, and Arab al-Aramshe.
Red Alert [19:33:08] – 7 Alerts:
• Confrontation Line — Hanita, Eilon, Idmit, Ya'ara, Arab al-Aramshe#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/3q6R4ESehr
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) July 18, 2024
White House has ‘every expectation’ Biden will meet Netanyahu in US next week, despite COVID diagnosis
US President Joe Biden, center left, pauses during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center right, in Tel Aviv, October 18, 2023. At left: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken; at right: Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, second right and lawmaker Benny Gantz, right. (Miriam Alster/Pool Photo via AP)
The White House has “every expectation” that Joe Biden will meet Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli prime minister is in town next week, despite the president being diagnosed with COVID-19 yesterday.
“We have every expectation that the two leaders will have a chance to see each other,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says, adding that “the president’s health and his recovery from Covid takes priority.”
Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with Biden on Monday at the White House, which would be five days after the president’s diagnosis.
‘I condone Hamas’: Anti-Israel protesters try to occupy Citibank headquarters in NYC; arrests made
A protester holds a sign reading 'I condone Hamas' at a 'Climate Justice Means Free Palestine!' rally outside of the Citibank headquarters on June 18, 2024 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/AFP)
Anti-Israel protesters participate in a ‘Climate Justice Means Free Palestine!’ rally outside of the Citibank headquarters in New York City.
Multiple protesters are arrested as they attempt to “occupy” the bank’s headquarters.
NYPD officers arrest people who attempted to occupy the outside of Citibank headquarters while they participate in a ‘Climate Justice Means Free Palestine!’ rally on June 18, 2024 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/AFP)
The protesters say they are demonstrating in solidarity with the people of Palestine amid the ongoing war in Gaza, due to the bank being the largest foreign financial institution in Israel.
Photos from the demonstration show protesters holding signs reading, “I condone Hamas,” “Citi earns while the world burns” and “Israel bombs, Citibank pays.”
Health Ministry: Evidence of polio found in sewage samples in Gaza
Evidence of polio was found in sewage samples in the Gaza Strip, the Health Ministry reports.
The sample’s results correspond to the findings of the World Health Organization in Egypt, which were tested in an Israeli laboratory approved by the organization, according to Ynetnews.
Israel’s control over Gaza-Egypt border ‘critical’ for fight against Hamas, Netanyahu tells troops in Rafah
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to IDF troops in Rafah on the Gaza-Egypt border, July 18, 2024. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)
Israel’s control over the Philadelphi Route and the Rafah Border Crossing is “critical” for the next stage of the war on Hamas, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to IDF troops in the city of Rafah on the Gaza-Egypt border.
Netanyahu has promised that Israel will continue to control Gaza’s border with Egypt even after a hostage deal with Hamas, something the terror group says it will not accept.
“At the same time, the military pressure [IDF forces] are exerting right here, in Hamas’s throat, helps us to stand firm on our just demands, helps us promote the hostage deal — including our demand to release a maximum number of hostages in the first stage of the plan.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travels to Rafah, on the Gaza-Egypt border, to visit IDF troops, July 18, 2024. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)
This pressure, says Netanyahu “does not delay a deal. It advances it.”
Netanyahu says he will present Israel’s heroism and the just nature of the war it is fighting in his speech to Congress next week.
He again pledges that Israel will achieve “complete victory.”
Biden envoy traveling to Middle East for consultations on Gaza war — White House
White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk arrives at the US Capitol on April 18, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images/AFP)
US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk is traveling to the Middle East today for consultations on the Gaza conflict, with stops planned in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby tells reporters in a briefing.
Two people seriously injured in car explosion in Petah Tikva – reports
Two people have been seriously injured in a car explosion in the central city of Petah Tikva, Hebrew media reports.
Paramedics have arrived at the scene and are administering medical treatment, the reports add.
Initial reports indicate that the incident had a criminal motive rather than terror.
ארוע פלילי בכפר גנים פתח תקווה
צילום מהשכונה pic.twitter.com/s0fD2R9hN2— ג׳וס (@Josinive) July 18, 2024
Netanyahu to meet tonight with Gallant, negotiators on Israel’s position on hostage-ceasefire deal – report
Demonstrators protest for the release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas since October 7, Tel Aviv, July 17, 2024. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly set to meet with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the Israeli negotiating team working to close a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas tonight, to confirm Israel’s position on the latest proposal on the table.
In a post on X, Israeli journalist Barak Ravid quotes a senior Israeli official as saying that the purpose of the meeting is to discuss Netanyahu’s most recent demands for a deal, spurred on by intelligence assessments that Hamas is weary, weakened, and keen to end the fighting.
Two key points that the prime minister has seized on are Israel’s ability to directly prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas through tunnels under the Egypt-Hamas border, and preventing the terror group from moving its fighters from southern Gaza to the north by embedding them among Palestinians displaced by the war when they are permitted to return to the north.
Israel believes that 120 hostages are being held in Gaza — of whom dozens have been confirmed dead by the IDF.
Young couple, toddler reported hurt in West Bank car explosion, apparently not caused by bomb
A man and a woman, both aged 22, along with their 18-month-old child have been lightly injured when a car exploded near the northern West Bank settlement of Hermesh, Hebrew media reports.
According to an initial investigation, the blast was not caused by an explosive device, the reports add.
???? רכב אזרחי ישראלי נפגע כתוצאה מפיצוץ מטען באזור חרמש. בשלב זה מדווח על פצוע קל. pic.twitter.com/lLRBq1L330
— Asslan Khalil (@KhalilAsslan) July 18, 2024
IDF announces death of reservist seriously wounded in Hezbollah drone attack last month
Sgt. First Class (res.) Efraim Ben Amram succumbed on July 18, 2024 to wounds sustained in Hezbollah drone attack on a military base in northern Israel the previous month. (Courtesy)
An Israeli soldier seriously wounded in a Hezbollah drone attack on a military base in northern Israel last month has succumbed to his wounds, the IDF announces.
The slain soldier is named as Sgt. First Class (res.) Efraim Ben Amram, 25, of the 188th Armored Brigade’s 53rd Battalion, from Yesud HaMa’ala.
Ben Amram was among 19 troops hurt in the drone attack against an army base in the Merom Golan area on June 30.
Daily attacks by Hezbollah on northern communities since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught have resulted in the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists and 12 civilians.
IDF confirms airstrike in southern Lebanon that killed Hezbollah operative
The IDF confirms carrying out an airstrike in southern Lebanon this morning, killing a Hezbollah operative.
According to the IDF, Hassan Muhanna was a prominent member of Hezbollah’s engineering unit in the Qana region of southern Lebanon and was involved in a series of attacks against Israel.
It publishes footage of the strike in the Jabal al-Botm area.
מוקדם יותר היום כלי טיס של חיל האוויר תקף וחיסל במרחב מרימין שבדרום לבנון, את המחבל חסן עלי מהנא מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה.
המחבל שימש כגורם ביחידת ההנדסה של ארגון הטרור בגזרת קאנא ובמסגרת תפקידו לקח חלק בתכנון והוצאה לפועל של מגוון פעולות טרור נגד מדינת ישראל pic.twitter.com/WzQjgyU06f
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 18, 2024
Report: Biden could drop out of presidential race as early as this weekend
US President Joe Biden steps off Air Force One upon arrival at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, on July 17, 2024, after testing positive for COVID. (Kent Nishimura/AFP)
US President Joe Biden could drop out of the presidential race as soon as this weekend, the Axios news site reports, citing “several” senior Democrats.
