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The Times of Israel liveblogged Saturday’s events as they unfolded.
Government asks Labor Court to prevent Sunday’s planned teachers’ strike
Government ministers announce that they are lodging a last-minute legal appeal to prevent the launch of a Sunday morning teachers’ strike.
“The government is now appealing to the Labor Court for a restraining order against the sudden, unnecessary, harmful, and irresponsible strike,” writes Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on X.
“We hope to be able to update you as soon as possible about the issuance of the order and the continuation of classes tomorrow as usual.”
The Israel Teachers Union announced on Friday it would strike on Sunday by only starting classes at 11 a.m., a measure taken to protest the surprise 3.3 percent drop in government salaries for April amid the war in Gaza.
According to the union, the strike will take place in preschools, elementary schools and middle schools, but special education institutions will not be affected.
In a statement, Education Minister Yoav Kisch states that at 10 a.m. on Sunday, he and Smotrich will meet with teachers’ representatives “with the aim of promoting an immediate solution to the gaps that have emerged between the Finance Ministry and the Teachers’ Federation on the issue of teaching staff conditions, and ensuring the stability of the education system.”
“In order to allow the discussion to be held in full seriousness, and to prevent harm to students and parents until the process is exhausted, the government will today turn to the Labor Court with a request to temporarily postpone the strike planned for tomorrow,” the minister states.
Kisch adds that he “stands behind the teachers’ position” but insists that a strike at this time “could harm the effort” to reach an accommodation.
Ex-PM Barak: Netanyahu has declared war on Israel, should be recused; Likud: Won’t take moral sermons from pedophile’s friend
Former prime minister Ehud Barak. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Speaking with Israel’s Channel 13, former premier Ehud Barak calls for mass “civil disobedience” to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The State of Israel is not Netanyahu,” Barak insists, accusing the prime minister of having “declared war on Israel” and calling on Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to submit a demand that Netanyahu recuse himself from office.
Last January, the High Court ordered that the implementation of a bill meant to shield Netanyahu from being ordered to recuse himself from office be delayed until the beginning of the next government.
In response, Netanyahu’s Likud party says it “will not accept moral sermons from someone busy tearing apart Israeli society and met more than 30 times with his pedophile friend Jeffrey Epstein, even after he was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution.
According to a May 2023 Wall Street Journal report, Barak met with the late disgraced former financier dozens of times between 2013 and 2017.
Their previously reported ties became an unexpected hot-button issue in the 2019 election campaign in Israel, after Epstein was arrested and later died in prison of an apparent suicide. At the time, the 66-year-old Epstein was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges following a Miami Herald investigation that uncovered his network of sexual abuse and high-profile connections.
Three freed hostages call on decision-makers to evoke ‘true Israeli spirit’ of slain captive Ori Danino
(L-R:) Freed hostages Omer Shem Tov, Itay Regev, and Maya Regev address protesters at Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, May 3, 2025. (Alon Gilboa/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
Omer Shem Tov, who was released from Hamas captivity in February as part of the Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal, and his good friends Itay and Maya Regev, siblings who were released during the first truce in November 2023, tell the crowd at Hostages Square that slain captive Ori Danino, whom they had all met the night prior to the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, ran back into the battles at the Nova music festival to save them during the Hamas onslaught.
“He didn’t have to, but he did it. Because that’s what courage looks like,” says Maya Regev. “Ori paid for that choice with the loss of his independence, and after 11 months of harsh captivity, he paid with his life.”
“Ori… symbolized the true Israeli spirit, the spirit that must continue guiding us: we don’t leave anyone behind,” says Itay Regev.
When Maya and Itay were released, “we came back to life, but we couldn’t really go on and tend to ourselves when a massive part of our heart was sitting there waiting to be saved,” says Itay Regev.
“And I stayed behind, feeling abandoned, forgotten,” says Shem Tov. “And even now that the three of us have our liberty, we’re free in body, but not in spirit.”
Maya Regev addresses Israel’s decision-makers: “The power to bring back the captives is in your hands. The responsibility is yours.”
Slain captive’s son says his father’s body is being ‘ransomed by Hamas and the prime minister’
Protesters rally against the government and in favor of a hostage deal during a weekly protest on Tel Aviv's Begin Street, May 3, 2025. (Naama Zeevi Rivlin/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
Boaz Zalmanovich, son of slain captive Aryeh Zalmanovich, says his father’s body is “being ransomed by Hamas and the prime minister,” eliciting jeers from the 1,500-odd crowd at the anti-government, pro-hostage deal protest outside the IDF headquarters on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road.
“My father lies silent in a pit in Khan Younis, and we have to scream and shout,” he says.
