May 21: Kibbutz that lost 4 members on Oct. 7 slams PM for saying ‘nothing’ happened there

UN says it has ‘collected and dispatched’ 90 truckloads of humanitarian aid into Gaza

The UN confirms that it has collected and began distributing around 90 truckloads of aid into Gaza, marking the first aid distribution in the besieged Palestinian territory since early March.

Three days after Israel announced it would allow in limited aid, the United Nations on Wednesday “collected around 90 truckloads of goods from the Kerem Shalom crossing and dispatched them into Gaza,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, says in a statement.

PM insists actions by Western nations demanding end to Gaza war ‘won’t influence’ Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference at his office in Jerusalem on May 21, 2025. (Alex Kolomoisky/Pool/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the harsh rhetoric and punitive actions, including sanctions, from European nations demanding an end to the war in Gaza “will not influence” Israel to change its national security policies.

“European countries will not influence us and they will not cause us to abandon our core objectives — ensuring the security of Israel and the future of Israel,” says Netanyahu at a press conference in Jerusalem.

In recent days, European nations have called on Israel to halt its expanded military campaign in Gaza and lift restrictions on aid for Gazan civilians. On Tuesday, the United Kingdom announced a pause in free trade talks with Israel and imposed sanctions on West Bank settlers, a day after the leaders of the UK, France, and Canada issued a joint statement explicitly threatening to take action against Israel if it does not end the conflict and allow in aid.

“We will do what is necessary to complete the war,” says the premier.

“It is a badge of shame that Britain, instead of imposing sanctions on Hamas, is imposing sanctions on a woman who is threatened daily on the roads of Judea and Samaria by Hamas terrorists,” Netanyahu also, likely referring to veteran settler leader Daniella Weiss.

“It’s a total loss of moral direction. These countries are under pressure — from the Islamic minority within them, and from public opinion shaped by Hamas’s false propaganda,” the premier says.

Netanyahu says that “the sanctions that are truly concerning” would be imposed by the United Nations Security Council. “Binding sanctions — a resolution we will not allow,” he asserts.

According to Netanyahu, as a condition for releasing hostages and agreeing to end the war, Hamas is demanding the UN Security Council pass a resolution providing for binding sanctions that would damage Israel’s economy and national security were it to resume fighting the terror group at a later time. Such a resolution, if it passed, would be impossible to revoke, he says.

“That’s why we reject this condition [of ending the war.] It’s a childish condition promoted by people who don’t understand what they’re talking about, saying: ‘What’s the problem with ending the war on Hamas’s terms? Just get the hostages out and then go back in’,” says Netanyahu.

“They’re forgetting…it won’t come for free. You’d have to evacuate the entire Gaza Strip. There would be a binding resolution in the Security Council that would crash Israel’s economy completely, and also our security systems. It’s insane. Simply insane,” he continues.

“This is Hamas’s goal,” he says. “They want to stop the war, end it, and push through a binding Security Council resolution — one that would compel 180 countries to impose sanctions on us.”

“All those images — the hunger, the claims that ‘44,000 children are about to die’ — all of that false propaganda echoes over there, and they cave to it,” says the premier, possibly referring to a debunked UN claim earlier this week that 14,000 babies in Gaza would soon die if proper nutrition doesn’t reach them.

“I won’t cave to it. I will do what needs to be done,” says Netanyahu, adding that he also rejects the prospect of European nations unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state.

“We strongly oppose their intention to give Hamas the ultimate prize — to recognize a Palestinian state. After October 7, after we saw what a de facto Palestinian state looks like — it was called Gaza. Hamas’s Gaza. Hamastan. And now they want to create another one? There is no greater reward for terror,” says Netanyahu.

He says Israel has “smashed” terror cells in West Bank refugee camps in an unprecedented way. “We are not capitulating to any terrorist — in Yemen, Gaza, Lebanon or Judea and Samaria.”

After kibbutz’s fury, PM claims remark that ‘nothing’ happened in Ein Hashlosha on Oct. 7 was ‘misunderstood’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office attempts damage control after the premier falsely said in tonight’s press conference that “nothing” happened on October 7, 2023, in Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, when in fact, dozens of terrorists infiltrated and four residents were killed.

“Netanyahu regrets the fact that his remarks about Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha were misunderstood,” the office claims, although it avoids admitting Netanyahu misspoke.

The statement asserts that what he meant was that the kibbutz not receiving a directive to not act caused the kibbutz’s people to spring into action, adding that the local security squad “fought bravely and prevented the takeover of the kibbutz and a big massacre.”

“There was no intention to say no residents were murdered at all. The prime minister grieves with the four families whose loved ones were murdered on October 7, along with the rest of the families whose loved ones were murdered and hurt in the massacre in all communities.”

Canada, Uruguay summon their Israel ambassadors over West Bank IDF warning shots

Uruguay and Canada become the latest countries to summon their Israeli ambassadors over warning shots fired by the IDF during a visit by foreign diplomats, including an Uruguayan representative and four Canadians, to the West Bank.

Uruguay’s foreign ministry says it wants Ambassador Michal Hershkovitz to “clarify” the shots during the diplomats’ visit to the town of Jenin.

Meanwhile, Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand demands a “full investigation” into the incidents.

“I have asked my officials to summon Israel’s Ambassador to convey Canada’s serious concerns. We expect a full investigation and accountability,” Anand says on X.

Netanyahu: Trump told me ‘I have absolute commitment to you’; US deepening ties with Arab states can expand Abraham Accords

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP)

In his press conference this evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares that Israel’s relations with the United States are positive and reports in Israeli and US media of a rift between him and US President Donald Trump are false, adding that Trump’s warming of relations with Arab states in the Middle East won’t sideline Israel.

He says he spoke with Trump and with US Vice President JD Vance in recent days and was assured that America has Israel’s back.

“Let me give you some details that perhaps haven’t been made public. A few days ago — I think around 10 days ago, maybe a little more — I spoke on the phone with President Trump. And he said to me, literally: ‘Bibi, I want you to know — I have absolute commitment to you. I have absolute commitment to the State of Israel.’

“Just a few days ago, I spoke with Vice President Vance. He said to me… ‘Listen, don’t pay attention to all these fake news spins about this rupture between us… He said: It’s all spin. This isn’t the truth, you know it’s not true, and I’m telling you, from our side, it’s not true.'”

“We’re coordinated with the [Trump] administration,” continues Netanyahu, “We speak with each other. We respect their interests, and they respect ours — and they overlap. I won’t tell you they align completely — obviously not — but they align almost completely.”

The two allies want to ensure that Iran cannot get the bomb and that Hamas is booted out of Gaza, he says. And “we want to ensure that Trump’s plan” for Gaza comes to fruition, he adds. “It’s a brilliant plan,” he says, that truly can bring change not only here… but can change the face of the Middle East. Change once and for all what we have been through from Gaza for decades.”

Netanyahu also expresses his support for Trump’s objectives of tightening relations with Gulf nations in the Middle East, demonstrated by his visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates last week, saying Trump’s moves may serve Israel by facilitating more Abraham Accords normalization agreements.

“I have no objection to the United States deepening its ties in the Arab world. That’s absolutely fine. And I’ll tell you even more — I believe that can actually help expand the Abraham Accords, which I’m very invested in. I’m interested in that.”

During the roughly two-and-a-half years in which he and Trump prepared the Abraham Accords, says Netanyahu, Gulf states were speaking very harshly about Israel.

“But beneath the surface, something very different was happening. And I think there’s a possibility that this could happen again. I would be very happy if it does, because it’s one of my goals,” he says.

“I’ve always wanted to expand the circle of peace, to extend a hand to our friends and push away the sword of our enemies. I’m very determined in this, and I’m focused on it.”

Gaza border kibbutz that lost 4 members on Oct. 7 slams PM for saying ‘nothing’ happened there

Damage done to Kibbutz Ein HaShlosha during the October 7, 2023, massacre. (Facebook/ used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law/ via Zman)

Members of a Gaza border town where four residents were killed in Hamas’s onslaught of October 7, 2023, express shock at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim in his press conference today that “nothing” happened there on that day.

Residents of Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha tell the media in a statement: “We were surprised and shocked by the prime minister’s blatant inaccuracy as if ‘nothing happened in Ein Hashlosha.’ This is an outrageous and grave remark that harms the memory of those murdered and the entire community.”

“On the most difficult morning in the state’s history, members of the security squad and residents heroically faced dozens of terrorists who breached the kibbutz,” the statement adds. “This was also presented in the IDF’s probe. During the battle, four of our beloved residents were murdered: Rami Negbi, Noa Glazberg, Silvia Mirensky and Marcelle Taljah.

“They aren’t ‘nothing.'”

The kibbutz residents demand a correction and invite Netanyahu to Ein Hashlosha “to meet the community and hear the story of Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha.”

IDF says it killed Hezbollah member in drone strike, bringing days total to 3

A Hezbollah operative was killed in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Aitaroun earlier today, the IDF says.

He is the third member of the terror group killed by Israel in Lebanon today.

A Hezbollah operative was killed in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon's Aitaroun earlier today, the IDF says.

He is the third member of the terror group killed by Israel in Lebanon today. pic.twitter.com/6WowZvxPhJ

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 21, 2025

Ex-hostage Emily Hand, 11, urges Netanyahu: ‘Go make a deal now, because this can’t go on’

Former hostage Emily Hand speaks on May 21, 2025, at a Kibbutz Be'eri rally held for the hostages in the kibbutz's temporary quarters in Kibbutz Hazerim. (Courtesy Kibbutz Be'eri)

Former hostage Emily Hand, 11, a member of Kibbutz Be’eri, spoke at a kibbutz rally today, held in Kibbutz Hazerim, where kibbutz members are currently living until Be’eri is rebuilt.

Hand describes being taken hostage by Palestinian terrorists with Hila Rotem Shoshani and Raya Rotem on October 7, 2023.

“The pictures of the people around us aren’t just pictures,” she says. “These are people who were kidnapped to Gaza, and some were murdered. Just think for a moment about the word ‘kidnapped.’ Who would have believed that we would have to say that people from our own country were kidnapped?”

Hand then speaks directly to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Bibi, I’m speaking to you directly — go make a deal now, because this can’t go on,” she says. “And I want to tell you: the conditions there are harsh. We must bring everyone back!”

Hand, who was 8 when she was taken hostage, adds: “Opening the fridge is a privilege. Going to sleep in a bed is a privilege. On that black Saturday, I had plans to meet friends, to dance in the studio with my sister, to cook food. But no. That didn’t happen, because instead, I got a one-way ticket to Gaza.”

Hand lost her mother to cancer when she was just 2 years old. When she returned home from captivity, her Irish-born father, Thomas Hand, had to tell her that her “second mother,” Narkis Hand — Thomas Hand’s former wife, and mother to Emily’s two half-siblings — was killed on October 7.

“It doesn’t make sense that we’re going to Hostage Square, visiting cemeteries, sometimes flying abroad — all because of what happened. Our hearts have been held captive there for far too long,” says Hand.

Shaked Haran, daughter of Avshalom Haran, who was murdered on October 7, and whose seven family members — including her mother, her sister, brother-in-law, their two children and two cousins — were taken hostage and later released in the two consecutive deals, also speaks and calls the last 593 days “our struggle.”

“It’s hard, exhausting, and Sisyphean — but it’s ours,” says Haran.

“It’s not fair that after everything we’ve been through as a community, we still have to fight. But that’s the reality. And there’s tremendous power in shifting the spotlight from what was done to us, from what was taken from us — to what we can do for our brothers and sisters in distress.”

She says that everyone has a role in the struggle for the hostages, and it won’t happen without a struggle.

