March 16: Protesters blocking Tel Aviv highway dispersed by mounted police, water cannons

After Gantz refused to attend meeting on Haredi draft, issue won’t be discussed at tomorrow’s cabinet meeting – report

Israelis protest in Tel Aviv for an end to Haredi draft exemptions, March 14, 2024. The placard at center urges an 'equality of the burden' of military service. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Following war cabinet minister Benny Gantz’s refusal to attend a meeting on the issue of the ultra-Orthodox military draft called by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday evening, the issue will not be discussed in a wider cabinet meeting tomorrow, Ynet reports.

According to the report, Netanyahu had hoped to have prepared an outline of what a new draft law would include by Sunday’s cabinet meeting. But, due to Gantz’s absence from Thursday’s meeting and Gallant’s insistence on refusing to accept legislation passed without broad agreement from all coalition parties, he is now unable to present the plan.

Quoting senior government officials, Ynet reports that talks this week will focus on finding common ground with Gantz and preparing an outline for proposed legislation that all parties agree on.

Netanyahu planning to appoint project coordinator to oversee handling of Gaza aid – report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is looking to appoint a project coordinator to oversee the handling of humanitarian aid and its entry to Gaza, Ynet reports.

The prime minister is said to have announced the decision during Friday’s war cabinet meeting.

According to the report, the move reflects Netanyahu’s distrust in the security establishment’s ability to transfer the aid to Gaza’s civilians in an effective manner.

Houthis claim US, British strikes targeted Yemen’s Al-Durayhimi District

The Houthi-owned Al Masirah news outlet in Yemen reports four airstrikes were carried out by US and British forces in the Al-Durayhimi District, south of the port city of Hodeidah a short while ago.

There was no immediate comment from either US or British forces in response to the claims made by the Iran-backed rebel group.

Protesters calling for hostage deal block Jerusalem’s Paris Square intersection

Protesters block Paris Square in Jerusalem during a rally in support of a hostage deal, March 16, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Dozens of protesters were dragged out of the road by police in Jerusalem after blocking the Paris Square intersection chanting: “There is no routine until there is a hostage deal.”

Police are currently trying to direct traffic and forcefully shoving journalists onto the sidewalk.

Using water cannons, police forcibly disperse protesters on Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv

Israeli activists blocking a road are sprayed with water cannon as police disperse an anti-government demonstration in Tel Aviv on March 16, 2024. (Jack Guez/AFP)

Police forces in Tel Aviv are forcibly dispersing protesters blocking Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv, using water cannons and preventing the demonstration from continuing south.

Demonstrators are intermittently letting cars drive past as they call for the release of hostages and for early elections.

Unlike the previous two weeks, police have brought horses to assist them with dispersing the demonstration.

Gallant convened ‘special meeting’ with senior officials on efforts to return hostages

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant convened a “special meeting” on the efforts to return the hostages held in the Gaza Strip this evening, his office says.

Attending the meeting were senior officials in the IDF, Mossad, Shin Bet and representatives of the negotiations, the Defense Ministry adds.

Mother of hostage Andrey Kozlov: People are continuing with their lives, we’re stuck on October 7

Evgenia Kozlov, mother of Andrey Kozlov, one of the hostages in Hamas captivity, speaks to hostages rally on March 16, 2024. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

At a weekly demonstration for the hostages in Jerusalem’s Paris Square, relatives of the 134 captives kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 are speaking to hundreds of protesters in support of a hostage deal.

Evgenia Kozlov, the mother of Russian-Israeli immigrant Andrey Kozlov, who was kidnapped by Hamas while working as a security guard at the Supernova rave on October 7, spoke in Russian to the crowd alongside a Hebrew translator.

“My life was ruined,” she says, adding that since October 7, she has done everything in her power to save him.

“I don’t know Hebrew, I get help from my friend, Google Translate and Google Maps,” says Kozlov. “Five months have passed, people are starting to forget, the wind has destroyed our posters… people are continuing with their lives… but we are still living on October 7.”

Police bring horses to disperse demonstration as protesters partially block Ayalon Highway

Protesters partially block Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, March 16, 2024. (Iddo Schejter/Times of Israel)

Skirmishes break out between police and protesters on Begin Street in Tel Aviv as cries for early elections start to dominate the rally.

The Times of Israel witnesses one demonstrator being arrested as protesters begin marching northward on Begin Street.

Protesters have broken onto Ayalon Highway with no resistance and are sitting on the road.

