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The Times of Israel liveblogged Friday’s events as they happened.
Syrian leaders calls on Alawite insurgents to surrender ‘before it’s too late’
This handout picture released by the Syrian Presidency on February 16, 2025, shows Syria's interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa attending a meeting with officials and local leaders in the western coastal city of Latakia. (Syrian Presidency/AFP)
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa urges insurgents from toppled president Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority to lay down their arms “before it’s too late,” after clashes in the west of the country killed more than 220 people.
In a speech broadcast on Telegram, the interim president also vows to “continue to work towards monopolizing weapons in the hands of the state, and there will be no more unregulated weapons.”
Investigators suspect PM’s aides received money from Qatar in recent months — report
Jonatan Urich, adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen before a press conference in Tel Aviv on October 4, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Investigators probing ties between several of Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides and Qatar suspect that the Gulf emirate sent them hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent months, according to Channel 13 news.
The report says investigators were surprised by the size of the sums, which were transferred indirectly through various companies, including one owned by Jonatan Urich, a senior adviser to Netanyahu who has served as spokesman for the ruling Likud party.
In response, Urich’s lawyers says he “was not employed by Qatar,” which the network notes was never claimed in the report.
White House posts ‘Shalom Columbia’ graphic after Trump waves goodbye to school’s federal grants
The White House publishes a graphic headed “Shalom Columbia” on its X account about US President Donald Trump’s decision to halt hundreds of millions in federal funding for the Ivy League university over its handling of antisemitism on campus.
In an ultimatum to Hamas earlier this week, Trump told the terror group that Shalom “means hello and goodbye,” with the latter now appearing to apply in Columbia’s case as the university parts from the federal grants it received.
SHALOM COLUMBIA: The Trump Admin, led by @USEDgov and the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism (@TheJusticeDept, @HHSGov, & @USGSA), has canceled ~$400M in federal grants to @Columbia over its failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment. pic.twitter.com/CavoXbhhvx
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 7, 2025
Yeshiva U bumped from NCAA men’s basketball tournament after loss to Tufts
Yeshiva University’s March Madness run has once again ended after just one game.
The Maccabees fall in the first round of the NCAA DIII men’s basketball tournament to the Tufts Jumbos 83-66, a loss in which they trailed by a significant margin for nearly the whole game. The score was 45-25 at halftime, and though YU pulled within nine in the second half, they came up short.
The Macs entered the tournament after a thrilling Skyline Conference championship in which they beat the Farmingdale State Rams 81-78, with star guard Zevi Samet hitting the winning three-pointer. Samet was the team’s lead scorer in Friday’s game, posting 29 points.
This was YU’s first trip to the NCAA tourney since 2022, when they also lost in the first round after a 25-4 season behind forward Ryan Turell that captivated Jewish basketball fans. Turell is now playing professionally in Israel.
IDF says Hezbollah arms caches and rocket launchers targeted in Lebanon airstrikes
The IDF confirms carrying out airstrikes in southern Lebanon a short while ago, saying it targeted Hezbollah military sites.
The sites had been used to store weapons and rocket launchers, the military says, adding that the strikes were carried out due to the sites posing a threat to Israel.
“The weapons and the rocket launchers in the military sites posed a threat to the State of Israel and constituted a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the IDF says.
Lebanese media reports Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon
Lebanese media reports a series of Israeli airstrikes in the Aaishiyah area of southern Lebanon.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
Monitor raises number of Alawite civilians executed by Syrian security forces to 134
This handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows members of the Syrian security forces entering the western city of Baniyas in Syria's coastal Tartous province to reinforce government troops in clashes with militants loyal to deposed ruler Bashar al-Assad, on March 7, 2025. (Photo by SANA / AFP)
Syrian security forces “executed” 134 civilians on Friday in the Mediterranean heartland of ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority, a war monitor says.
Some “134 Alawite civilians, including at least 13 women and five children, were executed by security forces in the regions of Banyas, Latakia and Jableh,” Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, tells AFP, bringing the overall toll to 229 since the outbreak of violence on Thursday, when authorities began a vast security operation following clashes.
Over 50 ex-hostages tell Netanyahu to free the remaining captives: ‘May be the last chance’
A group of more than 50 former Hamas hostages sign a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling for Israel to continue with the ceasefire deal so the remaining captives in Gaza will return home.
“We, who were kidnapped during the October 7 massacre, experienced on our flesh the hell from which our loved ones have yet to return. We saw the darkness, heard the horrors, breathed in the fear,” the freed hostages write. “We know and are not [just] describing what the hostages left behind are going through. Brutal torture, humiliating hunger, sickness without treatment, abysmal loneliness — that is their reality in these moments.”
“Every minute there is hell, every additional moment is a potential death sentence.”
The former captives urge the premier to prioritize the return of the hostages over a resumption of the fighting, saying that since the weeklong truce deal in November 2023 “more hostages have been murdered than were rescued in military operations.”
“Israel was founded to defend the Jewish people, but on October 7 it failed,” they continue. “The only way to begin atoning for this resounding failure is to bring back all the hostages, the living for rehabilitation and the dead for a proper burial in the soil of Israel.”