The sources are quoted as saying that though Biden has publicly said he’s staying in the race, he feels the mounting pressure and knows he won’t be able to continue the campaign.
The Axios report speculates that the most likely scenario is that Biden will step aside and endorse his vice president, Kamala Harris.
The report comes as Biden is self-isolating in his Delaware vacation home after testing positive COVID yesterday.
His rival, Donald Trump, is due to address the Republican National Convention later today, after surviving an assassination attempt last weekend.
Drone and rocket alert sirens sounding in northern communities near Lebanon border
Drone alert sirens are ringing in the northern community of Dishon, near the border with Lebanon.
At the same time, rocket alert sirens are sounding in towns and cities including Rosh Pina and Hatzor Haglilit.
The sirens mark the first alert in the area in over 24 hours, amid near-daily attacks by Hezbollah-led forces on Israeli communities and military posts along the border since October 8.
Red Alert [17:34:48] – 1 Alert:
• Confrontation Line — Dishon#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/MYuMVHdQEI
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) July 18, 2024
IDF: Draft orders will be sent to 3,000 potential Haredi conscripts most likely to show up for duty
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews attend a rally against drafting Haredim to the IDF, in Mea Shearim, Jerusalem, June 30, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The Israel Defense Forces says the 3,000 potential Haredi conscripts who will receive draft orders in the coming weeks are those it assumes will actually show up to the induction center.
The orders will be sent out in three waves of 1,000 starting on Sunday, so the IDF can learn to improve itself each time, as it currently has no experience drafting a large number of Haredi soldiers at once. Each wave will take place two weeks apart.
Using legal data on the Haredi community, the IDF says the 3,000 include those who are working, students of higher education, or hold driver’s licenses — indicators that they are not in full-time yeshiva learning. The IDF is not able to check information such as at which yeshiva the potential draftees study.
The IDF says that from its inquiries in recent months, it found that it is far easier to recruit married Haredi men, though they are less eligible for combat roles.
Among the 3,000, only 15 percent are married while 85% are single, the latter of whom will be mostly sent to combat roles. According to the IDF’s data, 50% of the potential troops are aged 18 to 21, another 40% are between 22-23, and just 10% are 24 to 26.
The draft orders are the first stage in the screening and evaluation process that the army carries out for recruits, ahead of enlistment in the military in the coming year.
Normally, the process takes about two years from the time first draft order is sent to induction. For the 3,000 Haredi troops, the IDF says their first visit to the induction center for evaluation will take place within two weeks, and they could be enlisted at the earliest 45 days later.
The IDF says it will act in accordance with the law, and those who ignore multiple draft orders will be prevented from leaving the country and may face arrest by Military Police and be taken to military jails.
The military says it currently requires some 10,000 new soldiers — mostly combat — but can only accommodate the enlistment of an additional 3,000 ultra-Orthodox this year, in addition to the 1,800 Haredi soldiers who are drafted annually.
The same number, 4,800, has also been set for next year, but the IDF says it aims to grow every year after that. This past year, 63,000 Haredi males were listed as eligible for military service.
The IDF aims to open new units for Haredi troops, in addition to the existing ones that include the Netzah Yehuda Battalion in the Kfir Brigade, the Tomer Company in the Givati Brigade’s Rotem Battalion, the Hetz Company in the Paratroopers Brigade’s 202nd Battalion, and the Nevatim Airbase’s ground defense unit, as well as numerous other noncombat roles.
The new units for Haredim the IDF is mulling opening include combat companies in the West Bank, a ground defense unit for the Ramat David Airbase, and medical teams for other units.
PM’s office: Netanyahu returns from visit to Rafah; more details expected shortly
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has returned from a visit to Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, his office announces.
More details are expected to come out in the coming hours.
Civilian reported injured in car bombing in West Bank; emergency services en route
One Israeli civilian is reported wounded after their car was hit by a bomb near the northern West Bank settlement of Hermesh.
The IDF says troops and medics are heading to the scene.
Israelis leaving country permanently spiked 285% after Oct. 7 but stabilized since — data
Passengers at Ben Gurion International Airport, June 6, 2022. (Gili Yaari/Flash90/file)
The number of Israelis who permanently left Israel spiked after Hamas’s October 7 massacre and the ensuing outbreak of war in Gaza, but dropped in the following months and has now stabilized, according to data cited by Hebrew media.
Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics cited by Channel 12 News suggests a 285 percent increase in October 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.
The trend reverses the following month, with 30,000 Israelis leaving the country permanently between November 2023 and March 2024, representing a 14% decrease from the same period the previous year.
The data also indicates a 21% decrease in Israelis returning from abroad, with 8,898 moving back to Israel between October 2023 and March 2024, compared to 11,231 the previous year.
There was also an increase in Israelis moving abroad in the months before the war, amid mass protests against the government’s judicial overhaul plan, with an increase of 51% in June-September 2023 compared to 2022.
Channel 12 notes that the CBS data tallies Israelis who left the country, did not return over the following 10 months, and centered their lives abroad, and as such can only indicate trends.
It also notes that the factors for the decision to move abroad may not necessarily be connected to the date of departure, as emigration usually takes several months to arrange.
Argentinian Jewish community commemorates the 30th anniversary of AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires
The Argentinian Jewish community commemorates the 30th anniversary of a targeted bombing that killed 85 people at the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.
Argentina’s top criminal court blamed Iran for the 1994 attack earlier this year, saying it was carried out by Hezbollah terrorists responding to “a political and strategic design” by Iran.
Tehran has denied involvement and refused to turn over suspects, and previous investigations and Interpol arrest warrants have led nowhere.
A clip posted to social media shows Argentinian President Javier Milei arriving at the Buenos Aires event.
President Javier Milei arrives for the memorial ceremony marking 30 years since the bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA), a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. pic.twitter.com/8jJi5wijkQ
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) July 18, 2024
Milei — a staunch supporter of both the Jewish community and of Israel — vowed yesterday that he would propose a bill that would allow for the trial of the suspects in the attack in absentia.
Last week, Milei declared the Iran-backed terror group Hamas a terrorist organization for its October 7 massacre, in which 1,200 people were murdered in southern communities in Israel, and 251 were taken hostage to Gaza.
Agencies contributed to this report.
France pans Knesset vote against Palestinian state, Ben Gvir’s visit to Temple Mount
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on July 18, 2024. (Otzma Yehudit)
France pans the Knesset vote yesterday against a Palestinian state, saying that “only the two-state solution can bring a just and lasting peace to both Israelis and Palestinians and guarantee stability in the region.”
The Quai d’Orsay also condemns National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem this morning, calling it a “violation of the status quo on the mosque esplanade.”
“These irresponsible actions risk further destabilizing the region,” says France.
“France recalls the need to preserve the historic status quo on the Holy Places in Jerusalem and underlines the importance of Jordan’s specific role in this regard,” says the statement.
