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The Times of Israel liveblogged Saturday’s events as they happened.
Ten arrested at weekly Tel Aviv rallies, protesters gather outside MK Gideon Sa’ar’s apartment
Protesters gather outside the home of MK Gideon Sa'ar in Tel Aviv, March 23, 2024. (Iddo Schejter)
Ten protesters were arrested in Tel Aviv during the weekly demonstrations against the government and in favor of a hostage deal.
After the main protests were dispersed, a group of demonstrators made their way to MK Gideon Sa’ar’s apartment block where they called on the lawmaker to ensure that far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich do not gain entry into the war cabinet.
The protesters also rally outside the home of Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, from Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party, calling for the release of the hostages and lighting a bonfire before being dispersed by the police.
At least one arrested as protesters make additional break for Ayalon Highway
Protesters attempt to make another break for the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv after being dispersed by police forces a short while ago.
The attempt is largely unsuccessful and the Times of Israel witnesses one arrest.
Protesters return to Sapir Street and block it, lighting a bonfire along the way.
A police officer declares the protest illegal and calls all demonstrators to return south, instructing police to use force to remove them from the street.
Protesters on Sapir Street continue to be pushed back by the police and some are dragged off the road.
They continue marching through residential neighborhoods, however, and block Namir Road.
Hamas official claims Israel delaying hostage deal by viewing terror group’s ‘flexibility’ as weakness
Deep differences exist between Israel and Hamas in negotiations for a temporary truce and hostage release deal, an unnamed official from the Gaza terror group with knowledge of the talks tells AFP.
“There is a deep divergence in positions in the negotiations between Hamas and the occupation because the enemy understood the flexibility shown by the movement as weakness,” claims the official.
Protesters block road outside Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence
Protesters block the road outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official Jerusalem residence, March 23, 2024. (Charlie Summers/The Times of Israel)
A small group of some dozen protesters are blocking the road outside Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence.
The group includes Mai Alvini-Peri, the grandson of Haim Peri who was taken captive by Hamas on October 7.
Police are ordering the protesters to return to the sidewalks to no avail.
In Oct 4. interview, former Shin Bet tech chief was confident agency knew what was going on in Gaza
Former senior Shin Bet officer Sasi Eliya speaks in an interview carried out on October 4, 2023 and broadcast on March 23, 2024. (Channel 12 screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the copyright law)
A former head of the Shin Bet’s technology branch said in an interview on October 4, 2023 — three days before the Hamas invasion of southern Israel — that the intelligence agency “very broadly speaking” knew “everything” about what Hamas was up to in Gaza.
The nearly six-month-old interview with Sasi Eliya was broadcast by Channel 12 news, which had originally scheduled to screen it on Saturday night, October 7, but shelved it because of that day’s massacre in southern Israel. It broadcast the interview tonight along with a second, brief and more recent interview with Eliya in which, it reports, he acknowledges that he was part of the failed conception that Hamas was not interested in a major attack on Israel.
Eliya, a recipient of two Israeli security prizes, had stepped down from his Shin Bet job three years ago, Channel 12 notes. It says he had overseen the development of the Shin Bet’s SIGINT capabilities in Gaza, designed to ensure the agency knew exactly what was going on in the Hamas-run enclave.
Asked on camera in the October 4 interview, as the screen shows footage from the mass infiltration three days later of Hamas terrorists across the border, whether he knows “everything about all of them,” Eliya replies: “Very broadly speaking, yes. I don’t know everything. The Shin Bet knows everything.”
He says the Shin Bet network that monitors Gaza tracks transmissions with infinite information “from any sensor you can imagine,” and provides warnings “about anything that should concern you.”
Speaking of a similar technological network operating in the West Bank, he says, “I don’t know of an incident where they didn’t get to any attacker or terror orchestrator.”
In an answer to a question, Eliya also says that if the Shin Bet had had “this infrastructure, knowledge and experience,” it would be reasonable to think that it could have prevented the 1995 assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.
The report quotes other intelligence experts noting that gathering human intelligence in Gaza became progressively more difficult over the years, because Hamas killed alleged collaborators and because it became increasingly difficult to penetrate Hamas.
Those difficulties culminated in the IDF Intelligence Branch in 2009 closing its unit for recruiting sources in Gaza, the TV report says. The report also claims that the Mossad, Israel’s external security agency, wanted to try to recruit in Gaza, but was blocked by the Shin Bet and IDF Intelligence.
It says the failure of a 2018 IDF intel-related operation inside Gaza marked a further turning point in the increased reliance on electronic and technological intel over human intel. It quotes intelligence experts saying that Hamas improved its capabilities and its capacity to keep the Israeli security establishment in the dark about them — and that Israel did not realize how far Hamas had advanced — with catastrophic consequences on October 7.
Former senior Shin Bet officer Sasi Eliya speaks in a Channel 12 interview broadcast on March 23, 2024. (Channel 12 screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the copyright law)
Eliya, in the more recent interview, says Israeli intelligence had “pinpoint information” on Hamas plans for a possible infiltration and/or kidnapping, but nothing on the scale of what happened.
“We failed; the whole apparatus failed,” he says, apparently referring to the entire failure of the security and policy-making echelons. “The world of intelligence is not 100%. Sometimes it screws up… There need to be other mechanisms. I believe more in mechanisms that deter and that ensure that any threat is dealt with.”
Adds Eliya: “The Shin Bet felt that Gaza was pretty well covered. Obviously it could have been much better covered if we had a presence in the territory. Lots of times, you knew what was happening but couldn’t do anything about it. If some kind of missile was brought in via Rafah, what could you do? If you have no presence inside the territory in order to tackle it, that missile will come heading toward you one day.”
