Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they happened.
Hamas welcomes Egypt’s Gaza reconstruction plan
Hamas says it welcomes a plan adopted by Arab leaders for the reconstruction of Gaza and the creation of a committee to oversee rebuilding and governance in the war-battered territory.
“We welcome the Gaza reconstruction plan adopted in the summit’s final statement and call for ensuring all necessary resources for its success,” the Palestinian terror group says in a statement, also expressing its “support for the formation of the Community Support Committee to oversee relief efforts, reconstruction and governance in Gaza,” referring to a temporary administrative body outlined by the Arab League summit in Cairo.
Israel rejects Arab summit’s statement on Gaza, says it failed to address post-Oct. 7 reality
The Foreign Ministry says the statement from the Arab summit held in Cairo to discuss Gaza’s reconstruction failed to address the realities of the situation following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre.
“It is noteworthy that Hamas’s vicious terror assault isn’t mentioned, and there isn’t even a condemnation of this murderous terrorist entity, despite the documented atrocities,” the statement says.
It praises US President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate Gazans, claiming — despite Trump’s talk about relocating all the Strip’s population — that under it, “there is an opportunity for Gazans to freely choose. This needs to be encouraged.”
The statement urges responsible regional states to “break free from past constraints and collaborate to create a future of stability and security in the region.”
Report: The alert IDF sent PM’s office hours before Oct. 7 attack said Hamas activity wasn’t unusual
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (left) and Southern Command chief Maj-Gen. Yaron Finkelman during an assessment at IDF Southern Command, April 7, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
The Kan public broadcaster publishes the content of an alert sent by the IDF to the intelligence officers of seven key Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant, hours before Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, which seemingly confirms the premier’s contention that it was framed as non-urgent.
The existence of the memo was revealed on Saturday by Channel 12 news, which reported that it set out “numerous” worrying signs of Hamas activity in Gaza that night and that Netanyahu’s intelligence officer did not pass the information up the chain.
In response to that report, the Prime Minister’s Office said the intelligence officer received the message along with a report that Hamas was operating as usual and that the IDF Southern Command would hold a discussion in the morning. He forwarded the message to Netanyahu’s military secretary Avi Gil but decided not to wake him up as the message did not indicate any urgency.
Kan’s report today appears to support Netanyahu’s version of events.
“Today and yesterday SIM cards were activated in certain ares of Gaza,” the memo sent at 2.45 a.m. that night reportedly said, referring to SIM cards Hamas fighters activated ahead of their invasion and onslaught. “This isn’t out of the ordinary, since last year as well such checks were carried out by Hamas.
“The understanding of the [Gaza] Division and the [Southern] Command, Hamas isn’t deviating from its routine [activities]. The information is initial and Hamas is showing characteristics of routine activity. A discussion of the matter will be held by the Southern Command’s intelligence officer at 8:30 a.m. and by the [Southern Command] commander at 10 a.m.”
Kan adds that only after that night’s SIM card activation was the Southern Command chief, Yaron Finkelman, updated about the fact that this had happened the previous night as well.
The report says that during that crucial night, Finkelman asked if the developments meant the alertness level should be raised, and received a negative answer.
US and Ukraine prepare to sign embattled minerals deal today — sources
US President Donald Trump, right, meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, February 28, 2025. (Mystyslav Chernov/AP)
The United States and Ukraine plan to sign the much-debated minerals deal following a disastrous Oval Office meeting Friday in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was dismissed from the building, four people familiar with the situation say.
US President Donald Trump has told his advisers that he wants to announce the agreement in his State of the Union address to Congress tonight, three of the sources say, cautioning that the deal has yet to be signed and the situation could change.
The White House does not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ukraine’s presidential administration in Kyiv and the Ukrainian embassy in Washington do not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The deal was put on hold on Friday after the shocking Oval Office meeting between Trump and Zelensky that resulted in the Ukrainian leader’s swift departure from the White House. Zelensky had traveled to Washington to sign the deal.
In that meeting, Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelensky, telling him he should thank the US for its support rather than asking for additional aid in front of the US media.
“You’re gambling with World War III,” Trump said.
US officials have in recent days spoken to officials in Kyiv about signing the minerals deal despite Friday’s blowup, and urged Zelensky’s advisers to convince the Ukrainian president to apologize openly to Trump, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.
Earlier today, Zelensky posted on X that Ukraine was ready to sign the deal and called the Oval Office meeting “regrettable.”
IDF opens Turkish-language X page, as Ankara becomes more involved in Syria
In an unusual move, the IDF has opened for the first time a Turkish-language X account.
It comes as Israel has identified Turkey as becoming a stronger player in the region, following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. Turkey had backed some of the rebel groups that overthrew the government.
The IDF has accounts on X in several languages, though some, such as Russian, are no longer active.
The Turkish account has so far posted one video, featuring spokesman Maj. Arye Shalicar, announcing that it will be used to provide “reliable and instant updates on developments regarding the IDF.”
Israil Savunma Kuvvetleri’nin resmi X hesabına hoş geldiniz! Bu platform, ISK ile ilgili gelişmeler hakkında güvenilir ve anlık güncellemeler sağlamak amacıyla kullanılacaktır. pic.twitter.com/EknF0c6xno
— IDF Türkçe (@TurkishIDF) March 4, 2025
Syria’s new leader calls for pressure on Israel to withdraw troops
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi (R) greets Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa during the Arab League summit on Gaza, in Cairo, on March 4, 2025. (Photo by Egyptian Presidency / AFP)
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa calls on the international community to pressure Israel to “immediately” withdraw its troops from southern Syria, where they are holding a buffer zone and carrying out incursions beyond it, saying this is aimed at defending the Druze minority from the new Islamist leadership.
“We urge the international community to uphold its legal and moral commitments by supporting Syria’s rights and pressuring Israel to immediately withdraw from southern Syria,” says Sharaa during a summit in Cairo, adding that the “hostile expansion is not only a violation of Syrian sovereignty, but also a direct threat to security and peace in the entire region.”
Arab leaders endorse Egypt’s $53 billion counterproposal to Trump’s Gaza plan
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, right, greets Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during the emergency Arab summit at Egypt's New Administrative Capital, just outside Cairo, March 4, 2025. (Egyptian Presidency Media Office via AP)
An Arab summit convened in Cairo has adopted an Egyptian plan for the reconstruction of Gaza, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says during a closing statement.
The plan would cost $53 billion, Reuters reports.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that the proposal had been accepted at the closing of a summit in Cairo.
The plan aims to counter US President Donald Trump’s proposals for a “Middle East Riviera” by presenting a scheme for rebuilding the devastated Strip without displacing its population.
It is unclear if Israel or the United States would accept the Egyptian plan.
Any reconstruction funding would require heavy buy-in from oil-rich Gulf Arab states such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which have the billions of dollars needed.
The UAE, which sees Hamas and other Islamists as an existential threat, wants an immediate and complete disarmament of the terror group, while other Arab countries advocate a gradual approach, a source close to the matter told Reuters.
Rubio speaks to Netanyahu, thanks him for cooperating with administration on Gaza talks
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu make a joint statement to the media at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem on February 16, 2025 (Evelyn Hockstein / AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call earlier today with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to thank the premier for his cooperation with the Trump administration’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff to free the remaining hostages and extend the ceasefire in Gaza, the State Department says.
Netanyahu over the weekend announced that Israel had accepted a “Witkoff plan” for a Ramadan-Passover ceasefire extension that would see the remaining hostages released in two batches at the beginning and end of the holiday period. An Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel that the proposal was actually spearheaded by Israel, though.
Nonetheless, the White House on Sunday said it backed Israel’s stance regarding the ceasefire just hours after Netanyahu announced that Israel would cease allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza moving forward.
