March 13: Israel will try to ‘flood’ Gaza with aid from multiple entry points, says IDF

Israel will try to ‘flood’ Gaza with aid from multiple entry points, says IDF spokesman

Israeli soldiers stand by an Egyptian truck bringing in humanitarian aid supplies into the Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, February 6, 2024. (Menahem Kahana/ AFP)

Israel will try to “flood” the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid from a variety of entry points, the IDF’s chief spokesman tells foreign reporters at a press briefing, as international pressure mounts to address the growing problem of hunger in the besieged enclave.

“We are trying to flood the area, to flood it with humanitarian aid,” IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari tells a group of foreign reporters.

Earlier today, the military announced that six aid trucks with supplies from the World Food Organization had entered the northern part of the Gaza Strip, where the hunger crisis has been especially acute, through a crossing in the security fence known as the 96th gate.

More such convoys will follow, as well as deliveries from other entry points, complemented by air drops and seaborne aid cargoes, Hagari says.

“We are learning and improving and doing different changes so as not to create a routine but to create a diversity of ways that we can enter,” he says.

Hagari acknowledges, however, that getting supplies into the enclave is only one part of the problem and more is needed to be done to solve the problem of how to distribute it fairly and efficiently to desperately needy people.

“The problem inside Gaza is the distribution problem,” he says.

Nasrallah says even if Israel enters Rafah, ‘you have lost the war’

An image grab from Hezbollah's al-Manar TV taken on February 16, 2024, shows the head of the Lebanese terror group Hassan Nasrallah delivering a televised speech. (Al-Manar / AFP)

In a speech for Ramadan, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah claims that Israel will lose the war in Gaza even if it enters Rafah.

“Even if you go to Rafah, you have lost the war,” Nasrallah says in comments aimed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Lebanese news site Naharnet.

The Hezbollah leader says that “despite all the massacres, Gaza’s people will not surrender to you,” adding that “the people of Gaza are still embracing the resistance.”

“Who are you negotiating with if Hamas has been defeated?” Nasrallah says.

According to the Al Manar news site, Nasrallah refers to the internal Israeli debate over the ultra-Orthodox serving in the IDF, saying that the “political crisis with the Haredim” will lead to the collapse of the state. He also points to comments by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid saying that the IDF does not have enough manpower to wage a war on the northern front.

IDF says it struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon

The IDF says fighter jets struck buildings used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Mays al-Jabal and Ayta ash-Shab a short while ago.

Troops also shelled the Hamoul area with artillery today, the IDF adds.

מטוסי קרב תקפו לפני זמן קצר מבנים צבאיים ששימשו את ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחבים מיס אל-ג׳בל ועיתא א-שעב שבדרום לבנון.

בנוסף, צה״ל תקף במהלך היום בירי ארטילרי במרחב וואדי חמול שבדרום לבנון pic.twitter.com/I5tmTPJykr

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 13, 2024

Strike on UNRWA facility in Rafah took out Hamas commander who stole aid, says IDF

A Palestinian man checks a pool of blood at an UNRWA warehouse in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, following an Israeli airstrike on March 13, 2024. (MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

The IDF says that a strike earlier today on an UNRWA facility in Rafah was a successful operation to kill a Hamas commander.

Hamas claims that five people were killed in the strike, and UNRWA says that at least one of its staff members was killed.

The IDF says that Muhammad Abu Hasna, a commander in the terror group’s operations unit, was eliminated in the strike. According to a joint statement from the IDF and the Shin Bet, Hasna was involved in seizing humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip and distributing it to Hamas operatives.

Israel has accused at least a dozen UNRWA staffers of being active Hamas members involved in the October 7 massacre, and many others of being tied to the terror group, leading many countries to freeze aid to the UN agency.

IDF says civilians in Rafah to be directed to ‘humanitarian islands,’ ahead of ground op

Displaced Palestinians collect food donated by a charity before an iftar meal, on the first day of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, on March 11, 2024. (AFP)

The IDF says it plans to direct a significant portion of the 1.4 million displaced Palestinians trapped in Rafah toward “humanitarian islands” in the center of the territory, ahead of a planned ground operation in the southernmost Gazan city.

The fate of those in Rafah has been a major area of concern for Israel’s allies. Humanitarian groups have warned that a Rafah offensive would be a catastrophe. Israel has said it is needed if the country is to achieve its goal of eliminating Hamas.

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says moving those in Rafah to the designated areas, which he says will be carried out in coordination with international actors, is a key part of the military’s preparations for its anticipated invasion of Rafah, where Hamas maintains four battalions, Israel says, that it wants to destroy.

Hagari says those islands will provide temporary housing, food, water, and other necessities to evacuated Palestinians. He does not say when Rafah’s evacuation will occur, nor when the Rafah offensive will begin, saying that Israel wants the timing to be right operationally and to be coordinated with neighboring Egypt, which has said it does not want an influx of displaced Palestinians crossing its border.

Blinken says Israel must view ‘protecting civilians’ in Gaza as its ‘no. 1’ priority

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) meets with European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, at the State Department in Washington on March 13, 2024. (Mandel NGAN / AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he held a virtual meeting with counterparts from the UK, Cyprus, the EU, the UAE, and Qatar to discuss the maritime corridor for aid to Gaza announced by US President Joe Biden last week.

The Pentagon says the temporary pier being built will be operational in roughly two months, at which point Blinken says it will be used to deliver two million meals per day to Gazan civilians, who the UN warns are at risk of famine.

Blinken reiterates that the eventual maritime route is meant only to supplement the shipment of aid through land corridors and highlights the new route opened by Israel to deliver aid directly into northern Gaza.

“The bottom line is we need to see flooding of the zone when it comes to humanitarian assistance for Gaza,” Blinken says, while acknowledging that the best way to ensure more aid gets in is by securing a truce and hostage deal, which Hamas has yet to accept.

Blinken met earlier today with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell who accused Israel of using food as a weapon of war in Gaza. The secretary appeared to reject this argument, saying Israel has worked to ensure more aid gets into Gaza, even if it remains insufficient.

Asked to comment on reports that an Israeli strike hit an UNRWA warehouse earlier today, killing one staffer and wounding 22 others, Blinken says he does not have enough information yet to adjudicate the matter. However, the incident underscores the imperative for Israel to implement better deconfliction mechanisms, despite the difficult conditions in which the IDF is fighting, he adds.

“We look to the government of Israel to make sure this is a priority. Protecting civilians, getting people the assistance they need, that has to be job number one, even as they do what is necessary to defend the country and to deal with the threat posed by Hamas,” Blinken says.

EU calls on Israel to open additional crossings so more aid can reach Gaza

Palestinians transport bags of flour on the back of trucks, as humanitarian aid arrives in Gaza City on March 6, 2024. (AFP)

The EU calls on Israel to open other crossings, in addition to the Cyprus maritime corridor, so that more aid can reach Gaza.

“While supporting the Cyprus maritime corridor, we call on Israel to open additional crossings so more aid can reach Gaza, including the north, and to ease overall customs restrictions”, EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic writes on social media platform X.

The statement comes after Lenarcic met virtually with Cypriot Foreign Affairs Minister Constantinos Kombos, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, British Foreign Minister David Cameron, AEU Foreign Affairs Minister Abdulrahman Al Thani, and UN Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag.

Yesterday, Israel sent aid into northern Gaza via an access route in the north of the Strip for the first time.

US-Israeli father of slain soldier says Biden called with condolences, gave his phone number

Ruby Chen, the father of Hamas hostage Itay Chen, speaks in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on January 7, 2024. (Screenshot)

Ruby Chen, the father of slain IDF soldier Itay Chen, whose death on October 7 was announced yesterday, says that US President Joe Biden called to express his condolences.

Chen, a US-Israel dual citizen, tells Channel 12 news that Biden “spoke to me like a father speaks to his son who has to eulogize his grandson,” noting that Biden had also experienced the death of a son, and it was a “very personal, very tough conversation.”

