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The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they unfold.
Lebanon sentences two anti-Hezbollah activists in abstentia for ‘inciting’ Israeli attacks
Lebanon’s judiciary has charged two anti-Hezbollah activists in absentia with inciting Israeli attacks against the Iran-backed terror group and sentenced them to 15 years in prison, a judicial official tells AFP.
It is the harshest sentence yet against activists expressing support for Israel, which has officially been at war with Lebanon since 1948.
The official, who requests anonymity, says the two individuals, Ahmed Yassine and Joumana Gebara, both living outside Lebanon, have been charged with “collaborating with Israel and inciting it to continue its military operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon” by the military tribunal in a trial that began in November 2024.
Yassine, a Paris-based university professor, is accused of “inciting the Israeli army to bomb the historic Baalbek Citadel by disseminating information claiming that the citadel housed Hezbollah weapons depots.”
Yassine also has a YouTube channel where he shares political commentary to more than 140,000 subscribers.
Gebara is accused of “praising Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee and thanking him for the bombings of Lebanon, as well as calling for normalization with Israel” during the previous Israel-Hezbollah war in 2024, the official says.
It has previously arrested people accused of spying for Israel.
British hotel chain investigating after Jewish guests find ‘Free Palestine’ message on TV
British hotel chain Travelodge is investigating after “Free Palestine” messages appeared on television screens in the rooms of two different Jewish guests at one of its London hotels, prompting allegations of antisemitism and a police report.
The incident occurred Wednesday at the Travelodge hotel in Manor House, north London. A Jewish guest reported finding the message displayed on the television in his room shortly after checking in.
Soon after, a second visibly Jewish guest — a friend of the first man who was staying at the same hotel — reported finding the same message displayed on the television in his room.
Both parties were visibly Jewish, and were part of a group visiting London for a wedding, according to reports.
Travelodge CEO Jo Boydell said that the company had apologized to the guests and condemned antisemitism, adding that such behavior would not be tolerated within the company or its hotels.
The chain is treating the matter with the “utmost seriousness,” and had launched an immediate investigation into the matter as well as reporting it to police, she said.
A visibly Jewish guest checks into Travelodge Manor House and finds “Free Palestine” displayed on his TV. His friend in another room receives the same message.
This is blatant antisemitism.
Absolutely disgraceful.Those responsible should be identified, & fired!@TravelodgeUK pic.twitter.com/3WzHUVKv2F
— In Stamford Hill (@instamfordhill) June 3, 2026
Millions pushed into hunger by Middle East conflict, UN says; Afghanistan, Somalia are worst off
Vendors sell potatoes at their stall in a street market in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)
The Middle East conflict is pushing millions of people closer to hunger, as rising fuel and transport costs drive up food prices while funding shortfalls force aid agencies to scale back assistance, the UN World Food Programme says.
Joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February triggered a regional conflict stretching across the Gulf and into Lebanon, disrupting key shipping routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, forcing vessels to reroute and sharply constraining global energy flows and supply chains.
In March, after the US-Israeli war with Iran triggered a regional conflict and disrupted key shipping routes, the WFP forecast that as many as 45 million people could fall into acute food insecurity if oil prices remained around $100 per barrel through June.
That scenario is now unfolding, the agency says, with benchmark crude prices staying above that level since early March.
Households in Afghanistan, Somalia and Sri Lanka are among the most seriously affected and face mounting pressure due to higher fuel costs, food price spikes, income losses and disrupted trade.
In Somalia, 6.5 million people – roughly a third of the population – are expected to face severe hunger in 2026, while Afghanistan could see 17.4 million people affected, the WFP says. The situation is projected to worsen, with an additional 2.5 million Somalis and 2.3 million Afghans at risk of falling into food insecurity if disruptions persist. Both countries are reliant on imported energy and food.
In Somalia, supplies of nutritious food for children under five suffering from moderate malnutrition will run out as soon as July, as the WFP faces an 89% funding gap in the country.