The highway is not completely blocked and traffic is being allowed through in the left lane.

Unlike the previous two weeks, police have brought horses to assist them with dispersing the demonstration.

Smotrich demands Netanyahu forbid Israel’s delegation from departing for Qatar truce talks

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attend vote on the state budget at the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, March 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Minister and Religious Zionism party head Bezalel Smotrich calls for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to forbid the departure of Israel’s negotiating team to hostage deal talks in Qatar, claiming he was proven right when he opposed previous, unsuccessful attempts to find a deal through talks in Paris and Qatar.

“The delusional Hamas stance shows that the supporters of the deal in the war cabinet and security establishments have lost their way,” the ultranationalist lawmaker writes on X of the Gaza terror group’s recent response to the proposed hostage deal outline in which they demanded the release of as many as 1,000 security prisoners.

“Netanyahu must order the delegation to remain in Israel and the IDF to enter Rafah immediately and increase the military pressure until Hamas is destroyed,” he continues. “Only in this will it make it possible to return the hostages.”

At rally in support of hostage deal, protesters light fires, set off smoke grenades

Protesters attending rally in support of a hostage deal light fires on Begin Street in Tel Aviv, March 16, 2024. (Iddo Schejter/Times of Israel)

Protesters calling for early elections unite with the protesters demanding a hostage deal on Begin Street.

Protesters are lighting fires on the street, using smoke grenades, blowing horns and chanting for the release of hostages.

For tenth week, protesters call for new elections outside President’s Residence in Jerusalem

Anti-government protesters gather outside the President's Residence in Jerusalem demanding new elections, March 26, 2024. (Courtesy: Safeguarding our Shared Home)

Hundreds of anti-government protesters are gathered outside the President’s Residence in Jerusalem for the tenth week in a row demanding new elections.

Tova, an organizer with the protest group Safeguarding our Shared Home, is demanding the government “return its mandate to the people” and call another round of elections.

“Wherever you look, there is chaos,” she says. “This is a result of policy, in fact, the chaos is the policy.”

Screenwriter and reservist Benny Barabash, who took to the stage after her, is deriding the government for painting anti-overhaul protesters as the enemy rather than Hamas, Iran and Hezbollah.

“Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, is the leader, and is therefore guilty,” he says, before lambasting government conduct in a plethora of areas, including relations with the United States and its alleged abandonment of the Gaza Envelope communities devastated by Hamas’s October 7 assault.

“The choice of life or death is before us, the choice of a blessing or curse, and like the choice is in our hands,” he shouts to the crowd. “Elections now, despite the war, elections now, because of the war.”

Ultra-Orthodox rabbi Bezalel Cohen, founder of the Chachmei Lev Yeshiva, calls for Haredi leadership to begin encouraging their community to enlist to “defend the people and the country, out of a sense of partnership and brotherhood.”

Cohen is giving his speech in the wake of the government’s sidelining of a plan for Haredi enlistment, presented last month by war cabinet members Benny Gantz and Gadi Eizenkot.

Protesters are now beginning to march to Paris Square, where they will hear speeches from family members of Hamas-held hostages.

New Hope’s Sa’ar told Netanyahu he’ll resign from government in a few days unless given war cabinet position

New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar at the Knesset on March 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

New Hope chair Gideon Sa’ar, who withdrew his faction from war cabinet minister Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party last week, tells Channel 12 that if he isn’t granted entry into the war cabinet within the next few days he will resign from the government.

As part of the National Unity Party, Sa’ar was brought into the government from the opposition following the October 7 Hamas terror assault and the start of the war in Gaza in a step taken by Gantz to present a united front.

Speaking to Channel 12, Sa’ar says he has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of his intention to resign and bring New Hope back into the opposition should he not be given a seat in the limited war cabinet.

“I said that I will stay in the government as long as I can influence things and the direction is right,” he says. “I want the chance to try and have an influence, outside of the cabinet, I will not be able to.”

Sa’ar, who left the Likud party in December 2021 after an unsuccessful bid to oust Netanyahu as party leader, clarifies that he is in favor of holding early elections after the war and that he has no plans to return to Likud, with or without Netanyahu.

IDF says it hit buildings used by Hezbollah in south Lebanon’s Mays al-Jabal and Marwahin

The IDF says fighter jets struck two buildings used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Mays al-Jabal and Marwahin earlier today.

Another observation post in Marwahin was also struck, the IDF says.

