July 8: Qatari team discusses Gaza talks with Witkoff at White House ahead of Trump-Netanyahu meet

Qatari team met Witkoff at White House for 3 hours today to discuss Gaza talks — source

A delegation of senior Qatari officials met with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff for three hours at the White House today to discuss the ongoing negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, a source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.

UK maritime firm official confirms Liberian-flagged vessel sunk after Houthi attack

An official from UK maritime security firm Ambrey confirms that Liberian-flagged bulk carrier the Magic Seas has sunk, a day after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said they struck the vessel with gunfire, rockets and explosive-laden remote-controlled boats in the Red Sea.

Hezbollah chief admits group wildly underestimated Israel’s surveillance capabilities ahead of pager operation

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem admits that the Lebanese terror group drastically underestimated the extent of Israel’s surveillance capabilities in the run-up to the pager operation last September, when thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah operatives exploded across Lebanon, injuring thousands and killing dozens.

In an interview with the pro-Hezbollah al-Mayadeen news outlet, Qassem admits that an investigation in the wake of the pager operation uncovered serious flaws in Hezbollah’s procurement process, dating back more than a year.

“We didn’t know the supply chain had been exposed,” he says.

He says that although the terror group’s security checks failed to find the explosives that had been placed within each individual pager, operatives had begun to suspect something was wrong with them in the days leading up to the attacks.

“There were efforts to examine the pager differently, including attempts to break it open, prompted by some anomalies that raised questions,” he says, suggesting that these efforts may have prompted Israel to detonate the pagers sooner than planned.

Qassem, who took over as the leader of the terror group following the assassination of his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah, also concedes that Hezbollah had no idea that Israel’s surveillance capabilities were as advanced and far-reaching as they are.

He says they were aware that there had been possible wiretapping but “did not realize the extent — that it was near-total and very extensive.”

The Hezbollah chief estimates that Israel has been collecting data through aerial surveillance for the past 17 years — since the end of the Second Lebanon War — and that the terror group “couldn’t grasp how deep” it went.

He denies, however, that there were any serious cases of Israeli spies infiltrating Hezbollah’s senior ranks.

US more optimistic than Qatari, Egyptian mediators that ceasefire deal can be reached this week, sources say

WASHINGTON — The US is more optimistic than Egyptian and Qatari mediators about the chances that a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal can be reached this week, four sources familiar with the negotiations tell The Times of Israel.

US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff told reporters earlier Tuesday that he is hopeful a deal can be reached this week and that three of the four sticking points have been resolved over the past three days of proximity talks in Doha.

A source familiar with the matter said the three issues Witkoff suggested have been solved were Hamas’s demand for guarantees from the mediators that the ceasefire will remain in place even if talks on the terms of a permanent ceasefire have not wrapped up by the end of the 60-day truce under discussion; Hamas’s demand for aid to be surged into Gaza through UN-backed mechanisms; and terms of the hostage-prisoner swap.

The source notes that while progress was made on the first two issues, the identities of Israelis and Palestinians to be released in the deal have not yet been discussed by the negotiators in Doha, with Hamas insisting that other matters be resolved first.

However, the number and identities of those being released are not viewed to be as thorny an issue as the other ones, the source familiar says, speculating that this is why Witkoff grouped the hostage-prisoner swap component of the deal with the issues that have already been solved.

The remaining obstacle is the partial withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza during the length of the 60-day truce, a US official and the source familiar with the talks tell The Times of Israel. Israel is insisting that it remain in key corridors of southern Gaza, including the Morag Corridor, where it plans to create a “humanitarian city” to which the Strip’s entire population will be herded and prevented from leaving once vetted.

Two Arab diplomats briefed on the talks tell The Times of Israel that Egypt and Qatar are far less optimistic about the chances of reaching a ceasefire this week, arguing that the gaps are more prominent than Witkoff indicated.

While the US has offered Hamas verbal assurances through mediators that they will make sure the temporary truce remains in place even if an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire by the end of the 60-day agreement, one of the Arab diplomats says that verbal assurances are unlikely to suffice.

Hamas wants the text of the ceasefire to state that the truce will remain in place so long as negotiations on a permanent ceasefire continue, dropping the condition included in an earlier version that the talks be held “in good faith,” the Arab diplomat and the source familiar say. Hamas feels Israel will use that clause to abandon the ceasefire, as it did in March.

Verbal assurances may also carry less weight for Hamas, with a Palestinian official telling The Times of Israel that the terror group received ones before it released American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander in May, with mediators claiming then that it would lead the US to pressure Israel to end the war — something that has yet to take place.

For its part, the Israeli outlook on the current state of the talks appears closer to that of the more hesitant Arab mediators than Witkoff.

A senior Israeli official told reporters on Monday that Hamas’s July 4 response to the latest ceasefire proposal moved the sides backward and that more than a few days might be needed to reach an agreement.

Netanyahu arrives at the White House for second meeting with Trump

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the White House for his meeting with US President Donald Trump, says his office.

He does not enter through the West Executive entrance, where the press is waiting, and where visitors are greeted in front of the cameras.

This is the second meeting in two days between the pair, after last night’s dinner and talks.

Ex-hostage Yarden Bibas meets with rock musician David Draiman on his visit to Israel

Former hostage and bereaved husband and father Yarden Bibas meets with musician David Draiman, lead singer of the band Disturbed, as the Jewish rocker visits Israel.

Bibas, a longtime fan of Draiman and his band, played one of the band’s songs during the February 26 funeral in Kibbutz Nir Oz for his wife, Shiri, and sons, Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 1, who were murdered in Hamas captivity. Their bodies were released home in February.

The two men have been in touch since the Bibas funeral and shared photos on social media of their meeting.

“Great to see my friend @yardenbibas here in Israel,” writes Draiman on Instagram. “This man is the living embodiment of strength and perseverance.

One of the sweetest and purest human beings on the planet. The very best of us. Anything, anytime, anywhere achi,” using the term for brother. “All the love… #amyisraelchai.”

Bibas shares the same photo, writing, “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

Draiman said that he is in regular contact with Yarden; the two men spoke the day after the funeral.

Draiman said that Yarden has told him that he and his eldest son, Ariel, would listen to hard rock in the car and would raise their hand in the “rock on” gesture.

Toll from Houthi attack on Greek-owned ship rises to four

The toll of a Houthi attack on a Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier ship off the coast of Yemen on Monday night has risen to four from the earlier toll of two, an official with knowledge of the issue says

The deaths on the Eternity C, the first involving shipping in the Red Sea since June 2024, bring the total number of seafarers killed in Houthi attacks on vessels plying the Red Sea to eight.

The vessel’s operator, Cosmoship Management, was not immediately available to comment on the reported fatalities.

Earlier today, Liberia’s shipping delegation had told a United Nations meeting that two crew members had been killed.

An official with Aspides, the European Union’s mission assigned to help protect Red Sea shipping, also says that at least two other crew members were injured.

Eternity C, with 22 crew members – 21 Filipinos and one Russian – on board, was attacked with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades fired from manned speed boats, maritime security sources have said.

The ship is now adrift and listing, the sources say. According to sources, Greece is in diplomatic talks with Saudi Arabia over the incident.

Netanyahu, AG reportedly close to deal that would allow him to appoint new Shin Bet chief at end of Qatargate probe

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are reportedly close to an agreement that would allow for the eventual appointment of Netanyahu’s choice for Shin Bet chief, Maj. Gen. David Zini.

Baharav-Miara told Netanyahu in May that his nomination of Zini was unlawful and tainted by a conflict of interest due to the Qatargate investigation conducted by the Shin Bet and police into Netanyahu’s close aides.

A conservative advocacy group filed a petition to the High Court of Justice against the attorney general’s position, and the majority of judges appeared to side with the petition in a tempestuous hearing on the case last week.

According to reports in the Hebrew media, Baharav-Miara and Netanyahu have agreed that Zini can be formally nominated to the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee in two months time when the Shin Bet will have finished its role in the Qatargate investigation, thereby neutralizing the conflict of interest.

Neither the Attorney General’s Office nor the Prime Minister’s Office has confirmed the report, and the High Court has yet to formalize an agreement through a court decision.

Report: Main sticking point in Gaza ceasefire talks is IDF withdrawal from Morag Corridor

The main sticking point in Qatar is the lines of IDF withdrawal in the event of a ceasefire, Channel 13 reports. Israel is insisting on holding on to the Morag Corridor north of Rafah that it took during the ongoing military operation in Gaza.

Hamas is demanding the IDF leave that sector, and talks are focused on what the maps will look like during a truce, according to the report.

Negotiators tell the outlet that they are not expecting to leave Doha anytime soon.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff said earlier that the disagreement is down to one issue, and he is expected to fly to Qatar to join the talks.

Gaza ceasefire deal would prevent controversial GHF aid group from operating in areas IDF withdraws from, source says

The ceasefire being crafted in Qatar will prevent the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation from operating in areas from which the IDF has withdrawn, a source familiar with the negotiations tells The Times of Israel.

The still-being-negotiated proposal stipulates that only the UN and international organizations that aren’t connected to either Israel or Hamas will be responsible for distributing aid in areas where the IDF is no longer located, the source says, confirming a Channel 12 report.

Israel and Hamas still have to negotiate the exact parameters of the IDF’s withdrawal, which is a major obstacle as Jerusalem wants to remain in much of southern Gaza where it plans to create a “humanitarian city” to which the Strip’s entire population — more than 2 million people — will be herded and prevented from leaving once vetted.

Wizz Air expected to partially resume Tel Aviv flights from August 8

Hungary-based low-cost airline Wizz Air is expected to bring forward the resumption of flight services to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on August 8.

The decision follows discussions held by Transportation Minister Miri Regev with the CEO of Wizz.

