July 8: IDF says it struck Hamas, PIJ operatives gathered at school in central Gaza

Biden meets with US citizen freed in first hostage deal he helped broker

Liat Beinin Atzili, who was released after being held hostage by the Hamas terror group following the October 7 onslaught, speaks as Israelis gather for a Passover ceremony and to call for the immediate release of the remaining hostages, on Kibbutz Nir Oz, April 11, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

US President Joe Biden met earlier this afternoon with Liat Beinin Atzili, an Israeli-American who was released as part of the hostage agreement Washington helped broker in late November.

Atzili was joined by members of her family, and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also sat in on the meeting, the White House says.

Brazil adopts free trade with Palestinian Authority in show of support

Brazil has put into effect a free trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority that has been waiting for ratification for more than a decade, in a show of support for the Palestinian people.

“The agreement is a concrete contribution to an economically viable Palestinian state, which can live peacefully and harmoniously with its neighbors,” Brazil’s foreign ministry says in a statement.

It says Brazil, which recognizes a Palestinian state and allowed a Palestinian embassy to be built in the Brazilian capital in 2010, ratified the agreement on Friday between the Mercosur trade bloc of South America and the Palestinian Authority that had been signed in 2011.

It is not clear whether other Mercosur members would follow suit. Argentina’s right-wing government of President Javier Milei is not expected to do so.

The foreign ministries of Uruguay and Paraguay did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Palestinian ambassador in Brasilia, Ibrahim Al Zeben, calls Brazil’s decision “courageous, supportive and timely.”

It is “the effective way to support peace in Palestine,” he says in a message to Reuters, adding that he hopes Palestinian trade with Mercosur, currently only $32 million a year, will grow.

Zikkim beach 3 km from Gaza border said set to reopen for first time since Oct. 7

Israeli police officers walk on Zikim Beach close to the Gaza border after it was closed to visitors, on April 24, 2021. (Flash90)

The Zikim beach located just three kilometers from the Gaza border will reopen to the public on August 1 for the first time since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, Channel 13 reports.

Some of the 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists who invaded Israel in that attack, infiltrated through the Zikim beach, slaughtering roughly 19 people.

In recent months, Israeli authorities have worked to revive the beach after it incurred significant damage during the attack. The renovations included the construction of a large bomb shelter.

Channel 13 says that 20 IDF soldiers will be stationed at the beach and an outpost will be built where they will sleep. The beach will initially only be opened during daylight hours, the network says.

Senior State Department official heads to region for talks on Gaza war

Barbara Leaf, US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, speaks to reporters at a media roundtable in Kuwait City on October 19, 2022. (YASSER AL-ZAYYAT / AFP/ File)

US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf has departed for the region where she will meet with various government officials to advance diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas war, the State Department says.

Leaf will travel to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, the West Bank and Italy, returning to the US on July 14.

“The assistant secretary will meet with government officials on continued diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire agreement, secure the release of all hostages and ensure humanitarian assistance is distributed throughout Gaza. She will also have further discussions on the post-conflict period in a way that builds lasting peace and security,” the State Department says.

IDF says it struck Hamas, PIJ operatives gathered at school in central Gaza

A group of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives gathered at a school in central Gaza’s Nuseirat were struck by Israeli fighter jets earlier this evening, the IDF says.

According to the military, the operatives were carrying out “terror activity” from within the school and “using it as a shield for terror.”

The IDF says it used precision munitions in the strike to mitigate harm to civilians.

NYU settles antisemitism lawsuit, court spokeswoman says

An antisemitic sign at a pro-Palestinian protest of NYU students and others in Manhattan's Washington Square Park on October 25, 2023. (Screen capture/X)

New York University has settled a lawsuit by Jewish students who accused the school of encouraging and failing to stop antisemitism on campus, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan federal court said on Monday.

A hearing in the case that had been scheduled for Tuesday has been canceled, the spokeswoman said.

No details on the settlement were immediately available.

The lawsuit filed on November 14 was among the earliest of the now many lawsuits accusing major universities including Carnegie-Mellon, Columbia, Harvard, MIT, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Pennsylvania of failing to stop and even encouraging antisemitism in the wake of the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel.

The NYU plaintiffs accused the school of violating federal civil rights law by enforcing its anti-discrimination policies unevenly, including by allowing chants such as “gas the Jews” and “Hitler was right” while ignoring other bigotry.

NYU had previously argued that it has moved “decisively” to root out antisemitism on its campus, and that the lawsuit by Jewish students claiming they have been mistreated should be dismissed.

US says Israel’s Rafah assault hasn’t harmed as many civilians as previous ops did

IDF soldiers walk in the southern Gaza Strip, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/ Ohad Zwigenberg, Pool)

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says Israel’s military operation in Rafah has not been as destructive and harmful to civilians as its operations in Gaza City and Khan Younis were, earlier in the war.

While acknowledging that the Gaza health ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, Miller points to a relatively smaller rise in the Hamas authorities’ death count during the Rafah operation.

He clarifies that no number of civilian deaths is acceptable and that the US assessments of the damage in Rafah are still coming in.

In April, US officials told The Times of Israel that the US and Egypt were in talks to build an underground wall along the Philadelphi Corridor between Egypt and Gaza that would thwart Hamas smuggling from the Sinai Peninsula. Miller is asked about reports from earlier today recirculating that idea, but declines to confirm them.

“We do believe that smuggling across the border from Egypt into Gaza is a very real problem that needs to be addressed. It’s one of the ways that Hamas was able to arm and fund itself, and that presented a legitimate security challenge to the government of Israel and also made it difficult to ever achieve peace for the Palestinian people,” Miller says. “We have been working on proposals with the governments of Egypt and Israel on how you can address that challenge.”

US not expecting policy change from Iran under new president, nor ready to resume nuclear talks

Newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a visit to the shrine of the Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran, Iran, on July 6, 2024. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

The White House says it did not expect any change in Iran’s behavior after the election of a relative moderate, Masoud Pezeshkian, for president.

White House spokesperson John Kirby also said the United States was not ready to resume nuclear talks with Iran under the new president.

This is echoed by the State Department.

“We have no expectation that this election will lead to a fundamental change in Iran’s direction or its policies,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller tells reporters.

Yemen’s Houthis claim joint op with Iraq’s Islamic Resistance targeting Eilat with drones

Yemenis wave Palestinian flags and hold mock rockets during a march in the Houthi-run capital Sanaa in solidarity with the people of Gaza on June 28, 2024. (MOHAMMED HUWAIS / AFP)

Yemen’s Houthis says that they carried out a joint military operation with the Iraqi Islamic Resistance targeting Israel’s port city of Eilat, using “a number of drones.”

Early this morning, the IDF said a suspected drone heading toward Israel from the direction of the Red Sea was shot down by a fighter jet.

Residents of the southernmost city of Eilat reported hearing a blast at the time of the incident.

White House says public statements from Israel, Hamas don’t reflect true state of talks

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, July 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The White House knocks recent public comments made by Israeli and Hamas leaders regarding the staged hostage release-ceasefire deal currently being negotiated.

“On both sides, you see public comments that aren’t necessarily fully reflective of the conversations that we’re having privately with them or their interlocutors,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says during a briefing, without getting into specifics.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement laying out his four non-negotiable demands, including one in which he claimed Israel would not accept any deal that does not allow it to resume fighting once it begins to be implemented.

The statement sparked a litany of criticism from those involved in the negotiations, including Israeli security officials.

Earlier today, Hamas issued a statement claiming Netanyahu “continues to place more obstacles in front of the negotiations” that are jeopardizing their success.

Asked about the statement made yesterday by Netanyahu’s office at a subsequent press briefing, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says, “We think it’s most productive to have these conversations in private, not in public.”

“Sometimes, [you’ve] seen the Israeli government make public statements. Sometimes you’ve seen Hamas make public statements. We’re going to hold the negotiations in private. What has not changed is that Israel, in its conversations with us, is saying that it is committed to the proposal that the president publicly outlined,” Miller says, referring to the Israeli offer that envisions a temporary ceasefire, which mediators hope can be turned into a permanent one.

“We do not believe that their substantive position has changed,” Miller says of the Israeli stance against the backdrop of Netanyahu’s comments, which would appear to amount to a rejection of the proposal that his own war cabinet approved in May.

Biden is not being treated for Parkinson’s, White House says

US President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, July 7, 2024, after returning from a trip to Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/ Susan Walsh)

US President Joe Bidenis not being treated for Parkinson’s disease, the White House says, after reports surfaced that a doctor specializing in the malady had visited the White House eight times over the past year.

Concerns that the president might be suffering from an undisclosed illness have risen since Biden’s stumbled in his June 27 debate with Republican Donald Trump.