The State Department readout on Netanyahu’s call with Rubio appears to be an extension of the Trump administration’s decision to fully back Israel’s approach in the ceasefire negotiations.
Rubio on the call with Netanyahu “underscore[d] the United States’ steadfast support for Israel is a top priority for President Trump, as shown by the recent announcement to expedite the delivery of nearly $4 billion in military assistance to Israel,” the US readout says.
Hamas has come out against the US-Israeli proposal, asserting that it will only release hostages through the phased framework signed by both sides in January.
Phase one ended on Saturday, but Netanyahu is refusing to even hold talks regarding phase two because it envisions a permanent end to the war in exchange for the remaining hostages — a tradeoff that theoretically leaves Hamas in power.
“The secretary also conveyed that he anticipates close coordination in addressing the threats posed by Iran and pursuing opportunities for a stable region,” it adds.
Anti-Israel activists release new footage of Columbia building takeover last year
An anti-Israel activist group releases new footage of protesters preparing to clash with police inside a Columbia University campus building last year.
The protest group, Unity of Fields, says it is releasing the footage in response to the expulsion of a student involved in the takeover. The footage comes out as the Trump administration threatens the university’s funding due to antisemitism.
Protesters forcibly occupied the building, Hamilton Hall, last spring, prompting a police crackdown and dozens of arrests.
The footage shows protesters barricading doors, screaming “war cries” and chanting “free Palestine” as they brace for the police’s entry into the building.
Some of the protesters throw objects such as chairs on top of a makeshift barricade.
BREAKING: Columbia has issued its first expulsion for alleged involvement in the occupation of Hind's Hall.
In response, we are releasing never before seen footage of the Battle of Hind's Hall–which was smuggled out in a militant's bra–with a message to the Student Intifada: pic.twitter.com/j0YFBvvvYU
— Unity of Fields (@unityoffields) March 4, 2025
The sound of police saws and flash grenades is audible in the background. The protesters then scatter as police burst through a doorway.
Many of the protesters are masked, and others have their faces blurred in the footage.
Unity of Fields, formerly known as Palestine Action US, is a hardline anti-Israel activist group that is not formally tied to the campus. The group has released other footage related to Columbia in the past, such as anti-Israel vandalization around the campus.
After police cleared the building last year, the NYPD said many of those arrested were not university students or affiliates. Most had their charges dropped.
A campus protest group said this week that a student was expelled for their role in the protest last year, prompting Unity of Fields to release the footage. Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia, expelled two students last week for disrupting an Israeli professor’s class.
The video comes out after the Trump administration last night threatened to cut off more than $50 million in contracts with Columbia due to campus antisemitism, and said it was reviewing billions in grants to the university.
Report: Shin Bet said it wasn’t ready to finalize its Oct. 7 probe; PM demanded immediate publication
The Kan public broadcaster reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that the Shin Bet publish the findings of its probe immediately, despite the agency telling it wasn’t yet ready to wrap them up.
The Shin Bet ended up sending the premier’s office the probe last night, in accordance with his demand, the report says.
Netanyahu’s office chastises Shin Bet chief, says his probe doesn’t ‘answer any question’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, on April 4, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO/File)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issues a scathing attack on Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, charging that the findings of the internal probe he ordered into the agency’s failure to prevent Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught “don’t answer any question.”
The Shin Bet findings, while detailing failures and saying it could have foiled the attack had it acted differently, largely point the blame outwards, including hinting that successive governments took insufficiently offensive policies regarding Hamas, including avoiding targeting the terror group’s leaders as the agency allegedly advocated.
“The conclusions of the Shin Bet probe don’t match the gravity of the immense failure of the agency and its head,” says a statement attributed to Netanyahu’s “circle.”
The statement claims Bar “completely failed” to counter the Hamas threat in general and on October 7, “misread the intelligence picture” and had a misconception regarding the level of threat it posed, arguing that the Shin Bet had contended right up to the invasion that the terror group wanted to keep the quiet.
It contends that on October 1, Bar recommended civilian concessions to Hamas in exchange for quiet, and cautioned against targeting Hamas’s leaders. It adds that in an October 3 document, Bar wrote that Hamas sought to avoid a round of fighting against Israel and saw a potential for stability if Gaza was given a positive economic horizon.
It says the Shin Bet didn’t mention or deal with Hamas’s “Jericho Walls” plan, “even though the Shin Bet knew about the plan since 2018,” and accuses Bar of not waking Netanyahu up on the night of October 6-7, “the most basic and natural decision imaginable.”
Shin Bet probe finds Oct. 7 would have been prevented if it had acted differently, but largely points finger of blame at others
Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security service, attends a ceremony held at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, May 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The Shin Bet security agency has published a summary of its investigations into its failures during the lead-up to the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, concluding that there were failures within the organization but mostly pointing to external elements such as an unclear division of responsibilities with the IDF, an overly defensive government policy regarding Gaza over the years, and the Shin Bet being unsuited to counter an army-like foe such as Hamas.
The security service says a broader investigation is needed — a likely hint at the perceived need for a state commission of inquiry, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to establish.
The investigations were carried out internally by each of the Shin Bet’s units and by an external team of former senior agency employees and other experts, who provided a series of findings, conclusions and recommendations.
Many of the findings remain classified, as they would reveal the Shin Bet’s intelligence secret tools and methods, the agency says.
The investigation has found that the Shin Bet failed to provide an alert for Hamas’s October 7 large-scale onslaught. Warning signs received by the Shin Bet on the night of October 6 did not result in major actions being taken.
While a small team of elite officers from the Shin Bet and police that were deployed to the Gaza border before the onslaught managed to contribute to the fighting, they were unable to prevent the massive Hamas attack.
The investigation points to several reasons, both related to professionalism and management, which contributed to the failures. “The organizational failures were thoroughly examined and the lessons were learned and continue to be learned,” the Shin Bet says.
Additionally, the investigation found that the Shin Bet did not underestimate Hamas, but rather the opposite, that the agency had “a deep understanding of the threat, and had initiatives and a desire to thwart the threat and especially [eliminate] the leaders of Hamas.”
Hamas terrorists attack the IDF’s Nahal Oz base on October 7, 2023, as seen in footage released by the terror group. (Screenshot: Telegram)
Several reasons are given as to why the Shin Bet provided no alert for Hamas’s mass onslaught:
- Hamas’s ground invasion plans, which were obtained by the IDF in a document known as Jericho’s Walls, were not handled correctly over several years, and the plans were not turned into a scenario that the military and Shin Bet train for.
- An unclear division of responsibility between the IDF and Shin Bet regarding which organization should provide a warning for war, amid a change of Hamas from a smaller terror group to a full military force.
- The Shin Bet’s focus was on foiling terror attacks, and its methods were not applicable to an enemy that acted like an army.
- During the night between October 6 and 7, there were gaps in the “handling of information and integration of intelligence,” as well as operations that did not follow the usual protocol, and a lack of “fusion” with the IDF’s intelligence.
- There were gaps in the work of intelligence supervision mechanisms.
- The assessment was that Hamas was trying to heat up the West Bank, and was not interested in doing so in the Gaza Strip.
- The Shin Bet had an “incorrect understanding” of the strength of the Israeli border barrier with Gaza and the IDF’s ability to respond.
- Hamas’s believed intentions were not challenged enough during assessments.
- There was relatively little intelligence, including as a result of limited freedom of action in the Gaza Strip, especially independently by the Shin Bet.
