May 28: Smotrich warns he ‘will not allow’ Israel to agree to Witkoff’s hostage deal proposal

‘France stands by them’: Macron issues Hebrew tweet marking 600 days since hostages abducted on Oct. 7

French President Emanuel Macron issues a tweet in Hebrew marking the 600th day of captivity for the 57 of the 58 remaining hostages in Gaza who were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.

“Six hundred days of unbearable hell for them and their loved ones. Six hundred days, and not a single day has passed without us thinking about them,” Macron writes.

“France stands by them — mobilized and determined. For their liberation, for an immediate ceasefire, for the peace and security of all. This is our supreme mission,” he adds.

Israel says 121 trucks of humanitarian aid entered Gaza today

The Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announces that 121 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip today.

Israel resumed aid deliveries to Gaza on May 19, after a pause since March 2.

Since then, 876 trucks of aid have entered the Strip.

Some of the truckloads have been taken to the new aid distribution sites in southern Gaza’s Rafah. The contents of many of the trucks are still awaiting collection on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom Crossing.

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 include flour and food, COGAT says.

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

Protesters, cops face off outside Likud HQ-turned-‘Qatar Embassy’ after dozens storm building; at least 57 said arrested

Police work to remove protesters from the road in front of the Likud party headquarters in Tel Aviv, May 28, 2025. (Yael Gadot/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Anti-government protesters face off with police officers, some on horseback, outside Metzudat Zeev, the Likud party headquarters in central Tel Aviv, where at least 57 activists were arrested after dozens of people stormed the building, according to a group of lawyers representing anti-government protesters pro bono.

During the protest, activists projected a Qatari flag with the caption “Embassy of Qatar” in Hebrew and Arabic onto the building, which is named for Revisionist Zionist leader Zeev Jabotinsky and houses an institute that published his writings.

A Qatari flag is projected onto the side of the Likud headquarters by anti-government protesters in Tel Aviv, on May 28, 2025. (Danor Aharon/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Senior aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads the Likud party, are suspected of committing multiple offenses while working for a pro-Qatar lobbying firm.

The Detainee Support Organization says those detained at “Metzudat Zeev Tel Aviv, turned this evening into the Qatari embassy,” have been taken to the Salame police station in the city’s south.

Cops at Metzudat Zeev drag protesters from the road to the sidewalk. Some of the protesters wear orange jumpsuits and masks with Netanyahu’s face.

The stench of horse droppings hangs heavy in the air, and a cloud of smoke is yet to dissipate from a fire the protesters had lit. The protesters chant “Civil rebellion” and “Ben Gvir is a terrorist,” referring to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the police.

Smotrich warns he ‘will not allow’ Israel to agree to Witkoff’s hostage deal proposal

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that it would be “sheer madness” for Israel to accept a partial hostage deal, and warns he will not tolerate such a move, after US special envoy Steve Witkoff said he has “some very good feelings” about a new proposal the US expects to send out later today.

Asserting that Hamas has been “under tremendous pressure” due to the new aid distribution mechanism in Gaza and the IDF’s new offensive, the Religious Zionism leader demands that Israel “continue to tighten the noose around its neck and force it into a complete surrender deal.”

“It would be sheer madness to ease the pressure now and sign a partial deal,” he writes, insisting that doing so would allow the terror group to recover.

“I will not allow such a thing to happen. End of.”

His remarks appear to draw ire from within the coalition, as Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says that Israel should make decisions about potential hostage deals “according to national interests, and not according to political pressure and threats.”

He does not mention Smotrich by name.

Israel’s envoy accuses ‘UN mobsters’ of threatening NGOs that support new Gaza aid plan, does not provide specifics

Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon speaks during a UN Security Council meeting concerning the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) at UN headquarters in New York City on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP)

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon accuses the United Nations of deliberately undermining the new US and Israel-backed aid mechanism in the Gaza Strip through corrupt means, in a meeting of the UN Security Council.

Claiming that he has acquired new “shocking information,” Danon tells the council that the UN “is using threats, intimidation and retaliation against NGOs that choose to participate in the new humanitarian mechanism.”

He asserts that a number of “major international NGOs” were punished by the UN after indicating that they would take part in the new aid initiative and “ignore the UN’s calls for a boycott.”

“The UN’s response was brutal. It was Mafia-like,” the envoy asserts. “Without any discussion, without a due process, the UN removed those NGOs from the shared aid database,” a central system for tracking aid deliveries into Gaza established through a UN General Assembly resolution.

Danon, in his speech, does not provide any hard evidence or the names of the NGOs he alleges were targeted.

Upon request for further information to back the envoy’s claims, Danon’s office tells The Times of Israel that it is aware of a certain number of NGOs that the UN worked to prevent from cooperating with the aid plan, but that this information can only be provided by the UN directly.

The UN has not immediately responded to a request for comment.

The new aid initiative became operational this week, partially replacing the UN-led framework that had previously managed humanitarian assistance in Gaza, following Israel’s decision to lift a nearly three-month aid blockade on the strip.

The new system, meant to redirect supplies away from Hamas control, has drawn heavy criticism from the UN and various international actors, who argue it falls short of addressing the dire humanitarian crisis in the enclave.

Reiterating his claim that “UN mobsters” are committing “the gravest violation of the UN’s own principles,” through the “extortion of well-meaning NGOs that refuse to kiss the ring,” Danon urges the UN not to let “ego get in the way” and to cooperate with the new aid mechanism.

“It has begun and it is operational. Shift your focus from dramatic press statements and intimidating NGOs to the work you are supposed to be doing,” he demands.

Marking 600 days since Oct. 7, ex-hostages recall those they left behind, demand ceasefire

Ex-hostage Iair Horn speaks at a rally in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, May 28, 2025. (Paulina Patimer/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Iair Horn, who was released from Hamas captivity in February as part of the latest Gaza ceasefire, says he is unsure if his younger brother Eitan Horn, who is still captive, is alive.

Speaking at the Hostages Square rally marking 600 days since the Hamas onslaught, Horn recounts the fear of instant death in captivity. “In the tunnels, you can’t know if a terrorist will get up one morning and just shoot you, or if the tunnel where you’re sleeping will be blown up because of a bomb,” he says.

During one Israeli air raid, he says his captors “grabbed us and we started running in a totally crooked tunnel, which could collapse at any moment, trying to escape the bombing and toxic fumes.”

“We run and run until Eitan sits, with all his 100 and something kilos… and tells me: ‘I’ve come this far. Leave me,” says Horn. “I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him, dragged as much as I could, until my strength ran out.”

Then, says Horn, he told his brother: “‘If you don’t start moving, we’ll both die here.'”

“So he got up,” says Horn. “Now I’m not there to drag him by the arm.”

“We were saved by luck, but the luck has run out,” he says. “Instead of luck, we need to sign off on an end to the war. Instead of luck, we need to bring back the 58 hostages, now — drag them out by the arm to a safe place back home.”

“We can’t sacrifice anymore — enough,” he says. “Enlisted soldiers giving their body and soul — I’d rather they be on vacation. Brave, experienced reservists — I’d rather they took their kids to kindergarten every morning.”

“So I address you, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” he says, as the crowd jeers the premier’s name. “You brought me back home. Do it again.”

Ex-hostage Ohad Ben Ami speaks at a rally in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, May 28, 2025. (Paulina Patimer/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Ohad Ben Ami, who was released along with Yair Horn, speaks about the five hostages with whom he was held in an underground tunnel — Yosef-Haim Ohana, Bar Kuperstein, Elkana Bohbot, Segev Kalfon and Maxim Herkin — who remain there, “in the same cold nights, the same daily fear.”

“Everyone is still alive — with the operative word being ‘still,'” says Ben Ami.

“In the latest videos [published by Hamas] I saw them, but not like I knew them,” says Ben Ami. “The fear I saw in their eyes doesn’t leave me. Their physical condition is awful, their mental condition is still more awful.”

In the tunnels, he says, “we lived off of scraps, physically and emotionally, and while I’m here talking to you, they’re still there, breathing, but barely,” he says.