The New York Times said White House visitor logs show that Dr. Kevin Cannard, a neurologist who specializes in movement disorders and recently published a paper on Parkinson’s, visited the White House eight times from last summer through the spring of this year.

During an acrimonious briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to confirm Cannard’s visit, saying she wanted to respect the privacy of all involved for security reasons.

She said Biden had seen a neurologist three times connected to Biden’s annual physical exams.

She said Biden was not being treated for Parkinson’s.

Ben Gvir slams Deri as a lapdog of the left, as coalition rift gets personal

Knesset Member Aryeh Deri looks at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a vote on the state budget at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir brands Shas leader Aryeh Deri a lapdog of the left as a rift between their two parties deepens.

“It turns out that Aryeh Deri, from Oslo until today, is committed to the ideology of the left. Deri has always  idolized the left, from Rabin to Peres to Gantz — he is the main player pushing the prime minister to compromise on policy,” says a statement from Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party.

“Today, Deri opposes Minister Ben Gvir joining the war cabinet because, while Ben Gvir is pushing to defeat the enemy on all fronts, Deri supports surrender and weakness,” the statement says.

White House says gaps remain between Israel and Hamas on ceasefire deal

Senior US officials are in Cairo for talks to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but gaps still remain between the two sides, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday.

Kirby said CIA Director Bill Burns and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk were in Egypt, meeting with their Egyptian, Israeli, and Jordanian counterparts, adding that there will be “follow-on discussions” in the next few days.

Shas slams ‘inflated balloon’ Ben Gvir, warns he will bring down government

Shas leader MK Aryeh Deri with Israeli minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir during a Shas party meeting, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on January 23, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

The ultra-Orthodox Shas party called Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir an “inflated balloon,” warning he would be responsible for bringing down the government as a coalition crisis deepened.

The heated rhetoric comes after Ben Gvir’s party refused to vote in favor of a key bill put forward by Shas, in protest over not getting a greater say over the running of the war.

“The right-wing bloc discovered this evening that Itamar Ben Gvir is nothing but an inflated balloon,” Shas says in a statement, highlighting a “series of embarrassing failures in his areas of responsibility.”

Shas calls Ben Gvir “all noise and no action” and warns his “childish antics and self importance” are doing everything it can to bring down the government from within.

“The right has always been brought down by people like him,” Shas says. “The public will judge.”

Much of Hamas tunnel network still in ‘good functional state,’ TV report says, citing IDF

A handout image released on April 7, 2024, shows a 900-meter-long tunnel uncovered by the IDF in the al-Amal neighborhood of Khan Younis, along with weapons discovered inside. (Israel Defense Forces)

After nine months of war, much of Hamas’s tunnel network is still in a “good functional state” in many parts of Gaza, and Hamas still has the capacity to organize raids close to the border with Israel and possibly even across it, Channel 12 news reports, citing what it says is a recently written IDF assessment.

The Hamas tunnels are in good shape in the refugee camps of central Gaza, most of Rafah in the south, and Shejaiya in the north, the TV report says.

In Khan Younis, in the south of the strip, many tunnels that were targeted by the IDF have been fixed up, as have the factories in the area that produce the concrete to build the tunnels.

Even though the IDF has been focused on tackling Hamas in Rafah in recent weeks, functional tunnels in the area enable Hamas to get close to the Israeli border, and only a few routes have been destroyed on the Philadelphi Route along the Gaza-Egypt border, the report says.

Tunnels in Gaza City are in a medium to good state, and enable Hamas to gain proximity to the Israeli border, it adds.

Overall, were the war to end now, the report says, “Hamas still has the capacity to organize an incursion close to the border and perhaps even across it, [albeit] not on the scale of the past.”

The report notes that the IDF remains heavily focused on tackling the Hamas tunnel network, and is gradually destroying it, including near the border, but says that the heads of the civil defense squads for communities along the border who have read the document are troubled by its findings, and want the work of neutralizing the tunnels done as a first priority.

Nonetheless, it notes that Israel’s military chiefs, “given the achievements to date” in the war, still say that if a deal can be negotiated with Hamas, “it is right to stop now to get back the hostages.”

Senior Israeli defense officials in January assessed that Hamas’s Gaza tunnel network was between 350 and 450 miles long, an astounding figure given that the enclave is only some 140 square miles in total size.

Hamas says Israeli raids in Gaza City could be ‘disastrous’ for ceasefire efforts

Smoke rises to the sky after an explosion in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, July 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Hamas warns that Israel’s expanding military operations in Gaza City and the displacement of thousands of residents could have “disastrous repercussions” for talks aimed at a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages.

The terror group says in a statement Monday that its top political leader Ismail Haniyeh warned mediators of the “collapse” of the negotiations, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli army would bear “full responsibility.”

In an earlier statement, Hamas said Netanyahu” continues to place more obstacles in front of the negotiations.”

Hamas accuses Netanyahu of escalating “his aggression and crimes against our people,” in what it said were “attempts to forcibly displace them in order to thwart all efforts to reach an agreement.”

IDF jets hit Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon after rocket fire on north

Rockets fired from southern Lebanon are intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defense system over the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel, on July 8, 2024. (Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

Buildings used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Maroun al-Ras were struck by Israeli fighter jets a short while ago, the military says.

Additional Hezbollah infrastructure was struck in Ayta ash-Shab and Houla, the IDF adds.

Meanwhile, a barrage of nine rockets was fired from Lebanon at the Upper Galilee a short while ago. The IDF says all the projectiles struck open areas and no injuries were caused.

Sirens had sounded in the communities of Gadot and Yesud Hama’ala, during the attack.

Earlier this evening, 10 rockets were fired at the Kiryat Shmona area, and a further five were launched at the Upper Galilee. Some of the rockets were downed by air defenses, and no injuries were caused, according to the IDF.

Report: IDF probe finds controversial commander largely acted properly in fight for Kibbutz Be’eri

Commander of the 99th Division, Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram in southern Israel on October 11, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

An initial IDF investigation into the battle on October 7 in the border community of Kibbutz Be’eri finds that a controversial military commander largely acted properly, as he sought to wrest control from the invading Hamas terrorists, Channel 12 reports.

According to Channel 12, the findings, which were presented to IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi today, found that the military failed in its mission to stop the invasion of terrorists into the kibbutz, due to the overwhelming number of infiltrators and battle sites.

However, the findings also say that when Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, the commander of the IDF’s 99th Division, arrived at the scene, his command ensured that the IDF retook control of the kibbutz.

Channel 12 notes that the probe found he nevertheless made several mistakes in his actions, but does not detail them.

The report also does not specify the findings on the most controversial incident of the day, when Hiram ordered a tank to fire on a home owned by Pessi Cohen, where terrorists were holding 14 hostages.

The tank fired two shells toward the house. Of the 14 who had been held hostage, 13 were killed in the intense firefight between Israeli troops and the Hamas terrorists. It remains unclear how many of the 13 were harmed by the tank fire.

The official results of the probe will be released Thursday.

The probe is expected to provide a large number of details of the incident at Cohen’s house.

Before the war, Hiram was tapped to be the next commander of the Gaza Division, a move that currently appears to be on hold, subject to the results of the Be’eri investigation.

Government pulls bill amid coalition infighting, Ben Gvir threatens

The government pulls a bill scheduled to be voted on tonight to increase funding for religious councils amid coalition infighting and threats from the far-right Otzma Yehudit party that it would not support the bill.

Party leader Itamar Ben Gvir has refused to vote with the government unless he gets a seat on the so-called war cabinet.

Channel 12 says that the Shas party, which has been pushing the bill, has walked out of the Knesset in protest.

Ben Gvir slams Netanyahu: ‘A one-man government’

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir speaks at a meeting of his Otzma Yehudit party, at the Knesset in Jerusalem on June 10, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

National Security Minister slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as running a “one-man government” as the far-right politician seeks greater influence over the running of the war and truce talks.

Ben Gvir has been jockeying for a seat at the now-disbanded war cabinet for several weeks and his party said they would withhold support from an upcoming government bill today unless Ben Gvir were given more influence.

“We are in an absurd reality where we are treading water in Gaza, on the northern border, tying the hands of the IDF, conducting negotiations with irresponsible opening positions, heading toward a political agreement — all of it while surrendering to terror on every front, and the prime minister is running a one-man government,” Ben Gvir says in a statement.

Ben Gvir accuses Netanyahu of making decisions by himself and of sidelining his coalition partners, including in cabinet meetings, which he called “meaningless” and said the situation was “insufferable.”

“The prime minister needs to understand that that the ‘rule of the right’ is not a meaningless expression and the opinions of the coalition partners have weight. We did not join to be cheerleaders to the tribune. We came to influence,” he says.