“This may be the last chance,” the released hostages conclude.
Houthis threaten to resume naval attacks if Israel doesn’t end Gaza aid freeze in 4 days
Yemeni university students hold up a portrait of the leader of the Iran-backed Houthi rebel movement, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, during a protest in Sanaa to denounce strikes on Yemen and Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, on January 15, 2025. (Mohammed Huwais/AFP)
The leader of Yemen’s Houthis, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, says the Iran-backed rebel group will resume its naval operations against Israel if Israel does lift its blockage of aid into Gaza within four days.
Trump: ‘Was shocked’ to hear from ex-hostages that none of their captors were ‘kind’
Released hostage Eli Sharabi meets with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on March 5, 2025. (White House/X)
US President Donald Trump says he was surprised to learn from the released hostages he met with earlier this week that not a single one of their Hamas captors treated them with kindness.
“I said, ‘Did you see anybody in there [who] was kind out of the hundreds of people that you were seeing [from] Hamas? Did some of them wink at you and say, ‘Don’t worry, you’re going to be okay, or give you a piece of bread?’ ‘No,'” Trump recalls while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office.
“I said, ‘Were there any people that were like kind? I was shocked. The answer was nobody. There was nobody. Just the opposite. They’d be slapped and punched. One man broke his ribs. He couldn’t breathe for a month. It was brutal,” he says, appearing to reference the testimony of recently released hostage Eli Sharabi.
“I was so surprised. Because you think there’d be a couple of people that would be kind, that would say, ‘You’re going to be okay.’ But they had none of that. It’s pretty amazing,” Trump says.
Trump cancels $400 million in grants to Columbia, citing lack of action against antisemitism
Anti-Israel activists protest outside Columbia University, January 21, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)
US President Donald Trump’s administration has canceled grants and contracts totaling $400 million to Columbia University due to “inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students,” the Education Department says.
Columbia was at the center of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to US support for Israel amid the Gaza war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror onslaught.
The Ivy League university has previously said it made efforts to tackle antisemitism.
After sending letter to Khamenei, Trump says ‘some interesting days ahead with Iran’
US President Donald Trump speaks from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on March 7, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP)
US President Donald Trump says there will be “some interesting days ahead with Iran.”
“We are down to the final moments. We can’t let them have a nuclear weapon. Something is going to happen very soon,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office hours after revealing that he sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader proposing that the countries hold talks for a new nuclear agreement.
“I would rather have a peace deal than the other option, but the other option will solve the problem,” Trump says.
Trump says he trusts Putin, claims Russia ‘easier’ to deal with than Ukraine
US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says that he finds it “easier” to deal with Russia than with Ukraine in efforts to end the war in the pro-Western country and that he trusts Vladimir Putin.
“I believe him,” he says. “I’m finding it more difficult frankly to deal with Ukraine and they don’t have the cards,” he adds. “It may be easier dealing with Russia.”
Trump also shrugs off the notion that Putin is taking advantage of the intelligence pause to inflict more pain on Ukraine.
“I think he’s doing what anybody else would,” Trump says of the Russian leader.
He looks ‘drained and desperate’: Hostage soldier’s family says new Hamas video proves ‘time has run out’
Hostage Matan Angrest is seen in a propaganda video published by Hamas on March 7, 2025. (Screenshot: Telegram)
The family of Matan Angrest permits the publication of a Hamas propaganda video showing the abducted soldier.
“We are shaken by the video we just saw, in which we see our Matan looking drained and desperate after 518 days in Hamas’ tunnels,” the Angrests say in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“Beyond the severe psychological state evident in the footage, his right hand is non-functional, his eyes and mouth are asymmetrical, and his nose is broken — according to testimonies from those who have returned, all due to interrogations and torture in captivity. What more proof is needed to understand that time has run out?”
The family appeals to US President Donald Trump “to continue fighting for our Matan and all 58 other hostages with the same unwavering commitment and relentless determination. We must not stop until the deal is completed — only when the last hostage comes home.”
Hostage Matan Angrest is seen in a propaganda video published by Hamas on March 7, 2025.
War monitor: Syrian security forces executed 69 Alawite men
A Syria war monitor says Friday that security forces “executed” 69 members of the Alawite minority, which toppled president Bashar al-Assad belongs to, a day after deadly clashes with gunmen loyal to him.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that security forces “executed 69 Alawite men in the towns of Al-Shir and Al-Mukhtariya in the Latakia countryside,” citing verified videos and testimonies from relatives of the dead.
The Observatory and activists release footage showing dozens of bodies in civilian clothing piled in the yard of a house, with blood stains nearby and women wailing.
In another clip, men in military garb appear to order three people to crawl on the ground behind each other before opening fire on them at close range.
A third video shared by the Observatory shows a fighter in military garb shooting a man at close range at the entrance of a building, killing him.
AFP cannot independently verify the images.
