June 9: Security officials said to undercut Katz’s warning that IDF will hit Beirut if Hezbollah attacks

Lebanon reports 3 more killed from Israeli strike near Tyre

An Israeli strike near Tyre killed three people in the southern Lebanese city on Tuesday, the country’s health ministry says, taking the death toll up to 11 in the region.

The strike also wounded nine people, including two women, the ministry adds, further confirming an earlier toll of eight dead.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

UK leaders call for calm as protests break out after Belfast street stabbing

People watch as a vehicle burns during a protest following a stabbing incident in North Belfast, June 9, 2026. (AP/Peter Morrison)

UK leaders call for calm after the arrest of a Sudanese man accused of trying to kill a man in a vicious stabbing on a Belfast street sparks fiery anti-immigration protests because the suspect is an asylum-seeker.

The victim, a man in his 40s, was taken to the hospital with serious injuries to his eyes, face and back after he was attacked late Monday in north Belfast in Northern Ireland, police say.

The suspect, 30, who is not named, is held in custody and charged with attempted murder, possession of a knife in a public place and making threats to kill. A kitchen knife was found at the scene.

Police are trying to determine the motive, but there is no information to suggest the attack caught on video was terrorism-related, says Ryan Henderson, assistant chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. He adds that police are not seeking other suspects.

“This brutal attack will have sent shock waves through the community, causing real concern,” he says.

Northern Ireland’s leaders and chief constable urge people not to incite hate and fear or target particular communities after reports that protests were planned.

Protesters in black hoodies, some wearing masks, torch a bus in east Belfast, and cars and trash bins are set ablaze as groups gathered in other parts of the city.

At the other end of the UK, demonstrators march in Southampton, England, where the recent sentencing of a man who killed a university student with a knife led to violent clashes with police last week.

Although the victim and convicted killer were both British, protesters stood outside a Southampton hotel that had housed asylum seekers, holding signs that said “Illegal Migration Is Destroying Our Civilisation.”

Northern Ireland’s chief constable Jon Boutcher tells reporters that the suspect was living in the UK under a five-year visa granted in September 2023. The suspect was not known to Northern Irish police, he adds.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemns the attack as “sickening” and says that he had “no tolerance for abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our streets.”

His office says “it is time for calm,” adding, “it’s important that police have the time and space to investigate appropriately.”

Trump, who vowed response to Iran’s downing of US helicopter, also said it ‘wasn’t a big deal’

US President Donald Trump speaks on June 4, 2026, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. (AP/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

In comments reported today, US President Donald Trump downplays Iran’s recent downing of a US military helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz, telling The Wall Street Journal in a phone interview that it “wasn’t a big deal” and that “the pilot is fine.”

The report doesn’t specify whether Trump made the comments before or after he declared on social media that the US “must” respond to the helicopter downing.

It is the latest example in which Trump has appeared to take contradictory stances in one of his many phone interviews with journalists and in a Truth Social post published on the same day.

US House advances $70 billion immigration enforcement bill

The US Capitol is seen lit up hours before a partial government shutdown is set to take effect in Washington, DC, on September 30, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

The US Congress moves one step closer to ending a months-long stalemate over funding for immigration enforcement, as Republicans in the House of Representatives voted along party lines to open debate on a $70 billion bill.

The House is expected to vote on passing the measure later today, which would send the legislation to the White House for US President Donald Trump’s signature. The Senate passed the bill early Friday morning, also along party lines.

The bill would fund US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol for the next three years, putting it beyond the reach of partisan disagreements in Congress.

Democrats refused to back funding for immigration enforcement after agents killed two US citizens in Minneapolis in January. That disrupted funding for the Department of Homeland Security, leading to lengthy airport-security lines, until lawmakers agreed in April to fund portions of the sprawling department not involved in Trump’s immigration crackdown. The stalemate also stalled security funding for synagogues and other religious nonprofits.

Trump repeatedly upended Republicans’ efforts to pass the legislation in the Senate with his support for $1 billion toward security for his White House ballroom and a $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund that could compensate his political allies for allegations that the government mistreated them.

The ballroom funding was removed from the bill, and Republicans defeated amendments to impose restrictions on the anti-weaponization fund, which the administration says will no longer go forward.

Iranian drone struck US helicopter at Strait of Hormuz — reports

Illustration: A Shahed-136 drone is seen in the sky seconds before it hit buildings in Kyiv, Ukraine, October 17, 2022. (AP/Efrem Lukatsky)

The US helicopter that went down over the Strait of Hormuz was hit with an Iranian drone, Axios and The New York Times report.

Both publications cite a US official, with the Times adding that it was a Shahed attack drone.

A US Navy surface drone found and rescued the two crew, the US military said, after the US Army attack helicopter went down in waters near Oman’s coast while on patrol early this morning.

The US military’s Central Command says the soldiers were rescued after two hours and said they were in stable condition.

In a social media post, US President Donald Trump also blamed Iran for the strike and said the US “must” respond.

Knesset panel advances bill aiming to regulate construction waste disposal

Illustrative: Construction waste. (lusia599; iStock by Getty Images)

The Knesset Interior and Environmental Protection Committee advances a bill aiming to regulate the disposal of construction waste.

The bill will now move to its second and third readings in the full Knesset plenum. If it passes those readings, it will become law.

The Ministry estimates that around 7.3 million tons of construction and renovation waste are generated each year, of which over a million tons are dumped in open space, endangering the environment and public health.

Truck drivers are paid by building contractors to transport the waste to regulated sites, but often dump it by roadsides to avoid having to pay gasoline costs and landfill fees.

The bill seeks to create a reporting and control system that tracks waste from the point of its generation to regulated and supervised recycling or disposal sites.

Builders will have to contract with a truck company, which will not be paid until its truck has reached the designated site.

Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman says the law, if passed, would help create “an advanced waste economy, based on responsibility, promotion of a circular economy, and protection of the environment.”

Welcoming the committee’s approval of the bill, and noting that such legislation has been delayed for 15 years, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel says the dumping of construction waste and excavated earth in open spaces, including in nature reserves, forests, and streams, is one of the worst environmental problems in Israel.

Also applauding the move, but airing reservations, Yaniv Bleicher, CEO of Citizens for Clean Air, vows to push to expand the law to cover more forms of waste after elections take place in the fall. He adds, “In addition, we call for the budgeting and establishment of a national control system that will monitor the movement of transport vehicles in real time.”

He tells The Times of Israel that this is the only way to outwit truck drivers.

Reports: Settlers set fire to area near West Bank Christian village of Taybeh

Palestinian media outlets report that settlers set fire to areas near the Chrisian village of Taybeh, near Ramallah in the central West Bank.

No injuries have been reported in the attack so far.

???? فيديو | مشهد يوثق اندلاع حريق عقب إشعال مجموعات المستوطنين النيران على أطراف قرية الطيبة، شرق رام الله pic.twitter.com/5F0eB6Dy8b

— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) June 9, 2026

The reported attack is the latest in recent months to target Taybeh, where previously, settlers allegedly set fire to cars in the area and tagged a building and a vehicle with graffiti.

The town drew attention last year when US ambassador Mike Huckabee visited following earlier instances of settler violence there. At the time, Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, denounced the arson attack as “an act of terror” and demanded “harsh consequences” for the perpetrators.

After Trump threat, Iran FM says Tehran ‘prefers’ diplomacy but signals readiness to fight

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrives to attend talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 27, 2026. (AP/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)

After US President Donald Trump vowed that Washington would retaliate against Iran for shooting down a military helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz last night, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran prefers diplomacy but signals that it is prepared to respond militarily.

“Iran prefers the language of diplomacy,” Araghchi posts on X. “However, as our Brave Warriors have shown to the world, we know how to speak other languages too.”

He makes the statement amid delicate talks with Washington on a potential deal to end the war. He also suggests the helicopter incident was not intentional, and calls on “foreign forces” to leave the strait.

“The Strait of Hormuz is NOT international waters but shared between Iran and Oman… Foreign forces in proximity to our territory are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire,” Araghchi says in a statement on X.

“To reduce risk, the best solution is for foreign forces to exit,” he adds.

Ben Gvir moves police’s northern HQ from Arab city of Nazareth to nearby Jewish city

View of Nazareth, in northern Israel, March 25, 2024. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has decided to relocate the police’s Northern District headquarters from Nazareth, Israel’s largest Arab city, to the nearby Jewish city of Nof HaGalil.

The move comes amid a surging violent crime wave among Israel’s Arab minority, which last year claimed a record number of lives and has continued apace in the first half of 2026.

Last year, Nazareth alone saw 22 residents killed, out of a total of 252 Arab homicide victims.

This year to date, 127 members of the Arab community have lost their lives in violent incidents.

Ben Gvir calls the relocation a “Zionist, values-based and strategic move” meant to “strengthen governance, increase personal security and provide meaningful momentum to the city [of Nof HaGalil] and the entire Galilee.”

Meanwhile, Nazareth residents voice displeasure with the step.

“It’s a tasteless move,” one Nazareth resident tells the Hebrew Ynet outlet. “Crime has devastated Nazareth, where the number of murder victims is currently very high, not to mention the extortion and businesses that have shut due to threats against their owners.”

Hundreds of Haredi men block Beit Shemesh roads in latest protest against police

Haredi protesters attempt to block traffic on a road in Beit Shemesh during a demonstration on June 9, 2026. (Israel Police)

Hundreds of Haredi protesters block roads in Beit Shemesh following the arrest of three men suspected of having broken into the city’s police station last week, the latest in continuing protests against the police and ultra-Orthodox conscription.

Officers at the scene declare the demonstration illegal and order participants to clear off the roads, police say.

Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators are seen trying to stop buses from continuing along roads and shouting as police urge them to disperse near a traffic circle in the city.

Earlier today, law enforcement announced they raided several homes in Beit Shemesh and arrested three suspects in last week’s break-in at the city’s police station, which saw rioters breach a gate to the compound and set fire to nearby vegetation.

Video appears to show moment IDF soldier fired at family’s car in Hebron, killing baby

The left-wing Israeli NGO B’Tselem posts brief footage that appears to show the moment when an IDF soldier shot 7-month-old Sam Abu Haikal on June 5, while he was in a car with his parents in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron.

The footage shows two soldiers standing just meters from the vehicle as it slows down and then stops near them. The soldiers are later seen moving away from the area. The video has no sound, and it is unclear exactly when the soldier fired at the car.

