March 10: IDF says it struck suspects in south Gaza heading to collect drone

IDF says it struck suspects in south Gaza heading to collect drone flown from Israel

The IDF says it struck a number of individuals who were on their way to meet a drone being sent from Israel into the Gaza Strip.

According to the military, the IDF was tracking the drone on its journey and carried out an airstrike on suspects who were on their way to receive the drone in southern Gaza.

A similar incident occurred on Saturday.

In recent weeks, there have been several attempts to smuggle contraband into the Gaza Strip, with the IDF saying suspects on the Israeli side load up drones with weapons or drugs and fly them over the border.

Hundreds in New York protest in support of detained Columbia anti-Israel activist

Activists call for the release of a detained Columbia University anti-Israel protest leader in New York City, March 10, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

Hundreds in New York City protest in support of a Columbia University anti-Israel protest leader detained by immigration agents.

The protesters from an array of progressive and anti-Israel groups fill Federal Square in lower Manhattan. They carry signs with the image of Mahmoud Khalil, who graduated from the university last year, calling for his release.

One sign says “Stop Jewish fascism,” and another shows Trump doing a “sieg heil” salute in front of a swastika. A speaker compares the Trump administration to the Nazi SS.

Others chant, “We want justice, you say how? ICE off our campus now,” and, “I believe that Palestine will win.”

“Trump thinks he can strip our rights to attack our movement,” a speaker tells the crowd. “To that we say, ‘You are wrong, we will not be silenced, we will continue to organize and we will continue to struggle until the complete liberation of Palestine.’”

“They make figures like Hamas and ‘terrorists’ into enemies,” another speaker says. “There are actual terrorists in the United States, but they are not Mahmoud Khalil,” he says. “The terror comes from the capitalists and their pawns.”

The protest draws a larger and more ideologically diverse crowd than recent anti-Israel protests, though many in the crowd are wearing keffiyehs and holding Palestinian flags. Speakers and signs tie Khalil’s detention to issues including affordable housing, law enforcement, and constitutional rights.

Syrian sources say Israeli airstrikes target former army bases

Israeli jets conducted several raids on former Syrian army barracks and outposts in the southern Daraa province today in the latest string of strikes targeting the country’s military infrastructure, two Syrian security sources say.

They say at least six raids hit a base in the town of Jbab, while at least another eight strikes hit a former army base in the city of Izraa. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Report: Dermer tells ministers White House promised direct Hamas talks ‘won’t happen again’

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer attends a Knesset plenum session on January 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

According to a report in the Axios new site, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer told a security cabinet meeting yesterday that US envoy Adam Boehler’s controversial direct talks with Hamas do not represent the White House position.

An unnamed Israeli official tells the news site that Dermer also said the Trump administration promised Israel that “it won’t happen again,” and that US envoy Steve Witkoff will remain the lead negotiator on the issue of Israeli hostages.

The official says that Witkoff promised Israel he would not hold direct talks with Hamas unless the terror group makes “tangible concessions,” according to the news site.

Meanwhile White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is quoted by Axios as saying that US President Donald Trump “fully backs and supports” Boehler’s talks — contradicting Dermer’s reported comments.

Earlier today, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the direct talks were a “one-off” that so far “haven’t borne fruit.”

Far-right Avi Maoz to oppose state budget, says it discriminates against religious Zionists

Noam's sole lawmaker, Avi Maoz, speaks at the outset of his Knesset faction meeting, December 5, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/ Flash90/File)

Deputy Minister Avi Maoz announces that he intends to vote against the 2025 state budget in its current form.

The far-right politician, the sole lawmaker representing the anti-LGBT Noam party, tells Radio Kol Chai that the budget discriminates against religious Zionist educational institutions.

He adds that the current situation would see “parents who served hundreds of days during the war in reserves have to pay a lot of money for their children’s education,” which he describes as “very troubling.”

“It doesn’t make sense for me to save the government, only for my voters to end up deprived,” he says.

The 2025 state budget must be passed by the end of March or the government will automatically fall, triggering early elections. The Haredi factions have threatened to vote against the budget if the government does not first pass a bill exempting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from military service.

Houthis threaten action if Israel doesn’t lift block on aid into Gaza

The Greek-flagged oil tanker 'Sounion,' burning in the Red Sea following a series of attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on September 2, 2024. (European Union's Operation Aspides naval force via AP)

Yemen’s Houthis say they will take military measures as soon as a four-day deadline for lifting a blockage of aid into Gaza ends.

The leader of Yemen’s Houthis said Friday that the group would resume its naval operations against Israel if Israel did not lift a blockage of aid into Gaza within four days — a deadline that ostensibly arrives tomorrow.

The Iran-aligned terror group launched more than 100 attacks targeting shipping from November 2023, saying they were in solidarity with Palestinians.

During that period, it sank two vessels, seized another, and killed at least four seafarers in an offensive that disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa.

IDF chief cancels decades-old practice of military holiday ‘shutdowns’

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir speaks to officers during a conference on March 10, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has canceled a decades-old practice where large portions of the military take time off at the same time, usually during the Jewish holidays.

The practice is known in the IDF as shutdown or hadmama in Hebrew. Entire bases or units would all go on breaks during the Jewish holidays and during the end of the summer, leaving skeleton crews to continue operations. Some non-essential units would close altogether during these breaks, which usually lasted several days.

The IDF was in such a shutdown period ahead of the October 7, 2023, onslaught, with many senior officers at home or on vacation, and only half the number of usual troops on the Gaza border.

Since the start of the war, there have been no such unit-wide vacations.

Zamir, during a conference with senior officers today, just days after entering the role, says that “there will be no more shutdowns in the IDF,” adding that there will still be usual furlough and vacation time, but not simultaneous by entire units.

Also during the conference, Zamir tells the officers that “2025 will be a year of war,” and that returning the hostages is one of the most important goals of the ongoing war.

After the IDF’s investigations into the October 7 onslaught and what led to it, Zamir says the IDF will establish a mechanism to also investigate the war itself and its numerous battles.

He also says that the IDF will allocate NIS 600 million to assist the families of fallen soldiers, career soldiers, and reservists.

Syrian media report Israeli airstrikes in south of country

Syrian media reports a series of Israeli airstrikes in the Daraa Governorate in the south of the country.

The strikes are reported at military sites belonging to the former Syrian regime near the towns of Jbab and Izraa.

Israeli officials have vowed to demilitarize the southern Syria area close to Israel’s border, following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Syrian government signs breakthrough deal with Kurdish authorities in northeast

Children who fled the ongoing battles between Turkish-backed groups and Syrian Kurdish forces in Tal Rifaat and other areas of the northern Aleppo province, gather in the yard of a school in the northeastern city of Hasakeh where they took refuge, on January 5, 2025. (Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

Syria’s central government reaches a deal with the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, including a ceasefire and the merging of the main US-backed force there into the Syrian army.

The deal was signed today by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The deal marks a major breakthrough that would bring most of Syria under the control of the government run by the group that led the ousting of president Bashar Assad in December.

The deal to be implemented by the end of the year would bring all border crossings with Iraq and Turkey in the northeast, airports, and oil fields under the control of the central government.

Syria’s Kurds will gain their rights, including teaching and using their language, which were banned for decades under Assad.

US biochemist researching treatment of HIV and coronaviruses wins Israel’s Wolf Prize

An American biochemist whose research has helped scientists make inroads into treating coronavirus as well as HIV wins this year’s Wolf Prize, a prestigious Israeli award in the arts and sciences.

