The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they happened.
IDF says it killed Islamic Jihad operative who Doctors Without Borders named as a staffer
A Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative involved in developing the terror group’s missiles was killed in an airstrike earlier today, the military says.
Fadi Jihad Muhammad al-Wadiya was targeted in a drone strike in Gaza City, the IDF says.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, reported this morning that al-Wadiya was one of its staffers. The organization said in a post on X that al-Wadiya was killed along with 5 other people, among them three children, while riding his bicycle to the MSF clinic where he worked.
Al-Wadiya was involved in “the development and advancement of the organization’s missile array,” the military says.
The IDF says he was also a “source of knowledge” within the Islamic Jihad, in the fields of electronics and chemistry.
It publishes footage of the strike.
כלי-טיס של חיל-האוויר, בהכוונת פיקוד הדרום ואמ"ן, תקף מוקדם יותר היום במרחב העיר עזה וחיסל את המחבל פאדי ג׳האד מחמד אלואדיה, אשר שימש כפעיל בארגון הטרור גא״פ ועסק בפיתוח וקידום מערך הטילים של הארגון.
כמו כן, המחבל היווה מוקד ידע ייחודי בארגון בתחומי האלקטרוניקה והכימיה. pic.twitter.com/kidkxFRNVQ— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) June 25, 2024
4 anti-Israel protesters arrested for trespassing at British PM’s country estate, leaving fake poop

LONDON — Four men were arrested on suspicion of trespassing after entering the grounds of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s country estate in northern England, police say.
North Yorkshire police say the group was detained just after noon and arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass.
A group called Youth Demand posts video showing a man in boots step into Sunak’s pond, where he pretended to defecate.
The group says in a statement chock-full of a crude four-letter word for human waste that it was a “parting gift” to the prime minister. It says the stool used in the stunt was made of latex so it could be retrieved and prevent environmental damage.
Sunak was in London at the time for the state visit by the Japanese emperor and empress.
The incident comes just over a week before the UK’s general election that will determine if Sunak remains in power. Polls and pundits have predicted the Labour Party to take control after 14 years of Conservative rule.
The police officer who confronted the group asked the man identified by the group as “Oliver” what his intentions were, according to video of the incident.
“I think our intentions are carried out,” he replied.
Youth Demand says it is calling for a two-way arms embargo on Israel and for the next UK government to revoke oil and gas licenses granted since 2021.
The group says the four detained included a press photographer.
Sunak had condemned the group earlier this year when it hung a banner on the home of Labour leader Keir Starmer, saying “Stop the killing,” in reference to Israel’s war with Hamas terrorists.
UNIFIL contractors wounded by gunfire in south Lebanon; source indeterminate ‘at this point’
BEIRUT — A spokesperson for the United Nations peacekeeping force deployed in south Lebanon along the border with Israel says three of their contractors were wounded today when gunfire hit their vehicle.
“Fortunately, there were no serious injuries,” says Kandice Ardiel, deputy spokesperson for the force known as UNIFIL.
Asked if the fire came from the Israeli side, Ardiel says: “At this point, we can’t determine the origin.”
She says the contractors were returning home from UNIFIL’s Sector West headquarters in the village of Chama when their vehicle was hit by gunfire. Chama is about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the border with Israel.
Israel and the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah have been exchanging fire nearly every day since the war in Gaza began in October.
“We reiterate our condemnation of any attack on civilians, or any action that puts civilian lives in danger,” Ardiel says, adding that this includes locals who still live in their villages and provide essential services to support peacekeepers in their work. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.
Houthis claim to target ‘Israeli’ ship in Arabian Sea with new ballistic missile
Yemen’s Houthis say they targeted the “Israeli MSC Sarah V” vessel in the Arabian Sea with a new ballistic missile that entered the service recently.
Police launch murder probe after man shot dead in Bat Yam
Police open an investigation into a suspected murder in Bat Yam, where a man from the nearby city of Holon was shot dead.
A police statement says the investigation will be led by the major crimes unit.
IDF releases clip of mortar attack on troops escorting UN aid convoy, blames Hamas

Hamas launched mortars at Israeli troops escorting a United Nations humanitarian aid convoy in the central Gaza Strip earlier today, the military says, publishing footage of the incident.
The IDF and COGAT had been coordinating a UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) convoy, part of a mission to reunite children from northern Gaza with their families in the south, the military says.
“During the coordinated activity, the Hamas terrorist organization fired a projectile at the humanitarian route near the UNICEF aid convoy and IDF soldiers securing the area,” it says in a statement.
Video published by the IDF shows at least one mortar striking just a few meters from soldiers and a UN vehicle.
It says the convoy later proceeded along the route as planned, and there were no injuries in the attack.
“Despite the IDF’s attempts to increase humanitarian aid and activities for Gazan residents, Hamas continues to exploit these efforts and endanger the lives of Gazan civilians,” the military adds.
Today, during a @UNICEF aid mission meant to reunite children with their families, Hamas fired a projectile at the aid convoy.
There were no injuries to international aid workers or @IDF soldiers in the attack.
Despite our attempts to increase humanitarian aid and activities… pic.twitter.com/lXkfxFTpyr
— COGAT (@cogatonline) June 25, 2024
US envoy rips Israel’s West Bank policies during UN Security Council meeting

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield rips into Israel’s policies in the West Bank during the Security Council’s monthly session on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“The world’s eyes are, rightfully, on Gaza. But we cannot ignore the situation in the West Bank,” she says, noting that more Palestinians were killed in the territory in 2023 than any other year since the UN began collecting data. The majority were killed in clashes with Israeli troops, though.
Thomas-Greenfield says the US is also concerned about the “significant uptick in deadly” settler violence against Palestinians and calls on Israeli authorities to crack down on the phenomenon.
Acknowledging that they have overwhelmingly failed to do so, the US envoy notes that Washington has taken actions into its own hands and issued sanctions against violent settlers, including the far-right Tzav 9 group that has been behind attacks on Gaza aid convoys in the West Bank
She extends her condemnation to cover Israel’s policies to expand settlements in the West Bank, which are “inconsistent with international law and only serves to weaken Israeli security.”
“Advancing Israeli settlements in the West Bank is an obstacle to the achievement of a two-state solution – the end state we all want to see, as we seek to bring the fighting in Gaza to a close,” Thomas-Greenfield says.
By contrast, the US ambassador hails the work of the Palestinian Authority’s security forces to maintain stability in the West Bank.
She slams Israel for withholding PA tax revenues for nearly three months, which has the authority on the brink of collapse.
Thomas-Greenfield says those fund are essential for the PA to be able to govern effectively but clarifies that Ramallah must implement a series of major reforms to address corruption regardless.
While she heaps criticism onto Israel over its conduct in the West Bank, Thomas-Greeenfield clarifies that the blame lies with Hamas for the continued war in Gaza.
Israel, US said to reschedule high-level talks on Iran after last week’s meeting called off
An Israeli delegation will soon visit Washington for a meeting of the Strategic Consultative Group on Iran, with the sides rescheduling the talks after deliberations set for last week were delayed, according to Hebrew media reports.
The White House has said the meeting was pushed off due to a scheduling conflict, strongly denying it was canceled out of pique after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly accused the Biden administration of holding up arms deliveries to Israel.
In first, US describes Hamas response to Israeli ceasefire offer as a ‘rejection’

WASHINGTON — The US, for the first time, has characterized Hamas’s June 11 response to the latest Israeli hostage deal proposal as a rejection of that offer.
The terror group “came back several weeks ago and rejected the proposal that was on the table,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says during a press briefing.
“They gave us a written response that rejected the proposal put forward by Israel, that President Biden had outlined, that the United Nations Security Council and countries all around the world had endorsed — a written rejection and counter-proposal that came from Hamas.
To date, US officials had not gone as far as their Israeli counterparts in saying Hamas’s response amounted to a rejection.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had criticized the response, saying the Israeli offer was nearly identical to the previous one made by Hamas, giving the terror group no reason to reject it. He says the Hamas response included some changes that were not workable and others that were.
Egyptian and Qatari mediators have been in contact with Hamas over the past two weeks in an attempt to bridge the gaps with Israel.
Doctors Without Borders says staffer killed in Gaza City attack
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, says one of its staffers was killed this morning in Gaza City.
According to a statement from the group, Fadi Al-Wadiya was killed along with 5 other people, among them three children, while riding his bicycle to the MSF clinic where he worked.
“Killing a healthcare worker while on his way to provide vital medical care to wounded victims of the endless massacres across Gaza is beyond shocking; it’s cynical and abhorrent,” Caroline Seguin, the organization’s local operations manager, is quoted saying in the statement.
MSF adds that he was the sixth staff worker to be killed since Hamas’s October 7 attack that started the war, while refraining from assigning blame for his death. “We are continuing to verify the details of this horrific incident,” it says.
We are outraged and strongly condemn the killing of our colleague, Fadi Al-Wadiya, in an attack this morning in Gaza City.
The attack killed Fadi, along with 5 other people including 3 children, while he was cycling to work, near the MSF clinic where he was providing care. pic.twitter.com/Lmd8E5AkC1
— MSF International (@MSF) June 25, 2024
US says working with UN and Israel to address chaos hampering Gaza aid distribution

WASHINGTON — The US is working with the UN and Israel to try and address the problem of lawlessness in Gaza that has severely hampered the distribution of aid throughout the Strip, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says.
Miller explains that humanitarian aid has been piling up on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom Crossing and that UN agencies have been unable to deliver it because trucks are being looted by local gangs.
The US is pushing Israel to authorize UN requests for equipment for protection and communication, which have long been rejected, Miller says.
In order to obtain neutrality, UN agencies have long had a policy of not hiring security guards to protect their convoys.
Accordingly, the distribution of humanitarian aid has been much more limited than the distribution of commercial supplies, which are often secured by armed guards.
Addressing the UN Security Council’s monthly session on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict earlier today, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield war appeared more critical of Israel’s role in the slow-down of aid.
“We continue to press Israel to create better conditions for facilitating aid delivery inside Gaza,” she said.
“In order for humanitarian organizations to be able to safely continue their lifesaving work, the IDF must implement concrete actions to protect humanitarians and improve the overall security environment inside Gaza,” Thomas-Greenfield continued.
“The lack of an effective deconfliction mechanism nearly nine months into the conflict is unacceptable and continues to put humanitarian actors at tremendous risk,” she said.
Yisrael Beytenu MK calls to scrap Knesset’s upcoming summer recess

Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer calls on Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to cancel the legislature’s upcoming recess, which begins at the end of July.
Noting the hardship many Israelis have endured since October 7, such as the tens of thousands of displaced citizens unable to return home and reservists who have been mobilized multiple times, Forer says “no one in the State of Israel is able to return to a proper routine.”
“People fear the difficult security situation that may further escalate, as well as the dire economic situation. More and more families are collapsing under the burden,” he adds in his letter to Ohana, arguing that at such a time “it is unacceptable that the Knesset will freeze its work, the committees will be silenced and the Knesset plenum will go into hibernation.”
Recalling his party’s call to cancel the Knesset’s previous recess, which ran from April 7 to May 19, Forer says lawmakers now “have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the past and do the minimum required to change the situation and be connected to the nation’s cry.”
‘Get out of the city’: Jewish students assaulted at London Underground station
UK transit police call on the British public to come forward with any information about an assault on a group of Jewish school students at an Underground station in London.
A mother of one of the students tells The Jewish News that prior to the assault at Belsize Park, they faced antisemitic abuse from a group that’s harassed them before.
“They ran ahead of my son and kicked one of his friends to the ground. They were trying to push another kid onto the tracks. They got him as far the yellow line. I’m not sure how he managed to get away,” the unnamed mother says. “My son ran a few steps up to try and get help. They ran after him, he was elbowed in the cheek and he hit his head against the wall. They dislodged a tooth and shouted ‘Get out of the city Jew!’”
The incident is condemned by Mayor Sadiq Khan, who says, “antisemitism has no place on the streets of London.”
Canada calls on citizens in Lebanon to leave ‘while they can’
Canada urges its citizens in Lebanon to leave “while they can,” warning of the risk of escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah in the region.
Foreign Minister Melanie Joly in a statement calls for Canadians to depart while commercial flights remain in operation.
“The security situation in Lebanon is becoming increasingly volatile and unpredictable due to sustained and escalating violence between Hezbollah and Israel and could deteriorate further without warning,” she says.
“If the armed conflict intensifies,” she says, it could make it harder to leave the country and for Canada to provide consular services to tens of thousands of Canadians believed to be living in the country.
Ottawa is not offering to evacuate Canadians, and an advisory warns against travel to Lebanon.
Hamas chief: Hostage-ceasefire deal that doesn’t end Gaza war is ‘not an agreement’

CAIRO — Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist terror group Hamas, issues a statement following the recent death of his sister, saying any hostage deal that does not guarantee a ceasefire and an end to Israel’s offensive in Gaza is “not an agreement.”
“If [Israel] thinks targeting my family will change our position or that of the resistance, they are delusional,” the statement says.
‘Time is running out’: At Pentagon, Gallant calls on US to honor its commitment to stop Iran getting nukes

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s office releases remarks from his meeting in Washington with Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin, saying “the people of Israel will never forget” America’s support in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack.
He also urges the US to honor its long-standing commitment to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.
“Today we are at the crossroads,” Gallant says in English-language remarks. “I’m here to discuss our common goals: Ensuring the security of the State of Israel and projecting the power ties between our countries.”
On Gaza, Gallant calls for Israel and the US to work together for the return of all the hostages “with no exception,” and calls to “end the terrorist regime of Hamas.”
Turning to the northern border, he says Israel is “determined to establish security, changing [the] reality on the ground and bringing our communities safely back home.”
“We are working closely together to achieve an agreement, but we must also discuss readiness for every possible scenario,” Gallant adds, before calling Iran “the greatest threat to the future of the world and the future of our region.”
“Time is running out,” he adds. “Now is the time to realize the commitment of American administrations over the years to prevent Iran from possessing nuclear weapons,” he says.
Head of Knesset panel deliberating Haredi enlistment: Bill will only pass ‘with broad agreement’

Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, who heads the Knesset committee that is currently deliberating the ultra-Orthodox enlistment bill, issues a statement saying the legislation will only advance “with broad agreement.”
“Or the law won’t pass it all,” he declares.
Community activist: First enlist yeshiva students falsely exempted from IDF service
At least 10,000 Haredi men are exempted annually from military service under false pretenses and should enlist per the High Court of Justice ruling, says an ultra-Orthodox activist promoting enlistment.
“It should start with those exempted who only say they attend yeshivot [but actually don’t attend],” Eliyahu Glatzenberg, co-founder of the Achvat Torah nonprofit, tells The Times of Israel following the High Court of Justice’s ruling.
Definitions of who is Haredi vary, complicating statistics. Shomrim, an investigative journalism platform, says that by the most liberal definition, only about 1,000 Haredim enlisted in 2019 and 2020, about half of the levels in the years 2013-2018. Statistics for 2021-2023 are similar, an Israel Defense Forces representative told a Knesset committee in February.
“If the 10,000-odd wrongfully exempted Haredim are targeted, there’d be more understanding of it by Haredi community leaders than if the army conscripted actual yeshiva students,” says Glatzenberg.
UN threatens to halt aid operations in Gaza unless Israel better protects workers

WASHINGTON — Senior UN officials have told Israel they will suspend aid operations across Gaza unless urgent steps are taken to better protect humanitarian workers, two UN officials say.
A UN letter sent to senior Israeli officials this month said Israel must provide UN workers with direct communication with Israeli forces on the ground in Gaza, among other steps, the officials says.
They speak on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations with Israeli officials. The UN officials say there has been no final decision on suspending operations across Gaza and that talks with Israelis are ongoing.
The UN World Food Programme has already suspended aid delivery from a US-built pier in Gaza over security concerns.
Israeli military officials do not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After court ruling, AG tells IDF to immediately start drafting 3,000 Haredi students

The Attorney General’s Office instructs the IDF to immediately draft 3,000 ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students beginning July 1, following the High Court of Justice’s ruling earlier Tuesday that the state is obligated to conscript such men into military service.
“The security establishment is obligated to act immediately to implement the ruling to draft yeshiva students who are obligated to perform military service,” Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon tells the army in a letter to its legal adviser.
There are currently some 63,000 Haredi yeshiva students who following today’s ruling are now obligated to perform military service, although the IDF told the court that it could realistically draft just 3,000 in the 2024 enlistment year which began in June.
Limon points out that the 3,000 Haredi men must be conscripted in addition to the average number of such men who have enlisted in recent years, which the state put at 1,800 in its submission to the court.
Additionally, he points out in his letter, which is also addressed to the Finance Ministry and Education Ministry, that under the terms of the ruling, they are banned from transferring any funds “directly or indirectly” to yeshivas who have until now received funding for students who study in lieu of military service.
Limon says this ban means that the funding cannot be included in other financial support programs enjoyed by yeshiva students, reflecting the Attorney General Office’s concerns that the government will seek to circumvent the ruling by reallocating the funds through different support programs.
Gantz vows ‘real service plan for both Haredim and Arabs’ if he forms a government
National Unity chairman Benny Gantz promises to implement “a broad and comprehensive solution” to the issue of enlistment if he establishes a government, stating that he will bring “a real service plan for both the ultra-Orthodox and the Arabs.”
Addressing the annual Herzliya conference at Reichman University, the former war cabinet minister says he’s “disturbed” the High Court of Justice was forced to get involved in enlistment due to “political considerations” that prevented the government from dealing with the issue.
“Unfortunately, in the dialogue we had with the ultra-Orthodox leaders, we have not yet been able to reach a correct and real outline,” he says, declaring that he will not support any “sham” laws — a reference to the enlistment bill currently being deliberated in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee.
Addressing the conflict in Gaza, Gantz states that while it is “impossible to destroy an idea, it is absolutely possible and necessary to destroy the ability to actualize it,” which he says requires a generation-long effort to confront Hamas’ presence in the “local arena.”
The first priority, however, is the return of the hostages “after nine months of hell,” he says. “After we finish dismantling the main military infrastructure of Hamas, the time has come to return our hostages even at a very heavy price.”
Turning to the north, Gantz states that displaced Israelis must be able to return home, “even at the cost of escalation” but warned Israel will also have to pay a “heavy” price.
IDF video shows troops uncovering booby-trapped tunnel shaft inside Rafah home

The military publishes footage showing the discovery of a booby-trapped tunnel shaft in a home in southern Gaza’s Rafah.
The tunnel was located by the Nahal Brigade. The IDF says Nahal troops located numerous weapons and military equipment during recent operations in Rafah.
Pentagon chief: US seeking diplomatic deal to prevent ‘devastating’ Israel-Hezbollah war

In remarks at the start of his meeting with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin expresses concern about “the rise in rocket attacks” on northern Israel by Lebanon’s Hezbollah and “the recent surge in tensions.”
Austin says the continued Hezbollah attacks “mean more suffering” for displaced Israelis and Lebanese, warning the Iran-backed terror group’s “provocations threaten to drag the Israeli and Lebanese people into a war that they do not.”
“Such a war would be a catastrophe for Lebanon and would be devastating for innocent Israeli and Lebanese civilians,” he adds.
Austin expresses concern that a war between Israel and Hezbollah could engulf the region, advocating diplomacy as “the best way to avoid escalation.”
“So we are urgently seeking a diplomatic agreement that restores lasting calm to Israel’s northern border, and enables civilians to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border,” says Austin.
UN envoy warns Smotrich’s steps against PA could ‘upend the entire Palestinian financial system’