Additional footage filmed after the shooting shows the family removing the wounded infant from the vehicle after the soldiers appear to have left the scene.

The IDF on Friday said it “expresses deep sorrow for any harm caused to uninvolved individuals” in the incident. According to the IDF’s initial statement on the incident, a soldier opened fire at a car after reportedly perceiving it as accelerating toward the troops.

But B’Tselem says the video contradicts that account.

“The footage shows clearly that the soldier’s gunfire at the car was carried out at a time when the driver of the car was slowing down and preparing to stop, and when he was at a distance from the soldiers and did not present any danger to them,” the group posts on X.

On Sunday, the Military Police opened an investigation into the soldier who fired at the family’s vehicle. After the investigation, the findings will be transferred to the Military Advocate General’s office ahead of a possible indictment.

תיעוד חדש שהגיע לידי בצלם חושף את רגעי הירי במשפחת אבו הייכל, שכתוצאה ממנו נהרג סאם אבו הייכל, תינוק בן 7 חודשים, ונפצעו שני הוריו. מהתיעוד עולה בבירור כי הירי שביצע החייל לעבר הרכב בוצע בזמן שנהג הרכב האט את נסיעתו לקראת עצירה, וכאשר היה במרחק מהחיילים ולא היווה כל סכנה עבורם.… pic.twitter.com/u4UCfZbFOe

— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) June 9, 2026

Hamas forces executed, maimed dozens of Palestinians in Gaza, UN report says

Hamas police officers stand guard as people attend the opening of the Fatah party's eighth conference at Al-Azhar University in Gaza City on May 14, 2026. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Hamas operatives and police units in Gaza beat, maimed and publicly executed dozens of Palestinians during the terror group’s war with Israel in acts amounting to war crimes, according to a United Nations report released today.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ report documents hundreds of cases of extrajudicial punishment in the war-ravaged territory, which it said were often publicized during and afterward to instill fear in the populace.

“These cases involved executions, kneecapping, bone-breaking with metal pipes or cement bricks and beatings and were framed by the perpetrators as punishments for alleged collaboration with Israel, looting humanitarian aid, theft, drug-related offenses or affiliations with internal rivals,” it says.

The commission finds that Hamas-affiliated operatives and police forces were involved in nearly one-fourth of the 249 documented cases — including 108 deaths — from August 2024 to January 2026. The commission specifically investigated cases involving Hamas-affiliated forces but also counted ones attributed to other armed groups.

Representatives for Hamas do not respond to questions about the report’s allegations.

According to the report, rather than being imposed through courts or judges, the punishments were carried out by Hamas’s military wing and police units.

Those targeted included anti-Hamas activists and members of Israel-backed clans and armed groups that emerged in areas where Hamas’ grip weakened during the war, which killed nearly 73,000 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.

The UN report cites executions recorded on video, including one of three blindfolded men who were shot by masked men outside Shifa Hospital in September 2025 before a crowd. It describes another public execution a month later, when eight men were dragged into a public square in Gaza City and shot. Both groups were accused of being spies, traitors and collaborators, according to the report.

The instances, the commission says, “amount to the war crime of murder and to a violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including the right to life, the right to liberty and security and the right to a fair trial.”

Others targeted with beatings and forms of public shaming — including children — were accused of theft, drug trafficking or illegally selling tobacco.

The UN report also criticizes a growing wave of violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, saying it “functions as a means of implementing Israeli state policy, with both the state and violent settler groups working toward the same strategic objectives: entrenchment of Israeli settlements, annexation of Palestinian territory and displacement of Palestinians from their land.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry does not respond to questions about the allegations.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. 

Security officials said to undercut Katz’s warning that IDF will hit Beirut if Hezbollah attacks

Defense Minister Israel Katz (left) and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, June 2025. (Ariel Harmoni / Defense Ministry)

Despite Defense Minister Israel Katz’s threat that any Hezbollah attack on northern Israel would be met with strikes on Beirut’s Dahiyeh district, a Hezbollah stronghold, Channel 12 reports that security officials say no such policy has been formally adopted.

According to the report, officials say that beyond Katz’s statement, there is currently no directive mandating strikes on Beirut in response to attacks on northern communities, and the issue has not been codified in Israel’s internal deliberations.

The report also says IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned ministers in a closed-door cabinet discussion yesterday against accepting new “equations” after the resumption of a ceasefire with Iran under US pressure halted a planned large-scale IDF strike, which he referenced today in public comments.

When asked by Shas party chair Aryeh Deri whether he thought it was worth risking tensions with Washington, Zamir reportedly replied: “No, but can we allow ourselves to be fired upon and be limited in response?”

IDF wraps probe of gunman who entered Israel from Lebanon, doesn’t yet know his affiliation

Israeli soldiers are seen inside southern Lebanon as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 8, 2026. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

The IDF has completed an initial investigation into the infiltration attack by a gunman on the Lebanese border earlier today, but has not yet been able to determine his affiliation.

According to the probe, at around 1:30 p.m., a soldier responsible for logistical transport arrived at the border near the community of Margaliot after the military received a report of a fire.

The soldier then identified a suspicious figure in a military uniform and dispatched troops to the scene. The troops arrived at the scene within a few minutes and then heard gunfire in their direction. The soldiers returned fire at the source, which killed the gunman, the investigation finds.

According to the military’s probe, the incident took place in a military zone around 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) from Margaliot, but still inside Israeli territory.

The military then conducted scans in the area, during which the body of the gunman was found inside Israeli territory, inside an abandoned guard post, adjacent to the border fence.

The gunman was found to be wearing a military uniform, and he was armed with a knife and a handgun.

So far, the IDF has not been able to determine whether the gunman is affiliated with Hezbollah or another terror group.

At 5:50 p.m., the IDF declared “all-clear” in the area, after ruling out any additional threats.

A preliminary investigation was conducted by IDF commanders at the scene shortly after the incident, and a short while ago, the chief of the Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, completed a more complete debrief.

The incident is expected to also be investigated by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.

Health Ministry floats barring entry to visitors at higher risk of Ebola exposure

A man wearing a protective mask walks along a busy street in Kampala, Uganda, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)

As an Ebola outbreak spreads in Africa, the Health Ministry has asked the Population and Immigration Authority to consider temporarily restricting the entry of those who are not citizens or residents of Israel and who have been in one of the countries affected by the outbreak.

The ban would apply to visitors who were in one of the following countries during the 21 days before their arrival: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Kenya. There is an increased risk in those countries of exposure to the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus.

Since the disease broke out in the Democratic Republic of Congo on May 5, there have been nearly 1,000 cases and over 200 deaths reported.

There is no known spread of the virus outside of Africa, except for patients who were flown securely to receive medical treatment in Europe and the US.

The ministry emphasizes that this is a preventive measure only. The public in Israel, as in other Western countries, remains at low risk of being exposed to Ebola. However, the ministry’s aim is to reduce the risk of importing cases of the disease into Israel.

The ministry also recommends avoiding non-essential travel to areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda where cases of the disease are known.

Travelers who have returned from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, and who develop a fever or unusual symptoms within 21 days of their arrival, are asked to stay home and avoid contact with others, and to immediately contact a hotline run by the ministry.

The World Health Organization has said that late detection, the absence of a vaccine or virus-specific therapeutics, widespread armed violence, and high mobility among the population make Congo especially vulnerable to the disease.

Ebola is a lethal infectious disease with high fatality rates, transmitted primarily through direct contact with a symptomatic patient or with blood, secretions, and body fluids.

Trump: US ‘must’ retaliate for Iran shooting down helicopter over Strait of Hormuz

US President Donald Trump gestures as he steps off Air Force One, June 9, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)

US President Donald Trump announces that Washington will retaliate against Iran for shooting down a military helicopter last night over the Strait of Hormuz.

“I have just been informed by our great military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz. There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured,” Trump writes on Truth Social.

“Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack,” Trump adds, without elaborating on what a response might look like.

The development comes just a day after the US restored a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, while arguing that such a truce was important given that Washington and Tehran were on the verge of reaching an agreement.

A major US response may harm efforts to achieve that deal, which Trump for weeks has claimed is on the verge of being signed.

The fact that Trump is telegraphing Washington’s plans to respond to Iran indicates that he still is trying to prevent the talks from collapsing completely.

Iranian World Cup players to be able to enter US day before matches, Homeland Security Dept. says

Iran’s national soccer team, currently training in Tijuana, Mexico, will be able to enter the US the day before each of their three World Cup matches, the US Department of Homeland Security says.

Media reports over the weekend had quoted the Iranian ambassador to Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, as saying that Iran’s team would have to enter and leave the US the same day as they were playing, raising questions over logistics and whether it would affect team performance.

It is not the case that Iran would be forced to arrive the same day as their matches, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson says.

“These statements are untrue,” the spokesperson says in a statement. “Thanks to the generosity of President Donald] Trump the Iranian team will be able to arrive the day before their matches.”

The ambassador, speaking to Reuters in Tijuana via an interpreter yesterday, criticized US officials for denying visas to some of the Iranian football federation staff but said that the ones that had been granted did not prevent them from staying overnight.

“Their visas don’t specify anything about them having to leave at a certain time,” he said.

After weeks of uncertainty, the US awarded visas to all the players on Friday, just 10 days before their first ​match.

But several members of the ⁠Iranian squad were not given visas, including “key managerial and administrative members,” according to Iran’s football federation.

Oil falls below $90 a barrel amid hopes of US-Iran deal

Oil prices fall around 5 percent, to below $90 a barrel, after US President Donald Trump again says an Iran peace deal could be close.

The international benchmark Brent crude falls below $90 for the first time since April 14, while its US counterpart, West Texas Intermediate crude, falls to around $86 a barrel.

The relief comes just a day after crude surged as Iran and Israel briefly resumed strikes amid a fragile ceasefire in the war.

IDF: Troops in Lebanon locate several Hezbollah weapons depots in civilian buildings

The military says troops of the Givati Brigade operating in areas north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon have located several Hezbollah weapons depots in recent days.

The IDF says the troops seized firearms, anti-tank missiles and launchers, drones, and other military gear.

According to the IDF, the arms caches were located in civilian buildings.

The brigade has been operating in the towns of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah and Zawtar al-Gharbiya.