Illustrative: Shin Bet head Ronen Bar (R) and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (L) hold an assessment with senior officers in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, December 11, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
The Shin Bet investigation also finds several reasons that enabled Hamas to build up its forces for the October 7 onslaught and decide to carry out the attack:
- Israel’s policy vis-à-vis Gaza was to maintain periods of quiet, which enabled Hamas massive force build-up.
- The flow of money from Qatar to Gaza and their delivery to Hamas’s military wing.
- An ongoing erosion of Israel’s deterrence.
- An attempt to deal with a terror organization based on intelligence and defensive measures, while avoiding offensive initiatives.
- The catalysts to Hamas’s decision to carry out the onslaught included the cumulative weight of Israeli violations on the Temple Mount, the attitude toward Palestinian prisoners, and the perception that Israeli society was weakened.
In an accompanying statement, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar says the agency “did not prevent the October 7 massacre” and “as the head of the organization, I will bear this heavy burden on my shoulders for the rest of my life.”
He adds: “The investigation revealed that if the Shin Bet had acted differently, in the years leading up to the attack and during the night of the attack — both at the professional level and the managerial level — the massacre would have been avoided. This is not the standard we expected of ourselves, or that the public expected of us.
“The investigation shows that the Shin Bet didn’t underestimate our rival — on the contrary, it took the initiative, went on the offensive and tried to nip the threat in the bud — but despite all this, we failed.”
Bar adds that truly investigating the failures necessitates a broader probe that also encapsulates the contact and cooperation between security and political elements.
“The path to reparation, as is emphasized in the report, demands a broad process of clarity and truth,” he says. “So I asked the investigatory committee and the agency’s top command, to probe and to discuss not only the reasons why the service failed, but also to take a wide look at all the relevant work processes at the organization, as part of learning lessons and as an opportunity for a broad change. But it also demands readiness to change in the political-security interface, otherwise, the failures could come back in the future.”
“I believe this organization is strong, stable, humble and its values are even more professional than they were on the eve of the massacre,” he adds.
Sa’ar says Ecuador will open diplomatic office in Jerusalem
After speaking with Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announces that the South American country will open an innovation office with diplomatic status in Jerusalem.
Currently, six countries have embassies in Jerusalem — the US, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea and Paraguay.
Fiji said last month that it would move its embassy as well.
IDF confirms Lebanon strike, says it killed senior Hezbollah commander who violated truce
The IDF confirms carrying out a drone strike in the Tyre area of Lebanon earlier today, saying it killed a Hezbollah commander involved in advancing attacks against Israel amid the ceasefire.
The commander, Haidar Hashem, was responsible for the naval forces in the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, according to the military.
The IDF says that as part of his role, he was involved in efforts to smuggle arms to Hezbollah via the sea, as well as planning naval attacks on Israel and Israeli civilians, including during the ongoing ceasefire.
“Hashem’s activities were a threat to the State of Israel and its citizens, and blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military adds.
מוקדם יותר היום, כלי טיס של חיל האוויר תקף, בהכוונת פיקוד הצפון ואגף המודיעין, במרחב קנא וחיסל את המחבל חצ׳ר שעיד האשם, אשר שימש כמפקד הכוחות הימיים בכוח רדואן של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה ועסק בפעילות טרור נגד מדינת ישראל ואזרחיה >> pic.twitter.com/DLEDZh3YzZ
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 4, 2025
UN envoy calls Israel’s Syria strikes ‘unacceptable’
The UN envoy for Syria says he “strongly condemns” Israel’s “military escalations, including airstrikes,” in the country.
“Such actions are unacceptable and risk further destabilizing an already fragile situation, heightening regional tensions, and undermining efforts toward de-escalation and a sustainable political transition,” Geir Pedersen says in a statement.
Zelensky regrets clash with Trump, calls for truce in Ukraine: ‘Time to make things right’
US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025 (SAUL LOEB / AFP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his clash with US President Donald Trump last week was “regrettable,” that he is ready to work under Trump’s leadership to bring lasting peace, and that it is “time to make things right.”
“Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive,” the Ukrainian leader posts on X.
In his first public comments since Trump halted US military aid to Ukraine, Zelensky calls for a “truce” in the sea and sky and thanks Washington for its support against the Russian invasion.
I would like to reiterate Ukraine’s commitment to peace.
None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 4, 2025
UN chief ‘strongly endorses’ Egyptian plan on Gaza reconstruction
UN chief Antonio Guterres says he strongly endorses an Egyptian plan put to Arab leaders at a summit in Cairo for Gaza’s reconstruction without displacement of its Palestinian inhabitants.
“I welcome and strongly endorse the Arab-led initiative to mobilize support for Gaza’s reconstruction, clearly expressed in this summit,” Guterres says. “The UN stands ready to fully cooperate in this endeavor.”
Palestinian Authority chief welcomes Egyptian plan to rebuild Gaza, urges Trump to back it
Arab reporters watch a screen displaying Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, right, receiving Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, at the press center hall of the emergency Arab summit at Egypt's New Administrative Capital, just outside Cairo, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says he welcomes an Egyptian plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip and urges US President Donald Trump to support such a plan, which would not involve displacing residents of the enclave.
Speaking at an Arab League summit that aims to counter Trump’s “Gaza Riviera” plan, Abbas — who has been ruling since winning the last Palestinian national elections in 2005 — also says he is ready to hold presidential and parliamentary elections if circumstances allow, asserting that the PA is the only legitimate governing and military force in the West Bank and Gaza. Numerous attempts have been made over the last decade to hold national Palestinian elections, but they were always called off.
Abbas says he will issue a general amnesty for all those dismissed from the Fatah movement which rules the West Bank.
‘I didn’t stop believing’: Ex-hostages Omer Wenkert and Eliya Cohen leave hospital
Former hostage Omer Wenkert thanks the crowd as he returns to his home in Gedera, March 4, 2025. (Jonathan Shaul/Flash90)
Captivity survivor Eliya Cohen leaves Petah Tikva’s Beilinson Hospital, 10 days after he was released by the Hamas terror group where he was held for 505 days.
The medical center says Cohen has undergone all the necessary examinations, and he will start a home rehabilitation process.
אלי-ה כהן שוחרר מבית החולים בילינסון ויחל בתהליך שיקום יום. מוקדם יותר שוחרר גם פדוי השבי עומר ונקרט, וטל שהם הגיע לפרידה המחלקתית@Nov_reuveny
(צילום: דוברות בילינסון) pic.twitter.com/gasI8nEd0e— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) March 4, 2025
Omer Wenkert, who was freed on the same day as Cohen, was also discharged from the hospital today and returned to his home in Gedera, where he was welcomed by a cheering crowd of thousands.
Wenkert thanked the crowd and sang a song he said had kept his spirits up while in captivity. He then wrapped himself in an Israeli flag, kissed the mezuzah of his home, and entered his home where he embraced his family and close friends.
“I’ve dreamt about this day for more than 500 days. It has come. I’m happy I didn’t stop believing,” he said, adding that he will join the struggle to release the rest of the hostages, including his good friends Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal.
People welcome former hostage Omer Wenkert as he returns to his home in Gedera, March 4, 2025. (Jonathan Shaul/Flash90)
Former hostage Omer Wenkert thanks the crowd as he returns to his home in Gedera, March 4, 2025. (Jonathan Shaul/Flash90)
US formally redesignates Yemen’s Houthis as foreign terrorist organization
Houthi supporters hold posters showing slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during an anti-Israel and anti-American rally in Sanaa, Yemen, August 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman,File)
The United States formally redesignates Yemen’s Houthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organization,” according to a statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The announcement is in accordance with US President Donald Trump’s announcement three days after entering office last month.