Pamela Björkman of the California Institute of Technology wins the prize for “offering new hope in the fight against infectious diseases,” says the Wolf Fund, which awards the prize.

Björkman’s research “unlocked the secrets of how the immune system identifies and battles pathogens, developing game-changing approaches to combat some of humanity’s most formidable viral enemies,” the fund says.

Eight others also received the state-funded prize, which has been awarded annually for 47 years. Many of the award winners have gone on to receive Nobel prizes.

Other recipients of this year’s award include Jeffery Dangl of the University of North Carolina, Jonathan Jones of the Sainsbury Laboratory in England, and Brian Staskawicz of the University of California, Berkeley for agriculture. Also receiving the prize are professors Jainendra Jain of Pennsylvania State University, Moty Heiblum of Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, James Eisenstein of the California Institute of Technology in physics, and Helmut Schwarz of the Technische Universität Berlin in chemistry.

Past laureates include astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, artist Marc Chagall, conductor Zubin Mehta, and musician Stevie Wonder.

7 ultranationalist activists indicted for illegally crossing into Gaza a year ago

Settler activists erect makeshift structures within the Erez border crossing complex leading from Israel to northern Gaza, but within Israeli territory, February 29, 2024. (Courtesy Nachala Settlement Movement)

Seven Israeli ultranationalist activists, including a minor, are indicted for illegally traveling through the Erez border crossing zone on the border with Gaza back in February 2024, and building rudimentary structures there as a symbolic settlement.

The indictment notes that following a march from Sderot to Erez by some 100 activists calling for the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza, including those indicted, around 20 activists broke through the border and walked several hundred meters into the territory.

IDF soldiers had to chase after those activists and forcibly bring them back to Israel, but, at that same time, a large number of the other participants in the march entered the Erez crossing zone and erected structures with wooden boards they were carrying.

According to the indictment, the soldiers at the crossing instructed them to leave, with some of those indicted refusing, requiring the soldiers and police who arrived at the scene to forcibly eject them. Some of the seven activists indicted, including the minor, “actively opposed” being removed.

All seven activists were charged with entering a closed military zone, and six of them were also charged with obstructing a police officer while carrying out his duty.

The march was organized by the Nachala settlement organization which has advocated for the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza since the early days of the Israel-Hamas war following the October 7 atrocities. Last month, Nachala held a rally in Jerusalem calling for the permanent expulsion of the Palestinian population from Gaza.

UN warns of ‘dire consequences’ for civilians after Israel cuts power to Gaza

A youth pushes a bicycle loaded with filled-up water containers outside the Southern Gaza Desalination plant, which stopped working after Israel cut the electricity supply in Deir el-Balah, in the Gaza Strip, March 10, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

The United Nations says Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza is “very concerning,” warning that civilians in the war-ravaged territory will face dire consequences.

“Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza following its ban last week on the entry of all humanitarian assistance and other necessities of life, including fuel needed to operate generators, is very concerning,” Seif Magango, spokesman for the UN human rights office, tells AFP in an email.

“With no electricity and with fuel being blocked, Gaza’s remaining water desalination plants, healthcare facilities, and bakeries are at risk of eventually shutting down, with dire consequences for civilians.”

Magango claims that Israel has a legal obligation to ensure the provision of the necessities of life for Palestinians living under its control.

“In addition, blocking access to the necessities of life for civilians intended to pressure a party to an armed conflict through hardship imposed on the civilian population as a whole raises serious concerns of collective punishment,” he adds.

Trump: Arrest of Palestinian Columbia student is ‘the first of many’

Members of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group, including Mahmoud Khalil, center, are surrounded by members of the media outside the Columbia University campus, April 30, 2024, in New York. (AP/Mary Altaffer)

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says the weekend arrest of a “radical foreign pro-Hamas” Palestinian student at Columbia University was the first of many.

Trump writes on Truth Social that Mahmoud Khalil was “proudly apprehended” by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“This is the first arrest of many to come,” writes Trump.

“We know there are more students at Columbia and other universities across the country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, antisemitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” he continues.

“Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again,” Trump says.

“If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children; your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here,” he adds.

“We expect every one of America’s colleges and Universities to comply. Thank you!”

In a separate post about Khalil’s arrest, the White House tweets, “Shalom Mahmoud.”

Last week, Trump wrote, “Shalom Hamas” in a Truth Social post that included his ultimatum for the terror group to immediately release all hostages or face destruction; and his communications team seems to like the phrase.

https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1899151926777749618

Rubio says Boehler’s ‘one-off’ meeting with Hamas so far ‘hasn’t borne fruit’

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 President Donald Trump’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler’s direct meetings with Hamas on the release of hostages in Gaza was a “one-off situation” and as of now “hasn’t borne fruit,” says US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“That was a one-off situation in which our special envoy for hostages, whose job it is to get people released, had an opportunity to talk directly to someone who has control over these people and was given permission and encouraged to do so. He did so,” Rubio tells reporters en route to Saudi Arabia.

“As of now, it hasn’t borne fruit. Doesn’t mean he was wrong to try, but our primary vehicle for negotiations on this front will continue to be Mr. Witkoff and the work he’s doing through Qatar,” Rubio says, in reference to Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

Families of hostages demand Israel resume electricity to Gaza, threaten to go to High Court

Posters of hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, seen posted outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, March 9, 2025. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

A number of relatives of hostages send a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanding that the government reverse a decision to cut off electricity to the Gaza Strip, saying it endangers their loved ones.

In the letter, also sent to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Energy Minister Eli Cohen, the relatives say that the decision puts their loved ones in immediate danger and that a lack of electricity intensifies the spread of diseases in the Strip and worsens the conditions for the hostages.

The letter from the families says that if there is no government response, they will file a petition to the High Court. The letter does not include any specific names of signatories.

Pro-Palestinian activist who scaled Big Ben pleads not guilty to harming public

A protester holding a Palestinian flag gestures from the side of the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known by the name of the clock's bell 'Big Ben,' in central London, March 8, 2025. (Ben Stansall/AFP)

A man who climbed part way up the “Big Ben” clock tower at London’s Palace of Westminster early Saturday, and stayed there all day as part of a pro-Palestinian protest, appears in court.

Clutching a Palestinian flag, Daniel Day, 29, scaled 25 meters (82 feet) up the building, officially known as the Elizabeth Tower, at about 7:20 a.m. on Saturday, remaining there for 16 hours until agreeing to come down, his lawyer and prosecutors tell London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

He was subsequently charged by police with climbing and remaining on the tower which created “a risk or caused serious harm to the public,” and also trespassing on a protected site.

Prosecutors say Day’s actions led to serious disruption in that area of central London with roads closed and buses diverted, and the cancellation of parliamentary tours had cost 25,000 pounds ($32,300).

Day’s lawyer says he will plead not guilty to the first charge, saying his action was designed to spread awareness regarding the situation in Gaza and Britain’s response to it. The second charge of trespass requires the authorization of the attorney general, and so the case is adjourned until March 17 for a decision to be made.

Day, from a seaside town in eastern England, is remanded into custody, with his supporters clapping and shouting “Hero” and “Free Palestine” as he is led away.

Modiin gets its first hotel

The new Jacob Modiin hotel (Courtesy)

Modiin is getting its first-ever hotel this week as the Jacob Hotel is set to open its doors in the city in central Israel.

Jacob Modiin is located near the city’s Azrieli Mall, and offers 85 rooms and event facilities, the hotel says in a statement. It plans to open a spa and restaurant-bar in the future, it adds.