The strikes come after projectiles were fired from Lebanon at the Mount Dov, Malkia and Misgav Am areas on the border. The IDF also says it shelled the launch sites with artillery.

מטוסי קרב תקפו מוקדם יותר היום שני מבנים צבאיים של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב מיס אל ג׳בל ובמרחב מרווחין. כמו כן, מוקדם יותר הותקפה עמדת תצפית של הארגון במרחב מרווחין.
במהלך היום, זוהו שיגורים משטח לבנון לשטח ישראל במרחבים הר דב, מלכיה, ומשגב עם, צה״ל תקף בארטילריה את מקורות הירי pic.twitter.com/OAZS9x7uCw

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 16, 2024

Protestors at hostage deal rally partially block Begin Street in Tel Aviv

Protestors at hostage deal rally block the north section of Begin Street in Tel Aviv, March 16, 2024. (Iddo Schejter/Times of Israel)

The demonstration calling for a deal that will release hostages is blocking off the north part of Begin Street.

Demonstrators are chanting: “He who abandoned them, must return them,” referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and “all of them, now!” referring to the call for the release of the 134 hostages in Hamas captivity.

Meanwhile, police bring a tow truck to remove the fake tank from Kaplan Street.

Netanyahu denies accusations he delayed departure of Qatar negotiating team

Amid accusations that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to delay the departure of the negotiating team to Qatar by not holding a cabinet meeting tonight, his office puts out a statement that the prime minister had already announced on Friday that the War Cabinet and Security Cabinet would meet tomorrow evening to discuss the team’s mandate.

“The demand to convene the cabinet tonight is nothing more than artificial attempts to create headlines,” says the PMO.

Yom Kippur War veterans arrive at Tel Aviv anti-government protests with life-size fake tank

Veterans of the 1973 Yom Kippur War arrive at the anti-government protests in Tel Aviv with a life-size fake tank, October 16, 2024. (Iddo Schejter/Times of Israel)

Demonstrators gather outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv to protest the government.

Three demonstrations are taking place simultaneously, all aimed at the government and each within a block of each other.

A protest calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza is being held at what’s been dubbed “Hostages Square” outside the Tel Aviv art museum and a protest calling for early elections, which has been taking place every week for the past four weeks, is being held outside the Kirya’s south entrance.

Brothers and Sisters in Arms, the reservist movement founded in opposition to the judicial overhaul last year, is holding its own separate demonstration by the Kirya’s east entrance. This is the group’s first demonstration in Tel Aviv since the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught and outbreak of war. In previous weeks, the group has instead protested on bridges across the country.

The protest for early elections begins with a video on a large screen showing clips of US Senator Chuck Schumer’s speech this week in which he said he believes early elections are in Israel’s interests.

Meanwhile, a group identifying as veterans of the 1973 Yom Kippur War arrived at the Kaplan Street protests with a life-sized fake tank. The tank briefly blocks part of Kaplan Street before the group agrees to a police request to move it outside the Kirya.

IDF chief: Israel is in a multi-front war with neighboring enemies, ‘more distant’ ones too

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi speaks to Border Police officers in the West Bank, March 15, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Speaking to Border Police officers in the West Bank yesterday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says Israel is in a multi-front war, and that incidents on one front can impact others.

“We are more alert this month. Really be very vigilant, very careful, with very good security,” he says, referring to Ramadan.

“We are in a multi-front war, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria [West Bank], and Gaza, and more distant things,” Halevi says.

“Everyone, every soldier… has responsibility for all the arenas, because every incident that happens in one of the arenas really affects and can cause [developments] in other areas as well,” he adds.

Second aid ship prepares to depart Cyprus port for Gaza carrying 240 tons of supplies

Palestinian men watch as the Open Arms maritime vessel that set sail from Larnaca in Cyprus carrying humanitarian aid, approaches the coast of Gaza City on March 15, 2024. (AFP)

A second ship loaded with aid for Gaza could depart as early as Saturday, Cyprus says, as the first vessel returned from the war-ravaged territory after successfully delivering its cargo.

The Jennifer is set “to depart for Gaza today or tomorrow,” foreign ministry spokesperson Theodoros Gotsis tells state radio.

The maritime aid corridor from Cyprus is meant to at least partly address stark shortages in Gaza after more than five months of war, as UN agencies warn of looming famine and Israel faces increasing pressure to allow more aid into the Palestinian enclave.

