March 29: Hamas said to give mediators information on health of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem declares Hezbollah will not accept normalization with Israel in a speech marking Quds (Jerusalem) Day.

Qassem says Hezbollah is committed to the November 27 ceasefire agreement ending over a year of fighting with Israel and claims that the terror group has no armed fighters south of the Litani River in Lebanon despite Israel maintaining a presence in Lebanon with five strategic posts along the border.

The IDF has struck dozens of Hezbollah fighters operating in southern Lebanon since the ceasefire, accusing the terror group of violating the deal.

Qassem adds that Hezbollah will not accept normalization between Israel and Lebanon, which he says is a desire of Jerusalem. He also says that if Israel does not commit to the ceasefire, Hezbollah will have no choice but to return to “other options.”

In the past week, there were two incidents in which rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory amid the collapse of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

On Friday, the IDF attacked Beirut for the first time since the ceasefire on the northern front took effect.

Hezbollah denied any connection to the two incidents.

Hezbollah’s Naim Qassem threatened to resume war if Israel continues striking Lebanon, warning of “other options” if demands aren’t met. @ariel_oseran pic.twitter.com/rIfVlA2Duk

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) March 29, 2025

10:20 pm

Police violently drag away protester at Tel Aviv anti-government rally

Police violently detain an anti-government protester in Tel Aviv after telling demonstrators to clear the road in front of the Kaplan Street entrance to the IDF headquarters.

Although the protester was standing on a traffic island in the middle of the street, a police officer accused him of failing to clear the road by not going to the sidewalk.

When the protester objected that he was already off the road, the officer put him in a chokehold and dragged him away.

A police officer in Tel Aviv puts an anti-government protester in a chokehold after accusing him of failing to clear the road, although the protester was standing on an island in the middle of the street. pic.twitter.com/C1EuOOM6Dz

— Noam Lehmann (@noamlehmann) March 29, 2025

10:17 pm

With massive defense deals pending, Greek PM to meet Israeli leaders in Jerusalem tomorrow

By Lazar Berman

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Jerusalem tomorrow.

Netanyahu last met Mitsotakis in October 2023, shortly after the Hamas invasion of southern Israel.

President Isaac Herzog will host Mitsotakis tomorrow afternoon at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, says Herzog’s office.

Israel and Greece enjoy a growing strategic defense and energy alliance. Athens is in talks with Israel to buy advanced artillery systems and to purchase an Iron Dome-like missile defense system.

The two countries also see Turkey as a regional adversary.

Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis was in Israel last month.

10:16 pm

Settlers, soldiers reportedly raid West Bank village hours after earlier attack

Hours after settlers attacked a village in the southern West Bank, settlers and soldiers reportedly raided the village, destroying property.

Overnight Friday-Saturday, Palestinian media reported that dozens of settlers and soldiers raided the village of Jinba in the southern Hebron Hills and destroyed houses and equipment.

There were no injuries in the incident, and no Israeli or Palestinian arrests, according to a local source who spoke to The Times of Israel.

Earlier on Friday, 22 villagers in Jinba were arrested after what the army referred to as a “violent clash” and what local Palestinians described as a settler attack where three residents were injured.

A local source told The Times of Israel that out of the 22 detainees, 17 were released in the past 24 hours, with only one released on bail and the rest without conditions.

“Overnight, IDF troops operated in the village of Jinba as part of a planned operation to locate weapons,” the IDF says in response to the reports. “The claim that the forces deviated from procedures during the searches is being investigated by the commander.”

במהלך הלילה שוחררו 15 מתוך 22 העצורים. 7 עדין עצורים. במקביל חזר הצבא ופלש לג'ינבה כדי לסיים לשבור ולהרוס את מה שהמתנחלים לא הספיקו. החיילים שנמצאים שם עד לרגעים אלו, כבר מעל 7 שעות שפכו את המזון של התושבים, את תכולת הארונות, תלשו את סורגי החלונות ממקומם ועצרו לפחות תושב אחד https://t.co/Vbz8hR2L66 pic.twitter.com/QoNtTllHlv

— מחוץ לעדר (@masafering) March 29, 2025

10:07 pm

IDF, Shin Bet confirms findings belonging to Manny Godard brought back by troops from Gaza

Manny Godard (Courtesy)

The IDF and Shin Bet confirm that troops operating in southern Gaza’s Rafah recovered findings belonging to murdered hostage Manny Godard, who was killed and abducted by Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists on October 7, 2023.