Modiin was founded in the 1990s, and shares a municipality with the nearby towns of Maccabim and Re’ut. Its population was 99,000 in 2022, making it Israel’s 19th-largest city. Located about halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the city is seen as a convenient suburb for the country’s two largest population centers, and is home to many English-speaking immigrants.

‘The last ones who can talk’: Sharaa dismisses Israeli threats against Syria

Screen capture from a handout video statement released by the Syrian Presidency shows Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa speaking in Damascus on March 9, 2025. (Syrian Presidency / AFP)

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa rejects criticism from Israel in an interview with Reuters.

Last week Defense Minister Israel Katz called Sharaa “a jihadist terrorist of the al-Qaeda school who is committing horrifying acts against a civilian population” and earlier today Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says the regime is “pure evil.”

Syrian government control is weak in Syria’s south, where Israel has taken up a presence in the demilitarized zone and threatened to target Sharaa’s forces if they deploy.

Sharaa dismisses the Israeli threats and Katz’s comments as “nonsense.”

“They are the last ones who can talk,” he says, noting the high death toll in Israel’s 17 months of war against Hamas in Gaza.

Sa’ar says global leaders must renounce ‘pure evil’ of Sharaa’s Syria

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar leads a faction meeting of his New Hope party in the Knesset, February 17, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar calls for international condemnation of the actions of Syria’s new Islamist rulers.

“They were jihadists and remain jihadists, even if some of their leaders have donned suits,” says Sa’ar at a Knesset meeting of his New Hope faction, referring to the new Syrian government led by interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa.

“The international community must come to its senses… it must raise its voice against the barbaric murder of civilians, against the pure evil of jihadists,” continues the foreign minister, according to his office.

Sa’ar notes his repeated warnings to world leaders not to trust the new regime, and condemns the reported persecution of minority groups in Syria, including the Alawite and Kurdish communities.

“I warned against the sweet talk of [Sharaa] and his men and cautioned against acts of revenge and violence against the Alawite minority, as well as their intent to dismantle Kurdish autonomy,” he says.

Sa’ar says that “over the weekend, it was proven… that my warnings, unfortunately, were accurate. HTS operatives mercilessly massacred their own people — their own citizens. This does not surprise anyone familiar with their terrorist past.”

World leaders “must stop granting free legitimacy to a regime whose first actions are such atrocities,” says Sa’ar. “It must draw conclusions from what has happened and examine ways to protect minorities in Syria.”

Sa’ar defends the IDF’s continued efforts to demilitarize southern Syria, saying that Israel’s “security operations… both in [southern Syria’s] buffer zone and in destroying weapon systems that could have fallen into the hands of jihadists in Syria — have proven to be correct, important, and far-sighted,” adding that “Israel will not allow the emergence of a security threat on its border with Syria and will take all necessary measures to prevent it.”

IDF says troops fired on terror operatives planting bomb in Gaza City

The IDF says it identified several terror operatives attempting to plant a bomb near troops in Gaza City’s eastern Shejaiya neighborhood earlier today.

Troops deployed in the area opened fire on the operatives, hitting some of them, the military says.

In a separate incident, the IDF says it spotted three terror operatives trying to plant a bomb near troops in central Gaza, close to Nuseirat. An Israeli Air Force drone targeted the three.

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.

Smotrich attacks Shin Bet head: ‘If I were Netanyahu, I’d oust him on the spot’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 10, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich hits out against Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar during his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting, saying that he would fire Bar if it were up to him.

“If I were Netanyahu, I’d oust him on the spot,” Smotrich says, amid simmering tensions between the security head and the prime minister.

The far-right minister’s remarks come after Netanyahu reportedly pressured the Shin Bet head to resign during a meeting they held last week.

Bar told senior staff last week that he won’t step down until the hostages are returned and a state commission to investigate the October 7, 2023, attack is established.

Smotrich further accuses Bar of undermining the notion of personal responsibility and “entrenching himself in the position in an undemocratic manner.”

“The fact that he is not impeached is a failure of the political establishment,” the minister adds.

Hamas says Israel violating ceasefire deal by not withdrawing from Philadelphi Corridor

View of the Philadelphi Corridor, the Egypt-Gaza border area in southern Gaza's Rafah, October 20, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

Hamas condemns what it says is a non-commitment by Israel to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor under the ceasefire deal, according to a statement by the group.

The corridor runs the length of Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.

The text of the ceasefire deal required Israel to begin withdrawing from the corridor on day 42 and complete the pullout by day 50 — which is today. Israeli troops currently remain in the buffer zone.

Trump Arab aide meets with settler leader in bid to boost standing with Israeli right

US President Donald Trump's adviser on Arab affairs Massad Boulos (L) meets with Samaria Regional Council chair Yossi Dagan in Washington on March 9, 2024. (Screen capture/X)

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump’s Arab and Mideast affairs adviser Massad Boulos met with a settler leader over the weekend, apparently part of a broader attempt to boost his image among the Israeli right.

Boulos was one of Trump’s first appointments after his election — a demonstration of gratitude after the Lebanon-born businessman was credited with playing an integral role in rallying Arab Americans behind Trump during the presidential campaign.

Boulos’s background drew some alarm among the Israeli far right, who also pointed to his comments backing Trump’s 2020 peace plan, which envisioned the establishment of a Palestinian state — albeit semi-contiguous and sub-sovereign.

In a meeting last week with the leaders of an Israeli think tank, Boulos reportedly maintained that his views on Israel have been misunderstood and that he deeply supports the Jewish state’s security as well as Trump’s Gaza takeover plan.

https://twitter.com/robertgrabil/status/1898859360924692664

Over the weekend, Boulos also met with Samaria Regional Council chair Yossi Dagan, whom he called “the governor of Samaria.”

“It’s a big pleasure and an honor to have met you. I would like to convey through you my heartfelt appreciation to the people of Samaria and our brothers and sisters in the region — in Israel, in Lebanon and in the entire region,” Boulos says in a video posted by Dagan — one of the most hardline Israeli settler leaders in the West Bank.

“We are looking forward to peace, and we are aiming for peace. By the grace of God, this will be achieved hopefully soon,” adds Boulos, whose son Michael is married to Trump’s daughter Tiffany.

“God sent us to work together,” Dagan can be heard saying in response.

Despite his title, Boulos has had limited involvement in the administration’s Mideast policy, according to sources familiar with the matter. Even the Lebanon file has gone to deputy Mideast envoy Morgan Ortagus, and not Boulos, who was born there and has ties with various political factions in the country.

Earlier today, the Semafor news site reported that Trump is set to name Boulos as his special envoy for the Great Lakes region in East Africa.

Israeli infant lightly wounded after Palestinian throws rocks at vehicle in West Bank

The scene of a stone-throwing attack near the northern West Bank town of Udala, March 10, 2025. (Rescuers Without Borders)

The IDF says it has launched a manhunt after a Palestinian hurled a stone at an Israeli vehicle near the West Bank town of Udala, lightly wounding an infant.

The incident occurred on a section of the Route 60 highway that was built to bypass the flashpoint town of Huwara.

According to medics, the stone struck the windshield, sending glass shards that hit a 2-month-old baby who was sitting in the front seat.

The driver headed to the nearby IDF Samaria Regional Brigade base, where the baby was treated by medics. She did not require hospitalization.

“Upon receiving the report, IDF soldiers were dispatched to the scene and began searching for the terrorist,” the military says.

Before departing for Doha, Witkoff says ‘we need deadlines’ for deal on next phase in ceasefire

Steve Witkoff, White House special envoy for the Middle East, speaks with reporters at the White House, March 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Alex Brandon)

US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff says a “starter” for moving forward on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is the terror group demilitarizing and leaving Gaza.