The move imposes harsher economic penalties than Joe Biden’s administration had applied to the Iran-aligned group, known formally as Ansar Allah, in response to its attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and against US warships defending the critical maritime chokepoint.
At the start of his presidential term in 2021, Biden had dropped the terrorist designation that was applied by Trump during his first term, aiming to address humanitarian concerns inside Yemen. Confronted with the Red Sea attacks, Biden last year designated the group as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” organization. But his administration held off on applying the harsher foreign terrorist organization designation.
IDF shoots dead a Palestinian who approached them with a knife; no troops hurt
A Palestinian man who approached Israeli forces at a checkpoint near the West Bank settlement outpost of Homesh while brandishing a knife has been shot dead by troops, a military source says.
No soldiers were wounded in the incident.
Sa’ar appoints new ambassadors to China, Mongolia, Poland, Myanmar
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar approves the appointments of three new Israeli ambassadors, including a key post to China, says his office.
Eli Belotserkovsky, a former ambassador to South Africa and Ukraine, is appointed as ambassador to China and nonresident ambassador to Mongolia. In November 2023, Belotserkovsky was recalled from South Africa following that country’s call to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has also served as chargé d’affaires at the Israeli Embassy in Russia.
Yaakov Finkelstein is appointed as ambassador to Poland. He currently serves in the Foreign Ministry’s Europe Division and has previously served as consul general in Mumbai.
Oren Bar-El is appointed as ambassador to Myanmar. He currently serves in the ministry’s Public Diplomacy Division and was formerly ambassador to Costa Rica.
The appointments will be presented by Sa’ar to the relevant committees and the full government, the Foreign Ministry says in a statement.
As Arab summit on Gaza reconstruction opens, Sissi says he’s certain Trump can achieve peace
Journalists watch a screen displaying Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, center, with Arab Leaders, at the press center hall of the emergency Arab summit at Egypt's New Administrative Capital, just outside Cairo, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Arab leaders convene in Cairo to discuss a reconstruction plan for war-torn Gaza to counter US President Donald Trump’s proposal to take over the territory and relocate its inhabitants.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and King Hamad of Bahrain, the current chair of the Arab League, give opening remarks at the start of the summit.
Sissi says he is certain that Trump will be able to achieve peace on what he refers to as the Palestinian issue.
Speaking during the extraordinary summit, he says Egypt will be hosting a conference for Gaza reconstruction next month.
Grenade sent to recently elected regional leader in north; police investigating
A grenade was discovered outside the house of a regional council head in northern Israel earlier today, police say.
Merom HaGalil Regional Council chairman Amit Sofer’s son returned from school to the family home in the northern village of Bar Yohai, and stumbled upon the explosive which was placed at the front door alongside a flower bouquet and a note reading “congratulations,” followed by a threat.
Sofer was elected last month to serve a second term as the regional council’s chairman in local elections, which had been delayed in northern locales due to the war with Hezbollah.
Police are investigating the incident and say the motive remains unclear. No suspects have yet been identified.
Shin Bet to publish findings of its probes into Oct. 7 failures within hours
The Shin Bet security service is set to publish the findings of its internal probes into the failures that enabled the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught, Hebrew media reports.
The findings are to be released at 7:30 p.m., after being presented to top officials within and outside the agency in the past few days.
The probe was conducted by a panel of former senior Shin Bet officials, independently from the series of investigations conducted by the IDF into its own part in the failures.
Not only BBC: UK’s Channel 4 also starred son of Hamas minister in award-winning documentary
This screenshot from the trailer for 'Gaza: How to Survive A War Zone' shows narrator Abdullah Al-Yazouri, whose father is a Hamas minister. (YouTube screenshot used in accordance with article 27a of the Copyright Law)
The teenage son of a senior Hamas official who featured in a since-pulled BBC documentary on Gaza was also the focus of an award-winning documentary by another British news channel a year ago, though his connection to the Palestinian terror group largely went unnoticed until now, the Telegraph reports.
The British outlet reports: “For seven months, Channel 4 News broadcast footage of Abdullah al-Yazouri, who was then 13, without disclosing he was the son of Dr. Ayman Alyazouri, the deputy agriculture minister in Gaza’s Hamas-run government.”
The program, which focused on financial hardships in Gaza, won multiple awards, including being picked as news program of the year by Press Gazette and the Royal Television Society (RTS), as well as winning a Bafta and an International Emmy for news reporting, according to the new report.
The RTS is said to now be reevaluating the award.
Hamas says it could support Arab plan for Gaza if backed by Palestinians
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem. (via http://hamas.ps/ar/post/7455)
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem says that the terror group will only accept an Arab-led plan for postwar reconstruction of Gaza that wins the support of Palestinians in the enclave, rejecting “external forces” determining the future of the Strip.
“Our position is clear — any plans for Gaza’s future… must be reached through national consensus, and we will facilitate the process,” Qassem tells Turkish news outlet Anadolu.
Qassem speaks out as Arab leaders convene in Cairo to discuss a “day after” plan for rebuilding Gaza, in efforts to counter President Donald Trump’s proposed plan in which the US would assume control of Gaza after the population is relocated.
The plan calls for Hamas to cede power to an interim administration of political independents until a reformed Palestinian Authority can assume control.
“Hamas does not necessarily have to be part of these arrangements, nor is it interested in being involved in them at all,” Qassem adds, referring to plans for postwar Gaza.
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again gave his backing to Trump’s depopulation plan, calling it “visionary and innovative.”
Qassem says Hamas will not be “an obstacle to any arrangements reached through national consensus and capable of initiating reconstruction.” Palestinians “are capable of finding consensus-based approaches with Arab support to accomplish this goal,” he adds.
Trump vows to freeze funding for schools that host ‘illegal protests’
US President Donald Trump says he will cut federal funding to any educational institution “that allows illegal protests,” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump does not specify what an “illegal protest” entails, but appears to be referring to anti-Israel demonstrations that broke out on US university campuses following the October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came,” he says. He had made similar threats regarding pro-Palestinian protesters while on the campaign trail.
Trump adds that students who have US citizenship will be expelled or possibly arrested, signing off the post with “NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO…
— Trump Posts on ???? (@trump_repost) March 4, 2025
It’s not clear if any such move by Trump would survive a First Amendment challenge. Courts have repeatedly upheld the right to protest, even in support of deplorable causes, and schools that clamp down on protected speech in line with Trump’s threat could face hefty penalties for doing so.
Trump and others in his circle have repeatedly touted themselves as defenders of free speech.
Forces kill top Hamas terrorist in Jenin raid, Israel says
Weapons found by troops following an exchange of fire with Hamas gunmen in the West Bank city of Jenin, March 4, 2025. (Israel Police)
The head of a Hamas terror network in the West Bank city of Jenin was killed by undercover Border Police officers this morning, authorities say.
The incident comes as the IDF says it has expanded its ongoing counterterrorism raid in the northern West Bank to additional neighborhoods of Jenin. In a first, troops are using “Eitan” armored personnel carriers in Jenin amid the operation, which are more heavy duty than the APCs normally deployed in the West Bank.
This morning, as part of the expanded operation, Border Police officers along with IDF troops attempted to arrest the commander of Hamas’s terror network in Jenin, Issar Saadi, following information on his whereabouts provided by the Shin Bet.
Following an exchange of fire, Saadi and another gunman were killed, and three wanted Palestinians were detained, according to the IDF, police, and Shin Bet.
The troops found an assault rifle, handgun, and several other weapons during scans of the building where Saadi was holed up.
Another gunman was killed in a separate exchange of fire in the same area, the IDF adds.