אמצעי לחימה לצד עריסת תינוק: כוחות חטיבת גבעתי ממשיכים בפעילות נגד ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בדרום לבנון

כוחות חטיבת גבעתי פועלים בעת האחרונה צפונית לנהר הליטני, לחיסול מחבלים ולהסרת איומים על אזרחי מדינת ישראל. מתחילת הפעילות במרחב, כוחות החטיבה חיסלו יותר מ-40 מחבלים של ארגון הטרור… pic.twitter.com/p4Gh2MGm9B

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 9, 2026

2 men, including IDF soldier, indicted on attempted murder charge over gambling debt

Two hundred shekel bills, February 7, 2016 (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

The State Attorney’s Office indicts Yehudah Elbaz, 22, a serving IDF soldier from Givat Ze’ev, and Ariel Haim Bozaglo, 25, from Jerusalem, on charges of attempted murder of two youths.

The alleged murder attempt was planned due to a financial dispute among those involved, centering on a gambling debt of some NIS 250,000 ($85,000).

According to the indictment, Elbaz, a serving IDF soldier, and Bozaglo conspired with other individuals to harm the youths because of the debt.

They allegedly invited the two youths to a meeting in Givat Ze’ev in April this year under the pretext of settling the debt, with Elbaz arriving with his army-issued assault rifle.

When the victims arrived at the scene, Bozaglo and others hurled rocks at them, and Elbaz then opened fire with his assault rifle, firing 15 shots and injuring them both severely, according to the indictment.

As Iran truce holds, US embassy in Jerusalem lifts shelter in place order for staff

The US embassy in Jerusalem lifts a shelter-in-place order that it issued for all employees and families late Sunday night, as Israel appeared on the verge of resuming its conflict with Iran.

The sides did indeed exchange fire hours later, but a ceasefire was restored by Monday evening following pressure from US President Donald Trump.

With the truce holding through Tuesday evening, the embassy announces that it has lifted the shelter-in-place order.

“As a result of changes to the current security situation in Israel, [IDF] Home Front Command has updated its guidelines, which permit full activity with no restrictions, except for in certain communities in the north of Israel,” the US embassy posts on X. “The shelter-in-place order for US government employees and their family members has ended.”

The embassy says it will resume operations tomorrow.

As a result of changes to the current security situation in Israel, Home Front Command has updated its guidelines, which permit full activity with no restrictions, except for in certain communities in the north of Israel. Consult the Home Front Command website for additional… pic.twitter.com/iAgE2epLsn

— U.S. Embassy Jerusalem (@usembassyjlm) June 9, 2026

Poll: 61% of Israelis don’t want Netanyahu to run for reelection, support term limits for future PMs

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks outside his office at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 3, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute finds that 61 percent of Israelis believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should not run for reelection.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has held power nearly uninterrupted since 2009 and is due to stand for reelection once again in a vote set to be held on or before October 27. Polls have long showed a close race between parties supporting and opposing his continuing in office.

The IDI poll, taken between May 31 and June 5 and released today, finds that some 61% of Israelis overall, and 57% of Jewish Israelis, either don’t think Netanyahu should run, or are certain he shouldn’t.

The poll also finds that 61% of Israelis support the establishment of two-term limits for prime ministers following Netanyahu. Majorities of Jewish Israelis across the political left, center and right support imposing term limits after Netanyahu leaves office.

The poll includes more than 750 respondents and has a 3.57% margin of error.

Poll: Most Israelis don’t think Israel’s security is one of Trump’s main considerations

A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute finds that most Israelis don’t think their country’s security is one of US President Donald Trump’s main considerations.

The finding comes more than three months after the US and Israel jointly launched a war against Iran, and as Trump’s staff negotiates an agreement with the Islamic Republic that has sparked anxiety among Israeli officials.

The poll, taken between May 31 and June 5 and released today, finds that just 41 percent of Israeli Jews, and 44% of Israelis overall, believe that Israel’s security is one of Trump’s main considerations to a very or fairly large extent. The figure among Israeli Jews represents a sharp drop from 64% in May and is the lowest figure recorded since IDI began asking the question in November 2024, when Trump won the US presidential election.

The poll finds that majorities of Israeli Jews (54%), and Israelis overall (51%), believe that Trump is prioritizing Israeli security to a very or fairly small extent.

The poll also finds that only 27% of Israeli Jews believe an agreement between the US and Iran will weaken the Iranian regime, considered one of the war’s central goals.

The poll includes more than 750 respondents and has a 3.57% margin of error.

After spate of antisemitic attacks, new UK law will crack down on proxies of hostile states like Iran

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, center, walks through the House of Commons to attend the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster, London, May 13, 2026. (Toby Melville/Pool via AP)

Britain says a law to crack down on proxies acting for states deemed to be hostile, such as Iran, was expected to come into force next month, as it steps up powers to counter what it says is a growing threat posed by such groups.

The new powers are promised in the wake of a spate of antisemitic attacks in London. They seek to close a gap in legislation to allow the targeting of state-linked organizations paying organized crime groups or low-level felons to carry out surveillance, sabotage, or other activities on their behalf.

In recent months, there have been numerous arson attacks on Jewish sites, with police saying they were investigating possible Iranian links, while there have been convictions for people accused of spying or acting on behalf of Russian and Chinese organizations.

“Where foreign states are found to be engaging in activity that threatens lives or undermines our democratic institutions, we must ensure that such actions have consequences,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says in a statement. “We will not tolerate hostile actors paying petty criminals to do their dirty work.”

Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 has warned of state-threat investigations increasing by 35% last year, including 20 potentially lethal Iranian-backed plots.

Britain has accused China and Russia, as well as Iran, of using proxies. All three dismiss the claims as propaganda.

The legislation will make it illegal to express support for designated proxies or to take money from them, providing for jail terms of up to 14 years.

Last week, an Iraqi national denied involvement in multiple attacks against American and Israeli interests in Europe, including some of the recent attacks in Britain, during a US court appearance.

He is accused of directing people to carry out attacks in the name of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), a component of an Iran-backed militia which ​the US considers a terrorist organization directed by Iran’s Islamic ⁠Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Many British lawmakers have called for the banning of the IRGC, but there was no indication of whether it would be included in the new legislation, with about 10 or fewer designations expected in the first year after it becomes law.

IDF rules out possibility that 2nd Lebanon attacker infiltrated Israel; restrictions lifted

The IDF has ruled out the possibility of a second attacker after troops killed a gunman on the Lebanon border earlier today.

Residents of the border communities of Misgav Am, Margaliot, and Manara had been instructed to remain in their homes after troops shot the gunman dead.

Local authorities have now informed residents that the army has completed its scans in the area, with no additional findings.

“As a result, the instructions to the public have been lifted, and the road closures have been removed,” a statement from the Upper Galilee Regional Council reads.

Rob Reiner’s son Nick, on trial for killing his parents, seeks money from trust they left him

Nick Reiner pleads not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, with public defense attorney, Kimberly Green, during his arraignment on murder charges for the deaths of his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, February 23, 2026, in Los Angeles. (Chris Torres/Pool Photo via AP , File)

Rob Reiner’s son Nick Reiner is seeking unpaid money from a trust his parents established for him, saying he needs it to help in his defense against charges that he killed them.

A petition filed by the 32-year-old Nick Reiner’s civil attorneys in a Los Angeles County court yesterday says that trustees overseeing the funds have denied them to him without legal justification, and he needs and should get them now.

“Nick loved his parents, and he is devastated by their deaths. But the facts about what did and did not happen to them are not at issue in this Trust litigation,” the petition says. “Like anyone accused of a crime, Nick is presumed innocent, and he is entitled to mount his defense with the resources that are lawfully his own.”

The Jewish director and Hollywood luminary Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer and producer Michele Singer Reiner, were stabbed to death in their home in the upscale Brentwood section of Los Angeles on Dec. 14. Nick Reiner was arrested hours later and has since pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder.

The filing says that apart from the larger Reiner family trust, which is not at issue, Rob and Michele Reiner established smaller individual trusts for Nick Reiner and his siblings. It says they left “unambiguous instructions” in Nick Reiner’s trust, established in 1993, that he was to receive half its money when he turned 30 and the rest at 35.

But, the filing says, Reiner never received the funds he was entitled to at 30, and that the trustee overseeing them since February — attorney Paul R. Kanin — has given “a shifting series of excuses and justifications” to deny Reiner the money, including concerns about Reiner’s competence that have no bearing on a payout that is mandatory.

Reiner says he should also get the money he was to receive at 35 immediately because his defense and his need for basic necessities in jail require it.

The petition says the trust has at least $1.5 million in assets, but that Kanin will not share the exact amount of its value.

US energy secretary: Ship traffic in Strait of Hormuz rising ‘very meaningfully’

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright listens as US President Donald Trump meets with Argentina's President Javier Milei in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, October 14, 2025. (AP/ Alex Brandon)

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright says ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is rising “very meaningfully” during a ceasefire in the war with Iran.

Wright makes the remarks during an Atlantic Council conference and adds that it will take many months to get back to normal flows of energy once the war is over.

Wizz Air to resume Tel Aviv routes tomorrow following brief suspension

A Wizz Air plane flying over central Israel, December 7, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/FLASH90)

Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air says it will resume service to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport tomorrow.

The low-cost carrier temporarily suspended flights to and from Israel on Monday, citing concern over passenger and crew safety, after Iran started firing missiles at the country the previous day.

Wizz Air and another foreign airline, Austrian Airlines, both halted flights to and from Tel Aviv, even though Israel’s airspace remained open and Ben Gurion International Airport continued to operate as usual.

Austrian Airlines, which is part of Germany’s Lufthansa group of carriers, canceled flights to and from Israel through June 12.

Finance Committee advances bill restoring daycare subsidies for Haredi draft evaders

MK Moshe Gafni attends Finance committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, April 29, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Knesset Finance Committee votes to advance a bill restoring daycare subsidies for the children of Haredi draft evaders, sending the measure to its first reading in the Knesset.

In August 2024, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara ordered the Labor Ministry to cut daycare subsidies for the children of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who disobey military draft orders, explaining that since the High Court ruled that members of the ultra-Orthodox community must be inducted into the army, there was no longer a legal basis for the state to fund daycare for those who don’t comply.

Sponsored by the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, the legislation would prevent the government from considering the status of yeshiva students when determining eligibility for daycare subsidies and priority in admissions. It stipulates that only the employment or educational status of a child’s mother will be taken into account.

According to a statement from the committee, the bill was also amended to give reservists priority in daycare admissions and in determining subsidy levels, following demands by committee chair and Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky and other lawmakers.

The bill’s sponsor, Degel Hatorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni, celebrates the bill’s advancement and says, “We are ensuring that women will be able to go out to work and earn a respectable livelihood.”