UN Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland expresses alarm over the financial state of the Palestinian Authority against the backdrop of steps taken by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
“Announcements by Israel’s finance minister that he intends to continue blocking the transfer of all clearance revenues to the PA, and to take measures that would end correspondent banking relations between Israeli and Palestinian banks at the end of this month threaten to plunge the Palestinian fiscal situation into an even greater crisis, potentially upending the entire Palestinian financial system,” Wennesland tells the UN Security Council during its monthly meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Smotrich has sought to punish the PA for its support for targeting Israel at The Hague and its payments to terror convicts and their families. He has withheld a large portion of Palestinian tax revenues that Israel is obligated to transfer to Ramallah on a monthly basis. He has pledged to withhold the remainder of those funds, which amount to 70% of the PA’s annual income, until the Israeli government passes a series of sanctions against Ramallah.
The cabinet was supposed to vote last week on these sanctions, but was delayed until this week, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel, adding that Smotrich is expected to subsequently release a portion of the Palestinian tax revenues and extend indemnity to Israeli correspondent banks that transfer money to Palestinian banks in the West Bank.
However, the Israeli official acknowledged that Smotrich could well choose to withhold more Palestinian funds in subsequent months, demanding a “price tag” each time in exchange for their release — a scenario that could hamper US efforts to convince Arab and European allies to donate to the PA, so it can be financially stable enough to implement long-needed reforms and return to governing Gaza.
In his address to the Security Council, Wennesland also notes Smotrich’s recent transfer of of legal powers in the West Bank to a civilian administrator, which has prompted accusations that the government is advancing the de-facto annexation of the West Bank.
“That the appointment and delegation of authority is expected to expedite Israeli settlement expansion and regularization under Israeli law of illegal outposts is concerning, is in clear contradiction of previous agreements and undermines prospects for a two-state solution,” Wennesland says.
Israel seeking to use Elon Musk’s Starlink in case of all-out war with Hezbollah — report

Israel is looking to use Elon Musk’s Starlink to maintain internet connectivity should there be a potential all-out war with Lebanese Hezbollah on the northern border that causes power outages in Israel, a newspaper report says.
The Calcalist financial daily says that the finance and communications ministries are seeking to utilize Starlink’s 5,000 low-orbit satellites to ensure stable data and information flow for state authorities during emergencies.
Both ministries do not immediately comment to Reuters.
In February, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi gave permission to Starlink, the satellite unit of SpaceX, to operate in Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Iran-backed Hezbollah began attacking Israel shortly after Hamas’s October 7 assault sparked the war in Gaza, and the sides have been trading blows in the months since then. Hezbollah has said it will not stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
Yisrael Shomer takes over as head of IDF Operations Division; outgoing chief to lead intelligence directorate

Brig. Gen. Yisrael Shomer has entered the role of head of the IDF’s Operations Division, a unit under the Operations Directorate.
Shomer replaces Brig. Gen. Shlomi Binder who served in the role for the past two years, and is due to become the military’s next intelligence chief.
Shomer until recently served as the commander of the 146th Division, the IDF’s largest reserve division, which has been operating in the Western Galilee since the beginning of the war.
Binder is due to replace Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva as the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate in the coming period.
US slaps sanctions on dozens of entities accused of moving billions for Iran’s military

The United States has imposed new sanctions on nearly 50 entities and people it accuses of moving billions of dollars for Iran’s military, as Washington seeks to increase pressure on Tehran.
The US Treasury Department in a statement says those targeted on Tuesday constitute a “shadow banking network” used by Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), both of which are under US sanctions.
The network helped MODAFL and IRGC gain access to the international financial system and process the equivalent of billions of dollars since 2020, the Treasury said.
“The United States is taking action against a vast shadow banking system used by Iran’s military to launder billions of dollars of oil proceeds and other illicit revenue,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo says in the statement.
The action targets dozens of cover companies in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and the Marshall Islands, as well as Iran and Turkey-based firms.
The move freezes any of their US assets and generally bars Americans from dealing with them. Those that engage in certain transactions with them also risk being hit with sanctions.
Parents of 12-year-old victim of antisemitic gang rape: Attack was ‘mimicry’ of Hamas atrocities
The parents of the 12-year-old Jewish girl who was gang raped in a Paris suburb earlier this month tell French newspaper Le Parisien that the attack, which has sent shockwaves through France’s Jewish community, was a “mimicry”of the atrocities committed by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7.
The girl told police that on June 15 she was approached by three boys aged between 12 and 13 while she was in a park near her home with a friend and dragged into a shed on Saturday evening in the northwestern Paris suburb of Courbevoie.
The suspects beat her and “forced her to have anal and vaginal penetration, fellatio, while uttering death threats and antisemitic remarks,” a police source told AFP after the event.
Speaking to Le Parisien, the girl’s father — who is not identified by name in order to protect her anonymity — says that the attack was “clearly an antisemitic act” linked to the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“The public opinion has become confused between Israel, seen as the aggressor of the Palestinian people, and the French Jews who are therefore singled out and denounced for events which are taking place several thousand kilometers away,” he says.
The girl’s mother, who also remains anonymous, says that French Jews aren’t experiencing “residual antisemitism, but rather a heavy, visible, palpable antisemitism.”
One of the suspects who has confessed to the attack said, after he was arrested, that he had acted out of revenge after the young girl hid her religious identity from him, something which her parents say she did on their advice.
“We want people to wake up and make the distinction between an extremely hot conflict taking place abroad and French Jews,” her mother says. “There is a mimicry between the acts perpetrated by Hamas terrorists in [southern Israel] and what our daughter suffered near our home in Courbevoie.”
In first-ever visit to Israel, Democrat John Fetterman meets with Herzog in Jerusalem

President Isaac Herzog hosts Democratic Senator John Fetterman at his Jerusalem residence.
“You are a beacon of moral clarity as we fight to defend the free world against true evil,” Herzog writes on X, formerly Twitter, after their meeting.
Fetterman has become one of Israel’s most vocal supporters in Congress, a particularly noteworthy development given that he ran in 2022 as a staunch progressive. The freshman lawmaker has repeatedly stood up to far-left, anti-Israel protesters.
Fetterman is making his first-ever trip to Israel.
“I was moved to see you wearing a bracelet from the Nova festival. We deeply appreciate your vocal support for the hostages brutally held by Hamas and your clear demand for their immediate release,” Herzog adds.
IDF chief appoints senior officer to oversee coordination on external war investigations
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has approved the appointment of a senior officer to head a unit that coordinates the investigations of the military’s actions amid the war, reportedly sparking criticism within the army.
Lt. Col. Adi Sabag, who until recently served as the high command secretary in the IDF General Staff, will head the so-called inspection and learning division.
The division is intended to be a body in the General Staff that coordinates external investigations and other learning processes from the war, according to the IDF.
The IDF says the unit will not carry out any of the investigations itself, but rather coordinate and synchronize between various bodies, which it says will require someone with familiarity with the IDF and the General Staff.
Sabag was appointed to the new role by Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Amir Baram, and the move was approved by Halevi. The appointment still requires the approval of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
According to reports by Ynet and Channel 12 news, the move sparked criticism in the IDF, as Sabag is ostensibly close to Halevi and other top generals, due to her previous position in the General Staff.
Sabag’s appointment to the high command secretary several years ago was carried out by the previous IDF chief, Aviv Kohavi.
Critics have contended that Halevi should not be allowed to make such appointments amid the war, and that they shouldn’t be decided upon by the military leadership that failed to prevent Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
Suspected drones fired from Lebanon spark fires near northern community of Dishon

Two suspected drones launched from Lebanon were shot down by air defenses over the northern community of Dishon a short while ago, the military says.
As a result of the interceptions, fires sparked in the area.
The Fire and Rescue Service says five teams are at the scene battling the blaze.
Meanwhile, the IDF says it struck buildings used by Hezbollah and other infrastructure in Khiam and Odaisseh.
UNRWA chief says cash crunch has eased as nearly all donors resume funding

GENEVA — The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees says that most of its donors have resumed funding and new ones have emerged, so it has enough cash through the end of August but faces a shortfall of up to $140 million by year-end.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, says an independent review of its operations has helped rebuild trust in the agency, which has broadened its donor base by adding contributor countries such as Algeria, Iraq, Jordan and Oman as well as individual giving from Singapore.
Speaking to reporters at the UN office in Geneva, Lazzarini says aid delivery is becoming “more and more complicated” and crossings into Gaza are far short of what’s needed need and looting of delivery trucks is happening too often.
Israel’s allegations early this year that a dozen of UNRWA’s staffers had taken part in the October 7 attacks led to the suspension of contributions by the United States and more than a dozen other countries. All but the US and Britain have resumed their funding.
UN Secretary-General Antonio tapped a former French foreign minister to lead a team that issued a report that reviewed UNRWA’s neutrality, and the results of an internal investigation are pending.
IDF says 24 terror suspects arrested overnight in West Bank

Israeli security forces arrested 24 suspects and uncovered arms stashes during overnight counter-terror raids in the West Bank, according to the military.
A statement from the Israel Defense Forces says 14 of the suspects were arrested in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, where troops also confiscated weapons and destroyed explosives they uncovered.
In other incidents overnight, the IDF says gunmen opened fire at a military vehicle in the northern West Bank, resulting in no injures. Troops were scouring the area for the attackers.
The army also says rioting erupted in Ramallah after the arrest of a suspect, with soldiers using riot dispersal means to respond to rock-throwing.
According to the IDF, some 4,150 suspects have been arrested in the West Bank since October 7, around 1,750 belong to Hamas.
Khamenei issues warning to Iran election’s sole non-hardliner, who backs nuclear deal with US

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s supreme leader issues a thinly veiled warning to the sole reformist candidate in the country’s upcoming presidential election, saying anyone who believes “all ways to progress” come from the United States shouldn’t be supported.
While often speaking in parables like many Iranian politicians, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appears to directly undercut the candidacy of 69-year-old heart surgeon Masoud Pezeshkian, who has aligned himself with officials from the administration of former president Hassan Rouhani. Rouhani helped reach Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, an accord Pezeshkian has fully embraced in contrast with his five hard-line opponents, who want an agreement fully on Iran’s terms.
Khamenei also calls for “maximum” turnout for Friday’s vote, which analysts say could support Pezeshkian. Already, the doctor’s rallies have drawn large crowds in major cities, though it remains unclear whether his candidacy alone would be enough to push an apathetic public to vote to replace the late president Ebrahim Raisi, a protégé of Khamenei who died in a helicopter crash in May.
“Some politicians in our country believe they must kowtow to this power or that power, and it’s impossible to progress without sticking to famous countries and powers,” Khamenei says in a speech marking the Shiite holiday of Eid al-Ghadir. “Some think like that. Or they think that all ways to progress pass through America. No, such people can’t” run the country well, he says.
Khamenei’s comments in his hourlong speech draw repeated cries of “Death to America, death to Israel” from a raucous crowd. The 85-year-old Khamenei has to urge the crowd to quiet themselves several times during his remarks.
WHO official: Rafah closure preventing at least 2,000 medical evacuations from Gaza