As Trump cozies up to Putin, Russia reportedly steps in to mediate Iran nuke talks
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, center left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, center right, arrive at a signing ceremony following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, January 17, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
The Kremlin says it has agreed to act as a mediator between US President Donald Trump’s administration and Iran on negotiations around Tehran’s nuclear program and its support for terror groups seeking Israel’s annihilation, Bloomberg News reports.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says the United States and Iran should resolve their mutual issues through talks and that Russia is ready to do everything in its power to help bring this about, state news agency RIA reports.
The news is potentially deeply worrying for Israel, which has sought Trump’s support for a credible military threat against Iran aimed at pressuring it to abandon its nuclear ambitions, but may now be stymied by the US leader’s increasingly cozy relationship with Putin. Russia and Iran have expanded military ties in recent years, with a report earlier today showing that Russian officials had visited Iranian missile production and air defense sites twice last year, both times within weeks of Tehran launching massive missile barrages at Israeli cities. Moscow also hosted officials from the Hamas terror group following the October 7, 2023, massacre and has expressed support for Iran’s Hezbollah proxy, forcefully condemning Israel for killing terror leader Hassan Nasrallah in September.
According to Bloomberg, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio approached Russia about having it broker a deal with Iran during talks in Saudi Arabia last month at which officials from Washington and Moscow hashed over the fate of Ukraine, an independent country. A short time later, Russian foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran to discuss details of the discussions in Riyadh, Bloomberg reports.
Prisoner released in hostage deal rearrested by Israel, Palestinians say
Israa Ghuneimat, a Palestinian prisoner who was re-arrested by the IDF two months after she was freed under Gaza ceasefire deal on January 19, gives an interview to Jordan's Roya News on January 20, 2025. (Screen capture: Facebook)
The IDF this morning rearrested one of the prisoners freed under the current ceasefire deal, says the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.
Israeli forces reportedly arrested Israa Ghuneimat, 41, during a raid on her home in Surif, north of Hebron in the West Bank. She was among the dozens of female prisoners released on January 19 as part of the first round of prisoner-hostage exchanges.
Ghuneimat has been arrested several times by the IDF. She was a candidate on Hamas’s slate in the anticipated 2021 Palestinian legislative elections, which were later canceled by the Palestinian Authority.
Shin Bet chief reportedly says he’ll remain until all hostages back, commission of inquiry established
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar said he does not plan on stepping down from his post until all the hostages are returned and a state commission is established to probe failures surrounding the October 7 attack, according to Channel 12.
“I took responsibility and I intend to fulfill it,” he told senior employees in a closed-door meeting according to the report, referring to the failure to prevent the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas. “But there is significance to the timing.”
Quotes from the spy chief carried by the channel indicate that his resignation will not occur until Israel secures the release of all hostages held in Gaza. “I am not satisfied with the return of 197 hostages. I am looking at the 59 who remain,” he is quoted saying. If quoted accurately, it was not clear why Bar referred to 197 returned hostages. As recently as Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet that Israel has brought home 196 hostages, with 59 remaining in Gaza; the total comprises 251 seized on October 7 and four held since 2014-2015.
Bar reportedly added that he will also work to ensure that a state commission of inquiry is established, something currently opposed by the government.
“The moment I see that it is happening, I will want to hand the baton over to one of my excellent deputies,” he says, adding that he won’t allow the selection of his replacement to be imposed on the organization from the outside.
However, Netanyahu has been widely reported to be preparing to fire Bar; the premier recently removed him from the team negotiating the ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal.
Israel to invest billions of shekels in 5-year plan for Druze, Circassian communities
The government will mull an approximately NIS 3.9 billion ($1.1 billion) plan to resolve housing and planning issues that have afflicted the Druze and Circassian communities in northern Israel for years, the Prime Minister’s Office says.
The five-year-plan is touted by the PMO as the country’s largest-ever focusing on the two minority communities. A video of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing the plan includes a Druze member of his party thanking the premier effusively as an “asset to the country and the community.”
“There has never been anything like this before; this will advance the Druze community, help close gaps, and propel this critically important sector forward,” Netanyahu says in the video statement.
The initiative will be presented to cabinet member for approval on Sunday, according to the PMO.
As of April 2024, most of Israel’s approximately 150,000 Druze (about two percent of the total population) live on the Carmel Range, and in the Galilee and Golan Heights, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. Israel’s Circassian community, a mostly Muslim minority, numbers about 5,000 and is concentrated in towns of the Lower Galilee.
Israel’s leaders have been increasingly vocal in defending and advocating for the Druze community, especially following the 2024 Hezbollah rocket attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, and recent clashes between Syria’s new government and local Druze communities. Requests for Israeli citizenship by Golan Druze have recently hit an all time high.
The program, formulated in cooperation with relevant government ministries, will allocate NIS 650 million ($179 million) for planning and housing, establish a planning committee for Druze and Circassian localities, and accelerate urban and detailed planning, says the PMO. NIS 450 million ($124 million) will be invested to align the education system with future job markets, according to the PMO.
The plan also seeks to improve electricity connections and subsidize new construction for discharged soldiers and young couples, as well as strengthen local authorities by investing over NIS 1 billion to increase their budgets, organizational efficiency, and develop new income sources through economic projects.
Court rejects prosecutors’ request to wait on testimony from other witnesses when Netanyahu not on stand
The Jerusalem District Court has rejected a request by the State Attorney’s Office seeking to delay testimony from additional defense witnesses in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trial while the premier himself is still in the process of testifying.
The court last week requested that Netanyahu’s defense team bring other witnesses to testify on Tuesdays, after agreeing to cancel one of three planned weekly hearings in which the prime minister is testifying. The move was seen as a way to keep the trial from being bogged down while still allowing Netanyahu more time for matters of state.
But prosecutors in the case asserted to the court that having other witnesses testify on days when Netanyahu does not would taint the premier’s testimony.
“The need to advance the process does not allow acceding to the request, which would mean in practice reducing the pace of the trial to two days a week,” the court rules.
Netanyahu’s trial over three graft cases began in 2020 and is now in its fifth year, with the prime minister’s testimony and cross-examination alone likely to at least eight more months.
Hamas terror group says laying down weapons a nonstarter
Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri says disarming the terror group is a red line for his movement and other armed Palestinian organizations in negotiations to extend the fragile Gaza ceasefire.
“Any talk about the resistance’s weapons is nonsense. The resistance’s weapons are a red line for Hamas and all resistance factions,” Abu Zuhri says.
The comments are made shortly after Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar demanded the “full demilitarization” of Gaza to proceed to the second stage of the truce that began in January.
Arab leaders agree on initial $20 billion plan for 200,000 new homes in Gaza
An Arab summit draft communique has adopted an Egyptian plan for Gaza’s future, calling on the international community and financial institutions to provide support for the plan quickly.
The plan’s initial stage calls for 200,000 housing units to be built in Gaza over the next two years at a cost of some $20 billion.
It also urges elections in all Palestinian areas within a year, if conditions support such a move.
Palestinian elections have been on hold for nearly 20 years.
Hezbollah figure said killed in alleged Israeli strike in southern Lebanon
Lebanese media report an Israeli drone strike in the town of Rechknanay in the Tyre District.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
صورة للسيارة التي استهدفتها مسيرة اسرائيلية في رشكنانيه قضاء #صور pic.twitter.com/ev9uiXE8iK
— هنا لبنان (@thisislebnews) March 4, 2025
Lebanese news site al-Manar, which is closely affiliated with the Hezbollah terror group, reports that one person was killed in the strike.
On Telegram, Hebrew-language journalist Doron Kadosh quotes an Israeli official saying that the strike took out “a central figure” in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force.