“I’m reminding us here, too — we have each other,” says Haran. “We must continue to be there for one another, for the families of the hostages. Unlike any natural process, here time does not ‘heal all wounds.’ The reality for the families of the hostages is only getting harder with each passing day, and we must stand strong with them and by their side.”

Additionally, Kibbutz Be’eri members Natali Ben Gal and Inbal Bechar, who survived the massacre, also spoke.

UK minister calls Israeli soldiers firing near diplomats ‘unacceptable,’ urges probe

The British minister for the Middle East and North Africa, Hamish Falconer, says he has spoken to diplomats who were affected by Israeli soldiers’ fire near a diplomatic delegation in the West Bank, and says an investigation is needed.

“Today’s events in Jenin are unacceptable. I have spoken to our diplomats who were affected,” Falconer says in a post on X.

“Civilians must always be protected, and diplomats allowed to do their jobs. There must be a full investigation and those responsible should be held accountable.”

Opposition accuses Netanyahu of lying; Golan vows to sue him for defamation

The Democrats party chairman Yair Golan holds a press conference in Tel Aviv, May 20, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the vision for the Gaza war he laid out in his press conference this evening.

“The meaning of Netanyahu’s words is military rule over Gaza for many years,” he says, adding that soldiers will continue to die in battle and Israeli taxpayers will have to pay for education, healthcare and other services in Gaza.

“Netanyahu lied today when he said he is fully coordinated with the American administration,” Lapid contends. “He has lost [Donald] Trump’s support and attention.”

The Democrats party chief Yair Golan reacts furiously after Netanyahu said Golan’s remark yesterday that Israel is “killing babies as a hobby” reminds him of medieval blood libels.

“I saw a display by a lying, anxious and troubled man who slings mud at everyone and doesn’t take responsibility for anything,” Golan says. “I have two promises to Netanyahu this evening: I will sue you for defamation for the lies you spread against me, and we will beat you in elections very soon and send you to the pages of history.”

Netanyahu: Money from Qatar didn’t fund Oct. 7, which used cheap means; Qatargate is a ‘libel’

From left: Jonatan Urich, Eli Feldstein, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Composite: Flash90)

Asked about the Qatargate scandal during his press conference, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he “didn’t know anything” about his aides allegedly getting money from Qatar to boost the Gulf nation’s image, and that he still doesn’t know what happened.

He says that the “big lie” is that he was involved, and those who say that he received money from Qatar will be sued.

Netanyahu claims that he attacked Qatar publicly while others, including the Shin Bet, praised it, and that Israel is using the Qataris to assist in getting the hostages out.

Qatar still supports Hamas, Netanyahu says. “Qatar is not a friendly state for us.”

The accusations will be shown to be fabricated, he predicts, adding that he doesn’t see any reason for his aide Jonatan Urich — who was released today from house arrest — to be held by police. “It will be shown to be a total libel,” says Netanyahu.

Netanyahu says that all the officials receiving money from Qatar must cease doing so.

“Qatar is not a friendly country,” he says, adding that he is allowing a law defining Qatar as an enemy country to go through. “Maybe the time has come to say the things in the clearest way possible, to our American friends as well. We are saying it,” he says, adding that contacting Qatar on the hostage issue must be permitted under the law.

He says money transferred by Qatar to Hamas was given “on the recommendation of the Shin Bet and the Mossad.”

He denies that money sent from Qatar to Hamas, at Israel’s request, enabled the October 7, 2023, attacks. Hamas attacked wearing sandals, holding AK-47s, and riding pickup trucks, he says, all of which are inexpensive, and that no tunnels that Hamas might have built with the money penetrated into Israel since he ordered an underground barrier built. Hamas didn’t have F-35s or tanks, he notes.

He says that the failures of October 7 must be investigated, and they will be fully examined.

“Everyone will bear the true responsibility. We need an objective commission, unbiased,” he argues. “How did it happen that there was no one next to the fence. How did it happen that there was a directive not to be next to the fence… How did it happen that the Air Force received orders to operate only hours after the attack. How did it happen?”

He says there was one kibbutz, Ein HaShlosha, where that directive was not given, “and nothing happened there — the community was not invaded, and the terrorists were killed.”

The government hasn’t formed any commission of inquiry for 19 months, and it opposes a state commission of inquiry, which successive polls show is the preferred option for most Israelis.

Netanyahu also says he has met with Einav Zangauker and spoken to her at length about the condition of her son Matan in Hamas captivity.

He says the combination of military and diplomatic pressure will enable the release of the hostages.

He says no small country like Israel has had to fight a seven-front war, least of all facing a power like Iran, “and we have turned the tables,” having been seen as being on the verge of destruction. “Now, everyone recognizes” that Israel is “the strongest power in the Middle East.”

Asked why he doesn’t resign or at least go back to the public for a renewed mandate after the October 7 failings, Netanyahu says: “I let the public decide every day… Every day, I am open to criticism… I face the test of the public every week… If there is a vote of no-confidence, the public will have made its will known. This will happen in elections, when they come,” he says, but insists that Israel does not need elections, or a state commission of inquiry, in mid-war.

IDF: 3 rockets fired from northern Gaza at Israel; all fell short inside Strip

Three rockets were launched from the northern Gaza Strip a short while ago, setting off sirens in the border communities of Zikim and Netiv Haasara, the IDF says.

All three projectiles fell short in Gaza, the army adds.

No injuries were caused.

Member of Irish band Kneecap charged with terrorism offense over Hezbollah flag

A member of Irish band Kneecap wears a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London on November 21, 2024. (Screen grab/YouTube)

A member of the Irish rap band Kneecap is charged with a terrorism offense for displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, British police say.

Liam O’Hanna, whose stage name is Mo Chara, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 18.

Israel says 100 trucks containing flour, baby food, medical equipment entered Gaza today

Trucks carrying aid wait to enter the Gaza Strip from the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing, on May 20, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

The Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announces that 100 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip today.

Israel resumed aid deliveries to Gaza on Monday, after a pause since March 2.

COGAT says the aid delivery comes “following the recommendation of professional IDF officials and in accordance with the directive of the political echelon.”

Today’s trucks contained flour, baby food and medical equipment, COGAT says.

The aid underwent an inspection first by Israeli authorities before entering Gaza via the Kerem Shalom Crossing.

Despite the COGAT announcements, UN agencies say they have been unable to pick up any of the aid that has entered since the blockade was lifted this week, explaining that Israeli authorities have refused to coordinate on the matter.

COGAT has yet to respond to UN allegations on the matter for nearly two days.

Netanyahu slams High Court, vows he’ll appoint next Shin Bet head despite AG’s opinion

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) at a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, November 1, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO); Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at a farewell ceremony for retiring acting Supreme Court president Uzi Vogelman, at the Supreme Court, in Jerusalem, October 1, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/ POOL/ File)

In a change from normal protocol, the Prime Minister’s Office does not hold a lottery to determine the order of questions at his press conference, and instead, Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman calls on reporters of his choosing.

He first chooses a reporter for the staunchly supportive Channel 14 network, who asks the prime minister about the High Court’s ruling that the firing of Ronen Bar was unlawful, and fortuitously, Netanyahu has a copy of the law giving the premier the power to fire and choose a Shin Bet chief handy to read in response to the question.

“That’s the law,” he says. “Clear, sharp. No lacunae… Everyone must obey the law. I must obey the law. You must obey the law. All citizens of Israel must obey the law. The judges must obey the law. And the attorney general must obey the law.”

He asks whether the court and attorney general will follow the law that reflects with will of the public.

He says the court ruling is “disgraceful,” and it harms democracy and national security.

After Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara this evening said that Netanyahu cannot appoint a new Shin Bet chief until the court ruling’s ramifications are clarified since he’s in conflict of interest, the premier accuses her of having a conflict of interest herself, likening her to a camel that can’t see its own humps since she allegedly didn’t report that a key prosecution witness in the corruption trial against him is very close acquaintance of hers, and adding that she has a longstanding close relationship with Bar.

“We are in a difficult war against Hamas, and they are in a difficult war against the government fighting against Hamas,” he says of the attorney general and the High Court, claiming that they are harming Israel’s security.

Netanyahu pledges that he will appoint a new Shin Bet chief despite Baharav-Miara’s decision today.

Rocket sirens blare in Gaza border towns

Rocket sirens are sounding in the Gaza border communities of Zikim and Netiv Haasara.

The IDF says it is investigating.

IDF confirms that Hamas member killed on Saturday in West Bank was behind deadly terror shooting

The scene of a Palestinian terror shooting attack on Route 446 between the Bruchin and Pedu'el settlements on May 14, 2025. Inset: Tzeela Gez, who was killed in the attack (Magen David Adom; courtesy)

The IDF says it has confirmed that a Palestinian suspect killed by troops in the West Bank town of Bruqin on Saturday carried out last week’s deadly terror shooting in the area.

In the attack on May 14, near Bruqin and the settlement of Bruchin, a Palestinian terrorist opened fire from the side of a road on Israeli motorists, killing Tzeela Gez, 30, and wounding her husband. Gez had been heading to a hospital to give birth.

As troops were searching the area on Saturday, a suspect with a backpack ran toward them while shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest). He was then shot dead.

Following an investigation led by the Shin Bet, police, and IDF, it was revealed that the suspect, Naael Samarah, carried out the shooting attack, a joint statement says.

Samarah, a member of Hamas, was previously jailed for his activity in the terror group. He was released in 2010 and jailed again for several days in 2019 for online incitement, according to the military.

The IDF says that in his backpack, troops found an assault rifle and other equipment used to carry out the terror attack.

Several additional Palestinians suspected of involvement in the attack have been arrested, including one accused of being the head of a terror cell that Samarah was part of.

The cell, according to the IDF, carried out three other shooting attacks in the area in recent months, including one near Ariel on March 12, in which an Israeli civilian was moderately wounded.

At least 15 aid trucks enter Gaza, two local merchants say

At least 15 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing en route to World Food Programme warehouses in central Gaza, two merchants familiar with the matter tell Reuters.

International and domestic pressure has been mounting on the Israeli government to allow more aid to reach a population on the brink of famine after an 11-week blockade. Jerusalem says it is necessary to pressure Hamas to release hostages and that a new mechanism must be put in place to prevent the terror group from commandeering the aid.

Iran executes man convicted over 2023 attack on Azeri embassy that killed 1 person

Iran has executed a man accused of carrying out a 2023 attack on the Azerbaijan Embassy in Tehran, killing its security chief and wounding two others in an incident that escalated tensions between the neighboring nations, state media reports.

The state-run IRNA news agency reports the unidentified man’s execution, without offering details, after his conviction. Typically, Iran hangs its condemned.

Iran called the January 2023 attack a personal dispute after the gunman’s wife “disappeared” on a visit to the embassy, but Azeri President Ilham Aliyev called it a terrorist attack. Baku accused Tehran of supporting hardline Islamists who tried to overthrow its government, a charge Tehran denied.

Following the attack, the embassy was closed and its staff left the country. In April 2023, Azerbaijan expelled four Iranian diplomats. A month later, Iran expelled four Azeri diplomats. Azerbaijan reopened its embassy in a different location in July 2024.

Azerbaijan borders Iran’s northwest and was part of the Persian Empire until the early 19th century. There are also over 12 million ethnic Azeris in Iran who represent the Islamic Republic’s largest minority group.

Azerbaijan’s diplomatic ties with Israel have long been a point of contention with the Islamic Republic.

Netanyahu: Golan’s remark that Israel kills babies as a hobby reminds me of medieval blood libels

Turning to former IDF deputy chief of staff and current Democrats party leader Yair Golan’s much-panned accusation yesterday that Israel is killing Palestinian children for sport, Netanyahu calls the statement “appalling.”