The status quo in Jerusalem deals with nine shared religious sites in Jerusalem, including the Western Wall, but does not cover the Temple Mount itself. However, informal arrangements between Israel and the Jordanian Waqf have dictated how the site is managed since Israel took control in 1967.
The vague status quo governing the compound allows Muslims to pray and enter with few restrictions, while non-Muslims, including Jews, can visit only during limited time slots via a single gate, with visibly religious Jews only allowed to walk on a predetermined route, closely accompanied by police. While Jews are not officially allowed to pray, police have increasingly tolerated limited prayer.
Gallant accuses PM’s office of neglecting plan to transfer sick Gazan children via Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attend a press conference at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, October 28, 2023. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP)
The public fight between Yoav Gallant and Benjamin Netanyahu over plans to build a field hospital for Gazan children continues, with the defense minister accusing the prime minister’s staff of failing to advance the original plan to send sick and injured children abroad through Israel.
According to a statement from Gallant’s office, Netanyahu accepted the minister’s recommendation that complex cases be sent abroad by way of Israel. Gallant claims that he turned to the Prime Minister’s Office and National Security Council asking for a directive to all relevant ministries to cooperate on the plan.
“Despite the clear directive from the prime minister to enact the defense minister’s proposal,” claims Gallant’s office, “a discussion on the topic was canceled and the NSC’s instruction was not sent.”
He says that because of the pressing need to make a decision, Gallant announced yesterday the establishment of an Israeli field hospital for Gazan children.
“Only after the defense minister’s directive to establish a field hospital did the NSC remember to respond to his request and adopt his proposal to transfer the complicated patients from Gaza to a third country via Israel,” says Gallant’s office.
Earlier today, Netanyahu said he sent a missive to Gallant saying that he will not approve the establishment of a field hospital in Israel to treat Gazan children.
Gallant’s office had said the need to establish it was due to the extended closure of Gaza’s Rafah crossing into Egypt. The crossing has been closed since Israeli forces captured it in early May. Egypt has refused to reopen the crossing while the Gazan side remains under Israeli control.
IDF says fighter jets hit Hezbollah infrastructure, military posts
Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah infrastructure in Ain al-Tineh in the Western Beqaa District earlier today, the IDF says.
The IDF says it also struck two Hezbollah military posts in southern Lebanon.
במהלך היום מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו תשתית צבאית של חיזבאללה במרחב עין א-תינה, וכן בוצעה תקיפה נוספת של שתי עמדות צבאיות של הארגון במרחבים אל קצורה ומרימין.
בנוסף, הכוחות תקפו בארטילריה את מרחב בליידא להסרת איום pic.twitter.com/G5XqxH5oWK
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 18, 2024
High Court says both sides need to compromise on appointment of Supreme Court president
High Court Justice Yael Wilner (C) attends a hearing on a petition requesting the Judicial Selection Committee to appoint Supreme Court judges, at the High Court in Jerusalem on July 18, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The High Court of Justice instructs Justice Minister Levin and petitioners against his refusal to appoint a new Supreme Court president to enter into dialogue in order to find a breakthrough for the current, unprecedented impasse in which there has been no permanent court president for the last nine months.
Justice Yael Wilner says that a compromise process is necessary due to “the complexity and sensitivity of the issue.”
The court instructs Levin to update it on the progress of this dialogue by August 8.
“Sometimes a bad compromise is better than a good ruling, and this is the situation,” quips Justice Alex Stein after the decision read out in court.
Levin has refused to appoint a replacement for former president Esther Hayut, who retired in October, insisting that such an appointment needs unanimity on the Judicial Selection Committee, which he chairs, at a time of war. Even prior to the war, however, Levin eschewed the traditional method of appointing the most senior justice on the court as president in order to appoint a conservative candidate.
The petitioners argue that Levin has no authority to refrain from calling a vote on a new president, and that the 1981 Interpretation Law requires those holding statutory authority to exercise that authority “with appropriate speed.”
Hezbollah announces death of member after Israeli strike in south Lebanon
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 Hassan Muhanna, from the southern Lebanese village of Jabal al-Botm.
The announcement comes after reports of an Israeli strike on a car in Jabal al-Botm.
His death brings the terror group’s toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to 368.
Spain, Germany arrest 4 for supplying Hezbollah with parts for explosive drones used to attack Israel
A Hezbollah drone is seen being shot down by air defenses over northern Israel, June 23, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Three people were arrested in Spain and one more in Germany on suspicion of belonging to a network that supplied the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah with parts to build kamikaze drones used in attacks in northern Israel, Spanish authorities say.
The investigation began in Spain when the Guardia Civil detected “suspicious operations” by Spanish companies run by Lebanese nationals involving large quantities of materials and components to manufacture drones capable of carrying explosive charges of several kilograms, the statement says.
Authorities believe Hezbollah may have built several hundred drones with these components.
The Spanish companies, as others in Europe and around the world, purchased items including electronic guidance components, propulsion propellers, gasoline engines, more than 200 electric motors and materials for the fuselage, wings and other drone parts, according to investigators.
The parts acquired by the network, which has now been dismantled, were identified in drones used by Hezbollah in attacks on northern Israel.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war against Hamas there.
So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 12 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 17 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 367 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 67 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
Gallant instructs IDF to send out draft orders to 1,000 Haredi men on Sunday
Ultra-Orthodox men protest against the military draft on Route 4 outside Bnei Brak, July 16, 2024 (Jamal Awad/Flash90)
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has instructed the military to send out 1,000 draft orders to members of the Haredi community on Sunday.
The draft orders are the first stage in the screening and evaluation process that the army carries out for new recruits, ahead of enlistment in the military in the coming year.
Additional orders will be sent in two more waves in the coming weeks, the Defense Ministry says. The IDF has said it currently has the capacity to draft 3,000 Haredi men in the coming year.
The draft orders will be sent to ultra-Orthodox men aged 18 to 26, according to the ministry.
At the end of each wave of draft orders, the ministry says “a learning process will take place in order to improve the following waves.”
The decision is made by Gallant following a meeting he held this morning with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and other senior military officials, including Maj. Gen. (res.) Eliezer Shkedi who, at Gallant’s request, wrote a lengthy report laying out how the country could effectively recruit and integrate members of the ultra-Orthodox community into the IDF.
Prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbis have urged yeshiva students to ignore any communication from the IDF, and the parties that represent the Haredi community have escalated threats to leave the coalition if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government fails to pass a law to exempt Haredi men from military service by the end of the Knesset’s summer session.
EU chief: ‘Bloodshed in Gaza must stop now,’ hostages need to be freed
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks in the ballroom of Muenster Town Hall, in Muenster, Germany, May 28, 2024. (Jana Rodenbusch/Pool Photo via AP)
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen says that “the bloodshed in Gaza must stop now,” adding that too many civilians in the Palestinian territory “have lost their lives as a result of Israel’s response to Hamas brutal terror.”
“The people of Gaza cannot bear any more, and humanity cannot bear any more,” she tells the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. “We need an immediate and enduring ceasefire. We need the release of Israeli hostages, and we need to prepare for the day after.”
High Court justices challenge Levin over refusal to appoint Supreme Court president, judges
High Court Justice Yael Wilner (C) attends a hearing on a petition requesting the Judicial Selection Committee to appoint Supreme Court judges, at the High Court in Jerusalem on July 18, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
High Court justices challenge Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s position that there is nothing to compel him to hold a vote in the Judicial Selection Committee for the appointment of a new Supreme Court president, and question whether the timeframe for his stated reason – that at a time of war such appointments need unanimity – has now run its course.