“Don’t let them be forgotten,” he says. “Don’t let day 601 come as though nothing happened.”

As Ben Ami departs the stage, the crowd chants: “Hero!”

‘Annual spectacle of unchecked violence’: UAE issues rare warning to Israel over flag march

Israeli police officers assist a Palestinian after he was pushed by right-wing Israelis as they mark Jerusalem Day, in Jerusalem's Old City, May 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

WASHINGTON — The United Arab Emirates lays into Israel over this week’s Jerusalem Flag March, characterizing it as an “annual spectacle of unchecked violence and extremist provocation” and issuing a rare warning against Israel if Jerusalem doesn’t take “decisive steps” against the phenomenon.

“It is utterly unfathomable that, amid the ongoing carnage in Gaza, the Israeli government — underscored by the presence of one of its ministers — continues to permit” the flag march an Emirati official tells The Times of Israel in a statement issued shortly after Abu Dhabi summoned Israel’s ambassador to the Gulf country for a rare reprimand.

It was the second time an Israeli envoy has ever been summoned by Emirati authorities and the first time since the war in Gaza began. A second source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel that the meeting at the Emirati foreign ministry saw the harshest rebuke that Abu Dhabi has ever conveyed to an Israeli official.

The Emirati anger was particularly notable, given that the country has differentiated itself from Israel’s other Arab allies, who have downgraded ties in various ways amid the war. While it has limited some public demonstrations of the relationship, the UAE has kept its ambassador in Tel Aviv, maintained daily flights to Israel and even boosted economic cooperation.

But the scenes at Monday’s flag march appear to have been too much for Abu Dhabi to quietly accept.

Hundreds, if not thousands of young religious nationalist participants were filmed chanting racist slogans such as “death to Arabs” and “may your village burn” as they marched through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.

Participants verbally harassed and physically assaulted Palestinian locals. Revelers also vandalized property, though they made an exception for a number of ATMs that had signs on them explaining to participants that they belonged to Jews.

A far-right group participating in the march even unfurled a banner calling for the mass expulsion of Palestinians in Gaza. Several far-right ministers participated in the march, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to participants at a ceremony capping off the event.

Israel’s police commissioner said that no arrests were made and that only a small number of participants were briefly detained, claiming that those misbehaving made up only one percent of revelers.

No government officials condemned the scenes that have become commonplace at the annual flag march.

“This is not an isolated incident. It happens every year, and year after year, they allow it to unfold without consequence,” the Emirati official says.

“We have made clear — in no uncertain terms — that we expect them to take decisive steps to put an end to this.”

“They would do well to take that expectation extremely seriously,” the official warns.

Protesters call for Dermer’s resignation as hostage deal remains elusive

Protesters mark 600 days since the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault, at a demonstration outside the home of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, in Jerusalem, on May 28, 2025. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

Several hundred protestors gather at Jerusalem’s Park HaMesila before marching to the home of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who has been heading hostage negotiations.

“Alive, alive, we want them alive!” call the protestors. “There will be no forgiveness for a government that abandons its people.”

As the protesters approach Dermer’s home, police officers move a set of barricades, allowing the marchers to move closer to the front.

“Ron Dermer, quit, there is no other option,” they chant in front of his house.

Shlomo Alfasa, brother-in-law of Avner and Maya Goren, both Kibbutz Nir Oz members who were killed on October 7, with Avner’s body found in the fields and Maya’s body taken captive to Gaza, speaks outside Dermer’s house.

Alfasa says that Netanyahu and Dermer should bring home the 58 hostages, and stresses that he is not right wing or left wing, but a centrist.

“Our prime minister didn’t have results, so he got rid of the defense minister, and then-IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi and then the Shin Bet chief, and now it is time to get rid of Ron Dermer,” says Alfasa.

“Dermer, Dermer, quit!” chant the protesters. “We don’t want you anymore.”

Alfasa concludes his remarks by noting that Dermer has never met with any of the hostage families. “I’m here, come out and talk to me,” he says.

‘Disturbing pattern of intimidation’: Amnesty International pans Hamas crackdown on protesters in Gaza

Palestinians chant slogans during an anti-Hamas and anti-war protest, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Amnesty International issues a scathing condemnation of Hamas amid the terror group’s crackdown on protesters demonstrating against its rule in the Gaza Strip.

The rights group says that over the past two months, it interviewed 12 people — 10 men and two women — who organized or took part in protests against Hamas and were interrogated, threatened, or beaten by the terror group’s security forces as a result.

The interviews revealed a “disturbing pattern of threats, intimidation and harassment, including interrogations and beatings by Hamas-run security forces against individuals exercising their right to peaceful protest” even amid Israel’s ongoing war, Amnesty says.

One of the protesters, a resident of northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia who lost multiple family members in an Israeli strike, tells Amnesty that after he took part in a protest in April, he was dragged to a makeshift detention center and beaten by armed men in civilian clothes.

“They accused me of being a traitor — a collaborator with the Mossad,” he tells Amnesty. “I told them we took to the streets because we wanted to live, we wanted to eat and drink.”

He says he was released after nearly four hours of detention and interrogation, and was warned not to attend any further protests.

In total, seven of the 12 protesters interviewed say that they were accused by Hamas of being “traitors” and of working with Israel.

In another instance, a protester from Beit Lahia says he was summoned to an interrogation but refused to show up, until Hamas forces came to his home and “beat me with sticks, and punched my face.”

He says a Hamas member later threatened to shoot him in the foot if he attended another protest.

“The authorities in Gaza must allow peaceful protesters, dissidents, and journalists to exercise their rights without intimidation, harassment, or violence. Interrogation of protesters must cease immediately, and those responsible for violence or threats should be held accountable,” says Erika Guevara-Rosas, a senior director for research, advocacy, policy and campaigns at Amnesty International.

“The authorities in Gaza must respect the rights of the people in Gaza and protect them, at a time when their survival is at stake.”

Footage from Gaza shows hundreds of people breaking into warehouse, stealing flour

Palestinians carry bags of flour after storming a UN World Food Program warehouse in Zawaida, Central Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Footage circulating on social media shows hundreds of Gazans breaking into a large warehouse storing bags of flour and other humanitarian supplies earlier today, and looting the site.

According to reports, the warehouse is situated along Salah al-Din Road, which runs through the Strip, in the Al-Maghazi area of central Gaza.

One Telegram channel critical of Hamas claims that the warehouses belong to the terror group, but this has not been independently confirmed.

Both the Hamas-run local government in Gaza and UNRWA later put out a statement claiming that the warehouse belonged to the UN’s World Food Program, and not Hamas.

בשעות האחרונות נפוץ ברשת תיעוד מפריצה של מאות עזתים למחסן ובו שקי קמח. לפי דיווח אחד מדובר במחסן של חמאס אבל לא רואה לזה עדויות ברורות כרגע, יש תיעוד שרואים איזשהו סמל בכניסה – אולי סמל של עירייה, לא נראה סמל של האו"ם אבל זה מטושטש. בכל מקרה אם תמונות עדכניות – בהחלט כאוס pic.twitter.com/fIUJaGTPwQ

— Nurit Yohanan (@nurityohanan) May 28, 2025

Thousands crowd Hostages Square to mark ‘600 days of abandonment’

Protesters mark 600 days since the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault, at a rally in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square, May 28, 2025. (Paulina Patimer/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Some 3,000 people crowd into Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square and the adjacent Shaul HaMelech Road for a rally marking 600 days since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.

Actor Lior Ashkenazi, who regularly emcees the Hostage Families Forum’s rallies at the Square, kicks off tonight’s rally with an angry tirade against the government’s failure to reach a ceasefire-hostage deal in Gaza or probe the security failure that sparked the war there.

“Six hundred days since the failure, and another 600 days of failure,” he says, as the crowd jeers and hoists pictures of the remaining captives. “Six hundred days of abandonment, of fleecing the public, of covering up the investigation of the greatest failure in our history,” says Ashkenazi.