“While our heroic soldiers are risking their lives in the Gaza Strip, in order to protect our country and to bring our hostages back, Yair Golan accuses them of war crimes,” he says, adding that it reminds him of medieval blood libels.

It is Hamas that kills children as a hobby, while Israeli soldiers are doing everything they can to avoid civilian casualties, insists Netanyahu. “There is no army that is more moral than the IDF in the world.”

Netanyahu says that those who defend Golan and repeat such charges fuel antisemitism and back Golan so as to bring down his government. They are willing to do anything to achieve that goal, he argues, including losing the ongoing war.

“Until the end,” he says, “until victory.”

Netanyahu: Implementation of Trump’s Gaza relocation plan is condition for ending war

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference at his office in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. (Nava Freiberg/Times of Israel)

The fledgling Operation Gideon’s Chariots — the expanded operation in Gaza — is meant to “complete the war, the work” in Gaza, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Our forces are landing powerful blows that will get stronger against Hamas strongholds that still exist in Gaza,” he explains.

Netanyahu says that the houses of residents in towns near the Gaza border are shaking not because of Hamas missiles, but because of Israel’s firepower. “Our forces are taking more and more ground in order to clean them of terrorists and from Hamas terror infrastructure,” he says.

At the end of the operation, promises Netanyahu, “all the territory of Gaza will be under Israeli security control, and Hamas will be totally defeated.”

He says that to maintain support from Israel’s allies, Jerusalem must prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza — attempting to explain his decision to renew entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip, which is deeply unpopular in right-wing circles.

He says that Israel’s closest friends, including in the Senate, tell him that they’ll help Israel in any way so that it can destroy Hamas, but the one thing they won’t accept is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Netanyahu stresses that Hamas loots aid shipments and sells the supplies at exorbitant prices to fund its military activities.

He says that Israel developed along with the US a humanitarian aid plan to keep it out of Hamas’s hands. US Ambassador Mike Huckabee earlier this month claimed it was an American plan, not an Israeli plan.

Netanyahu says the plan has three stages – the entry of “basic food now” into Gaza to prevent a humanitarian crisis; opening aid distribution points in the coming days by US companies; and creating a “sterile zone” in southern Gaza for the civilian population to shelter in.

“In this zone, which will be totally free of Hamas, residents of Gaza will receive full humanitarian aid,” he explains.

Responding to those who are pushing for an end to war in Gaza, Netanyahu says he “is ready to end the war, under clear conditions that will ensure the safety of Israel – all the hostages come home, Hamas lays down its arms, steps down from power, its leadership is exiled from the Strip… Gaza is totally disarmed, and we carry out the Trump plan. A plan that is so correct and so revolutionary.”

This represents the first time the US president’s plan for moving Gaza civilians out of the Strip has been presented as an Israeli demand for ending the war.

Netanyahu claims that those who call for an end to the war before those demands are met are calling for Hamas to remain in power. That would, he argues, result in Hamas rebuilding, making more missiles, digging more tunnels, and carrying out more atrocities including murder, rape and baby burning.

IDF issues wide evacuation order to northern Gaza areas after rocket launch

Following rocket fire from the northern Gaza Strip at the southern coastal city of Ashkelon, the IDF issues a wide evacuation warning.

In a post on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, calls for Palestinians residing in Sheikh Zayed, Salatin, Beit Lahiya, Jabalia and nearby towns to evacuate south.

He says it is a “final warning” before the IDF carries out strikes there.

One rocket was launched at Ashkelon, and it was intercepted by air defenses, according to the military. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group took responsibility.

#عاجل ‼️ تحذير خطير الى كل سكان قطاع غزة المتواجدين في شمال القطاع وتحديدًا قي أحياء غبن، الشيماء، فدعوس، المنشية، الشيخ زايد، السلاطين، الكرامة، مشروع بيت لاهيا، الزهور، تل الزعتر، النور، عبد الرحمن، النهضة ومعسكر جباليا
🔴هذا تحذير مسبق قبل الهجوم!🔴
⭕️جيش الدفاع سوف يعمل بقوة… pic.twitter.com/IEQOuYQJJN

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) May 21, 2025

PM: We ‘hope it’s possible to reach an agreement that prevents nuclear weapons from Iran’

Moving away from the lectern, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel faced down massive international and domestic pressure to end the war in Gaza.

“We faced down that pressure,” he says, rehashing a list of Israel’s successes versus Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, and claiming that Israel’s actions in Lebanon led to the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.

“We still haven’t said the last word” in the campaign against the Houthis in Yemen, he promises.

“Iran remains a serious threat against Israel,” he says, stressing that Israel is “in full coordination with the US. We talk to them all the time. We hope that it’s possible for them to reach an agreement that will prevent a nuclear weapon from Iran.”

“That means it will prevent Iran from having the ability to enrich uranium. If it is reached, of course, we will welcome it,” he says, before warning that “in any case, Israel reserves the right to defend itself against a regime that threatens to destroy us.”

Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar apparently killed, Netanyahu says in 1st press conference in 5 months

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference at his office in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. (Nava Freiberg/Times of Israel)

There are 20 confirmed living hostages in Gaza, and “up to 38” slain hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says at a press conference in Jerusalem, the first in five months.

“We will bring everyone back,” he promises in his first press conference since December.

Israel has a “very organized” plan to achieve its war aims in Gaza, he insists, adding that the war in Gaza has “a purpose that is clear and justified.”

“To defeat Hamas, which carried out the atrocities of October 7; to bring back all of our hostages; and to ensure that Gaza does not present a threat to Israel.”

The goals are complementary, he argues, “and we have to achieve them fully.”

Israel has “apparently” killed Hamas military leader Muhammad Sinwar, says Netanyahu.

He says that if there is a possibility for a “temporary ceasefire” that will return more hostages, we are ready for that, but repeats that this would only be temporary.

Rubio says more Arab states will ‘certainly’ normalize ties with Israel this year

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies at a Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Hearings to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2026 for the Department of State at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on May 20, 2025. (Photo by Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserts that more Arab nations will forge ties with Israel this year, as Washington presses hard for relations to normalize with Saudi Arabia.

US President Donald Trump, near the end of his first term, led the so-called Abraham Accords in which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco became the first Arab countries in decades to normalize relations with Israel.

“I think we may have good news, certainly before the end of this year, of a number of more countries that are willing to join that alliance,” Rubio tells the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Saudi Arabia was in advanced talks on normalization, backed by then-president Joe Biden’s administration, before the unprecedented October 7, 2023, onslaught by Hamas on Israel, which responded with a massive military operation.

Asked about the Saudi position a week after Trump visited Riyadh, Rubio says: “I think there’s still a willingness to do it.”

Trump dismisses question about South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel

US President Donald Trump, right, meets with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

US President Donald Trump is asked by reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with his South African counterpart whether he expects Johannesburg to drop its case against Israel in the International Court of Justice.

“I don’t expect anything to be honest. I don’t know. They’ve got a case. There’s a lot of anger… We’ll have a ruling, and who knows what the ruling is going to mean,” Trump responds.

Pressed whether he plans to speak to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid growing global outcry over Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, Trump declines to answer directly.

Trump makes the remarks alongside South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House.

Trump also tells Ramaphosa he is looking for an explanation of claims of “genocide” against white Afrikaners, surprising the South African leader with a video designed to back the baseless claims.

“Generally, they’re white farmers, and they’re fleeing South Africa, and it’s a very sad thing to see. But I hope we can have an explanation of that, because I know you don’t want that,” Trump says.

He asks staff members to play a video on a screen set up in the Oval Office showing Ramaphosa — and the gathered global media — what he says are clips of Black South Africans talking about the issue, including images of what the US president calls “burial sites.”

Rubio says Syrian leaders have said they have no interest in war with Israel

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Syria’s new leaders “have said that they have no interest in a war with Israel.”

“They have no interest in becoming a playground to export revolution. What they want is to build a country… and that’s what we’re willing to help them do,” Rubio tells a Congressional panel, explaining the US decision to remove sanctions on Syria.

Coalition whip calls on PM to defy AG’s order not to tap new Shin Bet head

Coalition Whip Ofir Katz during a Knesset House Committee meeting in Jerusalem, January 14, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

After Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s legal opinion barring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from appointing a new Shin Bet chief, Coalition Whip Ofir Katz calls on him to defy the opinion.

Baharav-Miara said her decision is in light of today’s High Court ruling that the firing of Ronen Bar was unlawful since the premier had a conflict of interest due to ongoing Shin Bet probes into staff at the Prime Minister’s Office.

“I’ve never seen a legal opinion being prepared so swiftly, as if she had known the outcome ahead of time,” Katz says. “[We] mustn’t listen to the attorney general’s orders, [we] mustn’t play games with national security — [we] must make the appointment now.”

AG: Netanyahu can’t tap new Shin Bet head until court ruling’s ramifications are clarified

L to R: Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, February 13, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the District Court in Tel Aviv, before the start of his testimony in the trial against him, March 12, 2025. (Tomer Appelbaum/POOL); Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar at the National Police Academy in Beit Shemesh, on July 14, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

In a decision likely to arouse the ire of the prime minister and the government, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he must refrain from appointing a new head of the Shin Bet or a temporary replacement until the implications of today’s High Court decision have been examined.

The High Court found that Netanyahu had a conflict of interest in firing Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and that he should not have been involved in the decision to dismiss him.

Baharav-Miara says that as a result of this decision, Netanyahu cannot be involved in “any action connected to the appointment of a new permanent or temporary Shin Bet head,” until “a legal examination can be conducted” and its implications implemented.

She adds that in the coming days, her office will draw up instructions for how to appoint a new Shin Bet chief under the current circumstances to ensure the process is done correctly.

According to the Shin Bet law, the prime minister nominates a candidate to head the domestic security agency, and the cabinet confirms that choice.

The High Court ruled that Netanyahu had a conflict of interest in recommending that the cabinet fire Bar owing to the ongoing leaked documents and Qatargate investigations into the prime minister’s close aides, and should therefore not have been involved in firing him.

Because of the wording of the law specifying that the prime minister is the one to nominate a candidate to head the service, it is unclear how a new Shin Bet can be appointed while those investigations are ongoing.

IDF says a rocket was fired from northern Gaza, intercepted

One rocket launched from the northern Gaza Strip at Ashkelon a short while ago was intercepted by air defenses, the military says.

There are no reports of injuries or damage.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group takes responsibility for the attack.

Portugal also summons Israel ambassador over West Bank warning shots

Portugal says it has summoned the Israeli ambassador after the IDF said troops fired warning shots near a diplomatic delegation visiting the West Bank.

The foreign ministry in Lisbon says the move was made “following this incident, which calls international law into question.” A Portuguese diplomat was part of the delegation.

Rocket alarms sound in Ashkelon

Rocket sirens are sounding in the southern coastal city of Ashkelon.

The IDF says it is investigating.

Spain summons Israel’s top envoy as Germany, Turkey, Egypt condemn IDF warning shots

Spain becomes the latest European country to summon Israel’s top diplomatic envoy over the firing of warning shots by Israeli troops near a diplomatic delegation in the West Bank today, while Turkey, Egypt and Germany issue condemnations.

The diplomatic delegation included Cairo’s ambassador to Ramallah, as well as diplomats from many countries including Spain, Turkey and Germany.

“Faced with the intolerable shooting by the Israeli army during the visit of Spanish, EU and other countries’ diplomats, we are summoning the head of Israel’s embassy in Madrid,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares writes on X.

Foreign ministry sources tell AFP that the Israeli charge d’affaires will be summoned. Israel recalled its ambassador to Spain after Madrid recognized a Palestinian state a year ago.

The Egyptian foreign ministry condemns the incident “in the strongest terms” and says it “violates all diplomatic norms,” demanding that Jerusalem “provide the necessary explanations” over the circumstances.