The situation is being worsened by supply chain issues, with fewer ships stopping in Somalia because of disruptions that have affected shipping in the Indian Ocean.
UN more than doubles Lebanon aid appeal to $640 million amid Israel-Hezbollah war
This picture show a view of blue tents set up by the Lebanese government for people who fled their homes and villages in Beirut's southern suburbs and southern Lebanon, on May 22, 2026. (Anwar AMRO/AFP)
The UN has more than doubled its aid appeal for Lebanon as the country reels from Israel’s war against Iran-backed Hezbollah, saying nearly $640 million was needed over six months.
“The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon is severe and deteriorating,” the UN humanitarian agency OCHA says in a revised appeal for the country.
“Repeated displacements, insufficient shelter capacity and limited prospects for safe return are deepening vulnerability,” it says, warning that “affected people are rapidly exhausting their coping capacities, and essential services are under increasing strain.”
The UN had appealed for $308 million in March to support a massive emergency response led by Lebanon’s government through to the end of May.
It says now that another $331 million will be needed through the end of August.
Only $185 million has so far been received out of the initial appeal, says the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), adding that the amount has helped provide assistance to around 680,000 people between March 2 and May 31.
The aim now, it says, is to more than double that number to reach all of the 1.4 million people in Lebanon — around a quarter of the population — estimated to need humanitarian assistance in the country.
Nearly one million people have fled their homes while more than 1.2 million are facing acute food insecurity, the new appeal shows.
Price pressure is adding to the misery, with the cost of water, fuel and electricity up more than a third nationally, and as high as 70 percent in the conflict-affected areas, it says.
It also highlights the strain that the conflict is placing on healthcare in Lebanon, with 62 hospitals and other health facilities either damaged or closed.
OCHA says nearly 450 schools are being used to shelter displaced people, driving learning loss and drop-out risks.
Israel, US launch talks on new defense framework aimed at transition from aid to ‘reciprocal partnership’
The Defense Ministry and the US Trump administration have launched formal talks on a new security cooperation framework to replace the current ten-year memorandum of understanding signed under the Obama administration, which is set to expire in 2028, according to a statement from the ministry.
An inaugural meeting between the sides was held this week, and further sessions are planned in both countries in the coming weeks, according to the statement, which says that Defense Ministry Director-General Amir Baram and Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter will lead the Israeli team. US State Department Counselor Daniel Holler and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee will lead the American team.
The new framework “is designed to strengthen the IDF’s qualitative military edge through expanded joint investment in research, development and co-production, deepen the US-Israel partnership demonstrated during [the 2026 US-Israeli campaign against Iran] Operation Roaring Lion, and gradually transition from aid to a completely reciprocal partnership,” according to the statement.
The last MOU, a 10-year deal signed in 2016 that went into effect two years later, granted Israel $3.8 billion per year in military aid, much of it to purchase US-made arms.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said he seeks to end US military aid to Israel within a decade, amid division within the Republican voter base over the issue, and following frustrations during the Gaza war when several allies, including the Biden administration, halted arms supplies, which held up the transfer of some munitions.
Report: Israel carried out covert intel mission along Azerbaijan border during Iran war
Illustrative: An Iranian watchtower overlooks a section of the Aras river on the border with Azerbaijan, in Jolfa, northern Iran, on September 18, 2025. (Atta Kenare/AFP)
Elite Israeli troops were deployed to Azerbaijan in a secret mission during the recent war with Iran, CNN reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.
According to the report, several dozen elite troops and Mossad agents were stationed at various points along the Azerbaijan-Iran border, including some 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) from Tabriz, in northwestern Iran.
The troops deployed to Azerbaijan were initially intended to serve as an emergency rescue team in the event of Israeli planes being downed over Iran, CNN reports, but the mission was expanded to include intelligence-gathering and drone operations that allowed Israel to expand the reach and scope of its offensive.