The rally is set to feature speeches from captivity survivors Ohad Ben Ami and Yair Horn, both of whom were released in the latest ceasefire, the first phase of which ended on March 2 amid Israel’s refusal to negotiate the second. Horn’s younger brother Eitan is still held captive. Idit Ohel, mother of hostage Alon Ohel, will also speak.

Also set to speak is Miriam Lapid, a founder of the 1970s settler movement Gush Emunim, who became a symbol of national trauma in 1994 when her son and husband were murdered by Hamas near Hebron in the West Bank.

At the time, she was a leading member of slain IDF general Rehavam Zeevi’s Moledet party, which campaigned for Israel to “transfer” Palestinians abroad.

Lapid raised some eyebrows on the right in March, when she railed against the government at a Jerusalem protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s motion to oust Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar. She later told religious news site Kipa that the speech, in which she urged religious people to join the demonstrations, had been improvised after someone in the crowd recognized her and asked her to speak.

Ex-hostage Liri Albag has decided to return to the military, father says, months after release from Gaza

Freed captive Liri Albag speaks during a rally calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, April 5, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/ Flash90)

Released hostage Liri Albag wants to return to the IDF and complete her military service, her father Eli Albag tells several Hebrew media outlets.

Albag was abducted from the Nahal Oz military outpost, where she served as a surveillance soldier, during the Hamas-led invasion on October 7, 2023. She was released during a ceasefire and hostage release deal in January.

Speaking to Ynet, Eli Albag says his daughter decided “two or three weeks ago” that she wanted to return to the army in one way or another.

“What’s good for her is good for us,” he says. “She wants to experience the army, to feel the army, and to some extent, she wants to settle accounts with those who held her.”

He says she intends to serve “in a very special place,” and has already been in contact with relevant military officials about returning to serve.

Trump: I told Netanyahu striking Iran would be ‘very inappropriate’ when talks ‘very close’ to solution

US President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing in ceremony for interim US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro (R) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP)

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump confirms that he asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a call last week not to take military action against Iran that could disrupt Washington’s ongoing nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic.

“Well, I’d like to be honest. Yes, I did. Next question,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office in response to a direct question on the matter.

“I told [Netanyahu] this would be very inappropriate to do right now because we’re very close to a solution,” Trump says.

“That could change at any moment. It could change with a phone call. But right now, I think [Iran] wants to make a deal, and if we can make a deal, [that would] save a lot of lives.”

“We’re having very good discussions with [Iran], and I said [to Netanyahu], ‘I don’t think that’s appropriate right now.’ Because if we can settle it with a very strong document — with inspections and [not based on] trust,” he continues. “I want [the deal to be] very strong where we can go in with inspectors, we can take whatever we want. We can blow up whatever we want, but [with] nobody getting killed.”

Witkoff says US to send out new Gaza terms, has ‘very good feelings’ on reaching truce

US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff (L) speaks as US President Donald Trump looks on during a swearing in ceremony for interim US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP)

WASHINGTON — US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff says he has “some very good feelings” about the chances for reaching a temporary ceasefire that leads to a long-term resolution to the conflict in Gaza.

“We’re on the precipice of sending out a new term sheet that hopefully will be delivered later today,” Witkoff tells reporters in the Oval Office. “The president is going to review it.”

Earlier today, a source familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel that Hamas sent its edits to Witkoff’s temporary hostage deal proposal back to the US for review. Witkoff subsequently went over the document with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer yesterday. Hamas is now waiting to receive what Witkoff appears to refer to as a “term sheet.”

On Monday, Witkoff issued a statement declaring that “Israel will agree to a temporary ceasefire that would see half of the living and deceased hostages return, and lead to substantive negotiations to find a path to a permanent ceasefire, which I agreed to preside over. That deal is on the table. Hamas should take it.”

“I have some very good feelings about getting to… a temporary ceasefire and a long-term, peaceful resolution of that conflict,” Witkoff tells reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump again says Iran nuclear talks going well, hopes to see ‘sensible’ agreement

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump reiterates that nuclear talks with Iran are going well.

“We’ll find out if that means anything,” he quips to reporters in the Oval Office.

“I think we’re going to see something very sensible,” Trump says.

He reiterates that there are two outcomes possible in the ongoing negotiations — one that is “violent,” which the US would rather avoid, and the second, a deal.

People will “be surprised of what’s happening there,” Trump says.

Gaza situation ‘very nasty,’ says Trump, but US ‘doing very well’ in truce talks

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says “We’re… getting food to people in Gaza,” as the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation wraps up its third day of operations in Gaza.

Trump says the situation in Gaza is “very nasty” but later adds, “We’re doing very well with Gaza.”

“We’ll see how all that works out,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office, apparently referring to ongoing ceasefire talks.

Iranian sources: Tehran may pause enrichment for US nod on nuclear rights, release of frozen funds

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)

Iran may pause uranium enrichment if the US releases frozen Iranian funds and recognizes Tehran’s right to refine uranium for civilian use under a “political deal” that could lead to a broader nuclear accord, two Iranian official sources say.

The sources, close to the negotiating team, say a “political understanding with the United States could be reached soon” if Washington accepted Tehran’s conditions. One of the sources says the matter “has not been discussed yet” during the talks with the United States.

The sources tell Reuters that under this arrangement, Tehran would halt uranium enrichment for a year, ship part of its highly enriched stock abroad, or convert it into fuel plates for civilian nuclear purposes.

A temporary pause to enrichment would be a way to overcome an impasse over clashing red lines after five rounds of talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to resolve a decades-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program.

US officials have repeatedly said that any new nuclear deal with Iran – to replace a failed 2015 accord between Tehran and six world powers – must include a commitment to scrap enrichment, viewed as a pathway to developing nuclear bombs.

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly denied such intentions, claiming it wants nuclear energy only for civilian purposes, and has publicly rejected Washington’s demand to scrap enrichment as an attack on its national sovereignty.

Iran’s nuclear program currently enriches uranium up to 60% purity, which has no civilian purpose and is a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

France mobilizing allies to push two-state solution ahead of French-Saudi summit next month

Paris is rallying its allies worldwide ahead of a landmark summit on reviving momentum for the two-state solution that it will co-host with Saudi Arabia at the United Nations headquarters in New York next month, says the French embassy in Israel.

“The French authorities are mobilizing their international partners to ensure that this conference can bring about change on the ground,” says the embassy in a statement, adding that French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot hosted his Jordanian, Saudi and Egyptian counterparts in Paris on Friday “for highly constructive discussions” on this subject.

“The conference aims to achieve concrete steps in four key areas: recognition of a Palestinian state; normalization and regional integration of the State of Israel; reforms in Palestinian governance; and the disarmament of Hamas and its complete exclusion from any form of government,” says the embassy.

It says that eight working groups have been established, with the involvement of multiple countries, to work on issues including establishing and preserving a Palestinian state, guaranteeing security for Israelis and Palestinians, creating “peace-promoting narratives,” humanitarian relief and reconstruction, and the application of international law to sustain a two-state framework.

It describes the context of the conference as “historic,” given Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, “statements by several Israeli leaders about plans to reoccupy the Gaza Strip, the acceleration of settlement activity in the West Bank, and rising settler violence.”

“The two-state solution is more threatened today than ever before. The conflict cannot be ignored or pushed aside. The political and diplomatic path must be renewed and a solution must be found, despite the obstacles, of which France is well aware,” concludes the embassy.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have repeatedly spoken against the establishment of a Palestinian state at this time, claiming it would constitute a “prize for terror” by awarding Hamas for its October 7, 2023, onslaught, which sparked the ongoing war.

Reports this week said that Israeli government ministers have been warning European states that any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state may prompt Israel to take unilateral measures in response, potentially including the annexation of parts of the West Bank.

IDF chief vows Israel will continue to ‘weaken’ Hezbollah, strengthen northern border

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (R) and Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin during an assessment at the Northern Command HQ in Safed, May 28, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, during a visit to the Northern Command headquarters in Safed today, says Israel will continue to “weaken” Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“We will continue to act, remove threats and weaken Hezbollah to protect the northern communities and the State of Israel,” Zamir says in remarks published by the IDF.