Speaking on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom before he flies to Qatar for talks with Israel and Hamas, Witkoff says Hamas has “no alternative” other than disarming and leaving the Gaza Strip.

“If they leave, then all things are on the table for a negotiated peace, and that’s what they’ll need to do,” he says.

“We need deadlines” for an agreement on the next phase in a deal, says Witkoff, adding that the conditions the hostages are being held in are “unacceptable” and “deplorable.”

He also praises Qatar for its mediation, saying it has been “outstanding.”

Court overturns ruling that ordered toddler returned to genetic parents following embryo mix-up

Assuta Medical Center in Tel Aviv's Ramat HaHayal neighborhood, May 20, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The Central District Court overturns a lower court decision in the Assuta IVF mix-up scandal, and rules that a two-year old girl born in a 2022 following an implantation mistake at an Assuta IVF clinic must remain with her birth parents and not be given to her genetic parents.

Sophia has been raised by the woman who gave birth to her and her partner, but in November last year the Rishon Lezion Family Court ruled in favor of transferring custody of the young girl to her genetic parents, though the move was not immediately carried out.

But a three-judge panel of the district court rules that the parental rights of the birth mother and her partner, who were raising her, should be given preference over that of the genetic parents, “since we are dealing with a mother who conceived and carried the minor in her womb without knowing about the mistake that had occurred.”

The court also notes that the birth mother risked her life for the baby when she was still pregnant with her, since she agreed to have surgery performed on the fetus while she was still pregnant which endangered her own life, despite recommendations of doctors to abort the pregnancy.

“She gave birth to the girl, and together with her partner, she raised her with great devotion, devoting their time to her health and physical and mental development,” the judges write.

They add that “from an ethical perspective” a principle should be adopted that “just like one does not remove a fetus from the womb of the mother bearing [it] so too one does not remove the child from her hands.”

The court does, however, state that Sophia’s genetic parents should be able to keep in close contact with her, “in accordance with arrangements to be determined by the welfare services.”

The mix-up at Rishon Lezion’s Assuta Medical Center in 2022 was discovered when the then in-utero fetus was determined to have medical problems, and after undergoing tests it was discovered that neither the woman carrying the child nor her partner could be her biological parents.

The Rishon Lezion Family Court ruled in November 2024, based on an professional opinion submitted to the court, that Sophia’s genetic parents were her “natural parents” and that it was “best for a child to be raised by them.” A second professional opinion had recommended that Sophia remain with her birth parents.

Israeli envoy urges other aid groups to replace UNRWA in Gaza

Palestinians queue to receive food aid from an UNRWA distribution center at the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 3, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

Israel is actively encouraging UN agencies and other aid groups to take over the work of UNRWA in Gaza, Israel’s ambassador says, after banning the agency on Israeli territory in January.

“We, the State of Israel, are working to find substitute to the act, to the work of UNRWA inside Gaza,” Daniel Meron, Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, tells reporters.

He declines to give specifics but said Israel is “encouraging the UN agencies and NGOs to take over each one in its own field that they specialize in.”

Israel came under global criticism for banning the work of the agency, the most well established in Gaza. Jerusalem has accused UNRWA of cooperating with Hamas, pointing to staffers who participated in the October 7 attack, weapons stored in UNRWA schools, and hostages saying they were held in UNRWA facilities.

Police arrest 7 in connection with triple homicide last month

Illustrative: Police officers in Jerusalem on October 11, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Police arrested seven suspects in connection with a triple homicide that rattled the northern Arab town of Abu Snan last month.

The murders took place on February 3, just after midnight, when three young men were gunned down in a convenience store by assailants who fled the scene. The victims were named as Wajdi Kheir, Haitem Zainati and Natan Mashlab.

The three were apparently murdered in an act of revenge for another killing two weeks prior in the nearby village of Jadeidi-Makr.

The investigation was handled by law enforcement’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit. Police detectives found a handgun in one of the suspect’s homes, says a spokesman.

Police are expected to request to extend the suspects’ detention at a hearing in the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court later today.

Israel ‘held discussions’ with White House in wake of US hostage envoy’s TV interviews, source says

US hostage envoy Adam Boehler in a CNN interview on March 9, 2025. (CNN screenshot)

Israel “held discussions” last night with White House officials in the wake of US hostage envoy Adam Boehler’s interviews on US and Israeli TV yesterday, a source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.

Boehler yesterday defended his direct talks with officials in the Hamas terror group, pushing back against private but intense criticism from Jerusalem. Some of Boehler’s remarks further annoyed senior Israeli officials, who told The Times of Israel they were surprised to hear the envoy comment that the US is “not an agent of Israel.”

Some Israeli officials believe that Boehler went on television to send a pointed message to Israel.

After his evening interviews on Israel’s leading TV outlets and the Israeli conversations with Washington, Boehler issued a post on X clarifying some of his statements.

Among a number of missteps yesterday, Boehler sometimes appeared to refer to Palestinian security prisoners as hostages; called Israeli hostages “prisoners”; talked about the “human elements” of Hamas leaders; critiqued Israel for accepting the term of the ceasefire deal with Hamas; stressed that the US is “not an agent of Israel”; and intermittently contradicted himself.

Japanese ambassador visits Netanyahu at Tel Aviv court during trial

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to the courtroom at the District court in Tel Aviv, March 10, 2025 (KOKO/POOL)

Japanese Ambassador to Israel Arai Yusuke visits Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the latter’s criminal trial in Tel Aviv.

Images circulating on social media show the two men chatting amiably during a break in Netanyahu’s testimony.

Arai’s office tells The Times of Israel that the envoy was “present at the courthouse as part of his diplomatic mission,” without explaining further.

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 take at least eight more months.

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IDF to send out 14,000 more draft orders to Haredi men, but says it won’t meet ultra-Orthodox recruitment goal

Ultra-Orthodox men protest against the conscription of Haredim to the IDF in Jerusalem on October 31, 2024. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

Speaking to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, a senior IDF officer in charge of encouraging ultra-Orthodox enlistment says that the IDF will soon be sending out an additional 14,000 draft orders to members of the Haredi community.

However, when asked if the IDF will reach its goal of 4,800 Haredi recruits with the next wave of draft orders, Lt. Col. Avigdor Dickstein says “no.”

Dickstein tells the committee that on March 13, a first wave of 5,000 draft orders will be sent out; on April 6 there will be another wave of 4,000; and on May 4 there will be a third wave of 5,000.

Among the 14,000, 9,100 will be randomly sent to Haredim who are eligible for military service, while the other 4,900 will be sent to those the IDF assumes will actually show up at the induction center. They include those who are working, who are students of higher education, or who hold driver’s licenses — indicators that they are not in full-time yeshiva learning.

This past year, some 70,000 Haredi males were listed as eligible for military service.

The orders, which constitute the first stage in the screening and evaluation process that the army carries out for recruits ahead of enlistment in the military in the coming year, come after a landmark High Court ruling in June 2024 that said there was no longer any legal framework allowing the state to refrain from drafting Haredi yeshiva students into military service.

The military has said that it currently requires some 12,000 new soldiers — 75% of whom will be combat troops.

Between July 2024 and this month, the IDF sent out 10,000 initial draft orders to members of the Haredi community in several waves. So far, only 177 of them have enlisted in the military.