Katz slams Syria’s Islamist rulers amid bloody crackdown on Alawite insurgency
Smoke rises from a factory hit during clashes by Syrian security forces and gunmen loyal to former President Bashar Assad in the outskirts of Latakia, Syria, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Defense Minister Israel Katz hits out at Syria’s Islamist rulers as they move to crush a nascent insurgency by fighters from ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect.
“[Abu Mohammed] al-Julani switched his robe for a suit and presented a moderate face,” Katz says in a statement, using the nom de guerre of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. “Now he’s taken off the mask and exposed his true face: A jihadist terrorist of the al-Qaeda school who is committing horrifying acts against a civilian population.”
“Israel will defend itself against any threat from Syria,” Katz adds, while vowing the military will continue working to keep southern Syria demilitarized.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 130 people have been killed in two days of violence in the coastal region of western Syria, which is heavily populated by the members of the Alawite minority.
They include at least two dozen male residents of the Alawite town of Al Mukhtareyah killed by gunmen on Friday, the Observatory and two Alawite activists say, citing contacts in the region and video footage from the scene.
Syrian authorities say the violence began when remnants loyal to ousted leader Assad launched a deadly and well-planned attack on their forces on Thursday.
IDF says Gaza drone strike targeted suspects planting bomb near troops
The IDF says it carried out a drone strike in the northern Gaza Strip earlier today, targeting a group of suspects planting a bomb near Israeli troops.
Palestinian media report two dead in the strike in Gaza City’s eastern Shejaiya neighborhood.
Israeli forces are still deployed to a buffer zone along the Gaza border amid the ceasefire, and the IDF has repeatedly warned Palestinians against approaching the area.
Paris train station to resume service after WWII bomb halted traffic
Rail services from the Paris Gare du Nord train station will gradually resume after the unearthing of a 500-kilogram World War II bomb halted traffic, France’s transport minister says.
The defusing operations were “finally over, they went well,” Philippe Tabarot says, adding that the bomb “contained 200 kilograms of explosives.”
Top Netanyahu confidant ‘lashed out’ at US envoy over direct talks with Hamas — official
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer attends a Knesset plenum session on January 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer “lashed out” at US hostage envoy Adam Boehler during a phone call held Tuesday, a Western official tells The Times of Israel, after Israel learned of an unprecedented meeting in Doha that the Trump aide held with a senior Hamas delegation led by Khalil al-Hayya to discuss the potential release of American hostages from Gaza.
Dermer fumed at Boehler for discussing the number of Palestinian prisoners Israel would release in exchange for the five American hostages without Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s consent, the official says, confirming reporting in the Axios news site.
Boehler tried to explain that the meeting was only an initial discussion with Hamas and that nothing would be finalized without Israel’s approval, the Western official says.
Hours after the tense call was held, Boehler’s meeting with Hayya was leaked to the media, in a move that the US believes Israel was behind, the Western official adds.
Iran’s FM: Our nuclear program cannot be destroyed militarily, we won’t negotiate under pressure
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks to AFP during an interview at the Iranian consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on March 7, 2025. (Amer Hilabi/AFP)
Iran’s nuclear program cannot be destroyed in a military attack, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi tells AFP, following a threat by Israel.
“Iran’s nuclear program cannot be destroyed through military operations… this is a technology that we have achieved, and the technology is in the brains and cannot be bombed,” he says in an interview on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Jeddah.
According to Araghchi, Iran will not resume nuclear negotiations with the United States while President Donald Trump applies his “maximum pressure” policy.
“We will not enter any direct negotiations with the US so long as they continue their maximum pressure policy and their threats,” he says.
He also says an Israeli attack on Iran would set off a wider conflict in the Middle East.
“I believe that if an attack on Iran were to take place, this attack could turn into a widespread fire in the region — not that we will do that,” Araqchi adds.
Iranian mission to UN says Tehran has not received Trump’s letter
Iran has not yet received a letter that US President Donald Trump says he sent to the country’s leadership seeking to talk about negotiating a nuclear deal, Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York says.
Iran seems to dismiss Trump’s offer of talks: Part of his ‘pattern in foreign policy’
A news agency linked to Iran’s top security body says there is nothing new in US President Donald Trump’s statements on the Islamic Republic and his offer of talks.
“Trump’s pattern in foreign policy: slogans, threats, temporary action and retreat!” Nour News says on X.
“On Iran: first he said he didn’t want confrontation, then he signed a maximum pressure (policy), then he imposed new sanctions, and now he talks about sending a letter to the leadership with an invitation to #negotiations! (This is a) repetitive show by #America,” it adds.
Iran summons British ambassador to decry ‘baseless’ interference allegations
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s foreign ministry has summoned the British ambassador over what it describes as “baseless” accusations by UK officials against the government, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency says.
IRNA says the ministry summoned Hugo Shorter, the British ambassador to Tehran, in response to the repeated baseless accusations by senior British officials and the allegation that Iran is attempting to interfere in the UK’s internal affairs.
Iran’s formal protest was conveyed to him, IRNA says.
On Tuesday, UK Security Minister Dan Jarvis announced that Britain will place the whole of the Iranian state – including Iran’s intelligence services and the Revolutionary Guards — on the highest level on its foreign influence watchlist.
