July 29: Netanyahu accuses Europeans of ‘rewarding Hamas’ by recognizing Palestinian state

Malta says it, too, will recognize a Palestinian state in September

Prime Minister of Malta Robert Abela speaks to journalists at the Mediterranean College of Sport in Birkirkara, Malta, May 4, 2025. (Rene Rossignaud/AP)

Malta will declare recognition of a Palestinian state during the general assembly of the United Nations in September, Prime Minister Robert Abela says, joining France and possibly the UK.

“Our position reflects our commitment to efforts for a lasting peace in the Middle East,” Abela says in a Facebook post.

The Malta government had been under increasing pressure from within its ranks to recognize a Palestinian state, and the center-right Opposition in mid-July also called for immediate recognition.

The Mediterranean EU island has a history of support for Palestinian causes and has backed efforts for a two-state solution.

Abela first announced plans for recognition of a Palestinian state in May, saying it would take place at a United Nations conference in June, though the conference was postponed until this week.

UK poll finds wide support for recognizing Palestinian state

British polling firm YouGov says nearly half of Britons support recognizing a Palestinian state, based on polling samples collected last week.

According to the survey of 2,013 respondents in Great Britain, 45 percent think the UK should recognize Palestine as a state, as opposed to 14% who oppose the move. Another 41% do not know.

The poll finds that 61% of respondents aged 18-24 support recognition, though the figure drops to 43% for those aged 25-49. Only 4% of those 18-24 oppose recognition.

The results are largely in line with a poll from exactly a year ago, which showed 47% of British respondents supporting the move, part of an overall trend across Europe of increasing backing for recognition. That poll also showed opposition to recognition at 12%.

Hostage czar Hirsch meets with Thai envoy

Government hostage point man Gal Hirsch says on X that he met Thai Ambassador Boonyarit Vichienpuntu in Jerusalem to discuss efforts to free the remaining hostages, with Gaza ceasefire talks at a standstill.

פגשתי היום בירושלים- משרד החוץ את השגריר התאילנדי החדש בישראל Boonyarit Vichienpuntu.
מתוך 50 החטופים המוחזקים בידי חמאס ארבעה הם זרים, שניים מהם -חטופים חללים, הם בעלי אזרחות תאילנדית.
28 חטופים תאילנדים הושבו בעסקאות השו״נ הקודמות, חטוף חלל תאילנדי אחד הושב לאחרונה במבצע מיוחד.… pic.twitter.com/0Mppy87Oh8

— גל הירש-Gal Hirsch (@galhirsch2015) July 29, 2025

Two slain hostages held in Gaza are Thai citizens: Sontia Ok’Krasari, 30,
Sontisek Rintalk, 43.

Some 28 Thai citizens have been freed from captivity in Gaza in hostage deals, and one body was recovered by Israeli forces.

Netanyahu says Starmer ‘rewarding monstrous terrorism,’ claims Palestinian state will threaten UK

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasts his British counterpart Keir Starmer for announcing conditional plans to recognize a Palestinian state, saying that it “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism and punishes its victims.”

“A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW,” writes Netanyahu in English on X.

“Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen,” he concludes.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

"Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims.

A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW.

Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen."

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 29, 2025

Starmer told his cabinet that Britain will recognize a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the “appalling situation” in Gaza, including agreeing to a ceasefire, dropping any plans to annex land claimed as part of a future Palestinian state and committing to a long-term peace process.

Starmer’s announcement of the potential move came days after French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris would recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Starmer and Abbas speak by phone after Israel ultimatum announcement

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas spoke by phone with UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer, the official PA news agency Wafa reports.

During the call, Starmer informed Abbas of the UK’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza and other steps. He also invited Abbas to London for talks, according to Wafa.

In a separate statement carried by Wafa, Abbas praises Starmer for the move and calls on the UK to “officially recognize the State of Palestine immediately.”

Houthis claim missile attack that targeted central Israel, Jerusalem

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen take responsibility for this evening’s ballistic missile attack on Israel, claiming to have targeted Ben Gurion Airport.

The IDF said earlier that the missile was intercepted by air defenses. There were no reports of injuries in the attack.

Netanyahu reportedly tells ministers Gaza facing ‘heavy decisions’ if Hamas doesn’t soften ceasefire demands soon

Military and political leaders are debating “heavy decisions” expected to be made in the coming days regarding the future of Israel’s strategy in Gaza, according to a report by Channel 12 news.

Citing unnamed Israeli officials, the report says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ministers in the government’s top-level inner cabinet at a meeting yesterday that “We are turning over every stone in order to reach a deal, but if Hamas doesn’t show flexibility in the coming days, we will make heavy decisions that will change the face of the war.”

The channel claims that Israeli officials have expressed frustration with what they see as insufficient US pressure on Qatar to compel Hamas to shift its position after talks appeared to collapse last week.

A diplomatic source tells the network that there had been a real opportunity to reach a truce agreement in recent weeks, but that Hamas’s stance was hardened by its launch of what the source called a “famine campaign,” accusing Israel of causing mass starvation in Gaza.

The source is quoted as blaming recent statements by France and the UK supporting recognition of a Palestinian state as dealing “a real blow” to those efforts, echoing talking points from Israeli diplomatic officials.

At the same meeting, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir reportedly cautioned political leaders that Israel’s current strategy in the war was prioritizing the destruction of Hamas over the return of the 50 hostages still in Gaza.

Zamir argued that conquering the entire Gaza Strip would take two to five years and said Israel should instead “continue the [current] approach of [targeted] raids,” according to Channel 12.

According to both Channel 12 and the Kan public broadcaster, Smotrich responded by accusing Zamir of failing to deliver on past commitments to defeat Hamas within three months.

“I apologize to the previous Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, and I miss him. You should bring Herzi here and apologize to him, because you attacked him for precisely similar things,” Smotrich reportedly said.

Smotrich had previously called for Halevi’s dismissal over the IDF’s failures during the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre.

The cabinet also reviewed a new set of military proposals, including dissecting the Gaza Strip into operational zones and surrounding key areas such as Gaza City and central refugee camps, Channel 12 adds. Another discussed proposal would see civilians relocated into designated humanitarian zones — including the Rafah area and parts of the coastline.

Report: Israeli ambassador to UAE being sent home over ‘undignified’ behavior

Prime Minister's Office director general Yossi Shelley speaks during a Knesset Finance Committee meeting in Jerusalem, February 22, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates is being summoned home from his post, Channel 12 news reports, after an incident several months ago in which reportedly upset his hosts by acting inappropriately.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Office denies the report, which claimed that the Emirates was no longer willing to have Yossi Shelley in the post due to his unspecified alleged behavior at a bar earlier this year.

“Contrary to reports, Prime Minister Netanyahu has not decided to recall Israel’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Yossi Shelley,” it says in a statement.

Hebrew media reported last week that Shelley was out on a Friday night in Abu Dhabi with several friends and acted in an “undignified” manner and “crossed the boundaries of personal space.”

Shelley responded to the reports last week by saying that the incident occurred at a private event unrelated to his work as an ambassador.

According to Channel 12, the Emiratis made it known to Israel via backchannels that his behavior was “unacceptable and even harmed our dignity.”

“If we were talking about someone else, we wouldn’t have allowed him back” in the country, an Emirati source is quoted as telling the channel.

France praises UK for Palestine recognition ultimatum

France has welcomed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s announcement that the UK will recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza and takes steps toward long-term peace.

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron made a surprise diplomatic gamble by announcing that France would recognize Palestine in September.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot posts on social media that “Together, through this momentous decision and our joint efforts, we are ending the infinite cycle of violence and re-opening the prospect of peace in the region.”

UK’s Lammy feted at UN for Palestine recognition threat

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy says the UK’s decision on recognition of Palestinian statehood in September, if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire and long-term peace process, is meant to put pressure on Jerusalem to end fighting in Gaza.

“What we have attempted to do is affect the situation on the ground, and I sincerely hope that we see a dramatic improvement to the suffering that we see and a commitment to a ceasefire,” he tells reporters at the United Nations.

Asked if Trump was given a heads-up, Lammy says that while the US and UK have the “most special” relationship, “we have always been clear that no country has veto on solemn decisions that we make in the United Kingdom.”

Lammy wins loud and sustained applause for the UK’s announcement while speaking at a ministerial meeting in the UN as part of a conference on the two-state solution.

He tells the meeting that the rejection of a two-state solution by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “is wrong morally and it’s wrong strategically,” stressing that it harms the Israeli people by closing off the only path to peace.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt sign declaration calling for Hamas to disarm, end rule of Gaza at UN 2-state confab

Arab countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have signed onto a statement calling for Hamas to disarm and end its rule of Gaza, in a bid to end the devastating war in the Palestinian territory.

Seventeen countries, plus the European Union and Arab League, are throwing their weight behind a seven-page text — obtained by The Times of Israel — agreed at a United Nations conference on reviving the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.

“In the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support, in line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State,” says the declaration.

The text also condemns the deadly Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023, which launched the war.

France, which is co-chairing the conference with Saudi Arabia, calls the declaration “both historic and unprecedented.”

“For the first time, Arab countries and those in the Middle East condemn Hamas, condemn October 7, call for the disarmament of Hamas, call for its exclusion from Palestinian governance, and clearly express their intention to normalize relations with Israel in the future,” says French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.

The text, co-signed by France, Britain, and Canada among other Western nations, also calls for the possible deployment of foreign forces to stabilize Gaza after the end of hostilities.

Israel and its ally, the United States, did not take part in the meeting.

“We supported the deployment of a temporary international stabilization mission upon invitation by the Palestinian Authority and under the aegis of the United Nations and in line with UN principles, building on existing UN capacities, to be mandated by the UN Security Council, with appropriate regional and international support,” says the declaration.

Trump: Pressuring Israel ‘rewards Hamas,’ but UK and France can have their own opinions

US President Donald Trump (R) and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (L) talk as they arrive at Trump's estate in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, north east Scotland, on July 28, 2025. (Jane Barlow/Pool/AFP)

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday says he and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not discuss Britain’s newly announced plan to recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel ends the fighting in Gaza and takes a number of steps to improve life for Palestinians.

“It was never really discussed… We have no view on that,” Trump, who hosted Starmer at his Scottish golf course on Monday, tells reporters on board Air Force One.

He is then pressed on whether pressure for a long-term solution should be placed on Israel.

“You could make a case that you’re rewarding Hamas if you do that. I don’t think they should be rewarded. I’m not in that camp,” Trump responds.

Still, he avoids criticizing Starmer or French President Emmanuel Macron, who announced last week that he would recognize a Palestinian state in September.

“That’s [Macron’s] opinion. He can have an opinion,” Trump says. “I guess Starmer is doing the same thing as Macron, and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean I have to agree.”

High Court suggests government retreat from bid to fire AG under new process

The High Court of Justice suggests that the government should consider going back to the original method of firing the attorney general, likely indicating that it does not support a process innovated by the government to bypass the established mechanism to fire current Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

“Perhaps it would be right to consider – in order to reduce division in these days – returning, essentially, to the framework for ending the tenure of the attorney general as laid out in the report of the public committee for examining the methods of appointing the attorney general,” writes Judge Noam Sohlberg in response to a request for an urgent hearing on the issue.

Sohlberg is referring to the Shamgar Committee, which issued a series of recommendations for how to hire and fire the attorney general in 1998, which were adopted in a cabinet resolution in 2000.

That included appointing the attorney general through a public, professional committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, which included a former attorney general or former justice minister, and two other members.

In March this year, the government initiated the process of firing the attorney general under the terms of the 2000 resolution, but was unable to find a former attorney general or justice minister who would sit on the committee.

So in June, the cabinet passed a resolution superseding the 2000 measure and establishing a five-member ministerial committee that could make the recommendation instead of the public professional panel under the old system.

The ministerial committee recommended that the government fire the attorney general earlier this week, and a vote on the issue could be brought to the cabinet next week.