“We are in July 2024, many months since this letter [expressing Levin’s opinion] was issued and many months since the beginning of war,” Justice Yael Wilner points out to Levin’s legal representative during a court hearing on petitions demanding the court order the justice minister to appoint a new president.
Levin’s attorney, Tzion Amir, explains that Levin’s argument is that the new president of the court must be a unifier in the model of Otto von Bismarck who unified Germany, and not “surrender to pressures and societal winds and subjugate the executive branch to the judicial branch, which is what the petition [against Levin] does.”
Wilner responds skeptically, saying Levin’s position amounts to granting himself, as chairman of the committee, a veto over the appointment of a president “while in our system there is no veto.”
Justice Ofer Grosskopf also challenges Levin’s interpretation of the Law for the Courts, which the minister contends gives him discretion as to whether or not to fill a position on the Supreme Court, despite the law stating that if there is a need to appoint a judge then the minister must convene the committee.
“Is it possible there can be a doubt that there is a need to appoint a president [of the Supreme Court?” wonders Grosskopf.
Levin, who chairs the selection committee, has refused to allow a vote on the appointment of a new president of the Supreme Court ever since former president Esther Hayut retired in October, or even fill her seat on the bench and that of Anat Baron, who retired at the same time.
Hours after assuming post, acting police commissioner holds meeting with prisons chief
Acting Police Commissioner Avshalom Peled (R) and prison service head Kobi Yaakobi meet on July 18, 2024 (Israel Police)
Acting Police Commissioner Avshalom Peled and prison service head Kobi Yaakobi hold their first working meeting since the former entered his new position at midnight, taking over from Kobi Shabtai.
Yaakobi served in the police force prior to his appointment as prisons head.
IDF: Some 20 Hamas operatives killed in airstrike, including sniper who killed soldier
A Hamas sniper who killed an Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip earlier this month, along with some 20 more terror operatives, were killed in a recent airstrike, the IDF and Shin Bet say.
According to the IDF, the drone strike killed around 20 members of Hamas’s Shati Battalion, including members of the elite Nukhba force, snipers, and operatives who would observe Israeli forces.
Muhammad Abu Hatab, a sniper and a platoon commander in the Shati Battalion, was among those killed.
According to the IDF, Abu Hatab carried out several sniper attacks against Israeli troops in Gaza, including an incident near the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City on July 9, killing Sgt. First Class Tal Lahat, 21, of the Maglan commando unit.
Another terrorist killed in the strike was Ismail Shakshak, who the IDF says was a member of Hamas’s Nukhba force who participated in the October 7 onslaught.
Sgt. First Class Tal Lahat, of the IDF’s Maglan commando unit, who was killed during fighting in central Gaza on July 9, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Pushing back against Gallant, PM says field hospital won’t be established in Israel for Gazan children
The Prime Minister’s Office says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has informed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in writing that he will not approve the establishment of a field hospital in Israel to treat Gazan children who are unable to receive medical care abroad.
The statement says that in light of the lack of approval from Netanyahu, the field hospital in Israel will “therefore will not be established.”
Gallant’s office announced the establishment of the field hospital yesterday, saying it was due to the extended closure of Gaza’s Rafah crossing into Egypt.
The crossing has been closed since Israeli forces captured it in early May. Egypt has refused to reopen the crossing while the Gazan side remains under Israeli control.
“This is a significant short-term solution that will address immediate humanitarian needs until a permanent mechanism is established to evacuate and treat ill children,” Gallant’s office said yesterday, without providing a timeline or details on whether the hospital would be run by Israel or another entity.
Gallant told his US counterpart, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, about the plan for the field hospital along the Gaza border, during a call earlier this week.
Italy sends humanitarian flight with food, health equipment for Gazans
Italy has sent food supplies and health equipment for the Gaza population aboard a humanitarian flight that landed in Jordan, a statement says, as part of Rome’s “Food for Gaza” initiative to help civilians there.
Aid includes over 60 tons of food, hygiene kits and sanitary equipment, along with 150 tents. The flight, which departed from the southern city of Brindisi, has landed in the Jordan capital of Amman from where the materials will be delivered to Gaza.
“With this operation we give a tangible demonstration of the attention that the Italian government is dedicating to the humanitarian situation in the Strip,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani says.
He adds Italy is committed “to do everything possible to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian population in Gaza.”
The Food for Gaza initiative is led by Italy together with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
Lebanese media reports another Israeli strike
Lebanese media report an Israeli strike near the town of Ain al-Tineh, in the Western Beqaa District, around 25 kilometers from the Israeli border.
No further details are immediately available.
غارتان تستهدفان أطراف عين التينة جنوب لبنان pic.twitter.com/QijeonP9CC
— athabat network (@AthabatNetwork) July 18, 2024
Ex-Sephardi chief rabbi: Jewish law permits freeing terrorists with blood on their hands in a hostage deal
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef speaks at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on July 18, 2024. (GPO)
Yitzhak Yosef, the former Sephardi chief rabbi, expresses support for releasing terrorists “with blood on their hands” in the framework of a deal to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza.
“There’s mortal danger in the future if you release terrorists with blood on their hands. They could kill us. But that’s not right now. The hostages are right now. There’s negotiation. In halacha [Jewish law], the conclusion is it’s permissible to release those accursed terrorists and if they do something, even minor, they can kill them right away,” Yosef says during a book presentation event at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.
He adds: “Let them wrap up the deals, let them make the deal quickly. It can’t be helped. It’s permissible to release terrorists with blood on their hands. They released Yahya Sinwar and we saw what he turned out to be. But this is mortal danger. If we don’t release them now [the terrorists] will kill the hostages.”
Yosef’s term as chief rabbi ended on July 1 without a successor due to a dispute between the Chief Rabbinate and the Justice Ministry over women’s representation in the election of a successor. Yitzhak’s late father, Ovadia, who also served as Sephardi chief rabbi, said that he approved the release of terrorists with blood on their hands for the release of Gilad Shalit in 2011.
Israel is in talks with Hamas on a deal for the release of the hostages that would also include some form of ceasefire. Hamas is demanding an end to hostilities and the release of many Palestinian prisoners, including murderers, in exchange for the hostages.
IDF confirms it carried out drone strike that killed Hamas commander in eastern Lebanon
The wreckage of a car in which a Hamas commander was killed by an Israeli strike in the village of Ghazzeh in the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon on July 18, 2024 (Hassan JARRAH / AFP)
The IDF confirms carrying out a drone strike in eastern Lebanon this morning, killing Muhammed Jabara, a Hamas commander.
Jabara, according to the IDF, was responsible for advancing and carrying out attacks, including rocket fire, on Israel.
The IDF says Jabara worked alongside the Lebanese terror group al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya, which also claimed him as a member.
Jabara’s killing is a blow to the ability of Hamas to carry out attacks against Israel, the IDF adds.