In a statement to parliament, Jarvis said direct action by Iran against UK targets “has substantially increased over recent years,” and the Iranian government was targeting journalists, dissidents and Jewish and Israeli people.
In October, the head of the British domestic intelligence agency MI5 said it and its police partners had responded to 20 Iran-backed plots since January 2022. The plots represented potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents, Ken McCallum said.
According to the IRNA report, Iran emphasized that the hostile stance of British officials and the unfounded claims against Iran contradict international law and diplomatic norms. The ministry also warned that such actions would further deepen the Iranian people’s distrust of British policies toward Iran and the West Asia region.
The British ambassador stated that he would convey the message to his government, IRNA reports.
Trump says he’s ‘strongly considering’ sanctions, tariffs on Russia until ceasefire reached
US President Donald Trump says he is “strongly considering” imposing banking sanctions, other sanctions and tariffs on Russia until a ceasefire and peace agreement is reached with Ukraine.
Hamas releases first video showing hostage soldier Matan Angrest
Matan Angrest was taken hostage on October 7, 2023, from his tank unit at the Nahal Oz army base. (Courtesy)
The Hamas terror group has published a first propaganda video of hostage soldier Matan Angrest.
In the video, Angrest says he has been held for 511 days, indicating it was likely filmed last week.
He calls on the Israeli government, US President Donald Trump and the leaders of the Israeli military to secure his release.
Hamas has previously issued similar videos of hostages it is holding, in what Israel says is deplorable psychological warfare. Most Israeli media do not carry the video clips themselves.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has requested that media outlets not publish the latest video or stills from it unless or until Angrest’s family approves the publication.
On Monday, Angrest’s family published a first photo of him from captivity, from a separate video received from Hamas.
Hostage Matan Angrest in a first image released by his family from Hamas captivity, March 3, 2025. (Courtesy)
Ex-hostage Eli Sharabi meets with UK’s Starmer, who vows to ‘redouble efforts’ to free remaining captives
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (left) hosts recently released hostage Eli Sharabi at 10 Downing Street, March 7, 2025. (Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street)
Recently released hostage Eli Sharabi met this morning with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street, a statement published on behalf of Sharabi says.
Sharabi, 53, was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023, and was released from Hamas captivity on February 8. His wife Lianne and his teenage daughters Noiya and Yahel, who were British nationals, were murdered in the Hamas onslaught.
His brother Yossi was also taken hostage, and was likely killed in an IDF strike in Gaza. His body is still being held by terrorists.
Starmer expressed his deep sorrow for their deaths.
Sharabi, who is not a British citizen, thanked Starmer during their meeting “for the UK taking responsibility for him as a hostage with close British connections, and for working toward his release for over a year,” says the statement.
It adds that Sharabi asked the British leader to continue working for the release of the remaining 59 hostages, alive and dead, including his brother.
Eli Sharabi is interviewed on Channel 12’s ‘Uvda’ program, in a segment aired on February 27, 2025. (Screenshot: Channel 12, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
According to the statement, Starmer told Sharabi that he had read the transcript of a recent interview he gave in Israel, with the “Uvda” program, and that it had “moved him deeply.”
“Inhuman is a word that is used too often, but your experience warranted that word,” Starmer is quoted as having told Sharabi, who lost 40 percent of his body weight in captivity and only learned of his family’s fate upon his return to Israel.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (left) hosts recently released hostage Eli Sharabi at 10 Downing Street, March 7, 2025. (Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street)
Starmer vowed that the British government will “do everything we can” and “redouble our efforts” to push for the release of the remaining hostages.
Sharabi presented Starmer with a letter, and a framed copy of a cartoon published in the Times showing a picture of Holocaust survivors at a Nazi concentration camp with the caption “Never again,” beside an illustration from his own release last month and the caption “Again.”
He presented US President Donald Trump a copy of the same image during a meeting at the White House earlier this week.
Starmer heard firsthand from Sharabi about the horrific conditions in which he was held for nearly 500 days by the terrorist organization Hamas, during which he was beaten and starved, a statement issued by the Hostages Families Forum says. “Eli stated, ‘I never lost hope of returning home’.”
Hamas says it dispatched high-level delegation to ceasefire talks in Cairo
A high-level Hamas delegation has arrived in Cairo to advance efforts on a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, which has largely paused fighting with Israel, two senior Hamas officials tell AFP.
“The delegation will meet with Egyptian officials on Saturday to discuss the latest developments, assess progress in implementing the ceasefire agreement, and address matters related to launching the second phase of the deal,” one official says.
Trump says he wrote to Iran’s Khamenei to express interest in negotiating new nuclear deal
US President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington,on March 6, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)
US President Donald Trump tells Fox News that he sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday expressing his preference for negotiating a nuclear weapons program deal.