The low-cost carrier will initially launch flights from Tel Aviv to Larnaca and Budapest and will begin selling tickets on Wednesday. More destinations will be added later.

Wizz Air – and all other airlines – halted flight services to and from Tel Aviv through September 15 after Israel’s airspace was closed on June 13 with the outbreak of the war with Iran. The fighting ended 12 days later with a US-brokered ceasefire. The flight suspensions left tens of thousands of Israelis stranded abroad.

Hamas commander Mehran Mustafa Bajur killed in northern Lebanon drone strike, IDF says

The Israeli airstrike in Lebanon’s northern coastal city of Tripoli earlier today killed Mehran Mustafa Bajur, a prominent Hamas commander, the military says.

According to the IDF, Bajur in recent years advanced numerous attacks on Israel. During the war, he led rocket attacks from Lebanon on Nahariya, Kiryat Shmona, and other Israeli cities, the IDF says.

“Bajur served as one of Hamas’s key commanders in Lebanon, and as part of his role, he spent years establishing Hamas’s military capabilities in Lebanon,” the IDF says in a statement.

“Additionally, he was one of the leaders responsible for the terror organizations’ force-buildup efforts, and facilitated the purchasing of weapons through his connections with other terrorist organizations in the area,” the statement adds.

The IDF says his killing is a “significant blow” to the Gaza-based terror group’s activities in Lebanon.

כלי טיס של חיל האוויר תקף וחיסל מוקדם יותר היום (ג') בהכוונה של אמ״ן ופיקוד הצפון, את המחבל מהראן מצטפא בעג׳ור במרחב טריפולי בלבנון.

במשך שנים, בעג׳ור קידם והכווין מתווי טרור רבים נגד צה״ל ואזרחי מדינת ישראל, בין היתר במהלך המלחמה הוציא לפועל מתווי שיגור רקטות לעבר נהריה, קרית… pic.twitter.com/UMNGZHLvVj

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 8, 2025

Netanyahu-Trump meeting scheduled for 4:30 p.m. local time, PMO confirms

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump will meet at 4:30 p.m. local time (11:30 p.m. Israel time) at the White House, says Netanyahu’s office.

This is the second meeting at the White House between the two leaders in as many days.

Trump confirms 2nd meet tonight with PM to discuss Gaza; Witkoff: We hope for deal by week’s end

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump confirms that he will be meeting again with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tonight in order to discuss efforts to secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.

“We’re going to be talking about… almost exclusively Gaza,” Trump tells reporters during a cabinet meeting.

“We’ve got to get that solved. Gaza is a tragedy. And [Netanyahu] wants to get it solved, and I want to get it solved, and I think the other side wants to get it solved,” he adds, apparently referring to Hamas before asking US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff to weigh in.

Witkoff says that three of the four remaining issues have been resolved since the ongoing proximity talks in Doha were started on Sunday.

“We are hopeful that by the end of this week, we will have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire,” Witkoff says.

He says that the deal will secure the release of 10 living hostages along with the bodies of nine slain hostages. Witkoff appears to have accidentally halved the number of bodies slated for release, given that the proposal on the table speaks of 18 bodies being freed.

“We’re meeting at the president’s direction, with all the hostage families to let them know, and we think this will lead to a lasting peace in Gaza,” Witkoff says.

Netanyahu wants hostage deal ‘as soon as possible’; insists ultimately there’ll be ‘no Hamas,’ says this requires a certain strategy

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says on Capitol Hill that “we have learned, and the whole world has learned, that when Israel and America stand together, great things happen.”

“And it’s never been like that [in the past] … There has never been the degree of coordination, of cooperation, and trust between America and Israel as we have today. And I credit President Trump with this extraordinary achievement and I think that the people of Israel, and may I say Jewish people, appreciate it,” he says in English.

Netanyahu also denounces what he calls “a concerted effort to spread vilification and demonization against Israel on social media. It’s directed, it’s funded, it’s malignant.”

“We intend to fight it,” he says, “because nothing defeats lies like the truth, and we shall spread the truth for everyone to see. Once people are exposed to the facts, we win hands down. That’s what we intend to do in the coming months and years.”

Switching to Hebrew, Netanyahu stresses that Israel is “determined to complete all the goals of the war in Gaza: To free all our hostages; to bring about the destruction of Hamas’s military and governance capacities, and to ensure that Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel.”

He stresses: “That means no Hamas. This must be understood.”

“It requires a certain strategy,” he adds. “It requires some moves that are very painful [to Israel] and some that are very painful to Hamas.”

But the result, he says, “will be the freeing of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”

He says Israel is seeking a hostage-ceasefire on its terms, having accepted the latest Witkoff proposal. “We are also prepared to end the war — on the conditions that Hamas can no longer act, that it no longer has governance or military capacities and that Gaza cannot be a threat to Israel.”

“There’s a very clear plan for how to do this,” he says, adding that he and Trump have discussed this and “we see eye to eye on this with the United States.”

“We are fighting a very cruel, cynical enemy and we don’t need to tell it our plans,” he says.

He says a meeting with Trump tonight “is a possibility… It will depend on the need.”

He says he hopes for a deal on Israel’s terms “as soon as possible,” noting that it would mean 10 living hostages would come home under its terms.

Asked if Israel intends to control Gaza, he says: “We intend for Hamas not to control there. We’ll do what’s needed for that to happen. There will not be more invasions, rapes, murders, executions from Gaza — there’ll be no Hamas,” he repeats.

Hamas needs to put down its weapons, to be dismantled, and Gaza demilitarized,” he says. “We have the power [to achieve this]. I won’t give up on this. And I won’t give up on the hostages.”

Israel will achieve all our goals — “and if that doesn’t happen today, it’ll happen tomorrow,” he says.

US official says second Trump-Netanyahu meeting will focus on Gaza ceasefire efforts

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump are slated to meet again for a previously unscheduled meeting this evening to discuss efforts to secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, a US official tells The Times of Israel.

Netanyahu: Israel wants ceasefire deal, but will still ‘finish the job in Gaza’

WASHINGTON — Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel “still has to finish the job in Gaza.”

The intention is to “release all our hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas’s military and governance capabilities, because Gaza must have a different future, for our sake, for everyone’s sake,” he continues.

He says he discussed this with US President Donald Trump. “I may discuss further with him later in this visit.”

Netanyahu says, “The coordination between our two countries, the coordination between an American president and an Israeli prime minister has been unmatched. It offers great promise for Israel, for America, for our region, for the world.”

He says, “We are certainly working on” a ceasefire. “We can’t speak in advance. You need several parties to tango. It’s not even two here. But we are working on it diligently as we speak, in fact on the way over here, and on the way from here.”

“We are not going to let up,” he says. “We have a goal, and we intend to achieve that goal.”

He calls the proposal Israel accepted “a good proposal.”

“It matches Steve Witkoff’s original idea, and we think we’ve gotten closer to it. And I hope we can cross the line, that is our purpose. But the less I speak about it publicly, the more likely that we might get it.”

Trump, in meeting on Texas floods, says ‘Palestinian’ Chuck Schumer has ‘abandoned the Jews’

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump claims that the “Palestinian senator” Chuck Schumer “abandoned the Jews.”

Trump makes the comments during a cabinet meeting when speaking about the flash floods in Texas.

Schumer yesterday asked a government watchdog to investigate whether the Trump administration’s cuts at the National Weather Service affected the forecasting agency’s response to catastrophic and deadly flooding in Central Texas.

Trump has repeatedly used “Palestinian” as an epithet to refer to Schumer, the highest-ranking elected Jewish official in the US.

Netanyahu says second meeting with Trump ‘may be very likely’

WASHINGTON — After meeting US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a second meeting with US President Donald Trump “may be very likely.”

He tells reporters on Capitol Hill that the US and Israeli strikes on Iran “has made a remarkable change in the Middle East.”

“The remarkable American B2 pilots showed remarkable perseverance, remarkable persistence and power,” says Netanyahu.

“The soldiers of Israel fought like lions, our pilots struck like lightning, and our common alliance roared like thunder, and this is having a great change in our region,” Netanyahu continues.

“There are opportunities for peace that we intend to realize,” he continues. “We’re working together on this.”

Saudi, Iranian foreign ministers meet in Mecca to discuss regional developments

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud met his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Mecca earlier today and they discussed bilateral ties and the latest developments in the region, Saudi state news agency SPA says.

Earlier, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson had said Araghchi would visit Saudi Arabia on his way back from Brazil to discuss the peace and security of the region.

Haredi political official says parties have ‘lost faith’ in coalition over conscription issue

Speaking with Kan Radio, a senior ultra-Orthodox political official states that his allies have “lost faith” in the coalition regarding the Haredi conscription issue as they wait for Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein to finally present his revised enlistment bill to lawmakers.

“Everything that was promised to us on the eve of the attack on Iran has been canceled. We have lost trust in them. We are going back to the beginning,” a senior Haredi source tells the national broadcaster.

Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, was widely expected to present lawmakers with a copy of a watered-down compromise bill regulating the conscription of yeshiva students on Monday — but has still not yet done so.

In response, the Haredi Shas and United Torah Judaism parties launched a legislative boycott, forcing the coalition to remove all their bills from the Knesset agenda on Monday and Tuesday.

The bill was initially supposed to have been ready in mid-June, but it was delayed by the war with Iran. However, despite the conflict ending on June 24, Edelstein has still not presented the full compromise draft to Haredi lawmakers, who hope to pass it into law before the conclusion of the summer legislative session at the end of July.

Netanyahu meets with US house speaker Mike Johnson

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins his meeting with Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson on Capitol Hill.

He is scheduled to meet with Senate leaders later in the day.