“The Northern Command changed the security reality in the area and strengthened the security on the border,” he adds.

IDF troops kill Palestinian who allegedly tried to attack soldiers with ‘sharp object’ in the West Bank

IDF troops killed a Palestinian who allegedly attempted to attack troops with a sharp object in the West Bank last night.

The incident took place in the village of Jit.

According to the IDF, as the troops were operating in Jit, “a terrorist tried to attack the force with a sharp object and posed a threat.”

In response, the soldiers opened fire, “neutralizing the terrorist,” the army says. No troops were hurt.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said this morning it received the body of a man from Israeli forces at the entrance to Jit.

The man’s cousin identified him as Jassem al-Siddeh, 22. He tells AFP that the army came at dawn and shot him in his home, adding that he “was not wanted and had no involvement in any activity.”

EU sanctions Syrian militia groups over deadly violence against Alawites

The EU imposes sanctions on three Syrian militia groups and two of their leaders for serious human rights abuses over their alleged involvement in deadly ethnic violence in March, an official document showed.

The Sultan Sulaiman Shah Brigade, the Hamza Division and the Sultan Murad Division, as well as the heads of the first two groups, were added to Brussels’ sanction list for their “part in the violence in the coastal region of Syria, targeting civilians and especially the Alawite community,” the EU’s official journal reads.

Israeli official dismisses Hamas ‘psychological warfare’ after group claims to agree to ceasefire deal

An unnamed Israeli official dismisses Hamas’s claim this afternoon that the terror group reached an agreement with US special envoy Steve Witkoff on a “general framework” for a ceasefire deal, and calls the statement “psychological warfare.”

“The Hamas terrorist organization continues its propaganda and psychological warfare,” says the official.

“Hamas’s proposal is unacceptable, both to Israel and to the American administration,” continues the official, adding that, “as [Witkoff] himself said two days ago, while Israel agreed to the Witkoff framework, Hamas continues to cling to its refusal.”

The dismissal comes after a source familiar with negotiations downplayed Hamas’s statement, telling The Times of Israel that the terror group had sent a new round of edits to Witkoff’s proposal after Israel walked back from certain understandings earlier this week.

Israel used new laser interception system to take down Hezbollah drones during fighting last year, IDF reveals

A laser interception system deployed to northern Israel, in an undated photo published by the Defense Ministry on May 28, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

During the fighting in Lebanon last year, the Israeli Air Force intercepted dozens of Hezbollah drones using a new laser interception system, the IDF and Defense Ministry reveal, six months into a ceasefire.

The new system that was used during the fighting is a smaller version of the Iron Beam high-powered laser interception system, which is set to be given to the IDF later this year. Both systems are developed by the Rafael defense firm.

The ministry says the development of the system was advanced in light of the Hezbollah drone threat in the north. Hezbollah fired more than 300 explosive-laden drones at Israel amid the fighting.

“During the war, the Air Force… deployed the laser system, and led to particularly high interception achievements that saved civilians and defended national assets,” the IDF and Defense Ministry say.

A laser interception system shoots down drones over northern Israel, in an undated video published by the Defense Ministry on May 28, 2025. (Defense Ministry)

Report: Haredi UTJ party will resign from government after Shavuot if no progress made on IDF conscription law

Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf speaks at a faction meeting for his ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party on March 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party is said to be preparing to resign from the government over its failure to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military service.

The Haaretz daily reports that the party, led by Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, will either withdraw from the government or initiate proceedings to dissolve the Knesset and go to elections should the law not be passed immediately after the Shavuot holiday, which falls on Sunday night-Monday next week.

Meanwhile, fellow ultra-Orthodox party Shas is said to be striking a softer tone and is trying to appeal to UTJ to remain in the government. Should these attempts fail, Haaretz says that Shas will likely follow UTJ’s lead and resign as well, thereby presenting a united front.

According to the Walla news site, senior coalition officials believe it unlikely that Goldknopf will pull his party from the government, and estimate that rather than resigning outright, the party will instead increase the scope of its protests against Haredi conscription from within the government.

In recent months, the party has been boycotting Knesset legislation, and earlier this year, Goldknopf symbolically resigned from his secondary ministerial position as a minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Responding to the reports, Goldknopf’s office denies that he will pull UTJ from the governing coalition immediately after the Shavuot holiday, but says that unless there is progress, leaders from the party’s Degel HaTorah faction will soon hold a meeting to determine its next steps — “withdrawal from the coalition or advancing a law to dissolve the Knesset.”

Thousands rally across Israel to mark 600 days since Oct. 7 Hamas assault

Students participate in a march to Hostages Square on May 28, 2025, to mark 600 days since October 7, 2023. (Shay Rash/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Thousands of Israelis rally in different parts of the country to mark 600 days since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault, when some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage, and to call for the return of the remaining 58 hostages.

Reichman University students march the 15 kilometers from Herzliya to Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, where they join students from Tel Aviv University. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, students and faculty at the Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus gather for a 58-minute demonstration for the 58 hostages still held captive.

Hundreds of young Israelis learning in pre-army preparatory programs take part in a series of marches that depart every two hours from Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square and follow a path around the nearby Defense Ministry compound.

A motorcade of dozens of cars drives from Latrun to Tel Aviv, and hundreds of people participate in the silent sit-in held by Shift 101 at Tel Aviv’s historic Bialik Square.

Maccabit Meir, aunt to hostage twins Ziv Berman and Gali Berman, says that victory in Israel can’t be achieved without the return of the brothers to their mother’s arms, along with the return of the rest of the hostages. Only then can Israeli society heal, she says.

“I hope you are able to remember your hopes and dreams and transmit your thoughts to one another even if you’re not together,” Meir tells her nephews.

Meir is joined by Ruti Strum, the mother of hostage Eitan Horn and released hostage Iair Horn, as well as Dalia Cusnir, the Horns’ sister-in-law and Niva Wenkert, the mother of released hostage Omer Wenkert.

Singer-songwriter Rona Kenan joins them and softly leads the gathering in singing ‘Sahki, sahki,’ a social protest song written by Shaul Tchernikovsky 120 years ago.

IDF reorganizing forces on Lebanon border, six months on from Hezbollah ceasefire

Troops of the 146th Division operate on the Lebanon border in an undated photo issued on May 28, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says it is reorganizing its defenses on the Lebanese border, six months into a ceasefire that ended the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The 146th Reserve Division, which had been tasked with the western portion of the border with Lebanon since the beginning of the war, has been withdrawn, and instead, the 91st “Galilee” Regional Division is retaking responsibility for the entire frontier, from Rosh Hanikra up to, but not including, Mount Dov.

The actual number of forces on the Lebanese border, triple the amount of troops compared to before the war, will remain more or less the same even after the demobilization of the 146th Division, as the troops will be placed under the 91st Division instead.

The 91st Division is also forming a third regional brigade to be tasked with the central region of the border, in addition to the 300th “Baram” Brigade in the west and the 769th “Hiram” Brigade in the east.

Currently, the unnamed central regional brigade is being staffed by the division’s 8th Reserve Armored Brigade.

The division is also in the process of incorporating the newly revived 946th Air Defense Battalion, which operates anti-drone systems.

During the ongoing ceasefire in Lebanon, the IDF has continued to strike Hezbollah operatives and sites, saying they constituted violations of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.

Since the start of the ceasefire, the IDF says it has killed over 180 Hezbollah operatives, including 38 senior commanders and another 28 lower-ranking officers in the terror group.

The IDF is also still deployed to five strategic posts several hundred meters inside southern Lebanon.

Source: Hamas waiting to hear back after Witkoff and Dermer reviewed group’s edits to truce proposal

A source familiar with the negotiations downplays the Hamas announcement about an agreement reached with US special envoy Steve Witkoff on a “general framework” for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

The source tells The Times of Israel Hamas sent a new round of edits to Witkoff’s proposal after Israel walked back from certain understandings earlier this week.

The edited proposal was then reviewed by Witkoff together with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who was in Washington on Tuesday for meetings with top Trump administration officials on Iran and Gaza.