He says that the US president also gave him his own phone number, and urged him that “if you need to speak to someone, don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and call, I promise someone will get back to you.”

Asked if he had received similar calls from Israeli leaders, including the prime minister, since the death of his son was announced, Chen says only: “Allow me to skip that question.”

Senior IDF intelligence officer said to be resigning over October 7 failures

Brig. Gen. Amit Saar, head of the Military Intelligence research department, speaks at a Gazit conference in Tel Aviv, December 5, 2022. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90/File)

A senior Israeli intelligence officer has reportedly announced his intention to resign over the failures that led to Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.

The Kan public broadcaster quotes the head of the Military Intelligence Research Department, Brig. Gen. Amit Saar, as saying he will quit once the IDF wraps up its probes into its failures.

“I understand that as soon as the military investigation is finished, the ones who will rebuild everything in the Military Intelligence Directorate will be other commanders,” Saar reportedly says.

Kan says the remarks were made during a conference with the head of the Intelligence Directorate, the commander of Unit 8200, and other intelligence officers.

Hamas commander killed in IDF strike on Rafah, says military

Palestinians walk past the rubble of buildings hit in an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on March 10, 2024. (Mohammed Abed/AFP)

The IDF and Shin Bet say a Hamas commander in the terror group’s operations unit was eliminated in an airstrike in southern Gaza’s Rafah earlier today.

Muhammad Abu Hasna was involved in “integrating extensive activity of the various Hamas units, was in contact with the field operatives of Hamas and directed them,” the IDF and Shin Bet say in a joint statement.

מוקדם יותר היום כלי טיס חיסל באופן ממוקד את מחמד אבו חסנה, מחבל חמאס במחלקת המבצעים של מרחב רפיח. התקיפה בוצעה בעקבות מידע מודיעיני מדויק של אמ״ן ושב״כ.

חסנה תכלל פעילות נרחבת של יחידות חמאס השונות, היה בקשר עם פעילי השטח של חמאס והפעיל אותם>> pic.twitter.com/r7fn37yGoh

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 13, 2024

The statement says Abu Hasna was also tasked with a Hamas intelligence war room that collected information on IDF movements in the Strip.

The IDF and Shin Bet also accuse Hasna of involvement in seizing humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip and distributing it to Hamas operatives.

Abu Hasna’s elimination “significantly harms the functioning of various Hamas units in Rafah,” the statement adds.

The IDF publishes footage of the strike.

Germany says it is working with Thailand to free their hostages held in Gaza

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R) and Thailand's Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin address a press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, on March 13, 2024. (RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP)

Germany is working together with Thailand to free their respective citizens who were taken hostage by Hamas in southern Israel last year, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says at a press conference alongside Thai Premier Srettha Thavisin.

Eight Thai citizens are believed to still be held hostage in Gaza after they were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, as well as several Israelis with dual German citizenship.

According to Hebrew media reports, Scholz is expected to visit Israel next week.

Freed hostage Itay Regev tells BBC he was spat on, slapped during anesthesia-free surgery in Gaza

Itay Regev visits the site where he and his sister, Maya, were kidnapped on October 7 at the Supernova music festival, January 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Freed hostage Itay Regev tells the BBC in an interview that he was held in “horrific” conditions by “very, very vicious” captors and did not think he would ever make it out alive.

Visiting London to advocate for the remaining hostages — including his close friend Omer Shem Tov, Regev says he is there to “scream their cries from Gaza,” and demand the international community do more to free the 130 hostages still being held.

“For five months not to see the sunlight and you don’t know what’s happening with your family, for five months to be in horrific conditions and hungry,” he says. “They have to be taken out of there as quickly as possible. They have the horrible feeling of not knowing what their fate will be from one second to the next.”

Regev was released during a truce in late November. He describes being “very, very hungry” during his captivity and believing he would die. “I didn’t have a shower for 54 days. My captors were very, very vicious. They didn’t care. I had wounds in my legs, big holes in my legs… you lived there in a horrific sense of fear. Every second that you live with this feeling is a terrible feeling, that you don’t really know if you’re going to wake up in the morning.”

He says that he was shot during his kidnapping, and then taken to a hospital where a doctor, alongside several Hamas operatives, removed the bullet from his leg without any anesthesia or painkillers.

“They put the forceps into my leg and they pulled out the bullet without anesthesia. They told me to be quiet because if I wasn’t quiet they’d kill me. In all that time there was more abuse, slaps to the face, spitting.”

IDF says biting speech by general was not approved in advance by spokesman

The commander of the 98th Division, Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus, speaks to the press from the Gaza border, March 13, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

The IDF says Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus’s remarks addressed to Israel’s political leaders at the end of his press statement earlier were not approved by the Spokesperson’s Unit.

The commander will be called in for a “clarification conversation,” the IDF adds.

Goldfus’s remarks to Israel’s political leaders were read from a separate handwritten notebook, after he had completed reading a prepared and approved speech on the division’s operations in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.

Brother of hostage: Families should boycott prime minister and government

Danny Elgarat, brother of hostage Itzik Elgarat, speaking February 10, 2024, at Tel Aviv Hostages Square. (Courtesy, Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Danny Elgarat, the brother of hostage Itzik Elgarat, says the families of those hostages being held captive in Gaza should boycott the prime minister and the government.

“I am standing before you, after 159 days, begging the cabinet and the prime minister to meet with me, to see me,” says Elgarat, alongside statements to the press from other family members.

“So I say to you, this is my view, that the Hostages Families Forum should boycott the prime minister and the cabinet,” he continues. “We don’t need to march for five days to Jerusalem, we don’t need to walk from Re’im to Paris Square [in the capital] and we don’t need to protest at the Kirya [military headquarters in Tel Aviv]. They need to stand here, and say, ‘We came, we want to see you.'”

Simona, the mother of hostage Doron Steinbrecher, says, “A month ago, Hamas released a video featuring my little girl. I go to sleep every night with that image.”

She says she has been asking to meet with the war cabinet “for weeks in order to get information and the request has been rejected again and again, leaving us only with the media.”

Italy refuses to extradite Palestinian suspect to Israel, citing risk of ‘degrading treatment’

An Italian appeals court refuses to send a suspected Palestinian terrorist to Israel, saying he risks facing “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” if he is extradited.

The man, named by the court as Anan Kamal Afif Yaeesh, 36, is one of three Palestinians arrested in central Italy on suspicion they were planning attacks in an unspecified country.

Israel applied for the extradition of Yaeesh, but his lawyer opposed the request, presenting reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on prison conditions for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

In a written ruling, a panel of three judges in the central city of L’Aquila side with the defense, saying Yaeesh would face “acts constituting a violation of human rights” if the extradition request were granted.

They rule that he should be kept in prison in Italy because he is being investigated by the public prosecutor’s office for the same charges for which Israel had requested his extradition.

The substance of the allegation against him was not discussed in the hearing. Israel has repeatedly said detainees and prisoners are treated in accordance with international law.

Troops have killed over 100 Hamas operatives in Khan Younis complex in March, says IDF

IDF troops operate in the Hamad Town residential complex in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, in a handout photo published March 13, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF’s 98th Division has killed more than 100 Hamas operatives in the Hamad Town residential complex in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis over the past week and a half, the military says.

The troops have been raiding the multi-story buildings in the Qatari-funded neighborhood, where the IDF says there is Hamas infrastructure.

Around 100 airstrikes were carried out during the operation in Hamad, according to the IDF.

The division’s Maglan and Egoz commando units, along with the Givati recon unit, captured several operatives in Hamad, including a commander in Hamas’s elite Nukhba force, the IDF says.

The IDF says captured operatives have provided the IDF intelligence on the locations of tunnels, booby traps, gunmen and other infrastructure.

In one case, the IDF says a captured Hamas fighter provided information on a building where 15 gunmen were holed up. The site was then struck and the operatives were killed, the IDF says.