He makes the comments in an interview with Fox Business Network
He says that while he would “rather negotiate a deal with Iran” to resolve the issue of its nuclear weapons program, “the other alternative is you have to do something, because Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
World Bank: Reconstruction of Lebanon after Israel-Hezbollah war to cost $11 billion
Cars drive past buildings that were damaged or destroyed in Israeli strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs Hay el-Sellom neighbourhood on December 2, 2024. (Anwar Amro/AFP)
The World Bank estimates Lebanon’s recovery and reconstruction costs will amount to some $11 billion following the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which ended with a ceasefire last November.
“Reconstruction and recovery needs following the conflict that affected Lebanon are estimated at $11 billion,” the World Bank says in a report assessing damage and losses from October 8, 2023 — when Hezbollah began launching attacks on Israel unprovoked — to December 20, 2024.
Tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers flock to Al-Aqsa for first Friday prayers of Ramadan
Worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound take part in the first Friday Prayers of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in the Old City of Jerusalem, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers flock to Al-Aqsa Mosque atop the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan.
The Jordanian Waqf, which manages the site, says some 90,000 people were in attendance during midday prayers.
The prayers took place amid heavy police presence across the Old City, and with limited attendance from West Bank Palestinians due to Israeli authorities restricting their access to the site.
As was the case last Ramadan, Palestinian males aged 55 and older, women who are at least 50 years old, and children aged 12 and below can enter Jerusalem to attend the prayers after receiving a permit from Israeli authorities.
Just outside the Temple Mount compound, near Lion’s Gate, some 100 others perform the prayer under heavy police presence.
Cops and border guards are seen manning temporary checkpoints throughout the Old City. Law enforcement said yesterday that some 3,000 officers would be deployed throughout Jerusalem.
Muslim worshippers pray outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the first full Friday of Ramadan on March 7, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)
Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews escorted by IDF to pray at Rav Ashi burial site on Lebanon border
Ultra-Orthodox men make their way to Rav Ashi's tomb, which straddles the Israel-Lebanon border. (Yaakov Naumi/Flash90, undated)
Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews were escorted by the military this morning to the apparent burial place of a Babylonian scholar on the Lebanon border, after weeks of illegal attempts to reach the site.
Rav Ashi is believed to be buried in the hills near Manara in the Galilee panhandle. The shrine marking his burial spot straddles the Blue Line border position and is situated within a militarized compound hemmed in between an IDF post and a UNIFIL base.
Footage published by Army Radio shows the ultra-Orthodox Hassidim praying at the site this morning.
Over the past several weeks there were several incidents of Hassidim crossing Israel’s border barrier to try and reach the tomb from the Lebanese side, and clashing with IDF troops amid the attempts.
The IDF is reported to have reached arrangements with the Hassidim to allow them to pray at the site after it was entirely closed off amid the fighting with Hezbollah. Several years ago, the IDF had similar escorted visits to the tomb.
לראשונה: מאות חסידים הגיעו לפנות בוקר להתפלל את תפילת שחרית בקבר רב אשי, במובלעת בשטח לבנון, באישור צה״ל ותחת אבטחה צה״לית pic.twitter.com/yfs8c6cSK2
— דורון קדוש | Doron Kadosh (@Doron_Kadosh) March 7, 2025
Knesset Speaker Ohana apologizes to bereaved families for Knesset guards’ use of force against them
Knesset guards prevent families of October 7 victims and of hostages from ascending to the Knesset visitors’ gallery, in Jerusalem, March 3, 2025. (Video screenshot/October Council)
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana issues an apology to bereaved families and the relatives of hostages after they were violently prevented from entering the Knesset plenum’s visitors’ gallery earlier this week.
The incident in question took place on Monday evening when guards used force to prevent the families from entering to watch a debate on probing the October 7 catastrophe, including a speech by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
When 40 members of the October Council — which represents some 1,500 October 7 survivors, former hostages and victims’ families — tried to ascend a stairwell leading to the gallery, they were pushed, hit and grabbed in what quickly devolved into a chaotic scrum. Three people were said to have required medical treatment as a result of the incident.
The visitors’ gallery, which holds some 200 people, was empty at the time. The families had informed the Knesset the day before that they wished to attend the debate, and had registered to do so.
“To the bereaved families who were harmed this week in the Knesset — I apologize from the bottom of my heart,” Ohana writes in a statement posted on X. “This is an event that should not have happened, and we will be able to prevent its recurrence with goodwill on both sides.”
He explains that entry into the Knesset plenum is sometimes limited during sensitive debates for safety reasons, and recalls an incident several months prior when anti-government protests banged on the glass of the viewing box to disrupt the legislative session.
He says that the way they had been knocking on the glass “caused the Knesset sergeant-at-arms to fear that it would break and fall (from a great height) into the plenum, which could cause a mass disaster.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Knesset in a debate about a state commission of inquiry into the events surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion, March 3, 2025. To his left is Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
As a result, he says, the decision was made to limit attendance during specific debates, including during Monday’s discussion on an October 7 probe.
“This created a situation in which the Knesset Guard members were forced to face the wrath of the families who asked to enter the gallery in their dozens and did not allow them to,” Ohana says.
While Ohana says that “at least one” member of the Knesset Guard suffered “a concussion and an injury to his eye” in the incident, he does not comment on the injuries sustained by several bereaved family members.