Canada urges Israel to reverse decision to approve new West Bank settlements

Israeli settlers and supporters gather in the outpost of Evyatar in the West Bank, April 10, 2023. (AP/Ariel Schalit)

Canada urges the Israeli government to reverse a decision to approve new settlements in the West Bank, saying the move was in contravention of international law.

“Canada firmly opposes the government of Israel’s decision to approve new settlements in the West Bank. Unilateral actions, such as financially weakening the Palestinian Authority and expanding settlements is in contravention of international law,” the Canadian foreign ministry says in a statement on social media X.

Rocket barrage fired at north, several intercepted; no injuries

A barrage of some 10 rockets was fired from Lebanon at the Galilee panhandle a short while ago, setting off sirens in several communities.

According to the IDF, some of the rockets were shot down by air defenses, and there are no injuries.

???? Large Red Alert [18:30:54] – 11 Alerts:

• Confrontation Line — Kiryat Shmona, HaGoshrim, Kfar Yuval, Ma'ayan Baruch, Tel Hai, Kfar Giladi, Dafna, Beit Hillel#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/zrjiMAvHum

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) July 8, 2024

Hamas says Netanyahu putting hurdles in front of ceasefire negotiations

Hamas says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is putting hurdles in front of ceasefire negotiations during ongoing talks aimed at reaching a deal to end the war in Gaza.

The group, in a statement, calls on mediators to intervene against what it called “maneuvers and crimes” by Netanyahu.

Gallant tells hostage families of need to convert military pressure to deal to bring home captives

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meets with family members of the hostages on July 8, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/ Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant tells family members of the hostages being held in Gaza that Israel needs to translate the gains of its military pressure into a deal that will bring the captives home.

The entire defense establishment sees the return of the hostages as the main goal to be pursued, to do everything we can to take advantage of the situation that has been created,” he says.

“The military pressure has created conditions that allow us to move forward with a deal, the military will know how to halt and how to return to combat as needed,” Gallant says. “We need to take advantage of the military pressure to push forward with a deal and not to miss it.”

His comments come after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday said Israel would not accept a deal with Hamas unless it was guaranteed to allow the IDF to return to fighting after the first phase.

Critics saw Netanyahu’s comments, on the eve of the resumption of talks, as a bid to sabotage the progress.

Outgoing IDF West Bank commander slams settler leaders for failing to rein in violence

L-R: Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, the incoming head of the Central Command, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, and the outgoing head of the unit Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox, during a handover ceremony at the Central Command HQ in Jerusalem, July 8, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Outgoing IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox lambastes settler leaders for failing to curb violence and attacks against West Bank Palestinians in recent months, saying that it has seen Israelis adopt the “ways of the enemy.”

Fox makes the remarks at a ceremony handing over control of the IDF Central Command to Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth at the unit’s headquarters in Jerusalem. The command is in charge of the West Bank region.

Fox says that while “the vast majority” of Israeli settlers in the West Bank are “moral, law-abiding citizens,” in recent months “nationalist crime reared its head under the auspices of war,” and enabled rioting and intimidation of Palestinians.

“Unfortunately, the local [settler] leadership is deterred and does not find the strength to openly oppose it. Those who remain silent in the face of the crimes thereby introduce criticism towards [all settlers]. This is not Judaism in my eyes. This is not the way of the Torah. It is adopting the ways of the enemy,” he says.

On the Palestinian Authority, Fox says “the Central Command’s ability to fulfill its tasks also depends on the existence of a functioning and strong Palestinian Authority, with effective security mechanisms that maintain law and order.”

“Proactively undermining the security reality in this front endangers the security of the State of Israel,” he says.

Settler leaders in the Knesset, particularly Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, has repeatedly worked to undermine the PA, which he accuses of fomenting terror.

Fox, who is retiring from the IDF, ending a 36-year military career, has faced criticism from settler activists during his time as regional commander, accusing him of favoring Palestinians over settlers.

Recent months have seen incidents of vigilante settlers rampaging through Palestinian towns and farming communities.

The ceremony is attended by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi.

Bluth previously headed the Central Command’s West Bank division and is an observant Jew, making him a favorable choice for the role in the eyes of some.

Speaking at the ceremony, Fox also says “today’s excitement is surrounded by feelings of failure and shame, that we did not fulfill our life’s mission,” referring to the October 7 onslaught.

“As a former commander of the Gaza Division, I carry with me deep sorrow and pain. These feelings will accompany me all my life,” he says.

Fox says that the Central Command has so far managed to quell the West Bank, keeping it from “becoming a main front and from diverting the IDF from the challenges of the war.”

“There are Iranian efforts… to carry out terror against the State of Israel. We must constantly prepare for the next threat, stay ahead of the enemy, and never underestimate it,” he says.

Ben Gvir says Likud, Shas forged deal with Arab parties to keep him out of war cabinet

Shas leader Aryeh Deri (L) embraces Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir during a Knesset session at which a new speaker was elected, December 13, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir accuses Likud and Shas of reaching a deal with the Arab parties in a bid to block him from entering the top level war cabinet.

According to Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party, it had conditioned its support for today’s vote on funding for religious councils on Ben Gvir being granted a seat at the top-level council, even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disbanded the war cabinet several weeks ago when MK Benny Gantz’s party left the government.

However, to foil the far-right leader, Netanyahu’s Likud and Aryeh Deri’s Shas reportedly secured the necessary support for the bill from the Arab parties.

“This deal between Likud, Deri and the terror supporters, in order to prevent the entry of Ben Gvir into the limited cabinet, is an embarrassment,” Otzma Yehudit says in a statement.

“We call on all the right-wing Likud members not to support this deal.”

The funding bill, written by MK Erez Malul, drew sharp criticism from some watchdog groups due to concerns that it could serve as a backdoor for reintroducing some of the provisions of the failed Rabbis Bill recently promoted by his ultra-Orthodox Shas party — a claim that Malul and other backers of the legislation denied.

The new bill would amend the Religious Services Law, which regulates how much the government and municipalities contribute respectively to the budgets of the bodies providing religious services to communities at the city and regional council levels.

Army medic seriously wounded in Gaza mortar attack

A paramedic with the IDF’s elite Multi-Domain or Ghost Unit was seriously wounded by a mortar impact in the northern Gaza Strip earlier today, the military says.

The soldier was taken to a hospital in Israel for treatment.

Yad Vashem Holocaust museum launches major new conservation facility

Yellow badges and a piece of luggage are displayed at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, July 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Israel’s national Holocaust museum opens a new conservation facility in Jerusalem that will preserve, restore and store its more than 45,000 artifacts and works of art in a vast new building, including five floors of underground storage.

Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, serves as both a museum and a research institution. It welcomes nearly a million visitors each year, leads the country’s annual Holocaust memorial day and hosts nearly all foreign dignitaries visiting Israel.

“Before we opened this building, it was very difficult to exhibit our treasures that were kept in our vaults. They were kind of secret,” said Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan. “Now there’s a state-of-the-art installation (that) will help us to exhibit them.”

The David and Fela Shapell Family Collections Center, located at the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem, will also provide organization and storage for the museum’s 225 million pages of documents and half a million photographs.

Dayan said the materials will now be kept in a facility that preserves them in optimal temperatures and conditions.

“Yad Vashem has the largest collections in the world of materials related to the Holocaust,” Dayan said. “We will make sure that these treasures are kept for eternity.”

PM’s office looking to overturn environmental rule, bring more oil in through Eilat

View of the Europe Asia Pipeline Company's oil terminal in the southern city of Eilat, January 14, 2022. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

Just days after top marine scientists warned about the environmental risks facing the seas, the Prime Minister’s Office circulates for comment among ministries the draft of a government decision to increase the amount of oil entering the country at the environmentally sensitive southern port of Eilat, and to approve the import of oil-based distillates as well.

In November 2021, the Environmental Protection Ministry imposed a policy of “zero additional risk” in Eilat, home to some of the world’s most important coral reefs. The reefs underpin Eilat’s tourist industry.

That followed the submission of what the ministry regarded as two unsatisfactory environmental risk surveys from the state Europe Asia Pipeline Company, which runs overland oil pipelines between Eilat on the Red Sea and Ashkelon on the Mediterranean.

A month later, three environmental organizations withdrew a petition to the High Court against a major oil agreement signed between the Europe Asia Pipeline Company and businessmen from Israel and the United Arab Emirates after the government declared there would be no interference with the Environmental Protection Ministry’s policy regarding the addition of risk.

But the EAPC has applied strong pressure on the government, and by February 2022, the Prime Minister’s Office was calling for a policy review.
The document circulating now for comment is the result of that review.

The Environmental Protection Ministry currently prohibits the EAPC from importing more than two million tons of oil annually, although it has shown some flexibility for oil for Israeli use only since the start of the war against Hamas in Gaza.