CAIRO — The closure of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza has prevented the medical evacuations of at least 2,000 patients, a World Health Organization official says, calling for Rafah and other routes to be reopened.
Before the closure, “approximately 50 critical patients a day left Gaza … It means that since the 7th of May at least 2,000 people have been unable to leave Gaza to receive medical care,” says Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the West Bank and Gaza.
The Rafah crossing was the main conduit for evacuations as well as for humanitarian aid earlier in the war that was started by Hamas’s October 7 attack against Israel. It was shut when Israel launched an operation on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip in May, with Egypt refusing to reopen the crossing until Israeli troops withdraw and a Palestinian presence is restored.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar held talks late last week aimed at re-opening the crossing and increasing humanitarian aid flows, according to Egyptian security sources, though Rafah remains closed, with a report earlier today saying Cairo refused a proposal from Jerusalem for evacuating sick Palestinians from the enclave.
Movement through the nearby Kerem Shalom Crossing between Israel and Gaza, which Peeperkorn describes as unsafe, has been impeded by insecurity and logistical challenges.
At least 10,000 people are in need of evacuation from Gaza, Peeperkorn says, adding that this is an underestimate of the number needing critical care for both war traumas and chronic diseases.
“We need more routes for medical emergency evacuation (medevac), we would like to see Kerem Shalom and other routes also opened for medevac where patients can then be referred to the referral hospitals in East Jerusalem and the West Bank,” Peeperkorn says.
British newspaper report claims Israel is targeting journalists who work for Hamas media outlets

A British newspaper reports that Israel is targeting journalists who work for Hamas media outlets, citing senior IDF spokespeople.
Citing the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists, the The Guardian reports that some 30 percent of the 103 Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza since October 7 are “affiliated with or closely tied to Hamas.”
IDF spokesman Col. Olivier Rafowicz tells Radio France there is “no difference between the political and the military wing of Hamas.”
“Al-Aqsa belongs to the Hamas war organization and the people who work for it are active members of the war organization of Hamas,” he says.
Legal experts cited in the report disagree vehemently with that reasoning, calling it “a complete misunderstanding or just a willful disregard for international law.”
Israel says its offensive in Gaza, sparked by the terror group’s October 7 massacre, is aimed at destroying Hamas’s military and governance capabilities, and has vowed to eliminate the entire terror group, which rules the Strip. It says it is targeting all areas where Hamas operates, while seeking to minimize civilian casualties.
Gantz’s party says Likud pushing Haredi exemption law despite High Court ruling ‘a historical stain’
Benny Gantz’s National Unity party responds harshly to the Likud’s criticism of the High Court of Justice, which today ruled that there is no legal basis for excluding ultra-Orthodox men from the IDF draft and that those who are eligible for service must be drafted.
The opposition party, which until recently was part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wartime coalition, takes issue with Likud’s contention that the “real solution” to the enlistment issue is not a court judgement but rather “the completion of the historic conscription law which is currently being prepared for a second and third reading in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.”
“A lie that is repeated time and time again does not become the truth,” the National Unity states, asking “if this law is so historic and correct, how come Prime Minister Netanyahu and the ultra-orthodox factions voted against it” when initially brought to the Knesset two years ago?
The coalition is currently working to pass a bill to lower the current age of exemption for yeshiva students from 26 to 21 and “very slowly” increase the rate of ultra-Orthodox conscription initially advanced by Gantz during the previous Naftali Bennett- Yair Lapid government. The legislation was revived by the Knesset earlier this month and members of Netanyahu’s Likud party have stated that the bill needs to be significantly revised before they will support it.
The National Unity party states that it only initially advanced the bill as a “bridging law” until a more comprehensive solution could be implemented and given the differing circumstances between the time of its initial proposal and the current war, its advancement now constitutes “a historical stain.”
When Gantz first presented the legislation in 2022, he insisted that it be accompanied by a plan to extend the requirement of national service to both ultra-Orthodox and Arab Israelis.
“The entire leadership, from the right and the left, and those who care about the State of Israel, the people’s army and Israeli society, must reach agreements based on the Israeli service outline, which will bring about a real solution, and not a temporary solution for the survival of the coalition,” National Unity states.
This February, Gantz presented an outline for the enlistment of Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews into the Israeli army, which was ignored by Netanyahu.
Rocket alert sirens sounding again in Kerem Shalom after previous false alarms
Rocket alert sirens are sounding again at Kerem Shalom near the Gaza Strip.
Sirens that sounded in the border community a short while ago were false alarms, according to the IDF.
Red Alert [15:01:00] – 1 Alert:
• Gaza Envelope — Kerem Shalom#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/tJXhjvomvT
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) June 25, 2024
Sa’ar meets US ambassador, says Hamas must be toppled

US Ambassador in Israel Jack Lew meets with opposition New Hope party chairman Gideon Sa’ar to discuss the war in Gaza.
According to Sa’ar’s office, the former minister stresses that Hamas must be toppled in the Gaza Strip.
He also stresses his opposition to a Palestinian state. He says such an entity “will very quickly turn into a Hamas state, which will be a severe threat to Israel’s security, and a permanent cause of instability in the region.”
Sara Netanyahu reportedly tells hostage families IDF chiefs want a coup against her husband; PMO dismisses report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, told families of Israelis held hostage in Gaza that Israel’s military leadership wants to overthrow him, according to a newspaper report.
“Sara Netanyahu charged in a closed-door meeting with hostage families that the army chiefs want to carry out a military coup against her husband,” the Haaretz daily reports.
A statement from Netanyahu’s office cited by Haaretz rejects the report out of hand, slamming the “false, trending and incessant leaks about Mrs. Netanyahu” as “a heinous injustice.”
According to Haaretz, the reported leaks came from a meeting Sara Netanyahu held with a handful of relatives of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, who were up in arms about her comments.
The premier’s wife clarified that her lack of confidence was in the military leadership rather than the IDF as a whole, but the hostage families were upset as their loved ones’ lives depend on the army, Haaretz reports.
The response from Netanyahu also says that the premier’s wife has been “working on her own initiative for the hostage families, the bereaved families… and all the circles of pain associated with this difficult war, and helps as much as she can.”
“Despite the voices that try to harm her… Mrs. Netanyahu will continue working for those who were harmed in the war and prays for the speedy return of all 120 hostages.”
It is believed that 116 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released prior to that. Seven hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 19 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military.
Health Ministry announces death of third person from West Nile fever
The Health Ministry announces that a third person died from West Nile fever at Sheba Medical Center yesterday.
Three other patients at the hospital have been diagnosed with the virus. They are in serious condition, according to a hospital spokesperson.
A nine-year-old girl who was admitted to Ichilov Hospital tested positive for the disease. According to Hebrew media, she has been released. The ministry is waiting for the results from a second test.
Two women in their eighties died of West Nile fever on Saturday at Beilinson Hospital over the weekend.
Another Beilinson patient might have also died from the virus, says the ministry. The hospital spokesperson did not comment.
At least 42 people have been diagnosed with West Nile fever, of which 36 were hospitalized, and five were ventilated, according to the Health Ministry.
Death toll from terror attack in Russia’s Dagestan rises to 21

MOSCOW — The death toll in the attack by Islamic terrorists in Russia’s southern region of Dagestan has risen to 21 after a wounded police officer has died in a hospital, officials say.
Sunday’s attack, in which gunmen attacked Christian and Jewish houses of worship and fired at police in the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala in the predominantly Muslim region in the North Caucasus, was the deadliest in Russia since March, when gunmen opened fire at a concert in suburban Moscow, killing 145 people.
An affiliate of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan, which claimed responsibility for March’s raid, was quick to praise the attack in Dagestan, saying it was conducted by “brothers in the Caucasus who showed that they are still strong.”
The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top state criminal investigation agency, says all five attackers were killed.
Mavsum Ragimov, head of the Derbent region, says that a police sergeant died of his wounds in a hospital today, bringing the total number of victims to 21, 16 of them police.
Medical authorities in Dagestan said yesterday that at least 46 people were injured, 13 of them police.
Among the dead was the Rev. Nikolai Kotelnikov, a 66-year-old Russian Orthodox priest at a church in Derbent. The attack came as the Orthodox faithful celebrated Pentecost, also known as Trinity Sunday.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Rocket alert sirens sounding in northern towns near Lebanon border
Rocket alert sirens are sounding in northern communities near the border with Lebanon.
Sirens can be heard in the largely evacuated towns of Dishon, Malkia, Iftach, Mevuot Hermon Regional Council and Ramot Naftali.
Red Alert [14:19:12] – 8 Alerts:
• Confrontation Line — Dishon, Malkia, Iftach, Mevuot Hermon Regional Council, Ramot Naftali#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/3Mr724x8jv
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) June 25, 2024
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in 10 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 15 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 349 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 64 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
No famine in Gaza, previous assumptions were wrong, though risk remains, key report by UN-linked group finds

There is currently no famine in Gaza, a new report by the key Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) organization has found, despite predicting in March that a full-blown famine would break out in the territory between March and July 2024.
The new study says that assumptions about the amount of food that would enter the territory turned out to be wrong, and that the supply of food to Gaza increased instead of decreasing during recent months.
“In this context, the available evidence does not indicate that famine is currently occurring,” the report finds.
The IPC — which is connected to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations — is seen as a neutral and highly credible organization for evaluating where famines might be occurring around the globe.
Its new study says that the food insecurity situation in Gaza remains catastrophic, however, with “a high and sustained risk of Famine across the whole Gaza Strip,” and said that the “probable improvement in nutrition status,” which took place in April and May, “should not allow room for complacency about the risk of Famine in the coming weeks and months.” The study adds that “extreme human suffering is without a doubt currently ongoing in the Gaza Strip.”
Accusations of severe food insecurity, malnutrition and famine have formed an integral part of the allegations against Israel of genocide against the Palestinians in the International Court of Justice and of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the International Criminal Court.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in May of using starvation as a weapon of war against the Palestinians, seeking to “exterminate” the Palestinian population through starvation.
The IPC’s March study reporting imminent famine was cited by the ICJ in its March orders instructing Israel to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza.
IDF: Rocket sirens in Kerem Shalom were false alarms
Rocket sirens that sounded in the southern community of Kerem Shalom a short while ago were determined to be false alarms, the military says.
Hanegbi appears to back IDF spokesman’s comments that Hamas can’t be totally eliminated