Rights group demands Hebrew U reinstate professor who called to abolish Zionism

Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, professor of social work and law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, during a presentation. (YouTube screenshot; used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel writes to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem demanding it reverse its decision to suspend Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian over a series of inflammatory comments she has made in recent weeks, saying her suspension violated the principles of academic freedom and freedom of expression.

In its letter, ACRI argues that Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s comments, “while contentious, are protected under the right to freedom of expression, rendering her suspension an intolerable infringement upon academic freedom and constitutional rights.”

Earlier this week. the professor told Channel 14 in an interview that Zionism should be abolished, called into question the rapes and other atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7. Last year, she accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

“It’s time to abolish Zionism. It can’t continue, it’s criminal. Only by abolishing Zionism can we continue… They will use any lie. They started with babies, they continued with rape, and they will continue with a million other lies. We stopped believing them, I hope the world stops believing them,” said Shalhoub-Kevorkian.

ACRI’s letter on Wednesday asserted that Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s suspension “sends a chilling message to students and faculty members, particularly Palestinian students, suggesting that freedom of expression is only tolerated when it conforms to institutional narratives.”

Yesterday, Hebrew University accused the professor of taking advantage of her academic freedom of expression “for incitement and to create division,” and said it suspended her to “ensure a safe and conducive environment for our students on campus.”

In rare critique, IDF general says military won’t ‘run from responsibility,’ says politicians must ‘be worthy of us’

The commander of the 98th Division, Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus, speaks to the press from the Gaza border, March 13, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

In rare and harsh remarks directed at Israel’s political leaders, the commander of the 98th Division says the military will “not run away from responsibility,” and tells them that they must push away extremism so as to “not return to October 6.”

“I ask at this opportunity to address our leaders, from both sides, and I hope that they will have the time to listen to the heart of a soldier,” says Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus during a press conference on the Gaza border.

Goldfus says he has been fighting since the morning of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, “and I have not stopped fighting since. Since then I have not stopped sending soldiers, and gone with them, into the fire. We are fighting, we are not getting tired, we are determined to win, determined to bring home the hostages, directly or indirectly.”

“Don’t worry, we, the people of the military, the commanders and troops, have taken, are taking, and will take responsibility for every action. We will not run, just as we don’t run from the fire. We will not run from responsibility,” he says.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has notably avoided taking responsibility for the October 7 onslaught, unlike the defense minister and many top IDF officers.

“We bow our heads over our resonant failure on October 7, but at the same time we push forward, carry out operations at the highest level of quality, protect our values, and attain many achievements on the battlefield,” Goldfus says.

“But you, you need need to be worthy of us. You need to be worthy of the soldiers who lost their lives. You need to be worthy of the reservists who don’t care what [political] side they are on, and fought and fight alongside each other,” he continues.

“Make sure that everyone takes part, you must,” he says, apparently referring to the exemption of ultra-Orthodox Israelis from service. “You must make sure we do not return to October 6, that all the effort and sacrifice won’t be in vain. This you must keep well in your minds, every day, every hour.”

“From my heart, I ask of you to be together, united, push away the extremism, and adopt the togetherness. Find what unites. We on the battlefield found it, and we will not give up on it,” he says.

“Make it worth [it],” Goldfus adds in English.

UNIFIL report claims IDF tank fired at ‘clearly identifiable journalists’ in Lebanon in October

An Israeli Merkava tank takes part in a military drill near the border with Lebanon in the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel on October 26, 2023 (Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

A UN investigation claims that an Israeli tank killed Reuters reporter Issam Abdallah in Lebanon last year by firing two 120 mm rounds at a group of “clearly identifiable journalists” in violation of international law.

The investigation by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), summarized in a report seen by Reuters, says its personnel did not record any exchange of fire across the border between Israel and Lebanon for more than 40 minutes before the Israeli Merkava tank opened fire.

“The firing at civilians, in this instance clearly identifiable journalists, constitutes a violation of UNSCR 1701 (2006) and international law,” the UNIFIL report says, referring to Security Council resolution 1701.

Asked about the UNIFIL report, IDF spokesperson Nir Dinar says Hezbollah had attacked the IDF near the Israeli community of Hanita on October 13. It responded with artillery and tank fire to remove the threat and subsequently received a report that journalists had been injured.

“The IDF deplores any injury to uninvolved parties, and does not deliberately shoot at civilians, including journalists,” Dinar says. “The IDF considers the freedom of the press to be of utmost importance while clarifying that being in a war zone is dangerous.”

Dinar says the General Staff’s Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism, which is responsible for reviewing exceptional events, will continue to examine the incident.

Amnesty chief says Gaza maritime corridor and airdrops are ‘sign of powerlessness’

US Army soldiers load an AC unit aboard the USAV Monterey at the pier of the Joint Base Langley-Eustis during a media preview of the 7th Transportation Brigade deployment in Hampton, Virginia, on March 12, 2024. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP)

Efforts to deliver aid to war-torn Gaza by constructing a seaport or through airdrops are a sign of international powerlessness, the head of Amnesty International says in Madrid.

Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary general, says nobody is holding Israel to account over its delays to deliveries by land so resorting to “airdrops, the construction of a port are a sign of powerlessness and weakness on the part of the international community.”

Israel maintains that it does not restrict humanitarian or medical aid and has blamed the lack of deliveries on the capacity of aid agencies, repeatedly saying that it is approving more aid trucks for crossing than the agencies are able to deliver.

Government expected to shutter Intelligence Ministry, appoint Gamliel as science minister

Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel attends the Christian Feast of Tabernacles event organized by the Jerusalem Christian Embassy, held at the Arena stadium in Jerusalem on October 3, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)

The government is likely to approve the closure of the Intelligence Ministry during Sunday’s cabinet meeting.

According to Hebrew media reports, the cabinet is expected to appoint Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel as the new Science and Technology Minister in place of Ofir Akunis, who was recently tapped as Israel’s next consul-general in New York City.

The Intelligence Ministry is one of 10 government ministries that the Finance Ministry recently recommended closing to cover a wartime budget shortfall.

Since October 7, Gamliel has been a vocal proponent for the “voluntary resettlement” of Gazans.

Second Gaza aid ship to depart Larnaca soon, says Cypriot minister

This image made from video shows a ship belonging to Spanish aid group Open Arms, background, and an aid barge docked at Larnaca port in Cyprus, March 11, 2024. (AP Photo)

A second Gaza-bound aid ship will embark from the Cypriot port of Larnaca once a boat already sailing along the new maritime corridor completes its mission, Cyprus’s foreign minister says.

The second vessel, “with bigger capacity” than the in-transit Open Arms, will be able to leave Larnaca “after the off-load” of the first one, Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos tells reporters. “If there is no problem, we have lined up the next departure.”

The second ship “has been in Larnaca since Saturday” and is being inspected, Kombos says, without specifying how much aid is being loaded onto it.

While the first boat was arranged “through an NGO, we have lined up a follow-up through a commercial vessel with bigger capacity,” the minister adds.

Once near Gaza, the aid carried by the Open Arms will be delivered onto a pier built for the operation by US charity World Central Kitchen, which will then distribute it.

“It’s a maiden trip, we need to make sure we have the capacity to receive and distribute” food to the population,” Kombos says. A major concern for the delivery is “crowd management,” according to the minister, with the situation particularly acute in the territory’s north.

Visiting Gaza, Gallant hints at imminent Rafah op: ‘Those who think we are delaying will soon see’

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (in black) visits the western edge of Gaza City in the Strip on March 13, 2024. (Elad Malka/Defense Ministry)

Visiting Gaza City, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant hints that Israel will soon launch a ground operation in Rafah in southern Gaza.

“Extraordinary work is being done here above and below ground, the forces reach everywhere and the conclusion is that there is no safe place in Gaza for terrorists,” says Gallant during his visit, according to comments provided by his office.