Ohana says that after he instructed Sergeant-At-Arms Yuval Chen to defuse the situation, the bereaved families were permitted to enter the viewing gallery.
Bereaved families, hostages’ families and survivors of the October 7 massacre react as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a 40-signatures debate in the Knesset, March 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
“The bottom line is that all the families who wished to do so were present in the gallery before the two key figures, the prime minister and opposition leader, delivered their speeches,” he says.
“I apologize from the bottom of my heart to the families who were affected, and invite them to continue coming to the Knesset,” he adds.
IDF spokesman Hagari to retire from military in coming weeks
IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari gives a statement to the media in Tel Aviv on October 16, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari will end his role in the coming weeks and retire from the military.
The move was agreed upon with new IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.
Most IDF spokespersons serve for two years in the role. Hagari entered the position in March 2023.
“The chief of staff wished to express his great appreciation to Rear Adm. Hagari for his years of significant combat service for the State of Israel. Rear Adm. Hagari performed his role as IDF spokesman during one of the most complex wars in the country’s history, in a professional and dedicated manner,” the military says.
Husband of Knesset speaker Ohana caught on video making obscene hand gesture at hostage deal protesters
The husband of Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana was caught on camera earlier this week making an obscene hand gesture at protesters calling for the release of the remaining Gaza hostages, video footage shows.
The footage, taken on Wednesday and published earlier this morning, shows Ohana’s husband Alon Hadad waving a Likud flag on the balcony of their apartment and giving the middle finger to the protesters below as they chant the names of the 59 hostages who have yet to be released from Hamas captivity.
In response to the published video, Ohana’s office says that Hadad’s hand gesture was “directed at a specific protester from the ‘Brothers in Arms’ movement who has been coming intentionally early every morning for several weeks, to wake up his children and the entire neighborhood’s children, using a megaphone.”
The statement accuses the unnamed protester of “cursing at [Hadad] while he accompanies the children on the way to school,” and says that Ohana intends to file a request for a restraining order against him.
רביעי בבוקר,
קבוצה קטנה של שכנים בשכונת ביצרון מקריאה (כמדי בוקר) את שמות החטופים מתחת לביתו של אמיר אוחנה.
רק שאז קורה משהו בלתי נתפס. ממרפסת ביתו של יו״ר הכנסת יוצא אדם עם דגל הליכוד ומניף אצבע משולשת למקריאים על רקע שמות החטופים.
כן כן. זה החומר האנושי! pic.twitter.com/rN36wMiua7
— Ran Harnevo (@harnevo) March 7, 2025
Russia says minister discussed Iranian nuclear program with Tehran’s envoy
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov discussed international efforts to resolve the situation around Iran’s nuclear program with Iranian ambassador Kazem Jalali, the Russian Foreign Ministry says.
It adds that the meeting took place yesterday.
Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Russia has agreed to assist US President Donald Trump’s administration in communicating with Iran on various issues, including Tehran’s nuclear program and its support for regional anti-US proxies.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that future talks between Russia and the United States would include discussions on Iran’s nuclear program, a subject it said had been “touched upon” in an initial round of US-Russia talks last month.
Russia has deepened its ties with the Islamic Republic since launching its war in Ukraine and signed a strategic cooperation treaty with Iran in January.
Police close Route 90 in Dead Sea area due to heavy rain, flooding
Police have closed a section of Israel’s Route 90 highway in the Dead Sea area due to heavy rains increasing the risk of flash floods.
The highway is closed from Menucha Junction to the Tzukim Junction in both directions, and another stretch has been shuttered from the Lido Junction, at the north of the Dead Sea, down to the Ein Gedi area due to flooding.
עין גדי ואזור מלונות ים המלח חסומים לתנועה בגלל שיטפון. צילום: יצחק מור pic.twitter.com/uiOysEFToq
— Weather2day – מזג אוויר (@weather2day_il) March 7, 2025
וכך נראה נחל ערוגות עכשיו!
צילום: רימון ארד @SPNI pic.twitter.com/vtKMXOJDRD— שרון וכסלר (@WexlerSharon) March 7, 2025
World War II bomb found on tracks at Paris train station, halting traffic
Traffic at the Paris Gare du Nord train station has been halted after a World War II bomb was found on the tracks leading to France’s busiest terminal, officials say.
The unexploded bomb was found “in the middle of the tracks” overnight during maintenance work carried out in the area of the Saint Denis suburb, the national SNCF rail company says.
The bomb is “dated to the Second World War,” the RER B suburban train writes in a post on X.
All traffic to the train station, which hosts Eurostar trains as well as high-speed and local services, is closed as Paris police work to disable the device.
The Gare du Nord train station lies in the north of Paris and is the country’s busiest rail terminal, serving an estimated 700,000 people each day, according to the SNCF.
Gaza’s largest field hospital operating with skeleton crew, forced to cut most services after USAID funding freeze
A sprawling tent camp for displaced Palestinians sits adjacent to destroyed homes and buildings in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, March 1, 2025, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Aid organizations operating in the Gaza Strip are being forced to scale back programs or pay out of pocket after the Trump administration froze hundreds of millions of dollars in contractual payments as part of its cuts to USAID.
