June 5: Witkoff, Rubio praise recovery of slain hostages, urge release of remaining captives

Lebanon’s leaders accuse Israel of ceasefire violation after Beirut strikes

Smoke and fire erupt from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs, June 5, 2025. (IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP)

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon’s leaders accuse Israel of a “flagrant” ceasefire violation by launching strikes against underground Hezbollah drone factories in southern Beirut ahead of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha.

In a statement, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun voices “firm condemnation of the Israeli aggression” and “flagrant violation of an international accord… on the eve of a sacred religious festival.”

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also issues a statement condemning the strikes, which came despite a November 27 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities instigated by Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

ICC accuses Washington of trying to undermine its independence with sanctions

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The United States’ sanctions on four International Criminal Court judges are a “clear attempt” at undermining the court’s independence, the institution says, vowing to stand by its staff.

“These measures are a clear attempt to undermine the independence of an international judicial institution which operates under the mandate from 125 States Parties from all corners of the globe,” the court says in a statement from The Hague.

US sanctions four ICC judges over efforts to prosecute Israelis, Americans

A general view of the exterior of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, March 12, 2025. (Omar Havana/AP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announces sanctions against four judges on the International Criminal Court over what he says is their direct involvement in The Hague’s efforts to prosecute Israeli and US nationals for alleged war crimes in the ongoing Gaza conflict.

The four justices designated are Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin and Beti Hohler of Slovenia. Any US assets that they have will be frozen, and they will be barred from entering the US.

Gansou and Hohler are two of the three judges adjudicating the case involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.

Rubio argues that efforts by the court to prosecute Israeli nationals are illegal because Israel is not party to the Rome Statute that created the ICC. The Palestinian Authority, on the other hand, is a Rome Statute signatory, in what the court has deemed is sufficient for hearing cases on alleged crimes that took place in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“As ICC judges, these four individuals have actively engaged in the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel,” Rubio says in a statement.

“The ICC is politicized and falsely claims unfettered discretion to investigate, charge, and prosecute nationals of the United States and our allies.”

“This dangerous assertion and abuse of power infringes upon the sovereignty and national security of the United States and our allies, including Israel,” he adds.

UTJ Hasidic faction’s rabbis back dissolution of Knesset

The spiritual leadership of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism’s Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction decides that it will introduce a bill to dissolve the Knesset after meeting in Jerusalem.

At the end of the meeting, the leadership says they are backing the “immediate” dissolution” of the legislature, according to a statement cited in Hebrew media.

Both UTJ and Shas are threatening to bring down the government over its failure to pass a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service, though UTJ lacks the numbers to do so alone.

IDF issues fresh evacuation orders in south Lebanon ahead of strikes on Hezbollah

The IDF issues a new evacuation warning for two areas in the southern Lebanese town of Ain Qana, ahead of strikes on Hezbollah assets.

In a post on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, publishes maps showing the locations of several buildings that the military intends to target.

“You are located near facilities belonging to Hezbollah,” Adraee says.

The statement calls on civilians to evacuate at least 500 meters from the areas for their safety.

#عاجل ‼️انذار عاجل إلى سكان قرية عين قانا في جنوب لبنان وخاصة في المبنى المحدد بالأحمر وفق ما يُعرض في الخريطة المرفقة والمباني المجاورة له
🔸أنتم تتواجدون بالقرب من منشآت تابعة لحزب الله الارهابي
🔸من أجل سلامتكم وسلامة أبناء عائلاتكم أنتم مضطرون لإخلاء هذه المباني فوراً… pic.twitter.com/3DV1ZpKT1M

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) June 5, 2025

Cuomo wins 1st endorsement of a leading Orthodox group in NYC mayoral race

Former New York State governor Andrew Cuomo at an event marking the completion of a new Torah scroll, in New York City, May 15, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

Former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo wins the endorsement of the Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance, an influential group in Queens, for his mayoral campaign.

The endorsement is significant because it is Cuomo’s first in the race from a leading Orthodox group, a population he has been courting during the race.

Cuomo, as governor, alienated many Orthodox and Hasidic Jews during the COVID pandemic by enacting virus restrictions that those groups felt targeted their communities. He has worked to repair the damage during the campaign meetings with a series of religious organizations.

Cuomo is leading in polls ahead of this month’s Democratic party primary, which will likely decide the winner of the November election in the mostly Democratic city. Cuomo has said combating antisemitism is a priority and has repeatedly expressed support for Israel during and leading up to the race.

His leading opponent, the far-left State Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani from Queens, has alarmed mainstream Jewish groups with his repeated, harsh criticism of Israel and policies targeting the Jewish state.

The Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance acknowledges past tensions toward Cuomo and zeroes in on Mamdani, calling his candidacy a “political crisis of historic proportions” in a statement announcing the endorsement.

“We still feel the pain of the unfair red zones imposed by Cuomo in 2020, which targeted our communities,” the statement says, according to the Yeshiva World News outlet.

“Despite this pain, we must look forward and consider our future as Jews in New York City, where new threats loom larger than past grievances.”

“If Zoran Mamdani and the movement behind him succeed, we risk losing everything we’ve built,” the statement says. “They aim to defund our yeshivas, strip our neighborhoods of police protection, and vilify support for Israel as a disqualifying offense. These aren’t empty threats. They’re drafting laws, redirecting budgets and winning elections — all while projecting a facade of goodwill.”

Cuomo celebrates the endorsement, calling it a “testament to the special relationship I have with the Orthodox community

IDF strikes Hezbollah drone factories in Beirut after warnings

Israeli fighter jets are striking Hezbollah drone manufacturing sites in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the military announces.

The statement comes shortly after Lebanese media reported strikes in the area.

Earlier, the IDF warned it would target several underground Hezbollah drone manufacturing facilities in Beirut, ordering several buildings and the area surrounding them to evacuate.

غارة تستهدف الضاحية الجنوبية لبيروت pic.twitter.com/oVyq5keZiL

— Lebanon Debate (@lebanondebate) June 5, 2025

Lebanese army reportedly enters Beirut buildings IDF warned it would target

Lebanese army soldiers have entered buildings in the Dahiya area of Beirut, which Israel had announced it would strike, Lebanese media reports.

There is no official Lebanese confirmation of the reports.

The IDF stated earlier that the buildings contain underground infrastructure for UAV (drone) production.

IDF says missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis shot down

The interception of a Houthi ballistic missile, June 2, 2025. (Screenshot: X)

A ballistic missile launched at Israel by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen was successfully intercepted by air defenses a short while ago, the military says.

Sirens had sounded in the Jerusalem area, southern West Bank settlements, and some areas of central and southern Israel. Preceding the sirens by three minutes, an early warning was issued to residents, alerting civilians of the long-range missile attack via a push notification on their phones.

Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched 46 ballistic missiles and at least 11 drones at Israel. Several of the missiles have fallen short.

British PM Starmer warns Israel of ‘further concrete actions’ over war in Gaza

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer (left) greets Jordan's King Abdullah II on the steps of 10 Downing Street in London, on June 5, 2025. (Ben STANSALL / AFP)

LONDON, United Kingdom — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warns Israel of “further concrete actions” over its Gaza offensive and restrictions on aid after a meeting in London with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

“The Prime Minister reiterated that if Israel did not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, the UK and its partners would take further concrete actions in response,” a spokesperson for his Downing Street office says in a statement.

Sirens sound in Jerusalem area, West Bank, parts of central Israel due to missile launch from Yemen

Sirens are now sounding in the Jerusalem area, southern West Bank settlements, and some areas of central Israel following the launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen.

The IDF says it is working to shoot down the projectile.

Ballistic missile fired from Yemen at Israel; sirens expected to sound in central Israel

A ballistic missile has been launched from Yemen at Israel, the military says.

Sirens are expected to sound in central Israel in the coming minutes.

The IDF says it is working to shoot down the projectile.

Hamas chief says terror group did not reject Witkoff proposal but demanded changes

Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya says in a pre-recorded speech that the terror group did not reject US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff’s latest Gaza ceasefire-hostage release proposal, but only demanded some changes and improvements to secure the end of war in the enclave.

The terror group is ready to engage in a new round of ceasefire talks, and the communication with the mediators was ongoing, he adds.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

For first time in 20 years, Western powers to submit resolution at IAEA finding Iran non-compliant with rules

The Iranian flag outside the IAEA headquarters during the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors meeting at the agency's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on November 20, 2024. (Joe Klamar/AFP)

VIENNA, Austria — Western nations are planning to table a resolution at a meeting of the UN’s nuclear agency that will find Iran in non-compliance with its so-called safeguards obligations for the first time in 20 years, a senior Western diplomat says.

The move comes at a sensitive time as US President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to reach a deal with Tehran to limit its nuclear program. The two sides have held several rounds of talks, so far without agreement.

A draft resolution, jointly tabled by France, the UK and Germany, known as the E3, together with the United States, was circulated today after a final sign-off by Washington.

The State Department does not immediately comment.

The draft resolution, which was seen by The Associated Press, says: “Iran’s many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran … constitutes non-compliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement.”

The draft resolution furthermore finds that the IAEA’s “inability … to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful gives rise to questions that are within the competence of the United Nations Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.”

It requests IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi “to continue his efforts to implement this and previous resolutions and to report again, including any further developments on the issues.”

The text of the draft may change before it is formally tabled, as board members have the opportunity to suggest amendments.

Under the so-called safeguards obligations, that are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is legally bound to declare all nuclear material and activities and allow IAEA inspectors to verify that none of it is being diverted from peaceful uses.