Zalmanovich says Independence Day, which Israel marked on Thursday, left him wishing two things: that none of the 24 living captives join the ranks of the “victims of abandonment in Hamas captivity,” and that the 35 confirmed dead will be buried in Israel.
When he mentions the official number of living hostages, one protester yells “fewer” — an allusion to a comment this Monday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, which outraged hostage families.
“Our loved ones will not be abandoned,” says Zalmanovich. “Their souls will not be captive in the hands of the coalition of death.”
He adds that he wishes Netanyahu would accept responsibility for the failure to avert the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.
“Obviously, there’s no chance,” says Zalmanovich. “If he accepts responsibility for the failure of October 7, for the massacre, for the hostages who were murdered and the hostages who are still there, he’ll see a merciless, inhuman character, during whose time the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust took place — and he’ll understand that it’s he himself.”
IDF calls up tens of thousands of reservists ahead of expanded Gaza offensive
IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip, in a handout photo published on April 18, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says it is sending out tens of thousands of call-up orders to reservists this evening, as the military is set to significantly expand its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
On Friday, during a security consultation, the military presented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with its planned offensive in Gaza, which will require substantial mobilization.
Israel’s security cabinet is slated to convene tomorrow so ministers can vote to approve the military plans authorized by Netanyahu.
Currently, three IDF divisions are operating in Gaza, in an offensive that the military has said is aimed at pressuring Hamas back into a hostage deal, and not destroying the terror group.
Israeli officials have repeatedly warned that if no hostage deal is reached soon, the military would launch a major offensive aimed at defeating Hamas. The intensified offensive will see the IDF operating in new areas of the Strip.
The tens of thousands of reservists being called up tonight will begin to show up in the military this coming week, according to the IDF. The reservists have likely been called up multiple times already during the war.
The IDF has said that it sees the return of the 59 hostages still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip as the most important goal of the war, with defeating the terror group in second place.
21 Syrians, including child with head injury, treated at northern Israel hospital since Thursday
Ziv Medical Center in Safed says that 21 wounded Syrians, with varying degrees of injury, have been treated at the hospital since Thursday, including two women in advanced stages of pregnancy and an 8-year-old girl with a head injury.
Six patients have since been discharged and returned to Syria after receiving treatment, and 15 patients remain hospitalized.
The hospital says that 12 of the wounded are men with gunshot and shrapnel injuries to various parts of their bodies. They are in stable condition and are being hospitalized in the surgical and orthopedic departments.
At the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, a 37-year-old Druze man from a village in Syria was brought in on Friday night in moderate condition, after being injured during an attempt to escape violence by jumping from a height of 12 meters.
The injured man is being hospitalized in the Spinal Surgery Unit and is expected to undergo spinal surgery in the coming hours.
Government hostage pointman speaks to family of Maxim Herkin after latest Hamas propaganda video
Government hostage pointman Gal Hirsch speaks with the family of Maxim Herkin after Hamas releases a propaganda video of the hostage.
According to Hirsch’s office, the parents implored that Israeli news outlets not air the video of their son.
In the video, Herkin appears to be bandaged up. Hamas claims that he was in a tunnel allegedly targeted in an Israeli airstrike.
Last week, Hamas published a highly-produced propaganda video showing operatives rescuing a hostage, claimed to be Herkin, from under sand inside a tunnel.
IDF says 2 Palestinians arrested in West Bank overnight for allegedly inciting violence, arson
The IDF says it arrested two Palestinians overnight in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Tubas for allegedly inciting violence and arson on social media amid the recent wave of wildfires across Israel.
According to the military, the suspects posted content encouraging further arson attacks and acts of terror, directly linking their calls to the recent blazes. One of the men, a resident of Nablus, allegedly voiced support for the killing of Jews. The other, from Tubas, reportedly praised Hamas and called for continued violence and arson.
IDF says drone ‘from the east’ shot down by Air Force
A drone launched at Israel “from the east,” was shot down by the Israeli Air Force a short while ago, the military says.
The drone, apparently launched from Yemen, was intercepted over the Egypt border area.
Sirens were not activated in any towns.
PM postpones upcoming trip to Azerbaijan, citing ‘developments’ in Gaza, Syria
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to postpone his visit to Azerbaijan, scheduled to take place from May 7 to May 11, due to developments in the region, the Prime Minister’s Office says.
“In light of developments in the Gaza Strip and Syria, and due to a tight political and security schedule, Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided to postpone his visit to Azerbaijan to a later date,” his office says. “The prime minister thanks President [Ilham] Aliyev for his invitation, and appreciates the warm relations between the two countries.”