Sohlberg has already ruled that if the cabinet does vote to fire Baharav-Miara, the decision will not come into effect until the High Court issues a ruling on petitions against the new dismissal process.

Houthi ballistic missile fired at Israel intercepted — IDF

A ballistic missile launched by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen at Israel a short while ago was intercepted by air defenses, the military says.

There are no immediate reports of impacts or injuries. Sirens had sounded across central Israel and the Jerusalem area.

Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched 66 ballistic missiles and at least 17 drones at Israel. Several of the missiles have fallen short.

Israel says it ‘rejects’ UK intention to recognize Palestinian state

Israel “rejects” the United Kingdom’s announcement that it will unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state later this year unless Israel commits to a ceasefire in Gaza and a long-term peace process, the Foreign Ministry says in a statement.

“The shift in the British government’s position at this time, following the French move and internal political pressures, constitutes a reward for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of hostages,” says the ministry in a post on X.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s announcement of the potential move came days after French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris would recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Sirens sound across center, Jerusalem area amid missile attack from Yemen

Sirens sound across central Israel and the Jerusalem area following the launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen.

The IDF says it is working to shoot down the projectile.

Missile launched from Yemen at Israel — IDF

A ballistic missile has been launched from Yemen at Israel, the military says.

Sirens are expected to sound in central Israel and the Jerusalem area in the coming minutes.

Opposition lawmakers hit out at Netanyahu after UK Palestine ultimatum

Opposition politicians are criticizing the government’s handling of the war and its fallout in response to the United Kingdom’s announcement that it will unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel commits to a ceasefire in Gaza and a long-term peace process.

“This government led us from the most justified war in the world to a diplomatic disaster,”  Opposition Leader Yair Lapid writes in a Hebrew-language post on X. “One failure after another. A prime minister who has vanished from the diplomatic arena, a useless foreign minister, and ministers who endanger IDF soldiers every time they open their mouths.”

Yisrael Betyenu chairman Avigdor Liberman posts in Hebrew: “The person responsible for the October 7 disaster is also responsible for the diplomatic collapse that keeps growing,” apparently referencing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“More and more countries are considering recognizing the catastrophe known as a Palestinian state — including the UK, one of the key members of the United Nations Security Council,” he says.

Meanwhile, a senior Israeli official tells Ynet that French President Emmanuel Macron “broke the dam” by announcing that Paris would recognize a Palestinian state in September.

The official says the UK’s move “was expected in light of the tremendous political pressure placed on the British — this is a Labour government. It’s a harmful declaration that sends the wrong message to Hamas not to agree to a deal.”

Troops uncover kilometer-long tunnel, arms under Khan Younis

IDF troops operating in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis located a kilometer-long Hamas tunnel, the military says.

The tunnel, which the IDF says was 15 meters deep underground, was found by troops of the Golani Brigade and elite Yahalom combat engineering unit.

Inside the tunnel, the forces found weapons belonging to Hamas, including explosive devices, assault rifles, and RPGs, the military says.

The IDF says the tunnel has been partially razed.

Inside a Hamas tunnel the IDF says was found in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, in a video issued on July 29, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Renowned designer, activist David Tartakover, dies at 81

A recent image of David Tartakover from his Instagram profile, in early 2023. (Screen capture/ Instagram)

Renowned graphic designer and political activist David Tartakover has died at age 81 from complications with Parkinson’s disease, according to Israel media sources.

Tartakover called himself a local designer, tackling subjects and issues that concern Israel.

He designed the now-familiar logo for Peace Now in 1978, with his work becoming the name of the organization and one of Israel’s first political bumper stickers.

Protesters from the organization Peace Now demonstrate at a cornerstone laying of a new part of the Jewish Nof Zion neighborhood in the East Jerusalem’s Jabel Mukaber on November 18, 2009. (FLASH90)

The Haifa-born designer was a paratrooper in the IDF, and later fought as a reservist in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

The Bezalel Academy of Art and Design graduate was known for his self-produced posters dealing with the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and his work won numerous prizes in Israel and abroad.

His works are part of major collections in Israel and worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Jewish Museum in New York, the Library of Congress in Washington, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the National Library in Paris, and museums of applied arts in Zurich and Hamburg.

Tartakover was awarded the Israel Prize in 2002.

Jewish communal leader Wesley LePatner named as Manhattan shooting victim

Signage for Blackstone is seen as a New York City Police officer stands outside the 345 Park Avenue building, the scene of last night's deadly shootings in Midtown Manhattan in New York on July 29, 2025.(TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

Jewish institutions in New York City are reeling after a prominent and beloved communal leader was among the victims of a mass shooting in Midtown Manhattan a day earlier.

Wesley LePatner, 43, was a board member for UJA-Federation of New York and The Heschel School, where her name is now listed as “z’l” in memoriam. She received UJA’s Alan C. Greenberg Young Leadership Award in 2023.

LePatner and three others were shot and killed by a gunman who opened fire in an office building in Midtown Manhattan, where the NFL and Blackstone are headquartered.

LePatner was the global head of core+ real estate and CEO of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, part of one of the world’s largest investment firms, according to her LinkedIn.

“We are heartbroken to share that our colleague, Wesley LePatner, was among those who lost their lives in the tragic incident at 345 Park Avenue. Words cannot express the devastation we feel,” the company said in a statement.

She was also involved at Manhattan’s Altneu synagogue, according to co-founder Avital Chizik-Goldschmidt. She was married with children.

While a motive has not been officially announced, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said police are investigating a note from the suspected gunman reportedly referring to potential links to the NFL and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease linked to head trauma suffered by many former players.

Soldiers appear to clear mourning tent for Palestinian activist allegedly killed by settler

Israeli soldiers are seen on video forcing visitors to leave a mourning tent set up in memory of Awdah Hathaleen in his village of Umm al-Kheir, near the area where he was allegedly shot by a settler a day ago.

Footage shows soldiers instructing all non-residents of the village to leave due to the declaration of the area as a closed military zone.

The IDF has not yet issued a response.

Watch: Israeli solders raid the mourning tent for Awdah Hathaleen in Umm Al Khair, forcing all the guests out, including journalists pic.twitter.com/9XHPnylv2R

— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) July 29, 2025

US envoy Huckabee says French announcement on Palestine dinged Israeli talks with PA

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee says French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that Paris will recognize a Palestinian state in September set back talks that had been making progress between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on “some very touchy issues.”

Huckabee doesn’t specify what issues were being discussed during an interview on a Christian broadcaster, but appears to be referring to efforts to coax Israel into releasing over $2 billion in tax revenues that it has been withholding from the PA, which has severely hampered Ramallah’s ability to operate.

“We were not there yet. We were moving in the direction [of resolving these issues], and what [Macron] did [last] week blew it all off the table. We’re back to ground zero, and it’s a real setback,” Huckabee says.

The US envoy also claims that the French announcement was “one of the reasons” Hamas “became unreasonable” in the hostage talks.

Macron’s announcement came hours after the US and Israel decided to pull their negotiators from Doha amid frustration with Hamas’s latest response in the talks that was submitted earlier in the week.

“When Europe and other areas of the world decide they’re going to start telling Israel that it’s got to let Hamas stay in Gaza, or that it’s going to declare unilaterally a Palestinian state, the reaction in Israel is not to surrender,” Huckabee says. “We’ll just get stronger, tougher, and we’ll dig in.”

In a subsequent interview with Fox News, Huckabee says France would be of better assistance if it agreed to take in Palestinians from Gaza who want to leave the war-torn Strip.

Countries have largely refused to take in Gazans, since the start of the war, with some arguing that Israel has not committed to allowing those who leave the ability to return on a later date, while a majority of coalition members have expressed their support for building settlements in the Strip on top of the ruins of Palestinian towns.

In the Fox interview, Huckabee forcefully denies that there’s a rift between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump.

He says claims of a rift between the two leaders are “about as realistic as saying that I was personally responsible for the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby.”

The US envoy insists that ties between the two have never been stronger, particularly since the war with Iran.

“The disconnect is with the media [that] wants there to be an anti-Israel message that they keep getting across; but it’s a false message,” Huckabee says.

On Monday, Trump was asked if he was convinced by Netanyahu’s assurance that there is no starvation in Gaza. The US president responded, “not particularly,” adding that there is “real starvation” in the Strip and that “You can’t fake that.”

Huckabee acknowledges that there is suffering in Gaza but asserts that it’s not “as bad as some of the Europeans say.”

Dozens attend anti-war protest outside US embassy branch in Tel Aviv

Israeli activists take part in a protest against the war in the Gaza Strip outside of the US embassy branch office in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)

About 100 Arabs and Jews are protesting outside the US Embassy Branch Office in Tel Aviv against the fighting and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The protest marks the end of a three-day hunger strike announced by the High Follow-up Commission, an Arab community umbrella group. Among the protesters are lawmakers Aida Touma-Saliman and Ofer Cassif, of the binational communist Hadash party. Faction chief Ayman Odeh also joins for a few minutes.

Police storm into the crowd twice during the hour-long protest: Once to confiscate what an eyewitness describes as a small sticker bearing the Palestinian flag; and, minutes later, to briefly detain a young man from the front of the crowd. His transgression is unclear, and he is released some 10 minutes later after an angry Touma-Saliman speaks with the cops.

Protesters chant in English, Hebrew and Arabic, accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza and the US of complicity in the crime.

In Arabic, they chant, “Long live Palestine,” and in Hebrew, “We won’t die and we won’t kill for the United States.”

Arab protesters also sing the Arabic revolutionary anthem “If one day the people choose to live.” Jewish protesters, apparently unfamiliar with the lyrics, go mum.

Mohammad Barakeh, head of the High Follow-up Committee, delivers a speech in Hebrew, declaring the protest to be “against the industry of death led by the US government and the Israeli government.”

“Israel’s crime would go on for even another day were it not for the consent, push and support of the United States,” he says, as the crowd jeers. “The US is responsible for every drop of Palestinian blood being spilled in the Gaza Strip.”

Also at the protest are five members of the anti-Zionist Haredi sect Neturei Karta — who are common at protests abroad but a rare sight in Tel Aviv. They stand on the sidelines of the protest, where they draw the attention of numerous Arab journalists.

The group members have come to the protest from Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, a mainly ultra-Orthodox city that neighbors Tel Aviv, he tells The Times of Israel.

Bassem Daud, an elderly gentleman who uses a walking stick, says he came from Daburiyya, an Arab town in northern Israel.

Asked if he has family in Gaza, he says: “We are all a single nation… Everyone feels the other’s pain. Just like we feel pain for Jews who are killed on the altar of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s seat.”

Netanyahu says ‘obstinate’ Hamas blocking Gaza ceasefire

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a pre-recorded message from his office in Jerusalem on July 29, 2025. (Screen capture/PMO)

After a meeting with top advisers to discuss the hostages in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that the “one major obstacle” in negotiations for a hostage release deal is that Hamas “remains obstinate.”

“Since the delegation returned from Qatar, we haven’t stopped trying. But there is one major obstacle, and everyone knows it — Hamas. It remains obstinate in its refusal,” says the premier in a video message from his office.

“[United States] President Trump said it, [US special envoy Steve] Witkoff said it, we’re saying it — everyone who knows the facts, including the mediators, knows it,” he continues.

“We are not letting up. We will continue to do everything we can — by one path or another. We are committed to bringing them home,” he concludes.

Netanyahu met with government hostage point man Gal Hirsch, political adviser Ophir Falk, and chief of staff Tzachi Braverman amid stalled ceasefire talks and increasing international pressure on Israel.

The US and Israel pulled their negotiators out of Qatar last week over frustration with Hamas’s response to the latest Gaza ceasefire and hostage release proposal.

An Israeli official told The Times of Israel that Netanyahu will hold consultations on Gaza over the next two days.

Starmer says UK will recognize Palestinian state in September unless Israel agrees to Gaza ceasefire, commits to peace process

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a press conference at a military headquarters in north-west London on May 22, 2025. (Thomas Krych / POOL / AFP)

Britain will recognize a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the “appalling situation” in Gaza and meets other conditions, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer tells his cabinet, according to a government statement.