Last week, troops had searched an Islamic Jihad military post in Rafah, as part of efforts by the IDF and Shin Bet to locate Godard’s body.

The findings found at the post were taken to Israel and identified by the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute as belonging to Godard’s body. His family was then updated on the developments, the military says.

Godard’s body still remains held in Gaza, according to the military. The IDF says it is continuing efforts to return his body for burial.

10:01 pm

One detained as protesters, cops face off after anti-government demonstration in Tel Aviv

At least one person is detained as protesters face off with police officers on the Kaplan-Begin intersection in Tel Aviv following the anti-government, pro-hostage deal demonstration on Begin Road.

Referring to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, the protesters chant “Ben Gvir is a terrorist” as cops push them westward, up Kaplan Street and away from the Ayalon Highway.

Eight mounted officers form a line on the intersection’s eastern edge. The Democrats lawmaker Gilad Kariv yells at them through a megaphone, accusing them of storming the crowd despite there being no violence from protesters.

שוטרים נכנסים לתוך קהל ודוחפים מפגינות ומפגינים

תל אביב 29/03/2025 pic.twitter.com/dfc6dRmvWv

— אלימות ישראל (@Alimut_Israel) March 29, 2025

9:53 pm

Hamas chief says terror group agreed to proposal for 50-day hostage-ceasefire deal

Hamas leader in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya says in a speech that Hamas received a new proposal from Egyptian mediators two days ago and agreed to it.

He adds that he hopes Israel will not sabotage it.

Al-Hayya’s statement follows media reports claiming that the terror group agreed to release five Israeli hostages in exchange for 50 days of ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Earlier today, the Prime Minister’s Office stated that Israel had submitted a counterproposal to the one presented by the mediators.

9:46 pm

Ex-hostage Iair Horn to lead negotiator Dermer: Explain why my captive brother won’t be home for Passover

Freed hostage Iair Horn speaking at Hostages Square, in Tel Aviv, on March 29, 2025. (Alon Gilboa/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Former captive Iair Horn, whose younger brother Eitan is still in captivity, tells Israel’s lead hostage negotiator, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, to meet with him and his family and “explain to us why you don’t sign a deal, like all of Israeli society is asking, and put an end to this nightmare that began 540 days ago.”

“Explain to us why we’ll be having another Passover seder without Eitan,” Horn says at the Hostages Square rally in Tel Aviv. “Please explain to us why Eitan, who is still very sick with a difficult skin disease, remains in the tunnels.”

“Returning the hostages needs to be the top national priority, but there’s no progress in negotiations,” Horn says.

“We’ve resumed the fighting — fighting that endangers the hostages,” says Horn. “I was there, I tell you, I heard tanks rolling over me, I ran in the tunnels during the bombings, I pulled Eitan by the arm when he didn’t have the energy to move anymore — ‘I’m not leaving you here,’ I yelled to him.”

“I know there is someone who can pull someone by the arm to get out all the hostages now… before they become collateral damage,” Horn says, calling on the government to reach a deal by Passover, which begins on April 12.

Horn, who was released on February 15 as part of the now-scuttled hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas, says he spent “498 days underground, without water, without seeing the sun, without breathing fresh air.”

“I’m sick of being ‘without.’ From now on, I want to be ‘with,'” he says.

“It’s almost Passover, the festival of freedom,” says Horn. “I wish us a seder ‘with’ — with the living hostages who have to come home, with the fallen who have to be buried.”