Tens of thousands gathering for anti-government protest in Tel Aviv
Anti-government protesters gather at Habima Square, Tel Aviv, May 3, 2025. (Zohar Bar-Yehuda/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
Tens of thousands of people are attending that weekly anti-government protest at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, according to a count by the Ynet news site.
Protesters wave Israeli flags, yellow hostage flags, and banners reading anti-government slogans, such as “Netanyahu is a danger to Israel.”
Some banners reference Independence Day earlier in the week, saying that there can be no “independence” as long as hostages are held in Gaza.
Jerusalem-based foreign press group calls for ‘unrestricted’ access to Gaza for reporters
The Foreign Press Association calls on Israel to allow news media “unrestricted” access to Gaza, off-limits to outside journalists operating independently since the war there began in October 2023.
“We call on Israel to stop the never-ending delays, uphold the fundamental principles of press freedom and allow unrestricted entry for journalists to Gaza,” the Jerusalem-based association writes in a statement to mark World Press Freedom Day.
The FPA has more than 350 members working for foreign media outlets in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
An AFP journalist sits on its board of directors.
The association criticizes Israel for an “unprecedented ban preventing foreign journalists from entering Gaza,” calling the decision a “mark of shame for a country that claims to be a beacon of democracy.”
The FPA, which has filed an appeal with the Israeli Supreme Court challenging the ban, said its members “salute our Palestinian colleagues who continue to report the story at great personal risk.”
“Nonetheless, the Israeli restrictions have severely hindered independent reporting and robbed the world of a full picture of the situation in Gaza,” the association adds.
Unidentified groups looting north Gaza supply warehouses, shops
Palestinian children and women struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Armed groups and others have looted warehouses of supplies in northern Gaza as desperation spikes after more than two months of Israel’s blockade of the territory, locals and aid workers say, as Israel’s latest airstrikes continued into Saturday, killing over a dozen people.
Messages circulated among security officials for aid groups and seen by The Associated Press, and witnesses and organizations in Gaza, say looting has occurred since Wednesday by unidentified people, armed and unarmed. They’ve broken into warehouses held by the UN and aid groups as well as commercial warehouses, bakeries, stores, and shops, they say.
Israel has blocked humanitarian aid from entering Gaza since the latest ceasefire with Hamas in March ended.
Israel has said the blockade and its renewed military campaign are intended to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages it still holds, and to disarm the Palestinian terror group.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
IAF plane flew near Malta before alleged attack on Gaza aid ship, flight data shows
In this photo provided by the Government of Cyprus, a fire burns on the ship The Conscience, after a drone struck the vessel carrying aid to Gaza off the coast of Malta, May 2, 2025. (Government of Cyprus via AP)
An Israeli Air Force plane was flying near Malta several hours before a reportedly Hamas-affiliated Gaza-bound humanitarian aid ship was allegedly attacked by drones in international waters in the area.
Data from flight tracking websites shows that a KC-130 transport plane, flown by the IAF’s 131st Squadron, departed from the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel on Thursday afternoon and hovered near Malta for a number of hours, at an altitude of 5,000 feet. The plane headed back to Nevatim and landed there in the evening hours.
Several hours after the plane returned to Israel, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition — an international non-governmental organization which is campaigning to end Israel’s blockade of Gaza — claimed that the their ship, Conscience, had been struck twice by armed drones 17 nautical miles (31.5 kilometers) east of Malta, “causing a fire and a substantial breach in the hull.” The group blamed Israel for the attack.
The MaltaToday outlet reports that the plane did not enter Maltese airspace at any point during its flight near the island country, citing official flight tracking information. The Maltese government also said that “no aircraft or vessel currently mentioned in local and foreign media in relation to the case of the vessel Conscience” had entered the country’s airspace or territorial waters.
PM’s office denies report Netanyahu had ‘intensive contact’ with Waltz over Iran
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accompanied by US President Donald Trump, US Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on April 7, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/ Getty Images/ AFP)
The Prime Minister’s Office denies a Washington Post report released earlier today that claimed Benjamin Netanyahu had “intensive contact” with former US national security adviser Mike Waltz on possible military options against Iran’s nuclear program ahead of a meeting with President Donald Trump in February.
“PM Netanyahu had a warm meeting with Mike Waltz and Steve Witkoff at Blair House in February prior to the Prime Minister’s meeting with President Trump at the White House,” the PMO says.
“Mike Waltz also joined VP JD Vance in a meeting with the PM before leaving Washington. Since then, the PM, the former National Security Advisor and Steve Witkoff had one phone conversation that did not deal with Iran. We congratulate Mr. Waltz on his important appointment to the UN.”