One of the most significant operations launched by Israel from within Azerbaijan was the killing of the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Special Operations Division, Rahman Moqadam, CNN reports.
Moqadam was responsible for recruiting and training operatives both inside and outside of Iran, and asked them to gather intelligence on Israeli political leaders, security officials, Israeli and Western military installations, ports, and Israeli ships around the world.
The Azerbaijani embassy in the US tells CNN that it rejects “unfounded claims regarding the alleged use of Azerbaijan’s territory for operations against third countries.”
Meanwhile, the sources tell CNN that Israel also set up a military position in Somaliland that would allow Israeli aircraft to refuel while en route to Iran.
Israel recognized Somaliland in December and is the only country to date to have done so.
The report comes after The New York Times reported last month that Israel built two covert bases in Iraq to help in its wars against the Islamic Republic.
PM says cabinet won’t vote on US-brokered ceasefire with Lebanon unless Hezbollah agrees to terms — report
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told government ministers in a cabinet meeting last night that he won’t call a vote on the latest iteration of the US-brokered ceasefire with Lebanon until Hezbollah has accepted its terms, the Ynet news outlet reports.
According to the report, ministers criticized the fragile ceasefire — which Israeli and Lebanese delegations agreed to renew during a meeting in Washington on Wednesday — and demanded that it be brought to a vote in the cabinet before Israel accepts its terms.
Netanyahu refused to call a vote, however, telling the ministers that “at the moment, there is no deal” because Hezbollah has refused to accept its terms.
“Hezbollah is opposed, and therefore I am not making a decision,” he said, according to Ynet, adding that “if it agrees, I will bring it for your approval.”
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem appeared to reject the US-brokered ceasefire yesterday, saying that his group will keep bombarding northern Israel as long as strikes continue in Lebanon.
18-year-old said killed, more than a dozen others wounded in IDF strike in southern Gaza
Palestinian children look for salvageable items in the destroyed tents following an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 5, 2026. (Bashar Taleb/AFP)
Hamas-affiliated media in Gaza report that an 18-year-old was killed and 16 other people were wounded in an IDF strike earlier on a tent sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis in southern Gaza this morning.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
Hezbollah’s chief engineer killed in Israeli strike in Lebanon last week, IDF says
Hezbollah’s chief engineer was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon last week, the IDF announces.
The IDF says it struck Abed Harb, the commander of Hezbollah’s engineering unit, after he “attempted to harm” Israeli soldiers.
“Harb commanded the engineering unit that was responsible for assembling and deploying explosives intended to harm IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon,” the military says.
The IDF says Harb was a veteran commander in Hezbollah and was responsible for “numerous attacks against IDF soldiers” over the decades.
Additionally, the military says the Israeli Air Force struck last night a launcher used by Hezbollah to fire rockets at troops in southern Lebanon. It publishes footage of the strike.
לאחר שניסה לפגוע בכוחותינו: חוסל מפקד יחידת ההנדסה של חיזבאללה והושמד משגר שירה לעבר כוחותינו
צה"ל תקף בשבוע שעבר וחיסל את המחבל עבד חרב, מפקד יחידת ההנדסה של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה.
המחבל פיקד על יחידת ההנדסה של חיזבאללה שעסקה בהרכבה והפעלה של מטענים שנועדו לפגוע בכוחות צה"ל… pic.twitter.com/KEZsPOL7if
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 5, 2026
IDF issues evacuation warnings for three towns, villages in southern Lebanon
The IDF issues evacuation warnings for three villages and towns in southern Lebanon ahead of airstrikes targeting the Hezbollah terror group.
Residents of Aarnaya, Aanqoun, and Kfar Fila are instructed to evacuate at least a kilometer away.
“In light of the Hezbollah terror organization’s violations of the ceasefire agreement and its targeting of Israel’s home front, the IDF is forced to act against it with force, especially in your areas. The IDF does not intend to harm you,” warns army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.
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