9:37 pm

We have nothing to add to Elkana Bohbot’s video, his family says

After approving the publication of a Hamas propaganda video, the family of Elkana Bohbot publishes a short statement saying they have nothing to add to what the captive said in the footage.

“We have nothing to add to what Elkana cried out for [in the video],” the statement reads.

9:26 pm

Hundreds march in Jerusalem demanding hostage deal, block intersection

By Charlie Summers

Protesters calling for a hostage deal march to the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem on March 29, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Hundreds of protesters calling for a hostage deal are marching to the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem.

Demonstrators carry a banner that reads: “Dermer, 59 or resign,” referring to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who took the lead of Israel’s hostage negotiating team last month.

The demonstration is currently blocking the intersection at Paris Square, and police are ordering protesters to clear the road.

9:24 pm

Brother of captive soldier: ‘Sickening’ symmetry between Hamas and Netanyahu, government wants hostages dead

A crowd of anti-government protesters outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, March 29, 2025. (Yair Palti/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

At the anti-government, pro-hostage deal demonstration on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road, Yotam Cohen, brother of captive soldier Nimrod Cohen, says the government prefers dead hostages.

“The government prefers dead hostages. Dead hostages talk less. They don’t give interviews, or fly to [meet] Trump,” says Yotam Cohen, adding that if the government “doesn’t manage to kill them with military pressure, they’ll kill them in roundabout ways.”

Cohen recalls that when the Begin Road protests grew exponentially in September after the murder in captivity of six hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accused protesters of emboldening Hamas.

That response, says Cohen, is similar to the Hamas statement that anti-Hamas protesters in Gaza this week were “friends of the Zionist enemy” and were demanding unacceptable concessions.

“Netanyahu and Hamas use the same rhetoric and the same psychological terrorism for suppression and silencing,” says Cohen. “The symmetry is sickening.”

He also says he heard from former hostages held with his brother that their captors “refrained from exposing them to Israeli media, and when the hostages asked why, they responded, ‘to protect them.'”

“To protect them from statements of [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir the terrorist, [Settlements and National Missions Minister] Orit Strock, [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich and Netanyahu,” says Cohen, referring to ministers who oppose a hostage deal.

“For every populist tweet by Ben Gvir about humanitarian aid, another hostage is starved. For every threat by [Defense Minister Israel] Katz, another hostage is beaten. For every statement by Netanyahu, another hostage loses hope that they’ll be brought back home,” Cohen says.

9:16 pm

No mass protests held against Hamas in Gaza over past 48 hours

Palestinians take part in an anti-Hamas protest, calling for an end to the war with Israel, in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, March 26, 2025. (Flash90)

In the past two days, there have been no reports of protests against the war and against Hamas in Gaza.

Recently, one of those who spread most of the footage of demonstrations earlier this week, a Gazan who now lives in Turkey, claimed that senior Hamas officials threatened him because of his activities.

There were also assessments in Israel suggesting that Hamas threatened anyone who participated in the protests.

Protests this week lasted for three straight days, starting Tuesday.

8:56 pm

Murdered hostage’s daughter says IDF failed to recover body of father, officer personally took responsibility

Bar Godard, whose father Manny was murdered on October 7, 2023 by Hamas terrorists and his body taken to Gaza, speaks at Hostages Square, Tel Aviv, March 29, 2025. (Hostage and Missing Families Forum/Lior Rotshtein)

Bar Godard confirms that the military failed to recover the body of her father Manny, who was murdered and his body taken to Gaza on October 7, 2023.

Godard says she initially heard rumors on the Telegram app that her father’s body had been recovered in a mission last week. The IDF officer who accompanied the family since the massacre told her he was on his way to their house.

“But in the moment he opened the door, I understood. Dad wasn’t here. He told me about the daring operation and brave soldiers who tried to rescue my father,” she says, adding that troops seized a fridge that contained evidence belonging to her father.

The officer said to her, “I am so sorry,” she explains.

She commends the officer for taking responsibility for the failed operation and adds, “I couldn’t but help think of another person who, since October 7, has not taken responsibility for anything,” apparently referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“If only he would dare to come to Nir Oz or Be’eri and look at us in the eye,” she says.