Hamas is now waiting to receive Israel’s edits to the Witkoff proposal, the source says.

Before Hamas sent its new round of edits, Witkoff issued a statement on Monday slamming the terror group and calling on it to agree to a temporary ceasefire, asserting that Israel would follow suit if it did.

‘You lost Trump’: Lapid accuses Netanyahu of ruining Israel’s relationship with US

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid speaks during a 40 signatures debate in the Knesset plenum, Jerusalem, May 28, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of ruining Israel’s relations with the US during a Knesset debate initiated by 40 opposition lawmakers.

“I once told you that you no longer understood the new America, that you were stuck in the 1980s,” Lapid recalls of Netanyahu. “You argued with me, you said you were still up to date.”

“The argument is over — the relations have never reached such a low point.”

“You lost [US President Donald] Trump, the US made a deal with the Houthis behind your back, without you knowing. The president met with the president of Syria without you knowing. He renewed ties with [Turkish president] Erdogan without you knowing.”

“President Trump brought you to Washington, informed you that he had returned to negotiating with Iran and didn’t bother to update you,” Lapid needles the premier. “And then he sat you down in front of the whole world’s cameras and repeated the message.”

‘Don’t let people tell you there can’t be peace,’ says German envoy at Jerusalem interfaith march

German ambassador Steffen Seibert at an interfaith march for peace on May 28, 2025. (Rossella Tercatin/Times of Israel)

Israelis and Palestinians are not doomed to be at war, German Ambassador Steffen Seibert tells The Times of Israel at an interfaith march for peace and human rights organized by several rights and religious groups to mark 600 days since the Hamas-led invasion on October 7, 2023, and the start of the Gaza war.

“Don’t let people tell you that there can be no peace and that Israelis and Palestinians are forever doomed to be hostile to each other,” he says. “Don’t just dream, but start by meeting the other side, by listening to them, and by going to events like this.”

Seibert adds that seeing “Jews, Christians and Muslims walking together for the peace that this country and this region deserve gives me hope.”

“It’s it’s only together that something will be achieved,” he adds.

The ambassador says that Germany continues to support Israel.

“This is in our political DNA,” he says. “We know our responsibility for the state of Israel. It’s also a responsibility for the security and the peace of the state of Israel, and we take that very seriously.”

New survey shows antisemitism is global Jewry’s biggest concern

Antisemitism is the most pressing concern for Jews worldwide, surpassing all other issues across age, geography and religious affiliation, according to a report by Voice of the People, a global initiative launched by Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

The survey of over 10,000 Jews in more than a dozen countries found that 76% of respondents identify rising antisemitism as their top concern, manifested in hate speech, social exclusion and physical threats.

“This is not just a data set, it’s a global Jewish reality check,” says Shirel Dagan-Levy, CEO of Voice of the People. “The findings reflect a community that is hurting, but also more united than ever in its desire to stand tall, protect its heritage, and shape a stronger, safer future.”

Other major concerns identified by the survey include Israel–Diaspora tensions (56%), deteriorating Jewish–non-Jewish relations (49%), internal polarization (49%) and preserving Jewish heritage (46%).

Findings from the survey will inform the agenda of Voice of the People’s Global Jewish Council, a new leadership body tasked with shaping strategic responses, the organization says.

UAE summons Israeli ambassador for reprimand over ‘disgraceful’ Jerusalem Day activity

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces that it has summoned Israel’s ambassador to the country, Yossi Shelley, to reprimand him over what it describes as “disgraceful practices and violations against Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Mosque and in the Muslim Quarter.”

The statement appears to be referring to the events of Jerusalem Day earlier this week, when tens of thousands of religious Zionists marched through the Old City of Jerusalem, chanting anti-Arab refrains and skirmishing with Palestinian shopkeepers. Many also visited the Temple Mount, where National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir declared that Jewish prayer, including full prostration, was allowed at the holy site.

The UAE says that it demands that Israel take full responsibility and punish those responsible for the behavior.

MoFA Summons Israeli Ambassador and Condemns in Strongest Terms the Offensive and Deplorable Violations in Occupied Jerusalemhttps://t.co/eLwPZFihD9 pic.twitter.com/Oel6xPoM0R

— MoFA وزارة الخارجية (@mofauae) May 28, 2025

Hamas claims it reached deal with Witkoff on ‘general framework’ for ceasefire, waiting ‘final response’

Hamas says it has reached an agreement with US special envoy Steve Witkoff on a “general framework” for a ceasefire deal and now awaits a “final response.”

Hamas says in a statement that the framework it has approved would secure a “permanent ceasefire,” the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the flow of humanitarian aid and a committee of independent Palestinian technocrats assuming governing control over the Strip instead of Hamas, once the agreement is announced.

The deal would see the release of 10 living Israeli hostages along with an unspecified number of bodies of slain hostages in exchange for “an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners, who are guaranteed by the mediators,” it says.

There are currently 58 hostages still in Gaza.

While the announcement is framed by Hamas as a breakthrough, it still indicates that a number of issues need to be negotiated, such as the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released.

Moreover, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will only agree to a temporary ceasefire. He insists on resuming fighting in Gaza after any temporary truce, until Hamas is destroyed, all hostages are freed, and the Trump plan for Gazans’ relocation is implemented.

The Witkoff proposal previously put to Israel does not require a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces or a permanent end to the war, but rather provides for negotiations on those issues.

Hamas has been willing to agree to a temporary deal, but once that truce is in place, it has been demanding that negotiations commence on a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

It has also been insisting on guarantees from the mediators that Israel will remain at the table for negotiations, after Jerusalem refused to engage substantively in such talks as required during the previous hostage deal reached in January.

Netanyahu has expressed openness to holding negotiations this time on a permanent ceasefire once a temporary truce is reached. However, Israel has pushed back on Hamas’ demands for guarantees from the mediators that Jerusalem be kept at the negotiation table, a senior Arab diplomat has told The Times of Israel.

Netanyahu claims public backs ongoing war until all his goals achieved, polls showing otherwise are skewed

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in the Knesset on May 28, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a combative address during a Knesset debate initiated by 40 opposition lawmakers, rejecting criticism of his government’s wartime performance and touting what he calls unprecedented achievements.

Families of hostages are in the viewers’ gallery as he speaks, marking 600 days that their loved ones have been in Hamas captivity.

“We changed the face of the Middle East, established Israel’s status as a regional power — the opposite of a failure. Truly zero achievements,” he says sarcastically, in response to opposition claims of government failure.

Netanyahu states that 20 hostages are believed to be alive in Gaza, while 38 are confirmed dead, stressing, “Every hostage is a world in and of themselves.”

He reaffirms his commitment to continue the war until total victory is achieved, with all hostages returned, Hamas destroyed, its leaders exiled and the Strip demilitarized: “We will reach a complete victory.”

He states that Hamas leader in Gaza, Mohammad Sinwar, has been killed, though the IDF has not confirmed this claim.

Blasting his critics, Netanyahu says, “The reason we have reached these victories is because we didn’t listen to you [the opposition].”

Relatives of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip protest during a Knesset debate on May 28, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Relating to The Democrats party leader Yair Golan’s allegation that Israel is “killing babies in Gaza as a hobby” — an assertion Golan subsequently walked back — Netanyahu asks, “Do you have no shame that your opposition leader speaks this way about our soldiers?” (The actual opposition leader is Yair Lapid.)

He also pushes back against allegations of political failure. “Most of the nation stands with us [the coalition]” in supporting the continuation of the war until absolute victory, he says, claiming that polls consistently showing otherwise are skewed.

He also defends his leadership under pressure: “I don’t know any other prime minister who has operated under these conditions.”

Netanyahu concludes by reiterating his demand for a revised IDF draft law: “We ask for a true recruitment law, a truly fair one.”

New Gaza aid group says second distribution center now open, also in Rafah

Palestinians receive food packages from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation pledging to distribute humanitarian aid in western Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 27, 2025. (AFP)

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says it has successfully opened its second aid distribution center in Gaza, following the launch of its first site on Monday.