“Even those who think that we are delaying will soon see that we will reach everyone,” he adds. “We will bring to justice anyone who was involved in October 7 — either we will eliminate them or bring them to trial in Israel. There is no safe place, not here, not outside of Gaza, not anywhere across the Middle East — we will bring everyone to their place.”

Israeli officials have repeatedly said that forces must operation in Rafah, believed to be the last remaining Hamas stronghold in the Strip, amid harsh international warnings about the safety of the more than million civilians who have taken refuge in the area.

Gallant also addresses the humanitarian situation in the Strip and the new maritime corridor for aid, saying that it will allow assistance to reach “citizens and not Hamas,” and will weaken the terror group and “strengthen our hold and improve our ability to continue fighting.”

IDF says it fired warning shots at two suspects in diving gear in northern Gaza

An Israeli navy warship sails in the Mediterranean sea waters off the coast of the Gaza Strip as pictured from a position along the border in southern Israel on January 4, 2024. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Two suspects in diving gear were spotted by the IDF entering the sea in northern Gaza earlier, the military says.

Navy vessels tracked the pair and fired warning shots, after which they fled back to the coast, the IDF says.

US House overwhelmingly passes TikTok ban bill

People work inside the TikTok Inc. building in Culver City, California, on March 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approves a bill that would force Tiktok to divest from its Chinese owner or get banned from the United States.

The lawmakers vote 352 in favor of the proposed law and 65 against, in a rare instance of bipartisan unity in politically divided Washington.

Knesset passes amended wartime 2024 budget 62-55

A vote on the state budget at the assembly hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Knesset passes an amended wartime budget 62-55 following two days of furious debate.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party welcomes the vote, noting that it managed to pass “a budget that guarantees the continuation of the war until complete victory and benefits the citizens of Israel and the state’s economy.”

The budget’s passage is panned by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who calls it the most “sectoral, detached and profligate budget in the history of the State of Israel” and pledges that it is “the last budget this government will pass.”

The coalition manages to overcome strong internal opposition to the budget, which was opposed by members of Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party, as well as Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter (Likud), who only votes in favor of the measure after receiving reassurances from Netanyahu that he would “resolve the crisis in the agriculture budget by Passover.”

According to the revised budget bill, the government expenditure limit for 2024 will stand at NIS 584.1 billion ($160 billion), more than NIS 70 billion ($19 billion) higher than the original 2024 budget approved in May 2023, prior to the outbreak of war on October 7.

NIS 55 billion ($15 billion) of this additional 70 billion is allocated to financing the military while the rest will go toward civilian wartime needs.

The budget pairs across-the-board cuts with additional spending on war-related matters and has generated widespread opposition — both within and outside Netanyahu’s coalition — with many complaining that it fails to trim extraneous spending and coalition-linked interests while cutting back on critical services.

UNRWA says its warehouse in Rafah was hit, injuring scores

Palestinians prepare for an "iftar" meal, breaking of fast, on the second day of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, at a camp for displaced people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 12, 2024. (MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says one of its aid warehouses in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip was “hit” today, wounding scores of people.

“We can confirm that an UNRWA warehouse/distribution center in Rafah has been hit,” agency spokeswoman Juliette Touma tells AFP, adding there are “scores injured.”

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims that four people were killed in the “bombing of the warehouse.”

The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the purported strike.

Netanyahu to Dutch PM: Rafah operation is key to victory

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) meets his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on March 13, 2024. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

An IDF operation in Rafah is necessary to achieve Israel’s war aims against Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte during their meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu also pushes back on the idea of unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, saying it would be seen by Hamas as a victory, according to the Israeli readout of the meeting.

He tells Rutte, who is in Israel for the fourth time since the war started, that Israel will replace UNRWA, and thanks him for suspending aid to the UN refugee agency amid allegations of involvement in terror.

Netanyahu asks the Netherlands to join the maritime humanitarian corridor from Cyprus, which saw its first ship set sail yesterday.

Rutte will continue on to Egypt to meet with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

IDF says it struck multiple Hezbollah sites in Lebanon

This picture taken from Israel along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing near the Lebanese village of Khiam during Israeli airstrikes on March 12, 2024. (Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

The IDF says it carried out airstrikes on a building used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Qantara and another site in Yater.

Earlier, a rocket launcher and another building used by the terror group in Aalma al-Chaeb was struck, the IDF says.

לפני זמן קצר מטוסי קרב תקפו מבנה צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב קנטרה ותשתית צבאית של הארגון במרחב יעטר.

מוקדם יותר היום הותקפה עמדת שיגור ומבנה צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב עלמא א-שעב pic.twitter.com/5ZmfLFAJIn

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 13, 2024

Cyprus says its maritime aid corridor will utilize US-built Gaza pier

A ship, left, belonging to the Open Arms aid group departs from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Gaza with some 200 tons of rice and flour, March 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Cyprus’ foreign minister says a US initiative to build a pier off Gaza for large-scale aid deliveries to the territory by sea will eventually be folded into the Cyprus-Gaza maritime corridor that’s currently running.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos says although the two initiatives are now separate, all aid reaching Gaza by sea will eventually have as its single departure point the Cypriot port of Larnaca.

That’s where all the aid will be collected and loaded onto ships after undergoing thorough security screening by Cypriot customs officials, with personnel from Israel and other countries acting as observers to ensure the integrity of the process.

Having such a single departure point would address the Israelis’ security concerns regarding inspections of all cargo to ensure that nothing is loaded on ships that Hamas could use against Israeli troops, Kombos says.

Kombos says aid that will reach Gaza by ship in the coming weeks will use the US charity World Central Kitchen’s distribution network in the Palestinian territory. But Cypriot authorities and other partners are looking to expand those networks on the ground in Gaza to include United Nations agencies like the World Food Program.

UNRWA says it routinely submits staff lists to Israel and got no objections

Israelis protest against United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) outside their offices in Jerusalem, March 13, 2024.(Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)

UNRWA has been providing Israel with a list of its employees in Gaza every year and did not receive any pushback from Jerusalem, which maintained in January that roughly ten percent of the agency’s members are tied to the Hamas terror group, a spokesperson says.

“Every year, UNRWA provides the lists of all its staff to host countries across the region. In the context of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, UNRWA submits the lists of its staff to the State of Israel as the occupying power,” Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, tells The Times of Israel.

“The last time UNRWA submitted that list was in May 2023. We have not received any response from the State of Israel on the list,” she adds.

UNRWA fired 12 of its employees in January after it received evidence from Israel that they participated in Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught. But Israel has since offered what it says is intelligence to stakeholders showing that some 1,200 of UNRWA’s 13,000 staffers have ties to Hamas.

A senior European diplomat tells The Times of Israel that Jerusalem is “cynically” making such allegations in order to force UNRWA’s dissolution after never taking issue with the employee lists it received from the agency in previous years.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman dismisses this account, telling The Times of Israel that the lists it received from UNRWA were partial, did not contain ID numbers necessary for vetting the employees and were sometimes sent a full year after staffers were already working for the agency.

Nonetheless, Israel identified Hamas activists on UNRWA’s payroll on several occasions. In 2012, Israel alerted UNRWA that one of its principals, Sohail al-Hindi, was a Hamas activist, but it took until after Hindi’s election to Hamas’s politburo in 2017 for UNRWA to fire him, according to the Foreign Ministry spokesman.

Israel has long accused UNRWA of perpetuating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by extending refugee status to millions of descendants of Palestinians who fled or were forced out of homes in today’s Israel at the time of the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948, rather than limiting such a status only to the original refugees, as is the norm with most refugee populations worldwide.

Israel and other groups have also long argued that UNRWA school materials glorify terrorism and anti-Israel incitement.

Hamas says maritime aid route for Gaza inadequate, too slow

A ship belonging to the Open Arms aid group with aid on a platform ferrying some 200 tonnes of rice and flour directly to Gaza, departs from the port from southern city of Larnaca, Cyprus, March 12, 2024 (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

The Hamas terror group says that sending an aid ship from Cyprus to the territory is an inadequate response to the needs of its 2.4 million people.