Justice Ministry representatives criticize the legislation and tell the committee that even if it passes, under the government’s own criteria, families in which the father is a draft evader would not be able to receive daycare benefits.

Lawmakers voted in favor of the bill in its preliminary reading last month after Gafni reportedly threatened to vote in favor of a state commission of inquiry into the Hamas-led October 7 attack unless the legislation was approved. The coalition opposes the establishment of a state inquiry and is instead trying to establish an investigative panel comprised of politicians.

The daycare bill is expected to be brought before the Knesset plenum tomorrow for its first reading.

Christian leaders in Tyre call for quick international action after IDF evacuation warning

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the southern city of Tyre after an evacuation warning on June 9, 2026 (KAWANT HAJU / AFP) /

Christian religious leaders from Lebanon’s southern port city of Tyre call on the international community and Lebanese officials to act quickly to prevent Israel from attacking the Christian district of the city, following Israeli airstrikes in the city.

The IDF has issued an evacuation warning for the port city, including the Christian quarter, which has not been struck so far.

The statement by the Christian leaders was from George Iskandar, the metropolitan archbishop of Tyre for the Melkite Greek Catholic Church; Elias Kfoury, the Greek Orthodox metropolitan of Tyre, Sidon and Dependencies; and Charbel Abdullah, the archeparch of the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre.

The warning from the IDF prompted hundreds of people to flee the Christian district along the Mediterranean coast, while members of Lebanon’s Civil Defense evacuated older people to safer areas, the state-run National News Agency said.

An Israeli airstrike today in another neighborhood in Tyre killed eight people and wounded 32 others, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. There was no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces.

The three Christian leaders call on the international community and Lebanese leaders to “take immediate and serious action to spare the old quarter of Tyre from destruction and human tragedies.”

Considered one of the oldest metropolises of the world, Tyre has several archaeological sites, some of them submerged. The city was officially declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.

“The old city is not merely a residential area,” the clergy say in their statement. “It is the historical and human heart of Tyre, home to thousands of civilians, including families, children, and the elderly.”

They say that the old quarter also holds a rich cultural, religious and civilizational heritage dating back centuries.

“Any targeting or destruction of this neighborhood would constitute a humanitarian and national catastrophe with irreversible consequences,” they warn.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. 

IDF chief: Israel planned ‘much more significant and severe blow’ to Iranian regime, is prepared to return to war

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (left) meets with troops at an army drill, June 9, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says Iran’s attempts to “dictate equations will fail,” and that Israel planned a “more significant and severe blow” to the regime.

“The Iranian attempt to dictate equations and change reality will fail. We will continue to operate and deepen the damage to the Hezbollah terror organization and defend the northern communities,” he says during a visit to a military drill.

“The IDF maintained and continues to maintain immediate readiness and preparedness for a return to fighting in Iran,” Zamir says.

Referring to the recent exchange of fire between Israel and Iran, he added, “All of our defense and offensive systems were alert and prepared. We intercepted the threats launched at us and struck in Iran quickly and forcefully.”

He says that “the strike we carried out in Iran was preparation for a much more significant and severe blow.”

“We are prepared to return and deliver another hard and deep strike against Iran,” Zamir adds.

According to reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a deeper strike on Iran but called it off under pressure from US President Donald Trump.

Prison Service doesn’t comment on reports of Abu Safiya in solitary, says it works based on ‘professional’ factors

L-R: Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya, in an undated screenshot taken from a Democracy Now video posted to YouTube on January 14, 2025. (Democracy Now screenshot/YouTube); A resurfaced photo from 2016 shows Abu Safiya wearing a Hamas uniform alongside other senior officers in the terror group. (Medical services – Gaza Strip)

Responding to reports that Hussam Abu Safiya — a Hamas officer and director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital — was moved to solitary confinement, the Israel Prison Service says that it “determines the place of detention of prisoners and detainees in accordance with professional, operational and security considerations, and based on assessments by the authorized professional bodies.”

“We will not comment on considerations relating to the placement or detention conditions of any specific detainee,” the statement added.

Abu Safiya was arrested by Israel during the war in Gaza in December 2024. He is one of the highest-profile Gazan detainees, and human rights groups, including Physicians for Human Rights Israel, which reported that Abu Safiya was in solitary, have called for his release.

Following his arrest, a decade-old photo surfaced showing him wearing Hamas uniforms alongside senior members of the terror group. Abu Safiya holds the rank of colonel in the terror group’s Military Medical Services, according to the service and Palestinian media reports.

The Military Medical Services is separate from Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, though its members directly participated in Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror onslaught in southern Israel, which sparked the Gaza war.

According to Physicians for Human Rights Israel, Dr. Abu Safiya is one of 14 Palestinian doctors from Gaza currently detained in Israel without having been indicted. In April, the organization filed a petition to the High Court of Justice demanding their release, and proceedings in the case are ongoing.

Gunman killed by IDF at Lebanon border didn’t cross fence, initial IDF probe finds

The gunman shot dead by IDF troops on the Lebanon border did not cross Israel’s border fence, which is built several meters inside Israeli territory, according to a preliminary investigation carried out by the army.

According to the probe, IDF troops operating inside southern Lebanon came under fire from the gunman close to the border barrier, and returned fire.

The gunman’s body was located a short while later in an Israeli military zone on the western side of the border barrier, which means the gunman technically crossed into Israeli territory, but did not infiltrate Israel’s border fence.

Army Radio reports that the gunman was dressed in a Hezbollah military uniform.

Report: Hamas, mediators agree to draft proposal on group’s disarmament, IDF withdrawal from Gaza

Hamas negotiators including Khalil al-Hayya (second from left) seen in a photo indicating success in the mediated Israel-Hamas negotiations on a Gaza hostage-ceasefire agreement in Sharm el-Sheikh, October 9, 2025. (Telegram / used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)

Saudi channel Al-Arabiya reports, citing an unnamed Palestinian official, that Hamas and mediators in Cairo have agreed on a draft proposal under which the terror group would hand over its weapons in exchange for the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

According to the report, Hamas “links the issue of the weapons to a full Israeli withdrawal from the Strip.”

According to the official who spoke with Al-Arabiya, it is believed that Israel and Nickolay Mladenov, the top Gaza envoy for US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, will reject Hamas’s conditions for handing over its weapons.

In recent days, Hamas and the mediators have been holding another round of talks in Cairo regarding the Gaza ceasefire and progress toward the second phase of the agreement, including the issue of Hamas disarmament.

UK urges British firms to stop activities in ‘illegal Israeli settlements’

Britain's Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper speaks to the media at 1 Carlton Gardens in London on January 19, 2026. (Jack Taylor / POOL / AFP)

The UK government urges British businesses and citizens to refrain from conducting financial activities in West Bank Israeli settlements, which most of the international community considers illegal.

The statement comes after the UK and several other countries issued sanctions targeting settlement expansion and settler violence.

“I have strengthened our business risk guidance to make it clear and unambiguous: if you are a British citizen or business, you should not conduct any economic and financial activities in illegal Israeli settlements,” Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper tells UK parliament.

“We believe that violent settler groups should not be profiting from the land that they have seized from Palestinians,” Cooper adds, saying the Israeli “government has condemned some settler violence, but that rings hollow when there is scant accountability.”

Knesset panel revises bill creating political probe into Oct. 7, preserves coalition control

MK Simcha Rothman leads a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 25, 2026 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Knesset Constitution Committee advances legislation establishing a politically appointed commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack.

The committee removes a controversial provision allowing the state comptroller to fill vacant seats on the panel, but preserves the coalition’s ability to unilaterally appoint the commission.

According to the legislation, the coalition and opposition would each appoint three members of the six-member body. The Knesset opposition has pledged to boycott such a panel, calling instead for a state commission of inquiry, the country’s highest investigative authority.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected forming a state commission of inquiry because its members would be selected by the judiciary, which he claims is biased against him.

An earlier provision in the bill that would have allowed the state comptroller to fill positions left vacant by either side was removed following criticism that the mechanism would allow newly elected State Comptroller Michael Rabello, formerly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal lawyer, to effectively determine the composition of the panel if the opposition refused to participate.

However, the revised bill stipulates that the commission may begin operating as long as at least three members have been appointed, meaning that even if the opposition continues to boycott the process, a commission composed solely of coalition appointees could still conduct the inquiry.

In a statement, the Justice Ministry criticizes the legislation, noting that its proponents had argued that the commission would be established through a process that enjoys “broad consensus” and reflects “the majority of the public,” but that the current proposal “undermines that principle.”

It notes that under the current proposal, “it is entirely possible that only the coalition will appoint commission members.”

The government is aiming to advance the legislation, which passed its preliminary reading in December, in the Knesset this week.

Probe of IDF killing of baby in Hebron reportedly looking into whether soldiers left scene without providing aid

The Military Police is reportedly probing whether the soldiers who opened fire on a Palestinian family in their car over the weekend, killing a baby, left the scene without providing medical attention.

During the incident on Friday night, a soldier opened fire at a car after reportedly perceiving it as accelerating toward the troops. Seven-month-old Sam Fahd Abou Haikal was killed, and his parents were wounded. The infant’s brother and grandmother were also in the vehicle during the incident.

On Sunday, the IDF said the Military Police’s Investigatory Unit conducted a preliminary examination of the incident and decided to launch an official investigation.

Ynet news reports that the army is examining a suspicion that the soldiers involved in the incident left the scene after the shooting without providing assistance to the family or calling for medical reinforcements.

Biker going 178 mph (285 km/h), fastest speed ever clocked by cops, nabbed after wild chase

Footage shows a motorcyclist who was nabbed by police for going three times the speed limit on a northern Israeli highway. (Screenshot/Israel Police)

Police say they nabbed a motorcyclist after he was seen zipping down a highway at 285 kilometers per hour (178 mph), the highest speed a driver has ever been fined for.

Several days ago at around midnight, a traffic enforcement camera caught the motorcyclist traveling more than three times the 90 km/h (56 mph) speed limit on Route 70 in northern Israel.

The record-breaking biker, a 24-year-old from Arraba, tried to evade attempts to arrest him. A police helicopter pursued him by air as several cruisers chased him down the road, law enforcement says.

The driver dodged a roadblock of several police vehicles set up further down the road and eventually reached a gas station, where he dismounted and began running.

Officers seized the motorcycle and pursued the driver until they caught him.

Police say the young man was brought to court for a second hearing yesterday, where a judge extended his detention until another ruling will be issued on the matter.