Earlier on Saturday, the US charity World Central Kitchen said its team had finished unloading food and other desperately needed supplies from the barge towed by Spanish aid vessel Open Arms, which left Cyprus on Tuesday in a trial run for the aid corridor.

“All cargo was offloaded and is being readied for distribution in Gaza,” World Central Kitchen said in a statement, noting it included “almost 200 tons of food.”

The second vessel was expected to carry 240 tons of food, World Central Kitchen said.

The cargo will include “pallets of canned goods and bulk product including beans, carrots, canned tuna, chickpeas, canned corn, parboiled rice, flour, oil and salt,” the charity says.

It will also include a forklift and a crane to assist with deliveries.

The United Arab Emirates has sent “a special load of 120 [kilograms of] fresh dates,” it adds.

Tourists found enemy drone near Sea of Galilee recently; IDF investigating

Tourists found a hostile drone near the Sea of Galilee in recent days, Hebrew media reports.

Kan news reports the drone was found in Ramat Sirin, south of the Sea of Galilee.

If it was launched by Hezbollah, it would mark the southernmost point a drone launched by the terror group has reached since it began launching attacks on Israel on October 8, Kan says.

The UAV was destroyed by police, and the military is probing the incident, the Ynet news site says.

Protesters in Ra’anana, Rehovot urge Haredi military draft

Dozens of protesters are calling for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men to be drafted into the military at the Ra’anana Junction and in the central town of Rehovot, the Ynet news site reports.

Members of the Brothers in Arms protest group hold posters reading: “For the sake of my brothers and sisters — enlist!”

The government is facing a court-imposed deadline to pass new legislation regulating or ending the draft exemptions, as plans to extend service terms for enlisted troops due to manpower strains brought on by the war in Gaza and fighting in the north reignite ire over the free pass granted to Haredi Jews.

רחובות
מכון ויצמן
כ-200 איש pic.twitter.com/9veUwBhlhr

— Arbel Moyal (@ArbelPatootie) March 16, 2024

Houthi official confirms meeting with Palestinian terror groups in Beirut

Supporters of Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis march in the capital Sana'a on March 15, 2024, in support of Palestinians amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. (Mohammed Huwais/AFP)

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels discussed “expanding confrontations and encircling” Israel in a meeting in Lebanon with Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups, a Houthi official tells AFP.

Houthi attacks on Red Sea ships since the start of the Israel-Hamas war have disrupted global trade, actions the rebels say are in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Representatives from Hamas, whose devastating October 7 onslaught on Israel triggered the war, the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine met last week with the Houthis in Beirut, the official says on condition of anonymity.

Palestinian sources told AFP earlier that the meeting had taken place, with one of them saying the representatives discussed “mechanisms to coordinate their actions of resistance” for the “next stage” of the war in Gaza, now in its sixth month.

Another Palestinian source, also requesting anonymity to share details of the meeting, tells AFP that those present discussed the “complementary role of Ansar Allah [the Houthis] alongside Palestinian factions, especially in the event of an Israeli offensive on Rafah.”

Most of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people have sought refuge in Rafah, on the coastal territory’s southern border with Egypt, the last major urban area spared an Israeli ground offensive.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday he had approved the military’s plan for a ground operation in the city, without providing a timeline.

Documents signed by Hamas No. 3 show Oct. 7 plans, efforts to keep operation secret

File: Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists are seen on their way to cross the Israel-Gaza border fence from Khan Younis on October 7, 2023, during the Hamas-led onslaught. (Said Khatib/AFP)

Channel 12 reveals information from documents seized in Gaza featuring plans for Hamas’s devastating October 7 onslaught, signed by the terror group’s number three and deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing, Marwan Issa.

The IDF on Monday confirmed that it had targeted Issa in a strike on central Gaza’s Nuseirat last week, and security officials are said to believe he was killed, though neither Israel nor Hamas have officially confirmed his death.

According to the documents, Hamas’s plan was to be carried out by 1,500-1,800 terrorists of the elite Nukhba force, targeting 46 communities and bases — among them, a base serving the military intelligence Unit 8200 and the air force base at Hatzerim in southern Israel.

The 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists that infiltrated on October 7 did not manage to arrive at those sensitive bases.

According to the network, the recovered document says “the conditions in Iran and Lebanon allow us to tie the big project with the axis [of resistance],” but did not specify if there was active coordination between the sides before October 7.

Channel 12 also says the documents reveal how Hamas was able to keep its plan so secret. Brigade commanders were only made aware of the plans five days before October 7, battalion commanders 48 hours before, and company commanders 12 hours before.