“According to what was announced, the ship’s cargo does not exceed that of one or two trucks, and it will take days to arrive,” Salama Marouf, a spokesman says in a statement.

He says some logistical questions about the operation were unanswered and raised concerns about Israeli inspections.

“It is still unknown where it will dock and how it will reach the shores of Gaza,” Marouf says. “Moreover, it will be subject to inspection by the occupying army.”

A former salvage vessel run by Spanish charity Open Arms set off from Cyprus early Tuesday towing a barge loaded with 200 tons of aid in a trial run for the maritime corridor.

On Wednesday, the vessel had yet to complete the nearly 400-kilometer (250-mile) crossing of the eastern Mediterranean to Gaza, where US charity World Central Kitchen said work was underway to build a makeshift jetty.

Hamas says 5 killed in IDF strike on UNRWA warehouse in Rafah

A man checks shrapnel marks on a wall near a pool of blood at a UN warehouse in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 13, 2024 (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says five people were killed when an Israeli strike hit near a UNRWA warehouse in the southern city of Rafah.

More than one million displaced Palestinians are sheltering in the city where the IDF says Hamas has its last remaining stronghold.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

Far-right MK slams probe into cop who shot Palestinian teen

Negev and the Galilee Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf attends a lobby to strengthen the Galilee at the Knesset, June 26, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf slams the Department of Internal Police Investigations over its questioning of a Border Police officer following he death of a 13-year-old boy during clashes in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem last night.

Israel’s enemies see how we are investigating our own police, the lawmaker for the far-right Otzma Yehudit party declares, speaking during a Knesset debate and calling the probe “a disgrace.”

Wasserlauf  claims Israeli security forces “will be scared to do what is necessary to neutralize terrorists.”

In response, Arab lawmakers begin yelling, sparking a shouting match between Hadash-Ta’al chairman Ahmad Tibi and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Adidas donating $150 million from Yeezy sales to groups fighting antisemitism, hate

File: A sign advertises Yeezy shoes made by Adidas at Kickclusive, a sneaker resale store, in Paramus, New Jersey, October 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Adidas says that it’s donated or is planning to give away more than $150 million to groups fighting antisemitism and other forms of hate from the sales of Yeezy shoes last year after it severed ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.

The German sportswear brand had 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) worth of popular Yeezy sneakers piled up in warehouses after it broke off its partnership with Ye in October 2022 over his antisemitic and other offensive comments on social media and in interviews.

Adidas decided to sell some of the remaining shoes in batches, with two releases last year and another that launched late last month, and donate a portion of the proceeds to anti-hate groups.

The company has made donations to the Anti-Defamation League and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change, run by social justice advocate Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd.

Sa’ar accuses Gantz of blocking him from war cabinet seat

MK Gideon Sa'ar attends a faction meeting of the National Unity party at the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 20, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar accuses former ally Benny Gantz of opposing his inclusion in the war cabinet.

In a tweet, Sa’ar — whose party announced its split with National Unity alliance with Gantz’s Blue and White yesterday — accuses Gantz of opposing both his and hawkish opposition politician Avigdor Liberman becoming members of the narrow decision-making body.

“His opposition to changing the limited composition of the cabinet was based on a wrong diagnosis: ‘What works should not be fixed.’ A large part of the population feels and knows that there is much to be corrected in the way the war is being navigated by the limited cabinet,” he tweets.

“Lowering military pressure and slowing down the destruction of Hamas forces is not correct. At this point we should have [already completed] the operation in Rafah,” he charges.

“The destruction of the ruling forces of Hamas is also not progressing as required… This allows Hamas to restore its power,” he asserts.

He characterizes his decision to go it on his own as “not about politics but about the way to decide the war.”

IDF confirms Lebanon drone strike, says Hamas target plotted attacks overseas

Firefighters douse a burning car after it was hit in a reported Israeli drone attack in Lebanon's southern area of Tyre on March 13, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

The IDF confirms carrying out a strike on a vehicle near southern Lebanon’s Tyre earlier today, targeting a senior Hamas operative.

According to the IDF, Hadi Mustafa was involved in directing terror cells in Lebanon, as well as advancing attacks against Israelis and Jews in several countries abroad.

The IDF says Mustafa was also part of a Hamas unit in Lebanon headed by Samir Fandi, who was assassinated in Beirut along with Hamas deputy leader Salah al-Arouri in January.

The military in a statement vows that it “will continue to act against the Hamas terror organization in every arena in which it operates.”

It also publishes footage of the strike.

Gafni urges Knesset to pass war budget

Finance Committee chair MK Moshe Gafni speaks during a budget debate in the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 12, 2024.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Committee chairman Moshe Gafni calls on lawmakers to pass the amended 2024 budget despite his own reservations about the legislation.

Addressing the Knesset plenum ahead of the bill’s second and third readings, the Haredi lawmaker says that “with all our reservations about the budget – I believe that it should be approved.”

He cites steep budget cuts to the Arab community as something that needs to be changed.

The budget has also come under fire from Arab lawmakers, who contend that it will heighten inequality and hamper efforts to combat organized crime in their communities.

A poll of 600 people carried out by the Smith Institute and published by Channel 12 yesterday also found a large majority of Jewish citizens opposed to the budget’s allocation of billions of shekels to the Haredi school system, including 67% of Likud voters. According to the poll, zero percent of Haredi polled expressed opposition to the budget.

Mild earthquake rattles northern Israel

Illustrative: A seismograph for earthquake detection. (vchal; iStock by Getty Images)

A mild earthquake is felt across large parts of northern Israel.

The Geological Survey of Israel says the quake measured 3.8 on the Richter scale.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, but residents reported buildings and objects shaking.

Lapid slams proposed budget, says country is paying the price for Netanyahu’s failures

Yair Lapid leads a Yesh Atid faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on March 11, 2024. (Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s amended 2024 wartime budget “tears the mask off all the government’s talk of unity,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares during a debate in the Knesset ahead of the budget bill’s second and third readings.

“You don’t want unity, you want to be paid. You don’t want to live together, you want to live at the expense of the public,” he says. “This is all that is left of your talk of unity… You are telling the productive and working public that unity means that you will pay: Pay with your money, pay with your business, pay with your bills, pay with your life.”

“What is being said here today is not a budget, it is a bill. You messed up, you destroyed, and now you are giving us the bill. The public will pay. For everything,” he charges. “They will pay for the war you are guilty of. They will pay the ultra-Orthodox so that they don’t serve in the army. They will pay for [Minister of National Missions] Orit Strock’s messianic delusions. They will pay for [Minister of Regional Cooperation David] Amsalem’s corruption. They will pay for the failures of a dysfunctional government and a destructive and incompetent prime minister.”

Reservists returning after months of service get warning phone calls from their bank. Grocery prices are soaring. “And what is your response? You are increasing the funding for yeshivas to an all-time high, increasing the coalition funds to an all-time high, increasing to an all-time high the number of unnecessary ministries with unnecessary ministers.”

“You think people don’t understand what a downgrade is, what a deficit is, what coalition funding is…  You have no idea how wrong you are. The people understand exactly what is happening,” he says.

The amended wartime budget pairs across-the-board cuts with additional spending on war-related matters and has generated widespread opposition — both within and outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition — with many complaining that it fails to trim extraneous spending and coalition-linked interests while cutting back on critical services.

Among these are billions of shekels in funding for ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, educational institutions that fail to teach the state-mandated core curriculum.

AG slams Ben Gvir for ‘illegal interference’ in probe of police officer, orders him to stop

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara in Tel Aviv on June 20, 2023. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara orders National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to cease his involvement in the questioning of a police officer who shot a Palestinian teen, warning that his actions constitute “illegal interference.”

The letter from Baharav-Miara comes after the far-right minister showed up outside the offices of the Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) to lend his support to a Border Police officer who was set to be questioned over the death of a 13-year-old boy during clashes in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem last night.