Israel unsure how Biden’s COVID-19 diagnosis will impact Netanyahu’s US visit
This combination photo shows US President Joe Biden, left, on March 8, 2024, in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, October 28, 2023. (AP Photo)
Israel is still not sure how US President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 diagnosis will affect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington next week, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
The officials says that Israel expects to have conversations with US counterparts when the work day begins in Washington.
Netanyahu is slated to meet Biden on Monday afternoon, two days before the premier’s speech to a joint session of Congress.
Turkey slams destruction of hospital near Gaza City; IDF: Hamas used it as military complex, to hold hostages
After IDF soldiers took a photo in front of the destroyed Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital south of Gaza City, the Turkish Foreign Ministry calls the image “further evidence of Israel’s violation of international law and international humanitarian law.”
The photo circulated in Palestinian media earlier this week.
“The Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital is the only centre for cancer patients in Gaza. The damage caused to the hospital by the Israeli forces and its use as a military base is part of Israel’s systematic policy aimed at the annihilation of the Palestinian people,” claims Ankara, which suspended trade with Israel over the war on Hamas.
“We will continue to work to ensure that those responsible for these attacks are brought to justice in international courts,” pledges Turkey.
In response, the IDF tells The Times of Israel that “many shafts and terrorist infrastructure were exposed that connected the hospital to military terror tunnels about 10 kilometers long.”
“There tunnels were used by Hamas operatives, and were the means by which they turned the area in a military complex, with the hospital at its center,” the IDF continues.
The army stresses that Hamas “completely converted” the campus from a medical complex to a military one, and that all medical activity had been suspended by the time the IDF took it over.
“Hamas planted explosives in the hospital and used it to fire at our forces,” says the IDF, which says Hamas used the hospital for command-and-control, and to hold hostages.
The IDF says that operations to destroy the tunnel network in the area continue.
Israeli soldiers posed for an image posted online in front of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital after raiding and converting it into a military base.
After their withdrawal, the hospital lay in complete ruin, condemning thousands of Palestinian cancer patients to a… pic.twitter.com/pGRw4SXj6n
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 15, 2024
Ramallah slams Knesset’s vote against Palestinian statehood
Nabil Abu Rudeineh is sworn in as a deputy prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, on April 13, 2019 (ABBAS MOMANI / AFP)
The Knesset’s vote last night against the establishment of a Palestinian state draws strident criticism from Ramallah.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, says that there is “no peace or security for anyone without the establishment of a Palestinian state” with East Jerusalem as its capital, noting that numerous UN member countries have already recognized it.
He further accuses the Israeli government of “pushing the entire region into the abyss” with Washington’s support, and labels Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza as “terrorism” for the civilian deaths it has caused.
Another senior PA official, Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and a top aide to Abbas, writes on X that the Knesset’s decision confirms Israel’s “racism,” “disregard for international law,” and “policy of perpetuating the occupation forever.”
Al-Sheikh urges countries that are hesitant to recognize a Palestinian state to do so “immediately” in order to protect the two-state solution, and calls on Arab states to “respond appropriately” to the resolution passed in the Knesset.
Hamas says commander killed in Israeli airstrike in east Lebanon
The moment a car explodes in a strike in Lebanon's Beqaa region, July 18, 2024 (Screen grab of video from social media used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Hamas says that Muhammed Jabara, killed in an Israeli airstrike in eastern Lebanon this morning, was a commander in the terror group.
Jabara was identified by Lebanese media as a member of al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya, or Islamic Group.
Hamas has previously claimed several members of al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya as members of the Palestinian terror group, indicating the two work alongside each other, in conjunction with Hezbollah.
Jabara, from the town of Qaraoun, was struck while driving in the village of Ghazzeh, around 40 kilometers (24 miles) from the Israeli border.
Jordan accuses Ben Gvir of ‘violating sanctity’ of Temple Mount site with visit
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on July 18, 2024. (Otzma Yehudit)
After National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visits the Temple Mount, Jordan accuses him of “violating the sanctity” of the site, which it maintains is “a flagrant and unacceptable violation of international law and the existing historical and legal situation in Jerusalem.”
Jordan views itself as a custodian of the Temple Mount and Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian sites — a status Israel does not recognize, though it acknowledged the kingdom’s “special role” at the site in the countries’ peace treaty. Jordan in 1994 became the second Arab country to recognize and sign a peace treaty with neighboring Israel, after Egypt.
Amman regularly puts out condemnations when Israeli officials visit the Temple Mount.
Jordanian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Sufyan Qudah says that the entire Haram Al-Sharif, the Muslim name for the site, is a purely Muslim site, and argues that Israel has no sovereignty over Jerusalem or its holy sites.
Small crack found in ‘Wing of Zion’ windshield; not expected to delay Netanyahu’s US trip
The official 'Wing of Zion' state airplane is seen at Ben Gurion Airport on October 20, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
A small crack was discovered on the cockpit windshield of Israel’s new “Air Force One” — dubbed Wing of Zion — after its inaugural flight to the US earlier this week, the Ynet news site reports.
The discovery is not expected to delay Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s flight to Washington next week, and the refurbished Boeing 767 has already landed back in Israel.
Wing of Zion took off for the US on Tuesday to bring over equipment and some security personnel ahead of Netanyahu’s address to Congress, after the Prime Minister’s Office discovered recently that the plane could only take 60 passengers, far less than the expected complement of aides, guards, and journalists, according to the Kan news outlet.
The PMO told Ynet that the plane “landed safely in Washington, with a small crack on the outside of the windshield. After a thorough inspection and approval from the appropriate authorities to fly home, the plane returned to Israel and landed safely. This is a common malfunction in planes and doesn’t cause any risk. At the same time, it was taken care of, and the plane will take off entirely ready for its next flight.”
ICJ to begin evidentiary stage of South African case accusing Israel of genocide in June 2025
Two demonstrators wave the Palestinian flag outside the Peace Palace, rear, housing the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague, Netherlands,May 24, 2024. (AP/Peter Dejong)
The evidentiary proceedings in South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip will be heard at the International Court of Justice in The Hague (ICJ) in June and October 2025, the Times of Israel’s sister site Zman Yisrael has learned.
The court has decided to devote those two months to hearing testimony and arguments on the matter.
An Israeli team at the Justice Ministry, led by the deputy legal adviser on international Law, Dr. Gilad Noam, is working on preparing the argument on behalf of Israel for the proceedings.
The court has not yet officially published the schedule for the hearings.
South Africa filed its case with the International Court of Justice late last year, alleging that Israel was breaching the genocide convention in its military assault against the Hamas terror group in Gaza during the war sparked by the Palestinian terror group’s October 7 onslaught.
Israel has rejected the accusations of genocide as baseless and says South Africa is acting as an emissary of the Hamas terror group, which rules Gaza and seeks to eliminate the Jewish state. It says that the Israel Defense Forces is targeting Hamas terrorists, not Palestinian civilians, but points out that civilian casualties in the fighting are unavoidable as terrorists operate from deep within the population.
5 police officers indicted for throwing stun grenades at anti-government protesters
Israel Police officer Meir Suissa, right, prepares a stun grenade moments before he hurled it into a crowd of demonstrators during a mass protest in Tel Aviv, March 1, 2023. (Video screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
The Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) files indictments against five police officers for throwing stun grenades at protesters during an anti-government demonstration in March 2023.