Berlin also “strongly” condemns the incident, with a foreign ministry spokeswoman urging Israel to “promptly investigate the circumstances” and adding that Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul will raise the issue of the “unprovoked shooting” with his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Sa’ar.

Turkey’s foreign ministry condemns the IDF gunshots “in the strongest terms,” adding that Ankara is calling for an immediate investigation and accountability.

“This attack, which endangered the lives of diplomats, is yet another demonstration of Israel’s systematic disregard for international law and human rights,” the ministry says in a statement. “The targeting of diplomats constitutes a grave threat not only to individual safety but also to the mutual respect and trust that form the foundation of inter-state relations.”

Ministers say High Court ruling on Bar’s firing ‘tramples’ on democracy; opposition praises decision

Government ministers take to social media to accuse the High Court of Justice of violating democracy after it rules that the government’s decision to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar was made “improperly” and “unlawfully,” while opposition politicians applaud the measure.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin responds that the “only answer to the High Court’s uncontrained frenzy” is to immediately appoint a Shin Bet head, as well as a new Civil Service chief after the court last week ruled that a cabinet resolution from 2024 to appoint one without a competitive process was invalid.

“Once again, the High Court tramples on the government’s explicitly legal authority,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir writes, calling the decision “horribly political,” and accusing Bar of acting against democracy.

“It is good that even without the terrible High Court ruling, the government will soon say goodbye to Ronen Bar,” he says, adding that he hopes that the prime minister will appoint someone more satisfactory.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi says, “The High Court has broken away from democracy and common sense, and must be dismantled and reassembled,” vowing that a new High Court would make rulings only according to the Knesset’s laws.

The Democrats chairman Yair Golan writes that the decision by the court was an obvious move due to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal troubles, and that while he is being investigated, he should not be allowed to appoint a Shin Bet head who is “comfortable for him.”

“Israel was born a democracy, and it will remain a democracy.”

Labor MK Merav Michaeli says that in light of the decision, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara should order Netanyahu to be “removed from office,” stating that the ruling, as well as investigations into the Prime Minister’s Office over the Qatargate scandal, should disqualify him from deciding who will be the next Shin Bet chief.

IDF says it killed 2 Hezbollah members in strikes today, including commander in elite unit

The IDF says it killed a Hezbollah commander in a drone strike in southern Lebanon earlier today.

The operative, targeted in the town of Yater, was a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, the military says.

Earlier today, the IDF said it killed another Hezbollah operative in a strike in Lebanon.

צה״ל תקף וחיסל מוקדם יותר היום באמצעות כלי טיס, מפקד בכוח ׳רדואן׳ של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה, במרחב יעטר שבדרום לבנון pic.twitter.com/N5ZvNCyxiM

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 21, 2025

UK pledges over $5 million in aid to Gaza

Britain is pledging 4 million pounds ($5.4 million) in humanitarian aid to Gaza, the government says, as its Minister for Development, Jenny Chapman, visits Israel and the West Bank.

“The Israeli government’s failure to allow full humanitarian access to aid workers is abhorrent. Far too few trucks are crossing into Gaza,” Chapman says. “The UK is clear — Israel will not achieve security through prolonging the suffering of the Palestinian people.”

Britain yesterday paused free trade talks with Israel over its new offensive in Gaza, with Foreign Minister David Lammy calling for an end to the blockade of aid.

The British Red Cross will receive the new aid package and deliver it through the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, Britain says.

After Italy, France says it will summon Israel envoy over West Bank warning shots

Paris will summon Israel’s ambassador over warning shots fired by the IDF during a visit by diplomats in the West Bank, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot says.

Barrot calls the warning shots “unacceptable” and says the envoy will be called in “to offer an explanation.” He adds that one French diplomat was part of the visiting delegation.

Italy earlier said it would summon Israel’s envoy over the incident.

IDF says it has arrested Palestinian behind deadly January West Bank terror shooting

The IDF says it detained a Palestinian accused of directing a deadly terror shooting attack in the West Bank village of al-Funduq in January.

The suspect was arrested overnight in Jenin’s western neighborhood, the IDF says.

The attack on January 6 — carried out by three gunmen who have all since been killed — killed off-duty police officer Master Sgt. Elad Yaakov Winkelstein and civilians Rachel Cohen and Aliza Raiz.

Additionally, overnight, the IDF says it detained a five-man cell of Islamic State-affiliated terror operatives in the town of Qabatiya.

Anti-Israel protesters gather outside Columbia for commencement

A US student wears a keffiyeh scarf as she walks past other graduates before the Columbia University commencement ceremony on Columbia's main campus, in Manhattan, May 21, 2025 in New York. (Charly Triballeau/Pool Photo via AP)

Several dozen anti-Israel protesters gather outside the gates of Columbia University as the US university’s commencement begins.

There is a heavy police presence surrounding the campus and at least one person is arrested at the protest. The campus is closed to the public.

The protesters chant, “Columbia you’re a liar, you set Palestine on fire,” and “intifada revolution.” Many have their faces covered with keffiyehs.

Most passersby ignore the protests, rushing past in the drizzling rain to get to the ceremony.

Students protested at a commencement event for one of Columbia’s colleges yesterday, drowning out the acting university president with shouts and boos.

Last year’s commencement ceremony was canceled due to protests.

Report: Hamas found Muhammad Sinwar’s body in tunnel, informed the family

A screenshot of an undated video released by the Israel Defense Forces on December 17, 2023, shows Hamas commander Muhammad Sinwar, right, riding in a car traveling through a tunnel under the Gaza Strip. (Screenshot: Israel Defense Forces)

Hamas representatives two days ago informed the family of Muhammad Sinwar, the commander of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza, that he was killed in a tunnel in Khan Younis, the Saudi-owned, London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reports.

According to the report, which comes eight days after the IDF targeted Sinwar in a series of airstrikes, Hamas special forces arrived at the tunnel in Khan Younis that had been attacked, discovered Sinwar’s body, and additional forces were later sent to retrieve it and bury him temporarily.

The report also states that Hamas confirmed that also killed in the strike on the tunnel were Rafah Brigade Commander Muhammad Shabana and a battalion commander from the Rafah Brigade whose name is not mentioned. The outlet reports that Sinwar and Shabana entered the tunnel three days before the strike.

High Court: Netanyahu’s decision to fire Shin Bet chief was unlawful, he had conflict of interest

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, at a pre-Passover toast on April 4, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

The High Court of Justice rules that the government’s decision to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar was made “improperly” and “unlawfully.”

Chief Justice Isaac Amit and Justice Daphne Barak-Erez find that the government did not meet its obligation to bring the issue to the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee, as the attorney general had instructed.

Deputy Chief Justice Noam Sohlberg dissents, contending that the petitions have been rendered moot by Bar’s decision to resign next month and that there should therefore be no ruling on the subject matter, though he agrees there were “significant difficulties” with Bar’s dismissal.

The court’s majority opinion also says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a conflict of interest in recommending Bar be fired due to the Shin Bet’s ongoing investigation into close aides to the prime minister in the Qatargate affair.

And the court says that the decision to fire Bar was made “without a factual basis” and without having given Bar a formal hearing before deciding to fire him.

The court says, however, that following Bar’s announcement that he will resign on June 15, it will not issue any operative orders over the matter.

PA chief visits Lebanon; leaders agree Palestinian factions won’t attack Israel from country

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, at the Presidential Palace, in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

The Lebanese and Palestinian Authority presidents agree that Palestinian factions won’t use Lebanon as a launchpad for any attacks against Israel, and that all weapons will be only under the authority of the Lebanese state.

The announcement is made during a meeting between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who arrived earlier in the day, beginning a three-day visit to Lebanon, his first in seven years.

A joint statement read by the Lebanese presidency’s spokeswoman, Najat Sharafeddine, says that both sides have agreed that the existence of “weapons outside the control of the Lebanese state has ended.”

The statement says that both sides have agreed that Palestinian camps in Lebanon aren’t “safe havens for extremist groups.” It adds that “the Palestinian side confirms its commitment to not use Lebanese territories to launch any military operations.”

Lebanon’s government is seeking to establish authority throughout the country, mainly in the south near the border with Israel, after the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war that ended in late November with a US-brokered ceasefire. The Hezbollah terror group had entrenched itself near Israel’s border, violating a 2006 UN Security Council resolution that is yet to be fully implemented.

The 12 camps in Lebanon that house Palestinian refugees and their descendants aren’t under the control of the Lebanese state, and Palestinian factions in the camps have different types of weapons. Rival groups have clashed inside the camps in recent years, inflicting casualties and affecting nearby areas.

It isn’t immediately clear how the weapons will be removed from the camps, which are home to tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of them descendants of families that fled to Lebanon after Israel was created in 1948.

Abbas’s Fatah movement and the Hamas terror group are the main factions in the camps. Smaller groups, including some jihadi factions, also have a presence in the camps — mainly in Ein el-Hilweh, which is Lebanon’s largest such camp and is located near the southern port city of Sidon.

Teen charged with terror assault after consulting ChatGPT and storming police station

State prosecutors have indicted a 16-year-old from Tira after he allegedly tried to break into the Arab city’s police station and stab officers as “revenge” for the ongoing Gaza war.

According to the indictment, the minor consulted with ChatGPT to plot the attack. He stormed the station on March 5, attempting to stab a border cop with a knife while shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest).

Prosecutors charge the defendant with aggravated assault as an act of terror and are requesting that he be detained until the end of legal proceedings.

Netanyahu to hold press conference tonight, his first in 5 months

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference from the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, December 9, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will give a press conference this evening at 8:15 p.m. at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, his office announces.

This will mark the premier’s first press conference since December.

The press conference comes after Israel initiated an expanded ground offensive in the Gaza Strip over the weekend, and as Jerusalem faces widespread international condemnation over its military actions in the Strip and is accused of failing to address what is seen as a growing hunger crisis among the enclaves’ civilian population. It also comes amid criticism from right-wing circles over the decision to resume the entry of limited aid to the Strip before a mechanism is put in place to ensure the supplies don’t reach Hamas.

The prime minister called back the top members of the Israeli negotiation team from Doha to Jerusalem earlier this week, after talks on a hostage release-ceasefire with Hamas reached a standstill.

Israeli liaison declines to respond to UN claim that it can’t pick up and distribute aid sent to Gaza

Trucks carrying aid wait to enter the Gaza Strip from the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing, on May 20, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

Israel’s COGAT agency, which coordinates the supply of humanitarian aid into Gaza, has declined to respond to claims by the UN that its teams have been unable to pick up and distribute aid brought yesterday into the territory through the Kerem Shalom goods crossing.

Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said yesterday that a UN team “waited several hours for Israeli green light to access Kerem Shalom area” to pick up the supplies that were brought in, but said that ultimately they had not been able to do so.

COGAT said last night that 93 UN trucks carrying “flour for bakeries, food for babies, medical equipment, and pharmaceutical drugs” were “transferred via the Kerem Shalom Crossing into the Gaza Strip,” but refused to comment on the issue of approval for picking up and distribution.

UN agencies and humanitarian organizations have said that “acute hunger,” displacement caused by Israel’s renewed military campaign, and “extreme levels of deprivation” in Gaza mean that the civilian population is in desperate need of large volumes of aid to avoid a humanitarian disaster.

Israel blocked the entry of all aid to Gaza on March 2. That blockade was lifted on Monday following heavy international pressure.

Before the ceasefire that went into effect on January 19, COGAT and the UN were in an ongoing dispute about who was to blame for aid distribution difficulties.

The UN claimed that COGAT and the IDF frequently refused their requests for collection and distribution authorization, and that dangerous and complex conditions inside Gaza made aid distribution very difficult.