Protesters make dash for Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway, light bonfire before being dispersed
Protesters light a bonfire on Tel Aviv's Ayalon Highway, March 23, 2024. (Iddo Schejter)
Demonstrators are pursued on foot and by mounted police as they attempt to run north on Tel Aviv’s Begin Street toward the Ayalon Highway.
Some manage to reach the highway and light an additional bonfire while others clash with police along the route.
Police disperse the majority of the protesters on the highway and extinguish the fire shortly after being lit.
Outside Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence, hundreds call for release of Gaza captives
Hostages and Missing Families Forum activist Tom Barkai at a protest for a hostage deal in Jerusalem on March 23, 2024. (Charlie Summers/The Times of Israel)
Hundreds of protesters are gathered outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem to call for an immediate hostage deal and mark 169 days of captivity for the 134 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
“No holiday will ever be a real holiday without the return of all the hostages,” says Hostages and Missing Families Forum organizer Tom Barkai, alluding to the upcoming Purim holiday which will be celebrated on Sunday night and Monday in Jerusalem, a day after the rest of the country.
The protest is occurring at the same time as negotiations between Israel and Hamas continue in Qatar.
“We are in critical days of negotiations in Qatar between Israel and Hamas, it is forbidden for us to allow the Israeli government to waste this opportunity,” says Elad Or, brother of Dror Or who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7. “The hostages’ families need as much support as possible in these critical days.”
Elad Or, brother of Hamas-held hostage Dror Or at a protest for a hostage deal in Jerusalem on March 23, 2024. (Charlie Summers/The Times of Israel)
Purim teaches us to unite and pray for hostages, prominent rabbi says at rally
Rabbis David Stav, left, and Yoni Lavih read the Book of Esther in Tel Aviv on March 23, 2024. (Courtesy of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
Rabbi David Stav, the city rabbi of Shoham and the head of the Tzohar rabbinical group, likens Queen Esther to the hostages in Gaza in a sermon he delivers on Hostages Square on Purim night.
Esther, the heroine of the Book of Esther that recounts the story behind the holiday, “was a queen, but really she was a hostage in the palace of Ahasuerus,” Stav tells thousands of people gathered for the weekly rally for the release of hostages.
Esther, who was Jewish, had told her father to gather all the Jews after hearing that the king’s advisor was plotting to kill the Jews of Persia, Stav recalls of the story. “She also asks him to pray and fast for her,” he adds.
The story of Purim, which ends with rescue of the Jews and the demise of their persecutors, “shows that this is holiday capable of miracles – if we pray and if we unite,” says Stav.
He proceeds to read the Book of Esther with Rabbi Yoni Lavih.
Nadav Rudaeff, the son of 61-year-old Lior Rudaeff, whom Hamas terrorists abducted to Gaza on October 7 from Nir Yitzhak, recalls seeing his father at Purim parties in their kibbutz.
“Purim is my favorite holiday to celebrate in the kibbutz. But not this year,” Rudaeff says. He, too, references Esther. “Just as rescuing the Jewish people was in Esther’s hands, rescuing the hostages now is in our hands, and the hands of our leadership,” he says.
For second time this month, mild earthquake felt in parts of northern Israel
Residents of northern Israel report feeling a minor earthquake a short while ago.
Hebrew media reports that the quakes were felt in Haifa and the Lower Galilee region.
Earlier in March, an earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale was felt across large parts of the country’s north, according to the Geological Survey of Israel.
Fire and Rescue Services called to Begin Street after protesters light bonfires in the road
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 attacks by Hamas hold placards and wave Israeli flags during a demonstration in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, on March 23, 2024. (Jack Guez/AFP)
Fire and Rescue Services arrive at the protest on Begin Street in Tel Aviv and begin extinguishing bonfires lit by demonstrators in the middle of the road.
Calls against the government were echoed across the protesting crowds as the bonfires were set up. Attendees pleaded for the US government to pressure the government to pursue a hostage deal, crying out in English “SOS USA” and “help, help, we need your help.”
Demonstrators also chanted against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu, yelling “Bibi, Sarah, thanks for all the shit,” a reference to a complaint that the freed hostages were ungrateful allegedly made by premier’s spouse in a recent meeting.
Protesters block the street and pull on the fire hoses to prevent the firefighters from reaching the bonfires while police attempt to disperse them using force.
Former minister supports releasing son’s killers in exchange for Gaza hostages
Izhar Shay, a former cabinet minister whose son Yaron Shay died fighting Hamas terrorists on October 7, tells thousands of people on Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square that he supports freeing his son’s killers and their accomplices if it helps secure the release of hostages in Gaza.
“Capital punishment would be a relatively light sentence” for Hamas terrorists responsible for the onslaught on October 7, the former science and technology minister says at the weekly Tel Aviv rally for the release of the hostages.
Shay, a high-tech entrepreneur who grew up in Kibbutz Ein HaShlosha near the border with Gaza, addresses his deceased son from the podium, explaining why, despite his loathing of the terrorists, he supports releasing them in exchange for the hostages. “Just as Israel owes you justice, it owes justice to the families of 134 hostages in Gaza, and this justice means bringing them all back,” he says.
“If we need to return the human scum who murdered you, for him to go back to the wasp’s nest in Gaza, we — all of your family — will give moral backing to the ministers and the prime minister to make a painful decision,” he says.
Report: Sinwar’s deputy is at hostage talks in Qatar; Israeli team set to stay several days
Demonstrators protest calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip, outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, March 23, 2024. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)
The Israeli delegation is continuing negotiations tonight on a hostage-truce deal in Qatar, and the process is advancing, Channel 12 reports.