Senior Israeli official tells ABC US ebbing pace of military aid

An unnamed senior Israeli official tells ABC that the United States has slowed the pace of its military aid, a claim denied by US officials.

As ties between the two countries strain amid the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the Israeli official tells the US network that supply shipments “were coming very fast” when the Israel-Hamas war erupted, but “we are now finding that it’s very slow,” adding he was not sure what was causing the slowdown.

US officials tell ABC that there was no purposeful delay in aid shipments and that its policies had not changed.

Both officials acknowledge US frustrations with the war and the humanitarian situation, but the US source says the White House has not signed off on any decision to leverage military support on Israel to pressure it to do more to protect civilians.

US officials told Politico earlier in the week that US President Joe Biden would consider placing conditions on future military aid to Israel if its military moves ahead with a planned offensive against the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.

US, Jordan conduct joint aid airdrop to Gaza

WASHINGTON — US and Jordanian aircraft on Saturday dropped food supplies to Palestinian civilians trapped in the Gaza Strip in a joint humanitarian aid operation, US Central Command said in a statement.

The airdrops by a US Air Force C-130 aircraft and a Royal Jordanian Air Force C-130 aircraft came as the main UN agency working in the enclave said that one in three children under age two is acutely malnourished. It warned of looming famine.

US Central Command called the airdrops “part of a sustained effort and we continue to plan follow-on aerial deliveries.”

Much of Gaza lies in ruins and its 2.3 million Palestinian residents face serious food shortages more than five months after Israel launched an air and ground offensive following the October 7 rampage into Israel by the enclave’s ruling Hamas terrorists.

The US, Israel’s main ally, and other countries have called on Israel to allow in more humanitarian aid. Israel blames UN agencies for slow deliveries, saying it puts no limits on assistance.

The US began aid airdrops on March 2 and is planning to begin a sealift from the island of Cyprus.

March 16 USCENTCOM, Royal Jordanian Air Force Conduct Humanitarian Airdrops

U.S. Central Command and the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted a combined humanitarian assistance airdrop into Northern Gaza on March 16, 2024, at 11:58 a.m. (Gaza time) to provide essential relief to… pic.twitter.com/hqWZ9RYvqf

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 16, 2024

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Mossad chief expected in Doha on Sunday to resume ceasefire, hostage talks – report

File: Head of Mossad David Barnea attends a state ceremony marking 50 years since the Yom Kippur War, held at the military cemetery at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl, on September 26, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Mossad head David Barnea is expected to resume talks with Qatar’s prime minister and Egyptian officials for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal in Doha on Sunday, a source tells Reuters.

The source says the discussions will cover the remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas on the ceasefire negotiations, including the number of Palestinian prisoners who could potentially be released in exchange for the remaining Israeli hostages as well as humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Mediators had hoped to secure a six-week truce before Ramadan started earlier this week, but Hamas refused any deal that wouldn’t lead to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a demand Israel rejected.

It is believed that 130 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released prior to that. Three hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 11 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military.

The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 32 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.

One more person has been listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.

Hamas has also been holding the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

UNRWA: One in three children under 2 in Gaza is acutely malnourished

A Palestinian man prepares plates of food before 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)

One in three children under age 2 in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished and famine is looming, the main UN agency operating in the Palestinian enclave says.

“Children’s malnutrition is spreading fast and reaching unprecedented levels in Gaza,” the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says in a social media post.

More than five months into Israel’s air and ground campaign in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s devastating attack on October 7, much of the enclave is in ruins with most of its 2.3 million population displaced and facing a major humanitarian crisis.

Western countries have called on Israel to do more to allow in aid, with the UN saying it faced “overwhelming obstacles,” including crossing closures, onerous vetting, restrictions on movement and unrest inside Gaza.

Israel says it puts no limit on humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and blames slow aid delivery on incapacity or inefficiency among UN agencies.

Air and sea relief deliveries into Gaza have started, but aid agencies say these are no substitute for bringing in supplies by land.

Israel has accused UNRWA of complicity with Hamas, saying some staff members took part in the October 7 onslaught, and has called for the agency to be dismantled. Several major donors have paused funding over the allegations.

IDF: Palestinian gunman who fired at settlement neighborhood was shot dead; no Israeli injuries

The IDF says the Palestinian gunman who opened fire at the Israeli settlement neighborhood in the West Bank city of Hebron was shot dead by troops.