UTJ head asks coalition for support after threatening to bring it down
United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf is calling on fellow coalition leaders to back his party’s funding demands ahead of a government discussion of the 2025 state budget — arguing that the “basic rights” of yeshiva students, children and families “cannot be violated.”
Goldknopf says in a statement that earmarks for ultra-Orthodox interests have not yet been added into the budget, arguing that the Haredi community is in danger of being “left behind.”
“As of this moment, the budgets of the Haredi public – which include the yeshivas, kollels, educational institutions, welfare, and the daycare centers… have not yet been settled as agreed,” he says, referring to coalition agreements signed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Goldknopf’s public appeal comes only days after he wrote to Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs to demand more than a billion shekels for Haredi education. If he did not get the money he would oppose the 2025 state budget, bringing down the government, he warned. Failure to pass the budget by the end of March will trigger automatic election under law.
Asked by a reporter about Goldknopf’s threat during the Religious Zionism party’s faction weekly meeting in the Knesset on Monday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich condemned his coalition partner’s “false populist campaign,” asserting that he had failed to obtain military conscription exemptions for yeshiva students and “is now looking for a way to explain to [his] public that there are no budgetary achievements.”
Goldknopf notes that a meeting tonight on the budget will be held without Smotrich, who is on a state visit to Washington.
According to the Maariv daily, Goldknopf is believed to be planning to resign before the final budget votes in the Knesset despite opposition from members of his party’s Degel Hatorah faction, who prefer to wait until after the passage of the budget if no law exempting yeshiva students from military service is passed.
Jordan takes in 29 Gazan kids for medical treatment
Palestinian health officials say 29 children have been evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Jordan for medical treatment.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II offered to take in 2,000 children for medical treatment during a White House meeting with US President Donald Trump last month.
The offer came after Trump suggested Jordan and Egypt accept large numbers of Palestinian refugees from Gaza as part of his proposal to depopulate the war-ravaged territory and redevelop it as a tourist destination. The two Arab countries, both close US allies, have adamantly rejected any such plan.
Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza says the 29 children, accompanied by 43 relatives, traveled to Israel en route to Jordan for treatment.
Jordan said the 2,000 children would be brought to the kingdom in batches, with each child accompanied by up to two family members. It said the initiative was part of its broader humanitarian efforts in Gaza, where it has established field hospitals and airdropped aid.
Sa’ar says Israel ready for ceasefire’s 2nd phase, says aid funds Hamas terror
Speaking to international press in Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says that Israel is “ready to continue to phase two” of the ceasefire with Hamas, but demands the release of more hostages to keep the ceasefire going.
“We are ready to continue to phase two,” says Sa’ar, “we will come with our positions which are probably different from the positions of Hamas. But in order to extend the time of the framework, we need an agreement to release more hostages.”
“No free meals is a very known principle,” says Sa’ar.
He also says the Hamas terror group’s main source of funding is now humanitarian aid flowing into the Strip, defending Israel’s decision to halt the delivery of goods into the enclave.
“Aid that goes to Hamas is not humanitarian,” Sa’ar says. “Unfortunately, Hamas takeover of goods turned it into an economic engine for them. It became the number one budget income for Hamas in Gaza. They use that money for terror, to restore terror capabilities and get more young terrorists to join their organization.”
He plays a clip of then-US President Joe Biden said on October 18, 2023, “if Hamas diverts or steals the assistance, they will have demonstrated once again that they have no concern for the welfare of the Palestinian people and it will end. As a practical matter, it will stop the international community from being able to provide this aid.”
Hamas, says Sa’ar, also shoots civilians trying to access aid, and use it “as an engine in their war against Israel. This can not continue and will not continue.”
Arab leaders, including Syria’s Sharaa, convene in Cairo to hash out alternate Gaza plan
Palestinian children carry food past destroyed buildings at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 3, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)
Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa is among the Arab leaders heading to Egypt for an Arab League summit on countering US President Donald Trump’s widely condemned plan to depopulate Gaza, Syrian state media reports.
Sharaa, an Islamist rebel leader whose ascendancy has raised worries in Israel and elsewhere, arrived “to attend the extraordinary Arab Summit in Cairo on developments on the Palestinian issue,” state news agency SANA reports.
The summit hosted by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is also expected to include the leaders of regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, whose support is seen as crucial for any postwar plan.
Egypt has developed an alternative plan in which Palestinians would be relocated to safe areas inside Gaza equipped with mobile homes and shelters while its cities are rebuilt. Hamas would cede power to an interim administration of political independents until a reformed Palestinian Authority can assume control.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, an opponent of Hamas, is attending the summit as well.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters the group rejects any attempt to impose projects or any form of non-Palestinian administration, or the presence of any foreign forces on Gaza Strip territory.
“We are keen for the success of the summit, and we hope that there will be a call to reject the displacement and to protect the right of our people in resisting the occupation and govern itself away from any custodianship and intervention,” he added.
Public asked to line roads tomorrow as murdered hostage Yahalomi buried
A poster featuring murdered hostage Ohad Yahalomi sits outside a home on kibbutz Nir Oz, March 3, 2025. (Yossi Aloni/FLASH90)
Slain hostage Ohad Yahalomi, whose body was returned from captivity in Gaza late last month, will be buried on his home kibbutz of Nir Oz tomorrow morning, his family and the Hostage Families Forum announce.
Yahalomi, 49, was taken captive by Hamas terrorists after being shot in the leg while trying to defend his home on October 7. A forensic examination found that the father of three was murdered while in captivity.
Like other funerals for victims whose bodies were held hostage, the funeral procession will embark from Rishon Lezion at 8:15 a.m. and make its way over the following three hours to Nir Oz, where Yahalomi will be eulogized before being interred.
The public is asked to line the planned funeral procession route with flags to pay their last respects to Yahalomi.
EU proposes 800 billion euro defense spending plan as Trump retreats from Europe
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen is presenting a five-part plan to mobilize some 800 billion euros for Europe’s defense — and help provide “immediate” military support for Ukraine after after US President Donald Trump suspended military aid to Kyiv.
“This is a moment for Europe, and we are ready to step up,” von der Leyen announces in Brussels. “‘ReArm Europe’ could mobilize close to 800 billion euros of defense expenditures for a safe and resilient Europe.”
The EU will propose to give member states more fiscal space for defense investments, as well as 150 billion euros in loans for those investments, and will aim to mobilize private capital as well, von der Leyen says.
Meanwhile, the UK says Prime Minister Keir Starmer is homed in on securing peace in Ukraine, while engaging allies on the issue.
“We remain absolutely committed to securing a lasting peace in Ukraine and are engaging with key allies in support of this effort. It is the right thing to do, and is in our interest to do so,” a British government spokesperson said in a statement.
Deputy Premier Angela Rayner tells BBC Radio that Starmer is “laser focused on getting peace. He won’t be derailed by announcements.”
East Jerusalem Palestinians arrested for social media posts amid Ramadan crackdown
Jerusalem police say they arrested two Palestinians in the Old City this week for social media posts lauding terror attacks.
One suspect, a young man in his 20s, uploaded content praising several terrorists including Diaa Hamarsheh, who fatally shot five civilians in Bnei Brak in 2022.
The suspect posted Hamarsheh’s photo with the caption: “May God have mercy on your soul,” police say.
The other suspect, an East Jerusalem resident in his 40s, posted an image of Al-Aqsa Mosque accompanied by audio from a speech by a Hamas military wing spokesman.
Both were detained in the Old City and brought before the court this week.
Since the start of Ramadan, Jerusalem law enforcement has ramped up its monitoring of social media through its Strategic Digital Operations Unit, a spokesman says.