Baharav-Miara tells Ben Gvir that “criminal investigations, including those of police officers, are conducted with complete independence of the investigating authorities, including the DIPI.”

“Any intervention by you, directly or indirectly, violates the law, seriously harms the rule of law and constitutes a politicization of the law enforcement systems and a prohibited influence on them. This should be stopped immediately,” she says.

She also notes that her letter does not in any way constitute taking a position on the investigation, and only relates to Ben Gvir’s conduct.

The Justice Ministry also condemns Ben Gvir, saying his actions had the potential to “harm the independence of the law enforcement system.”

“The DIPI will continue to operate independently and will not be swayed by attempts to influence its work.”

Ben Gvir protests ‘disgrace’ as officer probed for shooting Palestinian teen

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir arrives at the offices of the Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) to lend his support to a police officer from the Border Police who is set to be questioned over the death of a 13-year-old boy during clashes in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem on Tuesday night.

The police claimed that the teen, identified as Rami Hamdan Al-Halhouli, shot fireworks “directly” at Israeli security forces operating in the area, although video footage purportedly of the incident shows the fireworks being shot into the air.

The far-right minister, who invariably and often immediately gives strident public backing to police officers accused of acting improperly, lambasts the DIPI, which he says is “destroying Israeli deterrence” and “harming combat police officers,” adding that Israel “does not abandon” its security personnel.

“It is outrageous to me that the Department of Internal Police Investigations DIPI even dared to invite the fighter here for questioning, it is shameful and disgraceful,” says Ben Gvir, who was accompanied by the police officer’s attorneys at the entrance to DIPI offices.

“A terrorist sets off fireworks and wants to harm our soldiers, our fighters, and shoots the fireworks… A fighter comes and does exactly what we expect from him. This is simply the biggest scandal — that they summon him here and bring him for questioning,” continues the far-right minister.

Ben Gvir adds that he has in the past reinstated Border Police officers who were suspended by DIPI, and says that, as the minister with authority over the police, he will “give support to this combat police officer” who the minister says was, together with his fellow officers, “doing exceptional work.”

The minister adds, however, that he will not intervene in the DIPI investigation.

הגעתי למשרדי מח"ש לגבות את הלוחם שירה במחבל שניסה לפגוע על ידי זיקוקים בלוחמי מג"ב אמש בשופעט – במשמרת שלי אני אתן גב מלא ללוחמים, לא אתן שיפקירו אותם. לוחם שעושה בדיוק את מה שמצופה ממנו – צריך לקבל צל"ש, לא חקירה במח"ש! pic.twitter.com/HltlqyAzui

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) March 13, 2024

Ahead of budget vote, Gantz urges government to conscript ultra-Orthodox

Head of the National Unity party Benny Gantz holds a press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 13, 2024.(Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

In a press conference, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz criticizes the government’s management of the war and its proposed amended budget for 2024 as harmful to the state, panning what he characterizes as Jerusalem’s “strategic mistakes,” and urges the conscription of the ultra-Orthodox.

“It is impossible to ignore the fact that there are challenges in the conduct of the government,” the former IDF chief of staff says ahead of the final two readings of the controversial budget bill.

“The state budget that will be brought today reflects the days [before] October 6. And even worse, real operational needs and correct priorities are harmed as a result of political conduct aimed at preventing the expansion of the ranks of the IDF,” he says in an apparent reference to the government’s reticence to enlist members of the ultra-Orthodox community to solve the military’s manpower shortage.

“Instead of taking advantage of the unity of the people, and the urgent national need, they harm the IDF during combat and exacerbate the rift in the people. These are strategic mistakes, which we will have to correct,” he continues.

“My way has always been a way of broad and shared agreements, but the current situation cannot continue. We have soldiers who have already returned to the reserves, there is an operational need to extend the service of the regular soldiers, there are families and businesses that are holding on by the teeth to last and win this campaign. They look at us expecting a fundamental and real change. Nice words will not be enough here. I appeal to all parts of society, and also to my ultra-Orthodox brothers — the time has come. The country needs them all.”

Hamas confirms member killed in alleged Israeli strike in south Lebanon

The Hamas terror group’s Lebanon branch announces the death of a member in the alleged Israeli drone strike near the coastal city of Tyre this morning.

In an official poster, Hamas names the operative as Hadi Mustafa, from the Rashidieh camp.

Lebanese media said a second person, a Syrian passing by on a motorcycle, was also killed in the strike.

حركة حماس في لبنان تزفّ الشهيد المجاهد هادي مصطفى من مخيم الرشيدية . pic.twitter.com/wbCwfUUbJr

— علي شعيب || Ali Shoeib ???????? (@alishoeib1970) March 13, 2024

Gantz says now ‘not the time to engage in politics,’ after Sa’ar faction quits party

Minister Benny Gantz at a press conference at IDF headquarters, in Tel Aviv, February 21, 2024. (Contact Productions)

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz appears to criticize erstwhile ally Gideon Sa’ar, declaring that “this is not the time to engage in politics,” during a press conference held less than a day after an alliance between the two politicians’ parties broke apart.

Addressing reporters in the Knesset, Gantz, who until yesterday was the leader of the National Unity faction, declares that, “despite everything, we must continue to fight together at this time.”

“Reality does not wait, the world does not wait. The hostages are waiting. The evacuees are waiting,” he says.

“I hope the entire country’s leadership understands this. More than ever, this is the time to act with responsibility and in a statesmanlike manner, and do what is right for Israel. Excuse me, but this is not the time to engage in politics. The issue is not me or my party, but the State of Israel,” he says.

“Now we must concentrate on unifying, on what is correct, and victory. After the fighting is over, we will go to elections. Anyone who runs will explain what he is proposing, and what he did during this difficult period for the sake of the country,” he continues. “This is how my friends and I behave, this is what is expected of everyone.”

Demanding to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet, New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar announced the breakup of the National Unity faction on Tuesday evening, explaining that the unified list did “not convey the voice, positions and emphasis that I would bring” to that decision-making body.

Sa’ar said he decided “to end the partnership with the Blue and White party and immediately re-establish the New Hope faction… as an independent faction, which will clearly express our national and civil worldview.”

Gantz’s initial response was a terse two word tweet in Hebrew wishing Sa’ar “thanks and good luck.”

Hamas man said among the dead in Lebanon strike

Firefighters douse a burning car after it was hit in a reported Israeli drone attack in Lebanon's southern area of Tyre on March 13, 2024. (AFP)

An alleged Israeli drone strike on a car outside the southern Lebanese city of Tyre killed a member of Hamas from the nearby Palestinian camp of Rashidieh, a source from the faction tells Reuters.

The source identified the member as Hadi Mustafa, but says he was not a senior figure. Two security sources said a Syrian man who was passing by on his motorcycle was also killed in the strike, after earlier saying that the two fatalities had been in Mustafa’s car.

All three sources said the drone, which they identified as Israeli, hovered in the air above the site of the strike for several minutes after it was carried out.

Police say Palestinian checkpoint stabber, 15, died after being shot

Police and security personnel at the scene of a stabbing attack at the 'tunnels checkpoint,' near Jerusalem, on March 13, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Police say the Palestinian teenager who was shot after stabbing a Military Police soldier and a civilian security guard at a checkpoint near Jerusalem this morning has died.

“The terrorist was neutralized by an IDF soldier and a civilian security guard who fired at him, and he was later pronounced dead,” police say

High court to hear petition on cancellation of Israel Prize award to government critic

Mellanox founder Eyal Waldman speaks at the Knesset on March 3, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The High Court of Justice will hear petitions against Education Minister Yoav Kisch’s decision to reduce the scope of this year’s Israel Prize, on March 28.

According to reports in the Hebrew press, Kisch cancelled the regular categories for the prize to avoid having the prestigious award given to entrepreneur Eyal Waldman, who was strongly critical of the government’s judicial overhaul agenda.