According to three USAID officials speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, the Trump administration approved over $383 million in funding on January 31 to ensure the survival of the tenuous ceasefire in Gaza.
But since then, they say that there have been no confirmed payments to any partners in the Middle East, leaving organizations without promised funds.
Senior officials at aid organizations say that they have spent millions of dollars on supplies and services out of pocket and cannot afford to continue operations indefinitely, while others are already being forced to lay off workers and scale down operations, according to internal USAID information shared with the AP.
Among the organizations impacted by the freeze is the International Medical Corps, a global nonprofit that provides medical and development assistance. It was awarded $12 million to continue operations at two hospitals in Gaza, including at the largest field hospital in the Strip, whose construction was funded by USAID at the request of the Israeli government.
It has now requested payback of over $1 million, says one USAID official, adding that the freeze has forced the organization to lay off some 700 staff members and offer only basic services at the hospitals, with a skeletal crew.
A former IMC staffer says the program providing life-saving treatment for malnutrition is almost frozen for lack of funds, and that the current nutrition services are at a minimum level.
Meanwhile, termination letters severing the contracts between USAID and Gaza partners have also been sent out to organizations that were major providers of shelter, child protection and logistical support in the Gaza aid operation, a USAID official says.
Some of the termination letters seen by the AP were signed by new USAID deputy chief Peter Marocco — a returning political appointee from Trump’s first term. They instruct organizations to “immediately cease” all activities and “avoid additional spending chargeable to the award,” citing a directive from Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Over 70 said killed in fighting between Syrian security forces, Assad loyalists
Members of the Syrian government security forces deploy at a street in Damascus, Syria, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
More than 70 people have been killed and dozens more wounded in Syria in fighting between government security forces and militants loyal to deposed ruler Bashar al-Assad, a rights monitor says.
“More than 70 killed and dozens wounded and captured in bloody clashes and ambushes on the Syrian coast between members of the Ministry of Defense and Interior and militants from the defunct regime’s army,” the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says in a post on X.
SOHR, run by a single person, has regularly been accused by Syrian war analysts of false reporting and inflating casualty numbers as well as inventing them wholesale.
Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.
Older West Bank Palestinians, those 12 and under permitted to attend Temple Mount prayers
Police in Jerusalem gear up to secure prayers at the Temple Mount on the first Friday of Ramadan, with the Prime Minister’s Office saying Palestinians from the West Bank will be able to visit the holy site under the same terms approved by the government last year.
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office says males 55 and older, women who are at least 50-years-old and children 12 or younger will be allowed to enter Jerusalem to attend the prayers after receiving a permit from Israeli authorities.
The statement adds that Israel is committed to upholding freedom of worship “for all religions and nations.”
China calls for ‘comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in Gaza’
BEIJING — Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi calls for a “lasting ceasefire” in Gaza at a press conference in Beijing.
“If major powers genuinely care about the people of Gaza, they should promote a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in Gaza and increase humanitarian assistance,” Wang says.
Ex-hostage Ofer Calderon: Captives ‘feel like they’re dying’ when no talks to free them are held
Freed hostage Ofer Calderon speaks with the Kan public broadcaster in an interview aired on March 6, 2025. (Kan screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Released hostage Ofer Calderon recalls the hardship of captivity in Gaza, describing the feeling of hopelessness when there are no negotiations to free the Israelis held there by Hamas.
“I really want the deal to continue, because who knows more than me how the people there feel right now,” he tells the Kan public broadcaster at a medal ceremony for Israeli cyclists.
“When there are no talks, it’s a disaster,” Calderon adds. “People there feel like they are dying and the light in the tunnel went out.”
Trump says he’ll visit Saudi Arabia this spring after Riyadh agreed to invest $1 trillion in US
L: US President Donald Trump, January 23, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt / AFP), R: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, December 3, 2024. (Saudi Ministry of Media / AFP)
US President Donald Trump says he will travel to Saudi Arabia in the spring after Riyadh agreed to invest $1 trillion in American companies over the next four years.
Speaking to reporters in the White House, Trump says Saudi Arabia agreed to invest $450 billion in US companies during his first term
“They’ve gotten richer, we’ve all gotten older. So I said, ‘I’ll go if you pay a $1 trillion to American companies… over a four-year period,” Trump says.
“They’ve agreed to do that, so I’m going to be going there… probably over the next month and a half.”
“I have a great relationship with them, and they’ve been very nice, but they’re going to be spending a lot of money to American companies for buying military equipment and a lot of other things,” he says.
Poll: US support for Israel hits record low, backing for Palestinians at all-time high
Support for Israel is at a 25-year low, according to a new poll released by Gallup, which also shows backing for the Palestinians at a record high.
Asked who “in the Middle East situation” their sympathies lie more with, 46 percent of respondents say Israelis versus 33% who say Palestinians.
The 46% support for Israel marks a 5% drop from last year, which had tied with the previous low of 51% in 2001.