COGAT claimed, however, that the number of times it had denied authorization was extremely low, and presented figures to the High Court of Justice to that effect. It also claimed that the UN was inefficient in delivering the aid, and pointed out that large quantities of aid had accumulated on the Gazan side of Kerem Shalom.

Debunked: UN official’s claim 14,000 Gazan babies could die in 48 hours was untrue

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher responds to questions during an interview with The Associated Press at United Nations headquarters, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

After a top UN official told the BBC yesterday that some 14,000 babies in Gaza could die in the next 48 hours if aid does not reach them in time, the British broadcaster clarifies that this claim was false and based on an incorrect interpretation of a report issued by the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

Tom Fletcher, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, claimed yesterday on BBC Radio 4’s “Today” show: “There are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them. I want to save as many as these 14,000 babies as we can in the next 48 hours.”

The claim was widely reported in international media outlets, including The Times of Israel, and was repeatedly cited by UK lawmakers during a House of Commons debate yesterday.

However, BBC now says that after asking the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for clarification, it turns out the remarks were based on an IPC report that warned that 14,100 severe cases of acute malnutrition were expected to occur between April 2025 and March 2026 among children aged between six months and five years.

This means that in fact, according to the UN report, not all of the 14,000 children are babies, they are not all expected to die, and — most notably — this is predicted to happen over the course of a full year, not 48 hours, if aid isn’t allowed into Gaza.

Pro-Israel commentators blast the UN for the error.

Fletcher “should hand in his resignation immediately for causing a global media panic about something totally made up. He is either a complete numpty or malicious. Either way, serving Hamas’ war goals,” says Eylon Levy, a former spokesman for Israel’s government.

Senior Palestinian politician condemns IDF warning shots near diplomats, urges world to take action

Secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hussein al-Sheikh, attends the 32nd PLO Central Council session in Ramallah on April 23, 2025. (Zain Jaafar/AFP)

Hussein al-Sheikh, vice president of the Palestine Liberation Organization, condemns the incident in Jenin in which IDF forces fired warning shots near a group of European and Arab diplomats during a humanitarian assessment.

In a post on X, al-Sheikh states: “We strongly condemn the shooting of the Israeli occupation forces on the Arab and foreign diplomatic envoys who were on a visit to Jenin Governorate,” calling on the international community to curb what he describes as the “brutal eruption” of Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza.

The IDF says the warning shots were fired in the air.

https://twitter.com/HusseinSheikhpl/status/1925177011523199237

EU top diplomat urges Israel to probe shots meant to warn off diplomats; official says IDF apology insufficient

Members of a diplomatic delegation from the European Union stand behind a gate at the eastern entrance of Jenin camp during a visit to the city of Jenin, on May 21, 2025. (Mohammad MANSOUR / AFP)

Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, calls on Israel to investigate the incident today in which an Arab-European diplomatic delegation had warning shots fired in the air near them while touring Jenin in the West Bank.

“We definitely call on Israel to investigate this incident and also hold those accountable who are responsible for this,” says Kallas when asked about the matter at an EU-African Union press conference.

“Any threats on diplomats’ lives are unacceptable. Israel is also a signatory to the Vienna Convention — the obligation to guarantee the security of all foreign diplomats,” she adds.

A Western diplomatic official whose country was represented in the delegation calls the event “a serious incident to which we will react.”

“This is not an ‘inconvenience,’” says the official, responding to the IDF-issued apology following the event, in which the military said it “regrets the inconvenience caused” to the foreign diplomats.

“It is a serious incident to which we will react appropriately, following consultations with our partners,” says the official.

The IDF said that soldiers fired warning shots after the group did not follow an approved route that was agreed upon when the tour was coordinated with the army, since the area is an active combat zone.

Netanyahu speaks to Yuval Raphael after Eurovision 2nd-place finish, says she ‘did an incredible job’

Singer Yuval Raphael arrives back in Israel after competing in the Eurovision Song Contest, where she finished in second place, at Ben Gurion Airport on May 18, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Days after she came in an impressive second place in the Eurovision Song Contest, singer Yuval Raphael speaks via video chat with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who praises her performance.

“You brought so much honor and pride to your country, especially after what you went through,” Netanyahu tells Raphael, a survivor of the Hamas massacre at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023. “When you stood there with your hands up [at the end of the song] and said ‘Am Yisrael Chai,’ it moved all of our hearts. You did an incredible job, you’re wonderful.”

Raphael, who finished second in the contest with her song, “New Day Will Rise” — and got the most votes from the public — tells the prime minister that “all I wanted was to bring the country one moment, one second of pleasure in all this abnormal craziness that’s going on in here… that was the most important thing to me. And the most important thing is for the hostages to come home and be here with us and be happy with us and recover.”

Netanyahu says “we’re working very hard on this,” and tells Raphael that she brought Israel “a lot of honor, and you’re the real winner. Statistically, it’s true… You entered the hearts of a huge portion of the public in Europe.”

A number of countries have alleged that Israel’s popularity in the public vote has been unfairly manipulated, although the European Broadcasting Union has rejected any allegations of improper voting.

Court orders Qatargate suspect Urich released from house arrest due to legal difficulties

Jonatan Urich, who was arrested in the so-called Qatargate investigation, arrives for a hearing at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, May 9, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)

The Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court orders key Qatargate suspect Jonatan Urich released from house arrest but says he must be accompanied by a guarantor when outside his home until June 1.

Judge Menachem Mizrahi says that there are “difficult legal questions” regarding the case, pointing specifically to the question of whether Urich, a close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was a civil servant or not while committing the alleged offenses, Channel 13 reports.

Urich is suspected of bribery and breach of trust due to his role advising Netanyahu while, according to the allegations against him, doing paid work to improve Qatar’s image in Israel at the same time.

Only civil servants can be charged with such crimes, however, and Urich was technically working as an adviser to the Likud party, and not as an employee of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Mizrahi adds that evidence regarding the flow of money from Doha has increased, but he takes issue with the claim that Urich was a civil servant. Earlier in the case, Mizrahi appeared to be of opposite mind, and pointed out to Urich’s lawyers that previous court rulings had found that it is the nature of a particular job rather than the formal position that determines for legal purposes if an individual is a civil servant and can be charged with such crimes.

The police have requested that Urich not be released until they decide whether or not to file an appeal against the decision.

Palestinian suspected of spitting on IDF officer moved to security facility

A Palestinian man spits on an IDF officer on a bus in Bat Yam, May 18, 2025 (X screenshot, used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)

The Palestinian man suspected of spitting on an IDF officer earlier this week has been moved from a criminal detention center to a security facility, Hebrew outlets report.

His reclassification as a security prisoner was made today at the behest of Prison Service chief Kobi Yaakobi.

Unlike criminal detainees, security prisoners are held for committing a broad range of what Israel classifies as nationally motivated crimes, which range from gruesome terror attacks to publishing incendiary content. The vast majority of them are Palestinian.

Yesterday, the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court extended the detention of the suspect, West Bank resident Ahmad Muhammad, until tomorrow.

Muhammad turned himself in to the Israel Police in the West Bank Monday night after his family received a call from the cops, but he insists he wasn’t in Israel at the time of the spitting incident and is a victim of mistaken identity.

תיעוד: החשוד ביריקה על קצינת צה”ל הועבר מבית מעצר פלילי למתקן ביטחוני בהוראת נציב שב״ס קובי יעקובי pic.twitter.com/FzViaeQmC7

— לירן תמרי | Liran Tamari (@liran__tamari) May 21, 2025

Footage uploaded to social media shows the blindfolded suspect being unloaded from a truck by four masked prison guards and carried into the detention center.

The Prison Service has not yet responded to a request for comment regarding the facility the suspect was transferred to.

‘All Hamas is doing now’ is readying to attack Gaza border towns, Katz tells Navy troops

Defense Minister Israel Katz, right, and Navy chief Vice Adm. David Sa'ar Salama are seen on a boat at the Ashdod Naval Base in southern Israel, May 21, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Israel Katz says “all Hamas is doing now” is preparing to attack Israeli border communities near Gaza.

“I came here from a visit to the Shin Bet headquarters, and all that Hamas is doing now is updating targets in the border communities through sources that provide it with information, like the Iranians and others,” Katz says to sailors during a visit to the Ashdod Naval Base.

“It is also handling planning on how to continue, and we therefore must win here… We must make sure that [Hamas] does not stay here,” he adds.

IDF apologizes after troops fire warning shots as foreign diplomats visit Jenin, says they deviated from agreed route

Members of a diplomatic delegation from the European Union stand behind a gate at the eastern entrance of Jenin camp during a visit to the city of Jenin, on May 21, 2025. (Mohammad MANSOUR / AFP)

The IDF apologizes for firing warning shots in the air as a group of foreign diplomats visited the West Bank city of Jenin earlier today.

Still, the IDF says that the group did not follow the route that was agreed upon when the tour was coordinated with the army.

“When coordinating the entry [to Jenin], members of the delegation were provided an approved route that they were instructed to follow due to the area being an active combat zone,” the army says.

According to the IDF, the group “deviated from the route and entered an area where they were not authorized to be.” Troops stationed there fired warning shots in the air, causing no damage or injuries.

Upon realizing that the group that reached the prohibited area was the foreign diplomats, the IDF says the commander of the West Bank division, Brig. Gen. Yaki Dolf, immediately launched an inquiry into the incident.

Additionally, Brig. Gen. Hisham Ibrahim, the head of the Civil Administration — a Defense Ministry body part of COGAT — ordered officers in the unit to immediately speak with representatives of the countries involved. “He will soon hold personal conversations with the diplomats to update them on the findings of the initial inquiry,” the IDF says.

“The IDF regrets the inconvenience caused,” it adds.

Minor indicted for crossing border into Gaza, ‘endangering his own life and those of troops’

State prosecutors indict a minor who crossed the border into Gaza during a demonstration last year at the Erez Crossing.

The defendant, charged with entering a closed military zone, is said to have climbed an electricity pole in Gazan territory and refused to come down,”endangering his own life and the lives of IDF soldiers, due to the risk of sniper fire from Gaza.”

The minor, who resides in central Israel, was participating in a protest numbering some 150 people on the border in May 2024.

This is not the first time that Israelis have been arrested and charged for crossing into the Strip. In March, seven Israeli ultranationalist activists were indicted on the same charges after they built several makeshift wooden structures within Gaza, in a symbolic call for Israelis to resettle the territory.

Iran reiterates its insistence it will never stop enriching uranium

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, April 18, 2025. (Tatyana Makeyeva/Pool via Reuters)

Iran’s top diplomat insists that Tehran will never stop enriching uranium, further underlining the Islamic Republic’s red line in negotiations with the United States over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.

The comments by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi come after multiple rounds of talks between the two nations, including at an expert level, over the details of a possible deal. However, none has been reached yet and American officials including US President Donald Trump, Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio maintain that Iran must give up enrichment — something it didn’t do in its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

“I have said it before, and I repeat it again: uranium enrichment in Iran will continue — with or without an agreement,” Araghchi says, according to state television.

Araghchi adds that Iran is “currently reviewing whether to participate in the next round and when to take part” in talks with the US. The US and Oman, which is mediating the negotiations, have yet to announce any fifth round of talks. Trump’s trip to the Mideast last week delayed any new meeting. Negotiators previously met in Muscat, Oman, and in Rome.

“We have never abandoned diplomacy. We will always be present at the negotiating table, and the main reason for our presence is to defend the rights of the Iranian people,” Araghchi says. “We stand against excessive demands and rhetoric at the table.”

Araghchi’s remarks came a day after Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said he didn’t expecting the negotiations to produce a deal.

Shifting tone, Kremlin calls Trump’s Golden Dome plan a ‘sovereign matter’

US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, May 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Kremlin says that US President Donald Trump’s plan for a “Golden Dome” missile shield requires consultations with Russia but was otherwise a “sovereign matter” for the United States, softening its tone after previously slamming the idea as destabilizing.