After days of mass killings, Syrian defense ministry says operation against Assad loyalists is over

Security forces loyal to the interim Syrian government ride in the back of a vehicle moving along a road in Syria's western city of Latakia on March 9, 2025. (OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

Syria’s defense ministry announces the end of a major security operation in coastal provinces, after days of violence and mass killings that sparked international concern.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said nearly 1,500 people have died in the violence since Thursday, the majority of them civilians killed by security forces and allied groups in the heartland of the Alawite minority to which deposed president Bashar al-Assad belongs.

In a statement on official news agency SANA, defense ministry spokesman Hassan Abdul Ghani says security forces have neutralized security threats and “regime remnants” in Latakia and Tartus provinces on the Mediterranean coast.

“Having achieved this, we announce the end of the military operation,” Abdul Ghani says.

He hails “the success of our forces… in achieving all the objectives set” for the operation.

“We were able… to absorb the attacks of the remnants of the toppled regime and its officers” and push them from “vital” locations, Abdul Ghani says.

Clashes broke out last week between the security forces and gunmen loyal to Assad, with the Observatory reporting 231 security personnel and 250 pro-Assad fighters killed.

Including at least 973 civilians, many of them Alawites, killed by the security forces and allied forces, the overall death toll according to the Observatory reached 1,454.

Abdul Ghani says that “the security apparatuses will work in the upcoming phase to consolidate our work to ensure stability and preserve residents’ safety and security.”

He also points to “new plans to continue fighting the remnants of the toppled regime and work on eliminating any future threats”.

Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Islamist group led the offensive that toppled Assad in December, has vowed to “hold accountable, firmly and without leniency, anyone who was involved in the bloodshed of civilians.”

“There will be no one above the law and anyone whose hands have been stained with the blood of Syrians will face justice sooner or later,” he said.

Budget deficit narrows amid tax hikes, declining war costs

Israel’s budget deficit narrowed to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in February, from 5.7% in the previous month, after a series of tax hikes came into effect in 2025 while war costs continued to decline, according to preliminary figures released by the Finance Ministry.

In February, state revenues increased 11% to NIS 39.6 billion ($11 billion) from NIS 35.8 billion ($9.9 billion) year-on-year as tax revenues grew. Income from direct taxes rose 12.4% to NIS 23.5 billion ($6.6 billion) versus the same month last year.

Government expenditure in February declined 7.3% to NIS 45.7 billion ($12.6 billion) from NIS 49.3 billion ($13.6 billion) during the same month last year. The ministry attributes the drop to a “continued trend in lower war-related costs and spending.”

On January 1, tax hikes came into effect to boost state income and fill a fiscal gap amid high defense expenses during the 16-month multifront war. Value-added-tax rose from 17% to 18%. VAT is a consumption tax that is collected through the purchase of goods and services, and is levied on most consumer goods and services, except for fresh produce.

In addition, National Insurance payments rose, one day of recuperation payments was deducted from salaried employees, and income tax brackets and tax credit points were frozen.

Lebanon must ‘break free’ from Iran, Sa’ar tells UN envoy

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar meets with UN Envoy to Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert in Jerusalem, March 10, 2025. (Mordechai Gordon/Foreign Ministry)

Meeting with the United Nations envoy to Lebanon, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar stresses the need for Lebanon to free itself from Iranian influence.

Sa’ar warns that “Iran is smuggling funds to Hezbollah in Lebanon to rebuild its strength. Lebanon has an opportunity to break free from the Iranian occupation,” according to the foreign minister’s office in its readout of the sit-down with Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.

In late February, Lebanon reportedly seized $2.5 million in cash, which three sources said was destined for the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.

During the meeting in Jerusalem, Sa’ar presents Israel’s position on security matters such as the five posts where the IDF remains in Lebanon along the border to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its strength, as well as a range of issues related to the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and “the situation in the country,” the Foreign Ministry says.

Israel withdrew its troops from most of south Lebanon in early February, but left soldiers at what it said were key positions inside Lebanon. Lebanese officials say it is a violation of the US-brokered ceasefire to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that began when the terror group began attacking Israel on October 8, 2023.

US reportedly threatens Iraq if it doesn’t get kidnapped Russian-Israeli academic Elizabeth Tsurkov freed

Elizabeth Tsurkov in an undated photo (social media; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Citing two Iraqi officials in Baghdad, the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed outlet says that Washington asked Iraq’s prime minister to bring about the release of kidnapped Russian-Israeli academic Elizabeth Tsurkov.

The Trump administration threatened “political and economic consequences” if Iraq did not resolve the issue, says the Qatari newspaper.

Iraq’s national security adviser said last week that authorities were actively searching for Tsurkov, kidnapped nearly two years ago in Baghdad.

Israeli authorities have blamed the Iran-backed Iraqi terror group Kataeb Hezbollah, though no group has claimed responsibility for her disappearance.

The two Iraqi officials tell Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the government is enlisting the help of Shiite political leaders to secure Tsurkov’s release.

One of the officials tells the outlet that US President Donald Trump’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler has sent direct messages to Iraqi premier Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and “threatened a package of US punitive measures against Iraq, political and economic, if Tsurkov’s detention continued, and considered that the Iraqi government is responsible for returning her as soon as possible.”

“Washington is now the negotiator for Tsurkov’s release, not Israel,” says the other official, who sits on Iraq’s National Security Council. Iraq, the official says, sees the situation as “very embarrassing, due to the lack of response from any armed group to the crisis.”

Iraq “has been making real and important efforts in this case for months,” insists the official, “but the kidnappers are not responding in any way, and their goal is not the financial ransom, which makes the case difficult.”

The officials talk to the Qatari paper a day after US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told Sudani that the White House had let a waiver allowing Iraq to pay Iran for electricity lapse in order to maintain pressure on Tehran.

Government to hold discussion on potential firing of attorney general on March 23

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends the swearing-in ceremony of Justice Isaac Amit as president of the Supreme Court, at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, February 13, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The cabinet will meet to discuss the potential firing of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on March 23, Hebrew-language media reports.

The discussion on Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s motion of no confidence in the attorney general will reportedly be held at the next cabinet meeting (there is no meeting on Sunday due to the festival of Purim).

Last week, Levin began the process of removing Baharav-Miara from her post, accusing her of having politicized her office and repeatedly thwarting the will of the government.

The attorney general has opposed the government over legislation it has proposed, as well as appointments it has made and actions it has taken, arguing on numerous occasions that its measures have contravened the law and undermined the rule of law in different ways.

Levin, who has long threatened to take action against Baharav-Miara, set in motion various bureaucratic processes required under the law to fire the attorney general.

To fire an attorney general, the justice minister must write to the five-member public committee that appoints the attorney general, detailing the government’s objections to the functioning of the attorney general.

The committee must then hold a hearing for the attorney general to allow her or him to present their position, after which it must issue a recommendation to the government on whether or not to dismiss them.

The government can ignore the committee’s recommendation, although that would weaken its decision if and when it were challenged in the High Court of Justice.

Tanker hit by Yemen’s Houthis in August now through Suez Canal, with environmental disaster averted

This handout satellite image taken on August 29, 2024, and released by Maxar Technologies, shows fire on the deck of the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, located in the Red Sea. (Maxar Technologies / AFP)

A Greek tanker set ablaze by Yemeni rebels with more than a million barrels of oil aboard has been safely towed through the Suez Canal, the waterway’s authority says.

“The oil tanker Sounion was successfully towed by four tugboats” through the Egyptian waterway and was now “heading to Greece,” Suez Canal Authority chief Osama Rabie says in a statement.

The Sounion was attacked in the Red Sea last August by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, catching fire and losing power before its 25-member crew were rescued by a French frigate.

Its cargo could have created a catastrophic environmental disaster.