The talks involve not only delegations from Israel, the US, Qatar and Egypt, but also a Hamas delegation including Ismail Haniyeh, Khaled Mashaal, and Khalil al-Haya, a deputy to Hamas’s Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, the report says.
Channel 12, echoing an earlier report from the Walla news site, says there are major differences on the issue of how many and which Palestinian security prisoners would be freed — prompting the US to present a compromise proposal. The original Paris framework from last month provided for 400 security prisoners to be freed for 40 hostages — women, children, the sick and elderly — in the first phase of a deal. The new US compromise is “more generous” for Hamas, but has been accepted by Israel, says Channel 12. The teams are now waiting for a response from Gaza, which could take hours or days.
Mossad chief David Barnea and the rest of the Israeli team are likely to stay in Doha for several days, and indeed may remain there all week, the TV report says.
The report also says that the war cabinet, when authorizing some limited leeway for the Israeli team before its departure on Friday, empowered the negotiators to discuss the process of civilian evacuees from northern Gaza to return.
The report says these are among the key issues to be resolved for a deal to take place, but makes no mention of the Hamas condition to date that any further hostage releases be accompanied by an Israeli commitment to end the war — a demand Israel has rejected as “delusional.”
Protesters calling for hostage deal block northern section of Tel Aviv’s Begin Street
Protesters block the northern section of Begin Street in Tel Aviv as they demand Israel agree to a hostage deal, March 23, 2024. (Iddo Schejter)
Demonstrators calling for Israel to agree to a deal for the release of hostages in Gaza have blocked off the northern section of Begin Street in Tel Aviv.
“Their time is running out, bring them home now!” protesters chant, as others shout “he who abandoned them must return them!” about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At Tel Aviv rally, aunt of released hostage Ophir Engel calls for new elections
The first speaker to take the stage at the weekly Tel Aviv demonstration is Yael Engel Lichi, aunt of Ophir Engel, who was held hostage by Hamas for 54 days before being released during a temporary truce in late November.
Engel Lichi calls for immediate elections and blasts the government for refusing to take responsibility for the failures surrounding Hamas’s October 7 massacre in which her nephew was kidnapped.
Opher Havakuk, who served in Gaza as a reserve doctor during the war, speaks next. “As a doctor, I’m required to take responsibility for my actions and to be decisive,” he says. “I mention this because these qualities are missing from our government.”
IDF reserves doctor Ophir Havakuk speaks at an anti-government rally in Tel Aviv, March 23, 2024. (Iddo Schejter)
Ami Dror, a high-tech entrepreneur and one of the leaders of the “elections now” movement, speaks after Havakuk. “A people made up of heroes went to war with a government of cowards,” Dror says, as the crowd responds with cries of “elections now!” and “you’re in charge, you’re to blame!” about Netanyahu.
Israel agrees to US compromise on number of Palestinian prisoners to release in hostage deal – report
The Israeli delegation conducting negotiations in Qatar has agreed to a compromise proposed by the US regarding the number of Palestinian prisoners that will be released in a potential temporary truce and hostage release deal, Hebrew media outlets report.
According to the reports, one of the main sticking points preventing Israel and Hamas from reaching an agreement was the number of Palestinian prisoners Hamas was demanding Israel release in exchange for the hostages — with the terror group demanding a higher number than Israel was willing to release.
While Israel has agreed to the compromise, Hamas has yet to respond, the reports add.
IDF denies Hamas claim that troops targeted Palestinians waiting for aid in Gaza City
The IDF denies claims made by Hamas that Israeli forces targeted Palestinians waiting for aid in Gaza City earlier today, leading to 19 deaths.
“The reports claiming that the IDF attacked dozens of Gazans at the aid convoy are incorrect,” the military says in response to a query by The Times of Israel.
Hamas health authorities claimed 19 Palestinians were killed by IDF “tank fire” while waiting for aid at Kuwait Square in Gaza City.
The terror group has made previous allegations of Israeli attacks on people waiting for aid at the same location, which have been denied by the IDF.
“This morning at 11:00, the IDF allowed and coordinated the passage of an aid convoy to provide food to the residents of the northern Gaza Strip,” the IDF says.
The IDF says that “when the aid convoy was going to the designated distribution point, the convoy was stopped north of the [army position] and looted by hundreds of Gazans.”
“After an examination, it appears that no airstrikes were carried out on the convoy and there are no known incidents in which IDF soldiers fired at the people in the [area of the] convoy,” the IDF says, while adding that it is continuing to probe the incident.
In House floor speech, US Rep. Ocasio-Cortez accuses Israel of ‘genocide’ in Gaza
US Democratic Representative from New York Alexandria Ocasio Cortez speaks during a press conference to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in front of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on November 13, 2023. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)
US Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused Israel of committing “genocide” in the Gaza Strip during a speech in the House of Representatives on Friday, the New York Times reports.
Although she has sharply condemned Israel throughout the war with the Hamas terror organization, the progressive Democrat had not explicitly accused Israel of genocide prior to her speech on Friday.
“If you want to know what an unfolding genocide looks like, open your eyes,” the New York Times quotes her as saying in an appeal for US President Joe Biden to suspend aid to Israel. “It looks like the forced famine of 1.1 million innocents. It looks like thousands of children eating grass as their bodies consume themselves, while trucks of food are slowed and halted just miles away.”
Israel has denied that it is withholding humanitarian assistance from civilians in Gaza, instead blaming the United Nations for not delivering the supplies fast enough once they clear security checks, and for leading to a general fall-off in deliveries in recent months.