The proposal, which Trump ordered a week after his inauguration in January, would see Washington deploy missile interceptors in space to protect against ballistic and hypersonic threats.

Unveiling new details on initial funding for the project yesterday, Trump called it “important for the success and even survival of our country.”

“This is a sovereign matter for the United States. If the United States believes that there is a missile threat, then of course it will develop a missile defense system,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters.

“That is what all countries do,” he adds.

“Of course, in the foreseeable future, the course of events will require the resumption of contacts to restore strategic stability,” he adds, referring to broader nuclear talks.

Peskov’s comments came two days after a call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that the US leader said “went very well.”

Since taking office, Trump has sought to warm ties with the Kremlin, reaching out to Putin directly in a bid to broker an end to the three-year Ukraine conflict.

Russia previously denounced the Golden Dome plan, warning it risked turning space into a “battlefield.”

IDF: Only 1,212 of the 24,000 Haredi men called up in past year have begun enlistment process

Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate's Planning and Personnel Management Division (R) at the Knesset on May 21, 2025 (Noam Moskowitz, Office of the Knesset Spokesperson)

While the IDF has sent initial call-up orders to 24,000 ultra-Orthodox men since last summer, only 1,212 have begun the enlistment process, Brig. Gen. Shay Tayeb, head of the IDF Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, tells lawmakers.

Addressing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s Subcommittee for IDF Human Resources, Tayeb says that as of the beginning of the week, 2,399 of those who have received draft notices have since been sent demands for an immediate call-up.

He says that 545 of them have not turned up by their mandatory enlistment reporting date.

After ignoring three draft notices, a potential conscript receives an immediate call-up order. If they do not show up at a recruitment center within 48 hours, the military declares them a “draft evader” and normally will issue an arrest warrant, though these are rarely enforced. Soldiers who fail to show up at induction centers on the day they are supposed to be drafted into the army are also declared draft evaders.

If the potential conscript does not show up at an induction center within 30 days after being declared a draft evader, they will receive an order known as tzav 12 which means they are barred from leaving the country and can be arrested during any encounter with the police.

Out of the first wave of 3,000 Haredim to receive call-up orders, 964 have already been declared draft evaders while an additional 1,366 have received immediate call-up orders and have subsequently had arrest warrants issued for them.

According to Tayeb, out of those sent orders, half were under the age of 20, 40 percent were 20-23 years old and 10% were over age 23. He says 411 men have been delayed at Ben Gurion International Airport over their enlistment status, 43 of whom were prevented from leaving the country.

“The security situation requires very significant manpower, this has an impact,” he says, adding that the IDF is “carrying out enforcement actions, there was a policy of increasing punishment.”

Tayeb adds that the IDF is handling operations against draft evaders, even though the Military Police force is stretched because of many other war-related tasks.

Last week, the IDF announced that it had launched a “routine” Military Police campaign to detain people who ignored enlistment orders, sparking threats by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox partners to bolt the coalition. However, it does not appear that any arrests of Haredim were made during the operation.

According to Tayeb, the conscription of Haredim requires targeted sanctions.

“If we want to deal with such significant numbers, we need more such sanctions. The sanctions that exist today are very sparse,” he says, adding that “if the state is willing,” it can deny certain government services to those who do not serve.

Officials present at the meeting accused the military of failing to act decisively on the matter.

“The army is dragging its feet to the point where it does not want to recruit Haredim,” charges former IDF deputy chief of staff Dan Harel. “You are not enforcing the law.”

“We have a difficult feeling that there is no progress on the issue of recruiting Haredim,” adds committee chairman and former IDF manpower chief Elazar Stern of Yesh Atid.

Troops fire warning shots in air as foreign diplomats tour West Bank’s Jenin, footage shows; no comment from IDF

Foreign diplomats run as IDF troops fire warning shots as a group conducts a tour in the West Bank city of Jenin on May 21, 2025 (Screen grab via social media)

IDF troops fired warning shots in the air as a group of foreign diplomats was conducting a tour in the West Bank city of Jenin a short while ago, footage shows.

Videos from the incident, published by the Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry, show dozens of people, including photographers, close to an army checkpoint in Jenin.

Soldiers are seen opening fire in the air from within the Jenin refugee camp, and the group flees back to their cars.

No injuries are reported.

The IDF has not yet commented on the incident.

According to Wafa, the delegation included diplomats from France, Britain, Canada, Spain, Russia, the European Union, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Portugal, China, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Turkey, Lithuania, Poland, Turkey, Japan, Romania, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Canada, India, Chile, and a number of representatives of other countries

The occupation forces opened heavy fire from inside the Jenin refugee camp to intimidate the diplomatic delegation that is conducting a field tour around the camp to witness the extent of the suffering endured by the residents of the area.

قوات الاحتلال تطلق النار بشكل كثيف من… pic.twitter.com/qafjqQP0Sg

— State of Palestine – MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) May 21, 2025

IDF: Hezbollah operative killed in strike was ‘experienced engineer’ in missile production

A Hezbollah operative was killed in an Israeli drone strike in Ain Baal, near Lebanon’s coastal city of Tyre, today, the military announces.

According to the IDF, the target of the strike, Hussein Nazih Barji, was a “significant source of knowledge” in the field of weapons production, and he worked in Hezbollah’s weapons research and development division.

Barji was “an experienced engineer” in the division and was responsible for “establishing infrastructure for the production of precision missiles,” the army says.

The IDF says Barji was targeted to disrupt Hezbollah’s attempts to rearm, and because his actions “constituted a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”

חיסול נוסף: צה"ל ממשיך בסדרת חיסולי מחבלים, חוסל מחבל בתחום ייצור אמצעי הלחימה בלבנון בארגון הטרור חיזבאללה

צה"ל תקף באמצעות כלי טיס וחיסל מוקדם יותר היום (ד') את המחבל חסין נזיה ברג', במרחב צור שבדרום לבנון.
המחבל שימש כמוקד ידע מרכזי בתחום ייצור אמצעי הלחימה בלבנון, שפעל… pic.twitter.com/ps95DyzQHH

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 21, 2025

مشاهد للسيارة المستهدفة في عين بعال – الجنوب pic.twitter.com/vsiTN2SDKV

— هنا لبنان (@thisislebnews) May 21, 2025

Dozens of soccer players suspected of fraudulently claiming large sums of national insurance money

An individual is seen being arrested over alleged national insurance fraud involving dozens of soccer players in photo released on May 21, 2025 (Israel Police)

Police today raided the homes of several people suspected of helping illegally transfer large sums of national insurance money to Israeli soccer players.

Law enforcement went public with the embezzlement probe this morning as Jerusalem District officers searched the homes of a physician, several lawyers and a National Insurance Institute employee.

Cops seized hundreds of thousands of shekels in cash, documents and four vehicles during the raids, a spokesman says.

The individuals are suspected of fraud and embezzlement of public funds for allegedly having helped dozens of soccer players, including several in Israel’s top-tier Premier League, pocket national insurance money.

The investigation is ongoing as police attempt to uncover the full extent of the scheme.

PA’s Abbas welcomes international rejection of Israel’s ‘blockade, starvation’ of Gaza

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech during the opening of the Istishsari cancer center in Ramallah on May 14, 2025 (Zain JAAFAR / AFP)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hails international rejection of Israel’s “blockade” and “starvation” of Gaza, after the European Union ordered a review of its cooperation deal with Israel.

“We reiterate our welcome for the joint statement issued by the leaders of Britain, France, and Canada, as well as for the positions of the European Union countries, the joint statement of the donor countries and the statement of the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee on this matter,” Abbas says in a statement. “They all rejected the policies of blockade, starvation, displacement and land seizure.”

Amid growing global outrage, the United Kingdom said yesterday it was suspending free trade agreement negotiations with Israel and taking other punitive measures, including the imposition of sanctions on a list of West Bank settlers, in response to Israel’s wartime policies during its conflict with Hamas in Gaza.

Additionally, the European Union agreed to review its cooperation deal with Jerusalem over alleged human rights abuses in Gaza.

On Monday, the leaders of Britain, France and Canada issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s handling of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and calling on Israel to immediately halt military action in the enclave and allow in more aid, threatening “further concrete actions in response” if Jerusalem refuses.

At least 45 killed in Israeli strikes overnight and into today, Hamas-run authorities say

Hamas-run authorities in Gaza say Israeli strikes overnight and into today killed at least 45 people, including several women and a week-old infant.

The figures, which do not differentiate between civilians and gunmen, could not be verified.

Israel says it takes steps to minimize civilian casualties and blames Hamas which is deeply embedded in civilian infrastructure, operating out of camps, hospitals and schools.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 53,500 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, sparked by the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.

IDF says 115 Gaza targets hit over past day; Hamas Oct. 7 terrorist killed in recent airstrike

This picture taken from a position in southern Israel on the border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke amid Israeli strikes on May 21, 2025 (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

A Hamas terrorist who invaded Israel during the October 7, 2023, onslaught was killed in a recent airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip, the IDF says.

Additionally, over the past day, the military says the Israeli Air Force struck over 115 targets across Gaza.

The drone strike in northern Gaza, directed by troops of the 162nd Division, killed Mohammed Shaheen, who the military says was a member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba force in the terror group’s East Jabalia Battalion. The IDF says he participated in the October 7 attack.

The other targets hit by the IAF included rocket launchers, buildings used by terror groups, tunnels, other infrastructure, and cells of operatives, the military says.

The Israeli Navy also carried out shelling in northern Gaza to assist ground troops operating in the area, the IDF adds.

In 1st weekly audience, Pope Leo calls for ‘sufficient aid’ to be allowed into Gaza

Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd at the end of his first weekly general audience at St Peter's Square in The Vatican on May 21, 2025. (Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP)

Pope Leo XIV calls for sufficient humanitarian aid to be allowed into war-ravaged Gaza, calling the situation in the Palestinian enclave “yet more worrying and saddening.”

“The situation in the Gaza Strip is worrying and painful. I renew my heartfelt appeal to allow the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid and to put an end to the hostilities, the heartbreaking price of which is paid by children, the elderly, the sick,” the pope says during his first weekly general audience.

Earlier this month the pontiff used his first Sunday message to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip, and the release of all hostages.

UN agencies and humanitarian organizations have reported on increasing rates of malnutrition in Gaza and warned of an impending humanitarian disaster unless large amounts of aid are brought into the territory, due to Israel’s blockade on the entry of all aid since March 2. The blockade was lifted Monday.

Aid groups say that the amount being allowed in is not enough to meet needs.

Iran says it executed man convicted of deadly January 2023 attack on Azerbaijani embassy

A police officer guards an area in front of the Iranian Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, Friday, Jan. 27, 2023. According to Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry a man armed with a Kalashnikov-style rifle attacked the Azerbaijan Embassy in Iran's capital Tehran, killing the head of security at the diplomatic post and wounding two guards. (AP Photo/Aziz Karimov)

Iran says it executed a man convicted of a deadly January 2023 attack on the Azerbaijani embassy, which sparked a sharp downturn in relations between the neighboring countries.

“The law of retribution was implemented this morning against the attacker of the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran,” the judiciary says.

An Azerbaijani diplomat was killed and two security guards wounded when the armed assailant penetrated the embassy compound in what Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev condemned as a “terrorist attack.”

Baku shut its embassy in Tehran and both countries then ordered expulsions of the other’s diplomats.

Tehran said the attacker acted on “personal grievances” but Baku charged that Tehran had “encouraged the attack.”

Relations between the two governments have been strained for years, largely due to Azerbaijan’s close ties with Iran’s arch-enemy Israel.