Speaking at the rally, Einav Zangauker also reveals that her son, hostage Matan Zangauker, is being held alongside another living hostage who is a foreign national, “who is expected to be released in the deal that is being put together now.”

“And my Matan? He’ll stay behind in hell. So I warn you now of the coming selektziya,” she says, referring to the Holocaust-era distinction between Jews deemed fit for hard labor and those sent straight to the slaughter.

Noam Lehmann contributed to this report.

8:26 pm

After Turkey condemn IDF strikes in Lebanon, Israel says there’s ‘no law, freedom’ under Erdogan

By Lazar Berman

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa hold a joint press conference following their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, on February 4, 2025 (OZAN KOSE / AFP)

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry condemns Israel’s Friday airstrikes in Lebanon, saying they are evidence of Israel’s “flagrant disregard for international law and its ongoing threat to the region’s security and stability.”

Firing back, Israel’s Foreign Ministry accuses Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of “violently suppressing his own citizens and carrying out mass arrests of political opponents.”

“In Erdogan’s Turkey, there is no justice, no law, and no freedom,” says Israel, adding that Israel will continue to defend itself and its citizens.

8:20 pm

IDF says it expanded ground op in southern Gaza, pushing further into Rafah

The Israeli military says it expanded its ground offensive in the southern Gaza Strip in the past few hours.

Troops pushed into the al-Jneina neighborhood of Rafah, as part of efforts to expand a buffer zone along the borders of the Strip, the IDF says.

Amid the operation, the IDF says troops demolished Hamas infrastructure in the area.

Separately, dozens of airstrikes were carried out over the weekend, targeting what the military says were Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad infrastructure.

The targets included weapon depots, rocket launchers, and buildings used by the terror groups, according to the IDF.

Strikes also killed several terror operatives, including those behind mortar attacks on Israel, the military adds.

כוחות צה”ל החלו בשעות האחרונות בפעילות קרקעית במרחב שכונת אל-ג’נינה שברפיח, במטרה להרחיב את מרחב האבטחה בדרום הרצועה.
במסגרת הפעילות השמידו הכוחות תשתיות טרור של ארגון הטרור חמאס.

במקביל, צה”ל ושב”כ ממשיכים בתקיפות אוויריות נגד מטרות טרור של ארגוני החמאס והגא״פ ברחבי הרצועה.… pic.twitter.com/CgdqaAOIKE

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 29, 2025

8:15 pm

At Habima protest, hostage’s mom accuses PM of bombing her son, as Tel Aviv mayor threatens to shut down country

Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, speaks during a rally against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, at Habima Square, Tel Aviv, March 29, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Speaking to hundreds of protesters at Habima Square, Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, accuses the government of carrying out a “targeted assassination” against her son, after Israel last week launched a surprise attack on Gaza, scuttling the ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to bomb Matan instead of saving him and bringing him home,” she says.

“Netanyahu knows my Matan is bound in chains, starved, beaten, with no air, light or hope, and nonetheless he’s decided to continue abandoning him,” says Zangauker.

“The hostages are held captive by Hamas, and the entire nation of Israel is held captive by Netanyahu,” she says.

Zangauker accuses Netanyahu of de-prioritizing the hostages while passing a state budget and seeking the ouster of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

“Netanyahu, you can’t evade your guilt for the October 7 massacre,” says Zangauker. “The only way you can mitigate your punishment is to bring a comprehensive deal now for all 59 hostages and an end to the war.”

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai speaks after Zangauker, saying, “It’s difficult to speak after Einav, who can express the pain with such force and spirit.”

Huldai says the nation is at war. “Not the futile, life-threatening, hostage-abandoning re-entry into Gaza,” he says. “We’re at war because the government is trying to demolish the ground we’ve stood on for almost 80 years.”

Should the government overrule the High Court and fire Bar, says Huldai, “we in the municipalities will also know how to overrule and derail the day-to-day life that the government imagines will go on.”