Ben Gvir at right-wing rally: I’ve been asking PM to fire attorney general for two years

Justice Minister Yariv Levin (right) and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attend a rally against the judiciary, outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, on June 5, 2025. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says he has urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for two years to fire the attorney general over what many ministers say are obstructionist measures against the government.

“In the past two years, I requested from our dear Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — let’s fire her, let’s send Gali Baharav-Miara home,” he tells right-wing demonstrators outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem.

“We support the prime minister and call on him to ignore the invalid instruction of the attorney general, and to ensure that Maj. Gen. David Zini will be the next Shin Bet director,” he says.

“We can’t end the war without victory, occupation, settlement, and the encouragement of voluntary immigration [of Gazans],” Ben Gvir adds, reiterating the goals of several right-wing ministers in the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

Baharav-Miara told Netanyahu in March that his conflict of interest prevents him from being involved “directly or indirectly” in appointing a new Shin Bet chief, and that to speedily replace outgoing Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, he must delegate the authority for recommending a candidate to another cabinet minister.

Footage: People leaving Beirut’s Dahiyeh following IDF warnings

A video circulating on social media in Lebanon shows traffic jams in Dahiyeh, Beirut, apparently of people trying to leave the area following an IDF warning that Israel is expected to carry out an attack soon.

حركة نزوح وزحمة سير خانقة في الأحياء التي هدد الجيش الاسرائيلي بقصفها في الضاحية الجنوبية لبيروت pic.twitter.com/QVkOOvgvw7

— Lebanon Debate (@lebanondebate) June 5, 2025

COGAT says 92 aid trucks entered Gaza today

This picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip, shows a sign indicating the entrance of the Kerem Shalom crossing between southern Israel and the Gaza Strip on June 5, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

The Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announces that 92 humanitarian aid trucks carrying flour and food entered the Gaza Strip today.

Israel resumed aid deliveries to Gaza on May 19, after a pause since March 2. Since then, 1,289 trucks have entered the Strip.

Some of the truckloads have been taken to the new aid distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The contents of many of the trucks that entered Gaza in recent weeks are still awaiting collection on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom crossing.

The aid underwent an inspection first by Israeli authorities before entering Gaza via the crossing.

IDF says it will soon strike underground Hezbollah sites in Beirut

The Israel Defense Forces says it will soon target several underground Hezbollah facilities in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which are used by the terror group to manufacture drones.

“Despite the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, the IDF identified that Hezbollah’s aerial unit (127) is working to produce many thousands of UAVs, under the guidance and funding of Iranian terror officials,” the military says in a statement.

The military says that Hezbollah is working to expand its drone manufacturing process to prepare for a future war with Israel.

“This activity is a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon. The Hezbollah terror organization creates challenges for the Lebanese state and thus impairs the implementation of the understandings,” the IDF says.

The military issued evacuation warnings for several buildings in the Lebanese capital ahead of the strikes.

In speech outside top court, Levin vows to end rule by ‘handful of judges’ over government

Justice Minister Yariv Levin attends a rally against the judiciary, outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, on June 5, 2025. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)

Justice Minister Yariv Levin vows to pursue his controversial judicial overhaul legislation in a speech to right-wing demonstrators outside the Supreme Court building in Jerusalem.

“We came here to say — no more. The control of a handful of judges over the Knesset and government is not a new thing,” Levin says.

He vows to put an end to the “tyranny of a handful of judges, and one attorney general, who are trying to prevent the great change.”

“We will realize the will of the people,” Levin promises. “The people demand judicial reform, there will be a complete judicial reform,” he says.

Since 2023, Levin has been spearheading controversial legislation that would bring the judiciary under the control of the government.

“Do you hear us in the Supreme Court? You won’t stop us,” he says.

IDF issues evacuation warnings ahead of strikes in Beirut

The IDF issues evacuation warnings for several buildings and the area surrounding them in Beirut’s southern suburbs, ahead of airstrikes against Hezbollah assets in the Lebanese capital.

In a post on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, publishes maps showing the locations of the buildings.

“You are located near facilities belonging to Hezbollah,” Adraee says.

The statement calls on civilians to evacuate at least 300 meters from the buildings for their safety.

#عاجل ‼️ إنذار عاجل للمتواجدين في الضاحية الجنوبية في بيروت وخاصة في الاحياء التالية: الحدث، حارة حريك، برج البراجنة في المباني المحددة بالأحمر وفق ما يُعرض في الخرائط المرفقة والمباني المجاورة لها
🔸أنتم تتواجدون بالقرب من منشآت تابعة لحزب الله الارهابي
🔸من أجل سلامتكم وسلامة… pic.twitter.com/jcW9BXJXnO

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) June 5, 2025

Anti-government protesters rally in Tel Aviv, call for an end to war, hostages’ release, elections

Anti-government protesters attend a demonstration in Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, June 5, 2025. (Yoav Loeff/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Thousands attend an anti-government protest at Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square.

Protesters are calling for an end to the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, the release of hostages held by the terror group, and new Israeli elections.

Father of slain pride marcher warns murderer ‘wasn’t insane and wasn’t an outlier’

Thousands take part in the Jerusalem Pride Parade, on June 5, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Marking a decade since the murder of his daughter, the father of Shira Banki speaks to marchers at Jerusalem Pride.

“I am standing here today because Shira wasn’t killed in combat, she wasn’t murdered by a foreign enemy,” Ori Banki tells the crowd gathered on the grass in Independence Park.

“Shira was murdered by an Israeli citizen on the Israeli street, as a direct result of the incitement in Israel,” he continues.

Sixteen-year-old Shira Banki was stabbed to death by a Haredi extremist 10 years ago, while marching in the 2015 Jerusalem Pride Parade.

The murderer, Yishai Schlissel, “wasn’t insane and wasn’t an outlier,” says Banki’s father.

“He was an incensed man who is still supported today by many people. Some out of unawareness and stupidity, some in complete understanding,” he warns.

As participants marched earlier today, many laid flowers at the site of Banki’s death, among them President Isaac Herzog and Dutch ambassador Marriet Schuurman.

IDF to send 54,000 conscription orders to Haredi yeshiva students in July

A Haredi Orthodox Jew stands near a sign for an army recruitment office during a protest against Haredi conscription in Jerusalem, May 1, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The IDF will issue some 54,000 conscription orders in July to ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, as well as enlistment orders to ultra-Orthodox boys aged 16 and a half who are approaching the age of conscription, the Attorney General’s Office announces.

Although the 54,000 conscription orders will be issued in July, the dates on which those receiving the orders must present themselves at IDF recruitment offices will be staggered throughout the upcoming conscription year, which starts on July 1, 2025.

In addition, the IDF will also increase enforcement measures against the thousands of ultra-Orthodox men who have received conscription orders in the last year but have failed to present themselves at IDF recruitment offices.

These measures will include active steps by the army, including improving enforcement of bans on leaving the country at the airport, and improving coordination with the police when they encounter draft dodgers.

The announcement follows a meeting held today by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, the head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate, and other legal and military officials, to discuss compliance with a High Court decision on the obligation of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students to perform military service, and as part of the state’s response to High Court petitions demanding enforcement of that decision.

Palestinian man says he was used by IDF as human shield for 3 months; IDF has said practice is prohibited

A Palestinian man testifies that he was allegedly used by IDF soldiers as a human shield for three months during operations in northern Gaza.

Jamil Al-Masri, 63, speaks with the fringe far-left Uncaptured Media online news outlet.

Masri says he was “starved, humiliated and abused,” and forced to search tunnels and homes under the orders of troops, beginning in October 2024, Uncaptured Media reports.

The military has not responded to the report or images circulating on social media last month showing Masri with troops.

The IDF said in March that it had launched investigations into at least six cases where troops operating in the Gaza Strip allegedly used Palestinians as human shields. It said that such conduct is prohibited, and that this has been made clear to troops.

Netanyahu confirms arming Gazan clans: ‘What’s wrong with that?’

Members of the Abu Shabab gang in Gaza, seen in a recent video posted by the group. (screen capture: Facebook)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirms that his government is arming clans in Gaza to oppose Hamas.

In the latest installment in a series of short interviews with advisor Topaz Luk, his office has posted in recent weeks, Netanyahu says that “in consultation with security officials, we made use of clans in Gaza that are opposed to Hamas.”

“What’s wrong with that?” he continues. “It’s only good. It saves the lives of IDF soldiers.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in a video message from his office in Jerusalem, June 3, 2025. (Screenshot)

Avigdor Liberman, who heads the opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, told the Kan public broadcaster on Thursday morning that Netanyahu had unilaterally approved the transfer of weapons to the Abu Shabab clan, an armed gang or militia that is opposed to Hamas’s rule in the Gaza Strip.

“It’s extremely serious,” Netanyahu says of the leak, predicting that it won’t be investigated.

“Publicizing it only does good for Hamas,” argues Netanyahu.

Thousands rally outside Supreme Court against judicial interference in government’s work

Thousands rally outside the High Court of Justice in Jerusalem to protest what they say is the judiciary’s interference in senior government appointments and the management of the war.

Right-wing activist groups organized the rally under the banner of “They won’t invalidate the people’s will.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich are present at the rally.

הנה תמונה עדכנית מעכשיו.
ירושלים הערב.
רבבות אנשי ימין – מרכז בהפגנה נגד בג"ץ. pic.twitter.com/0L7S4yiHFM

— דני בגין (@yaronLevi5222) June 5, 2025

Trump says he left Egypt out of travel ban because ‘they have things under control’

US President Donald Trump is asked why he didn’t include Egypt on the list of countries whose citizens will be banned from entering the United States, given that he tied the crackdown to the Boulder attack perpetrated by an Egyptian national.

“Because Egypt has been a country that we deal with very closely. They have things under control,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office.