Tehran has long expressed concerns that Azerbaijani territory could be used by Israel, a major arms supplier to Baku, to stage a potential attack on Iran.

Iran has also been strongly opposed to the so-called Zangezur corridor linking Azerbaijan to Turkey which would run along Iran’s border with Armenia.

The execution comes after President Masoud Pezeshkian made a rare visit to Baku late last month amid signs of a thaw in relations.

The two countries also held joint military exercises in November and earlier this month.

Azerbaijan reopened its embassy in mid-2024 after the court sentenced the attacker to death.

Coalition private member bills removed from agenda as Haredi boycott continues for 3rd week

United Torah Judaism parliament member Yaakov Asher at the Knesset in Jerusalem, October 21, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

All private member bills sponsored by coalition lawmakers have been removed from the Knesset agenda for the third Wednesday in a row as the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties continue their partial legislative boycott.

All such bills, which were to be brought for preliminary readings in the plenum today, have been removed from the agenda, leaving only opposition bills. The only coalition legislation remaining on the docket is a bill sponsored by UTJ lawmaker Yaakov Asher that is going up for its final two readings.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox allies have pledged to block the advancement of private member bills sponsored by their coalition partners to protest the government’s failure to advance a controversial bill regulating ultra-Orthodox IDF enlistment.

Both Shas and UTJ have been pushing for the passage of legislation enshrining military exemptions for yeshiva students and other members of the Haredi community, after the High Court ruled in June last year that the dispensations that have been in place for decades were illegal, since they were not based in law.

In a WhatsApp message to The Times of Israel, Likud MK Tally Gotliv dismisses the importance of the boycott, insisting that because only private bills were being brought for their preliminary readings there was “no urgency.”

“Government laws that are important undergo full legislative procedures. And it is the right of political parties to exert pressure to advance the conscription law while preserving other public interests,” she writes.

In order to sidestep the oversight of ministerial legal advisers, the current government frequently advances important legislation as private member bills.

Among the legislation withdrawn from consideration since the Haredi boycott began are bills that would dilute the powers of the attorney general and strip the Supreme Court president of the authority to appoint judges to specific cases.

A spokesman for Likud did not respond to a request for comment.

Right-wing activists try to block aid trucks reaching Gaza; 2 arrested

Activists from the right-wing organizations Tzav 9 and Israeli Reservists – Generation of Victory are attempting to block humanitarian aid trucks from reaching Gaza by obstructing the road leading to the Kerem Shalom goods crossing at the southern end of the Strip.

Tzav 9, which opposes the provision of aid to Gaza as long as Hamas continues to hold Israeli hostages, sends out video footage of activists walking slowly in front of the trucks to impede their progress, as well as at least one activist being arrested.

The police say that one protester was arrested for trying to block the road, and another for failing to listen to police instructions and obstructing police officers in carrying out their duty.

“The passage of aid trucks to Hamas is an unspeakable injustice, and we cannot stand by while this harm to our hostages continues,” says Reut Ben Haim, founder of Tzav 9.

“The people of Israel deserve to stop the horror and the strengthening of the terrorist organization at the same time that 58 hostages are being held in the Gaza Strip,” she adds.

Cap. (Res.) Ashriel Mahlev says, “The State of Israel is sending aid to Hamas on a silver platter at a time when our comrades are being killed in combat in Gaza,” adding, “This isn’t humanitarian, it is national suicide.”

Mahlev says that hundreds of activists from his organization will be trying to block the passage of the aid to Gaza all week.

Tzav 9 and founder Ben Haim were sanctioned by the Biden administration, but those sanctions were lifted by the Trump administration.

UN agencies and humanitarian organizations have reported on increasing rates of malnutrition in Gaza and warned of an impending humanitarian disaster unless large amounts of aid are brought into the territory, due to Israel’s blockade on the entry of all aid since March 2. The blockade was lifted Monday.

The Defense Ministry’s COGAT agency said 93 trucks of aid entered the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing on Tuesday, but the UN has said that aid agencies were unable to collect the aid from the Gazan side of the crossing since they were not given a green light to do so from Israeli authorities.

COGAT does not immediately respond to a request for comment on this claim.

Germany says it broke up far-right group that planned attacks; 5 teens arrested

German police arrest five teenagers accused of involvement with a right-wing extremist group calling itself “Last Defense Wave” that allegedly aimed to destabilize the country’s democratic system by carrying out attacks on migrants and political opponents.

The early-morning arrests in various parts of Germany were accompanied by searches at 13 properties, federal prosecutors say in a statement.

Four of those arrested — identified only as Benjamin H., Ben-Maxim H., Lenny M. and Jason R., in line with German privacy rules — are suspected of membership in a domestic terror organization. The fifth, Jerome M., is accused of supporting the group. Two of the arrested also are accused of attempted murder and aggravated arson. All are between the ages of 14 and 18.

Prosecutors say they are also investigating three other people, ages 18 to 21, who are already in custody. All the suspects are German citizens.

According to the prosecutors, the group was formed in mid-April 2024 or earlier. They say that its members saw themselves as the last resort to defend the “German nation” and aimed to bring about the collapse of Germany’s democratic order, with attacks on homes for asylum-seekers and on facilities associated with the left-wing political spectrum.

Two of the suspects set a fire at a cultural center in Altdöbern in eastern Germany in October, prosecutors say, adding that several people living in the building at the time escaped injury only by chance.

In January, another two suspects allegedly broke a window at a home for asylum-seekers in Schmölln and tried unsuccessfully to start a blaze by setting off fireworks. They daubed the group’s initials and slogans such as “Foreigners out,” “Germany for the Germans” and “Nazi area,” as well as swastikas, prosecutors say.

Also in January, three suspects allegedly planned an arson attack on a home for asylum-seekers in Senftenberg, but it never came about because of the earlier arrests of two of the men.

In an annual report released yesterday, the Federal Criminal Police Office said that the number of violent crimes with a right-wing motivation was up 17.2% last year to 1,488. That was part of an overall increase in violent politically motivated offenses to 4,107, an increase of 15.3%.

IDF attack helicopter launched missile that landed inside Israel near Gaza border, no injuries

An Israeli Air Force attack helicopter launched a missile that landed inside Israel during an attempted strike in the Gaza Strip yesterday, the military says.

According to the IDF, the missile fell inside Israel due to a technical failure. It landed next to the border fence.

No injuries were caused.

The IDF says the incident is under further investigation.

In April, an Israeli Air Force fighter jet dropped a munition in an open area near the Gaza border community of Nir Yitzhak. The military said the incident took place during an attempted airstrike in the Strip, and was the result of a technical malfunction.

Israel allowing ‘ridiculously inadequate’ amount of aid into Gaza, says Doctors Without Borders

Palestinians collect water at a camp for displaced people in Gaza City, on May 20, 2025 (Bashar TALEB / AFP)

The amount of aid Israel has started to allow into war-ravaged Gaza Strip is not nearly enough and is “a smokescreen to pretend the siege is over,” the MSF aid group says.

“The Israeli authorities’ decision to allow a ridiculously inadequate amount of aid into Gaza after months of an air-tight siege signals their intention to avoid the accusation of starving people in Gaza, while in fact keeping them barely surviving,” says Pascale Coissard, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) emergency coordinator in Gaza’s Khan Younis.

The United Nations received permission from Israel for 93 more aid trucks to enter the Gaza Strip yesterday, as international pressure mounted on the government to take immediate steps to alleviate the effects of an 11-week blockade that ended Monday.

Israel had blocked all aid from entering Gaza since March 2, arguing that sufficient humanitarian assistance had entered the Strip during a six-week ceasefire and that Hamas was stealing aid, with the blockade necessary to pressure the terror group to release the dozens of hostages it is holding.

In recent weeks, however, some officials in the IDF have begun warning the political leadership that the enclave was on the brink of starvation.

Police to request court to extend house arrest of Qatargate suspect Urich

Aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatargate suspect Jonatan Urich arrives for a Supreme Court hearing on his appeal against his remand in custody, in Jerusalem, May 9, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Police will request to keep key Qatargate suspect Jonatan Urich, a key aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under house arrest until June 12, Hebrew-language media reports.

A hearing will take place in the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court on the matter today.

Urich was released to house arrest about a week and a half ago and barred from contacting others involved in the affair. His house arrest is slated to end today.

Urich, together with Eli Feldstein, a former military affairs spokesperson for Netanyahu, is suspected of multiple offenses tied to their alleged work for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm. They are suspected of contact with a foreign agent and breach of trust, due to what prosecutors believe was their work to improve Doha’s image as a hostage negotiation mediator, while simultaneously working as advisers to Netanyahu.

Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.

El Al’s 2025 first-quarter net profits soar by 19%

An El Al flight takes off from Ben Gurion International Airport, outside of Tel Aviv, August 25, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Israel’s flagship carrier El Al says its net profit in the first three months of the year jumped by 19 percent, even as many foreign carriers gradually resumed their flight services to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

El Al posted a profit of about $96 million in the first quarter of the year, up from the $80.5 million recorded during the same period a year ago. Revenue rose 5% in the reported quarter to $774 million year-over-year.

“We are concluding another quarter of growth and improved profitability,” says El Al’s CEO Dina Ben Tal Ganancia. “We continue to focus on managing our destination mix and increasing the number of flights on core routes, including to North America, Europe, and the Far East.”

The national carrier’s market share of passenger traffic in the first quarter of 2025 narrowed to 44%, from about 62% in the corresponding period a year ago when most foreign carriers halted services to Israel.

El Al’s load factor, the share of sold flight seats, rose to 94.3% in the reported quarter from 92.6%, year-on-year.

El Al’s annual net profit in 2024 grew nearly fivefold to a record high of about $545 million, as many foreign carriers had suspended their Israel routes amid fighting with Hamas and its Iran-backed terror proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen. The company has faced accusations of price gouging, operating a near-monopoly at times.

Lebanese media reports Israeli drone strike on vehicle in south; no comment from IDF

Lebanese media reports an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle in Ain Baal in the south of the country.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

مشاهد للسيارة المستهدفة في عين بعال – الجنوب pic.twitter.com/vsiTN2SDKV

— هنا لبنان (@thisislebnews) May 21, 2025

Report: Qatar helping to train Syrian security forces in bid to shore up regime

Security forces of Syria's new Islamist government stand guard on the road leading to the airport, in the Damascus' suburb of Jaramana on April 29, 2025 (Rami al SAYED / AFP)

Qatar is helping to train Syrian security forces in a bid to shore up President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

Syrian sources who are close to Qatar and familiar with the matter tell the outlet that Doha has recently begun training small groups of operatives who will serve as police officers to enforce law and order in Syria.

The report says the training is taking place on “Qatari territory.”

The outlet additionally says that Doha is paying monthly grants of about $30 to Syrian public officials.

Yesterday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Syria could be weeks away from a fresh civil war of “epic proportions,” as he called for support to the transitional leadership.

The top American diplomat blamed a resurgence of the Islamic State extremist group in areas outside of the transitional government’s control, as well as Iran.

Agencies contributed to this report.

As David Cunio marks another birthday in Gaza, his wife, an ex-hostage, pleads: ‘Our daughters need their father’

David Cunio was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)

Former hostage Sharon Aloni Cunio pleads for her husband David Cunio to be released from Gaza as he marks his second birthday in captivity.

“David misses Emma and Yuli, and they miss him. Not a day goes by without them asking, ‘When will Daddy come back from Gaza?’ They need their father to heal. To recover. To rebuild trust. And he’s not here,” she says in a statement.

“I’m consumed by longing for the man I love, the one I cannot live without. Every day he doesn’t return deepens their wound – and mine,” she says. “Emma and Yuli need their father. Alive. Breathing. At home. I need my husband here, with me. Bring him back, before the heartbreak becomes a scar that will never fade.”