UTJ leader sends belated condolences to families of slain IDF soldiers, doesn’t acknowledge 4 are ultra-Orthodox

More than 12 hours after the IDF announced that five Israeli soldiers were killed and 14 were wounded by a roadside bomb in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun last night, United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf releases a statement offering condolences to the families.

“With the entire people of Israel, I mourn the deaths of five of our best holy sons. I send my condolences to the bereaved families who paid the most precious thing to them, and I pray that death will be swallowed up forever and that all the soldiers and hostages will return safely,” Goldknopf says.

The senior Haredi politician does not mention that four out of the five soldiers killed were members of the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion.

Goldknopf’s statement comes as the Knesset’s Haredi parties are amid a Haredi legislative boycott, forcing the coalition to remove its bills from the Knesset agenda for the second day in a row. Shas and United Torah Judaism are boycotting the plenum to protest the lack of advancement in legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service.

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud) is expected to soon unveil a revised conscription bill but has not yet done so, angering the Haredim.

Family, friends of hostage Segev Kalfon hold sit-in in hometown of Dimona

Family, friends and supporters of hostage Segev Kalfon gather in Dimona, Kalfon’s hometown, for a Shift 101 sit-in, a first since the protest group began gathering in late 2024.

Galit Kalfon, Segev’s mother, calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, currently in Washington, DC, to make a responsible and moral decision regarding all the hostages.

“No one should be there; they are all humanitarian cases, and they are all suffering,” says Kalfon. “I can’t imagine some coming back and some not. Enough! We want to breathe!”

Segev, 27, was taken hostage at the Nova music festival with his friend Asaf Harush. The two tried to escape together by car but encountered armed terrorists on Route 232. Harush managed to get away, and Segev was kidnapped to Gaza.

Dimona Mayor Benny Bitton, the devoted Likud mayor of the hardscrabble desert town since 2013, speaks at the sit-in, and says he hopes that Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump will bring all the hostages home “in one go.”

“We don’t want it in phases,” he says.

“I can’t imagine having the strength to decide who gets to come home and who doesn’t,” says Bitton, referring to the current working plan to bring home 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 hostages in the first stage of the ceasefire.

“I told the prime minister, ‘As your friend, I also support ending the war, but the hostages must be brought home,'” says Bitton.

Kalfon’s friends appear together at the sit-in, with one speaking for all of them.

“Something within our group of friends has broken, shattered — and only Segev can make it whole again,” says one of his friends. “We all pray every day for Segev’s return.”

Police open probe into far-left Haredi journalist who cheered deaths of 5 IDF soldiers in Gaza

Police say they have opened a criminal investigation into far-left Haredi journalist Israel Frey, who posted that the “world is a better place” following the deaths of five IDF soldiers last night.

“The world is a better place this morning, without five young men who partook in one of the most brutal crimes against humanity,” Frey tweeted this morning.

“Unfortunately, for the boy in Gaza now being operated on without anesthesia; the girl starving to death and the family huddling in a tent under bombardment — this is not enough,” he continued. “This is a call to every Israeli mother: do not be the next to receive your son in a coffin as a war criminal. Refuse.”

Frey’s post sparked a social media firestorm, prompting scathing criticism from his political opponents, but also from other left-wingers stridently opposed to the war, who chided him for rejoicing over spilled blood.

This afternoon, police requested that the State Attorney’s Office give law enforcement the go-ahead to probe Frey on incitement offenses. The request was granted, kickstarting a joint probe by an anti-incitement task force in the National Security Ministry and the police’s Investigations and Intelligence Division.

“We will continue to act in accordance with the policy of Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Police Commissioner Danny Levy, and take a firm and uncompromising approach against anyone who gives voice to incitement or support for the enemy,” say the police and National Security Ministry in a statement.

העולם טוב יותר הבוקר, ללא 5 צעירים שהשתתפו באחד הפשעים האכזריים נגד האנושות.

למרבה הצער, עבור הילד בעזה שעכשיו מנותח ללא חומרי הרדמה; הילדה הגוועת מרעב והמשפחה שמכווצת באוהל תחת הפצצות, זה לא מספיק.

זוהי קריאה לכל אמא ישראלית: אל תהיי הבאה לקבל את הבן בארון כפושע מלחמה.

סרבו. pic.twitter.com/WsMrhpngA3

— ישראל פריי (@freyisrael1) July 8, 2025

Second meeting between Netanyahu, Trump being planned for Tuesday evening

A second meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump is being planned for this evening, an official in Netanyahu’s office tells The Times of Israel.

They met last night over dinner in what Israeli officials described as a very positive and friendly atmosphere.

Military is surrounding northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun ‘from all directions,’ IDF spokesman says

The military is surrounding Beit Hanoun “from all directions,” IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin says in a press conference after five troops were killed in an ambush in the northern Gaza town last night.

“Beit Hanoun is a fortified area, where dozens of terrorists still remain. There are still many underground tunnels that we must demolish,” he says.

“We will continue to attack and clear the area to remove the threat to the residents of the western Negev,” Defrin says, noting that Beit Hanoun overlooks several border towns, including Sderot, and a train line.

Report: Katz’s remarks about moving Gazans into ‘humanitarian’ zone is ‘hindering’ ceasefire talks

Defense Minister Israel Katz’s announcement yesterday that he had instructed the IDF to prepare to relocate the entire population of Gaza — more than 2 million people — into a so-called humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza Strip has caused problems in the ongoing ceasefire talks in Doha, the Kan public broadcaster reports, citing Palestinian sources involved in the negotiations.

It reports that the matter is “hindering” progress, as Hamas is heavily opposed to such a measure.

Nevertheless, the sources say that progress has been made in other areas, such as how humanitarian aid would enter the strip during a ceasefire.

Iran’s FM says Tehran interested in diplomacy but has ‘good reason to have doubts about further dialogue’

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that Iran remains interested in diplomacy but “we have good reason to have doubts about further dialogue.”

In recent days, Iran received messages indicating that the United States may be ready to return to negotiations, Araghchi writes in an opinion piece published in the Financial Times newspaper.

Knesset education committee approves bill prohibiting incitement to terror on university campuses

The Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee approves a bill prohibiting incitement to terrorism and illegal activity within the framework of student activities on university campuses, paving its way for the final two votes needed for it to become law.

The bill, sponsored by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, would impose restrictions on organized public activity in academia, with universities being required to establish public activity regulations that include, among other things, a prohibition on incitement to terrorism and racism.

Addressing the committee, Har-Melech states that following discussions with students from the Ethiopian community, she “was convinced to include in the legislation a clause that prohibits incitement to racism.”

Critics of the bill warn that it could be abused by authorities to crack down on freedom of expression, especially in cases of dissent against Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.

During the debate, Har-Melech derides Elia Levin, an activist with the Standing Together movement who testified against the bill, as “mentally ill” and “requiring hospitalization.” Levin will file a complaint with the Knesset Ethics Committee regarding the far-right lawmaker’s remarks.

The bill will move onto its second and third Knesset plenary readings after it passed its committee vote earlier today.

Addressing concerns expressed by Standing Together representatives, committee chairman MK Yosef Taib (Shas) states that far-right slogans, such as “may your village burn,” will be included under the law.

עכשיו בכנסת – סטודנטים שלנו הגיעו לדבר על הקשיים שלהם מול חברי הכנסת. כשאליה לוין, פעילה בתא הסטודנטים שלנו בחיפה, ניסתה לדבר על חוק ההשתקה, חברת הכנסת לימור סון הר מלך הפריעה לה לדבר וקראה לה חולת נפש. אליה באה להתנגד לחוק ההשתקה וכולנו קיבלנו תזכורת איך ההשתקה נראית. בושה. pic.twitter.com/fl6SwsnyLH

— עומדים ביחד نقف معًا Standing Together???? (@omdimbeyachad) July 8, 2025

United Airlines to resume New York-Tel Aviv flights on July 21

United Airlines announces it will resume flight services from New York to Tel Aviv with a single flight starting on July 21.

The US airline says it will restart its second daily flight between the two cities the following day.

“The resumption of service to Tel Aviv reflects United’s longstanding commitment to the Israeli market,” United says in a statement. “Through 2025, United operated more flights to Tel Aviv than any other US airline.”

Ticket sales for flights to and from Tel Aviv will be available for purchase on the US carrier’s website starting today.

United halted flight services to and from Tel Aviv after Israel’s airspace was closed on June 13 due to the Iran conflict.

“Any decision by United to operate flights to Tel Aviv is made after a thorough assessment of operational considerations in the region, and in close coordination with our flight attendants and pilot unions,” United adds.

Israel reopened its airspace about two weeks ago, but several European and US airlines have not yet announced a resumption date of flight operations to and from Tel Aviv, including British Airways, Delta, easyJet, and Ryanair.

French carrier Air France resumed nonstop flights between Ben Gurion and Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport on July 7. The Lufthansa group is expected to restart services on August 1.

Israel denies report that Syrian president and Israeli NSC head met in Abu Dhabi

Both Israel and Syria deny reports of a meeting between National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi and Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa in the United Arab Emirates this week.

Earlier today, two Arab media outlets cited what they said were informed sources claiming that Hanegbi—who is leading direct talks with the Syrian government on potential security and diplomatic arrangements—met with the new Syrian president in Abu Dhabi on Monday, during the latter’s official visit to the UAE.

Asked whether such a meeting had taken place, the Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel: “No, he was here with the prime minister” in Washington.

Hanegbi has indeed been in Washington since Sunday and attended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s evening dinner with US President Donald Trump yesterday, casting doubt on the reported date of the alleged meeting.

Syria’s state news agency also cites a source in the Syrian Ministry of Communications, who denies that any meeting took place.

The initial report, published by Lebanese outlet Unews, was later confirmed by independent Syrian news site Al-Jumhuriya, which cited two sources claiming that the Abu Dhabi meeting had indeed occurred. In the report, a Syrian source involved in the talks between the two neighbors and a regional diplomat asserted it was not the first such meeting between the two sides.