The move marks a major diplomatic predicament for Israel, coming days after France announced it would recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.

Starmer says Israel can forestall the measure by reaching a ceasefire in Gaza, making clear that it will not annex the West Bank, and commit to a peace process that results in a two-state solution.

France’s Emmanuel Macron, who did not offer Israel a way to avoid the statehood move, has been pushing Starmer to follow his lead, as have a growing number of lawmakers in Starmer’s Labour Party, seeing it as a way to pressure Israel amid growing concern of starvation in Gaza.

The UK would be Israel’s closest ally to recognize a Palestinian state, and this may indicate that more Western countries will make the move as well.

Starmer “reiterated that there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas and that our demands on Hamas remain, that they must release all the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, accept that they will play no role in the government of Gaza, and disarm,” according to the government statement.

Starmer earlier recalled his cabinet from their summer vacations to discuss a new proposed peace plan being worked on with other European leaders and how to deliver more humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Greek cops scuffle with protesters again as Israeli cruise ship docks in Crete

Demonstrators calling for an end to the war in Gaza have protested the arrival of an Israeli cruise ship on yet another Greek island – the third such protest on Greek islands in the last week.

Protesters on the southern Greek island of Crete unfurled a huge Palestinian flag at the port of Agios Nikolaos. They shouted “Free, free Palestine” as tourists on board the Crown Iris disembarked and left on buses for their tours of the island, according to images shown on local media outlets.

Riot police kept the crowd away from the pier where the cruise ship was docked, while scuffles broke out between demonstrators and police. Local media report that officers used pepper spray at one point to keep the crowd back.

Four people have been detained, according to local media. Video shows police leading one man away, his arms cuffed behind his back, as he shouts “Free, free Palestine.”

Dozens of demonstrators gathered Tuesday, July 29, on the Greek island of Crete to protest the arrival of Israeli cruise ship passengers at the port of Agios Nikolaos.

Security forces implemented extensive measures around the port during the rally.
Protesters condemned Israel’s… pic.twitter.com/1v8BDwB33K

— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) July 29, 2025

Similar scenes unfolded the previous day when the Crown Iris docked in a port on the eastern Greek island of Rhodes, where clashes broke out between riot police and demonstrators calling for an end to the war in Gaza. There, the cruise ship’s passengers disembarked for tours of the island; no violence was reported.

Anti-war protesters on Greece’s Cycladic island of Syros were the first to hold a demonstration against the docking of the Crown Iris on July 22. On that occasion, the ship’s roughly 1,700 passengers didn’t disembark, and the ship left the island earlier than planned, with the company operating the trip, Israel’s Mano Cruise, saying it had “decided in light of the situation in the city of Syros to now sail to another tourist destination.”

European criticism harming efforts to reach Gaza ceasefire, Sa’ar tells Dutch envoy

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told Dutch Ambassador to Israel Marriet Schuurman that recent steps taken by the Netherlands and other European countries “harmed the chances of reaching a ceasefire in Gaza and a plan for the release of hostages, strengthened Hamas’s refusal, and are actually making a military escalation more likely,” his office says.

Sa’ar summoned Schuurman over a series of measures the kingdom has taken against Israel, including banning far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from entering the country, and calling for Israel’s access to the EU’s flagship Horizon research funding program to be curbed.

Sa’ar told Schuurman that the Dutch policy toward Israel fuels antisemitism in the country, which was on display when Israelis were attacked on the streets of Amsterdam in November.

He added that Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Waldekamp is “well aware of the significant steps” Israel has taken on providing aid to Gaza, and “the choice to take actions against Israel after them shows the lack of any connection between the reality on the ground and the policy of the Dutch government,” according to his office.

The Netherlands’s efforts to change Israeli policy through pressure “is rejected outright and is doomed to fail,” says Sa’ar in the statement, promising a response.

He laments the fact that the Dutch government took a hostile turn against Israel for what he called “political interests,” in apparent reference to Muslims who have migrated to the Netherlands, impacting the country’s policies.

With apparent sarcasm, he “wished the Netherlands success in its future confrontation with radical Islamic elements that have established themselves in its territory,” his office says.

He adds that Israel “has many friends among the Dutch people,” and that Israel’s voice will be heard.

UN chief says Gaza ‘on brink of famine’ as crisis reaches ‘epic proportions’

A trickle of aid into the Gaza Strip must become an ocean, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says.

“Food, water, medicine and fuel must flow in waves and without obstruction,” he says, describing an alert by a global hunger monitor on Tuesday as confirming “what we have feared: Gaza is on the brink of famine.”

“Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. This is not a warning. It is a reality unfolding before our eyes,” he says in a statement.

Court releases settler accused of killing prominent West Bank activist to house arrest

Yinon Levi, an Israeli recently sanctioned by the United States, attends a Knesset Economic Committee meeting on February 14, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Yinon Levi, a sanctioned settler who allegedly shot dead a Palestinian activist on Monday during a confrontation near the West Bank village of Umm al Kheir, has been released to house arrest by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court.

Levy is ordered to remain under house arrest at a farm inside Israel under supervision of his wife and sister-in-law until Friday. He is also banned from contacting anyone involved in Monday’s deadly incident for 21 days.

The police are seeking to charge Levy with reckless manslaughter and unlawful use of a firearm over the killing of Awdah Hathaleen, a prominent Palestinian activist who was shot in the upper body during a confrontation on Monday. The shooting occurred as pro-Palestinian activists tried to block construction work close to Umm al Kheir being carried out by Levi and a minor driving a heavy construction vehicle.

In a video from the scene, a man identified as Levi is seen waving a gun and firing in the air, allegedly in order to distance the Palestinians.

During a hearing for extending Levi’s detention in court, a police representative says “a large number of rioters” threw rocks at Levi and the driver “in order to harm them.”

Five Palestinian activists were arrested in the incident, as well as two foreign nationals volunteering with them.

At the end of the hearing, Judge Havi Tucker says that Levi’s claim of self-defense was strengthened by statements by “two objective witnesses.”

Levi and the minor were carrying out earthworks close to the Carmel settlement, which is immediately adjacent to Umm al Kheir. According to the Peace Now organization, Hathaleen sent a WhatsApp message to activists in the area saying that Levi had tried to sever the main water pipe for the Palestinian village, and then went with other activists to try and stop the construction vehicle.

Iraq thwarted 29 attempts to fire at Israel or US troops during Iran war, PM says

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad on Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP/Hadi Mizban)

The prime minister of Iraq says his country thwarted over two dozen attempts by militias to fire missiles and drones at Israel during the 12-day war with Iran last month.

Mohammed Shia al-Sudani says armed groups in Iraq also attempted to launch missiles and drones at bases in Iraq housing US troops. But the groups were thwarted 29 times by Iraqi government “security operations” that he does not detail.

Al-Sudani says he used a mix of political and military pressure to stop armed groups aligned with Iran from entering the fray.

“We know that the (Israeli) government had a policy — and still does — of expanding the war in the region,” al-Sudani tells the Associated Press. “Therefore, we made sure not to give any justification to any party to target Iraq.”

Al-Sudani says his government also reached out to leaders in Iran “to urge them toward calm and to make room for dialogue and a return to negotiations.”

He also defends Baghdad’s handling of efforts to free Israeli-Russian researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who went missing in Iraq in 2023.

Her family believes she is being held by the Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah, and there have reportedly been US-mediated negotiations to negotiate her release.

Elizabeth Tsurkov in an undated photo (Social media; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Al-Sudani does not name the group responsible for Tsurkov’s kidnapping, but pushes back against the idea that his government has not made serious efforts to free her, saying his government has a team dedicated to finding her.

“We do not negotiate with gangs and kidnappers,” he says, but the team has been in discussions with political factions that might be able to help locate her.

Netanyahu meets with aides on hostages amid logjam in talks

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, meeting with aides Tzachi Braverman, second right, Ophir Falk, second left, and Gal Hirsch, on July 29, 2025. (Prime Minister's Office)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding a meeting with top advisers on the topic of hostages in Gaza, his office says, with ceasefire talks stuck and international pressure on Israel growing.

Netanyahu is joined by government hostage point man Gal Hirsch, political adviser Ophir Falk, and chief of staff Tzachi Braverman, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

“Talks are frozen,” an Israeli defense official tells The Times of Israel. “Hamas still hasn’t come back to the table” with a better offer.

The US and Israel pulled their negotiators out of Qatar last week, citing frustration with Hamas’s response to the latest Gaza ceasefire and hostage release proposal.

Netanyahu will hold consultations on Gaza over the next two days, says the Israeli official.

Jordanian king says Gaza crisis levels ‘unspeakable’

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, right, and Jordan's King Abdullah II leave a news conference after a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (AP/Ebrahim Noroozi)

King Abdullah II of Jordan says humanitarian conditions in Gaza have reached “unspeakable levels,” speaking alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin.

“Israel’s war on Gaza must stop,” he says. “The unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has reached unspeakable levels. The images of starving children in Gaza have outraged people around the world.”

He adds that the rising levels of hunger in Gaza require the international community to act together immediately.

Most Senate Democrats sign letter accusing US-backed aid group of failing Gaza

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 9, 2024. (Cliff Owen/AP)

Most Senate Democrats have signed a letter imploring US President Donald Trump’s administration to step up its role in addressing suffering and starvation in Gaza, while urging the resumption of ceasefire talks and sharply criticizing an Israeli-backed American organization that had been created to distribute food aid.

In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Republican president’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, 44 senators say the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, created in February with backing from the Trump administration, has “failed to address the deepening humanitarian crisis and contributed to an unacceptable and mounting civilian death toll around the organization’s sites.”

The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, calls for a “large-scale expansion” of aid into Gaza channeled through organizations experienced working in the area. It also says efforts for a ceasefire agreement are “as critical and urgent as ever.”

The message is led by four Jewish members of the Democratic Caucus — Sens. Adam Schiff of California, Chuck Schumer of New York, Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Brian Schatz of Hawaii — and calls for the return of the roughly 50 hostages, 20 still believed to be alive, held by Hamas since its Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Schatz says it is “not at all credible” to think the Israeli military — one of the most advanced in the world — is incapable of distributing food aid or performing crowd control.

“They made a choice to establish a new way of doing food distribution,” he says. “And it’s not working at all.”

France condemns settler ‘terrorism’ after Palestinian activist killed in West Bank

Awdah Hathaleen (Eldad Rafaeli)

France says it condemns the West Bank “murder” of a Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen, describing Israeli settler violence as “terrorism.”

Hathaleen, who was featured in the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” was allegedly shot and killed on Monday evening near the village of Umm al-Khair in the West Bank during clashes with Israeli settlers at whom a group of Palestinians were allegedly throwing stones.

“France condemns this murder with the utmost firmness as well as all deliberate acts of violence committed by extremist settlers against the Palestinian population, which are multiplying across the West Bank,” a foreign ministry spokesman says.

“These acts of violence are acts of terrorism.”

The spokesman urges Israeli authorities to “immediately sanction the perpetrators of these acts of violence, which continue with complete impunity, and protect Palestinian civilians.”

Hebrew media outlets identified one of the Israelis involved in the deadly clash as Yinon Levi, an extremist settler sanctioned by the European Union, Canada and the UK.

American teens detained for hurling cat from fifth story

Police say they have detained two American teenagers suspected of throwing a cat off a fifth-story balcony in Jerusalem.

The pair, US nationals aged 16 and 17, are in Israel as part of a summer program at a yeshiva in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood, police say.

Police brought both in for questioning earlier today on suspicion of involvement in the act, after notifying the program’s supervisors.

The incident was filmed and spread on social media. In the video, shot at night, a group of teenagers are seen egging on one of their friends as he holds a cat with both hands near the balcony railing.

One of the boys shouts “Do it, do it!” The teenager then throws the cat off the building as his friends cheer.