Hamas publishes 2nd propaganda video of hostage Maxim Herkin
Maxim Herkin, taken captive from the Nova desert rave on October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists (Courtesy)
The Hamas terror group has published a propaganda video showing signs of life from hostage Maxim Herkin.
It is the second video of Herkin issued by Hamas, after the terror group published a clip of him and a second hostage last month.
In the latest video, Herkin appears to be bandaged up. Hamas claims that he was in a tunnel allegedly targeted in an Israeli airstrike.
Last week, Hamas published a highly-produced propaganda video showing operatives rescuing a hostage — claimed to be Herkin — from under sand inside a tunnel.
Hamas has previously issued similar videos of hostages it is holding, in what Israel says is deplorable psychological warfare.
Most Israeli media do not carry the video clips themselves. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has requested that media outlets not publish the video or stills from it until Herkin’s family has approved the publication.
Group of hostage families: Netanyahu sending troops to die in war that will kill hostages
In their weekly press conference, a group of hostage families decry Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for continuing to send soldiers to war in Gaza, expressing fear that the imminent expansion of the operation in the Strip will kill the remaining living captives.
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held hostage in Gaza, expresses concern over the expected call-up of reservists for a wider offensive in the Strip, which will risk the lives of the hostages for a “pointless war, a war [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] refuses to end.”
“Netanyahu already said that the return of the hostages is a secondary goal. The life of my son is secondary to him. Everything is secondary to keeping his coalition,” she says.
Yotam Cohen, whose brother Nimrod is held hostage in Gaza, says, “Instead of returning Nimrod home with an agreement, Netanyahu is sending soldiers to die in a war that will kill him.”
Cohen says that the war is killing the hostages and that there is a duty to oppose it.
Yael Or, whose cousin Dror was murdered during the October 7, 2023, massacre and his body taken by terrorists to Gaza, says it cannot be that living hostages meet his fate.
“But instead of returning Dror and everyone in an agreement and ending the war, Netanyahu decided to turn him and the rest of the hostages into Ron Arads,” she says, referencing an air force navigator who disappeared in 1986 and was never located but presumed dead.
Weekly nationwide rallies begin, with dozens calling for hostages’ release in Rehovot
Protesters call for the release of hostages held in Gaza, with a poster reading: "What have you done this week to support the families of the hostages," in Rehovot, May 3, 2025. (Meir Conforti/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)
Protesters begin to gather for weekly, nationwide protests against the government and in support of a deal to return hostages held captive by Hamas in Gaza.
Dozens rally at Rehovot’s Technology Park, waving Israeli flags and yellow hostage flags.
One of the signs displayed reads, “What have you done this week to support the families of the hostages.”
PFLP terror chief detained in Syria, officials from the group say
DAMASCUS, Syria — Officials from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command say Syrian authorities detained the head of the terror faction, which was close to the ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad’s government.
An official from the Damascus-based terror group, requesting anonymity as the matter is sensitive, tells AFP that “secretary-general Talal Naji was arrested” in the capital. A second official confirms the arrest, while a third source from the faction says “Naji was asked… to report to one of the security branches and has not returned. Most likely, he was arrested.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Pro-Palestinian heckler calls Democrat AOC a ‘war criminal’ at town hall
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is heckled by a pro-Palestinian protester at a constituent event, asking her what she was doing about the “genocide in Gaza” and calling her a “war criminal.”
“I am a health care worker, and I want to know what you’re doing about the genocide in Gaza,” the female protester says at the Jackson Heights, Queens town hall.
The woman repeatedly says “shame on you,” and calls the US congresswoman a “liar” and a “war criminal.”
Some members of the crowd verbally clashed with the protester, trying to drown her out and get her to leave.
“I more than welcome people who disagree, or are super pissed off at me for any issue to come, but we have some ground rules here,” the congresswoman says, trying to calm the situation. “Please wait for the Q&A because we don’t want to deprive all of our neighbors of the ability to have information and hear them respond to it.”
Since the October 7 Hamas terror assault in southern Israel and the outbreak of war in Gaza, Ocasio-Cortez has called out antisemitism while becoming increasingly critical of Israel’s war effort.
Like the other members of the progressive “Squad” in Congress, she has accused Israel of perpetrating a “genocide” and committing atrocities in Gaza.
NOW: "You're a war criminal!" –
Pro-Palestine Heckler shouts as AOC holds Town Hall in Jackson Heights Queens, NYC. pic.twitter.com/92cE0ReYXD— Oliya Scootercaster ???? (@ScooterCasterNY) May 2, 2025
JTA contributed to this report.