One of those indicted is Superintendent Meir Suissa, who was commended for his actions by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has authority over the police. Suissa is slated to be promoted and given command of a police station in south Tel Aviv.
DIPI says in a statement to the press that throwing stun grenades in such a manner violates police directives, and that the police officers’ actions injured protesters and were therefore negligent.
“The five indicted [officers] threw stun grenades towards the crowds, who at that time were not acting violently toward the police officers,” DIPI says.
“The high density of the demonstrators, including children and the elderly, and their frequent movement from place to place, prevented the possibility of properly assessing where the grenade would land, all of which is contrary to police procedure.”
Suissa was praised at the time by Ben Gvir for his handling of the Tel Aviv demonstration, and the minister today again comes to the police officer’s defense.
“DIPI’s decision to file an indictment against Meir Suisa and other police officers is tainted by political motives and political pressure,” Ben Gvir alleges, adding that DIPI was selective enforcing the law under the guidance of the attorney general and state attorney.
He said DIPI was “providing protection for lawbreakers and road blockers on one side of the political map by attempting to deter police officers from enforcing the law against them.”
מאיר סויסה ליידיז אנד ג׳נטס
(צילם: אמיר גולדשטיין) pic.twitter.com/TP6X8N6bNz
— Noga Lavi (@NogaLavi) March 1, 2023
Suez Canal operator says revenue dropped as some shippers shun Red Sea amid Houthi attacks
Houthi supporters attend an anti-US and -Israel protest in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, July 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
The Suez Canal’s annual revenue dropped by almost a quarter in its latest financial year as some shippers switched to alternative routes to avoid attacks by Iran-aligned Houthis in the Red Sea.
Osama Rabie, the head of the Egyptian canal’s authority, says revenues fell to $7.2 billion in its 2023-24 financial year from $9.4 billion the year before.
Since November, the Houthis have been attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean to show support for Hamas.
Rabie said the number of ships using the canal fell to 20,148 in 2023-24 from 25,911 the year before.
The Suez Canal is a key source of foreign currency for Egypt, and authorities have been trying to boost its revenues in recent years, including via an expansion in 2015.
Health Ministry: 543 diagnosed with West Nile virus since outbreak’s start, death toll reaches 36
Illustrative: Mosquitoes cling to the inside of a jar loaded with repellent during a test as part of a tour of the Centers for Disease Control laboratory, April 4, 2024, in Fort Collins, Colorado. (David Zalubowski/AP)
The number of patients diagnosed with West Nile virus has risen to 543, the Health Ministry says.
A total of 36 people who were diagnosed with the virus have died since the outbreak began in June.
West Nile fever is a disease caused by the West Nile virus. About 80 percent of people infected with West Nile virus show no symptoms at all. About 20% may experience varying degrees of symptoms, including fever, headaches and body aches.
Less than 1% of those infected will have possible rare complications such as acute inflammation of the brain or meningitis, according to the ministry.
The ministry recommends that people use mosquito repellent products and suitable devices to repel mosquitoes in living areas.
The virus is primarily transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes, particularly species of mosquitoes that feed on birds. The virus does not spread from person to person.
IDF says rocket sirens near Nir Am were false alarm
For the third time this morning, rocket sirens that sounded near the southern community of Nir Am, close to the border with the Gaza Strip, are determined to be false alarms, the IDF says.
Such “false identifications” of rockets are generally a result of Israeli activity in Gaza or close to the border, such as explosions that cause debris to fly and are mistakenly identified as projectiles heading into Israel.
WSJ reporter Gershkovich appears in Russian court for 2nd spy trial hearing
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, June 26, 2024. (AP)
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich appeared in court in Russia for the second hearing in his trial on espionage charges, the court says.
Gershkovich, his employer and the US government vehemently deny the charges against him.
Gershkovich was accused by the Russian Prosecutor General’s office of “gathering secret information” on orders from the CIA about Uralvagonzavod, a plant about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Yekaterinburg that produces and repairs tanks and other military equipment.
The trial is taking place behind closed doors in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural Mountains where the 32-year-old journalist was detained while on a reporting trip in March 2023.
Lebanese media reports Israeli airstrike on vehicle in south of country
Lebanese media report another Israeli airstrike on a vehicle this morning.
The strike is reported near the village of Jabal al-Botm in southern Lebanon.
No further details are immediately available.
عاجل – معلومات أولية عن استهداف سيارة رابيد في بلدة #جبال_البطم عبر غارة من طائرة مسيّرة #جنوب_لبنان pic.twitter.com/x6BVod7o1y
— nbnlebanon (@nbntweets) July 18, 2024
Ben Gvir visits flashpoint Temple Mount, urges PM ‘not to fold’ by accepting hostage deal
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on July 18, 2024. (Otzma Yehudit)
In a video recorded on the flashpoint Temple Mount in Jerusalem, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “not to fold” on a hostage deal with Hamas.
Speaking with the Dome of the Rock behind him, the far-right minister says that he has come “to the most important place for the State of Israel, for the people of Israel, to pray for the hostages to return home, but without a reckless deal, without surrender.”
“I am praying and am also working hard so that the prime minister will have the strength not to fold and go on to victory: to add military pressure, to stop their fuel — to win,” he declares.
Ben Gvir has repeatedly threatened to bolt the coalition if Netanyahu signs a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas that ends the fighting in Gaza.
His comments also appear to serve as a sign to Netanyahu that he has not given up on changing the status quo at the contested Jerusalem holy site.
Last month, Ben Gvir announced that as far as he was concerned, Jewish prayer is now allowed on the Temple Mount — prompting a quick rebuff from Netanyahu’s office.
The Temple Mount is revered by Jews as the historic location of the two Jewish Temples, making it Judaism’s holiest site. It is also the third-holiest site for Muslims, who refer to it as Haram al-Sharif or the Noble Sanctuary.
IDF: Hamas fired RPGs at troops operating along humanitarian route, as aid trucks drove through
In an incident yesterday in southern Gaza’s Rafah, the military says that Hamas operatives fired RPGs at IDF troops operating along a humanitarian route, while aid trucks were traveling through it.
As a result of the RPG fire, a soldier with the Givati Brigade was moderately wounded, the IDF says.
The IDF says it worked to eliminate the cell behind the attack.
The route, used to deliver aid from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in Gaza, was shuttered for several hours following the attack. The IDF says the trucks eventually reached their destination.
In a statement the IDF says that it, together with the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), “will continue to operate in accordance with international law in order to allow and facilitate humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip.”
Rocket sirens sound near Gaza border
Sirens sound close to Kibbutz Nir Am, warning of incoming rocket fire from Gaza.
It is the second time rockets have sounded in the area this morning. However, the IDF said the first round of alerts was a false alarm.
Coalition shelves plan to block terror convicts from running for Knesset amid concern it could impact Ben Gvir
Otzma Yehudit party leader and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on June 3, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The government has shelved plans to pass legislation to prevent those convicted of terror offenses from running for the Knesset amid concerns it could impact far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
According to the report, hardline Likud MK Nissim Vaturi on Sunday proposed the legislation, which aims to prevent anyone who has ever been involved in terrorist activity from seeking a Knesset seat, regardless of the severity of their punishment.
The proposal apparently received the support of Justice Minister Yariv Levin and other ministers.