The proposed government decision specifies canceling the zero-added-risk policy, extending the wartime flexibility to bring in more oil, and canceling the condition that oil imported during the war must be for local use only.

In response to the call, the EAPC highlighted their work in creating a strategic oil reserve for Israel and said that the current war had only highlighted the need for Israel to have two functioning ports that processed oil.

“The EAPC will continue to operate and take care of a continuous supply of energy all year round for the benefit of the residents of Israel.”

The draft government decision also calls for creating a team led by the Energy Ministry’s director general that will examine bringing distillates, including diesel fuel, into the Eilat port.

The team would include representatives from the finance and defense ministries, the planning administration, and the IDF, but not the Environmental Protection Ministry. It would be required to submit its conclusions within 45 days.

Satellite photos show Iran expanding missile production

An Iranian military truck carries parts of a Sayad 4-B missile past a portrait of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a military parade as part of a ceremony marking the country's annual army day in Tehran on April 17, 2024. (Atta Kenare / AFP)

Recent satellite imagery shows major expansions at two key Iranian ballistic missile facilities that two American researchers assessed are for boosting missile production, a conclusion confirmed by three senior Iranian officials.

The enlargement of the sites follows an October 2022 deal in which Iran agreed to provide missiles to Russia, which has been seeking them for its war against Ukraine. Tehran also supplies missiles to Yemen’s Houthi rebels and the Lebanese  Hezbollah, both members of the Iran-backed Axis of Resistance against Israel, according to US officials.

Images taken by commercial satellite firm Planet Labs of the Modarres military base in March and the Khojir missile production complex in April show more than 30 new buildings at the two sites, both of which are located near Tehran.

The images, reviewed by Reuters, show many of the structures are surrounded by large dirt berms. Such earthworks are associated with missile production and are designed to stop a blast in one building from detonating highly combustible materials in nearby structures, says Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

The expansions began at Khojir in August last year and at Modarres in October, Lewis said, based on images of the sites.

Iran’s arsenal is already the largest in the Middle East, estimated at more than 3,000 missiles, including models designed to carry conventional and nuclear warheads, experts say.

Three Iranian officials, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed that Modarres and Khojir are being expanded to boost production of conventional ballistic missiles.

“Why shouldn’t we?” says one official.

France condemns Israeli recognition of 5 new West Bank settlements

New buildings at a construction site in the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim, February 29, 2024. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

France “strongly condemns” in a statement Israel’s recognition of five new settlements, the approval of the construction of thousands of new homes in the West Bank, and the declaration of thousands of acres of land in the Jordan Valley as state land.

The statement says that the moves are “extremely serious” because of their implications for the stability of the West Bank and the region.

“Israeli colonization of the Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, constitutes a violation of international law,” says France.

“In addition to being a major obstacle to any just and lasting peace, this policy fuels tensions on the ground as violence perpetrated by settlers increases against the Palestinian population.”

Israel, US, Egypt holding talks in Cairo on reopening Rafah Crossing, blocking weapon smuggling

The Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, on January 29, 2024. (Said Khatib/AFP)

Israel, Egypt, and the US are meeting in Cairo today to discuss reopening the Rafah Crossing and preventing weapon smuggling across the Egypt-Gaza border, according to the Walla news site.

The US team is led by White House Middle East czar Brett McGurk and CIA director Bill Burns. Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar is leading the Israeli delegation.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that in any hostage deal, it was essential that “weapons smuggling to Hamas from the Gaza-Egypt border will not be possible.”

Sa’ar says former PM Bennett planning a return to politics

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett at a court hearing in a defamation lawsuit against Rabbi Yosef Mizrahi at the Magistrate's Court in Tel Aviv, September 11, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Naftali Bennett intends to return to politics, New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar tells reporters, revealing that he met with the former prime minister as recently as last month.

Responding to a question from The Times of Israel during his party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Sa’ar said, “The last time I met with Bennett was on the eve of the Shavuot holiday and I understand that that’s his plan.”

Asked by another reporter about the possibility of uniting the anti-Netanyahu right, Sa’ar says there are talks between the different opposition parties “all the time,” although “not everything is made public.”

Immediately after the holiday, Bennett appeared to hint at a return to politics, tweeting that it was possible to rebuild a wide unity coalition similar to the one he established with now-Opposition Leader Yair Lapid in 2021.

Aside from discussing the possibility of forming an alternative to Likud on the right ahead of the next election, Sa’ar also criticizes the current government, lamenting its inability to advance legislation extending draftees’ terms of service despite the army’s pressing wartime manpower needs.

Sunday’s cabinet meeting, during which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his government harshly criticized Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as he tried to discuss a proposal to lengthen mandatory service for men to three years, was “an intolerable farce,” Sa’ar says.

Lambasting the government for engaging in a “political fight” instead of working to advance the measure, Sa’ar notes that last week, a law that passed before the war actually shortening soldiers’ terms of service by two months went into effect.

Allowing this to happen is a “violation of Israel’s security,” he continues, adding that while his party opposes the government, it “will support the law extending regular service if the government decides to bring it to the Knesset.”

IDF chief presented with results of military probe into Oct. 7 battle at Kibbutz Be’eri, including tank fire on home

The remains of the home of Pessi Cohen, where Hamas held 14 Israelis hostage on October 7, 2023, in Kibbutz Be'eri, seen on November 19, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The results of an IDF probe into the onslaught and battle on October 7 in the border community of Kibbutz Be’eri, during which tanks shelled a house where Hamas was holding hostages, was presented to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi earlier today.

The presentation to Halevi lasted several hours, due to the investigation being highly detailed, according to a military source. The fighting at Be’eri, one of the largest Gaza-border communities, included numerous incidents and many different Israeli units were involved.

The probe, carried out by Maj. Gen. (res.) Mickey Edelstein, a former commander of the Gaza Division, covers all aspects of the fighting in the kibbutz that day, including the incident at Pessi Cohen’s house.

As the IDF fought to regain control of the Gaza border communities, Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, the commander of the IDF’s 99th Division, ordered a tank to fire on Cohen’s home, where terrorists were holding 14 hostages.

The tank fired two shells toward the house. Of the 14 who had been held hostage, 13 were killed in the intense firefight between Israeli troops and the Hamas terrorists. It remains unclear how many of the 13 had been harmed by the tank fire.

The probe is expected to provide a large number of details of the incident at Pessi Cohen’s house.

Before the war, Hiram was tapped to be the next commander of the Gaza Division, a move that appears to currently be on hold, subject to the results of the Be’eri investigation.

By Thursday, the probe will be reviewed and finalized by Halevi, and then presented to members of the kibbutz and families of those who were killed in Be’eri on October 7.

The IDF will hold the presentation at one of the hotels at the Dead Sea, where displaced members of Be’eri have been staying since October 7. The army will also send individual representatives to the families of those killed in the kibbutz.

The military will also set up a website where the findings will be made publicly available, and it will be updated over time with additional investigations into the battles on October 7.

The IDF hopes to present all the battle investigations by the end of August.

UNRWA says half its facilities in Gaza have been destroyed during war

Damaged headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City on February 15, 2024, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. (AFP)

The head of the main UN agency providing aid to Gaza says half its facilities in the territory have been destroyed since the war began. Philippe Lazzarini also said more than 500 people have been killed in those attacks, including employees and displaced people sheltering there.

The commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees spoke at a news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelaty, who reiterated Egypt’s support for the agency, known as UNRWA.

Israel has accused UNRWA of turning a blind eye or collaborating with Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, and of perpetuating the decades-old Palestinian refugee crisis, accusations the agency denies.

His comments came as the IDF announced it was operating at UNRWA headquarters, located near the Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City, where the IDF previously found significant Hamas tunnel infrastructure and killed and captured numerous gunmen.

Biden tells Democrats he won’t step aside, time for party drama ‘to end’

US President Joe Biden attends a church service at Mt. Airy Church of God in Christ, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 7, 2024. (AP Photo/ Manuel Balce Ceneta)

US President Joe Biden, in a letter to congressional Democrats, continues to stand firm against calls for him to drop his candidacy and called for an “end” to the intraparty drama that has torn apart Democrats about whether he should stay in the race.

Biden writes in the two-page letter that “the question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it’s time for it to end.” He stressed that the party has “one job,” which is to defeat presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump in November.

“We have 42 days to the Democratic Convention and 119 days to the general election,” Biden says in the letter. “Any weakening of resolve or lack of clarity about the task ahead only helps Trump and hurts us. It’s time to come together, move forward as a unified party, and defeat Donald Trump.”

The letter was sent from the campaign to Democratic lawmakers as they return to Washington following the July 4 recess.