Yesh Atid lawmaker and former Mossad deputy chief Ram Ben Barak gets up to speak after Huldai.

“Netanyahu talks about the deep state,” says Ben Barak. “I say to him: Netanyahu, you’re deep shit, and your entire government is deep shit.”

Ben Barak pledges to enact a two-term limit for prime ministers, and a ban on anyone with an indictment against them to serve in any public office — a jab at the long-serving, legally embattled Netanyahu.

“We’ll go back to being what we were — the best country in the world, the country where everyone wants to raise their children.”

After the speeches, the crowd marches on to the anti-government hostage families’ demonstration on Begin Road, in front of the IDF headquarters.

In the middle of Habima Square, activists have set up a mock “Qatari Embassy” to call attention to alleged criminal ties between Netanyahu’s top aides and the Hamas-backing Gulf state, which has no official relations with Israel. In front of the embassy, a man wearing a Netanyahu mask rolls around in fake cash with ropes attached to his arms, like a life-size marionette.

8:12 pm

Israel receives hostage-ceasefire proposal from mediators, sends counteroffer, Netanyahu’s office says

By Lazar Berman

Left: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, January 7, 2024; Right: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Paris, June 23, 2023 (Ronen Zvulun/Pool via AP; AP Photo/Lewis Joly, Pool, File)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a series of consultations last night to discuss a ceasefire-hostage release proposal Israel received through the mediating countries, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

This afternoon, Israel responded with its own counteroffer, says the PMO, adding that it was done “in full coordination with the US.”

Earlier today, an Israeli official told the Walla news site that Hamas has agreed to an Egyptian proposal to release five living hostages in exchange for a 50-day ceasefire beginning over Eid al-Fitr, which starts Sunday evening.

8:11 pm

Hostage Elkana Bohbot, distraught and teary-eyed, begs for release, urges labor federation to take action to get him out

Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot speaks in a Hamas propaganda video issued on March 29, 2025. (Screenshot: Telegram)

The family of Elkana Bohbot approves the publication of Hamas’s propaganda video of the hostage.

In the three-minute clip, Bohbot, appearing extremely distraught, begs for his release so that he can reunite with his wife and his son. He asserts throughout that he asked to make the video, and was not pressured into it by Hamas.

“Do you not understand? I want to get out of here!” Bohbot says.

Addressing the Histadrut Labor Federation, Bohbot says, “I’m choking, I’m choking,” as he tears at his t-shirt.

“I miss my wife, my son. Everyone. My family. Get me out of here. I worked for fifteen years… under the Histadrut. I never asked for anything. Nothing,” he says, urging the federation to take action to “protect your workers.”

“You got out the female soldiers. You got out the elderly. You got out the young people. You got out everyone. What about us?”

Bohbot, wiping tears away, begs to be able to celebrate his son’s fifth birthday.

Bohbot says he hears explosions all day and dismisses the idea that the military can rescue hostages by force.

Towards the end of the video, Bohbot gets on his knees, pleading for his release.

7:51 pm

Hostage Families Forum calls for deal to bring all captives home in response to Egyptian proposal for partial release

While expressing appreciation for any effort to release hostages, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum demands a deal that brings all captives home in one go.

“Israel will continue to delay for weeks, which could result in the fate of dozens of hostages being decided — some sentenced to death, and others will disappear,” the forum says in a statement, responding to reports of an Egyptian proposal for Hamas to return five hostages in exchange for a 50-day ceasefire.

“We turn to the Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu], [Strategic Affairs] Minister Dermer, and members of the cabinet: Why only some of them when it’s possible to return everyone?”

The forum asserts it is possible to return all 59 hostages in one go in exchange for a permanent end to the war.

7:07 pm

Hamas publishes 2nd propaganda video of hostage Elkana Bohbot

Elkana Bohbot, missing since October 7, 2023 when he was taken captive by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova desert rave. (Courtesy)

Hamas has published a second propaganda video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot, five days after a clip showed him alongside another captive also still held by the terror group in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has previously issued similar videos of hostages it is holding, in what Israel says is deplorable psychological warfare.