Footage of a motorcyclist who was nabbed by police for going three times the speed limit on a northern Israeli highway. (Israel Police)

Israel rejects foreign governments’ ‘disgraceful’ measures against settler violence, Smotrich

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot speaks during a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, in Kyiv, on July 21, 2025. (Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)

Israel “firmly rejects” punitive measures taken by foreign governments today against West Bank settler violence, settlement expansion and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, claiming that the steps fuel antisemitism.

“Israel firmly rejects the disgraceful measures adopted by foreign governments against Israeli citizens, entities, and a government minister,” the Foreign Ministry says in a statement, claiming that the countries’ actions are an “attempt to impose a political stance regarding the right of Jews to settle in the Land of Israel and concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – camouflaged as measures against violence.”

The United Kingdom and the foreign ministers of Canada, France, and Norway announced this afternoon that they are taking coordinated action with sanctions in response to “record settlement expansion and rising settler violence in West Bank.”

Later, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced that Paris had barred Smotrich, four leaders of settler organizations, and 21 “violent settlers.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry also condemns what it calls the “resounding failure” of these governments “to combat the antisemitism that is rampant in their own countries,” saying “anti-Israeli policies of the kind adopted today only serve to fuel that antisemitism.”

“Astonishingly, these governments have also failed to impose sanctions or take action against the phenomena that truly drive violence – the Palestinian Authority’s salaries for terrorists,” the ministry further says, referring to a controversial PA policy dubbed “pay-for-slay” by critics, which Ramallah has claimed to reverse, though Israel says it has continued.

Israel said to move Hussam Abu Safiya, Hamas officer and Gaza hospital chief, to solitary confinement

Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya, in an undated screenshot taken from a Democracy Now video posted to YouTube on January 14, 2025 (Democracy Now screenshot/YouTube)

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, an officer in Hamas’s Military Medical Services who is the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza and has been detained by Israel for some 18 months without charge, was transferred in recent days to solitary confinement at Ganot Prison, Physicians for Human Rights Israel says.

The Israel Prison Service has yet to respond to a request for comment, and the reasons why Abu Safiya would have been moved to solitary confinement remain unclear.

Abu Safiya was arrested by Israel during the war in Gaza in December 2024. He is one of the highest-profile Gazan detainees, and human rights groups, including Physicians for Human Rights Israel, have called for his release.

Following his arrest, a decade-old photo surfaced showing him wearing Hamas uniforms alongside senior members of the terror group. Abu Safiya holds the rank of colonel in the terror group’s Military Medical Services, according to the service and Palestinian media reports.

The Military Medical Services is separate from Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, though its members directly participated in Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror onslaught in southern Israel, which sparked the Gaza war.

According to Physicians for Human Rights Israel, Dr. Abu Safiya is one of 14 Palestinian doctors from Gaza currently detained in Israel without having been indicted. In April, the organization filed a petition to the High Court of Justice demanding their release, and proceedings in the case are ongoing.

The information regarding Abu Safiya’s placement in solitary confinement reached the organization during a June 4 visit by lawyers from Physicians for Human Rights Israel to Ketziot Prison.

According to the organization, a group of Palestinian detainees – doctors from Gaza who were arrested during the war – told the lawyers that several days before the visit, security personnel entered the prison wing and removed Abu Safiya from the facility. The organization later said it learned that he had been transferred to solitary confinement in Ganot Prison.

Before his transfer to solitary confinement, his lawyers claimed he had been subjected to “severe physical abuse,” including beatings and electric shocks.

UN’s Guterres expresses alarm over escalation in Middle East

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres delivers a statement during a media conference at the EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he is “deeply alarmed” by the renewed escalation in violence in the Middle East.

“All attacks must stop immediately. The ceasefires in Lebanon, Iran & Gaza must be fully respected,” he writes in a post on X.

Iran and Israel announced yesterday that they would halt attacks on each other after exchanging fire, beginning with Iranian missiles launched at Israel Sunday evening.

Man to be indicted on suspicion of spying for Iran during the war

Prosecutors are planning to indict a man from Haifa on security offenses after he was arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran, including during the recent war, the Shin Bet and police announce.

Raanan Ohana, 44, was arrested in May on suspicion of working for an Iranian intelligence agent over the course of months.

According to police, the suspect transferred intelligence to Iranian-linked actors from January to March this year, including during the recent US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic.

A prosecutor’s declaration is filed against him today, indicating law enforcement has collected enough evidence to issue an indictment.

He is accused of filming “sensitive locations” and then passing the material to his handler in exchange for payment in cryptocurrency.

Police say the suspect will be indicted in the Haifa District Court in the coming days.

Gunman crosses into Israel from Lebanon, fires at soldiers; is shot dead by troops

A gunman who infiltrated Israeli territory from Lebanon and opened fire on Israeli troops in the Ramim Ridge area close to the border was shot dead by troops, according to the military.

The IDF says no injuries were caused in the incident, and troops are scanning the area for possible additional attackers. An Israeli Air Force drone was also dispatched to the area to assist with the searches.

Residents of the border communities of Misgav Am, Margaliot, and Manara in the Galilee Panhandle are instructed to remain in their homes until further notice, and a nearby highway is closed to traffic.

Smotrich banned from France for promoting West Bank annexation, ‘re-colonization’ of Gaza

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who heads the Religious Zionism party, speaks during a press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 26, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

France has barred far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, four leaders of settler organizations and 21 violent settlers, French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot says in a post on social media platform X.

Barrot slams Smotrich for actively promoting the annexation of the West Bank and the “re-colonization” of Gaza.

“Four leaders of settler organizations, and twenty-one violent settlers” are also banned from French territory, Barrot says, condemning a “policy that the overwhelming majority of the international community, firmly committed to the two-state solution, cannot accept.”

Avec nos partenaires britannique, canadien, australien, néo-zélandais et norvégien, nous prenons aujourd’hui de nouvelles sanctions contre les responsables de l’intensification de la colonisation et des violences en Cisjordanie.

A titre national, nous avons interdit d’accès à… pic.twitter.com/VwGy3l7l00

— Jean-Noël Barrot (@jnbarrot) June 9, 2026

Police officer, 2 soldiers arrested in south on suspicion of attempted murder last month

A police officer and two IDF soldiers were arrested yesterday in southern Israel on suspicion of an attempted murder a month ago.

The three are suspected of planning a nearly-lethal ambush, says the Department of Internal Police Investigations, a State Attorney’s Office body that probes police on criminal suspicions.

One of the soldiers is a high-level reservist, bearing the rank of colonel, the agency adds. It is unclear if the second soldier is also a reservist.

The suspects were brought to a closed-door hearing in the Beersheba Magistrate’s Court today, where a gag order was imposed on the case barring the publication of the suspects’ names.

The presiding judge extended the cop’s detention by another nine days and the soldiers’ detentions by another three days as investigators continue to probe the case.

Latin American lawmakers condemn ‘Heil Hitler’ tweet by outgoing Colombian president

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro speaks during a military ceremony in Bogota, Colombia, June 6, 2025. (Ivan Valencia/AP)

Lawmakers from 14 Latin American countries sign a statement condemning a post by outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro in which he shared an article endorsing an opponent in the upcoming election with the words, “Heil Hitler.”

Petro, a left-wing leader who severed his country’s diplomatic ties with Israel in 2024, posted the words on social platform X about an op-ed supporting right-wing presidential hopeful Abelardo de la Espriella in the country’s runoff election on June 21. Among other policies, Espriella has pledged to restore Colombia’s ties with Israel and open an embassy.

Heil Hitler https://t.co/IbRBgwUY3N

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 7, 2026

In a statement organized by the Combat Antisemitism Movement’s Coalition of Latin American Legislators Against Antisemitism, 24 lawmakers warn that the use of expressions associated with Nazism is improper in democratic debate and must be condemned, especially when it comes from a head of state.

The statement recalls that “Heil Hitler” remains one of the most recognizable symbols of the Nazi ideology.

“The use of references to Nazism must not become a rhetorical tool to discredit political or ideological positions. Democratic leaders have a responsibility to promote a respectful public debate that is conscious of the weight of words,” the statement says.

June 8, 2026: 24 lawmakers from 14 Latin American countries have signed a declaration condemning Colombian President Gustavo Petro's use of the Nazi slogan "Heil Hitler."

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The declaration was issued by CAM's Coalition of Latin American… pic.twitter.com/m6Hq4a14LQ

— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) June 9, 2026

Espriella will face off against Iván Cepeda, a left-wing candidate who has said he will maintain Petro’s stance on Israel. Petro was eliminated in national elections in May, after both Espriella and Cepeda each won more than 40% of the popular vote.

Gotliv and coalition allies turn hearing into attack on AG, who says immunity doesn’t apply

Likud MK Tally Gotliv at a House committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on, June 9, 2026 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The second day of the Knesset House Committee’s hearing on MK Tally Gotliv’s request for immunity sees the Likud lawmaker and coalition allies attack Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and list grievances unrelated to the indictment, as the attorney general argues that Gotliv violated the law by exposing the identity of a Shin Bet officer and that parliamentary immunity does not shield her.

The Attorney General’s Office announced last month that it was indicting Gotliv over social media posts from 2024 identifying the partner of anti-government protest leader Shikma Bressler as a Shin Bet agent, while promoting baseless conspiracy theories linking him to Hamas and insinuating that he bore responsibility for October 7.

Gotliv does not deny exposing the officer’s identity and argued throughout yesterday’s hearing that doing so was justified.

Though she already spoke for most of yesterday’s roughly five-hour hearing, committee chair Ofir Katz permits Gotliv to continue her remarks, during which she accuses Baharav-Miara of “persecuting” the government and behaving like a “crime organization,” while continuing to advance conspiracy theories involving the security establishment and anti-government protestors.

In her remarks, Baharav-Miara counters that the case concerns an alleged straightforward violation of the law and that parliamentary immunity does not exempt lawmakers from criminal liability.

“Information security is not protected by immunity,” Baharav-Miara tells lawmakers, as coalition members shout over her.

“The indictment is not intended to interfere with a lawmaker’s freedom of action,” Baharav-Miara says. “It concerns one thing only – the exposure of a Shin Bet operative.”

“A member of Knesset cannot fulfill their role by committing criminal offenses,” she adds, and notes that Gotliv admits to the conduct at the center of the case.

Her remarks are repeatedly interrupted by Gotliv and other coalition lawmakers, and the hearing is briefly suspended as coalition and opposition lawmakers shout at one another.