Waltz’s ‘intense coordination’ with Netanyahu on Iran strike contributed to firing — report
Then-US national security adviser Mike Waltz speaks with the media following meetings with a Ukrainian delegation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, March 11, 2025. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)
US President Donald Trump was angered by his recently ousted national security adviser Mike Waltz’s hawkish position on Iran and coordination with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on military options to destroy Tehran’s nuclear program, The Washington Post reports, citing senior officials and Trump advisers.
Waltz faced criticism inside the White House when, in March, he was blamed for accidentally adding the editor of The Atlantic to a group chat in the Signal messaging app describing details of an imminent US bombing campaign in Yemen.
According to the report, Trump’s frustration with Waltz grew over time ahead of his firing. Two of the people who speak to The Post say that Waltz upset the president when he held “intense coordination” with Netanyahu on possible military options for Iran before their White House meeting in February.
Waltz “wanted to take US policy in a direction Trump wasn’t comfortable with because the US hadn’t attempted a diplomatic solution,” one of the sources says.
“It got back to Trump and the president wasn’t happy with it,” the person says.
Earlier in the week, Trump announced Waltz would be the next US ambassador to the United Nations, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio was named as his interim replacement.
IAF sends aid to Druze in southern Syria, 70 km from Israel — report
An Israeli Air Force helicopter ferried unspecified equipment and humanitarian aid to Syrian Druze in the Sweida area of southern Syria, some 70 kilometers from Israel, Army Radio reports, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.
Syrian media reported that an IAF helicopter had landed in the Sweida area last night, but reportedly to pick up several wounded Druze who were brought to Ziv Hospital in Safed.
The IDF has not commented on the claims that it delivered aid to Syrian Druze overnight, but did confirm that five wounded were evacuated to Israel for treatment.
IDF footage shows last night’s airstrikes in Syria
The IDF releases footage from last night’s airstrikes in Syria.
According to the military, 12 Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck dozens of targets in Syria, including anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missile infrastructure.
“The IDF will continue to work to preserve freedom of aerial action to carry out its tasks and remove any threat in the area,” the military adds.
The IDF releases footage from last night's airstrikes in Syria.
According to the military, 12 Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck dozens of targets in Syria, including anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missile infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/bmnOxyG8Ze
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 3, 2025
PM of internationally recognized Yemeni government quits
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, right, and Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak enter a hall during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, February 27, 2024. (Maxim Shipenkov/Pool Photo via AP)
Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, the prime minister of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, says he had submitted his resignation.
In a statement, Mubarak says he had faced “lots of difficulties,” including being unable to reshuffle the government.
At least 100 people executed in Saudi Arabia this year — AFP tally
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia executed two people convicted of terrorism related charges, the Saudi Interior Ministry says, bringing the total number of executions carried out this year to at least 100, according to an AFP tally.
The ministry’s announcement posted on social media says the two Saudi nationals had been executed for their involvement in “terrorism,” including joining a terrorist organization and attending training camps abroad, where they learned to produce explosives.
“After they were referred to the competent court, a ruling was issued confirming the charges against them and ordering their execution as a punishment,” the statement reads.
According to an AFP tally, of the 100 people executed this year, 59 were individuals convicted of drug-related crimes, 43 of whom were foreign nationals.
Iran says it has ‘every right’ to enrich uranium after talks with US postponed
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, center, visits the Muscat International Book Fair in Oman, April 25, 2025. (Fatima Shbair/AP)
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran defends its “right” to enrich uranium despite growing Western concern that Tehran may be seeking nuclear weapons, and as talks with the United States were delayed.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says in a post on X that “Iran has every right to possess the full nuclear fuel cycle,” citing Tehran’s long-standing membership of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“There are several NPT members that enrich uranium while wholly rejecting nuclear weapons,” Araghchi says.
Under the NPT, signatory states are obliged to declare their nuclear stockpiles and place them under the supervision of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The United States and other Western countries have long accused Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons — a claim Tehran denies, insisting that its atomic program is solely for civilian purposes.
Syrian Druze man in Israeli hospital says he fell 12 meters to flee violence
A Syrian Druze man, 37, who was evacuated from Syria, says his back was injured when he jumped from a height of 12 meters to escape violence.
“It’s a full circle for me to be in the hospital in Israel. My grandfather grew up here, and I have family in Rameh,” he tells the Ynet news site, referencing the northern Arab town.
Fire in Modiin Forest area under control, report says
The Ynet news site reports that firefighters have taken control of a blaze in the area of the Modiin Forest that broke out a short while ago.
Brush fire breaks out in Modiin Forest area
A brush fire has broken out in the area of the Modiin Forest.
Fire and rescue services are deploying to the scene to get the blaze under control.