Egypt is one of the mediators in the ongoing hostage talks between Israel and Hamas.

Egypt, along with Israel, was also left off the list of countries to whom foreign aid was halted by the Trump administration earlier this year.

Q: On your travel ban, if the Boulder attack was part of your reasoning, why not include Egypt?

TRUMP: Because Egypt has been a country that we deal with very closely. They have things under control. pic.twitter.com/0FnMXixD5X

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 5, 2025

Witkoff, Rubio praise recovery of slain hostages, urge release of remaining captives

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff listens to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a meeting with French, Ukrainian, German and UK delegations at the Elysee Palace at the Elysee Palace in Paris on April 17, 2025. (Ludovic Marin, Pool Photo via AP)

US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio hail the Israeli military operation that recovered the bodies of slain American-Israeli hostages Judih Weinstein and Gadi Haggai.

Witkoff says he is “grateful for the Israeli soldiers” who recovered the couple’s bodies so they “may now rest in peace.”

“While those killed can never be replaced, this closure is absolutely critical and a minimum of human decency,” Witkoff says.

He calls on Hamas to accept the temporary ceasefire proposal he put forward. Witkoff told hostages’ families earlier this week during a White House meeting that he was optimistic about the chances for a breakthrough in the effort in the coming days, two sources familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.

Rubio says in a statement that while the Israeli operation “may bring a measure of closure to the Weinstein-Haggai family, it is a stark reminder of the enduring cruelty 56 families continue to face – including those of Americans Omer Neutra and Itay Chen – whose loved ones have been held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7. All hostages must be released immediately.”

Lebanese PM: Army dismantled over 500 weapons depots and military sites in the south

This handout picture released by the Lebanese presidency shows designate Prime Minister Nawaf Salam delivering a statement to the press at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut on February 8, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency/AFP)

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam states in a speech marking 100 days since the formation of his government that, in that time, the Lebanese Army has dismantled more than 500 military sites and weapons depots south of the Litani River in recent months.

Salam does not specify who the sites belonged to, but they are widely believed to have been operated by Hezbollah, which has concentrated much of its forces in southern Lebanon.

In his speech, Salam also states that there will be no stability in Lebanon without an end to Israeli attacks, Israel’s withdrawal from areas it holds in Lebanon, and the release of “Lebanese prisoners,” referring to individuals detained by Israel during the war with Hezbollah who remain in custody.

Health Ministry confirms first case of West Nile virus this year

West Nile disease is spread by birds and transmitted to animals and humans by mosquito bites. (CC-BY 2.0 hofluk, Flickr)

The Health Ministry confirms the first case of the West Nile virus in a patient in central Israel this year.

The Environmental Protection Ministry also reports the capture of mosquitoes infected with the West Nile virus in the Eilot Regional Council in the south. The Ministry has instructed local authorities where the infected mosquitoes were found to further expand the monitoring and pest control efforts.

Every year from the beginning of June until the end of November, the frequency of finding mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus increases, as do reports of human illness from the disease.

In 2024, an unusual number of human cases of West Nile fever were recorded in Israel.

This is the first report of capturing mosquitoes carrying the virus, as well as a case of human illness for 2025. Since the extent of the illness cannot be predicted by the previous year, the ministries reiterate that the local authorities bear the responsibility and authority to take all necessary actions to reduce mosquito nuisances in their areas.

Infected mosquitoes transmit the West Nile virus to humans. The virus does not spread from person to person.

The disease is usually characterized by fever, headaches, weakness, joint and muscle pain, conjunctivitis, rash, and sometimes nausea and diarrhea.

About 80 percent of people infected with West Nile virus show no symptoms at all. About 20 percent may experience varying degrees of symptoms, including fever, headaches, and body aches.

Less than 1% of those infected will have possible rare complications such as acute inflammation of the brain or meningitis.

The risk of significant illness is higher among the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

The ministry recommends using mosquito repellent products and devices to repel mosquitoes in living areas.

Herzog becomes first president to attend Jerusalem Pride: ‘There is absolutely no place for violence’

President Isaac Herzog (right) and his wife Michal lay a wreath at the site of the murder of 15-year-old Shira Banki 10 years ago, at the Jerusalem Pride Parade, June 5, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

With a message against violence, President Isaac Herzog becomes the first Israeli head of state to attend the gay pride parade in Jerusalem.

He and First Lady Michal Herzog visited the site where 15-year-old Shira Banki was stabbed to death during the parade a decade ago.

“We must establish a golden rule: there is absolutely no place for violence,” says President Herzog. “There is no dialogue with violence. We are not willing to accept violence in our society. I know there is violence, and we are here to eradicate it. We demand love, respect, and equality—also for the LGBTQ+ community, which is an inseparable part of Israeli society, and for all groups in Israeli society, who must learn to exchange words and spread great love.”

He calls on the Israeli public “to show restraint, to show love, to show compassion. In the end, we are all meant to live together—and that is our mission. And maybe that is also the message of dear Shira.”

GHF says nearly 25,000 boxes of food today at Gaza aid facilities

Palestinians walk along a road to receive humanitarian aid packages from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on June 5, 2025. (AFP)

A day after suspending operations in the wake of a string of deadly incidents, almost 25,000 boxes of food were distributed to Palestinians in Rafah today, says the Gaza Humanitarian Fund in a statement.

GHF says 18,240 boxes of food were delivered at the Tel Sultan “Swedish village” site, which is closing down, and 6,720 were picked up at the new site in the nearby Saudi neighborhood.

The foundation says that food in all of those boxes amounts to roughly 1.5 million meals. The products are largely dry foods, though, which require cooking equipment or community kitchens in order to prepare.

GHF adds that a Palestinian truckers’ union strike is not affecting operations. A previous, deleted version of the statement said that the strike would only affect aid delivered by the UN and other aid groups.

The US- and Israeli-backed organization says it stands ready to help the UN get aid to the Palestinians.

Smotrich says banks bowing to EU sanctions against settlers may have to compensate them

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich condemns banks that have refused to provide services to Israeli settlers sanctioned by the European Union and warned that they may have to pay compensation to them.

The EU last year imposed sanctions on five Israeli settlers for violence against Palestinians, and Smotrich says there were reports of sanctions being considered against other settlers.

In a letter to the banking supervisor, Smotrich says banks should not follow a “zero risk” policy since it leads to the abandonment of Israeli clients, “under the guise of compliance with foreign sanctions.”

In a statement quoting his letter to the regulator, Smotrich calls on banks to use their legal, economic, and international strength to fight “unjust sanctions.”

“The banks’ enormous profits enable them to take measured risks on behalf of their clients — especially when it comes to a national moral injustice,” Smotrich, who leads the far-right Religious Zionism party, says.

Should banks continue to comply with sanctions and harm clients, Smotrich says he intends to promote immediate legislation that would require banks to pay substantial compensation to affected customers.

He also intends to require the Bank of Israel to offer banking services to citizens targeted by sanctions.

Responding to the letter, the Bank of Israel says that while banks must comply with international sanctions to avoid an array of risks, a draft directive it published today aimed to ensure appropriate banking services were available for the affected customers.

“Circumventing foreign sanctions regimes through the Israeli banking system exposes banking corporations to multiple risks, including compliance risks, anti-money laundering and counter-terror financing risks, legal risks, and reputational risks,” the central bank says.

However, it says it has taken steps to comply with sanctions “without banks resorting to blanket refusals to serve such customers.”

Gallant slams Netanyahu’s ‘lies,’ says he puts coalition ahead of Israel’s security

Then-defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks during a press conference at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to fire him from his position, on November 5, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Former defense minister Yoav Gallant responds to a recording of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling a senior rabbi that he ousted the minister and former IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen Herzi Halevi to enable his coalition to advance a law exempting ultra-Orthodox men from military service.

“I heard Netanyahu’s lies. The false accusations come to cover up a simple truth: For me, the security of the State of Israel is first and foremost. For him — the security of the coalition is put ahead of Israel’s security. The only thing that bothers Netanyahu, in his words, is that I refused to pass a law exempting Haredim from IDF service,” Gallant says in a video statement.

“Everyone must serve. It is essential to ease the burden,” he adds.

IDF: Retrieval of slain hostages’ bodies planned in way to avoid harm to living captives

The IDF and Shin Bet’s overnight operation to recover the bodies of slain hostages Gadi Haggai and Judih Weinstein was planned in a way that did not risk the lives of other hostages still held by terror groups in Gaza, the military says.

According to the IDF, intelligence gathered by the military and Shin Bet “led to accurate planning of a covert operation, which was carried out while preserving the lives of the other hostages and led to the recovery of the bodies of the two.”

The operation was carried out “in the heart of Khan Younis” by the 98th Division, the IDF says.

Lapid says Netanyahu’s move to arm Gazan clan will cause ‘more disasters’

Opposition head Yair Lapid slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over revelations today that he authorized the arming of Abu Shabab, a criminal gang in the Gaza Strip, as part of an effort to strengthen opposition to Hamas in the enclave.

“After Netanyahu stopped giving millions of dollars to Hamas, he moved on to giving weapons to organizations close to ISIS in Gaza, all off the cuff, all without strategic planning, all leading to more disasters,” Lapid posts on X.

Lapid tells Jerusalem Pride marchers: Far right can’t tell us who to love

Opposition head Yair Lapid at the Jerusalem Pride Parade, on June 5, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid arrives at the Jerusalem Pride Parade before it kicks off in the city’s Liberty Bell Park.

“Avi Maoz can’t tell us who to love, [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir and [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich can’t tell us who to love, the Haredim and the crazy people protesting against us can’t tell us who to love,” he tells a burgeoning crowd, listing far-right politicians who have expressed homophobic views.