Last month, Hanegbi confirmed to Israel Hayom that he is leading “daily direct dialogue” between Israel and Syria and that the two governments are discussing the possibility of a peace agreement—one of the items reportedly on the agenda in Washington this week.

According to Axios, Netanyahu commented overnight: “There is an opportunity to explore in Syria. Iran is out of the picture. It could increase stability and security. There is a lot to gain for Syria from moving toward peace with Israel.”

IDF probe: 3 bombs were remotely detonated in deadly northern Gaza ambush last night

Three explosive devices were remotely detonated in succession against troops in the deadly ambush last night in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, according to a military probe.

Five soldiers were killed and 14 were wounded in the attack, which took place around 1.5 kilometers from the Israeli border.

According to the IDF’s investigation, most troops were hurt by the first and second bombs, which were detonated within a few moments of each other. The first bomb hit several soldiers, and the troops that rushed to help them were hit by the second bomb.

As the third bomb was detonated, a cell of Hamas operatives opened fire with light arms on the Israeli troops.

The military believes the bombs, rigged up to remote detonators, were planted by the Hamas cell during the previous 24 hours.

Following the attack, the IDF dispatched Israeli Air Force drones, helicopters, and fighter jets to the area to prevent any potential attempts by Hamas to abduct the soldiers. Within an hour and a half, the incident was considered over, according to the military.

The military believes that dozens of Hamas operatives remain holed up in Beit Hanoun, mostly deep underground in the terror group’s tunnels.

The offensive in the northern Gaza town is intended to clear it of these remaining Hamas operatives, the IDF says.

Netanyahu meets with Vance in Washington, along with top aides

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets US Vice President JD Vance at Blair House in Washington, DC.

The two embrace as they greet each other, then sit for a meeting along with top aides.

Netanyahu is joined by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter, and Military Secretary Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman.

IDF official confirms for first time that Iran struck military bases during 12-day war

An Israeli military official tells Reuters that Iranian air strikes last month had hit some Israeli military sites, the first apparent public acknowledgment that such locations had been struck.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with military briefing rules, says that “very few” sites had been hit and that they remained functional.

The official declines to provide further details, including identifying which military locations were affected or how severe the damage was to military infrastructure.

On Saturday, The Telegraph, citing satellite data shared by Oregon State University, reported that Iranian ballistic missiles had struck five Israeli military bases during the 12-day war last month.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

‘Key Hamas terrorist’ targeted in Israeli drone strike in northern Lebanon, IDF says

The Israeli Air Force carried out a drone strike on a “key Hamas terrorist” in Lebanon’s northern coastal city of Tripoli a short while ago, the military says.

No further details are given.

UK will take further action against Israel if no ceasefire reached in Gaza, FM Lammy says

British Foreign Minister David Lammy says that if no ceasefire is reached in the Gaza Strip in the near future, the UK will take further action against Israel.

At a meeting of the UK parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Lammy says he suspects that the negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire and hostage release deal could be hampered by Defense Minister Israel Katz’s comments yesterday about relocating the entire population of Gaza — more than 2 million people — into a so-called “humanitarian” zone in the southern Gaza Strip.

“I think that would be a big sticking point for getting that ceasefire,” he says. “I suspect that if he [Katz] is insistent on that position, then it would be very hard to see how we get that ceasefire because there is an acute discussion about the degree to which the IDF withdraws from Gaza.”

Asked if he would take further measures against Israel if the situation in Gaza continued, he said: “Yes. Yes, we will.”

In May, Lammy announced that the UK would be suspending free trade agreement negotiations with Israel and taking other punitive measures, including the imposition of sanctions on West Bank settlers, in response to Israel’s wartime policies.

ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders in Afghanistan over persecution of women

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan over the persecution of women, a crime against humanity.

ICC judges say in a statement that there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect that Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani “have committed… the crime against humanity of persecution… on gender grounds.”

Progress reported in Doha talks on matter of humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza during ceasefire

On the third day of hostage deal and ceasefire negotiations in Doha, Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports that there has been progress on the clause regarding the mechanism for bringing humanitarian aid into Gaza.

It notes that Hamas is demanding that during a ceasefire aid be brought into the Strip by the United Nations, rather than the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

The newspaper also reports that US envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to arrive in Doha this coming Friday or Saturday.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Monday press briefing that Witkoff would fly to Doha later in the week in order to advance the negotiations, although a US official speaking to The Times of Israel said this would happen on Tuesday, not over the weekend.

Giden Sa’ar resigns from Knesset under Norwegian Law, Akram Hasson to take his place

Foreign minister and New Hope party chairman Gideon Sa’ar presents Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana with his parliamentary resignation, opening up his seat under the so-called Norwegian Law to Druze politician Akram Hasson.

The Norwegian Law allows ministers and deputy ministers from large factions to resign from the Knesset, with their seats then filled by other members of their parties.

Hassan served as mayor of Carmel City, an amalgamation of Daliyat el-Carmel and neighboring Isfiya that lasted from 2005 to 2008. He became a lawmaker for the now-defunct Kadima party in 2012 and in 2015 became its final leader, before joining Kulanu. He later ran unsuccessfully on Benny Gantz’s National Unity list.

IDF says it killed Hamas terrorist who led Oct. 7 attack on Kibbutz Magen gas station

A Hamas terrorist who led the attack on a gas station near Kibbutz Magen during the October 7 onslaught was killed in a recent airstrike in the Gaza Strip, the IDF announces.

According to the military, Taha Abu Ayadeh was a commander of a platoon in Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force. He invaded Israel with his platoon on October 7, 2023, and attacked a gas station in the Magen Area.

Ayadeh was killed in a strike in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza on July 1, the IDF says.

Footage of the gas station attack was published by the South First Responders group in November 2023, showing two Israeli employees rushing to hide as Hamas terrorists opened fire and stormed the area. The pair reportedly hid in a freezer for hours before being rescued.

Footage shows Hamas terrorists attacking a gas station near Kibbutz Magen, October 7, 2023. (South First Responders)

Haifa resists efforts to repair missile-damaged refinery that is slated to be moved

The Haifa Municipality petitions the High Court to stop a move that would exempt the Bazan oil refineries from the need for a building permit to repair damage caused by Iranian ballistic missile hits last month, citing the fact that the refineries are scheduled to close in the coming years.

Haifa Deputy Mayor Aviya Han tells The Times of Israel, “I don’t think it’s right for the state (through property tax compensation) to invest huge sums in a factory that is supposed to close.”

The municipality’s petition asks the court to bar state planners from approving a draft Interior Ministry order allowing the refineries in the northern city to carry out repairs without getting a permit.

The ministry posted the draft order on its website on Monday evening for public comment. The National Planning and Building Council is scheduled to conduct a hearing on its approval on Wednesday at 2 p.m.

In the face of years of pressure from residents, environmental activists and others to close the polluting oil refineries down, the cabinet decided three years ago to shutter the compound and related oil storage complex by the decade’s end and to import the products, known as distillates, instead.

Last month, two missiles hit the compound, killing three workers and damaging pipelines and transition lines. The facility, which was closed for several days, is now undergoing repairs and aims to return to full operation by October.

The Interior Ministry says on its website that Bazan’s rapid restoration is needed as it supplies two thirds of Israel’s fuel and that a “temporary” three year exemption from planning permits is necessary given that licensing procedures take “a long time.”

Ultra-Orthodox parties continue legislative boycott amid anger over stalled draft deferment bill

The ultra-Orthodox parties’ legislative boycott continues for a second day in a row, forcing the coalition to remove its bills from the Knesset agenda.

In a message to party lawmakers, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud states that they are “free for today” but must attend tomorrow’s plenum session in order to vote against opposition-backed bills.

The ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties are boycotting the plenum to protest the lack of advancement on legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service.

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud) is expected soon to unveil a revised conscription bill but has not yet done so, angering the Haredim.

UTJ MKs express sorrow over deaths of troops, don’t acknowledge 4 are ultra-Orthodox

Two lawmakers from the United Torah Judaism party extend their condolences to the families of the five soldiers killed in Gaza overnight without noting that four of them were members of the IDF’s ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion.

“I ask on behalf of the committee to send our condolences to the bereaved families and send wishes for a speedy recovery to the wounded. This is very painful,” says Knesset Finance Committee Chairman Moshe Gafni, who represents the party’s Degel Hatorah faction.

In a separate statement, MK Moshe Roth, a member of UTJ’s Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction, tells The Times of Israel that “together with the entire House of Israel, we mourn the death of the wonderful young men who gave their lives to protect us from a cruel enemy.”

“May God comfort the dear families and heal their heartbreak and there be no more woes in our land,” he adds.

UTJ does not issue an official statement commenting on the deaths of the soldiers from the Haredi unit. A spokesman for chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf says that a statement from the party will be released “in the coming hours.”

Qatar says ‘we will need time’ for Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal

Negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas will “need time,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman says.

“I don’t think that I can give any timeline at the moment, but I can say right now that we will need time for this,” Majed Al-Ansari says as discussions continued into a third day in Doha.

“What is happening right now is that both delegations are in Doha. We are speaking with them separately on a framework for the talks. So talks have not begun, as of yet, but we are talking to both sides over that framework,” he tells a Doha news conference.

IDF issues fresh evacuation order for Gaza’s Khan Younis area

The IDF issues a new evacuation warning for Palestinians residing in the Khan Younis area, further expanding a no-go zone.

“Due to terror activities in the area, the IDF with its maneuvering troops and intensive firepower is expanding actions in your area,” says Col. Avichay Adraee, the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, on X.

Palestinians are instructed to head west.