The outlet says legal advisers noted that the law would also include Jewish Israelis who were convicted of terror and an aide to Ben Gvir realized that the legislation could therefore impact the leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party.
The aide reportedly recommended postponing the proposal for a few months, and Levin agreed that the discussion of the law could wait until the Knesset’s next session in the fall.
In 2008, the Jerusalem District Court convicted Ben Gvir of incitement to racism and supporting a terror organization over a placard he held reading “Arabs out” following a Palestinian terror attack in Jerusalem and anti-Arab signs he had in his car that referred to the far-right Kach movement, a Jewish group that was banned as a terror organization.
Ben Gvir has been indicted dozens of times, mostly for disturbing the peace, though he was exonerated in almost all the cases.
Lebanese media reports senior al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya commander killed in strike
Lebanese media reports that the man killed in a strike in the Western Beqaa District this morning was a senior commander in al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya, or Islamic Group.
He is named as Muhammed Jabara.
Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya, like Hamas, is a Sunni faction that forms part of the broader Muslim Brotherhood political network. The armed wing of the group, the al-Fajr Forces, has repeatedly targeted Israel from Lebanon in the current war, often working in conjunction with the Shiite Hezbollah.
لحظة استهداف السيّارة على طريق عام بلدة غزة في البقاع الغربي pic.twitter.com/bRq6RFX1wN
— bintjbeil.org (@bintjbeilnews) July 18, 2024
תקיפה ישראלית הבוקר לעבר רכב במרכז בקעת הלבנון. ההרוג – מוחמד ג'בארה, איש ארגון אל-ג'מאעה אל-אסלאמיה האסלאמיסטי שלוקח חלק בלחימה נגד ישראל pic.twitter.com/X5VRVLTdEw
— roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) July 18, 2024
The strike against Jabara took place in the village of Ghazzeh, around 40 kilometers (24 miles) from the Israeli border.
Activists calling for elections protest at homes of Likud ministers Barkat, Gamliel
Protesters use ballot boxes to block the road outside the home of Economy Minister Nir Barkat in Jerusalem on July 18, 2024 (Orna Kupferman/pro-democracy protest groups)
The homes of two Likud ministers are targeted in protests by anti-government demonstrators calling for elections.
Protesters use ballot boxes to block the road outside the Jerusalem home of Economy Minister Nir Barkat.
Separately, Channel 12 reports a number of activists enter the Tel Aviv apartment building where Science Minister Gila Gamliel lives, and sit down at the entrance handcuffed and blindfolded.
IDF: Commander of Islamic Jihad’s naval forces in Gaza City region killed in drone strike
The commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s naval forces in the Gaza City region, Anas Murad, was killed in a recent drone strike, the IDF says.
In a separate drone strike, the IDF says it killed Ahmed al-Masri, an Islamic Jihad member who participated in the October 7 onslaught.
The IDF says Al-Masri was also responsible for the firing of a large number of rockets from Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood at communities in southern Israel.
Lebanese media reports one killed in strike on vehicle in Beqaa region
Lebanese media reports at least one person was killed in a strike on a vehicle in the Beqaa region.
There are no details on the targets of the alleged strike.
Report: Ben Gvir tells ministers hostage deal now is ‘slap for Trump, would be victory for Biden’
Head of the Otzma Yehudit party, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads a faction meeting of the Otzma Yehudit party at the Knesset on June 10, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir told security cabinet ministers that he believes a hostage-ceasefire deal at this time will be “a slap for Trump, which would be a victory for Biden,” Channel 13 reports.
The outlet says the Otzma Yehudit leader suggested that a deal wait until after the results of the November US presidential election.
Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who both oppose any deal that ends the fighting before Hamas is destroyed, have threatened to topple the government if necessary to prevent one.
According to Channel 13, a number of ministers attacked Ben Gvir for the comments, in particular Transportation Minister Miri Regev and Science Minister Gila Gamliel, both of the ruling Likud party.
“We must act for immediate release, the abductees have been there for nine months. Women can give birth during this period of time,” Gamliel is quoted as saying, in reference to concerns over the sexual abuse of female hostages in captivity.
Ben Gvir made the reported comments during a Tuesday security cabinet meeting in which Mossad chief David Barnea told officials that young female hostages held by Hamas don’t have time to wait for a new hostage deal framework, according to unsourced leaks from the gathering that were widely reported by Hebrew media outlets yesterday.
“It could take long weeks. The girls in captivity don’t have time to wait for changes in the proposal under discussion,” Barnea was quoted as saying in the closed-door meeting.
It was not clear why Barnea focused specifically on the women.
The deal currently on the table would see the release of hostages held by Hamas in return for some form of ceasefire in the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip as well as the release of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
IDF says rocket siren in south was a false alarm
The IDF says rocket sirens were activated near Kibbutz Nir Am due to a false alarm.
Pelosi told Biden that polls show he can’t beat Trump — CNN
US President Joe Biden escorts Rep. Nancy Pelosi from Marine One to attend a fundraiser in San Francisco, California, Feb. 21, 2024. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has told President Joe Biden that polling shows he cannot defeat Donald Trump and that the president could destroy the Democrats’ chances of winning back control of the House of Representatives, CNN reports, according to four sources briefed on the phone call.
Rocket warning sirens activated by kibbutz near Gaza
Incoming rocket sirens sound near Kibbutz Nir Am near the Gaza Strip.
JD Vance notes ‘big tent’ in GOP, appeals for unity as he accepts VP nomination
US Senator JD Vance of Ohio accepts the vice presidential nomination during the third day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, on July 17, 2024. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP)
MILWAUKEE — JD Vance issues a call for unity in his speech at the Republican National Convention in which he accepts his party’s nomination to be its nominee for vice president.
“I want to respond to [former president Donald Trump’s] call for unity myself. We have a big tent in this party on everything from national security to economic policy, but my message to you my fellow Republicans is we love this country and we are united to win,” he says.
The message appears aimed at calming those in the party, including pro-Israel members, who have expressed concern over Vance’s more isolationist foreign policy views.
“I think our disagreements actually make us stronger. That’s what I’ve learned in my time in the United States Senate where sometimes I persuade my colleagues and sometimes they persuade me,” he continues.
“My message to my fellow Americans — those watching from across the country is [that you] should be governed by a party that is unafraid to debate ideas and come to the best solution. That’s the Republican Party of the next four years — united in our love in this country and committed to free speech and the open exchange of ideas,” Vance says.
Parents of US-Israeli hostage address RNC: Oct. 7 an attack on Americans, not just Israel
Ronen Neutra (L) and Orna Neutra, whose son Omer is being held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, speak during the third day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, on July 17, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)
MILWAUKEE — Addressing the Republican National Convention, the father of an American-Israeli hostage held in Gaza says former president Donald Trump told him that “he stands with the American hostages.”
Trump has not offered extensive comment on the hostage component of the Israel-Hamas war, but he has said several times his belief that many of the captives are no longer alive.
“President Trump told us personally right after the attack when Omer was taken captive. We know he stands with the American hostages,” says Ronen Neutra who addresses the RNC alongside his wife Orna.
The crowd of thousands greets the couple with chants of “Bring them home.”
Orna begins by sharing a little bit about her son, Omer.