This is the second time in the past year that police have arrested teenage boys for gleefully hurling a cat to its death, then posting footage of the act online.

Former Shas ministries transferred to Likud lawmakers already holding justice, tourism portfolios

The government approves by telephone vote the temporary redistribution of ministerial portfolios previously held by Shas lawmakers, after the ultra-Orthodox party quit the government earlier this month over its failure to codify the Haredi community’s exemption from military service, according to Hebrew media reports.

Under the arrangement, Justice Minister Yariv Levin will take over the Interior, Religious Services and Labor ministries in an acting capacity. Tourism Minister Haim Katz, who already serves as interim Housing Minister, will also serve as acting Minister of Welfare and Health.

The decision was opposed by Ministers Gideon Sa’ar, Ze’ev Elkin, and Gila Gamliel, who voted against the appointments, reportedly warning that piling too many responsibilities onto ministers who already head major ministries risks weakening their ability to govern effectively.

The decision to not hand the portfolios to ministers not already in the cabinet is likely a sign that Netanyahu is holding out hope that Shas will return to the government, smoothing the way for the ministries to revert to their former ministers.

Milwidsky hints at innocence in rape case after Knesset panel approval

MK Hanoch Milwidsky, center, chairs a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee, July 29, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Likud MK and suspected rapist Hanoch Milwidsky declares that there is “a world of difference” between the allegations against him and “what actually happened,” speaking shortly after his appointment as head of the Knesset’s Finance Committee was approved over heated protests from opposition lawmakers.

Milwidsky, who is being investigated by police on suspicion of rape and witness tampering, says that he will not discuss the case but he is convinced that once more facts become public “the decent people among you” will “understand a little better what exactly is being discussed.”

He adds that he accepts that the opposition to his candidacy was not personal.

Katz says Israeli security control of Gaza after war will resemble West Bank

Defense Minister Israel Katz meets with new recruits to the IDF’s Artillery Corps and air defense array at Tel Hashomer Base, July 29, 2025. (Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Israel Katz says that Israel must maintain full security control in the Gaza Strip even after the war, insisting that the Hamas terror group will not dictate the future of the territory.

“The goal is to defeat Hamas, whose military and civilian wings will not be the ones determining what happens in Gaza,” Katz says during a visit to the Tel Hashomer recruitment center, where he met with new recruits to the IDF’s Artillery Corps and air defense array.

“We need the IDF to be in and around Gaza to protect the communities that could come under attack again, to protect our soldiers, and to prevent the smuggling of weapons and rearmament,” he adds.

Referring to postwar plans, Katz emphasizes: “In order for Hamas to no longer be effective, the IDF must have the ability — like in the West Bank — to operate securely in every location there. We ourselves must be responsible for security in Gaza.”

Katz also says the IDF’s ongoing operations remain tied to efforts to rescue the remaining hostages: “Any maneuver we need — even a deal with such enemies — to rescue 10 more, even those no longer alive, we will do, while maintaining security.”

Democrats party speaks out after scuffle between MK and aide at hearing over Milwidsky posting

The Democrats party condemns what it says is violence by Likud MK Nissim Vaturi after a physical altercation broke out between the lawmaker and an aide to MK Naama Lazimi during a heated Knesset House Committee hearing over the appointment of Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky as Finance Committee chair despite his ongoing police investigation for sexual offenses, including rape.

המהומה בדיון בוועדת הכנסת | חה"כ ניסים ואטורי התעמת עם הדובר של חה"כ נעמה לזימי, וקרא ללזימי "מטומטמת". חה"כ ולדימיר בליאק ענה לו: "אולי תשטוף את הפה שלך? תסתום את הפה ותעוף מפה. אתה אפס מאופס"@diklaaharon pic.twitter.com/TiLCag47fQ

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) July 29, 2025

“Today’s conduct in the Knesset is a disgraceful event, which began with violence against an employee and ended with the appointment of a rape suspect to one of the most important positions in Israel,” the Democrats say in a statement. “Violence against a Knesset employee is unacceptable, and the Knesset must immediately impose disciplinary sanctions on him.”

It is unclear how the physical altercation began.

The scuffle followed a fiery exchange between the two MKs during which Lazimi compared Likud to a “criminal organization” for backing Milwidsky’s appointment.

Vaturi responded with obscenities, calling Lazimi an “idiot” and a “criminal.” Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak jumped to her defense, shouting at Vaturi: “Shut your mouth and get out of here. You’re a complete zero.”

Likud MK suspected of rape wins final approval to head powerful Knesset Finance Committee

The Knesset Finance Committee votes 10-7 to accept the Knesset House Committee’s recommendation of Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky as its new chairman, giving final approval for the suspected rapist to replace United Torah Judaism’s Moshe Gafni as head of the powerful panel.

The vote comes only minutes after the House Committee voted 9-6 to appoint Milwidsky despite an ongoing police investigation of him on suspicion of rape and witness tampering.

Milwidsky was questioned Friday about allegations that he raped a woman while he was serving as a legal adviser to the New Age religious association “Bnei Baruch — Kabbalah La’Am.” According to the allegations, he was coaching a woman, identified by the Hebrew initial Aleph, to testify falsely to protect the group’s leader, Michael Laitman, from charges of sexual assault. During their meetings, Aleph told police, Milwidsky raped her.

Ahead of the Finance Committee vote, The Democrats MK Naama Lazimi reads out part of the testimony of Milwidsky’s accuser and yells at coalition whip Ofir Katz, the chair of the House Committee and interim chair of the Finance Committee, telling him he should be ashamed of himself.

“What’s wrong with you?” she screams.

French, UK, German foreign ministers may visit Israel next week to push for Gaza aid — Merz

Germany, France and Britain are considering sending their foreign ministers to Israel next week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says, as international pressure mounts over Gaza’s dire humanitarian crisis.

“We will probably ask the three foreign ministers of France, the United Kingdom and Germany to travel to Israel together next Thursday to present the position of … the three governments,” Merz tells a press conference in Berlin alongside Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

Merz also says two of his country’s aircraft are en route to Jordan and could fly aid missions to Gaza as soon as Wednesday.

The two A400M aircraft will refuel in Jordan and then fly their aid mission over the weekend at the latest, in coordination with France and Germany, says Merz.

“This work may only make a small contribution to humanitarian aid, but it sends an important signal: We are here, we are in the region,” he says.

Merz also welcomes initial steps taken by Israel to allow in aid but said more must follow.

Man arrested for allegedly posting threats to kill Netanyahu backers

A right-wing Israeli attends a rally in support of the government's planned judicial overhaul, outside the President's House in Jerusalem, April 3, 2023. His sign reads "Benjamin Netanyahu, the people of Israel are with you, despite the opposition of the leftists." (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

A man from the central city of Hod Hasharon was arrested after he allegedly published social media posts calling for violence against supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, police say in a statement.

The 24-year-old suspect was detained this morning, but was later released under restrictive conditions following questioning.

Police will forward the findings of their investigation to the State Attorney’s Office for a decision on whether to prosecute.

Police say the suspect wrote online that “We came to slaughter Bibi-ists and Hitler supporters… a cult of fascists… we will murder you all,” among other incendiary messages.

Critics of the premier use the term “Bibi-ist,” based on Netanyahu’s nickname Bibi, as a derogatory label for his supporters.

UAE, Jordan and Egypt airdrop 52 tons of aid into Gaza, IDF says

Humanitarian aid is airdropped to Palestinians over Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, July 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Aircraft from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and, for the first time, Egypt, airdropped 52 pallets of humanitarian aid in the northern and southern Gaza Strip in the last few hours, the Israeli military says.

The IDF says the airdrops were carried out “in accordance with the directives from the political echelon and as part of the cooperation between Israel, the UAE, Jordan, and Egypt.”

The airdrops are part of a “series of actions aimed at improving the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip,” the military says.

Each pallet carries about a ton of aid, according to the military.

“The IDF will continue to work in order to improve the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip, along with the international community, while refuting the false claims of deliberate starvation in Gaza,” it adds.

FM summons Dutch envoy for reprimand after Smotrich, Ben Gvir banned from the Netherlands

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar speaks at the Muni Expo 2025 conference in Tel Aviv, on July 15, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar summons Dutch Ambassador to Israel Marriet Schuurman for a reprimand at the ministry in Jerusalem over a series of measures the kingdom is pursuing against Israel over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

“The conversation will take place in light of the Dutch government’s decisions to take measures against Israel, including against its right to self-defense and against ministers in its government,” says Sa’ar’s office.

Yesterday, The Netherlands banned far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from entering the country. The Dutch government will also summon Israel’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Modi Ephraim, to denounce the “unbearable and indefensible” situation in Gaza.

The ban on Smotrich and Ben Gvir came after Prime Minister Dick Schoof threatened to support sanctions on Israel if Gazans do not get greater access to aid, a message he said he conveyed to President Isaac Herzog in a phone call.

“If the EU decides tomorrow that Israel is not in compliance with the relevant agreements on this, the Netherlands supports the plan to suspend Israeli participation in the EU research program Horizon,” Schoof posted on X. “If that proves to be the case, tomorrow in Brussels the Netherlands will also press for further European measures, for example in the realm of trade.”

Red Cross says team gained access to Syrian flashpoint Sweida, urges sustained aid

Tribal and Bedouin fighters gather in the western neighborhood of southern Syria's predominantly Druze city of Sweida, amid clashes with Druze gunmen on July 19, 2025. (Abdulaziz Ketaz/AFP)

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says its team was able to gain access to the southern Syrian city of Sweida, where fighting broke out this month.

The team, which joined a Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) humanitarian convoy sent to the city on Monday, was able to get a firsthand assessment of where the most pressing needs were.

The ICRC says it will continue its efforts for further access to Sweida as well as its support to the ongoing emergency response of the SARC to those most in need in the area.

Clashes in the Druze-majority Sweida province, which began on July 13 and ended with a ceasefire a week later, initially involved Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin tribes, who have been at loggerheads for decades.

But government forces intervened on the side of the Bedouin, according to witnesses, experts and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, which said the violence killed more than 1,400 people, mostly Druze, and accused government personnel of summarily executing more than 250 Druze civilians.

Israel, which intervened with airstrikes aimed at assisting the Druze community amid the violence, also sent in aid supplies last week.

Iran’s Khamenei accuses West of using nuclear demands as excuse for confrontation

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a ceremony commemorating Iranian military commanders and scientists who were killed in Iran's 12-day war with Israel in June, in Tehran, Iran July 29, 2025. (KHAMENEI.IR / AFP)

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Western demands over Tehran’s nuclear program are an excuse to confront the Islamic Republic, a day after US President Donald Trump warned about renewed strikes if Iran restarts nuclear work.

“Nuclear program, enrichment, human rights are all excuses,” says Khamenei in a speech in Tehran commemorating Iranian military commanders and scientists killed during the 12-day Israel-Iran war last month. “What they are after is your religion and knowledge.”

Iran, whose leaders are sworn to destroy Israel, denies seeking nuclear arms, but has amassed uranium enriched to a degree far beyond what is needed for civilian use and a short step away from weapons-grade.

Trump, who ordered a strike on three key Iranian nuclear sites during the Israeli campaign targeting the nuclear program, said Monday that the US would “openly and gladly” strike Iran again if it restarts its nuclear program.

“We’ll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it,” he said, speaking alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer following a meeting in Scotland.

Knesset House Committee approves Likud MK Milwidsky as Finance Committee head despite rape allegations

Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky (right) is seen leaving the Lahav 433 police unit headquarters in Lod on July 25, 2025 (Roy Alima/Flash90)

Members of the Knesset House Committee vote 9-6 to appoint Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky as chair of the Knesset Finance Committee despite an ongoing police investigation against him on suspicion of rape and witness tampering.

Milwidsky’s appointment must still be approved by members of the Finance Committee. He replaces MK Moshe Gafni, whose United Torah Judaism party quit the coalition earlier this month over its failure to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military service.