#عاجل ‼️إلى جميع المتواجدين في منطقة خان يونس في بلوكات 107، 108، 109، 110، 111، 112، 8801، 8802، 8803، بما في ذلك السكان المتواجدين داخل الخيام في تلك المنطقة

⭕️في ضوء الأنشطة الإرهابية في المنطقة، يقوم جيش الدفاع بتوسيع عملياته من خلال القوات البرية المناورة وتفعيل النيران… pic.twitter.com/yMJs1R40yi

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) July 8, 2025

Schools, homes evacuated in Kibbutz Mesilot as wildfire spreads

Police are evacuating a school, a kindergarten, and several homes threatened by a quickly-spreading wildfire in Kibbutz Mesilot in northern Israel’s Beit She’an Valley.

Several firefighting squads from the Afula station and six firefighting planes were dispatched to the area to combat the blazes, says the Fire and Rescue Service.

Police have closed part of Route 669 to traffic as efforts to contain the fire are ongoing, law enforcement says.

Two crew reported killed in Houthi attack on Greek vessel

Two crew members of the Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated, bulk carrier Eternity C were killed after an attack by sea drones and speedboats off Yemen yesterday evening, Liberia’s shipping delegation told a meeting of the UN shipping agency IMO on Tuesday.

The deaths, the first since June 2024, bring the total number of seafarers killed in attacks on vessels by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea to six.

Police raid mental health center suspected of defrauding Defense Ministry of funds earmarked for soldiers’ care

Police this morning arrested the owner and several employees of a mental health treatment center on suspicion they defrauded the government of funds earmarked for soldiers’ psychiatric care.

The facility’s owner allegedly forged invoices for treatments it never actually provided in order to receive money from the Defense Ministry, which reimburses facilities that provide mental health care to IDF soldiers and veterans.

Following concerns raised by the ministry’s rehabilitation department, the Tel Aviv District police’s fraud division and tax officials set about probing the false invoicing suspicions.

This morning, police went public with their investigation and arrested the facility’s owner as well as four other employees.

Officers seized suspects’ vehicles in several house raids and plan to initiate asset forfeiture procedures against the suspects, a spokesman says.

Police say that mental health professionals in the Defense Ministry advised the investigation, ensuring that soldiers who are receiving treatment at the center will be given other treatment options during legal proceedings against the suspects.

Shas spiritual leader says deaths of 5 soldiers in Gaza may be due to yeshiva students’ neglect of Torah study

In an open letter to yeshiva students, former Sephardic chief rabbi and Shas spiritual leader Yitzhak Yosef asserts that the deaths of five IDF servicemen overnight in Gaza may have been caused by the students’ insufficient Torah study and calls on the Haredi community “to strengthen and grow stronger in Torah study.”

Yosef’s call comes as his faction prepares to go to the barricades against the government over its demand that those engaged in such study be exempted from shouldering the burden of military service.

Mourning the deaths of the “dear soldiers” who “gave their lives for the people of Israel” Yosef says that the Torah-observant community is “obligated to come to an account of why this trouble has come upon us, and perhaps it is nothing but the sin of neglecting the Torah.”

Four of those who fell in Gaza last night were members of the IDF’s ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion.

Yosef has been an outspoken opponent of efforts to conscript yeshiva students and, like many other prominent leaders of the Haredi community, has asserted that mass Torah study is vital to the national defense.

In May, he stated that if the government arrests ultra-Orthodox men for dodging the draft, then the community will be forced to leave Israel.

Declaring that “our Torah protects the soldiers,” Yosef argued that Israel’s anti-missile defenses only succeeded in blocking attacks in the merit of yeshiva students’ studies. He has also later called Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Yuli Edelstein “wicked” for demanding tough sanctions on yeshiva students who evade military service.

Minister says ‘substantial chance’ of hostage-ceasefire deal, progress in talks

Israeli minister Zeev Elkin, who sits in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, says that there is “a substantial chance,” a ceasefire will be agreed.

“Hamas wants to change a few central matters, it’s not simple, but there is progress,” he tells Israel’s public broadcaster Kan.

IDF says Lebanon strikes killed two Hezbollah members, including elite commander

Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon yesterday killed a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force and another member of the terror group, the IDF announces.

The first drone strike in the Deir Kifa area killed Ali Abd al-Hassan Haidar, a commander in the Radwan force who the IDF says was involved in advancing numerous attacks on Israel, including Hezbollah’s “plan to conquer the Galilee.”

“In recent months, Haidar was involved in efforts to reestablish Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon,” the military says.

Two hours after the strike, another member of Hezbollah was killed in a drone strike near Beit Lif, the IDF says.

عاجل | جريحٌ بقصف مسيرة إسرائيلية مركبة مدنية في بلدة دير كيفا، قضاء صور في جنوب لبنان. pic.twitter.com/I2ucWJcifh

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) July 7, 2025

Report provides legal framework to prosecute sexual violence during Oct. 7 Hamas massacre

A new report providing the first legal framework for prosecuting Hamas terrorists for the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war during the October 7, 2023, massacre is being presented by the Dinah Project to First Lady Michal Herzog at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.

The report confirms that Hamas systematically used rape and sexual violence as tools of war during the October 7 massacres and is the first to present a legal roadmap for identifying and pursuing justice for the use of sexual violence as a weapon of warfare, which constitutes a crime against humanity.

The gathering of primarily women notably includes former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky, who has publicly spoken about being sexually assaulted by her captors in Gaza.

“This report tells the truth as it is — shocking, painful, but necessary. On behalf of all those who were harmed, we are committed to continuing the fight until their cries are heard everywhere and justice is done,” says First Lady Michal Herzog.

“We carry here a universal message: that sexual violence cannot be accepted as a tool of war,” she says, drawing attention to the plight of the remaining 50 hostages, including Inbar Hayman, the single female captive who is believed to be dead.

The research was conducted by the Dinah Project, an initiative formed following October 7, which works to achieve recognition and justice for survivors of sexual violence in conflict zones, and spent a year and a half consolidating all available evidence and reports on sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 and subsequently against hostages.

“Sexual violence in conflict is a weapon. It is not random, not targeted only at individuals, and not without intent from above. It is time for the international community to treat it as such,” says Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, a legal expert at Bar-Ilan University, who co-authored the report alongside retired Judge Nava Ben-Or, and Col. (res.) Adv. Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas, former Chief Military Prosecutor of the IDF.

Iran denies requesting meeting with US for nuclear talks

Iran did not request a meeting with the United States to resume nuclear talks, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei says according to state media.

US President Donald Trump’s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff said he would meet with Iranian diplomats “next week or so.”

Police arrest over 20 suspects for stealing weapons from IDF base

Police say they arrested more than 20 people last night suspected of stealing weapons from IDF bases in Israel’s south.

Officers raided “dozens of criminal targets in Ashdod and Bedouin communities in the Negev” as part of an ongoing, year-long probe led by the Lachish region’s investigations and intelligence unit.

The weapons stolen from IDF bases are suspected to have been used in over 50 assassination attempts and other violent crimes, police claim.

Theft of bullets, grenades and other weapons from IDF bases has prompted Israel to increase the presence of Border Police in the country’s south in recent years. According to law enforcement, such incidents have become more common since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

“Criminal gangs exploited the chaos of the war to steal weapons from the IDF in order to carry out assassination attempts. They were wrong to think we wouldn’t come after them,” says Ch. Supt. Shahar Levy, who is leading the Lachish district police’s investigation, in a statement.

Knesset committee tells IDF to work on suitable uniforms, equipment for female soldiers

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meets to discuss equipment gaps for female soldiers in the IDF and the lack of appropriate uniforms and gear tailored to their bodies.

After a discussion, initiated by Knesset Members Merav Ben-Ari (Yesh Atid) and Brig. Gen. (Res.) Sharon Nir (Yisrael Beiteinu),  the committee recommends that the military set up a working group to develop a serious, comprehensive review of equipment for female soldiers within the IDF, rather than relying on ad-hoc solutions.

The meeting was called following the publication of a report in the Times of Israel that highlighted the problems faced as the military pushes to have more female soldiers in combat roles.

The report detailed the mismatch of uniforms with the female body, inadequate helmets, and most notably, body armor with ceramic plates that do not sufficiently protect the waist area of female soldiers due to their different body structure.

Ben-Ari, who opened the session, emphasizes the importance of ensuring that female soldiers receive adequate protection from shrapnel and gunfire. She also mentions the importance of comfort in their uniforms to allow flexibility and speed in performing their duties in the field.

An IDF representative at the meeting, Lieut. Col. Alon Hoffman, head of the Land Forces Weapons Department, presents some of the solutions that the IDF has recently begun working on. According to him, the IDF has examined the use of a different type of body armor with flexible materials that may offer better protection for the chest and waist areas but rejected them for safety reasons.

Hoffman says the IDF is testing different solutions and also working on helmets that accommodate longer hair.

Golan says Ben Gvir and Smotrich are not Zionists or Jews, says they dance on the blood of fallen soldiers

Far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are neither Zionists nor Jews, declares The Democrats chairman Yair Golan, following an incident in which five IDF troops were killed by a roadside bomb in Gaza.

“Smotrich and Ben Gvir heard about the death of five fighters and immediately jumped to dance on their blood,” Golan posts on X, using a Hebrew expression which means to gloat.

“Just more and more death, more blood, more war for the sake of clinging to power and messianic delusions. They are not Zionists. Nor are they Jews. End the war. Bring back all the hostages. Save Israel,” Golan writes.

Following the overnight attack, in which five soldiers died in Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, Finance Minister Smotrich insisted that despite the pain of losing so many troops, Israel must continue fighting in Gaza or risk “far greater bloodshed” in the future.

National Security Minister Ben Gvir, in turn, called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring back the team negotiating a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas in indirect talks in Doha.