Ocasio-Cortez’s decision to avoid labeling the war in Gaza a genocide over the last few months had set her apart from her fellow progressive Democrats. It also angered her voter base and she was accosted by far-left activists earlier this month as she left a movie theater in Brooklyn with her fiancée.
Gallant to head to Washington Sunday at invitation of US defense chief
File: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (L) and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant give a joint press conference in Tel Aviv on December 18, 2023. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP)
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will head to Washington DC tomorrow for an official trip at the invitation of his American counterpart, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, his office says.
Gallant will meet Austin, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and other senior US officials during the visit.
The Defense Ministry says Gallant will discuss with the officials “the progress of the fighting to dismantle Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the efforts to return the hostages held captive by Hamas, the actions being taken on the ground to bring in humanitarian aid, as well as the actions to improve regional stability and strengthen the special cooperation between the defense establishment and the American government with an emphasis on the procurement processes to preserve the qualitative advantage of the State of Israel in the region.”
Joining Gallant is Defense Ministry Director General Eyal Zamir; the minister’s chief of staff, Shachar Katz; his military secretary Brig. Gen. Guy Markizeno; the commander of the IDF’s Strategic Division, Brig. Gen. Benny Gal; COGAT official Col. Elad Goren; and Dror Shalom, the head of the ministry’s Political-Military Bureau.
Demonstrators call for early elections, Netanyahu’s resignation at weekly protest in Tel Aviv
IDF veterans of the 1973 Yom Kippur War call for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be removed from power during a weekly protest in Tel Aviv, March 23, 2024. (Iddo Schejter)
Demonstrators are gathering outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, calling for early elections and for the government to be ousted.
Many attendees are wearing shirts calling for the immediate dismissal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the release of hostages, as well as shirts identified with various protest groups from the anti-judicial overhaul demonstrations that occurred weekly prior to October 7.
In addition to the main podium, a group of IDF veterans who fought in the 1973 Yom Kippur War are standing on a separate stage nearby, making speeches calling for Netanyahu’s removal.
The police have barricaded Kaplan Street’s Democracy Square, close to where the protest is being held, to prevent demonstrators from coming down and blocking the Ayalon Highway, as they did last week.
Ex-Likud defense minister Ya’alon: Netanyahu was ‘prepared to sacrifice the hostages’ to keep his coalition together
Moshe Ya'alon speaks at a protest against the proposed changes to the legal system, in Tel Aviv, on January 28, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Moshe Ya’alon, a former IDF chief of staff who served as a Likud defense minister under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but is now a major critic, says that if Netanyahu had wanted to send the IDF into Rafah, he would have done so, and would not have withdrawn most of Israel’s forces from Gaza in recent weeks.
Rather, charges Ya’alon in a Channel 12 interview, the prime minister is now planning to blame the Americans for thwarting an invasion of Rafah and thus “for preventing the total victory” over Hamas.
“What’s happening now is that he [Netanyahu] wants to drag out the war. The length of his term in office is the length of the war,” claims Ya’alon. “He doesn’t want it to end. He was prepared to sacrifice the hostages [in order to keep his far-right coalition together]. I say this crudely…”
Adds Ya’alon: “Six months have passed. Every minute that they are there, we pay a heavy price… If we had acted according to the interests of the state of Israel and not the survival of this coalition, the issue of the hostages should have been handled at the start — when the military campaign was not done, and [the issue of] humanitarian aid wasn’t being handled above our heads and we could have used it as leverage.”
For some of the far-right members of the coalition, who want to reoccupy Gaza and resettle it, Ya’alon also charges, the hostages can be left in captivity “until the messiah comes.”
IDF announces death of soldier killed in West Bank shooting attack on Friday
Sgt. First Class Ilay David Garfinkel, killed in a shooting attack in the West Bank on March 22, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF announces the death of a soldier killed in Friday’s shooting attack in the West Bank.
He is named as Sgt. First Class Ilay David Garfinkel, 21, of the Commando Brigade’s Duvdevan unit, from Sitria.
In the sniper attack near the settlement of Dolev, the commander of the 668th “Ram” Search and Rescue Battalion and another soldier were seriously wounded, and five other troops were light and moderately hurt, the IDF says.
IDF strikes buildings used by Hezbollah in south Lebanon
The IDF says it struck a building in southern Lebanon’s Kafr Kila earlier today, after a Hezbollah operative was spotted entering it.
The operative was identified by the 869th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit, and a short while later a fighter jet struck the building, the IDF says.
In Naqoura and Ayta ash-Shab, the IDF says fighter jets struck additional buildings used by Hezbollah, as well as an observation post in Khiam.
Several rockets and missiles were also fired today by Hezbollah at the Mount Dov, Margaliot and Shomera areas, causing no injuries, according to the IDF.
כוח צה"ל מיחידה 869 זיהה באמצעות רחפן לפני זמן קצר מחבל שנכנס למבנה צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בכפר כילא שבדרום לבנון, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו את המבנה.
בא-נקורה ועייתא א-שעב מטוסי קרב תקפו מבנים צבאיים של ארגון הטרור. באלחיאם הותקפה עמדת תצפית של הארגון >> pic.twitter.com/y5K3SFO2W2
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 23, 2024
Russia says suspected Moscow attackers are foreign nationals
Russia says the four suspected gunmen arrested over Friday’s attack on a Moscow concert hall were not Russian citizens.
“They are all foreign nationals,” the interior ministry says in a statement, as Russian media reported some were nationals of Tajikistan, a country that borders Afghanistan and where the Islamic State group is active.