Across the street, a group of demonstrators with the far-right Lehava organization protest the event, deriding it as an “abomination parade.”

Lapid tells the crowd that despite persisting antipathy toward the LGBTQ+ community, Israel has moved toward acceptance over the past decade.

He insists that many self-described right-wingers in Israel — giving the example of the average “Likudnik family from Ashdod” — have become increasingly tolerant of same-sex couples.

He adds, however, that the “struggle will not end” so long as Avi Maoz, an outspokenly homophobic lawmaker, continues to “introduce homophobic material to educational institutions.”

Organizers are marking a decade since the 2015 murder of Shira Banki, a 16-year-old girl who was stabbed by an ultra-Orthodox man during the course of the parade.

Banki’s father, Ori Banki, is expected to speak to the crowd at the march’s conclusion in Independence Park.

Dozens of ultra-Orthodox demonstrators block Route 4, protesting arrest of draft dodger

Dozens of ultra-Orthodox demonstrators from the extremist Jerusalem Faction block Route 4 in Bnei Brak, protesting the arrest of a yeshiva student who avoided military recruitment.

Police are on the scene trying to clear the protesters.

Meir Borochov, 20, was sentenced to 20 days in military prison after his arrest at Ben Gurion Airport for avoiding military service on the eve of the Shavuot festival, according to Hebrew media reports.

עשרות מפגינים מהפלג הירושלמי חוסמים את כביש 4 בכניסה לבני באק, במחאה על מעצרו של מאיר בורוכוב שלא התייצב בלשכת הגיוס pic.twitter.com/Bn49bbL6E8

— שילה פריד🇮🇱 (@shilofreid) June 5, 2025

Shas spiritual leader: Edelstein’s soul is an abomination, a shame he came to Israel

Former chief Sephardic rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, slams Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein as “wicked” and an “abomination” over his support for tough economic sanctions against yeshiva students who evade the IDF draft.

“His soul is an abomination. He was a prisoner of Zion and came to Israel. It’s a shame he came to Israel, he should have stayed there. He’s causing trouble for the yeshiva students,” he says.

Edelstein, whose committee is currently revising a government-backed law regulating Haredi enlistment that is said to include strict sanctions, is a former prisoner of Zion, or Soviet refusenik, who spent three years in forced labor camps for teaching Hebrew in the 1980s.

Prisoners of Zion were jailed in the former Soviet Union for Zionist or pro-Israel activities, mainly fighting for the right to move to the Jewish state.

Yosef also calls Edelstein and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu part of a “false right wing” and “wicked.”

Yosef’s comments, which are broadcast by Radio Kol Barama, come hours after he reportedly ordered Shas to sharpen its threats to bring down the government if the coalition does not come to an agreement with its ultra-Orthodox parties on exempting yeshiva students from military service.

חשיפה | מתקפה חסרת תקדים של המנהיג הרוחני של ש״ס הגאון רבי יצחק יוסף נגד יולי אדלשטיין: ״נשמתו תועבה, היה אסיר ציון ובא לארץ, חבל שבא לארץ, שהיה נשאר שם. הוא עושה את הצרות לבני הישיבות. הכל זה הוא עושה. אדלשטיין ונתניהו, כל הימין הזה ימן שקר. רשעים מרושעים!״. את הדברים אמר הבוקר… pic.twitter.com/rMSGHT94bm

— אבי מוסקוב Avi moskoff (@AviMoskov) June 5, 2025

Iran ‘strongly’ condemns US veto on UN Security Council resolution for Gaza ceasefire

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran “strongly” condemns the United States for vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire and full humanitarian access in Gaza.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei says in a statement that the US move to block the resolution, which was supported by 14 of the 15 members of the council, demonstrated “the country’s complicity in the crimes of the Zionist regime (Israel) and strongly condemned it.”

German FM says recognition of Palestinian state now would send ‘wrong signal’

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar (left) and his German counterpart Johann Wadephul speak at a press conference in Berlin, Germany, June 5, 2025. (Shalev Man)

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul says that now is not the time to recognize a Palestinian state.

“Recognition of Palestine would be the wrong signal at this point in time,” says Wadephul in a Berlin press conference alongside Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

France is considering recognizing a Palestinian state this month.

Hamas “must release the hostages, and Hamas must lay down arms immediately and without any conditions,” says Wadephul, adding that the Gaza war must end.

“Israel has the right to defend itself, as every other country around the world would do as well,” he stresses.

Wadephul emphasizes that there “must be a plan for the day after” Hamas in Gaza.

Referring to the fledgling Gaza Humanitarian Fund initiative, Wadephul expresses concern for Gazans “who don’t know where they’ll get food and medicine.” He laments the long distances to distribution sites and the fact that some civilians were killed. “That happens far too often.”

Wadephul says that “no one can doubt that the Iranian nuclear program poses a vital threat to Israel. We share the conviction that Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon.”

He also blasts calls from Israeli ministers for the annexation of the West Bank and expansion of settlements.

In his prepared statement in English, Sa’ar says that “Israel is serious in our will and our intent to achieve a deal. A deal that will lead to a ceasefire.”

He calls on countries like Germany to exert pressure on Hamas so it will agree to a deal.

Pressure on Israel and threats of sanctions, argues Sa’ar, “will cause Hamas to harden its stance.”

Sa’ar says that two humanitarian efforts are underway, the UN channel and the new “American initiative.”

“We believe that expanding it will help shorten the war,” he says. “It will hurt Hamas’s economy. It will hurt its stronghold over the people of Gaza.”

“We already see, through public protests in Gaza, we see the people began to express their desire to see the end of Hamas’s cruel rule over Gaza,” says Sa’ar. “We have not seen such images in the past.”

IDF releases audio of Gazan man blaming Hamas for firing on Palestinians near Rafah aid site

The IDF publishes an audio recording it says is of a conversation between a Gazan man and an officer from the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, in which he claims that Hamas is the one who opened fire on Palestinians near an aid distribution site in Rafah.

“The people who fired were Hamas terrorists,” the Gazan man says, according to a translation provided by the IDF.

“They don’t want the people to receive aid, they want to foil the plan so that the aid will go to them, allowing them to steal it. They’ve gone completely bankrupt,” the man says.

The IDF has acknowledged firing warning shots at Palestinians who headed to the aid site before it was open and/or approached it from outside the designated safe route. The military has said that its fire hit an unspecified number of people, but has not acknowledged killing anybody. It said that Hamas’s claims of dozens killed and wounded were “exaggerated.”

Amid coalition crisis, Goldknopf slips Netanyahu note during ceremony

Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, leader of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, slips Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a note during a ceremony in the city of Yeruham in front of cameras.

The two met before the event, along with Goldknopf’s chief of staff Moti Babchik, as both UTJ and the Shas party are threatening to bring down the government over its failure to pass a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service.

The ceremony marks the signing of an agreement expanding the number of apartment buildings that will be built in Yeruham.

בצל המשבר נתניהו וגולדקנופף על הבמה יחד באירוע בירוחם – לעיני הקהל גולדקנופף מוסר לנתניהו פתק ששמר עבורו בכיס pic.twitter.com/nRCs7Idj3c

— שילה פריד🇮🇱 (@shilofreid) June 5, 2025

Trump picks Navy admiral to command US military in Middle East

US Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper speaks at an event at the International Defense Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, February 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump nominates Vice Adm. Brad Cooper to take over as the top US military commander in the Middle East, the Pentagon says. If he is confirmed, it would mark just the second time that a Navy admiral has held the job.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says in a statement that Trump has also nominated Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin Anderson to head US Africa Command. Anderson would be the first Air Force general to lead the command, which was created in 2007.

Cooper is currently the deputy commander of US Central Command and has extensive experience serving and leading troops in the Middle East. The current head of the command, Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, is slated to retire after more than three years in the post.

It is a crucial role as the region has been shaken by conflict, with the Trump administration pushing to broker a ceasefire deal after 20 months of war in Gaza and pressing for an agreement with Iran in negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.

A 1989 graduate of the US Naval Academy, Cooper commanded naval forces in the Middle East for close to three years as the head of the Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain. He left in February 2024 to take over as deputy at Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East and is based in Tampa.

Macron: Tougher steps against Israel over Gaza war to be decided on in ‘next couple of days’

France's President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a joint press conference with Brazil's president (not in picture) following a meeting at The Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, on June 5, 2025. (Christophe PETIT TESSON / POOL / AFP)

France’s President Emmanuel Macron says he will decide “in the next couple of days” whether France will harden its position against Israel and take concrete steps over the Gaza war.

Macron could recognize a Palestinian state around a UN conference on the topic, which France is hosting with Saudi Arabia later this month.

Standing alongside Macron at a press conference, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accuses Israel of carrying out “premeditated genocide” in Gaza.

“It’s a premeditated genocide from a far-right government waging a war against the interests of its own people,” he says.

Air force shows off chopper taking down Houthi drone

The IDF publishes a video showing the moment a drone launched at Israel by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen was intercepted by an Israeli Air Force helicopter.

The interception, which took place a day ago, occurred over the Egypt border area.

״בזיהוי כטב"ם רשאים להפיל – מבצע, התפוצץ״: חיל האוויר ממשיך ליירט איומים מכלל הגזרות

אמש, חיל האוויר יירט כלי טיס בלתי מאוייש ששוגר לשטח הארץ מתימן.
מערכות ההגנה של חיל האוויר פועלות מסביב לשעון במטרה ליירט איומים מכלל הגזרות.

בחודש האחרון, שוגרו מתימן מספר כלי טיס בלתי… pic.twitter.com/EhRZ1R1BHm

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 5, 2025

After talks with ultra-Orthodox, Gantz says he won’t back Haredi draft exemptions

Speaking at the Galilee Panhandle Conference in northern Israel, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz declares that after elections Israel must advance “a broad service outline in which all parts of society serve,” putting the kibosh on support for ultra-Orthodox draft deferments sought by Haredi parties.