“The coalition’s decision to appoint a man suspected of rape as chairman of the Finance Committee crosses a red line” and “normalizes harm to women,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares. “This is a misogynistic coalition that is tearing Israeli society apart.”

Milwidsky has denied wrongdoing and cast the investigation against him as a witch hunt.

France to airdrop aid into Gaza, says diplomatic source

Humanitarian aid is airdropped to Palestinians over Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, July 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

France will airdrop aid into Gaza “in coming days,” a diplomatic source says, as UN-backed experts warned of a famine unfolding in the Strip.

“France will carry out airdrops in the coming days to meet the most essential and urgent needs of the civilian population in Gaza,” the source says, also urging “an immediate opening by Israel of the land crossing points.”

The comment comes on the third day of Israel’s new aid policy, which includes “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting, resumption of Arab countries’ airdrops and, for the first time, airdrops by Israel itself.

Spain and the UK have also announced plans to airdrop aid into Gaza.

Likud MK accused of rape chairs his first Finance Committee hearing, with his formal appointment to job set to pass

MK Hanoch Milwidsky chairs a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee, July 29, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky chairs his first meeting of the powerful Finance Committee even as lawmakers in the Knesset House Committee prepare to vote on his appointment. He leads the meeting as acting chair.

Opposition lawmakers have protested Milwidsky’s appointment — which must still be approved by the House Committee and Finance Committee — due to an ongoing police investigation against him on suspicion of rape and witness tampering.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party slams the coalition for its nomination of Milwidsky despite the allegations.

“The current discussion in the Knesset House Committee on the appointment of a rape suspect as chairman of the Finance Committee is one of the lowest and saddest moments in the history of the Knesset,” the party says in a statement. “For the current coalition, suspicion of rape is not a red line. How low.”

Independent opposition MK Orit Farkash-Hacohen tweets: “At the same time that a charged and fundamental discussion is taking place in the Knesset House Committee regarding whether it is appropriate to appoint someone under investigation for sexual offenses as the chair of the Finance Committee – the coalition… opens the Finance Committee for an urgent discussion, under the management of Milwidsky.”

Likud’s Ofir Katz, the chair of the House Committee which is set vote on Milwidsky’s appointment and the interim chair of the Knesset Finance Committee, used his authority to allow Milwidsky to run the meeting ahead of his appointment.

During the meeting chaired by Milwidsky, the Finance Committee approved tax benefits for 90 nonprofits, a move that Farkash-Hacohen says is “kosher but smells.”

Ahead of this afternoon’s vote on Milwidsky in the House Committee, The Democrats MK Naama Lazimi compares Milwidsky’s Likud party to a “criminal organization” while Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak says he is “embarrassed by this committee,” which is making “a shameful appointment.”

Milwidsky has denied wrongdoing and cast the investigation against him as a witch hunt.

A confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Milwidsky was nominated for Finance Committee chair after United Torah Judaism, the party of previous chair MK Moshe Gafni, quit the coalition over its failure to codify the ultra-Orthodox community’s exemption from military service.

Cabinet said set to vote on replacements for Shas ministers who resigned over Haredi enlistment law

Shas chief MK Aryeh Deri, standing center-right, speaks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, at the Knesset in Jerusalem on December 6, 2023. Seated are Justice Minister Yariv Levin, center-left, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, left. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The cabinet will hold a telephone vote on replacing Shas ministers who resigned when the ultra-Orthodox Shas party quit the government earlier this month over its failure to codify the Haredi community’s exemption from military service, the Walla news site reports.

According to the news site, Justice Minister Yariv Levin will receive the interior, labor, and religious services portfolios while Tourism Minister Haim Katz, who already also serves as interim housing minister, will take over the health and welfare ministries.

Both cabinet ministers will be considered temporary placeholders until Shas returns to the government, Walla reports.

The report does not reference the Jerusalem affairs portfolio until recently held by the United Torah Judaism party.

Speaking with The Times of Israel last week, a spokesman for Shas said the party would rejoin the government only if a viable Haredi enlistment bill is advanced.

“There must be a law on the table that is agreed upon by us and has a majority,” said Asher Medina, when asked about his party’s preconditions for returning.

Gallup: Most Americans disapprove of Israeli military action in Gaza, though Republicans broadly supportive; Netanyahu gets lowest rating since 1997

IDF troops are seen on the outskirts of Gaza City's Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods, July 23, 2025. (Emanuel Fabian/ Times of Israel)

A new Gallup poll finds that about six in 10 US adults disapprove of the military action Israel has taken in Gaza, up from 45% a month after the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war.

The poll also sees Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receiving the most negative rating in terms of his favorability in the US since he was first included in Gallup polling in 1997.

The rising disapproval is driven by Democrats and independents, while Republicans remain largely supportive of both Israel’s military actions and Netanyahu.

In a new low, only 8% of Democrats and one-quarter of independents say they now approve of Israel’s military campaign.

Young adults are also much more likely to disapprove of Israel’s actions. Only about 1 in 10 adults under age 35 say they approve of Israel’s military choices in Gaza, compared with about half of those who are 55 or older.

About half of US adults, 52%, now have an unfavorable view of Netanyahu. Just 29% view him positively, and about 2 in 10 either haven’t heard of him or don’t have an opinion.

That’s a change — although not a huge one — since December 2023, when 47% of US adults had an unfavorable view of Netanyahu and 33% had a favorable opinion. But it’s a reversal from as recently as April 2019, when more US adults viewed him positively than negatively.

Republicans have a much more positive view of Netanyahu than Democrats and independents do. About two-thirds of Republicans view him favorably, which is in line with last year. About 1 in 10 Democrats and 2 in 10 independents feel the same way.

Republicans are also about twice as supportive of US President Donald Trump’s handling of the war than Democrats were last summer of its handling by then-US president Joe Biden, a Democrat.

About 8 in 10 Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of the situation in the Middle East. By contrast, only about 4 in 10 Democrats approved of Biden’s handling of the conflict, shortly before he dropped out of the US presidential race on July 21.

The new poll was conducted on July 7-21, while reports of starvation in Gaza led to international criticism of Israel’s decision to restrict food aid but before Trump expressed concern over the worsening humanitarian situation. The start of the polling coincided with Netanyahu’s July 6-11 trip to Washington.

The poll results are based on telephone interviews with 1,002 US adults from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The margin of error is +/- 4%.

Head of Knesset gender equality committee ejected from debate about top job for Likud MK suspected of rape

MK Pnina Tamano-Shata attends a press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 29, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Blue and White-National Unity MK Pnina Tamano-Shata is ejected from the Knesset House Committee after loudly interrupting Likud MK Tally Gotliv during a debate ahead of a scheduled vote on the appointment of Likud lawmaker Hanoch Milwidsky as chairman of the powerful Finance Committee.

Gotliv defends the appointment and attacks the Attorney General’s Office, which recently opened a probe into Milwidsky who is suspected of rape and witness tampering.

Tamano-Shata, who chairs the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality, had shortly beforehand lambasted the expected appointment in a joint press conference with other female opposition lawmakers.

Palestinian death toll in Gaza war passes 60,000, Hamas-run health ministry says

Destroyed buildings are pictured in the Gaza Strip as seen from a position along the border in southern Israel on July 29, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

The Palestinian death toll from Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza has passed 60,000, according to the Strip’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The figure, which cannot be independently verified, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Hamas has said women and children make up about half the dead.

Israel says it has killed some 20,000 gunmen in Gaza as of January, and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, sparking the war.

The Hamas health ministry also reports at least 145,870 people injured in the war, and says thousands of people remain missing under the rubble of destroyed buildings and areas.

Police arrest 3 more suspects in Nazareth murder last month

Police announce they have arrested three more people suspected of involvement in the murder of Tawfik Abu Lashin in Nazareth last month.

One of the suspects was apprehended yesterday while driving in central Israel.

Abu Lashin, 25, was shot dead at a car wash in the northern Arab city on June 25. Hours later his cousin, Naif Abu Lashin, was killed in a similar incident in neighboring Yafia.

Police suspect that the shootings are both linked to the same dispute between criminal organizations in the area.

The main suspect in the murder was arrested on July 6. He had crashed into a parked car when fleeing the scene of the shooting on his motorcycle and injured himself.

Police nabbed him when he was still in the hospital.

It is unclear what the three other suspects’ alleged roles were in Abu Lashin’s murder.

Syrian refugee charged with attempted murder for February stabbing at Berlin Holocaust Memorial

Police apprehend a suspect at the scene where a person was stabbed near the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, Germany on February 21, 2025. (Odd Andersen/AFP)

A Syrian man who allegedly supports the Islamic State group has been charged with attempted murder over the stabbing of a Spanish tourist at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial, German prosecutors say.

The suspect, a refugee partially identified as Wassim Al M., is said to have seriously injured the 30-year-old man at the landmark in the German capital in February.

The suspect “shares the ideology of the foreign terrorist organization Islamic State” and has “radical Islamist and antisemitic views,” federal prosecutors say in a statement.

He had traveled from the eastern city of Leipzig, where he had been living, to Berlin to target “alleged infidels, whom he regarded as representatives of a Western form of society that he rejected,” prosecutors say.

Shortly before the stabbing, the suspect, who was 19 at the time, sent a photo of himself to IS members so the group could claim responsibility for the attack, they say.

The tourist, from the Basque Country in northern Spain, was wounded in the neck during the attack at Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe near the Brandenburg Gate and the US embassy.

The suspect, who was arrested shortly after the attack and is in pre-trial detention, has also been charged with causing serious bodily harm and attempted membership of a foreign terrorist organization.

Jerusalem church leaders condemn Jewish extremist attack on Christian Palestinian town in West Bank

A man walks past Hebrew graffiti reading 'Al-Mughayyir, you'll be sorry,' following a Jewish extremist attack on the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh, northeast of Ramallah in the West Bank, July 28, 2025. (Zain JAAFAR / AFP)

The heads of Jerusalem’s churches, including the Catholic and Greek Orthodox patriarchs, condemn an attack by Jewish extremists on the Palestinian Christian town of Taybeh overnight Monday, calling it “part of an alarming pattern of settler violence against West Bank communities, including their homes, sacred spaces, and ways of life.”

“We are gravely troubled by the prevailing climate of impunity, which undermines the rule of law and jeopardizes peaceful coexistence in the land of the Resurrection,” say the clergymen. “The lack of accountability not only threatens Christian communities but also weakens the moral and legal foundations that uphold peace and justice for all.”

They call on Israel to hold the perpetrators accountable, ensure the protection of Taybeh and other targeted communities, and uphold international law.

Footage from the incident showed several cars that went up in flames and Hebrew graffiti daubed onto the walls of a home in the Ramallah-area village.

Taybeh and its surroundings have experienced several bouts of settler violence in recent months, including an arson attack near an ancient Byzantine church.

The village — home to about 1,300 mostly Christian Palestinians, many holding US dual citizenship — is known for its brewery, the oldest in the Palestinian territories.

While the Trump administration hasn’t weighed in on most other settler attacks on Palestinians, the targeting of Christians has sparked US ire, and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee paid a solidarity visit to Taybeh this month.

Australians expect stronger response to antisemitism, survey shows

Illustrative: A member of the Jewish community reads messages attached to a fence where flowers have been left at the Adass Israel Synagogue in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea after an arson there, December 9, 2024. (Martin KEEP / AFP)

Nearly half of Australians expect elected officials, mayors and local leaders to take a firmer stance against antisemitism and other manifestations of hate and violence in their communities, according to a survey by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM).

The survey, which polled 1,000 respondents from across Australia between June 27 and July 1, finds that less than a quarter of Australians (24%) describe general public attitudes to Jewish people in Australia as very positive (9%) or slightly positive (15%). On the flip side, 28% of respondents describe attitudes toward Jews as very negative (8%) or slightly negative (20%).

Some 34% of respondents said they were neutral, and 14% were unsure.

One in five young Australians aged 18 to 34 reported witnessing or hearing about antisemitic incidents in their area, with the situation the worst in New South Wales, the most populous of Australia’s six states, CAM says.