It says forces are scanning the area for additional suspects.

There are no injuries in the attack.

Palestinian gunman fires at settlement neighborhood in Hebron, is shot by troops

The IDF says a Palestinian gunman was shot by forces in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Footage shows the gunman opening fire from a cemetery in Hebron toward the Jewish settlement neighborhood in the West Bank city, before he was shot by troops.

Suspected infiltration alarms sound in the settlement neighborhood of the city as troops scan for additional suspects.

Footage shows the Palestinian gunman opening fire from a cemetery in Hebron toward the Jewish settlement neighborhood in the West Bank city, before he was shot by troops. https://t.co/RYUewqfNMa pic.twitter.com/oO2DPghZZ5

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 16, 2024

Rocket sirens sound in Kiryat Shmona near Lebanon border

Sirens sound in Kiryat Shmona warning of incoming rocket fire.

Hezbollah-led forces have been launching daily attacks on Israeli communities and military posts along the border with Lebanon since October 8.

Hamas-run health ministry says Gaza death toll passed 31,500

Palestinians perform the first Friday noon prayer of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan over the ruins of of Al-Farouq Mosque on March 15, 2024 in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip (MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

At least 31,553 Palestinians have been killed and 73,546 have been wounded in Gaza since October 7, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says.

The terror group’s figures are unverified, don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, and list all the fatalities as caused by Israel — even those believed to have been caused by hundreds of misfired rockets or otherwise by Palestinian fire.

Israel has said it killed some 13,000 Hamas members in Gaza fighting, in addition to some 1,000 killed inside Israel in the aftermath of the terror group’s October 7 invasion and onslaught.

IDF says Nahal Brigade killed over 250 Hamas operatives in Gaza over past two weeks

Rocket launchers discovered by IDF troops in central Gaza, in a handout image published March 16, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Over the past two weeks, the IDF says the Nahal Infantry Brigade killed more than 250 Hamas operatives in the central Gaza Strip, in gun battles and by calling in tank shelling and airstrikes.

The Nahal Brigade is operating in the so-called Netzarim Corridor, which crosses Gaza from the Be’eri area to the coast. The corridor enabled the IDF to carry out raids in northern and central Gaza.

Nahal troops with the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion have destroyed numerous Hamas assets in the area in recent weeks, including rockets, launchers, and weapons depots, the IDF says.

Talks on hostage deal, 6-week truce set to resume Sunday in Doha – Egyptian officials

Activists block a road and light flares while holding photos depicting the faces of Israeli women who are being held hostage in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv , Israel, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Stalled talks aimed at securing a temporary ceasefire and hostage deal in the war between Israel and Hamas are expected to restart in earnest in Qatar as soon as tomorrow, according to Egyptian officials.

The talks were expected to resume Sunday afternoon, though they could get pushed to Monday, the Egyptian officials say.

The talks would mark the first time both Israeli officials and Hamas leaders joined the indirect negotiations since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Mediators had hoped to secure a six-week truce before Ramadan started earlier this week, but Hamas refused any deal that wouldn’t lead to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a demand Israel rejected.

In recent days, however, both sides have made moves aimed at getting the talks, which never fully broke off, back on track.

Hamas gave mediators a new proposal for a three-stage plan that would end the fighting, according to two Egyptian officials, one who is involved in the talks and a second who was briefed on them.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal the contents of the sensitive discussions.

The first stage would be a six-week temporary ceasefire that would include the release of 35 hostages — women, those who are ill and older people — being held by terrorists in Gaza in exchange for 350 Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel.

Hamas would also release at least five female soldiers in exchange for 50 prisoners, including some serving long sentences on terror charges, for each soldier.

Israeli forces would withdraw from two main roads in Gaza, let displaced Palestinians return to north Gaza and allow the free flow of aid to the area, the officials say.

In the second phase, the two sides would declare a permanent ceasefire and Hamas would free the remaining living hostages in exchange for more prisoners, the officials say.

In the third phase, Hamas would hand over the bodies it’s holding in exchange for Israel lifting the blockade of Gaza and allowing reconstruction to start, the officials say.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday the proposal was “unrealistic,” however, he agreed to send negotiators to Qatar for more talks. Israel has adamantly ruled out a permanent ceasefire and insists it will resume it declared goal of destroying Hamas once any hostage-truce deal is carried out.