Attorney Shahar Ben Meir filed a petition to the High Court at the end of February arguing that Kisch had acted without due authority and in contravention of the Israel Prize regulations in stripping down the Israel Prize to just two war-related categories this year, after the award’s selection committee picked Waldman for the Entrepreneurship Award and refused to change its decision despite Kisch’s request that it reconsider.

In early March, a second petition was filed against Kisch’s decision by the Bashaar – Academic Community for Israeli Society group representing some 2,000 academics, arguing that it did “mortal damage” to the Israel Prize institution, harmed the rights of the selection committee members, and the rights of the general public to obtain public recognition for their work.

Justices Isaac Amit, Ofer Grosskopf, and Ruth Ronen will hear the petitions.

‘Our position regarding Netanyahu is as it was,’ says New Hope MK after National Unity split

MK Sharren Haskel attends a meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on June 28, 2023. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

The breakup of the National Unity faction was due to “difficulties and the gaps between us and Blue and White on security issues,” New Hope MK Sharren Haskel tells the Knesset Channel, adding that the party’s opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not changed.

Haskel says that the party was seeking “influence on military matters,” in order to bring about victory in Gaza.

In a surprise announcement, New Hope chairman Gideon Sa’ar and the three other MKs from his party broke off from partner Benny Gantz’s Blue and White yesterday, in order to reestablish themselves “as an independent faction, which will clearly express our national and civil worldview.”

Sa’ar is demanding a seat in the war cabinet.

Asked if her party hoped to garner support from other right-wing figures such as former prime minister Naftali Bennett, Haskel tells the Knesset Channel that “we very much hope and not a few right-wing, statesmanlike, liberal forces will return to us.”

After the war, there needs to be “a unity government which is as wide as possible because our state, our nation needs to go through a long process of rehabilitation, security rehabilitation, economic rehabilitation, and social rehabilitation,” she continues.

Asked if she and her fellow New Hope lawmakers were leaving National Unity to position Sa’ar as a good alternative to Netanyahu and whether they intended to rejoin Likud, Haskel responds that “we’re not going anywhere. Our position regarding Netanyahu is as it was — both today and in the future.”

Ryanair suspends flights to Israel again, citing high costs at Ben Gurion airport

Ryanair says it is suspending flights to and from Tel Aviv again.

The move comes just a month after the Irish low-cost carrier resumed its operations to Israel with a reduced schedule amid the ongoing war with the Hamas terror group.

Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers says it halted its operations to and from Israel as of February 27 as it was “forced by Ben Gurion International Airport to operate at the more expensive Terminal 3, which resulted in significantly higher costs and would have resulted in much higher airfares for Ryanair passengers traveling to and from Tel Aviv.”

The Israel Airports Authority closed Terminal 1, mainly used by charter and budget airlines, after the war broke out in the aftermath of the Hamas-led October 7 onslaught. As a result, inbound and outbound flight traffic from Ben Gurion International Airport is limited to the use of Terminal 3, which charges higher fees.

Major international airlines, including Ryanair, canceled all routes to Israel in the first week of the war. Ryanair resumed flights to and from Israel on February 1 with a reduced operating schedule, as other European carriers including Lufthansa, Swiss, and Austrian restarted their operations to the country.

“We call again on Ben Gurion International Airport to confirm a date when the lower cost Terminal 1 facility will be reopened, which will allow Ryanair to resume selling low-fare flights to and from Tel Aviv which have done so much to grow air travel and tourism for Israel,” says Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson.

IDF says troops fired on armed men during Jenin raid

The Israel Defense Forces say that troops operating in the West Bank city of Jenin opened fire after identifying armed men during a raid.

Earlier, Palestinian sources said two people were killed in the raid.

The army says that during the raid, troops detonated several explosive devices that had been planted and uncovered weapons.

Seven wanted Palestinians were arrested in raids across the West Bank last night, the IDF said.

The moment the explosive device was detonated by the occupation vehicle in Jenin.#AlAqsaFlood #hamas #AlQassamBrigades #AlQassam #Israel #AlJazeeraEnglish #Palestine #revaluation #gaza #RamadanKareem pic.twitter.com/bK8tJhKsSC

— Gaza now (@ShirtShack0) March 13, 2024

Lebanese officials say 2 occupants of car hit in alleged Israeli strike were killed

An alleged Israeli drone strike on a car outside the Palestinian camp of Rashidieh outside the southern Lebanese city of Tyre killed both passengers inside, three security sources in Lebanon tell Reuters.

One person said killed in alleged Israeli drone strike on car in Lebanon

Lebanese media outlets report an alleged Israeli drone strike on a vehicle near the coastal city of Tyre.

The reports say the strike occurred at a junction at the northern entrance to Tyre.

The Al-Akhbar outlet says at least one person was killed in the strike.

غارة استهدفت سيارة عند مفرق الحوش على المدخل الشمالي لمدينة #صور pic.twitter.com/Y690rlDDMr

— جريدة الأخبار – Al-Akhbar (@AlakhbarNews) March 13, 2024

Police identify checkpoint stabber as 15-year-old Palestinian

The knife allegedly used in a stabbing attack at the "tunnels" checkpoint in the West Bank on March 13, 2023 (Israel Police)

The assailant who stabbed security forces at the “tunnels” checkpoint near Jerusalem is identified by police as a 15-year-old Palestinian.

According to police, the suspect arrived at the checkpoint from the West Bank side on a bicycle, and as security forces attempted to question him he drew a knife and stabbed them.

A civilian guard at the checkpoint attempted to physically confront the stabber, before IDF troops stationed in the area opened fire at him.

Police did not update on his condition.

Two members of the security forces were wounded and taken to hospital with light and moderate injuries after being stabbed.

The attacker is named by media reports as Muhammad Abu Hamed, 15, from the West Bank town of al-Khader, close to the checkpoint.

Commandos battle Hamas in Khan Younis complex; ‘widespread’ airstrikes in central Gaza

IDF soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip in this picture released on March 13, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF’s 98th Division is continuing its offensive against Hamas in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza, in the Hamad Town residential complex and in the suburbs of al-Qarara and Abasan.

The division’s Egoz commando unit battled a seven-man Hamas cell that had been holed up in a building in Hamad, the IDF says.

The IDF says the troops killed some of the gunmen, before directing an airstrike to kill the others.

Also in Hamad, the IDF says the Maglan commando unit seized several weapons over the past day.

Meanwhile, the IDF says it eliminated in an airstrike a Hamas terrorist responsible for “many” rocket attacks on Israel, including on October 7.

The Israeli Air Force also carried out “widespread” wave of strikes against Hamas sites in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, targeting tunnels, missile launching positions, and staging grounds, the IDF says.

Also in central Gaza, the IDF says the Nahal Brigade is continuing to battle Hamas operatives in the area. In one incident, Nahal troops spotted an operative entering a building known to belong to a Hamas member and called in an airstrike, the IDF says.

Putin says Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if threatened

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking at a news conference following a meeting of the State Council at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia on Dec. 22, 2022. (Sergey Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Moscow is ready to use nuclear weapons if there is a threat to Russian statehood, sovereignty, or independence.

Speaking in an interview with Russian state television released today, Putin says he hopes that the US will avoid any escalation that could trigger a nuclear war, but emphasizes that Russia’s nuclear forces are ready for it.

Asked if he has ever considered using battlefield nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Putin responds that there has been no need for that.

Greek military ship shoots at two drones in the Red Sea

A Greek military vessel serving in the European Union’s naval mission in the Red Sea has shot at two drones and pushed them back, a Greek Defense Staff official says.

The EU’s mission in the Red Sea, dubbed Aspides, was launched in February to help protect the key maritime trade route from drone and missile attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis militia, who say they are retaliating against Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.

Greece has supplied a frigate in the mission.