Shifa hospital operation to end when all terrorists caught, ‘dead or alive,’ says chief of IDF Southern Command
Chief of the IDF Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman near Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, March 22, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Speaking to troops at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital on Friday, the chief of the IDF Southern Command says the operation there against Hamas will end “only when the last of the terrorists are in our hands, dead or alive.”
“The action here at Shifa is significant. A bold, cunning, most impressive operation so far,” Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman says.
The IDF says it has captured more than 800 terror suspects, including several senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders, and killed another 140 gunmen during the ongoing raid at the Strip’s largest medical center.
Finkelman was joined by the chief of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, the commander of the 162nd Division, Brig. Gen. Itzik Cohen, and the commander of the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit, Cpt. “Aleph.
UN chief: Clear consensus any assault on Gaza’s Rafah will cause humanitarian disaster
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says there is a clear international consensus that any ground assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah would cause a humanitarian catastrophe.
He spoke during a press conference at Egypt’s al-Arish Airport near the Rafah border crossing with Gaza Saturday, after Israel reiterated a threat to launch a major military operation in Rafah, packed with displaced people after five months of war.
Rafah is Hamas’s last stronghold in Gaza where Israel has vowed to destroy the terror group following its October 7 massacre.
FM Katz: Under Guterres, UN has become ‘antisemitic, anti-Israel body’ that ’emboldens terror’
Foreign Minister Israel Katz tours the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem, February 19, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Foreign Minister Israel Katz hits back at UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who decried the humanitarian crisis in Gaza while visiting Egypt’s side of the border with the Palestinian enclave today, and says the United Nations has become an “antisemitic and anti-Israeli body” that backs terror.
In a furious response on X, Katz writes in English that Guterres “stood today on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing and blamed Israel for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, without condemning in any way the Hamas-ISIS terrorists who plunder humanitarian aid, without condemning UNRWA that cooperates with terrorists — and without calling for the immediate, unconditional release of all Israeli hostages.”
Under Guterres’s leadership, writes Katz, the UN “has become an antisemitic and anti-Israeli body that shelters and emboldens terror.
the UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres, stood today on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing and blamed Israel for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, without condemning in any way the Hamas-ISIS terrorists who plunder humanitarian aid, without condemning @UNRWA that…
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) March 23, 2024
Drone warning sirens sounding again in northern cities and towns
Drone warning sirens are sounding again in several communities close to the northern border with Lebanon.
The sirens are sounding in largely evacuated border communities including Kiryat Shmona, Tel Hai, Misgav Am, Margaliot, Ma’ayan Baruch, Manara, Metula, Kfar Yuval , Kfar Giladi and Beit Hillel.
Putin declares national day of mourning for ‘barbaric terrorist’ attack in Moscow
A man lays flowers at a makeshift memorial in front of the Crocus City Hall, a day after a gun attack in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, on March 23, 2024. (Olga Maltseva/AFP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin calls yesterday’s attack on a concert hall near Moscow that killed more than 100 a “barbaric terrorist act” and announces a day of national mourning.
In a televised address to the nation, Putin says: “I am speaking to you today in connection with the bloody, barbaric terrorist act, the victims of which were dozens of innocent, peaceful people. … I declare 24 March a day of national mourning.”
He also vows harsh retribution for everybody involved in plotting the attack.
“All four perpetrators of the terrorist act who shot and killed people have been detained. They were traveling towards Ukraine … We will identify and punish everybody who stood behind the terrorists, who prepared the attack.”
UN chief at Egypt’s Rafah crossing: Blocked Gaza aid trucks ‘a moral outrage’
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, March 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
RAFAH CROSSING, Egypt — A long line of blocked relief trucks on Egypt’s side of the border with the Gaza Strip where people face starvation is a moral outrage, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says during a visit to the Rafah crossing.
He says that it’s time for Israel to give an “ironclad commitment” for unfettered access to humanitarian goods throughout Gaza, said Guterres, while also calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The UN will continue to work with Egypt to “streamline” the flow of aid into Gaza, he adds.
Guterres is in Egypt to reiterate his call for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war which has been raging since October 7, sparked by the terror group’s massacre in southern Israel.
The secretary-general is expected to meet aid workers on the Egyptian side of Rafah, which is split over the border with the Gaza Strip and has been a key gateway for humanitarian supplies reaching the territory.
Guterres will also visit a hospital in el-Arish, an Egyptian city that sits close to the Gaza border.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Hamas-run health ministry says Gaza death toll at least 32,142
Palestinians assess the destruction of a house hit by an Israeli strike in northern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 23, 2024. (Said Khatib/AFP)
At least 32,142 Palestinians have been killed and 74,412 have been wounded in Gaza since October 7, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says.
Some 72 Palestinians were killed and 144 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry adds in a statement.
The figures issued cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including as a consequence of terror groups’ own rocket misfires.
The IDF says it has killed over 13,000 operatives in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Hezbollah claims to have targeted Iron Dome battery near Kfar Blum with armed UAVs
Hezbollah claims to have targeted an Iron Dome battery near the northern community of Kfar Blum with two explosive-laden drones.
The IDF says it received reports of two drones launched from Lebanon impacting two locations near the community.
The local authority says impacts caused a fire.
According to the IDF, no damage or injuries were caused in the attack.
It adds that the incident is being investigated.
At least 2 UAVs from Lebanon reportedly explode near Kfar Blum; none hurt
At least two UAVs from Lebanon have exploded near the northern community of Kfar Blum, according to a statement from the Upper Galilee Regional Council quoted by Hebrew media sites.
The IDF has not yet confirmed the reports.