Bedouin Israeli who snuck into Gaza to join Hamas, dies after he was found unconscious in cell – prison service

A Bedouin Israeli man who crossed into the Gaza Strip in 2016, and joined Hamas, before being detained while trying to cross back into Israel during the ongoing war, has died in custody, authorities say.

Juma Ibrahim Abu Ghanima, 26, was found unconscious in his cell at Eshel Prison on March 12 and taken to hospital, the Israel Prison Service says.

Overnight, the hospital notified IPS of his death.

Further details are not published due to health privacy concerns.

Abu Ghanima, a resident of Hashem Zana in the northern Negev, was charged last month with serious security offenses and was being held until the end of legal proceedings.

According to the charge sheet, Abu Ghanima snuck into Gaza in July 2016, met up with a Hamas operative, and asked to join the terror group’s military wing.

He was taken to be questioned by Hamas officials, where he revealed to them the locations of IDF bases in southern Israel. After three months of waiting in the homes of Hamas operatives, Abu Ghanima began military training with Hamas, including advanced training with the terror group’s elite Nukhba force which simulated attacks on Israeli towns and the capture of army posts. During his time in Gaza, Abu Ghanima carried out various surveillance operations along the border and met with Hamas officials, the indictment says.

The indictment says that in 2021, Hamas jailed Abu Ghanima for two years for his “failure to comply with the limitations imposed on him.”

Due to IDF strikes near the jail where he was held on December 7, 2023, all of the prisoners were freed.

Three days later, Abu Ghanima attempted to cross back into Israel, where he was detained by IDF troops. He was then taken to be interrogated by the Shin Bet security agency and subsequently charged.

Charity says 1st maritime aid shipment to Gaza fully unloaded, is being readied for distribution

World Central Kitchen aid reaches the pier in Gaza to be offloaded on March 15, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

A charity says its team in Gaza has finished unloading the first maritime aid shipment to reach the enclave since the start of the war.

“All cargo was offloaded and is being readied for distribution in Gaza,” World Central Kitchen says in a statement, noting that the aid was “almost 200 tons of food.”

WCK constructed a makeshift jetty that would allow the flat-bottomed barge to approach Gaza’s shallow waters for lack of proper port infrastructure.

There are few details on how the aid delivery and distribution will work once it is ready to unload in Gaza, with UN relief agencies having described huge obstacles to getting relief supplies to those in need.

Israel has been under increasing pressure to allow more aid into Gaza. The United States has joined other countries in airdropping supplies to the isolated region of northern Gaza and has announced separate plans to construct a pier to get aid in.

Aid groups say the airdrops and sea shipments are far less efficient ways of delivering the massive amounts of aid needed in Gaza. Instead, the groups have called on Israel to guarantee safe corridors for truck convoys.

The EU’s humanitarian aid and crisis management chief Janez Lenarcic said Thursday that there were already pockets of famine in the enclave, and warned it could spread to the whole region.

IDF says fighter jets hit 2 Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon in overnight strikes

The IDF says fighter jets struck overnight a building used by the Hezbollah terror group in southern Lebanon’s Tayr Harfa and another infrastructure in Labbouneh.

It publishes footage of the strikes.

מטוסי קרב תקפו במהלך הלילה מבנה צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב טיר חרפא ותשתית טרור של הארגון במרחב לבונה pic.twitter.com/ST1dSVR9tZ

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 16, 2024

IDF says troops killed multiple Hamas operatives in Gaza, struck weapons depot

Soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo released for publication by the military on March 16, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says some 15 terror operatives holed up in a Hamas site in central Gaza’s Nuseirat were killed in an airstrike yesterday.

The airstrike was directed by the 215th Artillery Regiment, following intelligence information about the operatives. The IDF says the regiment directed a separate airstrike, killing a Hamas sniper squad commander and another operative.

Also in central Gaza, the IDF says the Nahal Brigade killed some 10 gunmen over the past day.

Meanwhile, in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the IDF says fighter jets struck and destroyed a Hamas weapons depot spotted by the 7th Armored Brigade.

Also in Khan Younis, the Givati Brigade directed strikes on two Hamas operatives spotted entering and exiting a site known to be used by the terror group, the IDF says.

Sirens sound in Nahal Oz near Gaza border

Sirens sound in the Gaza border community Nahal Oz, warning of incoming fire.

The community was targeted by terrorists on October 7, and has been largely evacuated of civilians since then.