The Hostage Families Forum has asked that Israeli media not publish the video or stills from the clip until the family approves them.

6:58 pm

Saudi Arabia declares Eid al-Fitr, marking end of Ramadan, to begin Sunday

By AFP

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, announces that the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the Ramadan fasting period will begin on Sunday.

“The Supreme Court has decided that tomorrow, Sunday, March 30, 2025, is the first day of Eid al-Fitr,” the Royal Court says in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency on X.

The timing of Eid al-Fitr is determined by the sighting of the crescent moon, in accordance with the Muslim lunar calendar.

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar also announces Sunday would be the first day of the holiday.

Meanwhile, Oman and Shiite-majority Iran says that Eid al-Fitr would start on Monday.

During Ramadan, observant Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk and traditionally gather with family and friends to break their fast in the evening.

6:42 pm

Anti-government protesters begin rallying in Tel Aviv, other locations nationwide

Anti-government protesters gather at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, March 29, 2025. (Rony Shapiro/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Anti-government protesters gather at Habima Square in Tel Aviv and in cities and junctions across the country for weekly demonstrations.

At Habima Square, activists wave Israeli and pride flags, as well as posters calling for the return of hostages held in Gaza and slogans against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

In Haifa, protesters are marching, holding a poster reading, “Until the last hostage [is returned].”

6:22 pm

Israeli official says Hamas has agreed to release 5 hostages for 50-day truce

Hamas has agreed to the Egyptian proposal to release five living hostages in exchange for a 50-day ceasefire beginning over Eid al-Fitr, an Israeli official tells the Walla news site.

The official tells the site the bodies of slain hostages will also be released during the ceasefire, but doesn’t provide a number.

The official adds that Israel is expected to present a counteroffer and that an agreement will unlikely be agreed to by the Muslim holiday, set to begin Sunday or Monday.

The report comes hours after Egyptian officials told a Qatari outlet that the terror group had agreed to the proposal.

6:14 pm

Hostages ‘being bombed on Netanyahu’s order,’ Einav Zangauker says at weekly presser

Families of Israelis held hostage in Gaza hold a press conference in Tel Aviv on March 29, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held hostage in Gaza, says that hostages in Gaza are “being bombed on [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s order,” at a weekly press conference with a group of hostage families.

“The war won’t only do nothing to bring back the hostages, but will kill them and bury the bodies of those who have died already,” she says.

Yotam Cohen, whose brother Nimrod is held hostage, says the idea that military pressure will return hostages is a “disgusting lie.”

Yifat Calderon, whose cousin Ofer was returned as part of a ceasefire deal, calls on US President Donald Trump to bring forth his own initiative to end the war and get the hostages released in one go, claiming Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer “are cheating you” by sabotaging negotiations for a deal.

Michael Illouz, whose son Guy Illouoz died in Gaza after he was kidnapped, accuses Netanyahu of using the war to break up the country and “turn us into Turkey.”

5:47 pm

IDF strikes mortar launch site in Khan Younis after attack on troops

The IDF says it carried out a strike on a mortar launching position in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis a short while ago, from which three projectiles were launched at troops earlier today.

חיל-האוויר תקף לפני זמן קצר בחאן יונס עמדה לשיגור פצמ”רים, במרחב שממנו שוגרו הפצמ”רים לעבר כוחות צה”ל בדרום הרצועה מוקדם יותר היום. pic.twitter.com/MmlYxE1QuH

— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) March 29, 2025

4:33 pm

IDF acknowledges mistakenly firing on ambulances in Rafah, says troops were targeting Hamas vehicles

By AFP and ToI Staff

The IDF acknowledges mistakenly opening fire on ambulances and fire engines in the southern Gaza Strip a week ago, as it targeted and killed several Hamas operatives.

The incident took place last Sunday in the Tel Sultan neighborhood of Rafah. According to Hamas authorities, at least one rescue worker was killed.