Australia’s 120,000-strong Jewish community has been hit hard by antisemitism since the Hamas terror group launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023.

In recent months, Jews there have experienced synagogues, schools, and homes firebombed, two nurses threatening to kill Jewish patients in their hospital, and the discovery of a trailer filled with explosives said to have been intended to cause a mass-casualty event at a Sydney synagogue.

In early July, a pair of attacks in Melbourne targeted a synagogue and an Israeli-owned restaurant. “Australia used to be thought of as a safe haven for Jews, but that image has unfortunately been shattered over the last two years,” says CAM CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa.

Female opposition lawmakers protest expected appointment of Likud MK suspected of rape to lead key committee

(L-R) MKs Pnina Tamano-Shata, Merav Ben-Ari and Efrat Rayten hold a press at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 29, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Female opposition lawmakers protest the Knesset House Committee’s expected approval of Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky as chairman of the powerful Finance Committee due to an ongoing police investigation against him on suspicion of rape and witness tampering.

In a joint statement ahead of the House Committee’s meeting, Blue and White-National Unity MK Pnina Tamano-Shata calls on the coalition, Israeli women, and “first and foremost” to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop the appointment.”

“Do not drag the Knesset and yourselves to a new low,” Tamano-Shata declares.

The Democrats’ Efrat Rayten says that the appointment of Milwidsky, “who is now suspected of alleged rape and witness tampering, as chairman of the Finance Committee, is not only a moral disgrace but a black flag waving over the legitimacy of the government’s continued tenure.”

Yesh Atid MK Merav Ben-Ari says that “the thought that the designated chairman of the Finance Committee is suspected of the crime of rape should disturb every member of the Knesset.”

“The shocking testimonies disqualify MK Milwidsky from any position. Every member of the Knesset should ask themselves, if Hanoch was being investigated for a murder offense – would he still be appointed as chairman of the Finance Committee? Why, because it’s rape, is it accepted with indifference? Rape is the murder of the soul,” she declares.

Speaking with i24 News, Ben-Ari says that she has turned to Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik to try and block Milwidsky’s appointment.

Tamano-Shata and Ben-Ari are the only female members of the House Committee.

Responding to their statements, women’s rights advocacy group Bonot Alternativa declares that “someone facing serious allegations cannot serve as the head of a committee or even as a member of Knesset in Israel. The fight against sexual offenders should transcend party lines and political sides, and it is unacceptable that the coalition is still planning to appoint him to such a significant role as committee head.”

“We join the demand – to halt the appointment of Hanoch Milwidsky as head of the Finance Committee,” the group tweets.

Earlier this week, Milwidsky’s Likud party accused Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, whom the government is trying to fire, of “ulterior motives” in the probe she opened into the lawmaker.

Sa’ar: Palestinian state ‘ain’t gonna happen’

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem, July 29, 2025. (Sivan Shachor/GPO)

Israel will not give in to pressure to end the war in Gaza, nor will foreign countries force it to accept a Palestinian state, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says in a briefing with international journalists.

He blasts “a distorted campaign of international pressure” on Israel to end the war, which would leave Hamas in power in Gaza. “It ain’t gonna happen,” he says. “No matter how much pressure is put on Israel.”

Sa’ar says that the pressure campaign’s second goal is to force a two-state solution on Israel. “Establishing a Palestinian state today is establishing a Hamas state. A jihadist state,” says Sa’ar. “It ain’t gonna happen.”

Sa’ar accuses European governments of allowing their policies to be affected by their “huge Muslim populations,” with Israel being sacrificed to appease this constituency.

“Israel will not be the Czechoslovakia of the 21st century,” he says, referring to European powers agreeing to Nazi Germany’s 1938 annexation of the Sudetenland in an effort to appease Adolf Hitler.

“We won’t sacrifice our own existence for the sake of the appeasement countries,” Sa’ar continues. “We won’t give up our basic interests for the sake of internal politics in certain countries that lost control over their own streets.”

He says that pressure on Israel “is directly sabotaging the chances for a ceasefire and hostage deal” with Hamas and is making military escalation more likely. “The international pressure must not be on Israel. It must be on Hamas.”

Smotrich to Netanyahu: ‘No more appropriate time’ than now to annex West Bank

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, center, speaks at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee's Subcommittee for Judea and Samaria at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 29, 2025. (Danny Shem-Tov/Knesset Spokesman)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich appeals to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the West Bank, stating that “there is no more appropriate time” to do so than now.

Addressing lawmakers in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s Subcommittee for Judea and Samaria, the far-right politician says that such a move would serve as a corrective for the mistake of withdrawing from Gaza’s Gush Katif settlement bloc in 2005 and that “applying sovereignty has political, security, economic, settlement [and] democratic significance, and also moral and Zionist significance.”

“We are advancing the process in two stages. The first is de facto sovereignty. To do this, a whole series of processes must be carried out, some of them cognitive, in order to normalize settlement. The second part is internal processes within the system so that when the formal act of applying sovereignty happens they will be ready. Very thorough work has been done, both administratively and legally, and we are ready today to press the button,” Smotrich declares.

“I want to take advantage of this platform to call on the prime minister [to] make the decision [and] take courage. Jewish history is behind you, and on your shoulders. We have full support from the US administration, I say this from knowledge… There is no more appropriate time than these days to convene the government and make the decision,” he continues. “The sky will not fall.”

Smotrich’s appeal comes on the heels of comments he made earlier this morning at the Gush Katif Heritage Center in which he said that Israel needs to resettle Gaza on a larger scale than it had prior to the 2005 Disengagement from Gush Katif.

Leading Israeli actor Alon Abutbul dies aged 60

Israeli actor Alon Abutbul attends the Jerusalem Film Festival awards ceremony in Jerusalem, July 18, 2008. (Michal Fattal / Flash90)

Israeli actor Alon Abutbul, 60, died today, medics say.

Abutbul’s body was found lifeless on the Habonim Beach in northern Israel. Medics summoned to the scene were unable to revive him, says the Magen David Adom rescue service.

MDA says he apparently collapsed after coming out of the water.

Abutbul was a popular mainstay of the Israeli film and television industry for more than four decades, winning several major awards.

He also acted in a number of US and international productions, including a roles in Steven Spielberg’s “Munich” and in the 2012 Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Philippines to ‘seek help’ securing release of sailors abducted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels

A handout picture released by Yemen's Houthis on July 8, 2025, reportedly shows a view of damage to the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier Eternity C after it was attacked by the Iran-backed rebels at sea. (Ansar Allah Media Center / AFP)

The Philippines says it will ask “friendly countries” to help secure the release of nine Filipino sailors being held by Yemen’s Houthis.

The statement comes a day after the Iran-backed rebels released footage on Monday of crew members missing after attacks on the Eternity C and Magic Seas cargo ships, claiming in an accompanying statement to have “rescued” the mariners. The European Union’s Operation Aspides naval task force has told AFP that 15 of the 25 people onboard the Eternity C were missing — with four presumed dead.

Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega confirms the Houthis are holding nine Filipino seafarers.

“I do not want to use the term hostage. At least we know they are alive,” he tells AFP.

“We’re not going to talk directly with the Houthis. We’re going to seek help from friendly countries,” he adds.

Last week, Human Rights Watch said the rebels were unlawfully detaining the crew and that their attacks on shipping amounted to war crimes. The United States has accused the Houthis of kidnapping.

Iran: Trump’s claim Tehran interfered in Gaza truce-hostage talks ‘absolutely baseless’

Illustrative: A woman walks past a billboard bearing portraits of slain Iranian, Hezbollah and Hamas leaders in Tehran's Enghelab square, May 11, 2025. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran says it did not interfere in Gaza ceasefire-hostage negotiations, after US President Donald Trump claimed Tehran had issued “orders” to Hamas.

Iran, a close ally and backer of Hamas, dismisses Trump’s remarks as “absolutely baseless,” with foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei calling the claim “a form of projection and evasion of responsibility and accountability” on the US president’s part.

According to Baghaei, Hamas negotiators “do not need the intervention of third parties” as the terror group, which is backed by Iran, “recognizes and pursues the interests of the oppressed people of Gaza in the most appropriate manner.”

Baghaei also urges the United States to “stop sending deadly weapons to the occupying regime,” referring to Israel, and to force it to “stop the genocide [and] allow humanitarian aid to enter” the Gaza Strip.

Trump, speaking to reporters on Monday during a visit to Scotland, said the Iranians had “interjected themselves in this last negotiation” between Israel and Hamas, which ended last week with no breakthrough.

“I think they got involved in this negotiation, telling Hamas, giving Hamas signals and orders and that’s not good,” Trump said without elaborating. He also said Iran had been sending “very bad signals” since the 12-day Israel-Iran war last month, without specifying.

Smotrich says return of Jewish settlements to Gaza now realistic, ‘needs to be much bigger’ than before

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a conference at the Gush Katif Heritage Center in Nitzan, near Ashkelon, July 29, 2025. (Screen capture: Amit Segal via X)

Calling the Gaza Strip “an inseparable part of the Land of Israel,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that while returning to the settlements Israel left in 2005 had been “wishful thinking” for a long time, it is now a “realistic” option.

Addressing a conference at the Gush Katif Heritage Center marking two decades since the Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, the far-right minister says he does “not want to go back to Gush Katif — it’s too small, it needs to be much bigger, much more expansive.”

Gush Katif was the major bloc of Israeli settlements in Gaza before the Disengagement, housing some 8,500 people in 17 communities.

Smotrich also acknowledges at the conference that he has been ridiculed in the past two days for staying in the government even as it reverses course and sends increased quantities of aid into Gaza. “If I’m still in the government,” he says, “then apparently I have reason to believe that good things are going to happen, that justify the shaming and the mockery [to which I’m being subjected].”

“Ultimately, time will tell whether I’m right or not.”

“No one in the world will let us wage war and destroy Hamas and the threat posed by Gaza if we starve two million civilians,” the Haaretz daily also quotes Smotrich as saying, in an apparent rebuttal to objections on the right to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to ramp up humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

The finance minister sent a message to his party’s lawmakers this week portraying the increase in aid as a tactical step ahead of a broader military campaign against Hamas.

Public defender cites spike in crime amid war, overcrowded prisons

Police at the scene where a man allegedly murdered his wife and then killed himself in Jerusalem, April 4, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

Israel has over the past year seen a spike in crime as a result of the war in Gaza, the Public Defender’s Office says in an annual report, which also expresses concern about overcrowded prisons, increased police violence and an expansion of police powers.

“The Public Defender’s Office noted an increase in cases of poverty, domestic violence, crimes committed amid trauma and post-trauma, and [criminal] involvement of truant youth,” reads a statement from the office, adding that “normative people” have been driven to commit crimes for the first time amid the war.

It says that the incidents have “become more acute following the consequences of the… war, especially in the south and north regions, where tens of thousands were evacuated from their homes and workplaces.”

Among the public defender’s clients over the past year is a young man who lost many friends in the Re’im-area Nova music festival. The young man, who was arrested on suspicion of breaking and entering, was sent by the court to a rehabilitative community, the Public Defender’s Office says.

Meanwhile, the Public Defender’s Office points to a “worrying upward trend in the number of complaints about police violence,” with 316 complaints in 2024 — up from 265 in 2023, 161 in 2022 and 119 in 2021.

In addition, due to the war, there over 23,500 people in Israeli prisons, despite there being room for only 14,500 prisoners according to statute, the office says, adding that the overcrowding has negative effects on inmates’ health.

Chief Public Defender Anat Meyassed Cnaan says in a statement that the past year has seen a “marked expansion in powers granted to law enforcement.”

“We’ve especially warned about the leak of extreme tools [used by police], originally meant to combat terrorism, into criminal procedure,” she says.