The committee is expected to vote today on whether to grant Gotliv immunity. If approved, the request will move to the Knesset plenum, where the coalition is expected to have the votes needed to shield her from prosecution. Any immunity granted, however, would expire at the end of the current Knesset’s term.

UK, Canada, France and Norway sanction ‘networks financing and enabling settler attacks’ in West Bank

Palestinians inspect a burned house and car after an attack by settlers in Beit Ummar, north of Nablus in the West Bank on June 9, 2026 (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Britain and the foreign ministers of Canada, France and Norway say they have taken coordinated action with sanctions in response to “record settlement expansion and rising settler violence in West Bank.”

The sanctions are aimed at disrupting the flows of finance that have “allowed extremist settler groups to act with impunity” in the West Bank, a British government statement says, with coordinated sanctions “against networks financing and enabling settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.”

The statement names The Farms Association, Ahavat Gilad, Ari Yshag, Artzenu, Shivat Zion Lerigvey Admata, Eyal Hari Yehuda and Itamar Yehuda Levi.

“Settler expansion and violence is illegal and a fundamental threat to the viability of a two-state solution, and to long-term peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis,” British foreign minister Yvette Cooper is expected to say in parliament later, according to advance excerpts of her remarks.

The UK government says continued settlement expansion undermines the viability of a two-state solution, with record levels of settler violence “designed deliberately to destroy Palestinian homes and livelihoods in the West Bank.”

Britain also repeats its call on the Israeli government to end settlement expansion, clamp down on settler violence, prosecute those responsible, and lift ongoing restrictions on the functioning of the Palestinian economy.

The British government also threatens further action if the situation does not improve.

After 17-month delay by Levin, Supreme Court president’s appointment to be formally announced

L: Supreme Court President Isaac Amit attends a conference of the Israeli Association of Public Law (IAPL) in Haifa, December 4, 2025. (Flash90); R: Justice Minister Yariv Levin at the Knesset in Jerusalem, October 29, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

After nearly a year and a half, the appointment of Supreme Court President Isaac Amit will finally be published in the state gazette, a declarative step formally announcing his appointment, following a ruling by the Supreme Court in its capacity of High Court of Justice.

The ruling comes after a hearing in the High Court this morning in which Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who has steadfastly refused to publish Amit’s appointment in the gazette, did not object to Israel Courts Administration director Tzahi Ouziel taking the necessary steps to publish the appointment.

The resolution of the impasse comes after the High Court ruled on Sunday that Amit was lawfully appointed president in January 2025 and that Levin had acted unlawfully by refusing to cooperate with Amit on the appointment of senior figures in the judiciary, such as court presidents and deputy presidents and a Supreme Court registrar, among others.

Eliad Shraga, head of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, which petitioned the court against Levin’s refusal to cooperate with Amit, lauded the victory.

“For many months, the justice minister tried to gut [Amit’s] lawful appointment and to challenge the status of the Supreme Court president,” says Shraga.

“Today, the circle is closed: Justice Isaac Amit is the president of the Supreme Court, officially and with full authority, and no one else can claim otherwise. This is a victory for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, and another defeat for Yariv Levin and his attempts [to carry out] a regime coup.”

Levin remained defiant, declaring that the “effort to force me to recognize Amit has failed again,” apparently since Ouziel — not Levin — will carry out the publication of the appointment.

“The High Court judges themselves convened the Judicial Selection Committee in an illegal order they issued, and ‘appointed’ Amit themselves, and now they are also publishing his ‘appointment’ in the state gazette. None of this will change the simple fact — his ‘appointment’ was made through an illegal and fundamentally invalid process. I do not recognize an illegal appointment and will not recognize it,” averred the justice minister.

Levin has refused to recognize Amit’s appointment ever since he was ordered to hold a vote in the Judicial Selection Committee to elect a president in January 2025.

The High Court ruled on Sunday that Amit’s appointment was lawful, that Levin’s arguments were fundamentally invalid, and that to deny Amit was court president was “to deny reality.”

Lebanon says at least 8 killed in IDF strike on Tyre before evacuation warning

Lebanon’s health ministry says an Israeli airstrike on the southern city of Tyre that came before an Israeli military evacuation warning killed at least eight people and wounded 32 others, noting the toll was provisional.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) had reported the strike not long before Israel’s military issued an evacuation warning for the entire city and surrounding areas ahead of strikes there.

There is no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces.

Satellite images may indicate damage at airbase following Iranian missile attacks

Satellite imagery may indicate that damage was caused at the Israeli Air Force’s Ramat David Airbase in northern Israel during Iran’s ballistic missile attacks.

Low-resolution images dated June 8 from the European Commission’s Sentinel-2 satellite, processed by the Copernicus Browser site, show a discolored patch where a hangar is located at the airbase, possibly indicating that it was hit during the attacks.

Satellite imagery from June 8 shows a possible strike at Ramat David Airbase.

Explore and Compare: https://t.co/4foamTEXty

Although the imagery is low-res, a white patch where the hangar previously stood is visible. Thanks @tom_bike for the find.#MiddleEast #Israel #IranWar https://t.co/NtOlkFdU7E pic.twitter.com/JJmGcv4x8E

— Soar (@SoarAtlas) June 9, 2026

Iran launched 24 ballistic missiles at Israel on Sunday night and Monday morning, with many of them aimed at northern Israel. The IDF reported that all of the missiles fired on Sunday night were intercepted, and many of those fired Monday were also shot down.

The extent of the damage at the base, if any, is unclear.

Religious Zionism party says it opposes bill equating Torah study with military service

Haredim protest against military conscription in Jerusalem, January 6, 2026. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party announces that it will not support the advancement of a law that equates the status of yeshiva students with soldiers, as the ultra-Orthodox parties push to advance controversial legislation enshrining Torah study as a Basic Law this week.

In a statement, the far-right party says it “will not allow the advancement of a law equating the status and conditions of those who avoid military service” to those of soldiers.

The party says it will only support legislation that establishes Torah study as a foundational value of the State of Israel if it “does not equate yeshiva students with IDF soldiers.”

The proposed law would establish Torah study as a foundational national value and define long-term Torah study as “meaningful service” to the state that is, controversially, equivalent to army service and confers upon those engaged in it equal rights and obligations to those who serve in the army.

According to Hebrew media reports, members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party also object to the wording of the legislation, including ministers Ze’ev Elkin and Amichai Chikli, and are reportedly demanding that the disputed language be removed as a condition for their support.

Shas MK Yoav Ben-Tzur says the ultra-Orthodox parties have agreed to remove the disputed language, at Smotrich’s request.

However, as the bill has already been submitted for a preliminary reading, the explanatory notes cannot be amended before such a vote takes place. Any changes would therefore only be made later in the legislative process, meaning that lawmakers backing the bill in a preliminary vote would be supporting it with the contested language still attached.

The ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties are demanding that the legislation be brought to a vote this week and Shas chair Aryeh Deri has repeatedly threatened to withdraw support for coalition legislation if it isn’t.

The move marks the latest effort by Haredi parties to preserve exemptions from military service for yeshiva students, which the High Court of Justice has deemed unconstitutional, and to reinstate state stipends that have been halted to families of draft dodgers.

Hezbollah urges Lebanese authorities to mend ties with Iran

A car loaded with suitcases leaves Tyre through a Hezbollah placard in southern Lebanon on June 9, 2026 (KAWNAT HAJU / AFP) /

Hezbollah urges Lebanese authorities to mend their relationship with the terror group’s backer Iran and benefit from Tehran’s support, days after Iran struck Israel in response to strikes targeting the organization in south Beirut.

Last week Lebanon’s president and prime minister issued pointed calls for Tehran to stop interfering in their country’s affairs, after Hezbollah rejected a conditional ceasefire with Israel.

“We call on the Lebanese authorities to seize the opportunity available and correct their official relationship with the Islamic Republic in a way that serves the interest of both states,” a Hezbollah statement says.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into renewed conflict on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.

Iran insists a halt to the wider Middle East conflict must include a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Iran launched missiles at Israel on Sunday in response to Israel bombing Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Iran warned it would resume attacks on Israel if the IDF kept striking Lebanon.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

IDF: Two Islamic Jihad operatives killed in Gaza strike yesterday

Two members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group who were planning attacks on troops were killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, the IDF announces.

The military says the strike killed Iyad Nofal, a commander in Islamic Jihad’s elite forces, and Ahmed Marouf, a commander of a cell in Islamic Jihad who carried out rocket attacks on Israel.

“Both terrorists were planning to carry out terrorist attacks against IDF forces in the immediate timeframe and were eliminated to remove the threat,” the army says.

Man jailed for a year for driving car into crowd of anti-government protesters in 2024

Haim Sirotkin at a court hearing at the Magistrate's Court in Tel Aviv on April 7, 2024 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court sentences Haim Sirotkin, a soccer coach who was convicted of ramming his car into a crowd of anti-government protesters in 2024, to a year in prison for reckless endangerment with a vehicle.

Sirotkin, 52, will also have his license suspended for four years. In addition, he will have to pay damages of NIS 20,000 ($6,800) to one of the people wounded – a woman of around 60, who suffered a head injury and four broken ribs – and NIS 4,000 ($1,360) each to four others.

The five protesters were making their way from a protest that night – April 7, 2024 – against the government and in favor of a hostage deal with the Hamas terror group, which at the time held some 130 captives, living and deceased.

תיעוד דריסת המפגינים בתל אביב. 5 נפגעו. הנהג נעצר לאחר שברח מהמקום

צילום: איתי רזיאל pic.twitter.com/t8Lc54tbfZ

— Bar Peleg (@bar_peleg) April 6, 2024

At the time, Sirotkin claimed he did not mean to hurt anyone, and that he had lost control of his vehicle as a result of some malfunction. In his sentencing decision, Judge Itai Hermelin notes that the accused did not maintain this claim during the trial.

Hermelin also notes that the government did not accuse the former soccer player of driving with the specific intention of hurting the protesters, but rather that he acted recklessly, with indifference to the results of his actions.

However, he writes, “It’s impossible to completely detach the accused’s impatience, which caused him to step on the gas pedal… from the confrontation that developed between the passengers in the vehicle and the protesters.”

Furthermore, the judge argues, “the harm to protesters creates a harm to freedom of political expression, insofar as it clearly arouses fear of participating in any demonstration lest one get hurt.”