National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi seems to back comments made by the IDF spokesman last week that Hamas cannot be totally eliminated – a warning that drew a rebuke from Hanegbi’s boss, Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We can’t get rid of Hamas as an idea, there we need an alternative idea,” he says at the annual Herzliya Conference, as he reveals that a plan to replace Hamas will begin in northern Gaza in the coming days.
“This business of destroying Hamas, making Hamas disappear — it’s simply throwing sand in the eyes of the public,” IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told Channel 13 news in an interview last Wednesday. “Hamas is an idea, Hamas is a party. It’s rooted in the hearts of the people — anyone who thinks we can eliminate Hamas is wrong,” Hagari continued.
In response, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the security cabinet “has defined as one of the war goals the destruction of Hamas’s military and governance capabilities,” adding: “The Israel Defense Forces is of course committed to this.”
Hamas vows to free two Russian-Israeli hostages as soon as ceasefire is reached

Hamas announces that as soon as a ceasefire agreement is reached with Israel, the first to be released will be two hostages with Russian citizenship as a gesture to Russia.
Musa Abu Marzouk, deputy politburo chief of the terror group, tells the Russian news agency Novosti that the issue of the two Russian-Israeli hostages still held in Gaza was discussed in a meeting with Moscow’s Special Representative for the Middle East, Mikhail Bogdanov, in the Russian capital.
“We informed him that when Israel accepts the ceasefire/hostage release agreement, [the Russian hostages] will be a priority, in honor of our friendship with the Russian Federation,” he says.
Abu Marzouk further claims that “there are no Russian hostages held by Hamas,” since all of the hostages are Israelis in the eyes of the group, but notes that many of the captives hold other nationalities.
The two Russian-Israeli hostages still in Hamas’s hands are Alexander Lobanov, 32, and Alexander Trufanov, 28, who is detained by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). PIJ published two videos of Trufanov in May.
Another hostage with Russian citizenship, Andrey Kozlov, was rescued in a daring daylight operation in central Gaza earlier this month together with Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, and Shlomi Ziv.
Hamas has previously released another hostage with Russian citizenship, Roni Krivoi, as a favor to Russian President Vladimir Putin in November, in a separate agreement from the temporary ceasefire and hostage release deal reached between Hamas and Israel around the same time.
In a separate interview with the Sputnik news agency during his Moscow visit, Abu Marzouk insists on having Russia as one of the guarantors of a possible ceasefire with Israel, as a counterbalance to the US which is perceived to be on Israel’s side.
The deputy politburo head also says that during Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s upcoming visit to Moscow, for which a date has not yet been set, the issue of reconciliation between Palestinian factions will be discussed. A unity meeting between Hamas and Fatah was scheduled to take place in China this month, but was postponed indefinitely due to deep divisions between the two sides.
Rocket sirens sounding at Kerem Shalom near Gaza border
Rocket alert sirens are sounding in Kerem Shalom on the Gaza border, warning of incoming rocket fire.
A number of sirens activated in the area of the border kibbutz and crossing in recent days have been false alarms.
Red Alert [13:51:42] – 1 Alert:
• Gaza Envelope — Kerem Shalom#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/aYDel81Zp6
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) June 25, 2024
Likud: ‘Strange’ that High Court intervened after ‘largest-ever’ draft of ultra-Orthodox recruits
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party criticizes the High Court of Justice’s ruling determining that there is no legal basis for excluding ultra-Orthodox men from the IDF draft.
“The real solution to the conscription problem is not a High Court ruling that will be relevant only for a short period but the completion of the historic conscription law which is currently being prepared for a second and third reading in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,” Likud says in a statement following the historic judgement.
The party calls it “strange” that the court would intervene in the issue “precisely now, on the eve of the completion of the historic conscription law” and following the “largest-ever” draft of ultra-Orthodox recruits.
It is unclear what record enlistment Likud was referring to. In 2020, the IDF admitted that its enlistment numbers for the ultra-Orthodox were unreliable.
The government is currently working to pass a bill to lower the current age of exemption for yeshiva students from 26 to 21 and “very slowly” increase the rate of ultra-Orthodox conscription.
Lapid calls on government to start drafting Haredim: The days of ‘shady deals’ are over

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls on the government to begin an immediate mass mobilization of yeshiva students following the High Court of Justice’s ruling that there is no legal basis for excluding ultra-Orthodox men from the IDF draft.
“The High Court spoke this morning, and it was clear and sharp, including the most conservative judges: there is no more exemption for the ultra-Orthodox. Draft exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox are illegal. The defense minister must uphold the law and issue conscription orders to tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox youth who have so far evaded military service,” Lapid demands.
Addressing the annual Herzliya Conference at Reichman University, Lapid declares that the days of “shady deals are over,” as is the reality that some Israelis get to shout “We will die and not enlist” while others “die because they did enlist.”
“The Torah is not an excuse for evasion and the Talmud is not an excuse for refusal. From today onwards, those who do not enlist will not receive a single penny from the state. There will be no more stipends for kollel students who do not mobilize,” Lapid states, promising to exercise oversight to make sure that the government does not fund yeshivas “under the table.”
Addressing senior members of Netanyahu’s coalition, Lapid says that “as of this morning, the recruitment of the ultra-Orthodox is the law. If you don’t follow the law, it’s a betrayal of the IDF soldiers, a betrayal of the reservists.”
Antisemitic incidents in Germany increased by 80% in 2023, report finds

A watchdog group that monitors antisemitism in Germany recorded 4,782 incidents in 2023, it says in a report that shows an 80% increase over 2022.
The report by the RIAS group says that more than half of the tally for 2023 occurred after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 251. Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas is a reaction to that invasion.
The incidents mentioned include a firebomb attack on a synagogue in Berlin and flares that were thrown at a Jewish family’s home in North Rhine-Westphalia, both in mid-October.
“On average, 13 antisemitic incidents were recorded per day,” RIAS notes in the report.
Jewish life “has become even less possible in Germany as well since October 7,” says Benjamin Steinitz, the director of RIAS, or Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism, in a statement about the report.
IDF: Fighter jets strike building at Gaza City’s Islamic University being used as base by Hamas operatives

Israeli fighter jets struck yesterday a building at Gaza City’s Islamic University, where Hamas operatives were gathered, the military says.
According to the IDF, the university building in the Gaza City neighborhood of Sabra was used by Hamas operatives to launch anti-tank missiles, observe Israeli troops, and plan other attacks.
Before the airstrike, the IDF says it took “many steps,” including aerial surveillance, to mitigate the potential harm to civilians.
Other strikes were carried out in Gaza over the past day.
In southern Gaza’s Rafah, the military says troops killed several gunmen, and a drone struck several sites used by terror groups, including tunnels.
The IDF says fighter jets also struck buildings in northern Gaza near a rocket launching site used in an attack yesterday on southern Israel by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Several more targets, including weapon depots and cells of operatives, were struck in central Gaza, the IDF adds.
Hamas confirms Haniyeh’s sister killed in overnight strike in Gaza City

In a statement, the terror group Hamas confirms an earlier report that leader Ismail Haniyeh’s sister was killed in an overnight air raid in the Shati camp, in Gaza city.
The Israel Defense Forces said earlier today that fighter jets struck two buildings in Shati and in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood that were allegedly used by Hamas. Among the victims were terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre and were involved in holding hostages, according to the military.
Hamas says that at least 10 people were killed in the Shati camp strike, including Haniyeh’s sister, and eight members of the same family were killed in the Daraj strikes, which targeted two schools, one of which was under UNRWA management.
The terror group says that it holds “the administration of US President Joe Biden responsible for the continuation of the war,” and calls on the “Arab and Islamic nation and the free people of the world to intensify their mobilization at all levels and increase pressure to stop the aggression.”
The IDF said in its statement that it carried out aerial surveillance, used “precision munitions,” and employed other intelligence to mitigate harm to civilians in the strikes, and that “the Hamas terrorist organization continuously violates international law by systematically exploiting civilian structures and using the civilian population as human shields for its terror activity against Israel.”
Hamas leaders may relocate from Qatar to Baghdad – report
Hamas leaders may be planning to leave Qatar for Iraq, as the terror group comes under increasing pressure from Doha and Washington to accept a ceasefire deal and release the hostages it’s holding in Gaza, according to an Emirati report.
The Iraqi government reportedly approved the move last month. The terror group’s leaders, staff and premises in the capital Baghdad would be under Iranian protection, according to sources quoted by The National.
Other Arab media outlets recently reported that Iran and Iraq were discussing opening a Hamas media and PR office in the Iraqi capital. The National claims that Hamas already opened a political office in Baghdad earlier this month.
Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh is said to have met with representatives from the Iraqi and Iranian governments last month, according to a senior Iraqi MP with close ties to an Iran-backed militia who spoke with The National. However, Iraqi Kurds and some Sunnis are said to be opposed to the move, fearing that it will create tensions with the US, the source says. Sunnis are a minority group in Shia-majority Iraq.
Hamas plans to retain a representation in Doha to oversee relations with Qatar, another source tells The National.
The Iraqi government does not respond to requests for comment by the UAE paper. However, Hamas politburo member Izzat al-Rishq says on his Telegram channel that the report is “baseless.”
Shas chair after Haredi draft ruling: The Torah is Israel’s ‘secret weapon against all enemies’

The Torah is Israel’s “secret weapon against all enemies” and “no power in the world” can stop the Jewish people from studying it, Aryeh Deri, the chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, declares.
Responding to the High Court of Justice’s ruling that there is no legal basis for excluding ultra-Orthodox men from the IDF draft and that those who are eligible for service must be drafted, Deri links the contributions of those who study Talmud full-time to those fighting in Gaza and in the north.
“The Jewish people survived persecutions, pogroms and wars only thanks to maintaining their uniqueness, the Torah and the commandments. This is our secret weapon against all enemies, as promised by the creator of the world,” he says, calling yeshiva students “the ones who preserve our special power and generate miracles in the [military] campaign.”
In a show of defiance to the court, Deri adds that “there is no power in the world that can cut off the people of Israel from studying the Torah and anyone who has tried this in the past has failed miserably. No high-handed ruling will abolish the community of scholars in the land of Israel, which is the branch on which we all sit.”
Court specifies state must ‘act to enforce law’ to draft Haredim, but indicates leeway on how many must be drafted immediately