UN-backed monitor says ‘worst-case scenario of famine’ unfolding in Gaza, airdrops not enough

Illustrative: People gather as a C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft drops humanitarian aid on the northern Gaza Strip on July 27, 2025. (Bashar Taleb/AFP)

The “worst-case scenario of famine” is “now unfolding” in Gaza, a UN-backed monitor warns, adding that airdropping food into the Palestinian territory is insufficient.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) says airdrops “will not be enough to reverse the humanitarian catastrophe,” adding that only “immediate, unimpeded” humanitarian access into Gaza can stop rapidly rising “starvation and death.”

The statement comes on the third day of Israel’s new aid policy, which includes “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting and airdropping aid. The policy was adopted amid mounting international criticism of the hunger crisis in Gaza.

IDF: Dozens of terror targets hit in Gaza airstrikes over past day

IDF soldiers seen in the Gaza Strip in this picture released July 29, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)

Dozens of terror targets were struck by the Israeli Air Force in the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military says.

According to the IDF, the targets included operatives, buildings used by terror groups, tunnels, and caches of weapons.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reported yesterday that 100 people had been killed in the previous 24 hours.

The military releases footage showing a strike on a Hamas weapons depot in the Khan Younis area. The strike was directed by troops of the 36th Division during operations in the area.

In Gaza City, the IDF says the 98th Division is expanding its operations in the Shejaiya and Zeitoun neighborhoods, in an effort to destroy Hamas infrastructure and prevent rocket fire on Israel.

כוחות צה”ל השמידו מחסן אמצעי לחימה בדרום הרצועה: זוהו פיצוצי משנה המעידים על הימצאות תחמושת

כוחות צה״ל בפיקוד הדרום, בהכוונת אמ״ן ושב”כ, ממשיכים לפעול נגד ארגוני הטרור ברחבי רצועת עזה.

במרחב חאן יונס, כוחות אוגדה 36 חיסלו במהלך היממה האחרונה מספר מחבלים, והכווינו תקיפות… pic.twitter.com/GJHF9CNh4Z

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 29, 2025

Palestinians say at least 30, including 26 women and children, killed in central Gaza strike

Palestinians at the site of an Israeli air strike, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on July 29, 2025. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)

Hamas’s civil defense agency says Israeli airstrikes killed at least 30 Palestinians, including women and children, in the central Nuseirat district.

Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal, who Israel has accused of being an active Hamas operative, says the strikes were carried out overnight and into the morning and “targeted a number of citizens’ homes” in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

The local Al-Awda hospital says it received “the bodies of 30 martyrs, including 14 women and 12 children.”

The toll cannot be verified.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

Singapore says terror threat remains high, pointing to Gaza war and ‘radical narratives’

Illustrative: An armed police officer stands guard as Catholic faithful arrive ahead of a mass by Pope Francis at the National Stadium in Singapore on September 12, 2024. (Roslan RAHMAN / AFP)

The terrorism threat to Singapore remains high, its home affairs ministry says in a new report, attributing the increased threat to the the war in Gaza and “continued traction of radical narratives.”

While there was no current intelligence of an imminent attack against Singapore, the ministry says the Islamic State terror group uses propaganda to exploit the war in Gaza and local grievances to reinforce its narrative of armed violence.

Since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza, six Singaporeans have been found to support or were making preparations to take part in armed violence because of the conflict, says the report.

“Singapore and our interests continue to be viewed as attractive and legitimate targets by terrorist and extremist elements, due to our friendly relations with Western nations and Israel, the presence of iconic structures in Singapore, and our status as a secular and multicultural state,” it says.

The ministry says a key threat is online self-radicalization, in a variety of extremist ideologies, especially of youths.

Since 2015, Singapore has used the Internal Security Act against 17 youths aged 20. Most recently it was used against two teenagers — one planned to shoot mosques, the other planned to join Islamic State.

The law allows suspects to be held for lengthy periods without trial, or to be given a restriction order limiting travel and internet access, among other conditions.

The threat assessment report also says artificial intelligence is emerging as a terrorism enabler for “generating and translating propaganda, producing convincing synthetic multimedia, creating personalized recruitment messages at scale and planning and developing attacks.”

IDF publishes video it says shows Hamas terrorists looting humanitarian aid in Gaza

Footage posted by the IDF on July 29, 2025, shows what the military says are Hamas gunmen hijacking a delivery of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, July 25, 2025. (Screen capture: IDF Spokesperson's Unit via X)

The IDF publishes footage it says shows armed Hamas operatives looting a truck of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip last week.

The IDF does not explain how it was able to identify the individuals seen as Hamas operatives.

The clip, which the IDF says is from Friday, shows gunmen on top of a truck carrying aid, while a crowd of Palestinians surrounds it.

The military claims the video shows “armed Hamas terrorists… violently looting humanitarian aid that had been transferred into the Gaza Strip, preventing it from reaching the civilian population of Gaza.”

“Contrary to Hamas’s false claims that the individuals in the video are security personnel, they are in fact Hamas terrorists who arrived to seize the aid from Gaza’s residents. Even when aid is delivered into Gaza, Hamas loots it for its own use, blatantly disregarding the needs of the population,” the IDF says, adding that “this footage is further evidence that Hamas is the primary obstacle to the delivery of humanitarian aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip.”

The military says it is publishing the video after Hamas in recent weeks “spread false claims about a deliberate starvation campaign in Gaza.”

Last week, a senior Israeli defense official said that nearly all of the trucks heading to the warehouses of aid organizations and the UN were looted by Gazan mobs, not Hamas.

צה״ל חושף תיעוד של מחבלי חמאס חמושים בוזזים את הסיוע ההומניטרי

בשבועות האחרונים, ארגון הטרור חמאס פרסם טענות כוזבות על הרעבה מכוונת בעזה.

בתיעוד שצולם ב-25.7.25, נראים מחבלי חמאס חמושים כשהם בוזזים באלימות את הסיוע ההומניטרי שהוכנס לרצועת עזה ומונעים את הגעתו לאוכלוסייה… pic.twitter.com/DQABHd9aFB

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 29, 2025

Gantz slams expected appointment of Likud MK suspected of rape to head Finance Committee: ‘Have we lost our minds?’

MK Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White-National Unity party, leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on July 21, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky’s expected appointment as Knesset Finance Committee chairman sends a terrible message to victims of sexual violence, Blue and White-National Unity chairman Benny Gantz declares.

The Knesset House Committee is scheduled to meet today to vote on Milwidsky’s candidacy before referring the issue to the Finance Committee itself for final approval.

While the Likud lawmaker has been endorsed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his candidacy has proven controversial, as he is currently under investigation on suspicion of rape and witness tampering.

“Have we lost our minds? What message is the coalition sending today to victims of sexual offenses?” asks Gantz in a post on X arguing that “there isn’t a single righteous person in Sodom within Likud or the coalition as a whole… who will say ‘enough'” and “think about their little daughter, instead of petty politics.”

While Gantz says Milwidsky enjoys the “presumption of innocence,” he asks, “What is so urgent about appointing a Finance Committee chairman who is suspected of rape?”

Opposition lawmakers are expected to show up to today’s House Committee vote to “voice clear opposition to this move,” he adds.

Milwidsky has denied wrongdoing and described the investigation against him as a witch hunt.

Traffic accident in eastern India kills 18 Hindu pilgrims

Indian paramilitary force soldiers inspect the wreckage of a bus that was carrying Hindu pilgrims which collided with a transport truck at Deoghar, about 268 kilometers (167 miles) from Ranchi, in the Indian eastern state of Jharkhand, July, 29, 2025. (AP Photo)

At least 18 people were killed in eastern India after a bus ferrying Hindu pilgrims collided with a truck loaded with cooking gas cylinders, officials say.

Visuals from the site in Jharkhand state show the mangled wreckage of the bus, with its rear portion almost entirely burnt.

Local lawmaker Nishikant Dubey says the pilgrims were traveling to a Hindu shrine to celebrate the sacred month of Shravan, coinciding with the onset of the monsoons in the subcontinent.

“18 devotees lost their lives due to a bus and truck accident,” Dubey says on social media.

The pilgrims were carrying holy water from the Ganges to offer to the Hindu god of destruction Lord Shiva.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expresses his “deepest condolences to the families of the devotees who lost their lives.”

“The road accident in Jharkhand’s Deoghar is extremely tragic,” his office says on social media.

Tens of thousands of people die in road accidents in India every year, according to official data.

Smotrich accuses the Netherlands of ‘surrender’ to radical Islam for declaring him persona non grata

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, right, attends a Knesset conference discussing Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 22, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich accuses the Netherlands’ government of surrendering “to the lies of radical Islam” following the announcement that both he and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir will be banned from entering the country, as part of a raft of measures to pressure Israel over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Explaining the ban, the Netherlands’ Foreign Minister Caspar Valdekamp reportedly wrote to local lawmakers that it was motivated by the fact that the two far-right Israeli politicians had “repeatedly incited violence by settlers against the Palestinian population and… called for ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.”

“What they don’t understand in the Netherlands and other European countries is that far more than it matters to me to enter the Netherlands, it matters to me that my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and those of all the Jews in the world, can live in the State of Israel in security for decades and centuries to come,” Smotrich posts on X.

“In the Netherlands and Europe in general, Jews did not live in security at the beginning of the last century, and judging by the European hypocrisy, the surrender of its leaders to the lies of radical Islam, which is taking over, and the rising antisemitism there — Jews will not be able to live there in security in the future either,” he continues, adding that he will work for Israel’s future and security “even if it means standing firm against the entire world.”

Woman shot and killed in northern Arab town of Abu Snan; 8 relatives said detained

A woman in her thirties was found dead with bullet wounds in her home in the northern Arab town of Abu Snan overnight, police say.

She was declared dead by medics who arrived on the scene, according to the statement, which says the motive for the killing was “probably criminal.”

Hebrew media identifies the victim as 35-year-old Sherihan Mishleb, a divorced mother of three. She was reportedly found by her brother, who alerted the police. Her children are said to have been out of the house at the time.

Following an initial investigation, eight of Mishleb’s relatives are reportedly detained, including her ex-husband. The police is expected to request the court to extend the detention of three or four relatives, the Kan public broadcaster says.

???? שריהאן משלב בת 35 הנרצחת בירי באבו סנאן. pic.twitter.com/NzixzDgk0n

— Asslan Khalil (@KhalilAsslan) July 28, 2025

The Abraham Initiatives coexistence watchdog says 149 members of the Arab community, including 14 women, have been killed since the start of 2025, up from 132 victims, including five women, in the same period in 2024.

Earlier this week, a woman was found dead in her home in a village near the northern Arab town of Umm al-Fahm, and a man was killed and three others injured in a shooting in the village of Muqeible.

The Netherlands bans Smotrich, Ben Gvir from entering country, citing support for ‘ethnic cleansing’

Religious Zionism party party chief Bezalel Smotrich (right) and Otzma Yehudit party chief Itamar Ben Gvir are seen during a vote at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on December 28, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

The Netherlands bans far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from entering the country, as part of a raft of measures to pressure Israel over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Dutch media reports.

In a letter to Dutch lawmakers quoted by local newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, the Netherlands’ Foreign Minister Caspar Valdekamp says the move against Smotrich and Ben Gvir “is because they have repeatedly incited violence by settlers against the Palestinian population and… called for ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.”

Responding to the ban against him, Ben Gvir writes on X: “Even if I’m banned from all of Europe, I’ll keep working for our country and demanding that we topple Hamas and back our fighters. Our enemies are violent, murderous rapists. But in Europe… the one who goes on the offensive is guilty. In a place where terrorism is tolerated and terrorists are welcome, a Jewish minister from Israel is unwelcome. Terrorists are free and Jews are boycotted.”

Smotrich does not immediately comment.

The ban on Ben Gvir and Smotrich’s entry comes a day after Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof  announced that his government was “considering taking national measures” against Israel, in addition to supporting a European Union proposal to partially suspend funding for Israeli researchers.