At least 2 members of Iranian air defense forces killed in IDF strikes yesterday, state media says

Iranian state television says at least two members of the army’s air defense force were killed in Israeli strikes yesterday.

“These esteemed martyrs of the Army Air Defense Force attained martyrdom while carrying out their mission of defending the country’s skies during yesterday’s aggression by the Zionist regime,” state television says.

Fresh IDF strikes reported in Tyre after evacuation warnings

Lebanese media reports Israeli airstrikes in the coastal city of Tyre a short while ago.

“Enemy warplanes launched a violent raid on Tyre,” Lebanon’s National News Agency says.

Earlier, the IDF issued an evacuation warning for the entire city and its outskirts, including a Christian neighborhood that until now had not faced such orders.

#شاهد

اللحظات الأولى للغارة الإسرائيلية التي استهدفت مدينة صور جنوبي #لبنان قبل قليل. pic.twitter.com/HmjoiCBC0g

— Newpress | نيو برس (@NewpressPs) June 9, 2026

IDF says it struck Hamas naval police HQ, 3 weapons depots in Gaza

The Israeli Air Force bombed the main headquarters of Hamas’s naval police in the Gaza Strip earlier this week, the military announces.

According to the IDF, the airstrike on Sunday in the Khan Younis area killed several terror operatives, including Ismail al-Lahham, a cell commander in Hamas’s military wing.

The military says Hamas’s naval police “operates under the authority of Hamas’s military wing, and works to advance, direct, and carry out terror attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”

“At the headquarters that was struck, Hamas conducted rehabilitation and force-building efforts, in violation of the ceasefire agreement and while exploiting infrastructure presented as civilian,” the IDF says.

In addition, the military says that last week it struck and destroyed three Hamas arms caches, where weapons intended to be used against troops were stored.

Before the strikes, and after the IDF issued warnings to residents of the area, the military says that it identified several Hamas operatives “who began attempting to remove the weapons at the warehouses using vehicles.”

“Following the identification, the IDF struck the terrorists and the weapons,” the military says.

Leaving missiles and proxies out of Iran deal would be ‘strategic disaster’ – European diplomat

Part of an Iranian ballistic missile is seen in the desert near Jericho in the West Bank after being fired toward Israel from Iran, June 8, 2026 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

A European diplomat warns that the failure to restrict Tehran’s missile program and regional proxy network in the emerging US-Iran deal would amount to a “strategic disaster” for both Israel and Europe.

If negotiators “have stricken out the missiles [and] they have stricken out the proxies… we have a complete strategic disaster,” the diplomat tells The Times of Israel.

“The current US-led track appears to exclude missiles and proxies,” the diplomat says of the emerging Iran deal, details of which have not been publicized.

Despite being repeatedly presented by top American and Israeli officials as key components of Iran’s military leverage, the Islamic Republic’s missile and proxy programs have hardly been mentioned publicly by US, Iranian, or Israeli officials discussing the latest framework of the deal, or in any reported details of the negotiations.

The diplomat, who has held conversations with regional sources familiar with the talks, warns that the apparent omission is significant, as a large enough missile arsenal could deter future attacks by threatening retaliation — and could eventually provide the delivery system for a nuclear weapon — while Tehran’s proxy network allows it to threaten Israel, Western forces, and targets abroad without direct confrontation.

“This is dangerous because Iran may retain enough nuclear capability while Hezbollah and other proxies remain active,” the diplomat says.

Shares on Tel Aviv Stock Exchange slip amid investor uncertainty over Iran

A man walks past the The Tel Aviv stock exchange, May 25, 2026. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

Shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange slip amid investor uncertainty over an emerging peace deal between the US and Iran, the day after Tehran and Jerusalem said they were halting strikes after a number of hours of direct conflict.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s benchmark TA-125 index drops 0.7 percent around midday trading. The benchmark index has gained almost 16% so far this year, fueled by optimism for an end of hostilities in the region and an improved geopolitical environment.

The TA-35 index of blue-chip companies is down 0.8%. The TA-Insurance index dips 2% and the TA-Oil and Gas Index falls 1.4%.

“Less than 24 hours ago, Iran still fired missiles at Israel, and while both sides announced on Monday they would halt attacks for now, the market is looking for clarity over a peace deal pursued by Washington,” Mizrahi Tefahot Bank chief markets economist Ronen Menahem tells The Times of Israel. “There is still a lot of volatility around the geopolitical situation, as it is not clear if a US-Iran deal remains within reach in the coming days, and whether Israel’s interests will be served.”

Iran says US withdrew its World Cup ticket allocation days before tournament

Fans for team Iran wave as players arrive for the World Cup soccer tournament in Tijuana, Mexico, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Iran’s football federation says the United States has revoked its allocation of tickets for its World Cup group games, accusing the co-host of obstructing the attendance of Iranian supporters.

The US has presented a number of bureaucratic hurdles for Iran at the global football spectacle, including refusing to issue visas for some of its support staff.

“With less than three days remaining until the start of the 2026 World Cup… the United States has once again acted to obstruct the presence of Iranian supporters at the stadiums hosting the national team’s three group stage matches,” the federation says in a statement.

The Iranian football body says FIFA regulations dictate that it should be allocated eight percent of tickets for each match, which are given to participating federations for distribution to their supporters through official channels.

According to the statement, Iran had already begun ticket sales for group stage matches against New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt — all to be held in the US — after receiving its quota, with some fans having already made necessary arrangements.

“However, in an unexpected move, the allocation granted to the Iranian Football Federation has been withdrawn, and under the current circumstances, the federation is unable to provide even a single ticket to supporters of the national team,” it says.

The federation describes the move as “contrary to the spirit governing international competitions and the principle of equality among participating countries.”

It also calls on FIFA and tournament organizers “to uphold the principles of neutrality, fairness, and established regulations, to provide the necessary conditions for Iranian supporters.”

Neither FIFA nor US organizers have publicly commented on the Iranian accusation.

5th person charged in connection with arson attack on London Jewish community ambulances

Burnt ambulances in a parking lot at Golders Green in London, March 23, 2026, after an arson attack on four vehicles belonging to a Jewish ambulance service in London. (AP/Alberto Pezzali)

British prosecutors have charged an 18-year-old man with assisting an offender in connection with an arson attack in March on Jewish volunteer-run ambulances that were parked outside a synagogue in north London, the Crown Prosecution Service says.

The police say he was the fifth person charged in relation to what Prime Minister Keir Starmer had called a “deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Average reserve duty in 2025 was 78 days; 37% of reservists are parents; biggest number comes from Tel Aviv

IDF reservists operate in the West Bank, in a handout photo published by the military on June 9, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)

In 2024, reservists served an average of 94 days on duty, while last year that dropped to 78 days, according to new statistics published by the IDF.

The IDF publishes the data after Reservists Appreciation Day, an annual celebration of reservists.

According to the military’s data, 37% of reservists are parents, a statistic that it says “illustrates the personal and family sacrifice required of them and their families throughout the fighting.”

The IDF says that the cities with the most reservists are Tel Aviv with 42,000, Jerusalem with 23,000, Rishon Lezion with 16,000, Beersheba with 15,000, and Haifa with 14,000.

IDF issues evacuation warning for Lebanese city of Tyre, including Christian neighborhood for 1st time

The IDF issues an evacuation warning for the entire coastal Lebanese city of Tyre and its outskirts, including a Christian neighborhood that until now had not faced such orders.

Last week, the IDF asserted that dozens of Hezbollah operatives were hiding within Tyre’s Christian neighborhood, warning them: “If you continue to remain and operate from within this area, the Israel Defense Forces will issue instructions to evacuate the Christian neighborhood and will take the necessary actions against you.”

This morning, the IDF published an “urgent warning to the residents of the city of Tyre, including the Christian quarter, and the camps and neighborhoods surrounding it.”

Residents of the area are instructed to evacuate to north of the Zahrani River.

“As we warned in recent days, following Hezbollah operatives’ activities within the city’s Christian quarter, the IDF will be compelled to act against their terror activities in the neighborhood in the near term,” warns army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.

“Your presence near Hezbollah operatives, facilities, or weapons puts your lives at risk. Any building used by Hezbollah for military purposes may be subject to targeting,” he adds.

Irish soccer association expected to request Israel game be moved to neutral venue due to protests

Republic of Ireland's defender Seamus Coleman reacts as tennis balls with Palestinian flags on them are thrown onto the pitch during the international friendly soccer match between the Republic of Ireland and Qatar, at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland on May 28, 2026. (Paul Faith/AFP)

The Football Association of Ireland [FAI] is expected to request to move its October 4 UEFA Nations League game against Israel from Dublin to a neutral venue, due to protesters’ demands, according to Irish broadcaster RTE.

The FAI is expected to make a decision on whether it will request the change after its board meeting Thursday, RTE says.

If the UEFA approves the move, the game could be moved from Dublin’s Aviva Stadium to another country, with a venue in Hungary being considered as a possible alternative.

Protesters in Ireland have been calling for the team to boycott its fixtures with Israel.

Anti-Israel group Irish Sport For Palestine has launched a public campaign to “Stop The Game,” and disrupted the team’s match against Qatar in May by throwing tennis balls with the Palestine flag logo onto the pitch.

Pakistan and Lebanon army chiefs meet, agree to boost cooperation

The heads of the Pakistani and Lebanese armed forces agree to boost cooperation as they meet in Pakistan, with peace talks over the Middle East war dragging on.

Pakistan has been mediating between the United States and Iran to end the months-long conflict, with Tehran insisting that any deal should include Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Lebanese army chief Rodolphe Haykal left on Saturday to meet his powerful Pakistani counterpart Asim Munir, with a Lebanon-based source telling AFP the visit was linked to the broader peace talks.

The two military commanders discussed “matters of mutual interest, (the) evolving regional security environment, defense cooperation and prospects for enhancing bilateral military relations,” a statement from the media wing of the Pakistani military says.

Munir “underscored (the) Pakistan Army’s commitment to expanding defense collaboration with the Lebanese Armed Forces,” it says, after Haykal received a guard of honor ahead of the meeting in the city of Rawalpindi.

After cancellation due to security concerns, British Museum lecture on Ancient Israel to be held Thursday

Visitors walk outside the British Museum in Bloomsbury, London, June 26, 2015. (AP/Tim Ireland)

A lecture on “Ancient Israel and Judah in the British Museum” will be held Thursday after the original talk was postponed due to security concerns.