Saudi report: ‘Still no breakthrough’ in talks for hostage deal, ceasefire

People walk by photographs of those still held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at 'Hostages Square' in Tel Aviv. March 14, 2024 (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

The Saudi television network Al-Arabiya, cited by the Ynet news site, reports that there is “still no breakthrough in the negotiations for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages.”

The report cites unnamed Egyptian officials who say there are “obstacles” preventing an agreement.

“Hamas did not say how many hostages are still alive, and Israel will not agree to allow all the displaced Palestinians in the south of the Strip to return freely to the north,” an anonymous official tells the outlet.

After a war cabinet meeting yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the latest counterproposal put forward by Hamas, saying the terror group’s demands “are still absurd,” but said talks would continue.

ICJ to hold hearings on Nicaragua’s case accusing Germany of facilitating ‘genocide’ in Gaza

The International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the UN, delivers its order on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by South Africa against Israel over its actions in the Gaza Strip, January 26, 2024. (International Court of Justice)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Top UN judges will start listening to submissions next month in the case filed by Nicaragua accusing Berlin of facilitating “genocide” in Gaza because of its support for Israel in the war against Hamas, officials say.

Two weeks ago Nicaragua filed a case against Germany before the International Court of Justice, saying Berlin was “facilitating the commission of genocide and… failed in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide,” in Gaza.

This included Berlin’s suspension of funding of the UN Palestinian refugee agency.

The Hague-based ICJ says it will hold hearings on April 8 and 9 for both countries to make submissions.

“The hearings will be devoted to the request for the indication of provisional measures contained in Nicaragua’s Application,” the ICJ says in a statement.

Managua has asked the court to take a swift interim stance against Germany before the case was given in-depth study by judges.

The lodging of the case follows the ICJ saying on January 26 that Israel must do everything to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza and take “immediate” measures for aid provisions.

That interim order was given as the court moves to weigh in full a case lodged in December by South Africa alleging that Israel was engaged in genocide in Gaza.

Israel has dismissed South Africa’s case as a “grossly distorted story.”

US says Houthis fired 3 anti-ship ballistic missiles at Red Sea

The US Central Command says the Houthis fired three anti-ship ballistic missiles from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen toward the Red Sea.

It says there are no injuries or damage reported.

Senior Hamas and Houthi figures held rare meeting to coordinate actions against Israel

Supporters of Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis march in the capital Sana'a on March 15, 2024, in support of Palestinians amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. (Mohammed Huwais/AFP)

Senior figures from Hamas and Yemen’s Houthi rebels held a rare meeting to discuss coordinating their actions against Israel, Palestinian factional sources tell AFP.

Hamas and the Houthis belong to the “axis of resistance,” a collection of Iran-backed movements hostile to Israel and the United States that also includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraqi militias.

The Houthis have attacked Red Sea shipping for months since the Israel-Hamas war was triggered by the Palestinian terror group’s October 7 attack, saying they are targeting Israeli-linked vessels in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

According to sources from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, leaders from the two Palestinian Islamist terror groups, as well as the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, held an “important meeting” with Houthi representatives last week.

The groups discussed “mechanisms to coordinate their actions of resistance” for the “next stage” of the war in Gaza, the sources say without identifying where the meeting took place.

The Palestinian groups and the Houthis also talked about a possible Israeli ground assault into southern Gaza’s Rafah, say the sources, who requested anonymity.

The Houthis confirmed they would continue their attacks on Red Sea shipping to “support the Palestinian resistance,” according to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad sources.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Pence says he won’t endorse former boss Trump in 2024 US presidential race

Then-US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence stand on stage during the first day of the 2020 Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, August 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

WASHINGTON — Former US vice president Mike Pence says he will not be backing Donald Trump as his old boss runs for a second term in the White House.

“It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” Pence says in an interview with Fox News.

US media calls the announcement a “bombshell” and “startling,” although in reality deep divisions have driven the two men apart since leaving office, and an endorsement would have been a surprise.

The pair became estranged after Trump tried to pressure Pence to help him overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden, repeatedly attacking him on social media when he wouldn’t go along with the scheme.

After various attempts by Trump and his allies to subvert the election results failed, the then-president directed a mob of his supporters to march on the Capitol, where they ransacked the building as some chanted “Hang Mike Pence!”

Pence tells Fox News that Trump is “pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years.”

The 64-year-old’s comments come days after Trump secured enough delegates to clinch the Republican nomination to challenge Biden in November.

Pence was one of Trump’s early rivals in the primary contest ahead of the 2024 election, although he quit the race last October after failing to poll in double figures.