The place comes after massive fires earlier this week broke out in the Jerusalem Hills area on Memorial Day, leading to the evacuation of several communities.
תיעוד | צוותי כיבוי פועלים לכיבוי שרפה בשטחים פתוחים באזור יער מודיעין pic.twitter.com/qmbU6WuHIv
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) May 3, 2025
Australian broadcaster says PM Albanese will remain in top job after election
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reacts beside his partner Jodie Haydon while casting his ballot in the general election at a polling station in a primary school in the suburb of Marrickville in Sydney on May 3, 2025. (Saeed KHAN / AFP)
SYDNEY, Australia — Australian broadcaster Seven says it projects that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will remain in office following the country’s federal election.
The projection does not state whether Albanese’s Labor Party would be able to form a majority government.
UN envoy urges Israel to cease airstrikes on Syria
DAMASCUS, Syria — United Nations special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen urges Israel to immediately stop its attacks, after the Israeli military said it struck Syrian military sites overnight, the latest such raids.
“I strongly condemn Israel’s continued and escalating violations of Syria’s sovereignty, including multiple air strikes in Damascus and other cities,” Pedersen says in a post on X, adding: “I call for these attacks to cease at once and for Israel to stop endangering Syrian civilians and to respect international law and Syria’s sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity and independence.”
Australian media says opposition can’t form majority government after election
Officials count ballots after voting ended in Australia's general election at a polling station in Melbourne on May 3, 2025. (Martin KEEP / AFP)
SYDNEY, Australia — Australian broadcaster Sky News says the country’s opposition coalition is unlikely to secure a majority government in a nationwide federal election.
5 Druze apparently hurt in Syria clashes taken by IDF to Israeli hospital
People near a car that was burned during clashes between members of the minority Druze sect and pro-government fighters, in the town of Sahnaya, south of Damascus, Syria, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A further five Syrian Druze, who were apparently wounded during sectarian violence in the country, were evacuated by the Israeli military to a hospital overnight, the IDF says.
According to reports from Syria, an Israeli Air Force helicopter landed in the Suwayda area last night and left after several minutes, apparently taking with it the wounded Druze.
They were taken to Ziv Hospital in Safed, where 10 other wounded Syrian Druze had been taken in recent days.
The military says troops are “deployed to southern Syria and prepared to prevent hostile forces from entering the area and Druze villages.”
“The IDF continues to monitor the developments, while maintaining readiness for defense and different scenarios,” the military adds.
Houthis claim responsibility for morning missile attack
The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen take responsibility for this morning’s ballistic missile attack on Israel.
The Houthis claim to have targeted an Israeli military site south of Tel Aviv.
According to the IDF, the missile, which set off sirens in the Jerusalem area, was intercepted.
Australians vote in election defined by soaring costs, Trump tariffs
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his son Nathan cast their ballots in the general election beside his partner Jodie Haydon at a polling station in a primary school in the suburb of Marrickville in Sydney, Australia, on May 3, 2025. (Saeed KHAN / AFP)
SYDNEY, Australia — Australians voted today in a general election shaped by inflation woes and Trump tariffs, with a string of polls pointing to victory for left-leaning incumbent Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Hungry voters munched on barbecued “democracy sausages” after casting their ballot — a polling day rite of passage — while others in bright swimwear crammed into booths after taking an early morning plunge.
Millions of Australians will choose between Labor leader Albanese, 62, or his conservative challenger Peter Dutton.
US President Donald Trump has loomed over the vote since its earliest days, and there is keen global interest in whether his tariff-induced economic chaos will influence the result.
“The holy grail is back-to-back wins that we’re aiming for today,” Albanese tells Channel Seven.
“I’ll leave nothing on the field over the next three years if I’m re-elected as Australia’s prime minister.”
Though trailing by a few percentage points in the polls, Dutton says “quiet Australians” could yet deliver a surprise.
“I think they’re going to go into the polling booth and say: ‘You know what? I am not going to reward Anthony Albanese for the last three years,'” he tells Channel Nine.
Hamas-run civil defense agency says 11 killed in overnight strike in Khan Younis
A youth draped in a blanket looks on as people look for survivors in the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli strike in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on May 2, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defence agency says that an overnight Israeli strike on the Khan Younis refugee camp killed at least 11 people, including three children.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal reported 11 killed “after the bombardment of the Al-Bayram family home in the Khan Yunis camp” in southern Gaza, telling AFP eight of the dead were from the same extended family, including a boy and girl, both one-year-olds, and a month-old baby.
The figures cannot be independently verified.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.