GHF “is continuing its operations today, opening another Safe Distribution Site and distributing aid without incident,” says the US-backed organization.

“The situation remains urgent. But every hour, more people are fed,” it adds.

According to the foundation, both sites are now fully operational.

Both are located in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

GHF says that the newly-opened site delivered “all available aid without incident — approximately 8 trucks worth.”

In total, GHF says it has distributed “approximately 14,550 food boxes,” or 840,262 meals across the two sites. Each box is intended to feed an average of 5.5 people for 3.5 days.

“Operations will continue scaling across all 4 sites, with plans to build additional sites across Gaza in the weeks ahead,” says the foundation.

Of the four planned centers, three will be located in Rafah, and the fourth will be slightly closer to the center of the Strip, south of the Netzarim Corridor.

Aid organizations have criticized the location of the sites, saying that the foundation is violating humanitarian principles by clustering them in one area, making them inaccessible to others across the enclave.

GHF, in its statement, also addresses what it calls false claims about the start of its operations, and reports of thousands of Gazans briefly overrunning the first distribution site yesterday.

GHF denies that the site was overrun or destroyed, and says it had “anticipated” coming under pressure “due to acute hunger and Hamas-imposed blockades, which create dangerous conditions outside the gates.”

“According to established protocol, for a brief moment, the GHF team intentionally relaxed its security protocols to safeguard against crowd reactions to finally receiving food,” it says of yesterday’s incident.

Responding to “misinformation circulating online,” the foundation stresses that no shots were fired toward the Palestinian crowds, and there were no casualties. It also says that no arrests were made, as “GHF has no detention or arrest authority.”

“As in all emergency response situations, particularly in conflict zones, this type of reaction from stressed beneficiary populations is expected and we remain prepared to continue providing life-saving assistance should disruptions occur,” says the group.

Hundreds gather in Jerusalem for interfaith march for peace and human rights

Hundreds take part in an interfaith march for peace in Jerusalem on May 28, 2025. (Rossella Tercatin/Times of Israel)

A few hundred people gather in downtown Jerusalem for an interfaith march for peace and human rights, organized by several rights groups and religious organizations to mark 600 days since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault and the start of the war in Gaza.

Sporting white shirts and umbrellas, participants walk down Jaffa Street toward the Old City, singing the iconic tune “We Shall Overcome.”

Likud activist ordered to pay damages to 4 anti-government protesters after posting their phone numbers online

The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court has accepted a lawsuit against Likud activist Ronit Levi, known online as “Ronit the Bibistit,” which accused her of slander and injury to privacy, after she posted the phone numbers of four leading anti-government protesters online and encouraged her followers to call and harass them.

The court orders Levi to pay the activists who sued her — Shikma Bresler, Moshe Radman, Ami Dror, and Oren Shvil — NIS 140,000.

After Levi posted their phone numbers on X, she encouraged her thousands of social media followers to call them and send messages, asking to buy various food items from them, despite none of them working in food sales.

“The plaintiffs, who are not engaged in the supply of products and services, and whose ‘sin’ is their part in protesting against government policy, found themselves severely harassed and even humiliated, in dozens or perhaps more of the phone calls and messages they received,” wrote the judge in his ruling, Ynet reports.

Levi responds on X, writing: “You won’t defeat me, you won’t shut me up. I will continue to fight for my camp. For the truth and for justice.”

Senior UN official slams new Gaza aid mechanism for failing to meet humanitarian expectations

Displaced Palestinians receive food packages from a US-backed humanitarian aid distribution center in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on May 27, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Jonathan Whittall, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the West Bank and Gaza, criticizes the new aid distribution mechanism in the Gaza Strip initiated by Israel and the United States.

“The new food distribution does not meet the needs,” he says. “There are four centers, most of them in the south, and one that is supposed to operate in central Gaza. We do not consider this humanitarian. Humanitarian means providing aid wherever people are.”

In a conversation with journalists, Whittall also addresses claims that the UN-coordinated aid is reaching Hamas, saying that OCHA has “no evidence” of this being the case, and charges that any looting of aid has happened on Israel’s watch.

“We’re referring to aid that is in our possession, after it passes through gangs and reaches our warehouses in the Strip,” he says. “The real looting of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by gangs operating near the Kerem Shalom crossing, under the watch of Israeli forces at the site.”

Meanwhile, an unnamed humanitarian official tells The Times of Israel that much of the food entering Gaza through the new mechanism requires at least minimal cooking, with fuel and hot water.

Currently, people in Gaza are gathering firewood to cook, but it’s a challenge to prepare all the food that’s coming in,” says the official.

Regarding the aid that has been leaking into Gaza’s private sector – that is, reaching local markets and then sold for profit – he explains: “Earlier in the war, some supplies entered outside the UN system. Some ended up in the private sector, some were distributed through channels we’re not familiar with.”

“Today, a large portion of the aid that enters is looted by desperate people—crowds—not the organized looting we saw earlier.”

3 teens charged for robbing man at gunpoint after meeting him through LGBTQ dating app

State prosecutors indict three teenagers in southern Israel who allegedly robbed a man at gunpoint after meeting him through the LGBTQ dating app Grindr.

According to the indictment, the three defendants, aged 16-17, created a fake dating profile under the name “Ron” and reached out to the man online, who agreed to meet them in person.

At the meeting point, one of the defendants approached him and led him toward his two accomplices. Upon realizing he was being ambushed, the victim tried to flee, but was caught and attacked by the three teenagers.

The boys pressed a gun to his temple and brandished a knife in front of him while threatening to murder him. One of the assailants transferred NIS 3,000 from the victim’s account on Bit — a digital payment app — to his own, per prosecutors.

The defendants also filmed the victim in a sham confession, forcing him to “admit” to having come to the meeting point to molest one of the boys, the indictment says.

They threatened to harm the victim and his family if he reported the assault to the authorities. The three minors are charged with aggravated robbery, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

Low-cost giant Ryanair extends suspension of Tel Aviv flights until August 1; report says some 200,000 tickets canceled

A Ryanair plane at Ben Gurion International Airport, outside of Tel Aviv. March 2, 2021. (Yossi Aloni/ Flash90)

In a massive blow to travelers, low-cost air giant Ryanair announces it is extending the suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv until August 1.

The airline says that the flights are being canceled for reasons “beyond our control.”

According to Channel 12 news, the announcement means that some 200,000 tickets have been canceled, with summer vacations thrown into chaos for many.

The low-cost carrier resumed flights to Israel in March after an extended hiatus, but suspended them again this month following a Houthi attack in which a missile hit the grounds of the airport.

It had been set to resume flying in early June.

Earlier this month, Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said his airline was “losing patience” with security disruptions at Ben Gurion Airport and may consider diverting aircraft to service alternative destinations.

“I think we’re running out of patience too with Israel… flights to and from Tel Aviv,” O’Leary told analysts following the release of full-year results.

“If they’re going to keep being disrupted by these security disruptions, frankly, we’d be better off sending those aircraft somewhere else in Europe,” he said.

The ongoing war, which has led to many foreign carriers canceling Tel Aviv services, means that Israeli airlines, chiefly El Al, operate at a near-monopoly on some routes, setting sky-high ticket prices.

Amid questioning over historic media coverage, PM denies his wife threw shoe at employee in 1997

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the courtroom at the Tel Aviv District Court, before the start of his testimony in his criminal trial, May 27, 2025. (Reuven Kastro/POOL)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies that his wife threw a shoe at a household employee in the prime minister’s residence during testimony in his criminal trial in the Tel Aviv District Court house.

Netanyahu was asked about the alleged incident from 1997 by an attorney for Noni Mozes, the publisher of the Yediot Aharonot newspaper, who is accused of bribery in Case 2000.

The attorney asked the question in relation to Netanyahu’s claim that Yediot was exceptionally hostile to him, even during his first tenure as prime minister in 1996.

“This was deliberate and false character assassination,” responds Netanyahu, according to Hebrew media reports. “It was full of lies and slander. They [the newspaper] were simply taking sides.”