Had the Sounion broken up or exploded, it could have caused an oil spill four times larger than that caused by the Exxon Valdez in 1989 off Alaska, experts said at the time.

Houthis have attacked ships in the key commercial waterways of the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea with drones and missiles, saying they are targeting vessels linked to Israel, the United States and Britain.

Police question protester who recites hostages’ names outside Knesset speaker’s home

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana speaks during a plenum session at the parliament in Jerusalem, February 17, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Tel Aviv police have questioned a protester who has been reciting the names of hostages through a megaphone outside Likud MK Amir Ohana’s apartment complex in Tel Aviv.

Itzik Levy, a resident of nearby Givatayim, made a morning routine of calling out the names of the hostages still held captive in Gaza, outside Ohana’s home.

According to Channel 12, Levy was summoned by police yesterday after Ohana filed a complaint claiming he had harassed him and his partner, Alon Hadad.

Levy was questioned under caution on the suspicion that he infringed on Ohana’s privacy and violated a legal provision barring protests within 300 meters (984 feet) of an elected official’s home.

Levy claims this provision was a temporary order instated during previous protests, and does not apply in his situation.

Lawyers representing Levy, part of a network providing legal counsel to detained protesters, call the interrogation’s basis “puzzling” and contend that reading hostages’ names for four minutes does not constitute an invasion of privacy.

Police released Levy a number of hours later on condition that he refrain from contacting the couple for 30 days and stay at least 500 meters (1,640 feet) away from Hahaskala Boulevard, where Ohana lives, for 15 days.

Last week during Levy’s read-out one morning, Hadad went out on the couple’s balcony waving a Likud flag and flashing his middle finger at the Levy and other protesters.

In response, Ohana’s office said 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.”

https://twitter.com/harnevo/status/1897924650044150269

Europe must speak out in defense of Syria’s Alawites, says Sa’ar

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar (R) meets with Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel in Jerusalem, March 10, 2025. (Shlomi Amselam/GPO)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar calls on Europe to condemn Syria’s Islamist rulers amid reports of mass targeting of members of the minority Alawite community — and according to some, Christian — communities under interim Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa’s new government.

“Europe must make its voice heard loud and clear regarding the mass murder of Alawite and Christian civilians in Syria,” Sa’ar tells Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel, according to Sa’ar’s office.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor of unclear funding, says 973 civilians have died since March 6 in “killings, field executions and ethnic cleansing operations” by security personnel or pro-government fighters in the coastal heartland of the Alawite community to which toppled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad belongs. According to Middle East Institute expert Charles Lister, as of yesterday, three Christian civilians have been killed in the violence, but there’s “zero evidence” Christians have been targeted.

“We are determined to prevent what we witnessed this weekend in Syria from happening on our own border,” Sa’ar says after his Jerusalem meeting with Bettel, referring to the recent clashes.

“Syria is home to thousands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives who seek to ignite our border and create an additional front against Israel,” Sa’ar continues. “We are resolute in preventing a recurrence of October 7 across all fronts… We will not allow the formation of a jihadist threat on our border with Syria.”

Sa’ar has repeatedly warned European leadership about Sharaa’s new regime. Yesterday, he called the government in Damascus “jihadists in suits,” speaking to German media.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist faction headed by Sharaa that led the campaign that toppled Assad, emerged from a group affiliated with al-Qaeda until it cut ties in 2016. A number of European nations have cautiously welcomed Sharaa, easing sanctions on Damascus, though HTS remains a proscribed group.

Hostages’ families distribute Purim parcels to MKs containing single pita and quote from Eli Sharabi

Mishloach manot given to lawmakers by families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip at the Knesset in Jerusalem on March 10, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In a bid to raise attention to the plight of the hostages held in Gaza, lawmakers in the Knesset receive a package to mark the upcoming festival of Purim containing single pita bread and a fridge magnet with a quote by freed hostage Eli Sharabi.

At Purim, Jews traditionally exchange mishloach manot — baskets of treats — with friends and family.

The packages for the lawmakers to highlight the terrible conditions the hostages are being held in were an initiative by relatives of captives.

The parcels, tied with a yellow ribbon, contain the bread and a magnet with an image of Sharabi and his comment in a recent interview that “people should really think when they open a fridge at home, it’s everything. It’s everything to open a fridge.”

Sharabi, whose wife Lianne and two teenage daughters Noiya and Yahel were murdered at Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023, was released under the hostage-ceasefire deal last month.

He was released emaciated, having lost roughly 66 pounds during his captivity.

Sharabi has quickly joined the campaign for the release of the remaining hostages, giving a harrowing interview with Channel 12’s “Uvda” investigative program about his time in Hamas’s Gaza tunnels.

Eli Sharabi is interviewed on Channel 12’s “Uvda” program, in a segment aired on February 27, 2025. (Channel 12/screenshot)

Man arrested for allegedly stealing statue of Ben-Gurion from lobby of Tel Aviv hotel

The recovered statue of prime minister David Ben-Gurion that was stolen from a Tel Aviv hotel on March 10, 2025 (Israel Police)

Tel Aviv police arrested a 23-year-old Herzliya resident for allegedly stealing a statue of Israel’s first prime minister David Ben-Gurion from a hotel lobby yesterday.

A spokesman says the suspect had been staying in the Tel Aviv hotel and nabbed the statue — a recreation of a famous image of the founding prime minister doing a headstand on the beach in his swim trunks — while checking out of his room.

Within hours of receiving the report yesterday morning, detectives identified a suspect and arrived at his address in Herzliya.

They found the statue hidden in his yard, covered with a towel, the spokesman says.

The suspect was transferred for questioning at the central Tel Aviv police station on suspicion of theft and causing damage to the hotel facilities. The statue was returned to the hotel.

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Shin Bet chief Bar didn’t attend security cabinet meeting amid tensions with Netanyahu – reports

L: Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90), R: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset in Jerusalem on March 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar did not attend last night’s security cabinet meeting amid tensions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hebrew-language media reports.

The cabinet convened ahead of the departure of a team to Doha for talks on the hostage-ceasefire deal. It is unclear if Bar had been invited to the meeting.

Netanyahu has reportedly been preparing to fire Bar, who told senior staff last week that he won’t step down until the hostages are returned and a state commission to investigate the October 7, 2023, attack is established.

It was reported yesterday that Netanyahu pressured Bar to resign during a meeting the two held last week.

According to the Channel 12 report, which did not cite any sources, Bar refused to tender his resignation during Thursday’s meeting — described in the report as “extremely tense.”

Rather, Bar was said to tell Netanyahu that if he wanted to see him leave as head of the security agency, he’d have to fire him.

Trump says US in talks with four groups over potential sale of TikTok

This combination of pictures created on June 2, 2024 shows a man holding a smartphone displaying the logo of Chinese social media platform Tiktok in an office in Paris on April 19, 2024 and former US president Donald Trump speaking to the media as he arrives for his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on May 30, 2024. (Antonin UTZ and Seth Wenig/various sources/AFP)

US President Donald Trump says the United States is in talks with four groups interested in acquiring TikTok, with the Chinese-owned app facing an uncertain future in the country.

A US law has ordered TikTok to divest from its Chinese owner ByteDance or be banned in the United States.

Asked if there is going to be a deal on TikTok soon, Trump tells reporters: “It could be.”

“We’re dealing with four different groups. And a lot of people want it, and it’s up to me,” he said aboard Air Force One.

“All four are good,” he adds, without naming them.

The law banning TikTok took effect on January 19 over concerns that the Chinese government could exploit the video-sharing platform to spy on Americans or covertly influence US public opinion. TikTok temporarily shut down in the United States and disappeared from app stores as the deadline for the law approached, to the dismay of millions of users.