According to the military, troops had opened fire “toward Hamas vehicles and eliminated several Hamas terrorists” in Tel Sultan.

“A few minutes afterward, additional vehicles advanced suspiciously toward the troops… The troops responded by firing toward the suspicious vehicles, eliminating a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists,” the IDF says.

The IDF adds that “after an initial inquiry, it was determined that some of the suspicious vehicles… were ambulances and fire trucks,” while condemning “the repeated use” by “terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip of ambulances for terrorist purposes.”

The military did not say if there was fire coming from the vehicles.

On Friday, the Hamas-run civil defense agency reported finding the body of the team leader and the rescue vehicles — an ambulance and a firefighting vehicle — and said a vehicle from the Palestine Red Crescent Society was also “reduced to a pile of scrap metal.”

4:29 pm

Hamas agrees to release five hostages for Eid al-Fitr truce — report

Israelis walk past a mural photographs of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza since the October 7, 2023, massacre, in Tel Aviv, March 27, 2025. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Hamas has agreed to release five hostages in exchange for a ceasefire starting over the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of Ramadan, Egyptian officials tell the Qatari New Arab news outlet.

“The ball is now in the Israeli government and Americans’ court,” the officials say.

According to the report, US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander would be released under the potential deal, with the United States and Qatar intensively involved in the proposal.

Eid al-Fitr begins on Sunday and ends on Wednesday.

Sources familiar with the negotiations earlier told Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar outlet that the Egyptian proposal includes “a temporary ceasefire lasting approximately 50 days, in exchange for the release of five Israeli [hostages] and a number of Palestinian prisoners, along with the activation of a mechanism for the entry of sufficient quantities of aid [into Gaza], including food, medical supplies, and basic necessities for civilian relief.”

4:18 pm

Israel to send search and rescue delegation to Thailand after deadly earthquake

Rescue teams are seen at a construction site where a building collapsed in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 28, 2025, after an earthquake. (Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP)

Israel will send a delegation of experts to Thailand to assist in search and rescue efforts following a major earthquake in the region.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the move, in coordination with the Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry, a statement says.

The team, led by Col. (res.) Yossi Pinto, the commander of the IDF’s reserve national search-and-rescue unit, will include another 21 members. They are set to depart on an El Al flight tonight at 10:30 p.m.

The statement says the delegation will assist with “building an intelligence picture” for search and rescue and engineering efforts at sites of destruction and work to rescue those trapped.

4:12 pm

IDF calls on Gazans in parts of Khan Younis to evacuate after mortar attack

Following a mortar attack on IDF troops on the outskirts of southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the military issues an evacuation warning for Palestinians in the area.

In a post on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, publishes a map of the area that is to be evacuated, saying that it is a “final warning” before the IDF carries out strikes there.

The area to be evacuated includes the Abasan suburbs of Khan Younis, and the towns of al-Qarara and Khuza’a.

#عاجل ‼️ إلى جميع سكان قطاع غزة المتواجدين في منطقة عبسان والقرارة وخربة خزاعة
????هذا انذار مسبق وأخير قبل الغارات!????
⭕️تعود المنظمات الإرهابية وتطلق قذائفها الصاروخية من بين المدنيين.
⭕️لقد حذرنا هذه المنطقة مرات عديدة.
⭕️من أجل سلامتكم عليكم الانتقال بشكل فوري غربًا نحو مراكز… pic.twitter.com/aZ3CLDr0iY

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) March 29, 2025

3:58 pm

IDF soldiers said to arrest 6 suspects in southern Syria working near border

Israeli soldiers on the border fence on the border with Syria, northern Israel, March 14, 2025. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

IDF troops detained six suspects in southern Syria this morning, according to local reports.

The Daraa 24 outlet says the men, from the village of Kuwaya, were working on their agricultural land near the border when they were detained.

There’s no immediate comment from the IDF.

3:32 pm

3 mortars fired at IDF troops on outskirts of Khan Younis, armored bulldozer hit by IED; no injuries