To mark the occasion, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum releases a video of Aloni Cunio along with her husband’s twin brother and his best friend, Yarden Bibas.

Emma and Yuli need their father David in order to heal from their captivity.

My beloved David is marking his second birthday in captivity today. In a dark tunnel, without us, surrounded only by the sounds of war.

David misses Emma and Yuli, and they miss him. Not a day goes by… pic.twitter.com/EqnJwWlEPk

— Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) May 20, 2025

Cunio, now 35, was taken hostage from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the onslaught, along with Aloni Cunio, and their 3-year-old twin daughters, Yuli and Emma. Sharon’s sister, Danielle Aloni, 44, and her daughter, Emilia, 5, who were visiting them for the holiday weekend, were also kidnapped by terrorists who stormed their kibbutz home. Cunio’s brother Ariel Cunio was also taken captive, along with his girlfriend Arbel Yehoud.

Aloni Cunio, Aloni, and the three young girls were all released from captivity during a ceasefire in late November 2023. Yehoud was released on January 30, as part of a mediated ceasefire-hostage release deal.

For 2nd time, IDF demolishes home of gunman who killed soldier at checkpoint in 2023

Cpl. Avraham Fetena, killed in a shooting attack at the 'tunnels' checkpoint on the West Bank's Route 60, south of Jerusalem November 16, 2023 (Israel Defense Forces)

In a rare move, the IDF demolishes the home of a Palestinian gunman who killed an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint near Jerusalem in 2023, after the home was rebuilt following its first demolition last year.

Overnight, IDF troops operated in the West Bank city of Hebron to demolish the home of Abdelqader Qawasmeh.

Qawasmeh was one of three members of the Hamas terror group who attacked the “tunnels” checkpoint on the West Bank’s Route 60, south of Jerusalem in November 2023, killing Cpl. Avraham Fetena, a Military Police soldier.

As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly attacks. Rarely does Israel re-demolish homes that are rebuilt.

Israel defends the practice of razing the family home of attackers as a deterrent against future assaults. Over the years, a number of Israeli defense officials have questioned the efficacy of the practice, and human rights activists have denounced it as unfair collective punishment.

IDF to demolish home of Hamas gunman who carried out terror shooting on West Bank bus last year

Israeli security forces alongside a bullet-riddled bus after a Hamas terrorist attack at an intersection near the West Bank settlement of Ariel, near Nablus, November 29, 2024. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)

The Israel Defense Forces announces it will demolish the home of Hamas terrorist Samir Hussein, who injured a number of civilians in a shooting attack near the West Bank settlement city of Ariel last year.

Hussein’s home is located in the West Bank village of Einabus, near the city of Nablus.

Ten people were wounded, three of them seriously, when Hussein opened fire at a civilian bus. He was shot dead by security forces.

Hussein, a member of Hamas, was previously jailed by Israel for his activities in the terror group, according to the Shin Bet.

His family can appeal the decision to demolish the home, but such attempts rarely succeed.

As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly terror attacks.

Israel defends the practice of razing the family home of attackers as a deterrent against future assaults. Over the years, a number of Israeli defense officials have questioned the efficacy of the practice, and human rights activists have denounced it as unfair collective punishment.

Oil prices surge following report Israel prepping strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities

In this March 30, 2005 file photo, an Iranian security official in protective clothing walks through part of the Uranium Conversion Facility just outside the city of Isfahan, Iran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

Crude prices surge following a report that US intelligence suggested Israel is planning a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, which would send geopolitical tensions into overdrive and fuel regional conflict fears.

While safe haven gold pushes almost two percent higher, the news from CNN appears to be having little detrimental effect on Asian equities in early trade, with most extending the previous day’s rally.

Both main crude contracts jump almost two percent after CNN reported multiple US officials as saying the government had received intelligence indicating Israel was preparing to target Iranian atomic facilities.

There are fears that such a sharp escalation could tip the Middle East into a war.

At least 19 killed in overnight Gaza strikes, says Hamas-run civil defense agency

This picture taken from a position in southern Israel on the border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke amid Israeli strikes on May 21, 2025 (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency says Israel Defense Forces strikes killed at least 19 people overnight, including a week-old baby, as Israel faces mounting international pressure over its military offensive.

“Our crews transported 19 dead, most of them children, and dozens of injured following air raids carried out by the Israeli warplanes in various areas of the Gaza Strip last night and early today,” civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal says, naming multiple victims including the newborn.

There was no immediate comment on the strikes from the Israeli military and the figures, which do not differentiate between civilians and gunmen, could not be verified.

Israel says it takes steps to minimize civilian casualties and blames Hamas which is deeply embedded in civilian infrastructure, operating out of camps, hospitals and schools.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 53,500 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, sparked by the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.

IDF announces Staff Sgt. Danilo Mocanu killed during fighting in southern Gaza

Staff Sgt. Danilo Mocanu (Israel Defense Forces)

An Israeli soldier was killed during fighting in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, the military announces.

The soldier is named as Staff Sgt. Danilo Mocanu, 20, of the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion, from Holon. Mocanu was operating in a platoon under the 82nd Armored Battalion.

According to an initial IDF probe, the soldier was killed after a building he was in collapsed, following the detonation of an explosive device planted there by terror operatives.

After initial scans with a drone and a bomb-sniffing dog, Mocanu entered the building in the Khan Younis area with another soldier and went up to its top floor. The bomb exploded on the top floor, which collapsed onto the rest of the building, the preliminary investigation found.

The second soldier was lightly injured and rescued relatively quickly, but it took soldiers many hours to extract Mocanu’s body from the rubble.

Parents of several hostages demand government stop ‘exploiting our children’s images’ in PR campaigns

The parents of hostages Nimrod Cohen, brothers Ariel Cunio and David Cunio, and Matan Zangauker send a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally demanding that the government stop using images of their sons in state-sponsored campaigns that they say serve to prolong the conflict in Gaza.

Nimrod Cohen is a soldier taken hostage from the border with Gaza on October 7, 2023, while the Cunio brothers were each abducted from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz, where Matan Zangauker was also seized at his house.

“For over a year, the Israeli government has spent millions of shekels on campaigns that feature the faces of our children – who were violently abducted into Gaza after Hamas’ barbaric assault on Israeli communities on October 7th, 2023,” write Yehuda and Viki Cohen, Jose Luis and Silvia Cunio, and Einav Zangauker.

“What began as a desperate call to raise awareness about their plight has been transformed into a political tool to maintain public support for a war that no longer prioritizes their return.”

The parents say that while they welcome the release of Edan Alexander from Hamas captivity last week, they are simultaneously outraged by the government’s failure to act more decisively to secure the freedom of the remaining 58 hostages.

“The Israeli government is choosing to prolong the war rather than pursue a viable path to bring our children home,” they write. “Despite our sons being Israeli citizens, entitled to the full protections of their government, we find ourselves compelled to rely on the diplomatic interventions of President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, and Adam Boehler to end this agonizing ordeal.”

The parents say they believe that intensified military pressure endangers the lives of the hostages.

“Consequently, we will no longer consent to the Israeli government’s exploitation of our children’s images,” they say. “Absent a commitment from your administration to actively pursue a comprehensive ceasefire agreement guaranteeing the safe return of all hostages, we will contemplate further public and legal measures to preclude the utilization of our families for political purposes.”

“This is our line in the sand. The time for rhetoric is over. The hostages must come home now,” add the Cohens, Cunios and Zangauker.

New US intel suggests Israel readying to strike Iranian nuclear facilities — report

A handout picture released by Iran's Atomic Energy Organization on November 4, 2019, shows the atomic enrichment facilities Natanz nuclear research center, some 300 kilometers south of capital Tehran. (HO / Atomic Energy Organization of Iran / AFP)

New intelligence obtained by the United States suggests that Israel is preparing to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, CNN reports, citing multiple US officials familiar with the matter.

It’s not clear whether Israeli leaders have made a final decision, CNN adds, citing the officials.

Foreign Ministry ‘completely rejects’ EU decision to review cooperation deal

Israel rejects a European Union decision to review the bloc’s cooperation deal in a bid to pressure Israel over its intensified offensive in Gaza.

“We completely reject the direction taken in the statement, which reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein says in a message on X.

Ex-premier Olmert: What Israel ‘is doing now in Gaza is very close to a war crime’

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert testifies during a hearing of the civil investigative committee on the October 7 massacre, in Tel Aviv, August 8, 2024. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert claims that what Israel “is doing now in Gaza, is very close to a war crime.”

Speaking with the BBC, Olmert describes the ongoing conflict as “a war without a purpose — a war without a chance of achieving anything that can save the lives of the hostages.”

He also says the “obvious appearance” of the fighting in Gaza is that thousands of Palestinian civilians are being killed, along with a lot of Israeli troops.

“From every point of view, this is obnoxious and outrageous,” Olmert declares.

“We are fighting the killers of Hamas, we are not fighting innocent civilians,” he continues. “And that has to be clear.”

UAE says Israel has agreed to allow it to send aid that will feed 15K Gazans

Illustrative: Humanitarian aid provided by the United Nations is loaded onto a United Arab Emirates Air Force C-130H-30 Hercules turboprop military transport aircraft at Dubai International Airport before departure for Cairo, Egypt, on October 19, 2023. (Giuseppe CACACE / AFP)

Israel has agreed to allow humanitarian assistance from the United Arab Emirates into Gaza, which will initially feed 15,000 people, Abu Dhabi announces following a phone call between Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed and his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Sa’ar.

“The initiative also includes the provision of essential supplies to support the operation of bakeries in the Strip, as well as critical items for infant care, while ensuring a continuous supply to meet the ongoing needs of civilians,” says the UAE Foreign Ministry’s director of communications, Afra al-Hameli, in a statement.

The Israeli decision appears to be an extension of its damage control after imposing an aid blockade in Gaza from March 2 that has sparked mounting international backlash.

Israel has relied heavily on the UAE’s support for humanitarian aid in Gaza. Abu Dhabi says its assistance amounts to over 40% of the aid that enters the Strip.

Earlier this month, Israel sought to convince the UAE to bankroll a new aid initiative led by the newly founded Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Aid groups have pushed back against the effort, saying it fails to address the humanitarian crisis and forces the mass displacement of Gazans, while failing to feed almost 40% of them initially. Emirati officials accordingly told their Israeli counterparts that they could not back the GHF initiative as it currently stood, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.

During today’s call between the foreign ministers, bin Zayed “affirmed the importance of ensuring the urgent, sustainable, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian, relief, and medical assistance to the brotherly Palestinians in the Strip,” the Emirati readout says, adding that the ministers also discussed efforts to reach a hostage release and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Released hostage Yarden Bibas says he encountered Yahya Sinwar in tunnel

Release hostage Yarden Bibas speaks to Channel 12, in an interview on May 20, 2025. (Channel 12 screenshot)

Released hostage Yarden Bibas describes meeting Yahya Sinwar while in captivity, when the former Hamas leader allowed him to remain with his best friend, David Cunio, who is still held captive in Gaza, for around two weeks before they were separated.

“David is my best friend, he has been with me my whole life,” Bibas tells Channel 12 news.

Bibas says he met Cunio on the day his wife, Sharon Aloni Cunio, and their twin daughters were released from captivity on November 27, 2023, as part of a temporary ceasefire deal.

“He was moved to me in the tunnel. When he saw me for the first time, he was in shock. He thought he saw a ghost. I hugged him, and then he continued to the next place,” Bibas says.

“When Sinwar arrived at the tunnel, I said to him that this is my best friend and I want to stay with him. He said there was no problem, you can stay with him. After around two weeks, they separated us. I don’t know why,” Bibas says.

Sinwar was killed by IDF troops in Gaza in October.