There are no immediate reports of casualties in the attacks.
Local emergency forces put out a fire near the town and are scouring the area for additional impact sides.
The reports come a short while after drone alert sirens sounded in the area, amid near-daily attacks by Hezbollah-led forces on Israeli communities and military posts along the border with Lebanon since October 8.
The Lebanon-based terror group says the attacks are in support of Palestinians in Gaza amid the ongoing war there, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
Ahead of razing, IDF maps home of terrorist who opened fire on minibus, troops in West Bank yesterday
IDF troops take measurements at the home of Mujahid Barakat Mansour in the West Bank town of Dayr Ibzi', early March 23, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says it operated overnight in the West Bank town of Dayr Ibzi’ to measure the home of Mujahid Barakat Mansour, the Palestinian terrorist who carried out a shooting attack near the settlement of Dolev yesterday, ahead of its potential demolition.
Israel regularly destroys the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out terror attacks.
Seven Israelis were hurt in the attack yesterday, in which Mansour opened fire with a sniper rifle on an Israeli minibus and later against troops searching for him.
After five hours of clashes and searches, Mansour was killed in a helicopter strike.
Drone warning sirens sound in northern border communities
Sirens are sounding again in several communities close to the northern border with Lebanon, this time warning of a suspected incoming drone attack.
The alerts are sounding in the largely evacuated northern communities of Shamir, Sdeh Nechemia, Amir, Neot Mordechai, Lehavot HaBashan, Kfar Szold, Kfar Blum, Gonen, Snir, Shear Yeshuv, Dan, Ghajar, HaGoshrim and Dafna.
Rocket Alerts [12:33:25] – 6 Alerts:
• Confrontation Line — HaGoshrim, Dafna, Ghajar, Shear Yeshuv, Kibutz Dan, Snir#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/xN38Dx4Ofg
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) March 23, 2024
Earlier today, missile sirens sounded in the northern communities of Misgav Am and Margaliot.
North Sinai governor to UN chief: 7,000 Gaza aid trucks waiting; Israel holding up flow
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (C) walks on the tarmac flanked by the Egyptian Second Army in Sinai Chief Mohammad Abdel Rahman (L) and Egypt's Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar (R), upon landing at Egypt's el-Arish airport, near the Rafah border with the Gaza Strip on March 23, 2024. (Khaled Desouki/AFP)
North Sinai Governor Mohamed Shusha tells visiting UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that some 7,000 trucks are waiting in North Sinai to deliver aid to Gaza, but that inspection procedures demanded by Israel had held up the flow of relief.
The comments come in a statement from Shusha’s office as the UN chief arrived in el-Arish in Egypt’s northern Sinai, where much of the international relief for Gaza is delivered and stockpiled.
Guterres is expected to visit Egypt’s border with Gaza later today to renew pleas for a ceasefire in the war that has been raging for over five months, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel.
Yesh Atid MK running in primaries: ‘I believe I will replace Lapid’
Yesh Atid MK Ram Ben Barak speaks at an event on March 23, 2024. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Yesh Atid MK Ram Ben Barak says he believes he will replace party leader Yair Lapid in the faction’s upcoming inaugural primaries.
“Yesh Atid is undergoing a process of democratization. I believe that I will replace Lapid as leader of the party,” he says in a video published on the Israel Hayom website.
Speaking to recent polls which have predicted that Yesh Atid would drop to 14 seats from its current 24 if elections were held today, Ben Barak says, “We’re in a difficult period for the party, but the decision not to join the coalition was correct; we are not [National Unity chair] Benny Gantz and [New Hope leader] Gideon Sa’ar. We are the opposition and we call on them to leave this terrible coalition.”
Yesh Atid, founded by Lapid in 2012, has never held a primary election. Days before the October 7 Hamas onslaught, it scheduled a leadership contest for December, but later pushed it off amid the ensuing war against the terror group.
Rocket alerts sirens sound in northern communities
Warning sirens are sounding in the northern towns of Misgav Am and Margaliot, indicating incoming rocket fire.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
Rocket Alerts [11:57:59] – 2 Alerts:
• Confrontation Line — Margaliot, Misgav Am#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/8gHd98pN9a
— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) March 23, 2024
UN chief lands in Egypt, expected to visit Gaza border later today
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrives at Egypt’s el-Arish airport and is expected to visit the country’s border with Gaza later today.
El-Arish is located in the northern Sinai Peninsula, some 50km (31 miles) from Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip, where war has been raging between Israel and the Hamas terror group since October 7.
During his visit, Guterres plans to reiterate his call for a humanitarian ceasefire, though renewed international pressure has so far failed to dissuade Israel from its planned ground offensive in Rafah, where over half of Gaza’s population has taken shelter.
@UNSG arriving at Al-Areesh airport #Egypt @pass_blue pic.twitter.com/vYiUF7a4B8
— Dawn Clancy (@dawnmclancy) March 23, 2024
The UN chief is in the region on an annual solidarity trip to mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Russia’s FSB said to claim Moscow shooting attackers had contacts in Ukraine
MOSCOW — Four suspected perpetrators of a deadly attack near Moscow on Friday were heading towards Russia’s border with Ukraine when they were apprehended early on Saturday, and had contacts on the Ukrainian side, Interfax quotes the FSB security service as saying.
The FSB says the attack had been carefully planned.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said yesterday that Kyiv had nothing to do with the attack.
Hamas voices ‘appreciation’ for China, Russia veto of US-backed Gaza resolution
Hamas has voiced “appreciation” after Russia and China yesterday vetoed a US-led draft resolution on a Gaza ceasefire at the UN Security Council.