Report: Most aid trucks from Egypt to Gaza looted and sold in markets on 1st day of ‘humanitarian pauses’

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid wait to be allowed to cross from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on July 28, 2025. (AFP)

More than half the Egyptian aid trucks that entered the Gaza Strip on Sunday were looted by unknown actors and their contents later sold in local markets, according to a report in UK-based, Qatari-owned newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Out of 130 trucks, 73 of them were looted near the Morag Axis, which separates Rafah from Khan Younis and is controlled by the IDF, the report says.

Just 37 trucks arrived at the warehouses of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and the Egyptian Committee aid group, according to the report.

Another 20 trucks are said to have been returned by Israel to the Rafah border crossing for reasons unclear. There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

Sunday marked the first time Egypt sent aid into Gaza via the Rafah crossing since Israel took control of it in May 2024. It was the first day of Israel’s new aid policy, under which 10-hour “humanitarian pauses” are held in the fighting to let in more aid. The policy was adopted amid mounting international pressure over the hunger crisis in Gaza.

In an interview with The Times of Israel earlier this week, former US humanitarian envoy David Satterfield said that unlike UN aid which is largely accounted for, assistance from the Red Crescent societies is more susceptible to theft by Hamas and criminal gangs.

“The chain of custody from inspection by Israel to distribution sites maintained and documented by the UN and the major international organizations was and is carefully done, as these organizations are all accountable to the funding states, including the US,” Satterfield said.

“While looting and self-distribution disrupt this accountability, the majority of all assistance entered into Gaza by these actors has been accounted for,” he continued. “Palestine Red Crescent Society assistance, in contrast, has zero international accountability.”

Jacob Magid and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

AIPAC appears to drop endorsement of GOP lawmaker who called for Gaza to ‘starve away’ until hostages freed

FILE - Florida state Representative Randy Fine speaks in the House of Representatives, April 20, 2022, at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Florida. (AP Photo/Phil Sears, File)

AIPAC appears to have dropped its endorsement of Republican Representative Randy Fine, days after the freshman US lawmaker tweeted, “Release the hostages. Until then, starve away.”

“(This is all a lie anyway. It amazes me that the media continues to regurgitate Muslim terror propaganda.)” Fine added in the July 22 post.

US President Donald Trump rebuffed denials of starvation in Gaza, telling reporters on Monday, “You can’t fake that.”

AIPAC endorsed Fine ahead of his House race earlier this year, but his name was no longer coming up in the pro-Israel lobby’s database of endorsed candidates on Monday evening.

A spokesperson for AIPAC says the organization “will be endorsing candidates for the 2026 election throughout the cycle – current endorsees for 2026 so far are listed on the AIPAC-PAC website.”

Weighing in on the apparent development, Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene tweets, “A Jewish US Representative calling for the continued starvation of innocent people and children is disgraceful.”

“It’s the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct 7th in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza,” she adds, apparently becoming one of the first Republicans to publicly describe Israel’s war a “genocide.”

Fellow GOP lawmaker Lance Gooden meanwhile tweets, “Standing with Israel means eliminating every barbaric Hamas terrorist. It also means rejecting the killing and starvation of children in Gaza.”

“We must allow aid to enter Gaza. Ending this hunger crisis will not only spare the lives of children but will strip Hamas of its ability to use innocent children as pawns in their depraved acts of barbarism,” the Texas lawmaker adds.

Greene and Gooden appear to be among the first Republican Congress members to join the overwhelming number of Democrats in expressing their alarm about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Israeli envoy to UN decries ‘unacceptable’ violence in NYC after 5 killed in shooting

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon decries the “unacceptable” violence in New York City after a shooting at a midtown Manhattan office building leaves at least five people dead, including an off-duty NYPD officer, and the gunman is also dead.

I salute the NYPD for their brave and decisive actions. I pray for the recovery of those injured and send my condolences to the families of the victims. The violence on the streets of New York is unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/V3lWxyRkpn

— Danny Danon ???????? דני דנון (@dannydanon) July 29, 2025

Police identify the gunman as Shane Tamura, of Las Vegas, and say he killed himself. He had a ‘documented mental health history,’ but the motive is still unknown, police Commissioner Jessica Tisch says at a news conference.

“We are working to understand why he targeted this particular location,” Tisch says.

Another man is seriously injured and remains in critical condition, Mayor Eric Adams says.

Adams says officials are still “unraveling” what took place. “Five innocent people were shot” along with the perpetrator, he says.

The officer who was killed was a 36-year-old, who was an immigrant from Bangladesh and had served as a police officer in New York City for 3 1/2 years.

“He died as he lived. A hero,” Tisch says.

Surveillance video showed a man exiting a double parked BMW and carrying an M4 rifle before he walks toward the building. He immediately opened fire on the NYPD officer as he entered the building and shot a woman who tried to take cover and then began “spraying” the lobby with gunfire, Tisch says.

The man then made his way to the elevator bank and shot a security guard who was taking cover behind a security desk and shot another man in the lobby, the commissioner says.

Officers found a rifle case, a revolver, magazines and ammunition in his car, Tisch says.

The Fire Department of New York says emergency crews were called to the Park Avenue office building around 6:30 p.m. for a report of someone shot. The building houses some of the country’s top financial firms and the National Football League.

PM said to propose Israel begin annexing parts of Gaza if Hamas again rejects truce deal

Israel will begin annexing parts of the Gaza Strip if Hamas again rejects efforts by mediators to broker a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, according to the Maariv daily, which says Jerusalem will give the negotiations another chance.

The unsourced report says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the proposal while meeting with a small group of ministers, who decided to establish a special entity for administering annexed areas.

A separate report in the Haaretz newspaper says Netanyahu presented the plan as part of efforts to keep Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from pulling his far-right Religious Zionism party out of the government.

British PM said working on Gaza peace plan that includes eventual recognition of Palestinian state

US President Donald Trump (R) and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (L) talk as they arrive at Trump's estate in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, north east Scotland, on July 28, 2025. (Jane Barlow/Pool/AFP)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is formulating a peace plan for Gaza that will include the eventual recognition of a Palestinian state, according to a report in the Telegraph.

The unsourced report says Starmer will share his proposal with the US and other British allies in the coming days, adding that it calls for steps to “turn a ceasefire into lasting peace.”

Detained Gaza flotilla activists launch hunger strike — legal aid group

A screenshot taken from live footage of the Handala activist boat trying to break the naval blockade on Gaza as it is boarded by Israeli Navy forces, on July 26, 2025. (Screenshot: Salaamedia on Youtube)

More than a dozen activists being held by Israel after their aid boat was intercepted en route to Gaza have launched a hunger strike to protest their detention, according to a local NGO assisting them.

At least five of the 21 passengers of the Freedom Flotilla vessel Handala have agreed to be summarily deported after the boat was stopped and boarded by the Israeli navy while attempting to break a military blockade of the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

The legal aid group Adalah says that on Monday afternoon, “hearings concluded at Givon Prison, concerning the continued detention of the 14 volunteers who… refused to consent to an expedited deportation process.”

“During the hearings, the volunteers stressed that their mission was humanitarian — motivated by the need to act against Israel’s illegal siege and the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” the group says in a statement.

One US activist reported “severe physical violence by Israeli forces,” while others described being held in poor conditions, Adalah says.

“The activists told the tribunal that they remain on an open hunger strike in protest of their unlawful detention,” it adds.

It later says the tribunal “upheld the continued detention of the 14 volunteers.”

Israel has been treating their cases as immigration violations, which Adalah maintains is illegal, saying they were brought into the country against their will from international waters.

The Handala’s 21 passengers hailed from 10 countries, and included two French lawmakers and a pair of Al Jazeera journalists.

Adalah says at least one of the lawmakers, the two journalists and two other passengers are already on their way out of the country.

Two passengers who were Israeli-American dual nationals were released after being interrogated, according to the organization.

Saudi FM: Establishment of Palestinian state is only path to ‘sustainable peace’

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud speaks at a United Nations conference on a two-state solution at UN headquarters on July 28, 2025 in New York City. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

Saudi Arabia reiterates its stance that normalization with Israel “can only come through the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of a UN conference promoting a two-state solution that Riyadh is co-sponsoring with Paris, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan says this was the same position that was expressed over a year ago by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“It is based on a strong conviction that only through the establishment of a Palestinian state, and only through addressing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, can we have sustainable peace and real integration in the region,” Prince Faisal says.

Israeli officials have long insisted that Riyadh would be willing to settle for less, perhaps even mere lip-service to a two-state solution in exchange for normalizing ties with Israel.

Saudi officials have pushed back on such assumptions, while demanding that Israel establish an irreversible, time-bound pathway to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Israel under the current government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long rejected such a framework and has taken steps toward formally annexing West Bank lands that Palestinians hope would be part of their future state.

Qatari PM says Doha still continuing to work toward ceasefire-hostage release deal

Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani speaks during a press conference in Doha on June 24, 2025. (Karim JAAFAR / AFP)

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Abdulrahman al-Thani says Doha is continuing its efforts to try and secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.

He insists in remarks at the UN conference promoting a two-state solution that mediators Qatar, Egypt, and the US have had success, referencing two previous agreements they brokered that saw the release of hostages and a surge of aid in Gaza.

“Despite multiple obstacles and attempts to block humanitarian aid and to demonize the mediators, we continue in our path toward a permanent ceasefire to end the crisis and to start the reconstruction and recovery effort for,” al-Thani says.

Netanyahu considering trip to Buenos Aires next month, says Argentine official

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) speaks alongside Argentinian President Javier Milei (center) at the Knesset in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a reciprocal visit to Buenos Aires to meet with Argentine President Javier Milei toward the end of August, an Argentine official tells The Times of Israel.

However, a key obstacle to finalizing the trip is concern over flying through the airspace of countries such as Brazil and Chile, which are members of the International Criminal Court.

In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Israel denies the allegations and is contesting the warrants.

Because Argentina is also a member of the ICC, Netanyahu’s visit would require a formal guarantee from the government that he would be permitted to enter the country without risk of arrest, according to the diplomat.

Milei spent three days in Israel last month on a diplomatic visit, during which he announced plans to relocate Argentina’s embassy to Jerusalem and establish direct flights between Buenos Aires and Tel Aviv.

Iran vows to respond in a ‘more decisive manner’ if attacked again by US or Israel

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends the 17th annual BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/ Eraldo Peres)

Iran’s foreign minister warns that it would respond to the United States and Israel in a “more decisive manner” should they attack Iran again.

The comments appear to be in response to remarks by US President Donald Trump, who threatened earlier in the day to “wipe out” the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program if it resumed atomic activities following a round of US strikes last month.

“If aggression is repeated, we will not hesitate to react in a more decisive manner and in a way that will be IMPOSSIBLE to cover up,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says in a post on X.

“If there are concerns about the possible diversion of our nuclear program into non-peaceful purposes, the ‘military option’ proved incapable — but a negotiated solution may work,” he adds.

It remains unclear how much damage was caused by the US strikes on Tehran’s nuclear facilities, which came after Israel launched a surprise bombing campaign that it said was aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining an atomic weapon.

In his post, Araghchi writes: “No one in their right mind would abandon the fruits of tremendous investment in homegrown and peaceful technology” just because of foreign bullying.

Netanyahu: ‘Situation in Gaza is difficult,’ Israel will keep working to ensure ‘large amounts of aid’ enter Strip

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a Christian conference in Jerusalem, on July 27, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)

In an English-language statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says that Israel “will continue to work with international agencies, as well as the US and European nations to ensure that large amounts of humanitarian aid flows into the Gaza Strip.”

The PMO argues that Israel is already allowing significant amounts of food, water and medicine into Gaza every day.

Israel repeats its charge that Hamas steals aid from Gazans, including by shooting them.

“While the situation in Gaza is difficult and Israel has been working to ensure aid delivery,” the PMO continues, “Hamas benefits from attempting to fuel the perception of a humanitarian crisis. As such, they have been releasing unverified numbers to the news media while circulating images that are carefully staged or manipulated by Hamas.”

“We’ll continue to act responsibly, as we always have, and we’ll continue to seek the return of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” promises Netanyahu’s office. “That is the only way to secure peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”