Bank of Israel lowers growth forecast for next 2 years, citing fears of expanded war

Illustrative: View of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, November 29, 2020. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

The Bank of Israel lowers its growth outlook for this year and next year citing a “high level” of geopolitical uncertainty and increased probability of an escalation of the ongoing war to multiple fronts.

The central bank says it now expects the economy to grow by 1.5 percent in 2024 and 4.2% in 2025. That is down from its previous growth forecast in April of 2% in 2024 and 5% in 2025.

The bank’s monetary policy committee assumes that “the war will last at a higher intensity until the end of 2024, and will subside at the beginning of 2025.”

“Beyond the security effects, the war is having significant economic consequences,” the central bank says in a statement. “There are several risks of a potential acceleration in inflation: geopolitical developments and their effects on economic activity, a depreciation of the shekel, continued supply constraints on activity in the housing market and the air travel industry, fiscal developments, and global oil prices.”

Alongside the revised growth forecasts, the central bank decides to hold the benchmark interest rate at 4.5%, in line with forecasts by the majority of economists.

In January, the central bank lowered the base lending rate for the first time in almost four years by 25 basis points, from 4.75%, to support households and businesses as the economy was getting battered due to the Hamas war, and as the inflation environment was easing.

Smotrich says hostage-truce deal would be ‘defeat for Israel’; holds up victorious Sinwar poster

Minister of Finance and head of the Religious Zionist Party Bezalel Smotrich holds up a picture of a victorious Gaza Hamas leader Yahya Siwar, at a faction meeting at the Knesset, on July 8, 2024.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Agreeing to a deal with Hamas would constitute “a defeat and humiliation for Israel and a victory for [Hama leader Yahya] Sinwar,” Religious Zionism chief Bezalel Smotrich warns ahead of the Israeli negotiating team’s departure for further hostage deal talks in Cairo and Doha later this week.

Addressing reporters ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, the hard-right finance minister claims that a deal like the one being negotiated “will sentence to death 90 hostages who are not part of the deal and it will lead to thousands of murdered people who will die in the next massacre by Sinwar and Hamas.”

“This is the picture we will see in Gaza if we, God forbid, sign this irresponsible deal,” he said holding up a poster of Sinwar flashing victory signs.

“Mr. Prime Minister, this is not absolute victory. This is complete failure,” he says, directly addressing Benjamin Netanyahu — who yesterday presented a list of what he said were nonnegotiable Israeli demands.

“We will not be part of a deal to surrender to Hamas,” he continues, hinting at his oft-repeated threat to bolt the coalition if a deal is signed.

Liberman calls on French Jews to move to Israel after election result: No time to lose

Yisrael Beytenu party chairman MK Avigdor Liberman leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on July 8, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In the wake of the far left’s strong showing in France’s parliamentary election yesterday, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman calls on French Jews to “to leave France and immigrate to the State of Israel,” adding that there is “no time” to lose.

No party won a majority in the second round of France’s parliamentary elections on Sunday, in which all 577 seats of the National Assembly were in play. According to Le Monde, the left-wing New Popular Front alliance won 182 seats while the centrist Ensemble, backed by President Emmanuel Macron, won 168.

Following the election, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the French far-left leader, promised “to recognize the State of Palestine.”

Mélenchon, says Liberman, “became famous with quite a few statements against Jews and the State of Israel. His party represents pure antisemitism and expresses a significant increase in hatred of Israel and antisemitism.”

Turning to the possibility of uniting against Netanyahu on the political right, Liberman says that there are currently no talks about places on a potential united slate although “everyone talks to everyone and there is a good atmosphere.”

Regarding the suspected killing of a Palestinian by a citizen who apparently caught an alleged terrorist alive after he participated in the Hamas-led invasion on October 7, Liberman laments what he terms the “theater of the absurd” and calls on the State Attorney’s Office to offer “an apology and release all the detainees.”

JTA contributed to this report.

Zelensky vows retaliation after Russian missile attack on Ukraine kills at least 29, hits children’s hospital

Emergency services work at the site of Okhmatdyt children’s hospital hit by Russian missiles, in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 8, 2024 (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vows retaliation after the latest Russian missile strike on Ukraine killed at least 29 people and damaged a children’s hospital in Kyiv.

Ukraine will initiate a meeting of the United Nations’ Security Council following the strike, he says.

Lapid reiterates to PM he will provide him with political safety net to make hostage deal

Opposition head and Yesh Atid leader MK Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on July 8, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid reiterates his offer to provide Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a political safety net in order to advance a potential hostage deal despite the opposition of the premier’s far-right allies.

“There’s a hostage deal on the table. It is not true that Netanyahu has to choose between the hostage deal and his continued tenure as prime minister. I promised him a safety net, and I will keep that promise,” Lapid tells reporters ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting.

“This is not an easy statement, and it is not an easy decision. Netanyahu is a bad, failed prime minister, and he is to blame for the October 7 disaster, but the most important thing is to bring the kidnapped people back home,” he continues.

“The announcement that Netanyahu issued yesterday was destructive and harmful and above all unnecessary,” he adds, referring to the prime minister’s statement yesterday drawing his government’s red lines ahead of the resumption of talks.

“The hostage deal has a large majority of the people [in favor], it has a large majority here in the Knesset, it has to happen. We are coming back and offering Netanyahu a political safety net to make the deal — now,” Lapid says.

IDF troops find Hamas command room in Gaza City school and health clinic

A cache of weapons found by IDF troops at a Hamas site in Gaza City's Shejaiya neighborhood, July 8, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Israeli troops operating in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood located a Hamas command room based out of a school and health clinic, the IDF says.

The IDF says the Hamas operatives “converted [the sites] from civilian use to terrorist purposes.”

“In this compound, terrorists from [Hamas’s] Shejaiya Battalion were holed up and carried out terror activity,” the military says.

Troops of the Givati Brigade’s Rotem Battalion located a weapons manufacturing plant and dozens of weapons during a raid against the site, including mortars, machine guns, and grenades.

The IDF says the troops also found intelligence documents belonging to Hamas, which were hidden among uniforms and equipment belonging to UNRWA.

Shin Bet involved in probe of apparent murder of prison officer amid suspicions of terror motive

Forensic officers working at the scene where an Israel Prison Service officer was found dead in his home in the West Bank settlement Givon Hahadasha, July 8, 2024. (Israel Police)

The Shin Bet security agency is involved in the investigation into the apparent murder of an Israel Prison Service member.

Earlier, police said the man was found dead with stab wounds in his burnt-out home in the West Bank settlement Givon Hahadasha, branding it a “criminal incident.”

The Shin Bet’s involvement means there are suspicions the murder may be terror.

French lawmaker Meyer Habib narrowly loses reelection bid amid low voter turnout in Israel

In this file photo taken on November 15, 2017, French MP Meyer Habib of the Les Constructifs. (Martin BUREAU / AFP)

Meyer Habib, a hawkish French-Jewish lawmaker who represents in the French parliament a constituency where most registered voters live in Israel, narrowly loses his reelection bid to Caroline Yadan, a centrist who is also Jewish and belongs to President Emmanuel Macron’s party.

Low turnout in Israel appears to have scuttled Habibi’s reelection after 11 years in the National Assembly, the lower house of France’s parliament.

Yadan, a longtime campaigner against antisemitism, beats Habib by approximately two percentage points in the constituency, which is the 8th constituency of French citizens abroad. It includes French citizens from Turkey, Greece, Italy, Malta, Cyprus, the Vatican and San Marino in addition to Israel, where 61 percent of the constituency’s 148,948 registered voters live.

Out of the 34,730 ballots cast, only 46% came from Israel, where turnout was lower than in some of the other countries belonging to the constituency.

Israel’s three ballot boxes in Haifa, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv saw a turnout of 10%, 22% and 17% respectively. By contrast, Greece had turnouts of 32%-33% in Thessaloniki and Athens, Cyprus had 33%, Italy had 33%-39% and Istanbul in Turkey boasted 34%. The total turnout for the entire constituency was 24%.

Habib, who is a personal friend of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an outspoken advocate of Israel in France, obtains about 85% of the 16,039 votes cast in Israel in the second and final round yesterday of the French parliamentary elections, official results show.

A member of the small, center-right Union of Democrats and Independents party, Habib fails to win a single ballot box outside Israel. His best score abroad is in Malta, with 32%. His stint in parliament is expected to end today, when the newly elected lawmakers assume their elected offices.

French-Jewish lawmaker Meyer Habib (left) with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in May 2017. (Screenshot)

Macron asks French PM Attal to remain in position ‘for time being’

French President Emmanuel Macron (R) and France's Prime Minister Gabriel Attal attend a ceremony at the Mont-Valerien memorial in Suresnes, outside Paris, on June 18, 2024. (Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP)

France’s President Emmanuel Macron asked Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to remain in his post “for the time being to ensure the stability of the country,” the presidency says.