Trump suspended its implementation for two and a half months after beginning his second term in January, seeking a solution with Beijing. TikTok subsequently restored service in the United States and returned to Apple and Google app stores in February.

Potential TikTok buyers include an initiative called “The People’s Bid for TikTok,” launched by real estate and sports tycoon Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative. Others in the running are Microsoft, Oracle and a group that includes Internet personality MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson.

TikTok does not appear overly motivated regarding the sale of the app.

Trump attempted to ban TikTok in the United States on national security concerns during his first stint in the White House.

Hamas says it is showing ‘flexibility’ in Gaza talks, Israel must agree to move to 2nd phase

Posters of hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, seen posted outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, March 9, 2025. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

Hamas says that it is showing “flexibility” in hostage-ceasefire deal talks with mediators, and is awaiting the outcome of efforts from Egypt, Qatar and the United States in negotiations with Israel.

“We dealt flexibly with the efforts made by mediators and [US President Donald] Trump’s envoy, and we await the results of the upcoming negotiations and oblige [Israel] to agree and go to the second phase,” the terror group says.

Hamas says negotiations are focusing on ending the war, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and reconstruction of the Strip.

Israel is set to dispatch a delegation to Doha today for a fresh round of talks on extending the fragile ceasefire in Gaza.

The first phase of the three-phase hostage-ceasefire deal agreed to in January ended on March 1 with no agreement on subsequent stages that could secure a permanent end to the war, but both sides have since refrained from resuming full-scale fighting.

Talks regarding terms of a potential second phase were supposed to have begun on February 3, but Israel has largely refused to engage in them.

Hamas has repeatedly demanded a move to the second phase of the deal, which would include the release of the 24 remaining presumed-living hostages in exchange for a permanent end to the war. A further 35 bodies are still held by the terror group — 34 of those taken captive on October 7 and the remains of one soldier killed in 2014.

Israel and the US have sought some arrangement that would extend the first phase of the truce and see the release of further hostages, without initiating a permanent end to the war against Hamas.

US hostage envoy Adam Boehler has also been involved in separate, direct talks with Hamas that, while broadly aimed at ending the war without the terror group in power, are specifically focused on freeing Edan Alexander, an American-Israeli hostage, as well as securing the release of the bodies of slain Americans still held by the group.

IDF launches probe into at least 6 cases of troops using Palestinians as human shields in Gaza – report

IDF troops seen operating in Gaza in a handout photo cleared for publication on October 9, 2024. (IDF)

The IDF Military Police has launched investigations into at least six cases where troops operating in the Gaza Strip used Palestinians as human shields, Haaretz reports.

There have been several reports amid the war of soldiers sending detained Palestinians to search buildings and tunnels before troops did, endangering their lives.

The IDF confirms the Haaretz report, saying: “The IDF acts in accordance with international law and military values. The IDF’s instructions clearly prohibit the use of human shields or forcing people to participate in military missions. The protocols and guidelines on the subject were routinely clarified for soldiers on the ground during the war. Claims of conduct that do not meet the guidelines and protocols are examined.”

The military says that “in several cases, investigations by the Military Police Investigatory Unit were opened after suspicion arose of [troops] using Palestinians for military missions during the fighting. Investigations in these cases are ongoing, and naturally, they cannot be elaborated upon.”

Iran claims US decision not to renew Iraq sanctions waiver for electricity is illegal

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei holds a weekly press conference in Tehran on October 28, 2024 (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran’s foreign ministry says the decision by United States to end a sanctions waiver that had allowed Iraq to buy electricity from Iran is “illegal.”

“Such statements are an admission of lawlessness, an admission of crimes against humanity, because the US sanctions, the unilateral US sanctions, against the Iranian nation have no justification or legal basis,” says foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, adding that the move is “absolutely illegal.”

The US State Department said yesterday the decision not to renew Iraq’s sanctions waiver was made to “ensure we do not allow Iran any degree of economic or financial relief.”

Iran supplies a third of Iraq’s gas and electricity, providing Tehran with substantial income.

Police say 2 Palestinians arrested on suspicion of receiving funds from Hamas to finance West Bank terror

Police say two Palestinians from the West Bank city of Nablus have been arrested on suspicion of receiving funds from Hamas to finance terror activities.

According to the statement, the two contacted Hamas operatives abroad with the aim of obtaining funds to finance terrorist activity in the West Bank.

Police say the sums of $35,200 and NIS 33,000 (approximately $9,000) were seized. The money was received via bank transfers.

The two were arrested within the last month as part of an operation with the Shin Bet, police say.

Zelensky heads to Saudi Arabia to meet crown prince ahead of crunch US talks

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on March 9, 2025, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky attends the Taras Shevchenko National Prize awarding ceremony to honor cultural achievements in Kyiv. (Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)

President Volodymyr Zelensky travels to Saudi Arabia to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman today, ahead of talks between Ukrainian and US officials on ending the war with Russia at an increasingly precarious moment for Kyiv.

The United States, once Ukraine’s main ally, has upended its wartime policies in its stated pursuit of a rapid end to the fighting, engaging directly with Moscow while cutting off military assistance and intelligence sharing for Kyiv.

Zelenskiy is expected to meet Mohammed bin Salman, whose Saudi Arabia has played various mediating roles since Russia’s 2022 invasion, including brokering prisoner exchanges and hosting talks between Russia and the United States last month.

Tomorrow’s talks between US and Ukrainian officials – the first official meeting since a disastrous Oval Office encounter between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump – are expected to focus on a bilateral minerals deal and how to end the war.

Under huge pressure from Trump, who wants the war ended at lightning speed, Zelensky has been at pains to show they are on the same page, despite failing to win promises of US security guarantees that Kyiv sees as vital for any peace deal.

Zelensky has said he will not attend the talks with US officials and that the Ukrainian delegation will include his chief of staff, his foreign and defense ministers and a top military official in the presidential administration.

“On our side, we are fully committed to constructive dialogue, and we hope to discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps,” Zelensky says in a post on X.

“Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively.”

IDF to test rocket sirens in Amihai and Kabri

The IDF says rocket sirens will be tested in two communities this morning.

Alerts will be heard in Amihai at 10:05 a.m. and Kabri at 11:05 a.m.

In the case of an actual attack, the sirens will sound twice, according to the IDF.

Australian police: Organized crime network faked synagogue attack plot to divert law enforcement

A fake plan to attack on a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives was fabricated by an organized crime network in order to divert police resources, Australian police say.

Authorities in January found explosives in a caravan, or trailer, that could have created a blast wave of 40 meters (130 feet), along with the address of a Sydney synagogue.

But police say the discovery was part of a “criminal con job,” with the ease with which the caravan was found along with the lack of a detonator suggesting there was never any intent to attack Jewish targets.

“The caravan was never going to cause a mass casualty event but instead was concocted by criminals who wanted to cause fear for personal benefit,” Krissy Barrett, the Australian Federal Police’s Deputy Commissioner for National Security, tells a news conference.

“Almost immediately, experienced investigators… believed that the caravan was part of a fabricated terrorism plot – essentially a criminal con job.”

Police are yet to make any arrests in relation to the planning of the fabricated plot, but have gone public with the information in order to provide comfort to the Jewish community in Sydney, Dave Hudson, New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner, tells the news conference.

“It was about causing chaos within the community, causing threat, causing angst, diverting police resources away from their day jobs, to have them focus on matters that would allow them to get up to or engage in other criminal activity,” Hudson says.