“We should not negotiate with those who kill our soldiers,” said Ben Gvir, calling for “a complete siege, crush them militarily, encouraging [Palestinian] immigration and [Jewish] settlement.”

Cargo ship in Red Sea ‘under continuous attack’: monitor

A cargo ship has been under attack in the volatile Red Sea since Monday after losing power and suffering major damage, a maritime monitor says.

“The vessel has sustained significant damage and has lost all propulsion. The vessel is surrounded by small craft and is under continuous attack,” the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations says in a statement.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have again stepped up attacks against shipping in recent days.

Gaza hostage-ceasefire talks resume in Doha, with focus on IDF withdrawal, aid

A third day of indirect negotiations on a Gaza ceasefire between Israel and  Hamas began in Doha today, a Palestinian source close to the talks says.

“Indirect negotiations are continuing this morning in Doha, with a fourth meeting being held… the discussions are still focused on the mechanisms for implementation, particularly the clauses related to withdrawal and humanitarian aid,” the source tells AFP.

Iran’s government says at least 1,060 people were killed in the war with Israel

Iran’s government has issued a new death toll for its war with Israel, saying at least 1,060 people were killed and warning that the figure could rise.

Saeed Ohadi, the head of Iran’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, gives the figure in an interview aired by Iranian state television late Monday.

Ohadi warns the death toll may reach 1,100 given how severely some people were wounded.

During the war, Iran downplayed the effects of Israel’s 12-day bombardment of the country, which decimated its air defenses, destroyed military sites, and damaged its nuclear facilities. Since a ceasefire took hold, Iran slowly has been acknowledging the breadth of the destruction, though it still has not said how much military materiel it lost.

The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, has said 1,190 people were killed, including 436 civilians and 435 security force members. The attacks wounded another 4,475 people, the group said.

Shas MK says deaths of Haredi soldiers expose Lapid’s ‘libel’ in accusing ultra-Orthodox of sending other people’s children to die

Shas MK Erez Malul slams Opposition Leader Yair Lapid after four members of the IDF’s ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda battalion were killed overnight in Gaza, arguing that their deaths disprove Lapid’s claim that the Haredim are only willing to send other people’s children to fight and die.

“This is a difficult morning for the people of Israel. Only hours have passed since MK Yair Lapid’s harsh inflammatory remarks…in which he slammed Shas Chairman Rabbi Aryeh Deri as if he were sending out reserve call-up orders knowing that Haredim would not die,” Malul says.

“Tonight the magnitude of the lie and the libel became clear — five fighters fell in battle in the Gaza Strip, four of them Haredi fighters from the Netzah Yehuda battalion. There is no limit and no bottom that Lapid will not tread in a desperate attempt to stop his party’s collapse in the polls. Mr. MK Lapid, are you satisfied now?”

Malul tells The Times of Israel that he knows the families of some of those killed and is personally pained by their deaths.

Speaking with reporters ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset on Monday, Lapid railed against Haredi efforts to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military service, stating that Deri and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee member Yaakov Asher (United Torah Judaism) “have no problem sending [reserve] soldiers to go fight and die on one condition: that their own children not die.”

In response, Deri claimed in a statement that “the percentage of soldiers who serve and risk their lives among Shas voters is higher than among your party’s voters.”

“Stop pointing an accusing finger at an entire community that contributes to the country with dedication… Your words are serious and false incitement,” Deri said, calling on Lapid to retract his “inflammatory slur.”

Beit Shemesh mayor mourns fallen soldier from city who served in ultra-Orthodox unit

Beit Shemesh Mayor Shmuel Greenberg mourns the death of Staff Sgt. Moshe Shmuel Noll, 21, of the Kfir Brigade’s ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion, who fell in Gaza on Sunday night.

“This is a very difficult day for the city of Beit Shemesh. Moshe Shmuel was a role model of dedication and heroism. A true warrior who fell…while on his mission for the people of Israel. The entire city mourns with the Noll family and embraces them at this difficult time,” says Greenberg.

Greenberg, a Haredi IDF veteran, represents the ultra-Orthodox Degel Hatorah faction, whose Knesset representatives have fought tooth and nail to block ultra-Orthodox conscription.

Four out of the five soldiers killed by last night’s roadside bomb in Beit Hanoun belonged to the IDF’s Netzah Yehuda battalion, a unit established to provide an accommodating environment for Haredi soldiers.

Citing high defense costs, fragile Iran ceasefire, Moody’s keeps negative outlook on Israel

Credit rating agency Moody’s decides to maintain a negative outlook on Israel’s country rating, leaving the door open for further rating cuts, as it warns about “higher defense spending and weaker economic growth” amid a “fragile” ceasefire with Iran.

The rating agency says the negative outlook reflects “downside risks…driven by very high geopolitical and security risks.” A lower rating raises credit costs for the government, businesses, and households.

“The implications of these risks for Israel’s fiscal and economic outlook could be more severe than we currently assess,” Moody’s states. “The recent opening of a direct military conflict with Iran will weigh further on Israel’s public finances.”

Moody’s says Israel’s Baa1 credit rating remains in place due to “Israel’s significantly weakened fiscal position as a result of the escalation in geopolitical risk since October 2023.”

“Despite ceasefires in place with Iran and Hezbollah in the north and a moderation of risks from the military conflict in Gaza, geopolitical and security risks remain significant and a source of downside credit risks for Israel,” Moody’s says. “At the same time, given Israel’s very strong market access, we expect debt to remain relatively affordable and for the government to have no problems meeting its funding needs.”

In September, Moody’s cut Israel’s credit score by two levels from A2 to Baa1, citing the “diminished quality of Israel’s institutions and governance” in their ability to manage state finances, and increased spending needs during the war period.

Liberman accuses government of funding Hamas with aid

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government constitutes “a real danger to Israel’s security,” declares Avigdor Liberman, the chairman of the hawkish opposition party Yisrael Beytenu.

“The October 7 government is funding Hamas with public money, through trucks loaded with ‘aid,’ and then sends our finest sons to fight strengthened and equipped terrorists,” he posts on X, following the IDF’s announcement of the deaths of five soldiers overnight in Gaza.

“This government is a real danger to Israel’s security and must go home,” he says.

Smotrich urges continued fight in Gaza, no pullback from conquered territory

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich insists that despite the pain of losing five Israeli soldiers overnight in Gaza, Israel must continue fighting in Gaza or risk “far greater bloodshed” in the future.

“The pain is immense, and so is the faith in the righteousness of our path, the determination to continue on it, and the understanding that we have no choice but to keep fighting until the enemy is destroyed and security is restored to Israel’s citizens for many years to come,” Smotrich writes in a lengthy post on social network X.

“Those who, out of pain and shortsightedness, call for surrender to the enemy and a halt to the fighting before its destruction will, God forbid, bring about far greater bloodshed in the inevitable future rounds of conflict that will surely come soon,” he warns.

Smotrich calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to immediately halt aid to the Gaza Strip, which he says is making its way to Hamas, and “encircle the combat zones” in order to “exhaust the enemy within them before they encounter our heroic fighters.”

“In addition, I demand…that any territory that conquered and cleansed of terror with the blood of our fighters not be abandoned. It is immoral and illogical, even within the framework of a hostage deal, to allow the enemy to reestablish itself in this territory and once again endanger our fighters by having to conquer it again and again. This is not how you win a war,” he states.

Lapid, Golan urge end to Gaza war, hostage deal as IDF toll mounts

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls to end the war in Gaza in the wake of the IDF’s announcement that five Israeli soldiers were killed and 14 were wounded by a roadside bomb in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun on Sunday night.

“For the sake of the fighters, for their families, for the kidnapped, for the State of Israel: This war must end,” Lapid declares.

The Democrats chairman Yair Golan issues a similar appeal, posting on X that Israel “must urgently implement a comprehensive hostage deal, bring our brothers home, and end the war.”

Ben Gvir calls on Netanyahu to bring home Doha negotiators: ‘We need to starve Hamas to death’

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring back the team negotiating a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas in indirect talks in Doha.

“We should not negotiate with those who kill our soldiers. They should be crushed to pieces, starved to death, and not resuscitated with humanitarian aid that gives them oxygen,” says Ben Gvir, who opposes a hostage deal.

“A complete siege, crush them militarily, encouraging [Palestinian] immigration and [Jewish] settlement — these are the keys to complete victory, and not a reckless deal that will release thousands of terrorists and see the IDF withdraw from territories conquered with the blood of our fighters,” Ben Gvir says.

Official says endgame in Gaza is ‘no more Hamas,’ Israel may have to take control for a while

Israel’s endgame is in Gaza is “there is no more Hamas,” says a senior Israeli official in Washington.

“Hamas taken apart. It has put down its weapons. It’s people have given up. The leaders have been exiled. Another force has taken over the territory and prevents the use of weapons,” the official says.

“There has to be a system there that manages life,” the official continues.

“Maybe for a certain amount of time, it is us,” says the official. “I’m not sure that if we’re not there for a certain stage, that we’ll be able to pass it on to someone else.”

Israel convinced Trump serious about encouraging voluntary migration from Gaza

Israel is convinced US President Donald Trump is serious about encouraging Gazans to emigrate voluntarily, a senior Israeli official says.

“After tonight, I am [convinced],” says the official.

“The plan is alive, What is needed is operational coordination, not only the aims, but how we achieve it. And that is what we discussed. The desire is there.”

IDF names fifth soldier killed in Gaza roadside bomb attack

The IDF releases the name of the fifth soldier killed in the Beit Hanoun roadside bomb attack.

He is named as Staff Sgt. Moshe Shmuel Noll, 21, of the Kfir Brigade’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion, from Beit Shemesh.