The United States put forward a resolution that supported “the imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire” and for the first time condemned the October 7 attack by Hamas.
“We express our appreciation for the position of Russia, China and Algeria who rejected the biased American resolution of aggression against our people,” the Iran-backed terror group says in a statement released last night.
Hamas says the draft contained “misleading wording that is complicit” with Israel and “grants it cover and legitimacy to commit a genocidal war against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”
Algeria, the Arab country currently seated on the Security Council, also voted against the text and co-sponsored a new, tougher draft that is expected to come to a vote on Monday but risks a US veto.
Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.
Death toll in Moscow terror shooting up to 93, expected to rise – Russian authorities
Russian law enforcement officers stand guard as a woman lays flowers at a makeshift memorial in front of the Crocus City Hall, a day after a terror shooting attack in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, left at least 93 people dead on March 23, 2024. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP)
MOSCOW — At least 93 people have been killed in an attack on Friday near Moscow, Russia’s Investigative Committee says, citing preliminary data and warning that the number of victims was expected to rise further.
Camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at concertgoers near Moscow on Friday in an attack claimed by Islamic State terrorists.
Russian lawmaker: 2 suspects in Moscow terror attack detained after car chase
MOSCOW – Two people suspected of carrying out a deadly attack near Moscow yesterday have been detained in Russia’s Bryansk region following a car chase, Russian lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein says on Telegram.
Other suspects fled into a nearby forest on foot, Khinshtein adds.
Camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at concertgoers near Moscow last night, killing at least 60 people and injuring 145 in an attack claimed by Islamic State terrorists.
IDF: Over 170 gunmen killed, 800 terror suspects captured in ongoing Shifa Hospital raid
The IDF says it has killed more than 170 gunmen and captured 800 terror suspects during its ongoing operation against Hamas at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital.
Also amid the raid at Shifa, which began early Monday and is being carried out by the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit and the 401st Armored Brigade, the IDF says troops located infrastructure belonging to terror groups and caches of weapons.
Meanwhile, over the past day, the Israeli Air Force struck some 35 sites across the Gaza Strip, including command rooms and other infrastructure belongs to terror groups, the IDF says.
In central Gaza, the IDF says troops of the Nahal Brigade killed some 15 terror operatives during “intense fighting” over the past day.
In southern Gaza’s al-Qarara, the IDF says the 7th Armored Brigade directed airstrikes on two operatives and a building used by Hamas, during its ongoing operations in the area, close to Khan Younis.
כוחות צה״ל ושב״כ ממשיכים בלחימה ממוקדת במרחב בית החולים שיפאא׳. צוות הקרב של חטיבה 401, צוות הקרב של חטיבת הנח"ל וכוחות שייטת 13 בפיקוד אוגדה 162 נלחמים במרחב תוך הימנעות מפגיעה באזרחים, חולים, צוותים רפואיים וציוד רפואי>> pic.twitter.com/sc6CgEBpua
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 23, 2024
FM praises US Congress vote not to resume funding to UNRWA until at least 2025
Foreign Minister Israel Katz praises the US Congress decision not to resume funding to UNRWA until at least 2025, as part of a funding bill approved early this morning.
“The historic ban on US funding to UNRWA that passed today with an overwhelming bipartisan support, demonstrates what we knew all along: UNRWA is part of the problem and can not be part of the solution,” Katz writes on X, formerly Twitter.
“UNRWA will not be a part of Gaza’s landscape in the aftermath of Hamas. Thousands of UNRWA employees are involved in Hamas terror activities and their facilities were used for terrorist purposes.”
He adds a call for other countries to also ban funding the UN agency for Palestinians, after Israeli surfaced allegations in late January that 12 of UNRWA’s employees actively participated in Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught on southern communities, when terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 253 hostages to Gaza.
Those staffers have already been fired by the agency.
Israel argues that Hamas’s infiltration into the agency runs far deeper and that some 1,500 employees (some 10%) have active ties to terror groups.
The United States, along with more than a dozen countries, suspended its funding to UNRWA in January after the allegations were raised, although several have since resumed payments.
Man targeted in car explosion in north succumbs to wounds at Nahariya hospital
Illustrative - The scene of a fatal shooting in the northern Arab city of Umm Al-Fahm, February 25, 2024. (Israel Police)
Doctors at Nahariya’s Galilee Medical Center are forced to pronounce the death of a man in his 40s whose car exploded as he was driving near the northern town of Abu Snan earlier this morning, Ynet news reports.
Police said earlier that they were investigating the incident, which they suspect is connected to criminal activity.
The apparent murder marks the 43rd death due to violent crime in the Arab community since the start of the year, according to figures from the anti-violence Abraham Initiatives watchdog.
US Congress approves funding bill, averts shutdown in rare show of cross-party unity
WASHINGTON – The US Congress approves a funding bill in a rare show of cross-party unity to keep federal agencies running through September and avert a damaging partial government shutdown.
The Senate missed a deadline of midnight last night to keep the lights on in several key agencies but voted in the early hours of this morning to pass a resolution that had already advanced from the House.
Man in serious condition after car explodes in north; police investigating
A 40-year-old man is in a serious condition after his car exploded while he was driving near the northern village of Abu Snan, according to Hebrew media reports.
The reports say police believe the incident is connected with criminal activity.
Magen David Adom paramedics administer first aid at the scene and evacuate the man to Nahariya’s Galilee Medical Center, Ynet news reports.
The incident comes amid a wave of violent crime in the Arab Israeli community, much of it tied to warring organized crime groups.