The High Court’s decision that the state is obligated to draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students says explicitly that the government must “act to enforce the Law for Military Service on yeshiva students” now that there is no longer a legal framework to exempt them from mandatory conscription, meaning state agencies must take active steps to draft such men into IDF service.
The court also points out that the Israel Defense Forces has itself stated that it would be able to draft 3,000 Haredi yeshiva students in the 2024 enlistment year, which began in June 2024, out of some 63,000 such men who are now eligible for the draft.
The court says, however, that the petition it ruled on today is not the right framework “to discuss the details of how the law is implemented or the scale of enlistment for yeshiva students,” and says it is not issuing an opinion on that issue, implying that the government has some leeway in how many ultra-Orthodox men it needs to draft on an immediate basis.
“It should be understood that even when exercising this authority for formulating a program for the gradual conscription of yeshiva students, the military authorities are obligated to act in accordance with the principles of administrative law,” the court says.
This part of the court’s ruling appears to accept the need for a gradual increase in ultra-Orthodox enlistment owing to the huge number of men from the community now eligible for the draft and the logistical difficulties of accommodating their religious lifestyle, but nevertheless warns the government that it is obligated to begin the process.
Israel’s plan for the ‘day after’ Hamas will start rolling out in northern Gaza in coming days — Hanegbi

Israel’s plan for the “day after” Hamas will start to be implemented in northern Gaza in the coming days, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi says.
Speaking at the Reichman University Herzliya Conference, Hanegbi says that the Israel Defense Forces plan has “been sharpened” in recent weeks, and that “we will see a practical expression of this plan” shortly.
“We don’t have to wait for Hamas to disappear, because it is a long process,” says Hanegbi.
The Netanyahu government has been under fire for months for its unwillingness to implement a plan to replace Hamas.
Hanegbi argues that installing a process to replace Hamas is key to long-term victory in Gaza: “We can’t get rid of Hamas as an idea, there we need an alternative idea.”
The alternative, he says, is a government based on locals who are willing to live alongside Israel. They must be backed up by moderate Arab states, he says.
“The minute Hamas’s ability to operate its military and civil systems like it could on October 7 is taken away, there will be more ability for countries that want to see a governing alternative to Hamas in Gaza, with local leadership in Gaza, to join this process.” he explains.
“It’s starting to take form now.”
Family members of hostages including Ayala Metzger, whose father-in-law, the elderly Yoram Metzger, is currently kidnapped in Gaza and Dani Elgarat, whose brother Itzik Elgarat is also held in the Strip, shout at the senior Netanyahu aide about the remaining captives.
Hanegbi says that he agrees that time is not working in the hostages’ favor but expresses some optimism that current efforts to reach a deal will succeed.

“Today the massive international pressure is on Hamas; there is a chance it will work,” he explains, adding that Qatar is also under pressure to get the terror organization’s leadership abroad to back the proposal presented by US President Joe Biden on May 31.
Hanegbi calls that offer “an Israeli proposal.”
He also praises the talks he and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer held in Washington late last week.
The conversations were “the most intimate, the most focused on the issue of the hostages with the central people in the White House,” he recounts, adding that Israel is “under the impression that the US commitment is 100%.”
“We must stand firm and united around this proposal, because it will start the comprehensive process to bring all the hostages home,” says Hanegbi.
On attempts to reach a diplomatic solution in the north with Hezbollah, Hanegbi says that Israel and the US “believe in” American-led efforts to stave off a broader conflict.
“If there is not an arrangement through diplomatic means, everyone understands there will be an arrangement through other means,” he warns.
Edelstein pledges to continue work on enlistment bill despite High Court ruling
Following the High Court’s ruling that there is no legal basis for excluding ultra-Orthodox men from the IDF draft and that those who are eligible for service must be drafted, the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee pledges to continue working on enlistment legislation recently advanced by the government.
In a tweet, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein posts a screenshot of a passage from article on the ultra-Orthodox Kikar Hashabbat news site reporting that the court believes the current war in Gaza “requires the promotion of a sustainable solution to the issue” of enlistment.
“Therefore, the discussions on the conscription law are continuing as usual in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,” he states.
The government is currently working to pass a bill to lower the current age of exemption for yeshiva students from 26 to 21 and “very slowly” increase the rate of ultra-Orthodox conscription. Members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party have stated that the bill needs to be significantly revised before they will support.
Edelstein has also indicated that he will not allow the legislation to pass through his committee in its current form.
‘There are judges in Jerusalem’: Opposition politicians welcome High Court’s enlistment ruling

Opposition politicians from both the left and the right praise the High Court’s ruling overturning decades of draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.
“There are judges in Jerusalem,” Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman tweets, quoting a saying frequently attributed to Likud founder and former prime minister Menachem Begin.
“In a year where a whole brigade of soldiers was lost or badly injured, in a year where reservists served for over 200 days, there is no clearer proof that the IDF needs more recruits, more people to share the load,” he says.
He congratulates the court for taking “a significant step on the way to historical change.”
“Conservatives and liberals: There are judges in Jerusalem,” New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar tweets, echoing Liberman’s rhetoric.
“Congratulations on a just decision of the High Court of Justice. Where there is no government there is justice,” declares newly elected Labor Party chief Yair Golan.

Civil and military service should be the duty of every Israeli “regardless of race, religion and gender,” he states. “We will continue to fight for the democratic and egalitarian image of Israel.”
In a message directly aimed at the ultra-Orthodox community, National Unity leader Benny Gantz blames Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government for seeking out “solutions for maintaining the coalition” rather than a resolution to the enlistment issue. Gantz insists that it is “not too late” to reach broad agreements on the issue.
Military service “is a security need and also a moral obligation, not in place of the world of the Torah, but so that we can continue to exist in this country, which belongs to all of us,” Gantz adds, sharing a link to an outline he had previously proposed on the matter.
Naftali Bennett: ‘Startup nation rose again’ by filling gaps when government ‘melted down’ after October 7
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett says that what happened on October 7 was a “colossal failure of the State of Israel.”
“We failed in intelligence, operations, and institutional Israel failed as government ministries melted down, nothing worked – education, finance, or health,” Bennett says at the Cyber Week 2024 conference at Tel Aviv University.
“But we also saw thousands of Israelis on October 7 getting in their cars and driving to the Gaza envelope to defend their brothers and sisters and prevent a much worse disaster – they saved the day.”
Bennett says that in the national trauma that Israel is facing, he draws his strength and confidence from the “courage of the Israeli people.”
“We are a startup nation and in the war startup nation rose again and filled the gaps that the state didn’t and stepped in with many initiatives,” Bennett declares. “I assert that Israel will have a short bumpy road and then we are in for amazing growth and success for the next 50 years.”
“The single most valuable resource in 2024 is the flexible, dynamic and agile people who can make stuff happen. What we discovered since October 7 that we have a younger generation that is the toughest we have ever seen,” he says.
Bennett tells the audience that “now is the best time to invest in Israel as prices are low.”
“We are a breeding ground for super-entrepreneurs,” he adds.
Haredi UTJ party slams High Court ruling on ultra-Orthodox draft: ‘Expected and very unfortunate’

The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party slams the High Court of Justice over its ruling that there is no legal basis for excluding ultra-Orthodox men from the IDF draft and that those who are eligible for service must be drafted.
The court’s decision was “expected and very unfortunate,” UTJ chairman and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf tweets. “The State of Israel was established in order to be a home for the Jewish people whose Torah is the bedrock of its existence. The Holy Torah will prevail.”
Senior UTJ lawmaker Moshe Gafni simply tweets “as I said,” referring to an earlier post anticipating the ruling in which he alleged that “there has never been a ruling by the High Court in favor of yeshiva students and in the interest of the ultra-Orthodox public.”
“There is not a single judge there who understands the value of studying the Torah and [yeshiva students’] contribution to the people of Israel in all generations,” Gafni stated.
Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush states that the ruling “inevitably leads to two states” — one being “the country that is being run as it is now” and another in which yeshiva students “will continue to study Torah as they used to in the country that Ben Gurion declared.”
“There is no power in the world that can force a person whose soul longs to study Torah to refrain from it,” he says.
High Court ruling means IDF draft for Haredim must start immediately, Movement for Quality Government claims

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, whose petition led to today’s High Court ruling, claims that the decision means the government must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students immediately.
The nine justices, however, said they were not specifying at this stage how their ruling should be implemented.
“This is a historic victory for the rule of law and the principle of equality in the burden of military service,” says MQG following the High Court’s unanimous ruling that there is no longer any legal framework for the government to grant blanket exemptions from military service to ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students and that the government must therefore enforce the law of mandatory conscription on those men.
“We call on the government and the defense minister to implement the decision without delay, to comply with the High Court’s order, and to work immediately to draft [ultra-Orthodox] yeshiva students,” the organization says in a statement.
Shabtai pushes back: ‘The police are not the militia of any minister’

Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai pushes back on insinuations that his force is allied with the political right, saying that “the discourse around police is overly heated and crosses all boundaries.”
“The police are not the militia of any minister,” says Shabtai at the Reichman University Herzliya Conference.
“I promise you that Israel Police is not political, was not, and should not be,” he insists.
The outgoing chief says the police “must not become the national punching bag.”
“Let’s lower the level of hatred and violence and divisive discourse,” he says.
On Sunday, the Public Defender’s Office panned the “widespread” use of force by police at protests against the government.
Shabtai concedes that his force is “not free of mistake,” but emphasizes that his officers are not looking for confrontation.
“Carrying out arrests and clearing roads will never win the police public approval, but this is our job and we will do it with the minimal possible use of force,” he pledges.
Shabtai argues that weakening the police will harm national security.
High Court rules unanimously that ultra-Orthodox men eligible for service must be drafted