At the beginning of the hearing, Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman, who heads the three-judge panel, said that an extra day of hearings must be added to the schedule in order to speed up the trial, which is now in its fifth year.

Netanyahu said that would be impossible, while his attorney also strongly objected.

Sara Netanyahu, wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, arrives for a court hearing in Jerusalem on May 5, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Rubio pushes Abraham Accords, affirms US support in Jerusalem antisemitism summit video message

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a video message released May 28, 2025 (Screen grab)

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserts his country’s support for Israel and the Jewish people by decrying antisemitism and promoting the Abraham Accords in a video message screened at an international conference on fighting antisemitism at the Foreign Ministry.

The top US diplomat hails the founding of the State of Israel by the Jewish people, “who made the desert bloom into a high-tech superpower…not by abandoning its history and identity, but by embracing them.”

“Sadly, some of Israel’s neighbors have failed to appreciate how following Israel’s example could have brought prosperity to the region,” says Rubio.

“Instead, they chose war. They decided to impoverish their people in a futile effort to destroy Israel. They succeeded in the former while failing in the latter,” he continues.

Rubio says he prays for the day “When leaders will abandon self-destructive hatred and forge a new future in partnership with Israel—by building on the Abraham Accords,” the series of normalization agreements between Israel and nearby Arab states initiated by US President Donald Trump during his first term.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, there are signs that that future may be closer than we dare dream,” says Rubio, adding that “only if we can overcome the futile, persistent evil of antisemitism can we reach that future.”

Rubio mentions his February visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, saying that the world was reminded of the importance of “Never Again” after last Wednesday’s DC shooting attack outside an American Jewish Committee event at a Jewish museum, in which a young couple, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, was “murdered in cold blood.”

“We must never forget,” says Rubio, that the murderer of the young couple, who were separately laid to rest this week, “proudly screamed ‘Free, free Palestine!’—words that now serve as a battle cry for the death of Jews, the destruction of Israel, and the horrors we must never again allow.”

“There can be no nuanced separation of hatred of Israel and hatred of the Jewish people,” he continues, saying, “Those who call to boycott Israel are calling for the boycott of their Jewish neighbors and classmates. Those who call for violence against Israelis are calling for violence against Jews. Those who call for the destruction of Israel are calling for the destruction of the Jewish people.”

“Under President Trump, the United States will stand with the Jewish people,” says Rubio, referencing his “vigorous new visa policy,” which the Trump administration says is to crack down on anti-Israel activity. “We are holding international organizations and nations accountable for rhetoric against Israel that resurfaces in the manifesto of monsters like Yaron and Sarah’s killer,” he adds.

“But we do see an eventual light at the end of this long tunnel of suffering. One can imagine a Middle East in which the Abraham Accords eventually reign,” he concludes.

IDF says dozens of targets struck across Gaza over past 48 hours

The IDF says dozens of targets were struck by the Israeli Air Force across the Gaza Strip in the past 48 hours.

Among the targets was a rocket launcher used to fire projectiles at the Kissufim area and troops operating in Gaza on Monday, the military says.

The IDF says the targets also included terror operatives, buildings used by terror groups, anti-tank launch posts, weapon depots, and other infrastructure.

Troops of the 98th Division, meanwhile, killed several operatives planning to carry out a sniper and anti-tank missile attack on the forces in southern Gaza, the IDF adds.

Pope Leo reiterates call for Gaza ceasefire and release of hostages

Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech during the weekly general audience at St Peter's Square at The Vatican, on May 28, 2025. (Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

Pope Leo appeals for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages, and calling on Israel and the Hamas terror group to “completely respect” international humanitarian law.

“In the Gaza Strip, the intense cries are reaching Heaven more and more from mothers and fathers who hold tightly to the bodies of their dead children,” the pontiff says during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

“To those responsible, I renew my appeal: stop the fighting,” says the pope. “Liberate all the hostages. Completely respect humanitarian law.”

Leo, elected on May 8 to replace the late Pope Francis, also appeals for an end to the war in Ukraine.

Health Ministry: 62 cases of measles diagnosed in Israel since April 20

The Health Ministry reports that 62 measles cases have been diagnosed in Israel since April 20.

The source of infection for some of the patients is unknown, but most of the patients were unvaccinated.

Currently, half of the patients who were diagnosed have recovered.

The ministry also says that one measles patient might have exposed the public to the infection. The patient was in the Ben Gurion Airport Reception Hall between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on May 22, and in Shake Shack Restaurant, Cinema City Rishon Lezion, between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on May 24. The ministry urges people who were in these places to make sure that they are vaccinated against measles.

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease characterized by fever, general malaise, runny nose, and rash. It can cause serious and even life-threatening complications.

Former hostages and relatives of 58 captives mark 600 days since Oct. 7: ‘Abandoned and forgotten’

Former hostages, and relatives of hostages, at a press conference in Tel Aviv, marking 600 days of the hostages' captivity, May 28, 2025 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Hostage family members gather at the Tel Aviv’s Hostages Forum offices to mark 600 days since their loved ones were taken captive on October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists.

Anat Angrest, whose son, hostage Matan Angrest, was kidnapped by Hamas from a burning IDF tank at the Nahal Oz military base during the battle, directs angry comments at the Israeli government.

“I want to turn here to every mother and father: Imagine standing next to me, that you gave everything to the state and to the homeland but you’re abandoned and forgotten,” says Angrest. “It can unfortunately happen to every one of us.”

Angrest says she believes that the number of soldiers who refuse to serve in the army will grow, as will the number of citizens who no longer want to hold Israeli citizenship.

“This is not just my war, or the war of the Angrest family, or 58 families,” she says, referring to the 58 remaining hostages in Gaza.

Anat Angrest speaks at a press conference in Tel Aviv, marking 600 days of the hostages’ captivity, May 28, 2025 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Angrest’s words are echoed by Leah Goldin, whose son, Hadar Goldin, was killed in battle in Gaza in 2014 and whose body is still held by Hamas.

“Hadar was abandoned,” says his mother. “It was seen as a private matter of the Goldin family. Now there are 58 more Hadar Goldins in Gaza. This is a national issue.”

Released hostage Arbel Yehoud, 29, who was kept alone for the entirety of her 482 days of captivity, is joined by Eitan Cunio and Lucas Cunio, the brothers of hostages David Cunio and Ariel Cunio, Yehoud’s boyfriend.

Alongside them is released hostage Yarden Bibas, the longtime close friend of David Cunio. Bibas was freed in February but his wife, Shiri, and their two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, were killed in captivity. The Bibas family, Cunios and Yehouds are all members of Kibbutz Nir Oz, where they were taken captive from their homes on October 7.

“I was there. I know exactly what the hostages are going through,” said Yehoud, naming the hostages from Nir Oz who are still held captive. “I call on the Israeli nation and its leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Trump opened the door, Edan [Alexander] went out and this door has to stay open until all come home.”

Arbel Yehoud, speaks alongside Yarden Bibas, Eitan Cunio and Lucas Cunio at a press conference in Tel Aviv, marking 600 days of the hostages captivity, May 28, 2025 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Ofri Bibas, sister of Yarden Bibas, holds up a picture of baby Kfir, who was 10 months old when he was killed in captivity.

She says they shouted for months when her brother, sister-in-law and nephews were taken captive.

“We screamed and tried to believe and the help never came,” she says.”Prime minister, on [October 7] you failed that day and have failed for the last 600 days. You didn’t take responsibility and won’t investigate what happened,” she says, referring to the government’s refusal to establish a state commission of inquiry.

“So many soldiers gave their lives. Wars have to end with diplomacy,” says Ofri Bibas. “How many more soldiers and hostages have to die for this to end?”

Another veteran member of Kibbutz Nir Oz, 85-year-old Yocheved Lifschitz, whose husband, Oded Lifschitz, was killed in captivity, says that the Israeli government didn’t seem to want her and her neighbor, Nurit Cooper, back home when Hamas captors released the two women and brought them to the border on October 23, 2023.

She calls that moment the second embarrassment of the nation, following the October 7 disaster.