Egyptian official: ‘There are no more concessions that Hamas can be forced to make’
Demonstrators lift placards during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of the remaining Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip, in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, April 26, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)
An Egyptian official familiar with the negotiations for a hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza says, “There is nothing new to negotiate, and no further concessions to force Hamas to make.”
Speaking to Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar, a news outlet affiliated with Hezbollah, the unnamed official claims that the real issue is the absence of “an American-Israeli will to end the war.”
The official additionally warned that the Trump administration’s bet that Israel will be able to extract further concessions from Hamas, presumably through military force, is a “mistake.”
The report says that Egypt is backing a proposal that would see all the hostages released at once in exchange for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a long-term truce.
However, the outlet says there are also “discussions” for an alternative formula that would see a temporary truce of less than a year, to be implemented in two phases and with American guarantees.
It is unclear who is involved in the talks for the secondary proposal.
According to the report, that plan would include a preliminary Israeli commitment to complete the negotiating process that would eventually lead to the end of the war, with the first phase seeing Hamas handing over more than half of the living hostages and the remains of some of the captives who are dead.
The outlet does not give details on the second phase.
Hamas opposes partial or temporary truce proposals, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected plans that would see an end to the war before the complete dismantling of Hamas as a military and governing power.
Woman with possible ties to extreme leftist groups dies when bomb she’s carrying explodes in Thessaloniki
A woman was killed in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki when a bomb she was carrying exploded in her hands, police say.
The 38-year-old woman was apparently carrying the bomb to place it outside a nearby bank around 5 a.m., police say.
Several storefronts and vehicles were damaged by the explosion.
The woman was known to authorities after taking part in several past robberies, according to police, who say they are investigating her possible ties to extreme leftist groups.
Houthis say US hit Sanaa, neighboring districts in overnight Yemen strikes
The Houthi-run Saba news agency says the United States carried out strikes overnight on the capital Sanaa and the neighboring districts of Bani Hashish and Khab al-Shaaf.
It does not provide further details about the reported strikes.
The US military has hit the Iran-backed Houthis with near-daily strikes since March 15 in an operation dubbed “Rough Rider,” seeking to end the threat they pose to vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis have been launching strikes targeting Israel and Western vessels in the Red Sea, in what they describe as solidarity with the Palestinians amid the war sparked by the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.
Pro-Gaza activists say Malta, Greece, Turkey threatened to confiscate drone-hit boat if it comes to port
In this photo provided by the Government of Cyprus, a fire burns on the ship The Conscience, after a drone struck the vessel carrying aid to Gaza off the coast of Malta, May 2, 2025. (Government of Cyprus via AP)
A ship apparently carrying humanitarian aid and activists bound for Gaza that was said to have been hit by drones in international waters off Malta, remains stranded as a number of countries say they will confiscate the vessel if it comes to port.
The Saudi Al Arabiya news channel, citing a Western security source, reported that the convoy was organized by Hamas and that those onboard planned to engage with IDF troops as they approached the Gaza shore.
Video apparently taken after the explosions Thursday-Friday showed two large holes in the ship’s deck, with thick smoke surrounding the vessel. The person recording the footage said the ship had been hit twice.
The ship’s generator was badly damaged and will need to be repaired before continuing, says Charlie Andreasson, who has been involved with the so-called Freedom Flotilla for more than a decade.
It’s unclear where the ship will be able to stop for repairs, says Tighe Barry, a Codepink member who was among a group of activists who took speedboats to the Conscience after the attack.
The boats were turned away by Maltese authorities, he says, but one person made it aboard and spoke to the captain.
Barry says the nation of Palau revoked its flag from the Conscience prior to the attack, and authorities in Malta, Greece and Turkey have threatened to confiscate the ship if it comes to port.
“To get a new flag will take months, so they’re just stuck out there,” Barry says of the crew.
White House posts image of Trump as pope
US President Donald Trump seen as the pope in an apparently AI-generated picture posted by the White House, May 3, 2025.
The official White House account posts an image of US President Donald Trump as pope.
The apparently AI-generated image, originally on Trump’s Truth Social account, is reposted by the White House on the X social network.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 3, 2025
The Trump administration has a number of high-profile Catholics in prominent positions, including US President JD Vance.
Last week, Trump, asked about whom he’d like to see become the next Catholic pontiff, told reporters: “I’d like to be pope. That would be my No. 1 choice.”
Trump noted he actually had no preference, adding, “I must say, we have a cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York who’s very good, so we’ll see what happens.”
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, is not on the short list of possible contenders for the top spot, but it does include another American, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, archbishop of Newark, New Jersey. There has never been a pope from the US.
Trump and his wife Melania traveled to Rome last month to attend the funeral of Pope Francis.