Police are investigating a suspect involved in an organized crime network, he adds.

Australia has suffered a spate of antisemitic attacks in recent months, with homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles targeted by vandalism and arson, drawing the ire of the country’s traditional ally Israel.

IDF announces drill in Rosh Hanikra and Hof Betzet area

The IDF announces it is holding a military drill this morning in the Rosh Hanikra and Hof Betzet areas of northern Israel.

The military warns there will be increased movement of maritime vessels in the area.

Iran says won’t negotiate under ‘intimidation’ as Trump ramps up 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 says it will not negotiate under “intimidation,” after US President Donald Trump sought to ratchet up pressure on Tehran by ending a sanctions waiver that had allowed Iraq to buy electricity from its Shiite neighbor.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations had indicated yesterday that Tehran might be open to talks aimed at addressing US concerns about the potential militarization of its nuclear program — though not to ending the program completely.

But today, Iran’s top diplomat seems to slam the door on such discussions, saying Tehran’s nuclear program was and always will be entirely peaceful and so there was “no such thing as its ‘potential militarization.'”

“We will NOT negotiate under pressure and intimidation. We will NOT even consider it, no matter what the subject may be,” foreign minister Abbas Araghchi says on social media platform X.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has reinstated his policy of exerting “maximum pressure” against Iran, reimposing sweeping sanctions aimed at crushing its oil industry in particular.

The US State Department said Sunday the decision not to renew Iraq’s sanctions waiver was made to “ensure we do not allow Iran any degree of economic or financial relief.”

Iran supplies a third of Iraq’s gas and electricity, providing Tehran with substantial income.

US officials confirm arrest of pro-Palestinian campus protest leader

Student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil on the Columbia University campus in New York at an anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protest encampment on April 29, 2024. (Ted Shaffrey/AP)

Immigration officers have arrested a leader of the protests at Columbia University against Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, authorities confirm, after US President Donald Trump vowed to deport foreign pro-Palestinian student demonstrators.

Mahmoud Khalil, one of the most prominent faces of the university’s protest movement that erupted in response to the war, was arrested yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says on X.

The agency says the action was taken “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting antisemitism, and in coordination with the Department of State.”

Report: Identities and addresses of thousands of Israeli gun owners leaked online

The identities and addresses of thousands of Israeli gun owners have been leaked online following a hack carried out by Iranians in February, Haaretz has reported.

The newspaper says the leak could threaten some 10,000 people who could be targeted by criminal elements seeking to obtain the weapons.

The report says over 100,000 files were stolen from various sources including the police, the National Security Ministry, and private security firms. Police have said their systems were not breached, and Haaretz said it was not clear where the files were taken from.

22-year-old shot in south Tel Aviv dies of injuries

A 22-year-old shot in south Tel Aviv tonight has died after being taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Police are investigating the killing.

After Columbia crackdown, activist group tells protesters to ‘take over’ campuses

On the anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught, anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters march in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, on the Los Angeles campus of the University of Southern California, October 7, 2024 in Los Angeles. (Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG, via JTA)

National Students for Justice in Palestine calls for mass unrest on campuses across the US, after the Trump administration’s crackdown on anti-Israel activists at Columbia University.

NSJP issues a statement calling on activist groups and individuals to walk out of class, “take over central spaces on campus, and assert our mass power.” The protest activities are scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

The statement is cosponsored by several other leading anti-Israel activist groups and says it is in response to the Trump administration’s moves against anti-Israel activists.

“The popular movement against Zionism, imperialism, and fascism will not shy away in the face of federal threats,” the statement says.

The call to arms comes after the Trump administration cut $400 million in funding to Columbia, and ICE agents detained a student protest leader, days after campus activists held several disruptive rallies and distributed Hamas propaganda.

“We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.

South Korean police prepare for ‘worst-case scenarios’ ahead of Yoon impeachment ruling

Police will be out in force, and subway stations and at least one school will be closed over safety concerns when South Korea’s Constitutional Court rules whether to oust or reinstate impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Yoon’s political fate hangs in the balance after his short-lived martial law decree on December 3 led to his impeachment and separate criminal charges of insurrection.

The impeachment ruling is expected to come as soon as this week, and both supporters and opponents of Yoon are expected to turn out in large numbers, with recent protests gathering tens of thousands.

“We are setting up plans considering the worst-case scenarios,” Lee Ho-young, Acting Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, tells reporters.

Police officers can use pepper spray or batons in case of violence similar to what happened during a rampage by Yoon supporters on a court building in January, Lee adds.

On the day of the ruling, a subway station near the Constitutional Court will be closed, and trains might not stop at other subway stations where large rallies are expected, the Seoul Metro says.

Israeli negotiators head to Qatar for Gaza truce talks

Israel is due to send a delegation to Doha today for a fresh round of talks on extending a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, after cutting off the electricity supply to ramp up pressure on Hamas.

The first phase of the truce ended on March 1 with no agreement on subsequent stages that could secure a permanent end to the war, but both sides have since refrained from resuming full-scale fighting.

There are still significant differences over the terms of a potential second phase of the truce, which has largely halted the violence that raged since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Hamas has repeatedly called for immediate negotiations on the next phase, while Israel prefers an extension of the current one.

Israel has halted aid deliveries to Gaza amid the deadlock, and on Sunday announced it was cutting off the electricity supply in a bid to force Hamas to release hostages.

“We will use all the tools at our disposal to bring back the hostages and ensure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the day after” the war, Energy Minister Eli Cohen said as he ordered the power cut.

Hamas has repeatedly demanded that the second phase of the truce — brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States — would include a comprehensive hostage-prisoner exchange, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire, and the reopening of border crossings to end the blockade.

Hezbollah chief rejects laying down weapons, admits taking heavy blows

An image grab taken from Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV on November 29, 2024, shows Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem delivering a televised speech from an undisclosed location. In the corner is a picture of slain Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. (Al-Manar / AFP)

In comments tonight, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem insisted his organization is alive and well, but admitted taking heavy blows during its fight with Israel, while claiming that the group is choosing to lay low for the time being to let Lebanon’s armed forces confront Israel instead.

Qassem, speaking to Hezbollah mouthpiece al-Manar for the first time since taking over the group in the wake of leader Hassan Nasrallah’s assassination by Israel, said: “The resistance is fine and continuing, but it has been wounded and has made sacrifices. Does anyone expect the resistance to continue without sacrifices? Great sacrifices, yes, but we realize that these sacrifices must be made.”

He said Hezbollah was committed to “resistance to liberate the land and confront expansionist Israel that wants to usurp the region, not just Palestine.”

He also rejected the notion of Hezbollah disarming after new President Joseph Aoun said the Lebanese state must have control over “the decisions of war and peace,” and to do this, it must “monopolize or restrict weapons to the state.”

Qassem said: “We have nothing to do with this matter. We are a resistance that considers Israel a threat to Lebanon, and there is no objection to the army and the state defending Lebanon. The resistance has the right to continue to protect Lebanon. Therefore, we do not consider the president’s words about the exclusivity of weapons to be directed at us.”

He also praised Lebanese who have “offered martyrs” to fighting Israel.

“The resistance is not a phase, but rather it is ongoing, and it is an idea that is adopted by the young and old, women and men,” he said. “We feel proud when we hear the stances of these people… There is a woman who says: ‘I have offered three martyrs, two of my sons-in-law, and two of my grandchildren, and the rest I am ready to offer, and I am ready to offer myself.’

“Or the one who says: ‘I have offered my only son and I am ready to offer more,’” he added. “This is a great example. Who can defeat these people?”