“He was born in New York City, one month after 9/11. Eight months pregnant, I walked across the Queensborough Bridge toward home that day. And here we are 23 years later, and he’s the victim of another vile terrorist attack,” she says.
Unlike their appearances at events on the RNC sidelines earlier today, the Neutras do not call for the adoption of the hostage release and ceasefire deal currently on the table. That deal backed by US President Joe Biden isn’t mentioned at all.
Instead, Ronen uses his remarks to stress how Hamas’s October 7 onslaught is just as much a domestic as it is a foreign policy issue for those in the Milwaukee arena.
“During the brutal October 7 attack on Israel. Over 1,200 people were slaughtered — of them 45 were American citizens. Where is the outrage?”
“This was not merely an attack on Israel. This was and remains an attack on Americans,” he says.
Harvard alum who filed antisemitism suit against university enthusiastically cheered at RNC
Harvard University graduate Shabbos Kestenbaum speaks during the third day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, on July 17, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)
MILWAUKEE — Republican National Convention attendees enthusiastically cheer Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Harvard University graduate suing the school for allegedly failing to protect Jewish students from discrimination over the past school year.
“After October 7, the world finally saw what I and so many Jewish students across this country experienced almost every day,” he says.
“Although I once voted for Bernie Sanders, I now recognize that the far left has not only abandoned the Jewish people, but the American people,” Kestenbaum claims.
“Let’s elect a president who recognizes that although Harvard and the Ivy League have long abandoned the United States of America, the Jewish people never will. Because Jewish values are American values, and American values are Jewish values.”
Prior to Kestenbaum’s speech, the convention honored a group of fraternity brothers from the University of North Carolina who went viral for guarding an American flag during a hostile pro-Palestinian protest in April.
COVID diagnosis adds to deepening US presidential election drama ahead of Netanyahu’s visit
The White House’s announcement that US President Biden will be going to Delaware to self-isolate after testing positive for COVID introduces a potential curveball into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington next week.
While it remains unclear how the development could impact Monday’s scheduled meeting at the White House, Biden’s doctor says he has mild symptoms and received an initial dose of Paxlovid, which typically has a five-day regimen, but does not specify a timetable for his expected recovery.
Netanyahu’s trip was already expected to face potential complications from the recent drama of the US presidential election, with Biden coming under increasing pressure from fellow Democrats to end his reelection bid after his debate flop against Donald Trump, who over the weekend survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.
German envoy to US: Berlin must act on Israel’s behalf as it faces existential threat
German Ambassador to the US Andreas Michaelis speaks at an event on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 17, 2024. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)
MILWAUKEE — Germany’s ambassador to the US tells a gathering of Republican members and fellow diplomats that Berlin is committed to standing beside Israel amid the existential threat it faces following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.
“If there is a country that really has to be worried… and has to do everything possible when it comes to an existential [threat to] Israel, it is the country of Germany because of the criminal past which we have when it comes to the Holocaust,” Andreas Michaelis tells attendees at an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“This is about direct assistance for Israel. This is also about material assistance for Israel, but this is also about defending Jewish communities around the world and first and foremost in my own country, because… antisemitism in Germany has increased and we can’t look away.”
UN decries spokesman in PM’s office for calling UNRWA chief ‘a Jew-killing enabler’
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini addresses the media during a joint press conference with Jordan's foreign minister (not in picture), following their meeting in Amman on July 9, 2024. (Khalil Mazraawi / AFP)
UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations says comments by a spokesman in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office about the head of the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees are “reprehensible” and threatening.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric is responding to comments made by spokesman David Mencer who called Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the agency known as UNRWA, “one of the bad guys, a terrorist sympathizer, a Jew-killing enabler, a liar.”
Mencer issued the denunciations of Lazzarini after saying that Israeli forces have retrieved “millions of documents and captured enemy material” exposing the involvement of UNRWA employees in Hamas’ attacks on October 7 in southern Israel.
He said the documents also showed “the deep and systemic infiltration by those terror organizations, Hamas, but also Palestinian Islamic Jihad into the ranks of UNRWA.”
The UN’s Dujarric says “there have not been a million documents handed over to the secretary-general,” Antonio Guterres, and a letter sent to him with about a hundred names was immediately sent to the Office of Internal Oversight Services, the watchdog known as OIOS.
Mencer’s “inflammatory language” to describe Lazzarini “in an environment that’s already extremely volatile is reprehensible and downright dangerous because it puts at risk senior UN officials whose only focus is on helping civilians in Gaza and to alleviate their suffering,” Dujarric says.
Knesset overwhelmingly passes motion rejecting Palestinian statehood, days before PM’s US trip
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other MKs attend a Knesset plenum session on July 17, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The Knesset has voted overwhelmingly to pass a resolution rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The resolution was co-sponsored by parties in both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition together with right-wing parties from the opposition and even received support from Benny Gantz’s centrist National Unity party.
The center-left Yesh Atid party’s MKs left the plenum to avoid backing the measure, even though its chairman Yair Lapid has spoken in favor of a two-state solution. The only ones to back the resolution were lawmakers from the Labor, Ra’am and Hadash-Ta’al parties.
The initiative is passed just days before Netanyahu’s visit to the US to address a joint session of Congress and meet with President Joe Biden at the White House. The move is likely to further irk Democrats uncomfortable with embracing an Israeli government that increasingly rejects a two-state solution.
Already in February, the Knesset passed a resolution sponsored by Netanyahu rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state, but that motion specifically addressed the unilateral establishment of such a state amid reports that countries abroad were considering recognizing a Palestinian state absent a peace agreement with Israel.
Today’s resolution — passed 68-9 — rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state, even if it is part of a negotiated settlement with Israel.
“The Knesset of Israel firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of Jordan. The establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the Land of Israel will pose an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region,” the resolution states.
“It will only be a matter of a short time until Hamas takes over the Palestinian state and turns it into a radical Islamic terror base, working in coordination with the Iranian-led axis to eliminate the State of Israel,” it continues. “Promoting the idea of a Palestinian state at this time will be a reward for terrorism and will only encourage Hamas and its supporters to see this as a victory, thanks to the massacre of October 7, 2023, and a prelude to the takeover of jihadist Islam in the Middle East.”
Schumer told Biden he should drop out of US presidential race — report
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (L) looks on as President Joe Biden speaks during an event at the White House in Washington, on June 18, 2024. (Drew Angerer/AFP)
WASHINGTON — US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told President Joe Biden in a meeting on Saturday it would be better for the country and the Democratic Party if he ends his reelection campaign, ABC News reports.
Biden says he feels ‘good’ as he boards plane to Delaware after COVID diagnosis
LAS VEGAS — US President Joe Biden says he’s feeling “good” after he tested positive for COVID during a campaign trip to Las Vegas.
“I’m feeling good,” Biden tells reporters as he boards Air Force One before heading to his vacation home in Delaware.
White House says Biden tested positive for COVID, has ‘mild symptoms’
US President Joe Biden speaks at a 2024 Prosperity Summit, July 16, 2024, in North Las Vegas, Nev. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)
LAS VEGAS — US President Joe Biden is experiencing “mild symptoms” after testing positive for COVID during a campaign trip to Las Vegas on Wednesday, the White House said.
Biden was going to travel to his vacation home in Delaware “where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time,” spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
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