Macron “thanked him for leading the campaigns” of his centrist alliance for the European and parliamentary elections, it adds, after Attal submitted his resignation.

IDF calls on Palestinians in several Gaza City neighborhoods to evacuate to humanitarian zone

The Israeli military is calling on Palestinians in several neighborhoods of Gaza City to evacuate the area and head toward the designated “humanitarian zone.”

Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, publishes a list of the zones that need to be evacuated alongside the announcement.

The zones include the Sabra, Rimal, Tel al-Hawa, and Daraj neighborhoods of Gaza City.

The announcement comes as the IDF launched a fresh raid in the southern and western neighborhoods of Gaza City this morning, and as it presses on with an operation in the eastern Shejaiya neighborhood.

The humanitarian zone is located in the al-Mawasi area on the southern Strip’s coast, in the western neighborhoods of Khan Younis, and in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah.

#عاجل ‼️ نداء عاجل الى كل السكان والنازحين المتواجدين في مناطق الصبرة، الرمال، تل الهوا والدرج في بلوكات 687, 688, 690, 693, 702, 703, 704, 705, 724, 725, 777, 783, 784, 835

من أجل أمنكم – عليكم الاخلاء بشكل فوري الى مآوي دير البلح في المنطقة الإنسانية pic.twitter.com/CGFFL9fsJW

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) July 8, 2024

Prison service officer found dead with stab wounds in burnt-out home

A man was found dead with stab wounds in his burnt-out home in the West Bank settlement Givon Hahadasha, police say.

According to Hebrew-language media reports, the victim is an officer with the Israel Prison Service.

Israel’s fiscal deficit climbs to 7.6% of GDP, above 2024 target for 3rd month in a row

Israel’s fiscal deficit swelled to 7.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or NIS 14.6 billion ($3.96 billion), in June over the prior 12 months, as the government continues to pour billions of shekels into funding the months-long war with Hamas and the lower-scale conflict with Hezbollah, according to preliminary figures released by the Finance Ministry.

It marks the third month that the deficit is above the government target of 6.6% of national output set for 2024. Israel posted a budget deficit of 4.2% in 2023.

The June deficit widened from 7.2% of GDP in May, 7% in April, and 6.2% in March, amid increased military and civilian spending.

In June, government expenditure amounted to NIS 51.2 billion, taking spending since the start of the year to NIS 300.3 billion, an accumulative increase of 34% compared with the same period in 2023. War costs since the outbreak of the fighting triggered by the October 7 Hamas onslaught ballooned to NIS 80.5 billion.

IDF confirms member of Hezbollah’s rocket unit killed in overnight drone strike

A member of Hezbollah’s rocket unit was killed in a drone strike overnight in southern Lebanon’s Qlaileh, in the Tyre District, the IDF says.

According to the IDF, Mustafa Salman was involved in planning and carrying out several attacks against Israel as part of his role in the terror group’s rocket and missile array.

It publishes footage of the strike.

במהלך הלילה צה"ל תקף וחיסל באמצעות כלי טיס את המחבל מצטפא חסן סלמאן במרחב אל -קליילה.
חסן סלמאן שימש כמחבל ביחידת הרקטות והטילים של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה, ולקח חלק בתכנון וההוצאה לפועל של מגוון פעילויות טרור נגד מדינת ישראל pic.twitter.com/1uqtSD2fUf

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 8, 2024

Earlier today, Hezbollah announced Salman’s death, bringing the terror group’s toll amid the war to at least 362.

Top Haredi MK on potential dissolution of Knesset: ‘That is where we are heading’

MK Moshe Gafni leads a Finance Committee meeting, in the Knesset in Jerusalem on July 8, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

A senior United Torah Judaism party lawmaker hints that the current governing coalition may be reaching its end during a debate in the Knesset Finance Committee.

During a discussion on the need to finance the reinforcement of educational institutions in the north against attack, Yesh Atid MK Naor Shiri says that committee head Moshe Gafni has the power to get it done. Gafni replies “my power is weak.”

“If you are weak, this house can be dissolved,” replies Shiri, prompting Gafni to reply: “That is where we are heading.”

Shiri says: “Where to?” To which point Gafni responds, “To where you said.”

Shiri says: “This is good news for the people of Israel, you should have started with it.”

Five weeks ago, Gafni he threatened to leave his position as Finance Committee chair over a dispute regarding ultra-Orthodox educational budgets. His comments today are also the latest sign of doubt among members of Netanyahu’s hardline cabinet that they can continue to keep the government together.

Officials ‘shocked’ by PM’s announcement of nonnegotiable demands ahead of hostage talks

Demonstrators protest for the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, July 7, 2024. Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, is standing in the cage at left. The slogan on the cage reads, "Netanyahu, it's in your hands." (Itai Ron/ Flash90

Two unnamed officials tell the Kan public broadcaster they were “shocked” by the announcement yesterday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of of what he said were nonnegotiable Israeli demands for a potential hostage and ceasefire deal.

“Negotiations should be conducted inside the room, and not in announcements to the media, certainly not just before the start of a meeting that will determine the continuation of the negotiations,” sources familiar with the discussions tell the outlet.

An unnamed security official tells the Ynet news site that the statement by Netanyahu’s office was “inappropriate conduct that will harm the chance of bringing the hostages back home.”

Knesset guards drag hostage’s brother out of meeting after he interrupts another hostage’s brother opposing deal

Danny Elgarat, whose brother Itzik Elgarat is held hostage in Gaza, is dragged out of a Knesset committee meeting on July 8, 2024 (Screen grab via Kan used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Knesset guards forcibly remove the brother of hostage Itzik Elgarat from the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice committee after he interrupts the brother of another hostage speaking out against agreeing to another hostage deal with Hamas.

As Boaz Miran, whose brother Omri was taken captive on October 7 by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, tells the committee that a “reckless deal cannot go through,” Danny Elgarat objects.

Elgarat accuses Miran as acting as backup from the right-wing Tikvah Forum for the committee chair, far-right MK Simcha Rothman. Tikvah Forum activists were present at the committee meeting.

Rothman then orders Elgarat’s removal but Elgarat refuses to move, yelling that he will not go out.

Despite Elgarat sitting still, Rothman insists that he will not tolerate any interruptions nor any violence toward Knesset ushers and again orders his removal.

Elgarat is then physically dragged out of the committee chamber by a team of ushers. He is subsequently photographed receiving medical attention while lying facedown in a Knesset hallway.

According to a reporter for the Ynet news site, several people affiliated with the Tikvah Forum interrupt the proceedings but are not removed.

“Rothman announced two breaks in the discussion during which Elgarat called the Knesset ushers ‘Rottweilers’ and repeatedly refused to leave,” the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee says in a statement.

“Rothman announced the break and said that the discussion would only resume when Elgarat left the room and the families of the hostages who had been patiently waiting for their turn would be allowed to speak. Knesset ushers and Knesset guards removed Elgarat and the discussion resumed.”

מוציאים את דני בכוח מהועדה. פשוט מטורף. איזה ביזיון של הכנסת. pic.twitter.com/fJ1HGOCNmO

— בר שם-אור Bar Shem-Ur (@Bar_ShemUr) July 8, 2024

Russia fires hypersonic missiles at Kyiv, hitting children’s hospital; at least 13 dead in attack on 5 Ukrainian cities

Smoke rises over the Kyiv skyline after a Russian attack, July 8, 2024 (AP Photo/ Evgeniy Maloletka)

Russian missiles struck a children’s hospital in Kyiv and killed at least three people elsewhere in the Ukrainian capital, authorities say, while another attack in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed at least 10 people.

It was the biggest bombardment of Kyiv in several months. The daylight attacks included Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, one of the most advanced Russian weapons, the Ukrainian air force says. The Kinzhal flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept. City buildings shook from the blasts.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia targeted five cities with more than 40 missiles of different types.

The attack struck Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine’s biggest children’s medical facility. There is no immediate word on casualties there.

Hostage forum calls on PM to delay US trip until after deal has been signed to free captives

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a debate at the Knesset plenum in Jerusalem, June 24, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, representing the loved ones of many of those held in Gaza, calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to delay his trip to the United States until a deal is signed for the release of the captives.

“We implore Prime Minister Netanyahu to prioritize finalizing a hostage release deal before traveling to the US and addressing Congress. He has the freedom to travel wherever he wants. These hostages can’t,” the forum says in a statement.

“We thank the US government for its ongoing support in efforts to achieve the deal and release all hostages,” the statement reads.

“A speech without concrete action to seal the deal and bring our loved ones home is premature and misses the point of this war’s top priority – the return of all the hostages,” the forum says.