The High Court of Justice rules unanimously that there is no longer any legal framework for the government to grant blanket exemptions from military service to ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, and further that the government cannot continue to instruct the IDF and Defense Ministry not to draft such men into IDF service.
The nine-justice bench also rules that the government can no longer provide financial support for yeshiva students studying in lieu of military service since the law providing for that arrangement has passed.
The court does not, however, go into the details of how to enforce the law as it stands according to its new ruling, or how many ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students need to be drafted.
There are an estimated 63,000 Haredi males who are eligible for service.
The ruling will likely have dramatic political and societal ramifications, since the Haredi political parties fiercely oppose the draft for their constituents and are demanding legislation to reinstate blanket draft exemptions, which some Likud MKs have already said they cannot vote for.
During a hearing earlier this month, High Court justices expressed skepticism about the government’s ongoing refusal to begin drafting Haredi men even though all legal frameworks for granting them military service exemptions have expired.
Pro-Israel activists gather in Los Angeles to protest violence at pro-Palestinian rally outside synagogue

Pro-Israel activists gathered outside the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles yesterday to protest a pro-Palestinian demonstration held outside a synagogue in the city over the weekend, which deteriorated into violent clashes between the anti-Israel participants and pro-Israel counter-protesters.
Dozens of protesters could be seen waving Israeli flags and wearing shirts reading “Peace out.”
US President Joe Biden blasted the violent pro-Palestinian demonstration yesterday, writing on X that he was “appalled by the scenes outside of Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles. Intimidating Jewish congregants is dangerous, unconscionable, antisemitic, and un-American.”
We are appalled by the hateful and violent assault on the Jewish community at yesterday’s pro-Hamas protest in front of the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles.
This is anti-Israel, anti-American, and anti-peace. This is what happens when “Globalize the Intifada” is put into… pic.twitter.com/BhMncWYzbI
— Israel in Los Angeles (@IsraelinLA) June 25, 2024
Agencies contributed to this report.
‘Incredibly difficult to watch’: Trump shares Sandberg documentary on Hamas sexual violence on October 7

Former US president Donald Trump shares a link and encourages his followers to watch “Screams Before Silence,” a documentary on the systematic sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas against Israelis on October 7.
He says that the film, produced by former Meta chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg’s, is “incredibly difficult to watch because, sadly, it graphicly portrays the Death and Destruction that Hamas has unleashed.”
In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, the Republican presidential candidate calls on his followers to watch the hour-long documentary.
“We demand that all Hostages taken October 7th from Israel, and being held in Gaza, be released immediately, including eight Americans, and Citizens from over twenty other Countries, so that the war can come to an end. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!” he writes.
The post is something of a change of pace for Trump, who has been critical of Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since he left office, including in the aftermath of the Hamas massacre that killed 1,200 people on October 7 amid horrific acts of brutality and sexual assault.
It is believed that 116 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — many believed dead.
Ahead of ruling on drafting yeshiva students, Haredi MK preemptively slams court for bias

Responding to the news that the High Court of Justice is set to rule this morning on a petition requiring the immediate military conscription of previously exempt yeshiva students, senior United Torah Judaism lawmaker Moshe Gafni preemptively slams the judicial system for anti-Haredi bias.
“There has never been a ruling by the Supreme Court in favor of yeshiva students and in the interest of the ultra-Orthodox public,” Gafni declares in a statement. “There is not a single judge there who understands the value of studying the Torah and [yeshiva students’] contribution to the people of Israel in all generations.”
During a recent hearing on the issue, the justices appeared to have lost patience with the decades-long failure of successive governments to deal with the Haredi enlistment conundrum, indicating that it could rule for an immediate call-up — a result that could imperil Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, which is dependent on the ultra-Orthodox parties’ support.
Netanyahu’s coalition is currently working to pass a bill to lower the current age of exemption for yeshiva students from 26 to 21 and “very slowly” increase the rate of ultra-Orthodox conscription. Speaking with The Times of Israel last week, one UTJ lawmaker said his party had “lost its trust and its will to be a part of this coalition” because Netanyahu had failed to come through for them.
Almog Levy turns 3 today, with father captive in Gaza, mother murdered on Oct. 7, says hostage’s brother

The brother of Or Levy, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and is still held in Gaza, says his family had been working to release footage from his brother’s abduction for around six months. The footage was finally released last night.
Michael Levi tells Channel 12 that the video was not purposely published as a response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments this week that he was prepared to “do a partial deal… that would return some of the people to us,” while being “obligated to continue the fighting after a pause in order to complete our goal of destroying Hamas.”
“The timing worked out well but it wasn’t planned that way,” he says.
The video shows Levy, along with Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Eliya Cohen, being driven to Gaza by Hamas terrorists on October 7, after being shoved onto the flatbed of a pickup truck.
Filmed by the Hamas terrorists the footage shows gunmen towering over the three men yelling “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) with AK-47s pointed high as the truck barreled down a one-lane road into Gaza.
Levy and his wife, Eynav, arrived at the Supernova music festival only at 6:20 a.m. on October 7, just minutes before the Hamas onslaught began. Eynav was killed by terrorists while hiding in a field shelter, while Or Levy was taken to Gaza as a hostage.
היום אלמוג לוי מציין יום הולדת 3.
בלי אמא עינב ואבא אור לצידו. ב-7.10 המחבלים הארורים רצחו את אמו עינב ז״ל ולאחר מכן חטפו את אביו כשהוא מכוסה בדם של אהבת חייו. בהתחלה, אלמוג עוד היה שואל איפה אבא – ודודיו היו עונים לו ״שאבא הלך לאיבוד״. מאז עברו 8 חודשים ואלמוג כבר הפסיק לשאול???? pic.twitter.com/ja9wSXlR02— Yollan cohen יולן כהן (@yollancohen) June 25, 2024
Their young son, Almog, turns three today, Michael says.
“Now more than ever is the time to remind the government and anyone involved in this matter that they’re still there and they’re still alive and their time is running out,” he says, adding, “We need to bring them home now.”
Michael points out that if Israel were to move forward with only a “partial deal,” as Netanyahu mentioned this week, his brother would not be released as he is not a “humanitarian” hostage, a category that only includes female, elderly and sick hostages.
On October 7, Hamas killed 364 people at the festival and kidnapped 40, while committing numerous acts of brutality and sexual assault. Thousands of terrorists burst across the border into Israel from Gaza by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people across southern Israel and seizing 251 hostages of all ages under the cover of a deluge of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities.
UN chief Guterres on ‘misinformation’: I’ve condemned Hamas 102 times

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres infers that he has been the victim of purposeful “misinformation,” in a press conference on media integrity in New York.
Speaking to journalists yesterday, Guterres says, “I’ll give you one example of misinformation about myself. I’ve heard the same source many times saying that I never attacked Hamas, that I never condemned Hamas, that I am a supporter of Hamas.
“I asked for a statistic to be made… I have condemned Hamas 102 times — 51 of them in formal speeches, the others in different social platforms. So, I mean, the truth, in the end, always wins.”
The UN chief was apparently referring to his condemnations of the Palestinian terror group since its brutal October 7 massacre in southern Israel which sparked the war.
High Court set to release what could be a bombshell ruling on Haredi conscription to IDF

The High Court of Justice is set to release at 11 a.m. what could be a bombshell ruling over petitions demanding the immediate conscription to the military of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who are eligible for the draft.
During a hearing earlier this month, High Court justices expressed impatience and intense skepticism with the government’s ongoing refusal to begin drafting such men, despite the fact that all legal frameworks for granting them military service exemptions have expired.
The justices focused during the hearing on the position of the attorney general that the army could absorb in an initial phase some 3,000 new ultra-Orthodox recruits and repeatedly quizzed the government’s legal representative on that figure, possibly indicating that the court will issue an order to draft Haredi yeshiva students based on this number.
A ruling that Haredi men do have to perform military service would likely have dramatic political and societal ramifications, since the Haredi political parties fiercely oppose the draft for their constituents and are demanding politically toxic legislation to reinstate blanket draft exemptions, which some Likud MKs have already said they cannot vote for.
Protests by ultra-Orthodox demonstrators would also erupt, at first by the more radical segments of the community but they would likely be joined by the Haredi mainstream once their rabbis authorize such demonstrations.
IDF: Overnight strikes in Gaza City targeted Hamas terrorists who participated in Oct. 7 massacre, held hostages

Hamas terrorists who participated in the October 7 onslaught and were involved in holding hostages were targeted in airstrikes overnight in Gaza City, the military says.
The IDF says fighter jets struck two buildings, in Gaza City’s Shati camp and Daraj neighborhood, that it says were used by Hamas. It says the Hamas operatives were based out of school compounds.
“The terrorists were involved in planning many terror attacks against Israel, and some of them were involved in holding hostages and participating in the massacre on October 7,” the IDF says in statement.
The military says it carried out aerial surveillance, used “precision munitions,” and employed other intelligence to mitigate harm to civilians in the strikes.
At least 10 Palestinian were reported killed in the strike in Shati, including a sister of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. In Daraj, at least another eight Palestinians were killed, according to media reports in Gaza.
“The Hamas terrorist organization continuously violates international law by systematically exploiting civilian structures and using the civilian population as human shields for its terror activity against Israel,” the IDF adds in a statement.
Report: Egypt rejected Israeli proposal to evacuate wounded Palestinians via Rafah Crossing

Egypt has reportedly rejected an Israeli proposal to allow sick Palestinians to be evacuated from Gaza via the Rafah Border Crossing.
Lebanese outlet Al-Akhbar quotes Egyptian sources as saying that Cairo turned down the offer because Israel now controls the Palestinian side of the crossing.
The crossing has been closed since Israel took control of its Gazan side on May 7, with Egypt refusing to reopen it until it was back under Palestinian control, in order to avoid being seen as complicit with Israel’s military operation in the southernmost Gaza city.
Instead, Egypt is said to have offered to bring medical supplies and treat wounded Gazans at the Kerem Shalom Border Crossing in coordination with international aid organizations working in the Strip.
According to the sources quoted in the Lebanese report, Egypt believes that Israel’s recent military maneuvers “aim to establish a fait accompli, especially after the complete destruction of the crossing from the Palestinian side, and the refusal to make arrangements for its reconstruction or enable Palestinian officials to fully manage it.”
The Israeli offer allowed for the transfer of “unlimited” numbers of wounded Palestinians to Egypt to receive medical treatment, Al-Akhbar reports.
According to an unconfirmed Palestinian report yesterday, a group of Gazan children with serious illnesses, including cancer, has been cleared to leave the enclave via the Kerem Shalom Border Crossing, for the first time since the war began.
Gallant to Blinken: ‘The eyes of both our enemies and our friends’ are on US-Israel relations