Incoming IDF chief tours major combat zones before taking reins tomorrow
Incoming IDF chief of staff Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir (right) meets with Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman in the Gaza Strip, in a photo published March 4, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
Over the past two weeks, incoming IDF chief of staff Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir held a series of visits to several of the military’s combat fronts, “as part of the process of his entry to the role and an examination of IDF’s readiness,” the military says.
Zamir met with senior officers in the West Bank city of Jenin, the Gaza Strip, and Lebanon, and discussed with them “plans for the continued fighting, with emphasis on the offensive plans.”
Zamir will become the IDF’s 24th commander tomorrow, replacing Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, who is resigning over the military’s failures to prevent Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.
Upon his entry into the role, Zamir will discuss the appointments of numerous commanders. Senior officer promotions have been on hold under orders of Defense Minister Israel Katz, and several top generals are expected to follow in Halevi’s footsteps and resign over the army’s failures surrounding the October 7 attack. Some top generals have already announced their intention to resign, but their replacements will only be decided by Zamir.
IDF says troops shot at Gazan who posed imminent threat
The IDF says troops opened fire on a suspect in the southern Gaza Strip who was approaching the forces and “posed an imminent threat.”
“The troops fired toward the suspect in order to remove the threat and a hit was identified,” the military says.
The Hamas-linked Shehab news agency reports that Israeli naval forces fired toward Khan Younis from off Gaza’s coast.
Israeli forces are still deployed to a buffer zone along the Gaza border and the Egypt-Gaza border area amid the ongoing ceasefire, and the IDF has repeatedly warned Palestinians against approaching the area.
Lender Leumi says it made bank on high interest mortgages in 2024
Illustrative: Israelis walk next to Bank Leumi in Jerusalem, on November 16, 2014. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90/ File)
Bank Leumi, one of Israel’s two largest lenders, reports a profit of almost NIS 10 billion ($2.7 billion) in 2024 as it cashed in on high interest rates paid by mortgage and loan holders, while living costs continued to rise.
Leumi’s net income in 2024 of NIS 9.8 billion ($2.72 billion) was up 40 percent from NIS 7 billion ($1.9 billion) a year earlier. Net interest income last year increased to NIS 16.5 billion ($4.6 billion) from almost NIS 16 billion ($4.4 billion) in 2023.
Net income in the October to December quarter amounted to about NIS 2.5 billion ($693 million), up 34% from the NIS 1.8 billion ($499 million) reported during the same period in 2023.
Leumi said it spent NIS 526 million ($144 million) on war-related donations, rehabilitation projects, and relief programs for residents in southern and northern communities. The relief program includes a series of benefits for IDF reservists, business owners, and self-employed, such as exemptions from mortgage and loan repayments for retail customers and small businesses, the bank said.
For the years 2025 and 2026, Leumi expects to post an annual net income of NIS 9 billion to NIS 11 billion ($2.5 billion-$3 billion).
Russian experts visited Iranian missile plants twice last year, records show
Israelis stand on top of the remains of an Iranian missile in the Negev desert near Arad, on October 2, 2024, in the aftermath of an Iranian missile attack on Israel. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)
Several senior Russian missile specialists have visited Iran over the past year as the Islamic Republic has deepened its defense cooperation with Moscow, a Reuters review of travel records and employment data indicates.
The seven weapons experts were booked to travel from Moscow to Tehran aboard two flights on April 24 and September 17 last year, according to documents detailing the two group bookings as well as the passenger manifest for the second flight.
The booking records include the men’s passport numbers, with six of the seven having the prefix “20.” That denotes a passport used for official state business, issued to government officials on foreign work trips and military personnel stationed abroad, according to an edict published by the Russian government and a document on the Russian foreign ministry’s website.
Reuters is unable to determine what the seven were doing in Iran.
Both dates were within weeks of major Iranian attacks on Israel on April 14 and October 1. Israeli counterstrikes targeted Iranian air defenses, at least some of which are supplied by Russia.
A senior Iranian defense ministry official says Russian missile experts had made multiple visits to Iranian missile production sites last year, including two underground facilities, with some of the visits taking place in September. The official does not identify the sites.
A Western defense official who monitors Iran’s defense cooperation with Russia says an unspecified number of Russian missile experts visited an Iranian missile base about 15 kilometers (9 miles) west of the port of Amirabad on Iran’s Caspian Sea coast in September.
The seven Russians identified by Reuters all have senior military backgrounds, with two ranked colonel and two lieutenant colonel, according to a review of Russian databases containing information about citizens’ jobs or places of work, including tax, phone and vehicle records.
Two are experts in air-defense missile systems, three specialize in artillery and rocketry, while one has a background in advanced weapons development and another has worked at a missile-testing range, the records show. It’s unclear whether all were still working in those roles as the employment data ranged from 2021 to 2024.
Contacted by phone, five deny they had been to Iran, deny they worked for the military, or both, while one declines to comment and one hangs up.
Katz thanks Hegseth for backing buffer zones in Lebanon, Syria
Defense Minister Israel Katz says he spoke to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about military activity in the West Bank and thanked him for backing Israeli efforts to create secure buffer zones inside Syria and Lebanon.
“The defense minister briefed the defense secretary about IDF operations in Judea and Samaria against terror in refugee camps, and emphasized the importance of security zones in Lebanon and Syria, and thanked him for the backing,” a statement from Katz’s office reads.
Katz also thanked the Pentagon chief for the Trump administration’s fast-tracking of arms shipments to Israel and for Trump’s “commitment to a strong bilateral alliance,” the statement says.
Great conversation with @SecDef @PeteHegseth. I thanked him for the @realDonaldTrump administration’s support in expediting military aid to Israel and its unwavering commitment to Israel’s security.
We agreed: All hostages must be brought home, and Hamas rule in Gaza must be…
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) March 4, 2025
His office says the two agreed that Iran remains the central threat in the region and sought to maintain the “close cooperation between Israel and the US toward the goal of preventing it from getting a nuclear weapon.”
Katz also brought up Gaza, including Israel’s adoption of a US proposal to extend the ceasefire deal’s first stage rather than proceed with a planned military pullout from the Strip. He also “emphasized the need to return all the hostages and eliminate Hamas,” the statement says.
A Pentagon readout of the call says Hegseth “reaffirmed that the United States remains 100 percent committed to Israel’s security and emphasized the unbreakable bond that exists between the United States and Israel.”
Israel carrying out mine-clearing operation near Syria border
A picture taken on July 26, 2018, near Kibbutz Ein Zivan in the Israeli Golan Heights, shows smoke rising above buildings across the border in Syria during airstrikes backing a government-led offensive in the southern province of Quneitra. (AFP Photo/Jack Guez)
The Defense Ministry says it is carrying out activities to clear explosives from an area of the Golan Heights near the Syrian border today.
Crews are being deployed to areas around the community of Ein Zivan to clear mines and other unexploded ordnance in the ground there.
“As part of the planned operations, blasts from explosions will be heard and clouds of smoke will be seen in the area,” the Defense Ministry says.
Many areas of the Golan Heights are pocked with mines left over from previous wars with Syria in past decades, and mine-clearing operations there are not rare. The strategic plateau was captured from Syria in 1967 and later effectively annexed into Israel.
It was repeatedly targeted by mortar, rocket, missile and drone fire from Hezbollah and Iran-backed groups following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, and also suffered spillover violence from the Syrian civil war in past years.
Most explosive disposal efforts in the past several years have focused on areas near Ein Zivan. Mine clearing last took place there in early February.
Tuesday’s announcement is not thought to be linked to Israel’s recent signaling that it could expand its operations in southern Syria to protect the Druze community there, with Syrian reports overnight claiming IDF troops were 13 kilometers (8 miles) inside the enemy country.