The one-third backing for the Palestinians was up 6% from 2024 when support slipped from the previous high of 31% recorded in 2023.
Rubio says foreigners who back terror groups, including Hamas, to face deportation
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, on March 4, 2025. (Allison Robbert/AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says foreigners supporting terror groups will face deportation, in a statement issued shortly after Axios reported that his office is planning to use artificial intelligence to revoke visas of foreign students who are perceived as supporters of Hamas.
“Those who support designated terrorist organizations, including Hamas, threaten our national security. The United States has zero tolerance for foreign visitors who support terrorists. Violators of US law — including international students — face visa denial or revocation and deportation,” Rubio tweets.
The State Department’s “Catch and Revoke” initiative will include AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders’ social media accounts, Axios reported.
At the same time, officials will also launch a probe into whether any visa holders were arrested but allowed to stay in the country during former US president Joe Biden’s administration, the report added.
Axios said officials are checking news reports of demonstrations against Israel’s policies and Jewish students’ lawsuits highlighting foreign nationals allegedly engaging in antisemitism.
It says the State Department will work in cooperation with the justice and homeland security departments to carry out the plan.
US: Our message to Hamas is the same in direct talks as it has been in other channels
US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce suggests the Trump administration’s hostage envoy merely used his direct talks with Hamas to convey the same message that Washington has been seeing through other channels to date.
“Nothing was conveyed differently. There was no change of position. It was the conveyance of the existing American position about Hamas and how it cannot exist in Gaza,” Bruce says during a press briefing.
“Whether it is through a tweet or a diplomatic cable or on television or through envoys or in a meeting, that message can be conveyed… so that a bloodthirsty group like Hamas understands that our message is not fluid.”
State Department: Arab plan for Gaza not ‘adequate’; Hamas can’t continue to exist there
US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce speaks during a press briefing in Washington on March 6, 2025. (Youtube screenshot used in accordance with Article 27a of the Copyright Law)
US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce says the Trump administration views the Arab plan for the post-war management of the Gaza Strip to be inadequate.
Bruce doesn’t offer specifics on what is missing from the plan, but states that the US will not accept a framework that leads to a return of the cycle of violence involving Gaza, and insists that Hamas can not continue to exist in the Strip.
While the Arab plan envisions Hamas no longer in control of Gaza’s governance, it doesn’t specifically address the terror group’s military wing, beyond saying that armed groups in the Strip can only be addressed through a political process that establishes a Palestinian state.
Still, the Arab League, in a statement endorsing the Egyptian plan, asserted that the security of Gaza “remains the exclusive responsibility of legitimate Palestinian institutions, [who will operate] in accordance with the principle of one law and one legitimate weapon” — meaning that armed groups other than the Palestinian Authority’s security forces will not be accepted.
Bruce says that US President Donald Trump’s proposal for the US to take over Gaza and relocate all of its Palestinians was “an invitation for new ideas, and it seemed to have spurred some new ideas” from the Arab world. However, what Washington has seen to date from its allies has not been “adequate.”
“The Arab [plan] does not fulfill… the nature of what President Trump was asking for,” she says.
However, the US welcomes the Arab effort to address the issue, which Bruce says must continue.
Earlier Thursday, US envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff took a softer approach when asked about the Arab plan, saying it was a “good faith first step” with “a lot of compelling features to it.”
Backing Israeli freeze, US says Gaza aid should only be delivered in ‘safe framework’
Trucks line up at the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip after Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza, March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)
The US State Department defends Israel’s decision to withhold aid from Gaza, which Israel said it began doing on Sunday to prevent the assistance from reaching Hamas.
“Aid can only be delivered in a safe framework, so as long as… we can’t guarantee the safety of something moving in, that is going to be stopped,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce says during her first briefing of the administration.
“It is not a withholding, but it’s a reflection of the framework of the situation on the ground,” she adds.
Shortly after Israel announced on Sunday the halt on the entry of aid into Gaza, the White House issued a statement backing the Israeli position in the hostage talks more broadly, without specifically saying that it supported the withholding of aid.
The Israeli decision came as the first phase of the ceasefire deal with Hamas drew to a close.
Under the terms of the deal, Israel is supposed to allow aid as long as negotiations regarding phase two of the deal are ongoing. But Israel has largely refused to even start those phase two negotiations, even though the deal required them to begin over a month ago.
The sides are currently in a state of limbo, with Israel looking to rework the terms of the deal moving forward, while Hamas is insisting that the sides stick to the terms that were approved in January.
Rights groups say that withholding aid or its use as a bargaining chip amounts to a violation of international law.
Hasidic MKs tell Netanyahu they’ll oppose budget if draft-exemption law not passed
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, right, arrive for the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on September 27, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Members of the coalition’s Agudath Yisrael faction send a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning they will vote against the state budget if the government does not pass legislation formalizing sweeping exemptions to mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.
The letter is signed by the faction’s leader, Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, along with MKs Ya’akov Tessler and Moshe Roth.
Agudath Yisrael is a Hasidic faction within the United Torah Judaism party, which also includes the non-Hasidic Degel HaTorah.
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