Gantz says he has told Haredi politicians this directly “and they know my position.”

כך התקבל הערב בני גנץ בישיבת ׳אור החיים׳ של חבר ההנהגה הרוחנית של ש״ס pic.twitter.com/lHFGaYM6b8

— ישי כהן (@ishaycoen) June 4, 2025

On Tuesday, Gantz met with Motti Babchik, a senior adviser to Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, the head of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, and on Wednesday evening he was filmed visiting a yeshiva linked to one of the Shas party’s rabbinical leaders.

Asked at the conference whether he was coordinating with Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud), whose insistence on legislating sanctions against Haredi draft dodgers has ignited ultra-Orthodox threats to topple the government, Gantz demurs.

“I won’t open this up here. I speak with everybody, including Yuli, and he understands that change must happen and I very much hope that he will not break down even in the face of the threats that will probably intensify,” he says.

GHF pictures show Gazans getting food at soon-to-be-shuttered Rafah site

Gazans collect goods at an aid distribution site near Rafah in a photo released on June 5, 2025. (Gaza Humanitarian Foundation)

Images shared by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund show Gazans picking up food from the Swedish Village distribution site near Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood, which it says is being shut down in favor of a new site closer to Rafah.

Scenes from near the unfinished “Kuwaiti” hospital along the Egyptian border show relative disorder as civilians open boxes and fill bags to carry, but the area appears relatively uncrowded.

A video clip shared by the US- and Israeli-backed organization shows a staffer with a camera photographing about a dozen smiling and waving Gazans.

High Court grants 3rd extension to government’s deadline for response to Gaza aid petition

The High Court of Justice gives the government a third extension to file its response to a petition demanding that a “consistent and extensive supply” of humanitarian aid be provided to the civilian population in Gaza.

The petition, filed by the Gisha human rights organization, was submitted to the court on May 18 against the government’s policy at the time of blockading all aid to Gaza.

That same evening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that small amounts of aid would be allowed in, followed by the roll-out of a controversial aid distribution mechanism operated by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation organization.

The High Court took two days to respond to the petition, and then gave the government a week to file its response. The government then requested an extension until May 29, and then on that date requested another extension until June 4.

Yesterday, the government requested a third extension until June 10, which Justice Yosef Elron, a strict conservative, approves. Gisha attorney Osnat Cohen-Lifshitz labels the request “a disgrace.”

Gisha has condemned the GHF aid distribution mechanism, pointing out that it warned in May that unclear security arrangements for the distribution centers, “particularly the terms of engagement for armed guards or Israeli military in the area… could result in targeting of civilians.”

GHF closed Wednesday and Thursday to work out security issues after Gazans trying to reach a distribution site in Rafah were shot and killed on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

In a response to the reported deaths, Gisha says Israel is now an “occupying power” in Gaza and therefore “must allow efficient and uninterrupted entry of humanitarian aid and other goods… must immediately open all crossings to the Strip, ensure safe routes for aid convoys, and protect humanitarians, humanitarian installations and civilians in the Strip.”

The High Court ruled in March on an earlier Gisha petition that Israel was not an occupying power in Gaza.

GHF resumes handing out aid, moves Rafah distribution site

Displaced Palestinians carrying relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private US-backed aid group, return from aid distribution centers in Rafah to their tents in the southern Gaza Strip on May 29, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has resumed operations near Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood, according to a GHF spokesman, after the organization shut down aid distribution for over a day to work out security issues.

An Arabic-language message to Gazans indicates that a distribution site at the so-called “Swedish village” area on Gaza’s far southern coast shut down after food was distributed there for the final time today, but a new site is now open in the Saudi neighborhood of Tel Sultan.

That distribution center is in one of the large school complexes in the center of the neighborhood, a GHF spokesperson tells The Times of Israel.

The US- and Israel-backed aid organization suspended operations yesterday after three consecutive days of reports of civilians being shot and killed while trying to reach a distribution site.

IDF says it hit Islamic Jihad command center near Gaza hospital

The IDF confirms carrying out an airstrike at the Al-Ma’amadani Hospital in Gaza City, saying it targeted a Palestinian Islamic Jihad command center in the medical center’s courtyard.

According to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza, the strike hit a press compound and killed three people. Reports named one victim as Ismail Badr, a cameraman for the Palestine Today channel, which is affiliated with Islamic Jihad. A second journalist named Suleiman Hajaj was also killed, according to reports.

The IDF says the compound was used by Islamic Jihad operatives to plan and carry out attacks on troops and Israeli civilians.

The military says it took steps to minimize civilian harm, including by using a precision munition, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.

Sources confirm Israel arming Gazan gang to bolster opposition to Hamas

Armed members of the Abu Shabab clan in uniform in the Rafah area, May 2025. (Screenshot: Twitter, clause 27a)

Israel provided members of an armed group in Gaza with Kalashnikov rifles to protect themselves against Hamas, as part of an effort to strengthen opposition groups in the Strip, the Israeli military censor permits for publication.

The group, which is sometimes described as a militia and sometimes as a criminal gang, is led by Yasser Abu Shabab, a member of a large clan in southern Gaza.

The weapons that Israel provided to Abu Shabab’s gang included some that Israel seized from Hamas during the war, defense sources say.

The militia is operating in Rafah, in an area that is under Israeli military control. Last week, Hamas published a video showing it targeting members of the group.

Abu Shabab claims to be securing humanitarian aid convoys entering Gaza, while some have accused his gang of looting them.

The arming of Abu Shabab was carried out without the approval of Israel’s security cabinet. It was led by Israeli security bodies, and was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to defense sources.

Protest ship headed for Gaza detours to pick up Sudanese migrants

A high-profile activist mission sailing to Gaza to challenge Israel’s blockade on the territory has taken a detour to pick up Sudanese migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean, according to a person on board the ship.

Activist Rima Hassan reports that the Madleen changed tack to the south to rescue a boat carrying migrants off the Libyan coast. They reached the ship just as Libya’s coast guard overtook the dinghy, but four people jumped into the water and were picked up by the so-called Freedom Flotilla.

“We were able to rescue them, they are with us on the boat,” she writes.

pic.twitter.com/G3uj9M0crb

— Rima Hassan (@RimaHas) June 5, 2025

The ship, which has earned international attention thanks to its inclusion of climate protest leader Greta Thunberg, is not expected to reach Gazan waters for several days. It is unclear whether it now intends to bring the four Sudanese migrants along for the ride to Gaza or if it will now take a further detour to Europe.

UTJ rabbis set to discuss ditching coalition as party mouthpieces fume over Haredi draft

The spiritual leadership of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism’s Hasidic Agudat Yisrael faction is slated to convene this evening to discuss supporting moves to bring down the government, a day after fellow UTJ faction Degel HaTorah received instructions from its own rabbis to introduce a bill to dissolve the Knesset.

According to Army Radio, the meeting with take place at 9:30 p.m. at Moshav Ora near Jerusalem. While Agudat Yisrael chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf, who also leads the overall UTJ party, has already been pushing to advance such a bill, no formal decision by the Council of Torah Sages has yet been officially taken.

Both UTJ and Shas are threatening to bring down the government over its failure to pass a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service, though UTJ lacks the numbers to do so alone.

This morning, the Hamevaser daily, affiliated with Agudat Yisrael’s Shlomei Emunim subfaction, slammed a proposed conscription law backed by Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein (Likud), arguing that its provisions for financial sanctions on draft dodgers constituted “a series of cruel and draconian sanctions aimed at humiliating Torah students.”

UTJ believes that Edelstein’s revised bill treats yeshiva students as criminals and constitutes “institutionalized and unprecedented persecution,” the paper states, expressing shock that Edelstein, a former “prisoner of Zion” in the Soviet Union, “where Jews were persecuted for learning Torah,” would “act in a similar manner and deny basic rights to Torah scholars.”

Likewise, Degel Hatorah mouthpiece Yated Ne’eman ran a front page article attacking Edelstein’s sanctions as motivated by “evil and dark-hearted malice.”

Headlined “Israel is heading to elections,” the story cites Rabbi Dov Lando, the senior leader of the so-called Lithuanian stream of non-Hasidic ultra-Orthodoxy, as saying that “a government that intends to treat Torah students in this way is a disgrace to the Torah and must be overthrown and elections held.”

It “has no right to exist [and] it is forbidden to be a partner with it,” he adds.

Lando is also the chairman of Degel HaTorah’s ruling Council of Torah Sages.

Sudanese national killed in Netanya brawl, suspect arrested

Magen David Adom paramedics at the scene of a fatal stabbing in Netanya on June 5, 2025. (Magen David Adom)

Police say they have arrested a Sudanese national suspected of fatally stabbing a man in his 40s during a brawl today in Netanya’s outdoor market, in what appears to be the fourth violent killing in Israel in hours.

The victim, also a Sudanese national, is pronounced dead at the city’s Laniado Hospital.

Officers plan to request an extension of the suspect’s detention, a law enforcement spokesman says.

Earlier this morning, a 53-year-old woman was found dead in her home in Bat Yam; police say they have arrested her husband as a suspect.

Before dawn, a 14-year-old boy was shot and killed in the southern town of Ararat an-Naqab. Israel Police described the shooting as the result of a “vendetta” among feuding clans in the desert town.

Last night, 38-year-old Issa Frej was shot dead in his home in Kafr Qasim. Paramedics found the victim unconscious at around 10 p.m. after receiving a report of a shooting and declared him dead at the scene of the crime.