Official says Israel was not surprised by Trump’s April announcement of direct talks with Iran

US President Donald Trump did not surprise the Israelis in April when he announced direct nuclear talks with Iran as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat next to him, a senior Israeli official tells Israel reporters in Washington.

“We talked to him before,” says the official.

Official says Israel did not need to ask US for greenlight to attack Iran

A senior Israeli official tells Israeli press that Jerusalem “didn’t ask for and didn’t receive a green light from [US President Donald} Trump to attack Iran.”

“You have it wrong,” the senior official says in English.

“There is a different relationship now.”

The senior official says Israel is able to maintain that relationship with the US “because there is a large public in the US that [Israel] can influence, because public sentiment influences leaders. There is also a public that opposes, but there is a very strong base here, so you have strength that maybe doesn’t exist in other countries,” he says.

“Obama wrote this in his book. Read what he wrote in his autobiography. ‘I could do whatever I wanted, just not with Israel.’ There is a reason for this,” he says.

“With Trump it works in the opposite manner,” the senior official continues. “We agree on things, we don’t have that problem. But you also don’t need to get approval. He understands that we have existential needs.”

“You have to get to know him, you have to talk to him in a small forum, to understand how unique he is, how different he is,” the official says.

Senior official says there is ‘total coordination’ between Israel and US on Gaza, Iran

There is “full trust and coordination” between Israel and the US, says a senior Israeli official. “Total coordination.”

“On a hostage deal, we are coordinated,” says a second Israeli official during a briefing to Israeli reporters. “We hope it will lead to a breakthrough. Hamas’s response to the Qatari proposal was, in essence, no. But the gaps are small enough for us to enter talks with them, and we hoped the answer would be yes, and then it would take a few days. It can take more time, but we are working on it.”

On Iran, says the second official, “we had diplomatic coordination before the attack, military coordination during the attack, and now once again diplomatic coordination.”

“We will very significant accomplishments” in Iran, says the senior official, “and we want to preserve them.”

“I measure my words,” says the senior official in English, “there has never been such coordination.”

The close ties are based on “trust that has been created gradually” says the senior official, not only through what has been accomplished together, but also the manner in which it was accomplished.

The senior official notes that Trump put up two pictures in the entrance to the White House — one of the president after he was shot in the ear in Pennsylvania, and one of Harry Truman, the US president who recognized Israel.

Netanyahu to meet Vance, top US lawmakers on Tuesday

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US Vice President J.D. Vance at 9:15 a.m. local time at the Blair House.

He will then meet US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Capitol House, then will return to Blair House for meetings.

At 4 p.m., Netanyahu will head to the Senate for meeting with Majority Leader John Thune, Democratic Senator John Fetterman, and other senators.

Netanyahu’s meetings with Witkoff, Rubio both lasted some 2 hours

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meetings with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday both lasted around two hours, a senior Israeli official says.

The meeting with Witkoff covered “the negotiations, Gaza, and some other topics,” says the senior official.

“They were detailed meetings on all the issues on agenda, all of them,” continues the official.

They then briefed US President Donald Trump before he met with Netanyahu later in the day. “We focused it in the meeting with the president to the issues that need a presidential decision.”

If there is a need, says the senior official, there will be another meeting between Netanyahu and Trump.

In nomination letter to Nobel committee, Netanyahu lauds Trump’s exceptional dedication to peace

In his letter to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee nominating US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praises Trump’s “steadfast and exceptional dedication to promoting peace, security, and stability around the world.

He writes that the Abraham Accords are “foremost” among Trump’s achievements in creating peace.

“President Trump’s vision and bold leadership promoted innovative diplomacy defined not by conflict and extremism but by cooperation, dialogue, and shared prosperity,” he writes.

IDF identifies two additional soldiers killed in Gaza

The IDF releases the names of two more soldiers killed in last night’s roadside bomb attack in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, in which five troops were killed.

They are:

Sgt. First Class (res.) Benyamin Asulin, 28, of the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, from Haifa.

Staff Sgt. Noam Aharon Musgadian, 20, of the Kfir Brigade’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion, from Jerusalem.

Two soldiers were named earlier. The name of the fifth soldier killed in the incident will be released later.

5 IDF soldiers killed, 14 injured by roadside bomb in northern Gaza

Five Israeli soldiers were killed and 14 were wounded by a roadside bomb in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun last night, the military announces.

Two of the slain soldiers are named as:

• Staff Sgt. Meir Shimon Amar, 20, from Jerusalem
• Sgt. Moshe Nissim Frech, 20, from Jerusalem.

They both served with the Kfir Brigade’s Netzah Yehuda Battalion.

The names of the other soldiers are set to be released later.

According to an initial IDF probe, the infantry soldiers were hit by a bomb planted on the side of a road shortly after 10 p.m. on Monday, during ground operations in Beit Hanoun. The soldiers were operating on foot, and were not inside a vehicle.

During attempts to extract the casualties, the forces came under fire in the area, according to the probe.

Among the 14 wounded, two are listed in serious condition.

The military says the area where the attack took place was targeted from the air ahead of the troops’ operations in the area.

The Netzah Yehuda soldiers were operating under the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, as part of an offensive with the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade in Beit Hanoun, aimed at clearing the area of terror operatives who remain holed up there.

Netanyahu-Trump dinner ends; PM heads to Blair House for briefing with Israeli press

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s dinner meeting with US President Donald Trump has ended.

Netanyahu is now on his way to Blair House for a briefing with the Israeli traveling press.

Trump claims Syria sanctions were removed at Netanyahu’s request; PM hails US talks with Damascus

WASHINGTON — Asked whether he is comfortable with the quick warming of US ties with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government, given Israel’s more cautious public approach, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the weakening of Iran and its proxies in the region presents new opportunities “for stability, for security, and eventually for peace.”

Netanyahu hails US President Donald Trump for opening “up a channel” with the new government in Damascus.

He declines to reveal whether Israel is engaged in direct talks with Syria. Only indirect channels have been publicly confirmed to date.

Trump reiterates that he decided to lift US sanctions against Syria at the request of many countries, “including Bibi.”

Reports to date have all insisted that Netanyahu was caught off guard by Trump’s decision to lift Syria sanctions. Israel had been taking a much harder stance on Syria, with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Defense Minister Israel Katz branding Sharaa a “terrorist in a suit” before abandoning the rhetoric in recent weeks as the US policy on Syria continued to warm.

Trump says he was impressed by Sharaa during their May meeting and lifted US sanctions in order to “give him a chance.”

The US president says he hopes to do the same for Iran “at the right time.”

“I’d like to see Iran build itself back up in a peaceful manner, and not going around saying ‘Death to America, Death to the USA, Death to Israel,’ as they were doing,” Trump says. “They were the bully of the Middle East, and now they’re not the bully anymore.”

Called on to speak by the president, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee hails Trump for his Syria policy.

“He reached out to the new Syrian government, knowing they needed a partner, and knowing that they could pick the wrong partner,” Huckabee says.

“What the president did — which took us all off guard… has set up something that is absolutely historic,” he says.

Ambrey says concrete docks at Yemen’s Hodeida port sustain damage after Israeli strikes

British security firm Ambrey says it has observed imagery that confirms damage to the concrete docks at Yemen’s Houthi-held Hodeida port following Israeli strikes.

Additionally, two Barbados-flagged bulk carriers likely suffered blast damage as a result of the attacks, Ambrey says in an advisory note, adding that no injuries among the crews have been reported.

Israel struck Houthi targets at three Yemeni ports and a power plant, the military said early on Monday, in its first strikes on Yemen in nearly a month.

Netanyahu: We removed ‘tumors’ of Iran’s nuclear and missile threats, but monitoring needed so they don’t reemerge

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the “partnership between Israel and the United States — the partnership between President Trump and me — produced a historic victory.”

He says the combination of the US and Israel “produced a decisive result” against Iran.

“It set back the two tumors that were threatening the life of Israel — the nuclear tumor and the ballistic missile tumor,” Netanyahu tells reporters before his dinner with US President Donald Trump at the White House.

“They were planning to build 20,000 of these things and launch it on a country the size of New Jersey. No country can withstand that. So what do you do when you have two things that are going to kill you? You have to remove them with our combined effort [and] we did,” Netanyahu says.

“But when you remove a tumor, that doesn’t mean that it can’t come back. You have to constantly monitor the situation to make sure that there’s no attempt to bring it back,” the premier warns.

Netanyahu says the US and Israeli strikes against Iran “changed the face of the Middle East” and have created an opportunity to expand the Abraham Accords normalization agreements between Israel and its Arab and Muslim neighbors.

“I’d like to believe that Iran would not test our fortitude, because it would be a mistake,” he says.

Asked whether he backs regime change, Netanyahu responds, “It’s up to the people of Iran.”

Netanyahu says he’ll travel to NYC despite Mamdani’s ‘not serious’ vow to arrest him; Trump: ‘I’ll get him out’

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he still plans to travel to New York City, despite the US Democratic Party’s nominee for mayor of the city Zohran Mamdani pledging to arrest the Israeli premier, citing the International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him.

Asked if he’s concerned about Mamdani’s pledge, Netanyahu tells reporters before his dinner with US President Donald Trump that he’s “not concerned about that.”

“I’ll get him out,” Trump chimes in as Netanyahu is speaking.

“There’s enough craziness in the world, but I guess it never ends. This is appalling, and it’s silly in many ways because it’s just not serious,” the Israeli premier adds.

Asked whether that means he’ll be in New York next year, Netanyahu responds that he’s going to come with Trump.

Netanyahu would likely come before next year, given that he speaks at the UN General Assembly’s annual high-level meeting of world leaders, which takes place annually in September.

The premier also notes that while Mamdani has won the Democratic primary, the general election isn’t until November.

Weighing in on the matter, Trump calls Mamdani a “communist” who has “said some real bad things about Jewish people” — an apparent reference to the mayoral candidate’s intense criticism of Israel and refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.”