The premier is due to address US Congress on July 24.

IDF says it escorted 500 Jewish pilgrims to Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus; clashes reported between troops, gunmen

View of the compound of Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus, April 10, 2022. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Israeli troops and police officers escorted some 500 Jewish worshipers to the Joseph’s Tomb site in the West Bank city of Nablus overnight, the military says.

Palestinian media reported clashes between gunmen and troops in the Nablus area amid the visit.

Before the war, busloads of Orthodox Jews would visit Joseph’s Tomb under IDF protection on a nearly monthly basis, and the pilgrimages almost always sparked violent clashes with Palestinian locals.

Since October 7, such visits have largely been on hold. A visit last month was canceled after some pilgrims tried to enter Nablus without army escort.

Separately, the IDF says troops detained 21 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank overnight.

No soldiers were hurt amid the operations.

IDF chief to get results of probe into Oct. 7 fighting at Be’eri, kibbutz members reportedly to hear findings Thursday

The remains of the home of Pessi Cohen, where Hamas held 14 Israelis hostage on October 7, 2023, in Kibbutz Be'eri, seen on November 19, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The results of an IDF probe into the onslaught and battle on October 7 in the border community of Be’eri, during which tanks shelled a house where Hamas was holding hostages, is to be presented to Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi today, Hebrew-language media reports.

According to the Walla news site, the findings will be presented to the members of Kibbutz Be’eri on Thursday.

The probe covers all aspects of the fighting in the kibbutz that day, including the incident at Pessi Cohen’s house.

As the IDF fought to regain control of the Gaza border communities, Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, the commander of the IDF’s 99th Division, ordered a tank to fire on Cohen’s home, where terrorists were holding 14 hostages.

The tank fired two shells toward the house. Of the 14 who had been held hostage, 13 were killed in the intense firefight between Israeli troops and the Hamas terrorists. It remains unclear how many of the 13 had been harmed by the tank fire.

The military has called on the media and public to avoid spreading rumors about the alleged content of the probe.

Before the war, Hiram was tapped to be the next commander of the Gaza Division, a move that appears to currently be on hold, subject to the results of the Be’eri investigation.

The IDF hopes to present all the battle investigations by the end of August.

Settlers attack Israeli activists on Palestinian land in West Bank as soldiers stand by, NGO says

Extremist settlers attacked Israeli activists on privately owned Palestinian land while soldiers stood by without intervening, a watchdog says.

One activist was violently thrown to the floor and then kicked, another activist was hit on the head, and two activists had their phones taken and thrown away, Breaking the Silence says.

The left-wing organization says that Israel Defense Forces troops were present but did nothing to intervene in the attacks in At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills.

Breaking the Silence says the activists were on privately owned Palestinian land that has been attacked by extremist settlers in the past.

Hezbollah announces terror group member killed in Israeli strike

The Hezbollah terror group announces the death of a member killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes.

He is named as Mustafa Salman, from the town of Qlaileh in the Tyre District.

The announcement comes following a series of Israeli strikes against Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon overnight.

His death brings the terror group’s toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip to at least 362.

Gaza City residents say they are seeing some of heaviest fighting since start of war

Gaza City residents say that they are seeing some of the heaviest fighting since the start of the war triggered by the Hamas onslaught on October 7.

The Israeli military sent columns of tanks into the city from different directions, residents say.

The Gaza Civil Emergency Service says they believe there have been casualties in eastern Gaza areas but emergency teams were unable to reach them because of ongoing offensives in Tel Al-Hawa, Sabra, Daraj, Rimal, and Tuffah suburbs.

The IDF said the operation was launched following intelligence of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad infrastructure and terror operatives in the area.

Israeli shelling targets the vicinity of the Bank of Palestine in Gaza City. pic.twitter.com/poCLWMZbzo

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 8, 2024

IDF says it launched op in Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa, troops operating at UNRWA compound used by Hamas

The IDF confirms launching a new operation in Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighborhood overnight, following intelligence of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad infrastructure and terror operatives in the area.

In a statement, the military says it is also operating at UNRWA’s headquarters in the area, where the IDF previously found significant Hamas tunnel infrastructure and killed and captured numerous gunmen.

The IDF says it has intelligence of new Hamas and Islamic Jihad activity and infrastructure in Gaza City, including weapon caches and detention and interrogation rooms used by the terror groups.

At the start of the operation, the IDF says it warned civilians, adding that it would open up a humanitarian corridor for Palestinians to leave the area.

“The IDF will continue to act in accordance with international law and against the Hamas and PIJ terror organizations, who systematically operate and carry out terrorist activity from inside civilian infrastructure, including UNRWA compounds, which are used by them to plan and carry out terror activity against the State of Israel,” the military adds.

Freed hostage whose husband is in Gaza says official statements could jeopardize deal

Sharon Aloni Cunio, 34, her husband David Cunio, 34, and their twin daughters, Yuli and Emma, 3, were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023. Sharon, Yuli and Emma were released on November 27, 2023. (Courtesy)

A day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a list of what he said were nonnegotiable Israeli demands for a potential deal, a freed hostage whose husband is still held in Gaza says she is losing faith.

Sharon Alony Cunio and her 3-year-old twins were released from Gaza in November. Her husband David Cunio is still being held by terrorists in the Strip.

“I was very optimistic, but as the days pass you suddenly notice that the messages that come out are more focused on the gaps [between the sides],” she tells Army Radio. “Don’t jeopardize the deal with statements.”

Yesterday’s statement from Netanyahu’s office was met with anger by Israeli security officials and mediators, who, not for the first time, accused the prime minister of trying to sabotage the deal.

IDF troops advance into Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighborhood – Palestinian media reports

Palestinian media outlets report that Israeli ground forces advanced into Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighborhood overnight, following a large wave of airstrikes.

The IDF at around 1 a.m. said it was carrying out airstrikes in the central Gaza Strip. Tel al-Hawa is located in the south of Gaza City, close to the Netzarim Corridor where the IDF maintains a presence.

Yesterday, the IDF called on Palestinians to evacuate the Tuffah, Daraj, and Old City neighborhoods of Gaza City.

The IDF is also still operating in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City.

IDF: Over 30 gunmen killed by troops in Rafah over past day, terror targets destroyed in strikes

Israeli troops operating in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo released by the military on July 8, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)

More than 30 gunmen were killed by IDF troops in southern Gaza’s Rafah over the past day, the military says.

Also in Rafah, the IDF says troops with the 162nd Division located tunnel shafts and weapons.

Meanwhile, in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, troops with the 98th Division killed dozens of Hamas operatives — involved in anti-tank attacks and rocket fire on Israel — including by calling in airstrikes, the IDF says.

The IDF says the 98th Division also destroyed sites belonging to terror groups in Shejaiya.

Meanwhile, airstrikes were carried out against two primed rocket launchers in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the IDF says.

Separately, Israeli fighter jets and drones carried out a wave of strikes across Gaza overnight, including against what the IDF says was Hamas infrastructure used to plan and carry out attacks against troops in the Strip.

One drone strike targeted a Hamas sniper who had targeted troops in Gaza previously, the military adds.

Report: Egypt will work with US to build underground barrier at Gaza border if deal reached

IDF troops and tanks on the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing on May 7, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Egypt has sent a message to Israel that if an agreement for a hostage deal and ceasefire is reached, Cairo will work with the United States to help build a high-tech underground barrier to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, Army Radio reports.

According to the report, Egypt says work on the barrier can begin during the first days of the potential truce.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a list yesterday evening of what he said were nonnegotiable Israeli demands for an agreement, including the prevention of the smuggling of weaponry from Egypt to Gaza.

Troops have discovered at least 25 cross-border smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza. The existence of some of the tunnels was previously known to the IDF, and others were discovered for the first time when troops entered the border area.

IDF to test rocket sirens in Tiberias at 10:05 a.m. and Poria Illit at 12:05 p.m.

The IDF says it will hold a test of siren systems in then northern localities of Tiberias and Poria Illit later this morning.

The sirens will sound in Tiberias at 10:05 a.m. and Poria Illit at 12:05 p.m.

In the case of an actual attack, the sirens will sound twice, the military says.

IDF says Hezbollah targets hit in overnight Lebanon strikes, including weapons depot

A series of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon were struck by Israeli fighter jets overnight, the IDF says.

According to the military, the targets included a Hezbollah site in the Jabal Toura mountain region, a weapons depot in Qabrikha, a building used by the terror group in Tallouseh, and other infrastructure in Houla and Ayta ash-Shab.

מטוסי קרב תקפו במהלך הלילה אתר צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב ג'בל תורא שבשטח לבנון.