The anti-violence Abraham Initiatives watchdog says there have been 39 deaths due to violent crime in the Arab community since the start of the year, compared with 30 during the same period last year.
US senator: ‘Israel shouldn’t face isolation when Hamas is still hiding behind civilians’
Democratic Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) reacts to a question from members of the media on March 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Nathan Howard / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
Democratic Senator John Fetterman disagrees with comments made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as he was leaving Israel last night that Israel will face global isolation if it invades Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah.
“Hard disagree,” Fetterman writes on X, formerly Twitter. “Israel shouldn’t face isolation when Hamas terrorists are still present and hiding behind civilians.”
“Hamas owns this humanitarian catastrophe and must surrender, release the hostages NOW, or be eliminated,” adds Fetterman, who has been a vocal supporter of Israel since war erupted in Gaza after Hamas’s October 7 massacres.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7 massacres, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid horrific acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Vowing to destroy Hamas and return the hostages, Israel launched a wide-scale air and ground campaign in Gaza which has come under international rebuke as the death toll mounts and a humanitarian crisis unfolds in the densely-populated Palestinian enclave.
Israel has said Rafah, where four Hamas battalions are deployed, remains Hamas’s last major stronghold in the Strip after the IDF operated in the north and center of the Palestinian enclave. It has said an offensive there is necessary to achieve the war’s goals and is not a question of “if” but “when.”
US Senate to hold overnight vote on spending bill meant to avert government shutdown
WASHINGTON — The US Senate is inching closer to passage of a $1.2 trillion package of spending bills after reaching agreement on a series of proposed amendment votes, though a final vote on passage was set to occur after a midnight funding deadline.
Prospects for a short-term government shutdown had appeared to grow after Republicans said Democrats had rejected their requests for votes on several amendments on border security and other issues. Any successful amendments to the bill would send the legislation back to the House, which has already left town for a two-week recess.
But shortly before midnight Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced a breakthrough.
“It’s been a very long and difficult day, but we have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government,” Schumer said. “It is good for the country that we have reached this bipartisan deal. It wasn’t easy, but tonight our persistence has been worth it.”
While Congress has already approved money for Veterans Affairs, Interior, Agriculture and other agencies, the bill at issue is much larger, providing funding for the Defense, Homeland Security and State departments and other aspects of general government.
The White House says it had a “high degree of confidence” the package would pass and US President Joe Biden will sign it Saturday.
The House had approved the package of spending bills earlier Friday, a long overdue action nearly six months into the budget year that would push any threats of a government shutdown to the fall.
Police open murder probe after teen shot dead in northern Arab town
A 16-year-old has died after being fatally shot in the northern Arab town of Tamra, in what police are investigating as a suspected murder.
Police say they are scouring the area for suspects and that the shooting appears linked to a dispute between criminal groups.
Diplomats: UN Security Council vote on latest Gaza ceasefire motion postponed to Monday
The UN Security Council meets on a motion for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal vote at UN headquarters in New York, on March 22, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP)
UNITED NATIONS — Following a veto at the UN Security Council of an American resolution on the need for an “immediate and sustained ceasefire” in the Israel-Hamas war as part of a hostage deal, a new vote on an alternative text has been postponed to Monday, diplomatic sources say.
The postponement of the vote, originally planned for Saturday, is intended to allow further discussions of the draft, the sources say.
Moscow governor says fire at concert hall ‘mostly eliminated’ after deadly attack
A firefighting helicopter drops water on the burning Crocus City Hall concert hall following the shooting incident in Krasnogorsk, outside Moscow, on March 22, 2024. (Olga Maltseva/AFP)
MOSCOW — A fire at a Moscow concert hall following a gun attack that killed more than 60 people has been “mostly eliminated,” the Russian capital’s governor says.
“There are still some pockets of fire, but the fire has been mostly eliminated. Rescuers were able to enter the auditorium,” Moscow Governor Andrey Vorobyov says on Telegram.
Russian investigators say over 60 killed in Moscow attack
Russia’s Investigative Committee says that more than 60 people have been killed in an attack on a concert near Moscow.
Houthis rail at ‘reckless’ US-British strikes in Yemen
The Houthi’s supreme revolutionary committee says there are “reckless” American-British attacks on Yemen.
US official says fighter jets struck underground Houthi storage sites in Yemen
US fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier struck three underground storage facilities in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen late Friday, according to a US official. The official, who speaks on condition of anonymity to discuss a military operation not yet made public, says the ship is in the Red Sea.
Strikes and explosions were seen and heard in the capital Sanaa, according to witnesses and videos, some circulating on social media. Footage shows explosions and smoke rising over the city.
There is no official confirmation of the injured or the origin of the explosions. Yemeni TV station Al-Masirah, which is linked to the Houthis, reports strikes hitting the city.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, which are allied with Iran and control much of the country’s north and west, have launched a campaign of drone and missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, which the rebels describe as an effort to pressure Israel to end its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The Houthis have kept up their campaign of attacks despite two months of US-led airstrikes.
UN Security Council denounces ‘heinous and cowardly terrorist attack’ at Moscow concert hall
The United Nations Security Council condemns what it calls the “heinous and cowardly terrorist attack” at a concert hall in Moscow that killed at least 40 people and wounded 145.
US has intel confirming Islamic State responsibility for Moscow attack — official
A Russian Rosguardia (National Guard) servicemen secures an area as a massive blaze seen over the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, March 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)
The United States has intelligence confirming Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for a deadly shooting at a concert near Moscow, a US official says.
The official says the United States had warned Russia in recent weeks about the possibility of an attack.
“We did warn the Russians appropriately,” says the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, without providing any additional details.
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