The two men had exchanged criticisms over a decade, mostly related to the pope’s plea for compassion for migrants, a group Trump has repeatedly sought to deport.
Yemeni missile launch sparks sirens in Jerusalem, southern Israel
A view of Jerusalem. (Liran Sokolovski Finzi via iStock by Getty Images)
Sirens have sounded in the Jerusalem and Modi’in regions as well as in southern Israel after the military identified a missile launch from Yemen.
The missile was successfully intercepted by air defenses.
Residents were warned to enter shelters a few minutes ahead of the siren on the Home Front Command app.
Trump says US in transition period, downplays impact of short-term recession
US President Donald Trump says the US is in a “transition period” and is going to do “fantastically” while downplaying the impact any short-term recession may have.
When asked during an interview with NBC News whether it would be OK to have a recession in the short term, Trump says: “Look, yeah, it’s — everything’s okay. What we are — I said, this is a transition period. I think we’re going to do fantastically.”
Trump’s comment on the US economy being in a transition period echo comments he made earlier on Friday in a social media post, in which he also cited strong employment and reiterated his call for the US Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
“We’re only in a transition stage, just getting started!” he said in a Truth Social post. The post followed the release of US data that showed job growth slowed marginally for April.
Trump, who just passed his 100th day in office, has faced growing public discontent over his handling of the economy, with many economists predicting a wide range of tariffs imposed in recent months will drive up inflation and slow growth.
Russian drones hit apartment block in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, 46 hurt
File: In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
Russia launched a mass drone attack late at night on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, hitting a high-rise apartment block, triggering fires and injuring 46 people, officials say.
Mayor Ihor Terekhov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, says there were strikes in 12 locations in four central districts of the city, a repeated target of Russian air attacks lying 30 km (19 miles) from the country’s northeastern border.
President Volodymyr Zelensky denounces the drone strikes, which hit Ukrainian cities several times a week. He says dozens of drones were launched and Ukraine’s allies are moving too slowly in helping beef up its air defense capability.
“There were no military targets, nor could there be any. Russia strikes dwellings when Ukrainians are in their homes, when they are putting their children to bed,” Zelensky writes on Telegram. “As the world delays decisions, almost every night in Ukraine turns into a horror that results in the loss of lives. Ukraine needs stronger air defenses. Stronger and real decisions from our partners: the United States, Europe, all our partners who seek peace.”
US, Israel near agreement on Gaza aid mechanism, Axios reports
The United States, Israel and representatives of a new international foundation are close to an agreement on how to resume the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza without it being controlled by Hamas, Axios reports, citing two Israeli officials and one US source.
One State Department official tells the outlet: “We understand that the mechanism will deliver aid to the people who need it in line with our principals: we support the flow of humanitarian aid with safeguards to ensure assistance is not diverted, looted, or misused by terrorist groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”
The Times of Israel previously reported on the planned mechanism.
White House quarrels with Germany after move against far-right AfD
The decision by Germany’s domestic intelligence service to designate the far-right AfD party as an extremist group has set off a diplomatic spat with the United States.
The BfV intelligence agency, which had already designated several local branches of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) as right-wing extremists, said earlier it moved against the entire party due to its attempts to “undermine the free, democratic” order in Germany. The classification gives authorities greater powers to monitor the party by lowering the barriers for such steps as intercepting telephone calls and deploying undercover agents.
The conservative US administration has quickly condemned the move.
US Vice President JD Vance is accusing Germany of rebuilding a “Berlin Wall.”
“The West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has been rebuilt — not by the Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment,” Vance, who in February defiantly met the AfD leader in Munich, writes on X. He says the AfD is “the most popular party in Germany.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls it “tyranny in disguise” and says “Germany should reverse course.” President Donald Trump’s billionaire advisor Elon Musk has also previously defended the AfD.
The German foreign ministry takes the unusual step of replying directly to Rubio on X to say: “This is democracy.”
This is democracy. This decision is the result of a thorough & independent investigation to protect our Constitution & the rule of law. It is independent courts that will have the final say. We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped.
— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) May 2, 2025
The ministry says that the “decision is the result of a thorough and independent investigation to protect our constitution” and can be appealed.
“We have learnt from our history that right-wing extremism needs to be stopped,” the ministry says.
IDF confirms carrying out wave of airstrikes in Syria
The IDF confirms carrying out a wave of airstrikes in Syria this evening.
According to the military, the strikes carried out by fighter jets targeted “a military site, anti-aircraft artillery, and surface-to-air missile infrastructure in Syria.”
“The IDF will continue to act as required to protect the citizens of the State of Israel,” the military adds.
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