במקביל, מטוסי קרב תקפו לאורך הלילה מחסן אמצעי לחימה של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב קבריח׳א, מבנה צבאי במרחב תלוסה ותשתיות טרור של הארגון במרחבים חולא ועייתא א-שעב שבדרום לבנון>> pic.twitter.com/0V2i3ptA2W

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 8, 2024

Israeli man convicted in Argentina of murdering mother, aunt found dead in jail cell – report

Gil Pereg is arrested as a suspect of his mother's and aunt's murders in Mendoza, Argentina, January 26, 2019. (Patricio Caneo/Los Andes via AP)

An Israeli man jailed in Argentina for murdering his mother and aunt was found dead in his cell, reports say.

A jury in Argentina convicted Gil Pereg for the killings in 2021. He was handed a life sentence, requiring him to serve at least 35 years in prison.

The Ynet news outlet, citing El Sol, says he was found unconscious in his cell and despite efforts to revive him, was declared dead at a hospital.

It is unclear if there is suspicion of foul play.

Pereg was arrested and charged with homicide after the remains of his mother, Pyrhia Sarusi, 63, and her sister Dr. Lily Pereg, 54, an associate professor of microbiology at the University of New England in Australia, were found on his property in the city of Mendoza in January 2019.

The two were traveling in Argentina at the time of their murders. They had been missing for two weeks before their bodies were found under debris in the home.

Pereg’s uncle said at the time that his nephew was mentally ill, in financial dire straits, and lived in squalor with dozens of cats.

An image of sisters Lily Pereg (left) and Pyrhia Sarusi posted on the “Missing in Mendoza” Facebook page. (Facebook)

IDF: Air defenses downed ‘suspicious aerial target’ over Lebanon

The IDF says air defenses successfully intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” in the skies of Lebanon a short while ago.

The target, likely a drone, did not enter Israel territory so no alarms were triggered in the incident.

Earlier this morning, the military said fighter jets had successfully downed another “suspicious aerial target” that was heading towards Israel over the Red Sea.

Since October 8, Iran-backed forces including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen have attacked Israeli communities and military posts on a near-daily with missiles and drones, in what they say is a solidarity campaign in support of Gaza amid the war there.

IDF: Officer seriously wounded in northern Gaza battle, evacuated for medical treatment

Illustrative - IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip, in an image released on July 5, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

An officer from the IDF’s 7th Armored Brigade’s 82nd Battalion has been seriously wounded in battle in the northern Gaza Strip, the military says.

He has been evacuated for medical treatment and his family has been updated.

US military says coalition forces destroyed four Houthi drones in past 24 hours

WASHINGTON – The US military’s Central Command says in a statement that in the past 24 hours its forces destroyed two Houthi drones in Houthi-controled areas of Yemen while partner forces destroyed two Houthi drones over the Gulf of Aden.

“It was determined these systems presented an imminent threat to US, coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region. These actions were taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US, coalition, and merchant vessels,” the statement reads.

The US is spearheading a naval coalition to protect vessels in the vital waterway and has also conducted airstrikes in Houthi territory, both on its own and alongside Britain.

IDF: Rocket sirens in Nahal Oz near Gaza border were false alarms

Rocket alert sirens that sounded in Nahal Oz, near the Gaza border, were false alarms, the IDF says.

Sirens that sounded in nearby Talmei Eliyahu earlier this morning were also false alarms.

Rocket alert sirens sounding in Nahal Oz near Gaza border

Sirens are sounding Nahal Oz near the Gaza border, warning of incoming rocket fire.

The community has been largely evacuated of civilians since it and the nearby IDF base were attacked by terrorists during Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

Red Alert [04:56:14] – 1 Alert:

• Gaza Envelope — Nachal Oz#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/djOr3eUIr6

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) July 8, 2024

Spain PM Sanchez hails France’s ‘rejection of far right’

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hails France’s “rejection of the far right” as a left-wing coalition was projected to form the largest group in parliament in snap legislative elections.

France opted for a “rejection of the far right” and “a social left that tackles the people’s problems with serious and brave policies,” the socialist premier writes on X, formerly Twitter.

Sanchez welcomes the shock result alongside this week’s UK general election where the centre-left Labour party achieved a landslide victory over the Conservatives.

He says both countries “have said YES to progress and social progress and NO to going back on rights and freedoms. You don’t make deals or govern with the far right.”

No single group won an absolute majority in the second round of France’s legislative elections on Sunday, but the estimated results were disappointing for the far-right National Rally, which won the first round on June 30.

President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance will have dozens fewer members of parliament, but held up better than expected.

Thousands rally in Tangier support of Palestinians in Gaza, calling for Morocco to break ties with Israel

People wave Palestinian national flags and hold signs during an anti-Israel march in solidarity with the people of Gaza in the city of Tangier on July 7, 2024. (Fadel Senna/AFP)

Thousands of Moroccans demonstrate in the northern city of Tangier in support of the Palestinian people and against Morocco’s ties with Israel, according to an AFP journalist.

Members of leftist parties and Islamist movements take to the streets of the coastal city for the event, chanting, “Gaza is not alone.”

Morocco established diplomatic ties with Israel in late 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords which saw similar moves by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Under the deal, the United States recognized Morocco’s claim to sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

Several demonstrations have taken place in the North African country since the Gaza war broke out in October, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

Rabat has officially denounced what it said were “flagrant violations of the provisions of international law” by Israel in its war against Hamas, but has not given any indication that normalization with Jerusalem will be undone.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. 

IDF: Fighter jet successfully downed ‘suspicious aerial target’ heading towards Israel over Red Sea

A fighter jet has successfully intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” that was heading towards Israel over the Red Sea, the IDF says.

The target, likely a drone, did not enter Israel territory so no alarms were triggered in the incident.

Residents of the southern city of Eilat report hearing loud explosions, according to Hebrew media.

IDF says striking Hamas targets in central Gaza; explosions heard in Sderot

The IDF is carrying out strikes on Hamas targets in the central Gaza Strip, according to an update from the military.

Residents of the southern city of Sderot report hearing loud explosions as a result of the strikes, the Maariv newspaper reports.

IDF says rocket sirens in Gaza border area were false alarms

Rocket alert sirens that sounded in the Gaza border community of Talmei Eliyahu a short while ago were determined to be false alarms, the IDF says.

Four more Democrats say Biden should step down, VP Harris replace him as presidential nominee — report

US President Joe Biden gives a thumbs up as he boards Air Force One at Harrisburg International Airport in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on July 7, 2024, as he returns to Washington, DC.(Saul Loeb/AFP)

Four more Democrats in Congress have said they believe US President Joe Biden should step aside as the party’s nominee for president, according to an NBC report citing sources familiar with a call that took place earlier today.

The lawmakers mentioned in the report, Adam Smith of Washington, Jerry Nadler of New York, Mark Takano of California and Joe Morelle of New York, bring the number of Democrats in Congress calling for Biden to reconsider his bid for president to nearly a dozen, NBC reports.

The virtual meeting of senior Democratic representatives was scheduled by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

There is no comment from the Biden administration or the lawmakers on the report, which comes after the US president’s disastrous debate performance last month and amid a growing clamor from within his own party for him to bow out of the race.

Sources quoted in the NBC report say most of the lawmakers on the call believe that US Vice President Kamala Harris should replace Biden if he exits the race.

For now, Democratic heavyweights are largely keeping a lid on any simmering discontent with their leader — at least in public.

But with election day just four months away, any move to replace Biden as the nominee would need to be made sooner rather than later, and the party will be scrutinized for any signs of more open rebellion.

Agencies contributed to this report. 

Rocket alert sirens sounding in Gaza border community

Sirens are sounding in the southern community of Talmei Eliyahu near the border with Gaza, warning of incoming rocket fire.

There are no immediate reports of injures or damage.

Red Alert [00:21:19] – 1 Alert:

• Gaza Envelope — Talmei Eliyahu#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/U2a0Ux38PL

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) July 7, 2024

Report: Shin Bet chief to head up negotiating team departing for Cairo tomorrow

Shin Bet head Ronen Bar attends the annual Holocaust Day ceremony held at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, May 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)

Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar will reportedly head up a delegation being dispatched to Cairo tomorrow to take part in talks about the hostage release deal and the future control of the Rafah Crossing.

According to a report in the Walla news site, Bar will take part in talks in the Egyptian capital on a potential hostage-truce deal, including discussions of the names of the Palestinian security prisoners slated to be released, as well as the future control of the crossing.

The Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been essentially shut since the IDF began operations in the city in May, infuriating Cairo. Earlier today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a list of Israeli demands for the talks, which included a vow that Israel will not allow weapons smuggling between Egypt and Gaza, a likely reference to control of the crossing.

Mossad chief David Barnea was in Qatar last week and is slated to return again this week, as negotiations on a potential deal have been restarted.