The talk at the British Museum, part of the country’s Jewish Culture Month, was originally supposed to take place on May 28, but was called off after the museum learned that it was likely to be disrupted by anti-Israel activists. The museum said at the time it would be rescheduled.

The talk by Paul Collins, Keeper of the Department of the Middle East, on the historical and archaeological record of the region will now take place on Thursday.

A livestream of the talk will be offered online, due to high demand, the museum says.

Jewish Culture Month is the first event of its kind in the United Kingdom, organized by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. The festivities run through June 16, and include more than 100 events celebrating Jewish heritage, creativity and culture across the UK.

3 more arrested over Haredi mob’s break-in at Beit Shemesh police station compound last week

A Haredi protester being arrested in Beit Shemesh during protests at the police station on May 31, 2026. (Screentshot/X/ Yishai Cohen/Israel Police)

Police have arrested three more suspects in last week’s break-in at a Beit Shemesh police station compound by a Haredi mob.

Overnight, officers raided the homes of the three suspects, Beit Shemesh residents aged 26, 46 and 56.

The three men are the main suspects in the break-in, which saw dozens of rioters protesting the arrest of an alleged draft dodger breach one of the gates to the compound.

The mob committed acts of vandalism, blocked nearby traffic routes and set fires, burning trees and other vegetation, police say.

They will appear today in court, where police will seek to extend their detention.

Haredi protesters block Jerusalem road over traffic ticket issued to man said to be draft dodger

Haredi protesters are blocking a road in Jerusalem, apparently when an officer issued an ultra-Orthodox driver a traffic ticket.

According to Channel 12 news, the driver was stopped in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood and phone messages were distributed by a Haredi organization about the “attempted arrest” of a draft dodger.

Crowds arrived on the scene and began to block the road and clash with officers, reports say.

According to Channel 12, the man was not detained and it is unclear if the driver was indeed a draft dodger.

רמת שלמה, ירושלים: שוטר עיכב נהג חרדי לצורך מתן דו"ח תנועה, במקביל הופצו הודעות טלפוניות מטעם ארגון חרדי על "ניסיון מעצר" של עריק והמונים הגיעו למקום – חסמו את הכביש והחלו במחאה. הנהג לא נעצר, ולא ברור כלל אם מדובר בעריק@eli_hirschmann

צילום: לפי סעיף 27 א' pic.twitter.com/TPcwXq7PQL

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) June 9, 2026

Trump on Netanyahu: ‘If I tell him to do something, he does it’

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press before boarding Air Force One prior to departure from John F. Kennedy International Airport, in New York, on June 9, 2026 (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

More details are emerging regarding the flurry of conversations between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the conflict erupted between Israel and Iran for the first time since a ceasefire took effect in early April.

In a reported conversation with the BBC, Trump denies that Netanyahu had defied him by ordering military action against Iran in response to missile attacks on Israel, saying: “If I tell him to do something, he does it.”

“All I said [to Netanyahu] was we have to use common sense, we’re close to signing a very powerful deal, a very good deal,” the BBC reports the US president as saying.

The BBC says Trump was then asked if Netanyahu had defied him.

“No, no. That’s not what happened,” Trump says. “[The missiles] had already gone, they were already on their way.”

Reports: Settlers torched vehicle in West Bank Palestinian village, no injuries reported

Palestinian media outlets report that settlers torched a vehicle overnight in the village of Beit Amrin near Nablus in the northern West Bank.

No injuries are reported in the arson attack.

مصادر محلية: مسـ.tـوطنون يحرقون مركبات المواطنين في قرية بيت إمرين شمال غرب مدينة نابلس. pic.twitter.com/itfW28wSL5

— فلسطين بوست (@PalpostN) June 8, 2026

Trump: Pilots of US helicopter that went down near Strait of Hormuz ‘are fine’

US President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

US President Donald Trump says that the pilots of a US Army Apache helicopter that went down near the Strait of Hormuz “are fine.”

Speaking on the runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport before returning to Washington, DC, Trump says there was “nobody injured.”

The administration would issue a report later today, he adds.

The New York Times reported that a US Army Apache helicopter gunship went down near the Strait of Hormuz yesterday and its two crew members were safely rescued, citing two people briefed on the incident.

It was not immediately clear whether the Apache was shot down by Iranian fire, experienced mechanical failure or encountered some other problem, the report said.

The US Department of State and US Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Lebanese media reports Israeli airstrikes near Tyre

Lebanese media reports Israeli strikes near Tyre in south Lebanon.

There is not immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces.

תיעוד מלבנון: חיל האוויר תקף בעיירה באזור צור שבדרום המדינה@migansh5 pic.twitter.com/f6aomUCkXr

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 9, 2026

Iran announced yesterday it was halting attacks on Israel, but threatened a further response if Israel continued its “aggression” in Lebanon, where the IDF has targeted the Tehran-backed terror group Hezbollah.

Trump says in ‘final throes’ of Middle East peace deal

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press before boarding Air Force One prior to departure from John F. Kennedy International Airport, in New York, on June 9, 2026 (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

US President Donald Trump says he is in the “final throes” of reaching a Middle East peace deal.

“We’re in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal,” he tells reporters on his return from an NBA Finals game.

When asked whether it would be matter of days or weeks, he says it will take “two or three days.”

Report: US military helicopter went down near Strait of Hormuz; crew members rescued

Illustrative: US Army flight crewmembers conduct flight checks on an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter prior to take-off in the USCentral Command Area of Responsibility on Nov. 5, 2025 (US Army Photo by Capt. Bernard Jenkins Jr.)

A US military helicopter gunship went down in the area of the Strait of Hormuz yesterday with its two crew members safely rescued, the New York Times reports.

The report, citing two individuals with knowledge of the incident, says it is unclear if the Apache was shot down, experienced a technical issue, or went down for some other reason.

The newspaper says neither the White House nor the US military’s CENTCOM commented on the report.

‘Israel may not like that’: Touting potential ‘home run’ deal, Vance says key US objective is preventing Iran from getting nukes

US Vice President JD Vance speaks with reporters after his arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on May 28, 2026. (Matt Rourke/Pool/AFP)

US Vice President JD Vance says the United States and Israel “have a lot of shared interests, but we also have some situations where our interests diverge,” as Fox News host Jesse Waters begins an interview by asking him how “concerned are you about Israel spying on the United States and freelancing in Lebanon?”

“I think where the president has been very clear here is that while Israel obviously has some objectives that it has, the United States’ main objective in Iran is to ensure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon,” Vance says, without actually addressing the questions posed to him.

Vance asserts that “over the last year and a half, we’ve created the space necessary where the president believes – and I think that he’s right – that we can get the long-term settlement to Iran’s nuclear deal.”

“Now, Israel may like that, they may not like that,” he adds. “But fundamentally, we think this is in the best interest of the United States of America.”

Asked if the Iranians are “trying to play” the US negotiators, Vance responds, “Everybody’s always trying to play everybody.”

He also argues that unlike the deal the Trump administration is negotiating, the problem with the 2015 nuclear agreement “is that there was not a proper inspections regime to ensure the Iranians could never build a nuclear weapon.”

“That is one of the big differences between what happened then and what the president of the United States would get to, assuming we are ultimately able to make a deal,” Vance insists.

“We’re going to take the attitude of: ‘Accomplish the president’s mission, but verify over the long term that the Iranians are keeping their end of the bargain.’ It’s a tall order, but it’s one that the president has put us in a good position to achieve.”

Vance also claims that the Iranians “don’t want this war to continue, it’s not in their best interest, and I think they are coming to the table and putting some things on the table. We are of course going to verify it, but if we get this deal it’s going to be a home run win for the American people.”

Palestinian women’s soccer player detained in Jerusalem released to house arrest

Israeli authorities released a player on the Palestinian national women’s soccer team after six days in detention in Jerusalem, her mother and police tell AFP.

Wissam Halawani say Israeli police released her daughter Rand Halawani, 20, on Sunday evening, with an order to remain under house arrest for five days.

Halawani tells AFP that she had “gone through very difficult times over the past few days” following her daughter’s detention, and that she now feels “overwhelming joy” after her return home.

Israeli authorities released Rand Halawani, 20, a player on the Palestinian national women's football team, after six days in detention in Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/y66Sstrkrx

— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) June 8, 2026

An Israeli police spokesperson tells AFP that “the court has ordered that the suspect remain under house arrest,” and stresses that “this ruling does not indicate or determine the outcome of any future legal proceedings.”

Police had said last week that Halawani was arrested along with an 18-year-old man in relation to an incident in Jerusalem in which objects were allegedly thrown from a balcony at demonstrators marching on a street below.

“The investigation remains ongoing, and evidentiary material continues to be collected and assessed,” police tell AFP.

The Palestinian Football Association celebrates Halawani’s release in a statemen.

“Rand Halawani breathes freedom,” the association says in a social media post, accompanied by an image showing her wearing the Palestinian national team’s red kit.

ICC chief prosecutor suspended after probe finds he committed serious sexual misconduct

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan talks before convening the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, Pool)

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan has been suspended pending a vote by member states on his fate, the court’s governing body says following a probe into accusations of sexual harassment made against him.

A diplomatic source briefed on the decision says the court’s governing body’s executive bureau has ruled Khan had committed serious misconduct following an 18-months long probe into accusations that Khan had non-consensual sexual interactions with a lawyer in his office.

Khan, who issued warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, has always denied the charges. The ICC’s governing body will send its conclusion on to all 125 ICC member states who are expected to put Khan’s possible removal from office to a vote at a later date.

Army confirms Hezbollah drone set off sirens in Western Galilee

A suspected Hezbollah drone triggered sirens in several border communities in the Western Galilee a short while ago.

The IDF says “the incident has concluded,” and that no injuries were caused.

IDF downs drone over Eilat that was launched by Yemen’s Houthis

A drone launched at Israel by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen was intercepted by air defenses over the southernmost city of Eilat a short while ago, the military says.

Sirens had sounded in Eilat amid the incident.

On Monday morning, the Houthis fired two ballistic missiles at Israel. The IDF said one was intercepted and the second failed to reach the country.

Israeli missile defense appears to have downed a Houthi drone detected in Eilat, southern Israel a short time ago. pic.twitter.com/DsSKxJVPDK

— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) June 8, 2026

Suspected drones trigger sirens in both Eilat and the Western Galilee

Sirens warning of a suspected drone attack sound in the southernmost city of Eilat.

A short while ago, sirens warning of a drone attack from Lebanon also sounded in the Western Galilee.

The IDF says it is looking into the details.