“He’s going through a little bit of a honeymoon right now, [and] he might [win], but it all comes through the White House. He needs the money through the White House… He’s going to behave… He better behave, otherwise he’s going to have big problems,” Trump says.

Netanyahu says he’ll ‘work out a peace’ with moderate Palestinians, but they won’t have the power to threaten Israel

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump is asked whether a two-state solution is possible, but cedes the floor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to answer.

“I think Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves, but none of the powers to threaten us,” Netanyahu says in a response he has given countless times before over the years.

“That means that certain powers, like overall security, will always remain in our hands,” the Israeli premier continues.

“No one in Israel will agree to anything else, because we don’t commit suicide,” Netanyahu asserts.

“We want life. We cherish life for ourselves, for our neighbors, and I think we can work out a peace between us and the entire Middle East with President Trump’s leadership,” he continues. “By working together, I think we can establish a very, very broad peace that will include all our neighbors.”

He claims that some people said the Palestinians had a state before the onslaught of October 7, 2023 — “a Hamas state in Gaza. Look what they did with it. They didn’t build it up. They built down into bunkers, into terror tunnels, after which they massacred our people.” He says that “another” Palestinian state would similarly serve as a “platform to destroy Israel.”

“We’ll work out a peace with our Palestinian neighbors — those who don’t want to destroy us. And we’ll work out a peace in which our security, the sovereign power of security, always remains in our hands,” Netanyahu asserts.

“Now people will say, ‘It’s not a complete state, it’s not a state’… We don’t care,” he says.

“We vowed ‘Never again.’ Never again is now. It’s not going to happen again.”

Witkoff promises new nuclear talks with Iran within a week; Trump says not sure they have a purpose

WASHINGTON — US Special Envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff says the first round of nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran since last month’s war between Israel and Iran will be held “in the next week or so.”

Fielding questions from reporters before his White House dinner with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump is asked about the talks, given that he has claimed for over a week that Iran is interested in holding talks.

“We have scheduled Iran talks, and they want to talk” after they took a “big drubbing,” Trump quips, referring to the US strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear sites.

Pressed if he has a date for the Iran talks, Trump responds: “I’d rather not say, but you’ll be reading about it tomorrow or seeing it tomorrow.”

Asked what the Iran talks will be about moving forward, Trump acknowledges that he doesn’t completely see a purpose for them, given his belief that Tehran’s nuclear program has been destroyed.

“But [the Iranians] requested a meeting, and I’m going to go to a meeting, and if we can put something down on paper, that will be fine,” Trump says.

He reiterates his assertion that Iran’s nuclear program was “obliterated.”

Trump says the strike he ordered reminded him of the US dropping atomic bombs on Japan in World War II.

“I don’t want to say what it reminded me of, but if you go back a long time ago, it reminded people of a certain other event, and Harry Truman’s picture is now in the [White House] lobby,” he says, referring to the US president behind the strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“That stopped a lot of fighting, and this stopped a lot of fighting,” Trump says.

He asserts that Iran is now in a different mindset regarding nuclear talks since the US strikes and has gained a lot of respect for the US and Israel.

Asked what it would take for the US to carry out another strike on Iran, Trump says he hopes that won’t be necessary.

“They want to make peace, and I’m all for it. If that’s not the case, we are ready, willing and able, but I don’t think we’re going to have to,” he adds.

Netanyahu says several countries close to agreeing to take in Gazans; Trump: ‘Something good will happen’

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel and the US are “getting close to finding several countries” who will take in Palestinians who would like to leave the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Fielding questions from reporters before their White House dinner, US President Donald Trump is asked whether his plan to take over Gaza and relocate the Strip’s population is still on the table.

Trump asks Netanyahu to answer the question.

“I think President Trump had a brilliant vision. It’s called free choice. If people want to stay, they can stay; but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave,” Netanyahu responds. Gaza “shouldn’t be a prison. It should be an open place.”

The Israeli government has jumped on Trump’s Gaza takeover plan, framing it as an opportunity to “encourage the voluntary migration” of Palestinians from the Strip.

Critics have blasted the Israeli rhetoric as a euphemism for the forced expulsion of Palestinians and the ethnic cleansing of the Strip, given that the effort is being pushed in the middle of a devastating war that has seen much of Gaza flattened.

“We’re working with the United States very closely [to] find countries that will… give the Palestinians a better future,” Netanyahu says.

Chiming in, Trump says he has had “great cooperation” from “surrounding countries” on the matter.

“Something good will happen,” he adds.

While some neighboring countries have taken in Palestinians for medical treatment, no country has publicly agreed to cooperate with the Trump initiative, not wanting to interfere in what is seen as a land conflict between Israel and the Palestinians — particularly as some of Netanyahu’s coalition partners have been pushing building settlements in Gaza areas cleared of Palestinians.

Witkoff on Gaza talks: ‘We have an opportunity to finally get a peace deal’

WASHINGTON — Asked to provide an update on the ongoing ceasefire-hostage talks, US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff says, “We have an opportunity to finally get a peace deal.”

US President Donald Trump asked Witkoff to speak while taking questions from reporters with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before their dinner at the White House.

Trump had been asked whether a reported security incident that took place several hours earlier in northern Gaza — later revealed to be an incident in which five Israeli soldiers were killed and 14 were injured by a roadside bomb — would impact the hostage talks.

“I don’t think so,” Trump responds, insisting that both Israel and Hamas want a ceasefire before asking Witkoff to weigh in.

Commenting on the security incident, Witkoff calls it “terribly unfortunate” before insisting that there is still an opportunity for a hostage deal and expressing his hope that one will be reached “very quickly.”

Netanyahu gives Trump letter he sent to Nobel committee recommending him for Peace Prize

WASHINGTON — Following US President Donald Trump’s opening remarks to reporters before their White House dinner, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expresses his appreciation for the American leader on behalf of Israelis as well as Jews around the world.

Netanyahu touts Trump’s “pursuit of peace and security in which you are leading in many lands, but now, especially in the Middle East.”

“Our teams together make an extraordinary combination to meet challenges and seize opportunities,” Netanyahu says, highlighting the US strikes against Iran.

“But the president has already realized great opportunities. He forged the Abraham Accords. He’s forging peace as we speak, in one country, in one region, after the other,” Netanyahu continues.

The premier then gets to his feet and presents Trump, across the table, with a letter he sent to the Nobel Prize committee nominating the US president for the peace prize.

“It’s well deserved, and you should get it,” the Israeli premier says.

“Wow,” Trump says. “Coming from you in particular, this is very meaningful.”

Nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize are an open process, and any government official in the world can nominate an individual, as well as any former Nobel winner and any university rector, director or professor in certain fields.

Trump has also already been nominated for the prize this year.

Trump hosts Netanyahu for dinner, says they’ve had ‘tremendous success together’

WASHINGTON — In remarks to reporters while sitting across from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for dinner at the White House, US President Donald Trump says he and the Israeli premier have “had a tremendous success together, and I think it will only go on to be even greater success in the future.”

Trump and Netanyahu are joined for dinner by their top aides, and the US president gives a personal shout-out to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.

“We’ve worked together for a long time. We’ve done well together,” Trump tells Dermer, Netanyahu’s closest adviser.

WATCH: Livestream from Trump-Netanyahu dinner

Netanyahu says meeting with Rubio was ‘substantive and important’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was “substantive and important,” without delving far into the subject matter of the meeting.

“We had a substantive and important conversation about strengthening the alliance between Israel and the United States,” Netanyahu writes on X, “and about the challenges we share in the regional and international arena.”

Witkoff’s trip to Qatar for Gaza truce talks to take place Tuesday — source

WASHINGTON — US special envoy Steve Witkoff is slated to depart on Tuesday for Qatar to take part in the ongoing proximity talks between Israel and Hamas, a US official tells The Times of Israel.

The White House earlier announced Witkoff would travel to Doha, but did not say which day he would fly.

Witkoff’s participation in the talks could be an indication that the sides are nearing a critical juncture, as he hasn’t taken part in preliminary rounds in the past.

Protesters demonstrate near White House against Netanyahu visit

A small crowd of protesters demonstrate near the White House complex against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, to meet with US President Donald Trump.

Protesters hold signs reading “war monger,” “PRIME MINISTER OF GENOCIDE,” and lift photos of malnourished children with the caption “ISRAEL did this!”

A large papier-maché effigy of Netanyahu, including bloody hands, is held up.

Also present are members of the fringe, anti-Israel Hasidic Jewish sect Neturei Karta, photos show.

מחאה סמוך לבית הלבן, זמן קצר לפני פגישת נתניהו-טראמפ pic.twitter.com/VCm1nzaSv0

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) July 7, 2025

Netanyahu arrives at White House for dinner with Trump

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the White House for his dinner with US President Donald Trump.

The two are expected to discuss the war in Gaza, an agreement with Syria, and Iran’s nuclear program.

Netanyahu to meet US House Speaker Mike Johnson tomorrow, latter confirms

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US House Speaker Mike Johnson tomorrow at 11:45 a.m. local time (6:45 Israel time), the latter’s office confirms.

It is Netanyahu’s only publicly confirmed meeting for tomorrow, though he is also expected to meet US Vice President JD Vance and other Congressional leaders.

Netanyahu meets US envoy Witkoff, then US Secretary of State Rubio, in Washington

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff at the Blair House in Washington.

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer joins Netanyahu for the meeting.

Netanyahu then meets with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio with their aides, then hold a one-on-one meeting, according to Netanyahu’s office.

The Israeli readout does not offer any details on the content of the meetings.

Earlier, Prime Minister Netanyahu met with US Special Presidential Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. pic.twitter.com/B7l2v9qgSI

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 7, 2025