Putin tells Trump he can help clinch Iran nuke deal

Russian President Vladimir Putin told US President Donald Trump that he is ready to use Moscow’s close partnership with Iran to help shepherd negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, the Kremlin says.

“We have close partner relations with Tehran and, naturally, President Putin said that we are ready to use this level of partnership with Tehran in order to facilitate and contribute to the negotiations that are taking place to resolve the issue of the Iranian nuclear dossier,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters.

Asked when Putin could join the negotiations, Peskov says dialogue with Tehran and Washington is going through various channels.

“The president will be able to get involved when necessary,” Peskov says.

Trump said after a phone call with Putin on Wednesday that time was running out for Iran to make a decision on its nuclear program and that he believed Putin agreed that the Islamic Republic should not have nuclear weapons.

Putin, according to Trump, suggested that he participate in the discussions with Iran and that “he could, perhaps, be helpful in getting this brought to a rapid conclusion,” though Iran was “slow walking.”

Syria says it stymied attempt to smuggle missiles, ammo into Lebanon

Syria’s Interior Ministry says security forces seized a shipment of anti-tank guided missiles and 30mm caliber ammunition in the town of Al-Qusayr, near the Lebanese border.

The shipment was intended to be smuggled into Lebanese territory, according to the ministry, which says the driver transporting the arms was arrested and the weapons and ammunition were confiscated.

مديرية الأمن الداخلي في مدينة القصير تحبط عملية تهريب أسلحة، حيث ضبطت شحنة تضم صواريخ موجهة مضادة للدروع (م.د) وذخائر من عيار 30 مم، كانت معدّة للتهريب إلى الأراضي اللبنانية وقد أُلقي القبض على السائق، وجرى مصادرة الأسلحة والذخائر، pic.twitter.com/0ipdolFWls

— وزارة الداخلية السورية (@syrianmoi) June 5, 2025

It’s unclear who the missiles and the ammunition were intended for. In the past, Hezbollah was known to smuggle weapons and ammunition into Lebanon via Syria using a route that passed through the same area today’s shipment was seized.

Crews battle brushfire threatening homes outside Nazareth

A firefighting plane drops water on a brushfire in northern Israel on June 5, 2025. (Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson)

Firefighters say they are battling a quickly spreading brushfire on the outskirts of Nazareth in the country’s north.

A spokesperson says 10 crews and four firefighting planes have been called in to contain the blaze that broke out in a forest between the Nazareth suburb of Yafia and the nearby kibbutz of Kfar Hahoresh, where flames are threatening to spread to homes.

“The fire is spreading at several different points in an area with complex topography,” Nof Hagalil fire chief Ofer Edri says in a statement.

Ex-defense chief Liberman says Netanyahu arming Gazan gang, PM’s office does not deny

Yisrael Beytenu chief MK Avigdor Liberman leads a party faction meeting at the Knesset, May 19, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Former defense minister Avigdor Liberman says Israel is arming a criminal gang of Gazan jihadists, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of unilaterally approving weapons transfers to the group.

Liberman, who heads the opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, appears to be referring to the Abu Shabab clan, an armed gang opposed to Hamas which has been documented in recent days operating in an area near the Kerem Shalom crossing under Israeli military control.

“The Israeli government is giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons, identified with Islamic State, at the direction of the prime minister,” Liberman tells the Kan public broadcaster. “To my knowledge this did not go through approval by the cabinet.”

Armed members of the Abu Shabab clan in uniform in the Rafah area, May 2025. (Screenshot: Twitter, clause 27a)

Liberman claims that the head of the Shin Bet is aware “but I don’t know how much the IDF chief of staff was in on it.”

According to Tel Aviv University researcher Michael Milshtein, Abu Shabab is known in Gaza as drug dealers and thieves, and was previously involved in looting aid trucks.

In recent days, footage published online, including by clan leader Yasser Abu Shabab, has shown member of the gang wearing military-style uniforms with the Palestinian flag and the words “Counter-Terrorism Mechanism” emblazoned on them.

The Prime Minister’s Office releases a statement in response to Liberman but does not deny the allegations.

“Israel is working to defeat Hamas through various means, based on the recommendations of all the heads of the security establishment,” it says.

Woman killed in Bat Yam, husband arrested, days after another suspected domestic slaying in city

A 53-year-old woman was found dead in her Bat Yam home this morning by paramedics, authorities say, in what may mark the second incident of domestic violence in the city within days.

Police arrested the victim’s 52-year-old husband for questioning as a suspect soon after they launched an investigation into the incident, a law enforcement spokesman says. The circumstances of her death are still being probed.

On Monday, a 51-year-old woman was found stabbed to death — presumably by her recently estranged husband — in her apartment in the working-class suburb south of Tel Aviv. The husband jumped to his death from the roof of the apartment building following an hours-long standoff with police.

The last several days have seen a spurt of murders in Israel, including two people killed in Arab towns Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Son of returned hostages says recovery puts spotlight on those still in Gaza

Ahl Haggai at his house in Ammikam on December 8, 2023. (MARCO LONGARI / AFP)

The son of Judih Weinstein and Gadi Haggai says he is caught in a swirl of emotions following the news that his parents’ bodies were recovered from Gaza, over 600 days after they murdered and abducted while on a morning walk in their home kibbutz of Nir Oz.

“This is a shocking moment,” Ahl Haggai is quoted telling the Ynet news site. “I am both relieved and anxious. This isn’t simple, despite it easing things and removing something [weighing] on the heart. There was an uncertainty that has ended.”

Haggai says their return “shines a spotlight” on the 56 hostages remaining in Gaza and efforts to bring them home as well.

“This was really surprising and I’m thinking why did we deserve for our loved ones to return and not others,” he says.

Russia claims strategic bombers only damaged by Ukraine, will be patched up

Post-strike imagery of Belaya Airbase, in Russia, captured June 4, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC)

Russian warplanes were damaged but not destroyed in a June 1 attack by Ukrainian drones, and they will be restored, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov says.

Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb targeted airfields in Siberia and the far north where Russia houses heavy bombers that form part of its strategic nuclear forces.

The United States assesses that up to 20 warplanes were hit and around 10 were destroyed, two US officials tell Reuters, a figure that is about half the number estimated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

But Ryabkov, who oversees arms control diplomacy, tells state news agency TASS: “The equipment in question, as was also stated by representatives of the Ministry of Defense, was not destroyed but damaged. It will be restored.”

It was not immediately clear how swiftly Russia could repair or replace the damaged aircraft – if at all – given the complexity of the technology, the age of some of the Soviet-era planes, and Western sanctions that restrict Russian imports of sensitive components.

Commercial satellite imagery taken after the Ukrainian drone attack shows what experts tell Reuters appear to be damaged Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers and Tu-22 Backfire long-range bombers that Russia has used to launch missile strikes against Ukraine.

Russia has an estimated fleet of 67 strategic bombers, including 52 Tu-95s, known as Bear-H by NATO, and 15 Tu-160s, known as Blackjacks, of which about 58 are thought to be deployed, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Gazans claim Israeli strike killed 2 journalists near Gaza City hospital

Media outlets in Gaza report an Israeli strike on a press compound near the Al-Ma’amadani Hospital in Gaza City.

According to the reports, two people were killed in the strike, including Ismail Badr, a cameraman for the Palestine Today channel, which is affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization. The reports say the second victim, Suleiman Hajaj, was also a journalist.

Several other journalists were also injured in the strike, according to the reports, which are not verified.

There is no comment from the Israel Defense Forces.

Herzog says recovery of slain hostages ‘a moment of pain, but also solace’

President Isaac Herzog calls the return of the bodies of Judih Weinstein and Gadi Haggai from Gaza “a moment of deep pain, but also one of solace and the resolution of uncertainty.”

Judih and Gadi “were murdered and abducted together from their home in the peace-loving Kibbutz Nir Oz – the place where they lived, raised a large family, and built their lives,” he says in a statement. “Now, thanks to the rescue operation, they will be laid to rest together in dignity, in the land they so deeply loved.”

Herzog says that Israel “will continue to do everything in our power to bring our sisters and brothers back from hell – the living for healing and rehabilitation, and the fallen to be laid to rest in dignity. Every last one of them!”

Gazan aid truck drivers call strike after attack on convoy

A truck carrying aid enters the Gaza Strip from the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing, on May 20, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

A labor union representing Gazan truck drivers says it is halting transport of aid deliveries within the Strip following an incident in which several truckers were shot dead by gunmen.

The Private Transport Association says it is calling the strike in response to an incident a day ago in which a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid was attacked by gunmen in the central part of the Strip. According to a statement from the union, gunmen shot and killed several drivers in the Deir al-Balah area, while others were wounded and abducted by the gunmen.

It is unclear what the effect of the strike will be on aid deliveries within the Strip, where Israel says hundreds of trucks packed with food, medicine and other assistance are awaiting transport from the Kerem Shalom crossing to warehouses run by the UN and humanitarian groups throughout Gaza.

The union’s ties to the Hamas are also hazy. Before the war, most unions in Gaza were affiliated with the terror group.

Offspring of anonymous sperm donor 40-50 years ago told to get checked for genetic condition

The Health Ministry says a man who donated sperm anonymously in the central region of the country from 1974 to 1985 has been identified as a carrier of Lynch syndrome, a hereditary genetic condition that increases the risk of developing cancer, including uterine and colorectal cancer.

The ministry recommends recipients of sperm donations during these years inform their offspring so that they can consult with a genetic laboratory.

Until the mid-1980s, before the establishment of sperm banks, sperm donations were made in various fertility clinics with complete confidentiality of the donors’ and recipients’ details.