Analysts have speculated that Jerusalem is interested in the establishment of a Druze-controlled autonomous zone south of Damascus to serve as a buffer between Israel and the Islamist forces now running Syria, a move that would somewhat insulate border communities like Ein Zivan.
Jewish Democrats ‘outraged’ over Trump move to freeze Ukraine aid
The Jewish Democratic Council of America is joining other members of the US political party in condemning President Donald Trump’s decision to cut off military aid to Ukraine.
“Trump makes a mockery of our democracy at home, while betraying our allies fighting to protect their democracy abroad,” the group says in an emailed statement, accusing the president of aligning with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. “We’re outraged and stand with the Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, listens during a Senate meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Aug. 2, 2022. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP)
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, warns the consequences of Trump’s move “will undoubtedly be devastating.”
“By freezing military aid to Ukraine, President Trump has kicked the door wide open for Putin to escalate his violent aggression against innocent Ukrainians,” she says.
Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman, who served as counsel to House Democrats in the first impeachment inquiry against Trump, says the pausing of aid is baldly aimed at extorting Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky for access to his country’s trove of minerals coveted by the US president.
“This is the exact opposite of peace through strength,” Goldman says. “Instead, what it is is it’s another extortion of President Zelensky, illegally withholding aid in order to get President Zelensky to agree to a minerals deal.”
Ukrainian servicemen of the 26th artillery brigade fire an AHS Krab self-propelled howitzer toward Russian positions near the front line in the Chasiv Yar area in the Donetsk region on September 30, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Genya SAVILOV / AFP)
Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, who is co-chair of the Congressional EU Caucus, says the decision “is reckless, indefensible, and a direct threat to our national security.”
“This aid was approved by Congress on a bipartisan basis — Republicans and Democrats alike recognized that standing with Ukraine is standing for democracy and against Putin’s aggression,” Boyle says in a statement. “Yet, Trump, who has repeatedly praised Putin and undermined our allies, is now playing political games with critical military assistance.”
Tel Aviv light rail back up and running after signaling issue, but more delays possible
Passengers walking at the new Allenby Metropolitan Light Rail station in Tel Aviv on August 20, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Authorities managing Tel Aviv’s light rail say the transit system is back to operating at all stations after an issue with signaling caused delays and disruptions to the morning commute.
A notice on the Dankal website says travelers could experience further delays as workers attempt to fix the problem.
“We are working hard to return to full service,” it says.
Rothman, right celebrate Knesset win as opposition decries ‘black mark’
Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman celebrates the Knesset’s passage of his proposal giving the governing coalition control over appointing a judicial watchdog by tweeting a quote from Psalm 82, which speaks of God as the judge of corrupt judges.
Rothman says he hopes a judicial ombudsman can now be appointed after two years without one, without noting that his own coalition had refused to compromise on the issue, causing the holdup.
I hope the ombudsman we appoint will do everything so that the judicial system will work better and win more trust from the public,” he writes on X. “[We are] fixing, responsibly and together, the judicial system.”
Across the aisle, National Unity MK Orit Farkash Hacohen calls the bill “another black mark for Israel’s parliament,” noting that the same coalition moved to torpedo a state commission of inquiry that would be aimed at bringing justice to victims of the October 7 attack.
Yesh Atid MK Merav Ben Ari says the opposition will not stop fighting the coalition, contending that the reform “will not do anything for any citizen,” and seems to take a small measure of solace in the fact that all government ministers were forced to hang around the Knesset until 6 a.m. for the vote.
“They deserve it,” she writes on X.
The Otzma Yehudit party, which voted for the bill despite recently defecting to the opposition, pats itself on the back for “saving the coalition again,” contending that his party’s support was the difference-maker in the 56-48 vote.
“We’ll continue to be the Knesset’s ideological flank, and will vote for bills that align with right-wing principles,” party leader Itamar Ben Gvir says in a statement carried by Israel National News.
Knesset approves law to give coalition control over judicial ombudsman appointment
The Knesset votes into law a bill that will likely grant the coalition control over the appointment of the ombudsman for judges, part of the government’s push to curb the judiciary’s powers.
The legislation clears its second and third readings with 56 votes in favor and 48 against.
Trump suspends Ukraine military aid, upping pressure on Kyiv to cut deal with Moscow
US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025 (SAUL LOEB / AFP)
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump has suspended aid to Ukraine, an official tells AFP, sharply escalating pressure on Kyiv to agree to peace negotiations with Russia.
“The president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” a White House official says in a brief statement, speaking on condition of anonymity.
US says Rubio discussed Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal during call with Omani FM
WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi discussed the state of the Middle East, including the situation in Gaza, during a call on Monday, according to the US State Department.
“They discussed the state of the region, including the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, the need to secure the release of all hostages, efforts to sustain assistance flows into Gaza, Syria’s political future, and the cessation of hostilities in Lebanon,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce says in a statement.
In US, Gallant says Israel needs to prioritize hostages’ return over resumption of war
Former defense minister Yoav Gallant at an ADL summit in New York City, March 3, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)
Former defense minister Yoav Gallant tells an audience in New York that Israel needs to prioritize the release of the hostages in Gaza over resuming combat with Hamas, and that the country needs to carry out a commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023 invasion.
Gallant says at the ADL’s annual summit in New York City that he has spent hours with former Hamas hostages who told him that “the most important thing for them is to bring back their friends” still held captive.
Resuming the war with Hamas before securing the release of the remaining hostages will mean “you won’t have hostages” left to save, says Gallant, who was defense minister at the time of the attack.
“A bitter truth is even if we don’t want to fight Hamas we will fight them for a long period of time,” Gallant says. “First of all, bring the hostages, and then go and accomplish the job and Hamas will give us enough reason to do that.”
Gallant advocates for a commission inquiry into Israel’s failings in preventing the Hamas onslaught.
“The most important thing now is how to avoid any phenomena similar to what happened on October 7 in the future,” he says. “In order to do it, you have to learn the lessons and in order to learn the lessons you need to rebrief the Israeli actions.”
“I think that our soldiers, our civilians, those who have been in the battlefield, those who were kidnapped and the wounded, people deserve all the answers and the answers have to be clear,” he says. “The only way is this committee that should be a national committee and I am the first one that is willing to step into the room and to give answers.”
Israeli forces reportedly operating some 13 KMs from border in Syria’s Daraa province
Syrian media report that Israeli forces are operating near the Tel al-Mal peak in the Daraa Governorate, where a military post belonging to the former Syrian regime once stood.
The hill is located some 13 kilometers (over 8 miles) from Israel’s border, well outside a buffer zone between the countries, which Israel captured following the fall of the Assad regime.
According to a report by the local Daraa 24 outlet, sounds of bulldozers can be heard in the area, as well as overhead flights of helicopters and drones.
Israeli military vehicles were also reportedly seen in the nearby town of Masharah, and on a road connecting the town to the village of al-Tyha.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
Chief of IDF Operations Directorate Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk to resign from military
Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk, chief of the IDF Operations Directorate, attends a Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee meeting at the Knesset, July 18, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
The chief of the IDF Operations Directorate, Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk, will be resigning from the military after four years in the role and some 33 years in the IDF.
Basiuk met today with incoming IDF chief of staff Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, and requested to resign.
Zamir, who will become chief of staff on Wednesday, accepted Basiuk’s request, but asked him to stay in the role for the coming months, “in light of the operational challenges,” the military says.
Basiuk in private conversions has taken responsibility for his part in the military’s failures in the lead-up to the October 7 onslaught and during the attack itself. His unit, the Operations Directorate, failed to build an accurate picture of the attack in real-time and deploy troops to the right locations, according to an IDF probe.
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