Two wounded in stabbing attack at West Bank checkpoint, assailant shot

The scene of a stabbing attack at the "tunnels" checkpoint in the West Bank on March 13, 2023 (Magen David Adom)

Two people are wounded in a stabbing attack at the “tunnels” checkpoint on the West Bank’s Route 60 highway, south of Jerusalem, the military and medics say.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service says it is taking a man aged 25 and a woman aged 19 to hospitals in Jerusalem.  MDA says the victims are listed in good-to-moderate condition.

According to police, the assailant was shot by security forces at the scene. His condition is not immediately known, but images from the scene show the suspect lying on the ground after being shot.

EU preparing $8 billion aid package for Egypt amid fallout from Gaza war

An Egyptian man walks past an exchange office in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, March 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

The European Union is readying a 7.4 billion euro ($8.08 billion) package aimed at shoring up Egypt’s economy amid fear that conflict in Gaza and Sudan could exacerbate financial trouble in the country, the Financial Times reports.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Cairo on Sunday with the Greek, Italian and Belgian prime ministers to finalize and announce an agreement, the newspaper reports.

Palestinians say 2 killed, 4 wounded in IDF raid on Jenin

An Israeli military vehicle patrols along a street during a raid at the Jenin refugee camp area in the West Bank on March 12, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

Two Palestinians were killed and four others wounded in an IDF raid on the West Bank city of Jenin, the official Wafa news service says, citing local medical officials.

The report claims the troops opened fire on a group outside a hospital.

There was no immediate comment from the IDF.

Since October 7, troops have arrested some 3,500 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,500 affiliated with Hamas. According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 400 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time.

Three killed, three injured in West Bank car crash

The scene of a deadly car accident on Route 60 near the West Bank settlement of Givat Asaf on March 13, 2024 (Courtesy)

Three people were killed and three others injured in a car accident near the West Bank settlement outpost of Givat Asaf, medics and rescue workers say.

Magen David Adom medics say three men in their 20s were declared dead at the scene. A 16-year-old was in a serious condition and two others, a man in his 30s and a 15-year-old, were moderately hurt. They were taken to hospitals in Jerusalem.

Fire and Rescue Service personnel were called in to help extricate three of the occupants who were trapped in the vehicle after it crashed through a safety barrier on Route 60. They managed to extricate the 16-year-old in serious condition, but the other two were already dead.

The cause of the single-vehicle crash is not immediately clear.

Trump wins enough delegates for GOP nomination, all but assuring rematch with Biden

In this combination of photos, US President Joe Biden, left, speaks on August 10, 2023, in Salt Lake City, and former president Donald Trump speaks on June 13, 2023, in Bedminster, New Jersey. (AP Photo)

WASHINGTON — Joe Biden and rival Donald Trump have won enough delegates to clinch their party nominations in the 2024 presidential race, networks project, all but assuring a rematch and setting up one of the longest general election campaigns in US history.

The results in Georgia, Mississippi, and Washington state were essentially a foregone conclusion as President Biden and opponent Trump had already disposed of all primary challengers, and winning the Tuesday votes pushes them both over the threshold of delegates needed to become their parties’ nominees in the November election.

After logjam, diplomat reports progress in hostage talks as Qatar leans hard on Hamas

Activists protest calling for a hostage deal, in Tel Aviv, March 10, 2024 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Qatari and Egyptian mediators believe significant progress has been made this week toward securing a truce between Israel and Hamas after an extended period of deadlock in the talks, a senior Arab diplomat tells The Times of Israel.

The progress was made following significant pressure placed by Doha on Hamas, warning the terror group that its leaders residing in Qatar would be kicked out of the country if they didn’t adapt their approach in the negotiations.

A senior Hamas official told Al Arabiya earlier today that the group had accepted a modified version of the latest US proposal, which was based on a framework accepted by Israel during a meeting in Paris last month. Hamas later issued a statement denying the report.

The three-phase deal would see roughly 40 female, elderly and wounded hostages released during the initial six-week phase; soldiers released during a second phase; and the bodies of hostages released in a third phase, the Arab diplomat says.

During the latter phases, the sides would hold talks on a more permanent ceasefire, the diplomat says.

In the first phase, mediators are seeking to coax Hamas into agreeing to a 10:1 ratio of security prisoners released by Israel for every hostage, according to the diplomat, who says that the terror group had been pushing for an even more lopsided split, but appears to have come down from those earlier demands.

While Israel agreed to an original framework in Paris off which the current proposal under discussion is based, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet — along with Hamas — will still have to sign off on the final offer, and the Arab diplomat says it’s unclear whether that will happen.

CENTCOM says Houthis fired ballistic missile at US destroyer in Red Sea

In this April 29, 2015 US Navy handout photo, the guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon (DDG 58) arrives in Souda Bay, Greece on April 29, 2015 for a scheduled port visit. (US Navy/AFP, File)

The US Central Command says the Iran-aligned Houthis fired one close-range ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward USS Laboon in the Red Sea, but it did not hit the vessel and there were no injuries or damage reported.

“United States Central Command and a coalition vessel successfully engaged and destroyed two unmanned aerial systems (UAS) launched from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen,” CENTCOM adds in a statement early on Wednesday.

Biden wins enough delegates to secure 2024 Democratic presidential nomination

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks during an event on March 11, 2024, in Goffstown, New Hampshire. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden, who took office aiming to steady a nation convulsed by the coronavirus pandemic and the January 6 insurrection, clinches a second straight Democratic nomination and sets up an all-but-certain rematch with the predecessor he blames for destabilizing the country.

Biden became his party’s presumptive nominee when he won enough delegates in Georgia. That pushes Biden’s count past 1,968 for a majority of delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August, where his nomination will be made official. Former president Donald Trump is expected to clinch the Republican nomination shortly.

Biden, who mounted his first bid for president 37 years ago, did not face any serious Democratic challengers to his run for reelection at age 81. That’s despite facing low approval ratings and a lack of voter enthusiasm for his presidency — driven in part by his age.

EU chief accuses Israel of using ‘starvation as a war arm’ in Gaza

The European Union's foreign minister, Josep Borrell, talks during a press conference after a meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels, on March 5, 2024. (John Thys/AFP)

UNITED NATIONS — The European Union’s foreign policy chief accuses Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war and of blocking overland routes that are the best way to get food to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing famine in the Gaza Strip.

Josep Borrell tells the UN Security Council that humanitarian assistance must get into Gaza where there is no natural disaster, flood or earthquake.

“This is a man-made crisis,” Borrell says. “And when we look for alternative ways of providing support by sea or by air, we have to remind that we have to do it because the natural way of providing support to roads is being closed — artificially closed — and starvation is being used as a war arm.”

He says that this practice is being condemned in Ukraine, and the same words have to be used in Gaza.

Borrell says the EU is waiting for the results of three investigations into Israeli allegations that 12 staff members from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, participated in Hamas’ October 7 attacks in southern Israel, which sparked the ongoing war. But he stresses that UNRWA only exists because there are Palestinian refugees, the definition of which includes not only those who fled or were displaced from their homes during the war surrounding Israel’s founding but also all their descendants — which is not the norm with most refugee populations worldwide.

And if UNRWA disappears, the refugees will still be there, Borrell says. “In fact, there is only one way to make UNRWA disappear – making those refugees citizens of a Palestinian state that co-exists with an Israeli state.”

To make this a reality, Borrell says the first step should be for the UN Security Council to unanimously adopt a resolution endorsing a two-state solution and “defining the general principles which might lead to this result.”

Stressing the very wide support for a two-state solution, he says that would be “a wonderful opportunity to show that our principles are not empty words.”

Dutch PM slated to visit Israel and Egypt for talks on Gaza war

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte meets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, February 12, 2024 (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte is visiting Israel and Egypt on Wednesday to discuss the crisis in the Middle East.

Rutte will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem before traveling to Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

The Dutch government information service says that the “humanitarian situation in Gaza and the importance of an immediate pause in fighting and the release of all hostages will be discussed.”

Rutte also will discuss the “need to prevent regional escalation and find a lasting solution to the conflict.”