The donor’s descendants have a 50 percent risk of being carriers of the mutation. Carriers can enroll in a monitoring program aimed at early detection of cancer, to enable diagnosis and treatment.

The ministry says individuals can obtain additional information through their health management organization.

Drone strike reported in southern Lebanon

Lebanese media report an Israeli drone strike targeted a car in the town of Qalaouiyeh, some 13 kilometers from the border with Israel.

There are no immediate reports of injuries in the strike.

Pictures shared online show a Citroen with minimal damage to its rear.

📷 إصابة سائق مركبة بجروح طفيفة بعد قصف من طائرة مسيرة للاحتلال في بلدة قلاوية جنوب لبنان pic.twitter.com/YOHj0KfUeA

— ساحات – عاجل 🇵🇸 (@Sa7atPlBreaking) June 5, 2025

The IDF has not commented on the alleged strike.

Mother of hostage Yonatan Samerano says world leaders forgo Israel criticism in private

Ayelet Samerano speaks in Hostages Square, Tel Aviv, May 12, 2025 (Paulina Patimer / Hostages Families Forum)

Ayelet Samerano, mother of Yonatan Samerano, whose body was taken hostage on October 7, 2023, to Gaza, tells Army Radio that world leaders she has met with are much more supportive of Israel and critical of Hamas in private than their public positions.

“It’s all about money or power,” says Samerano, who has spent the last 20 months meeting with public figures about the fate of her son, who was dragged into Gaza by an employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, and whose death has never been fully confirmed.

Yonatan Samerano was killed on October 7, 2023 and his body taken hostage by Hamas terrorists (Courtesy)

She says today would be her son’s 23rd birthday. The family will mark the occasion with a party tonight at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square full of music and dancing, as her son, a DJ, would have organized himself, Samerano says.

Shin Bet grilling of Gazan detainee led IDF to hostages, defense official says

Troops operate in Khan Younis in a photo released by the IDF on June 3, 2025. (IDF Spokesperson)

The overnight operation that recovered the bodies of slain hostages Gadi Haggai and Judih Weinstein was enabled by intelligence obtained during a Shin Bet interrogation of a Palestinian terror operative who was detained in Gaza, an Israeli defense official tells The Times of Israel.

“The intelligence that is obtained in Shin Bet interrogations is valuable and important, and helps the ground operation and missions like the one carried out overnight,” the official says.

Hostages’ families say recovery of bodies will help ‘heal uncertainty,’ urge deal to bring back rest

A supporter of Israel holds a picture of kidnapped Israeli hostages Gadi Haggai and Judih Weinstein on October 26, 2023, in New York. (Bryan R. Smith / AFP)

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum says the return of the bodies of Judih Weinstein and Gadi Haggai will help lessen some of the pain around their slayings during the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, while calling for the government to reach a deal to bring back all remaining hostages held in Gaza.

“The return of the Judih and Gadi is painful and heartbreaking, yet it also brings healing to our uncertainty” around their deaths, the group says in a statement. “Their return reminds us all that it is the state’s duty to bring everyone home, so that we, the families, together with all the people of Israel, can begin the process of healing and recovery.”

The Forum adds that “there is no need to wait another 608 agonizing days” for a hostage deal to clinch the return of the 56 people still held in Gaza, including the bodies of 33 believed to be dead.

“A grave is not a privilege,” the families say. “A grave is a basic human right, without which personal and national recovery is impossible.”

It notes that the Haggai and Weinstein families have requested privacy at this time.

Couple’s remains were held in Khan Younis by same group behind murder of Bibas mom, kids — IDF

File: Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 7, 2024 (Bashar TALEB / AFP)

The bodies of slain hostages Gadi Haggai and Judih Weinstein were recovered from southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the IDF says, confirming the joint military and Shin Bet operation.

The couple had been held by the Mujahideen Brigades, a relatively small terror group in the Strip that was also responsible for the abduction and murder of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir.

The IDF says the operation was carried out using “precise intelligence” from the IDF’s Hostages Headquarters unit, the Intelligence Directorate, and the Shin Bet.

Haggai, 72, and Weinstein, 70, both US citizens, were on their morning walk around the kibbutz when they were murdered and abducted to Gaza by Hamas-led terrorists.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are now holding 56 hostages, including 55 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023.

They include the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF. Another 20 are believed to be alive, while there are grave concerns for the well-being of three others, Israeli officials have said.

IDF, Shin Bet recovered hostages’ bodies in raid, Netanyahu says

The IDF and Shin Bet recovered the bodies of slain hostages Gadi Haggai and Judih Weinstein from the Gaza Strip in an overnight operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says in a statement.

“We will not rest until we bring all of our hostages home — both the living and the dead,” he says.

Bodies of hostages Gadi Haggai, Judih Weinstein recovered from Gaza

An undated photo of Judih Weinstein and Gadi Haggai (Courtesy)

The Israeli military recovered the bodies of slain hostages Gadi Haggai and Judih Weinstein from the Gaza Strip overnight, their hometown Kibbutz Nir Oz announces.

The two, a married couple, were murdered during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, and their deaths were confirmed by the military in December of that year.

The pair held US citizenship.

The IDF has not yet commented.

Five reported killed in Russian drone attacks on Ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following Russia's drone attack in Pryluky, Ukraine, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Russian drone attacks killed a small child and four others in the northern town of Pryluky and injured another 17 in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, regional governors say.

A 1-year-old child and two women were among those killed, Viacheslav Chaus, the regional governor of Chernihiv, says on Telegram, with initial details showing six more injured and hospitalized.

At least six drones were used in the overnight attack that damaged buildings in the town’s residential area, Chaus says.

In Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov says strikes around 1 a.m. damaged seven apartment buildings, with direct hits on two.

“It flew into our neighbors’ apartment next door, and my child and I managed to run out into the hallway,” says resident Anastasiia Meleshchenko, adding that the ceiling began to crumble after a blast.

“Yesterday, workers had just finished repair work in my apartment after the previous attack.”

Reuters cannot independently verify the reports. There is no immediate comment from Russia.

Shas spiritual head said to sharpen threat to bring down government, abandon Netanyahu

Former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef in Safed on September 17, 2024. (David Cohen/Flash90)

The spiritual head of the Shas political party has reportedly ordered the faction to sharpen its threats to bring down the government if the coalition does not come to an agreement with ultra-Orthodox parties on exempting yeshiva students from military service.

According to the Kikar Hashabbat news site, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who wields wide influence over the party’s positions, told former Shas minister Ariel Atias during a meeting Wednesday night that he should make clear to Netanyahu that the lack of an agreement will mean the end of his government.

He also reportedly told Atias that Shas should explore working with parties from across the aisle to secure its demands following early elections, indicating that it will end a years-long arrangement by which it practically granted Netanyahu automatic backing in line with a 2019 pledge.

“The point of our mission in the Knesset is strengthening and preserving Torah study, without which we have no right to exist, and so we must act in any way with anyone who is ready to help in this matter, and there’s no loyalty to the right or any other ideology,” Yosef told Atias, according to the report.

Atias and Netanyahu are slated hold a meeting today with Likud MK Yuli Edelstein to try and smooth over the issue, after Shas joined the United Torah Judaism party in threatening to bring the government down this week.

Efforts to pass a bill exempting Haredi men from military service have become snagged by Edelstein’s refusal to allow through the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which he heads, a bill that does not levy sanctions on draft dodgers, which Haredi lawmakers reject.

Elections are formally scheduled for October 2026.

US army vets arrested with Nazi paraphernalia, arsenal of guns and bombs

Two former members of the US military were arrested Monday in Washington state with an arsenal that included dozens of guns, explosives and body armor, along with Nazi paraphernalia, investigators say.

Levi Austin Frakes and Charles Ethan Fields were arrested at their home in Lacey, near Olympia, after being caught trying to steal weapons and other gear from a army base, according to a criminal complaint filed in US District Court.

At the home, agents found rifles staged at the upstairs windows, a probable cause affidavit filed in Thurston County Superior Court says. The federal complaint says agents “observed numerous Nazi/white supremacy memorabilia, murals, and literature in every bedroom and near several stockpiles of weapons and military equipment.”

Photos from inside the home included in court documents show a wall decorated with a red Nazi flag emblazoned with a black swastika and a black SS flag — the letters shaped like lightning bolts — referencing the Schutzstaffel, the Nazi paramilitary led by Heinrich Himmler.

Washington state business license records show that Frakes and Fields have a company called Sovereign Solutions, which featured an “SS” logo with the letters separated by a lightning bolt. Its website advertises “Quality Training and Equipment for the Modern Warfighter,” including marksmanship classes, as well as a T-shirt with the company logo and the words “Professional War Crime Committer.”

Authorities say agents seized about 35 firearms at the home, including short-barreled rifles and an MG42 machine gun — a type typically supported with a bipod and which was used by German troops during World War II.

Other seized gear included 3D-printed silencers and Army-issued gear that included explosives such as smoke grenade and blasting caps, ballistic plates and helmets, and night-vision devices, authorities say.

According to the complaint, a soldier entered a building at the Army Ranger compound at Joint Base Lewis-McChord on Sunday night and found two men, partially masked, with a cluster of US Army property around them. The two fled following a fight with the soldier that left him hospitalized, and were arrested the next day.

The federal complaint charges them with robbery, assault and theft of government property. They also face investigation on state charges of unlawful possession of incendiary devices, short-barreled rifles and a machine gun. Each is being held at the Thurston County Jail on $500,000 bail.

Videos, eyewitnesses reportedly bolster claims IDF behind deadly fire on aid-seeking Gazans

Eyewitness accounts, video testimony and expert analysis cited by separate US and Israeli news outlets reportedly bolster claims that Israeli forces shot at Gazan civilians seeking aid near Rafah earlier this week.

Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza reported that 31 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded in the shooting incident in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, though the Israel Defense Forces has largely denied responsibility. The toll has not been verified, nor have the tolls of three and 27 killed, respectively, in similar reported incidents on Monday and Tuesday.

According to CNN, geolocated videos confirms that Sunday’s shooting took place at a roundabout nearly a kilometer from a Rafah aid distribution site operated by the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an area under Israeli military control.

Though the videos do not show the source of the fire, the outlet also cites eyewitnesses who say the shooting emanated from guns mounted on Israeli tanks and experts who say the rate of gunfire heard in the clips and pictures of rounds taken from victims line up with weapons used by the IDF.

A separate report by Haaretz also cites eyewitness accounts and video pointing to Israel having carried out the shooting. The outlet quotes an unnamed military official saying that senior officers sought to lay down fire as a way to direct Gazans away from the military position and toward the aid site.

“The intention was to direct the population via fire,” the officer is quoted saying. “The army treated this like a regular situation of suspects entering a combat zone, but it’s impossible to direct a population at scales this large with fire if you want them to feel safe getting to areas you have opened.”

Judge blocks deportation of Colorado attacker’s family

Bouquets of flowers stand along a makeshift memorial for victims of an attack outside of the Boulder County, Colorado courthouse, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

A federal judge has ordered the government to immediately halt deportation proceedings against the family of a man charged in a firebombing attack against a pro-Israel group in Boulder, Colorado, to ensure the protection of the family’s constitutional rights.

US District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher grants a request from the wife and five children of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who are Egyptian, to block their deportation. US immigration officials took the family into custody Tuesday, a day after the attack on a group rallying for the return of hostages held in Gaza.

Soliman, 45, has been charged with a federal hate crime and state counts of attempted murder in Sunday’s attack in downtown Boulder. Witnesses say he threw two Molotov cocktails at the group, injuring 15. Authorities say he confessed to the attack in custody, and said he had planned it for a year.

His family members have not been charged.

Federal authorities have said Soliman has been living in the US illegally, and US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said earlier Wednesday that the family was being processed for removal.

It’s rare that a criminal suspect’s family members are detained and threatened with deportation.

“It is patently unlawful to punish individuals for the crimes of their relatives,” attorneys for the family write in the lawsuit.

Eric Lee, one of the attorney’s representing the family, argued efforts to deport them should not happen in a democracy.

“The punishment of a four-year-old child for something their parent allegedly did, who also has a presumption of innocence, is something that should outrage Americans regardless of their citizenship status,” he says.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin describes the plaintiff’s claims as “absurd” and “an attempt to delay justice.”

“Just like her criminal husband, she and her children are here illegally and are rightfully in ICE custody for removal as a result,” she says in a statement.

Teenager shot to death in Negev blood feud — police

A teen boy was shot to death in the southern town of Arara, police say, marking the second deadly shooting in Israel’s Arab community in hours.

Hebrew media reports list the victim’s age as 14.

Police suspect that the killing took place as part of an ongoing clan feud in the Negev town, which shares a name with a city in Israel’s north.

Police are looking for suspects in the murder, which marks the 105th killing in the Arab community so far this year, according to the Abraham Initiatives, which tracks violence. The tally is significantly than the 88 killings which took place to this point last year, according to the group.

On Wednesday night, a 38-year-old was shot dead in his home in Kafr Qasim, according to police and paramedics, amid an unrelenting crime wave which experts say has worsened considerably over the past two years.

Trump orders inquiry into ‘conspiracy’ to hide Biden’s health decline

This combination of pictures created on November 07, 2024 shows Donald Trump and Joe Biden (Elijah Nouvelage and Saul LOEB / AFP)

US President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into what Republicans claim was a “conspiracy” to cover up Joe Biden’s declining cognitive health during his time in the White House.

The move, which was slammed by Biden, is the latest in a long-running campaign by Trump — with the backing of Republican Party politicians and their cheerleaders in the conservative media — to discredit his predecessor.

But it also comes as a growing chorus of Democrats begin to acknowledge the former president appeared to have been slipping in recent years.

“In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden’s aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline,” a presidential memorandum issued Wednesday reads. “This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history.

“The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden’s signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.”

Biden vehemently denies the allegations.

“Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations,” he says in a statement shared with AFP.

“Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false,” he says, slamming the ordered probe as “nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who are working to push disastrous legislation.”

Trump bans visas for new foreign students at Harvard

File — An anti-Israel protest encampment is seen at Harvard Yard, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

US President Donald Trump announces a ban on visas for foreign students who are set to begin attending Harvard University, ramping up his administration’s crackdown on higher education.

“I have determined that it is necessary to restrict the entry of foreign nationals who seek to enter the United States solely or principally to participate in a course of study at Harvard University or in an exchange visitor program hosted by Harvard University,” Trump says in a statement.

Trump bans travel from 12 countries, ties it to attack on Colorado Jewish rally

US President Donald Trump participates in a Summer Soiree on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 4, 2025. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

US President Donald Trump has signed a proclamation banning travel from certain countries, citing national security concerns.

The proclamation fully restricts and limits the entry of nationals from 12 countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The entry of people from seven other countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela, will be partially restricted. The travel proclamation was first reported by CBS News.

“President Trump is fulfilling his promise to protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors that want to come to our country and cause us harm,” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, says on X.

The countries facing the total ban were found “to be deficient with regards to screening and vetting and determined to pose a very high risk to the United States,” according to a statement provided by the White House.

During his first term in office, Trump announced a ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations, a policy that went through several iterations before it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

Former President Joe Biden, a Democrat who succeeded Trump, repealed the ban in 2021, calling it “a stain on our national conscience.”

Trump says the new travel ban is tied to an attack on a Jewish rally in Colorado that authorities blamed on a man they say was in the country illegally.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman (right), the suspect who allegedly attacked pro-Israel activists (left) in Boulder, Colorado on June 1, 2025. (Screen capture/X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

“The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted,” Trump says in a video message.

Columbia failed to meet accreditation standards by not protecting Jewish students — US government

Illustrative: Anti-Israel demonstrators protest the arrest of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil and show support for Palestinians during a "Fight for Our Rights" demonstration by Shut It Down for Palestine (SID4P) and various local groups at the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington, on March 15, 2025. (Jason Redmond/AFP)

The US Department of Education says it has notified a university accreditation body that it believes Columbia University had violated federal anti-discrimination laws by its alleged failure to protect Jewish students on its campus.

The alleged violation means that Columbia has not met the standards of accreditation set by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the department says.

“Accreditors have an enormous public responsibility as gatekeepers of federal student aid. They determine which institutions are eligible for federal student loans and Pell Grants,” US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon says in a statement.

A spokesperson for Columbia, which has been under pressure from the Trump administration for months, says in a statement that the school addressed the department’s concerns directly with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and is continuing to work with the federal government to address antisemitism.

It is not clear how the Middle States Commission, which, like other accrediting agencies, is independent, will respond to the notification.

A spokesperson for Middle States declines to comment but confirms that the organization received a letter from the Department of Education about the matter.

While the federal government does not directly accredit US universities, it has a role in overseeing the mostly private organizations that do. Trump has often complained that accreditors approve institutions that fail to provide quality education.

Columbia has been the epicenter of a pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel student protest movement that has roiled US campuses over the last year and a half as Israel’s war in Gaza raged.

Turkish prosecutors probe opposition party leader — state TV

Turkish prosecutors have launched a probe against the leader of the country’s main opposition party for allegedly insulting a senior ally of the government, state television reports.

The case against Ozgur Ozel, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), is the latest development in a tense struggle between allies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his opponents that has sparked mass protests.

Prosecutors opened an investigation into claims that Ozel threatened and insulted Istanbul’s chief prosecutor Akin Gurlek, state television channel TRT reports, citing a statement from his office.

Ozel is accused of launching a verbal attack against Gurlek at a rally in Istanbul on Wednesday evening.

A former deputy justice minister, Gurlek has been accused by opponents of going after Erdogan’s rivals through a series of cases launched since he was appointed to the post in October.

Man shot dead in his home in Kafr Qasim in central Israel

A 38-year-old was shot dead in his home in Kafr Qasim tonight, police and paramedics say. He is named by local Arabic-language outlets as Issa Frej.

Paramedics found Frej unconscious at around 10 p.m. after receiving a report of a shooting. They declared him dead at the scene of the crime.

Police’s Central District Commander Yair Hetzroni arrived in the city shortly after the fatal shooting to conduct a situational assessment. Officers have opened an investigation into the incident and have yet to arrest any suspects, a spokesman says.

♦️ רצח בכפר קאסם
לפני זמן קצר, ליד כיכר ראבעה בעיר כפר קאסם נורה ונרצח צעיר בשנות השלושים, מותו נקבע במקום.
נשים שהיו בקרבת הועברו לבית החולים עקב הלם וחרדה.

📌 הנרצח הוא הצעיר עיסר פריג'. pic.twitter.com/NPmxiOMpLm

— Asslan Khalil (@KhalilAsslan) June 4, 2025

Last Friday night in Kafr Qasim, two men were killed in a shooting outside a restaurant in the city.

The two victims were named as cousins Uday Shaaban, 28, and Said Shaaban, 29, from Lod. Police believed the shooting came amid a feud between two families in the city.

As of tonight, 104 Arab Israelis have been killed in violent incidents since the start of 2025, per the Abraham Initiatives watchdog group, in an unrelenting crime wave that has significantly worsened over the past two years.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whose portfolio includes the police, saw murder rates in the Arab community soar to their highest ever during his first year in office in 2023, and roughly double what they had been the previous year.