Meeting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant works to calm tensions between Israel and the US.
“The eyes of both our enemies and our friends are on the relationship between the US and Israel. We must resolve the differences between us quickly and stand together – this is how we will achieve our goals and weaken our enemies,” Gallant tells Blinken, according to an official readout from the meeting.
In an extended one-on-one meeting, Gallant raises the need to exert additional pressure on Hamas in order to ensure the return of the hostages kidnapped by the terror group on October 7 and still held in Gaza.
He also stresses the importance of promoting a governing alternative to the terror group in Gaza.
Amid reports that the Biden administration sent a message to the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon that it will not be able to hold Israel back if border tensions escalate, Gallant emphasizes the importance of Washington’s support.
But Blinken appears to caution Israel against launching a major offensive against Hezbollah.
Blinken “underscored the importance of avoiding further escalation of the conflict and reaching a diplomatic resolution that allows both Israeli and Lebanese families to return to their homes,” the State Department says in its readout on the meeting with Gallant.
The top US diplomat’s warning was the latest from a top Biden official, as the administration seeks to prevent a full-fledged war between Israel and Hezbollah, which began launching near-daily attacks on northern Israel following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught in the south.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
Brazil deports Hamas ‘operative,’ family after being alerted by US authorities
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil has deported a Palestinian man and his family after Brazilian federal police were alerted by the United States that a “Hamas operative” was traveling to the South American country, according to Brazilian authorities.
Muslim Abuumar along with his pregnant wife, son and mother-in-law, were detained on Friday entering the country at Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos airport and put on a Qatar Airways flight back to Doha two days later, Brazilian police sources tell Reuters.
“The request came from the US Department of State,” a senior federal police officer says. “It was proven before a judge that (Abuumar) was deeply involved with Hamas.”
A federal judge in Sao Paulo stopped the deportation yesterday to request information from the police, which when provided led her to approve deporting Abuumar and his family.
Judge Milenna da Cunha, in her decision seen by Reuters, says Brazilian federal police received an alert via the US embassy that “a Hamas operative, Muslim Abuumar” would be arriving in Brazil from Kuala Lumpur.
According to an injunction filed by Abuumar’s lawyer, Bruno Henrique de Moura, the Palestinian family was detained by police on entry at Guarulhos airport without a warrant. It says they were coming to visit his brother who lives in Brazil.
Brazilian police sources, however, say Abuumar was not coming for a visit but to stay in Brazil and become a spokesman for Hamas. Once source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the large amount of luggage he brought with his family showed he was planning to stay longer.
Abuumar, 37, is executive director of the Asia Middle East Center, and his wife is Malaysian and his children Malaysian-born, the injunction filed by his lawyer says.
A police source says Abuumar had first flown to Brazil last year, arriving on January 1, the day leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn into office for a new term.

Lula defends a two-state solution for the Palestinian conflict and has condemned Israel for its war on Hamas in Gaza, sparked by the terror group’s brutal October 7 massacre.
The Palestine Liberation Organization has had a representative in Brasilia since Brazil recognized Palestinian statehood in 1975, and Lula’s government allowed a Palestinian embassy to be built in the Brazilian capital in 2010 at the end of his second term as president.
Palestinian reports: One of Haniyeh’s sisters killed in Gaza airstrike
One of the sisters of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has reportedly been killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City’s Shati camp.
Palestinian reports cited by Hebrew media claim that 13 other people were also killed in the strike.
In April, Israel killed three of Haniyeh’s sons, saying they were operatives in the terror group, along with four of his grandchildren, three girls and a boy, according to Hamas.
At the time, the Qatar-based political leader told Al Jazeera that he “thank[s] God for bestowing upon us the honor of their martyrdom.”
Earlier this year, police in Israel arrested one of Haniyeh’s sisters, an Israeli citizen living in Tel Sheva. Three of the Hamas leader’s sisters live in the southern town and were married to Arab Israelis. Two are now widowed and have fallen foul of Israeli authorities in the past by making illegal trips into Gaza in 2013 via Egypt. They were both given eight-month suspended sentences for the visits in 2015. Later that year, Israel denied Haniyeh’s request that his sisters be permitted to attend his son’s wedding in Gaza.
It is not immediately clear which of Haniyeh’s sisters was reported killed in the strike today.
Biden sent message to Nasrallah that US won’t be able to stop Israel if Hezbollah attacks go on — report

US President Joe Biden’s Mideast envoy, Amos Hochstein, warned Lebanese officials last week that his country would not be able to stop Israel from invading should Hezbollah continue its attacks, the Axios news site reports, citing a US official, an Israeli official and a Western diplomat close to the matter.
Hochstein was in Lebanon last week calling for the “urgent” de-escalation of cross-border exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel, raging since the start of the Gaza war. He also visited Israel and held talks in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as opposition leaders.
During his meeting with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, Hochstein reportedly asked for a message to be sent to the terror group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, that the US does not control Israel.
He advised Hezbollah to indirectly negotiate with Israel, rather than scaling up border tensions, Axios reports.
According to a Western diplomat cited in the report, Hezbollah sent messages back to the US after the envoy’s visit touting the terror group’s capabilities to deliver some serious blows to Israel, though it also doesn’t want war.
The Axios report adds that US officials are also concerned that as fighting continues in Gaza, a war between Israel and the Lebanese terror group is becoming more likely. This would likely flare regional tensions and draw the US deeper into the conflict.
“It will take everyone’s interest in ending this conflict now. And we believe that there is a pathway diplomatically to do it. If the sides agree to it,” Hochstein said during the visit last week.
Also working to prevent further escalation, two of Netanyahu’s top aides were in Washington this week to discuss a diplomatic solution.
Axios cites a US official as saying that National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer were told by Biden’s advisers that Washington will fully support Israel should war erupt because Hezbollah decides to show solidarity with its ally Hamas in Gaza.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
Julian Assange reaches plea deal with US that will let him return to Australia

WASHINGTON — Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will plead guilty to a felony charge in a deal with the US Justice Department that will resolve a long-running legal saga that spanned multiple continents and centered on the publication of a trove of classified documents, according to court papers filed late Monday.
Assange is scheduled to appear in the federal court in the Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth in the Western Pacific, to plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information, the Justice Department says in a letter filed in court.
The guilty plea, which must be approved by a judge, brings an abrupt conclusion to a criminal case of international intrigue and to the US government’s years-long pursuit of a publisher whose hugely popular secret-sharing website made him a cause célèbre among many press freedom advocates who said he acted as a journalist to expose US military wrongdoing. Investigators, by contrast, have repeatedly asserted that his actions broke laws meant to protect sensitive information and put the country’s national security at risk.
He is expected to return to Australia after his plea and sentencing, which is scheduled for Wednesday morning, local time in Saipan, the largest island in the Mariana Islands. The hearing is taking place there because of Assange’s opposition to traveling to the continental US and the court’s proximity to Australia.
US says Blinken pressed Gallant on Gaza aid, called to ‘avoid further escalation’ on Lebanon border

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel to take additional steps to protect humanitarian workers and ensure the delivery of aid throughout Gaza during his meeting with visiting Defense Minister Yoav Gallant earlier today, the State Department says.
The US readout is a regurgitation of US talking points about the Israel-Hamas war.
It says the pair discussed ongoing efforts to secure a hostage-ceasefire deal, which Arab and Israeli officials said earlier today were complicated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim on Sunday that he was only interested in implementing part of the deal before resuming military operations in Gaza. The premier subsequently attempted to walk back his comments, insisting that he remains committed to the Israeli proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden last month.
During today’s meeting, Blinken “emphasized the need to take additional steps to protect humanitarian workers in Gaza and deliver assistance throughout Gaza in full coordination with the United Nations, the State Department readout says.
Blinken also updated Gallant on US planning for the post-war governance of Gaza and “emphasized the importance of that work to Israel’s security,” according to the US readout. Washington has repeatedly criticized Jerusalem over this issue, arguing that failure to plan for “the day after” will lead to Israel either permanently occupying Gaza or a state of chaos in the Strip that will allow for Hamas to reconstitute.
Regarding the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Blinken “underscored the importance of avoiding further escalation of the conflict and reaching a diplomatic resolution that allows both Israeli and Lebanese families to return to their homes,” the US readout says, adding that the secretary “reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security.”
Jordanian police find explosives in Amman that are allegedly part of Iran-linked plot

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordanian security forces say they uncovered and detonated explosives hidden in a commercial warehouse in an industrial area southeast of the capital Amman that security sources say are part of an Iran-linked plot to destabilize a key US ally.
Witnesses earlier said security forces had sealed the Abu Alanda area in a wide scale security operation two days after authorities announced they had detonated explosives uncovered in another location in the capital.
The authorities say the explosives found Monday were hidden by the same group of suspects who stored the explosives uncovered on Saturday in a crowded residential area close to a military airport used by US army planes.
The authorities, who have not disclosed who was behind the storing of munitions or whether arrests have been made, say they will reveal details once the investigations are completed.
Over the past year, Jordan has said it has foiled many attempts to smuggle weapons by infiltrators linked to pro-Iranian militias in Syria, who it says have crossed its borders with rocket launchers and explosives, adding that some of the weapons managed to get through undetected.
Iran has denied being behind such attempts.
Security sources say some of the arms are bound for the neighboring Israeli-controlled West Bank, adding that they have arrested several Jordanians linked to Palestinian terrorists.
Security officials say the incidents are terror-related based on the quantities of explosives found. They say it is linked to Iran’s clandestine efforts to recruit agents to undertake sabotage acts within the kingdom to destabilize a key ally of Washington in the region.
Captive’s parents: New clip a reminder to leaders of people behind the word ‘hostage’
Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, parents of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, spoke to Channel 12 after the airing of the new clip of his capture.
“It’s a clip no parent in the world wants to see,” Jon said. “We the parents of the hostage don’t need a reminder. But maybe decision-makers in Israel and the world need every reminder — that we’re not just talking about a word, “hostage,” but about human beings, real people, with dreams, with families, with people who love them, who are waiting for them.”
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