“Something else that bothers me is Israel’s chief rabbinate,” says Lifschitz. “The commandment to rescue captives — the rabbis don’t open their mouths about it,. What matters to them is funding and not enlisting yeshiva students in the army. Returning captives is a basic issue in Judaism,\. They don’t know what real Judaism is.”

Other hostages’ family members come onstage, including former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky, whose boyfriend, Matan Zangauker, is still in captivity; rescued hostage Luis Har; and Tal Kuperstein, father of hostage Bar Kuperstein.

They all call on the government to bring the remaining hostages home, “to stop with the nonsense,” says Har.

“How is it that you haven’t brought Bar home?” asks Barak Oz, cousin to hostage Bar Kuperstein.

He sighs heavily, describing a dream he had that Bar came home.

“I felt him, I smelled him,” he says. “I want to cry from that kind of happiness.”

He hugs Tal Kuperstein, Bar’s father, who cries onstage. Kuperstein, a former ambulance volunteer, is wheelchair-bound after a stroke during surgery, following a car accident when he was saving a young child’s life.

Israel to begin deporting citizens convicted of terrorism who receive payments from Palestinian Authority

(L-r) Coalition Whip Ofir Katz, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel at the Knesset on May 28, 2025 (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Israel is set for the first time to deport citizens convicted of terrorism who are receiving payments from the Palestinian Authority, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Coalition Whip Ofir Katz announce.

In a joint statement, the officials say four individuals are currently in advanced stages of the deportation process, with proceedings initiated against hundreds more.

The announcement follows a classified Knesset committee meeting earlier attended by Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, where they reviewed the implementation of a February 2023 law allowing the revocation of citizenship from convicted terrorists and their deportation.

Defense Minister Katz says, “Terrorists and terror supporters who are citizens or residents of Israel will receive no reward for their actions,” adding that “those who choose murder and hatred will be deported and stripped of their citizenship.”

Coalition Whip Katz calls the move “a historic moment,” adding: “In the fight against terror, there are no compromises.”

The law, an amendment to Israel’s 1952 Citizenship Law, applies to both Israeli citizens and permanent residents incarcerated following a conviction for terror, aiding terror, harming Israeli sovereignty, inciting war, or aiding an enemy during wartime.

The law enables citizenship to be revoked even if the person has no other citizenship, provided they have a permanent residence status outside of Israel. Once citizenship is revoked, the person would be denied entry back into Israel.

IDF: Lebanon drone strike last night killed local Hezbollah commander

An Israeli drone strike last night in southern Lebanon’s Yater killed a commander in Hezbollah, the military announces.

According to the IDF, the operative, named by local media as Nabil Balaghi, was the commander of Hezbollah’s forces in the Yater area.

During the war, Balaghi “advanced terror attacks on IDF troops and Israel,” the IDF says, adding that recently he attempted to restore Hezbollah’s capabilities in the Yater area, which “constitutes a blatant violation of the [ceasefire] deal.”

More than 150 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in Israeli strikes since the start of the November 2024 ceasefire in Lebanon.

International conference on combating antisemitism kicks off at Yad Vashem

Delegates at an international conference on combating antisemitism at a memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem, May 28, 2025 (Shlomi Amsalem/GPO)

An international conference on combating antisemitism has begun with a tour of Yad Vashem for foreign dignitaries, including ministers, ambassadors, and special envoys from dozens of countries.

Delegates join Jewish community leaders visiting the national Holocaust museum and memorial, followed by a ceremony.

The conference was organized to coincide with Israel’s yearlong presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

“We live in a time when the ancient ambition to destroy the Jewish people is once again gaining strength,” says Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar at the event. “The new antisemitism is aimed at Israel – the State of the Jewish People – using slander, delegitimization, and double standards.”

“Today we have a strong Jewish state that fights our enemies,” Sa’ar continues. “But antisemitism is rising around the world. It threatens us everywhere. We saw it in Washington last week. Yaron and Sarah, two staff members at our embassy – with bright futures – were murdered in an antisemitic terrorist attack.”

IDF says its medical facility in south Syria has treated over 500 Syrians

IDF troops treat Syrians at a medical facility near the Druze village of Hader, southern Syria, in a handout photo issued on May 28, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says a medical facility it set up in southern Syria, next to the Druze village of Hader, has so far treated over 500 Syrians.

The “forward mobile triage” was established several weeks ago, amid the IDF’s ongoing operations in southern Syria, and is intended to treat Syrian Druze in the area, the military says.

“IDF troops continue to operate in Syria to maintain the security of the residents of the Golan Heights and to create a forward security zone, alongside providing assistance to the local population,” it adds.

IDF troops treat Syrians at a medical facility near the Druze village of Hader, southern Syria, in a video issued on May 28, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Italian FM: Israel’s legitimate response to Oct. 7 now taking on unacceptable form

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani talks to the press as he arrives for an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers ahead of potential peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey, in Antalya, on May 15, 2025. (OZAN KOSE / AFP)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani condemns Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip, calling it “dramatic and unacceptable” and urging an immediate end to the strikes.

Speaking to the Italian parliament, Tajini says, “The legitimate reaction of the Israeli government to a terrible and senseless terrorist act is taking on dramatic and unacceptable forms, which we call on Israel to stop immediately.”

He adds that Italy is prepared to contribute to a peacekeeping mission in Gaza, provided it is led by Arab nations.

Iran says it may allow US inspectors from watchdog to visit its nuclear sites if deal reached

Centrifuges line a hall at the Uranium Enrichment Facility in Natanz, Iran, in a still image from a video aired by the Islamic Republic Iran Broadcasting company on April 17, 2021, six days after the hall had been damaged in a mysterious attack. (IRIB via AP)

Iran might allow the UN atomic watchdog to send US inspectors to Iranian sites if Tehran’s talks with Washington succeed, Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami says.

Tehran and Washington are expected to hold a sixth round of talks over Iran’s nuclear program, with US President Donald Trump predicting “good news.”

“It is normal that inspectors from hostile countries are not allowed, but if a nuclear deal is reached, we might allow American inspectors working for the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit our nuclear sites,” Eslami tells a press conference in Tehran.

The two countries have clashed over the issue of uranium enrichment in Iran, which Washington says is a possible pathway to building nuclear weapons and must be brought to zero. Tehran maintains its nuclear program is exclusively for civilian purposes and views its enrichment industry as a red line.

“Enrichment is the foundation and pillar of the country’s nuclear industry. Suppose someone is allowed to have an electricity substation and network, but not allowed to establish a power plant,” Eslami says.

The New York Times reported earlier today that US officials are worried that Israel could decide to carry out strikes on Iran’s nuclear program without much warning.

Iran, which avowedly seeks Israel’s destruction, has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it has been enriching uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, has obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities, and its officials have increasingly warned that they could pursue the bomb.

IDF: Over $2 million of Hamas ‘terror funds’ seized in West Bank raid on money changers

Israeli troops storm a currency exchange shop next to signs warning people not to deal with the Gulf exchange company in Hebron in the southern West Bank on May 27, 2025. (HAZEM BADER / AFP)

The IDF says it seized over NIS 7 million ($2 million) in “terror funds” and detained over 30 suspects in an operation yesterday in the West Bank against money exchange stores allegedly funding Hamas.

Several currency exchange stores in the West Bank were raided in the operation.

Former PM Olmert slams comments by ministers on starving Gaza: ‘What is it, if not a war crime?’

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 Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert tells CNN that recent statements by senior Israeli ministers advocating the starvation of Gaza amount to “war crimes.”

“What is it, if not a war crime?” he challenges, adding, “How can a serious person representing the Israeli government… spell it out in such an explicit manner that we should starve Gaza, that there should be no supply of basic, fundamental humanitarian needs?”

He goes on to claim that the ongoing conflict no longer appears to be “a war against Hamas.”

“This looks more and more like a political war,” Olmert says, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and what he calls his “group of thugs” of driving the government’s actions.

According to Olmert, the government’s intents “can’t be interpreted in any other way” than as war crimes.

Olmert told the BBC last week that what Israel “is doing now in Gaza is very close to a war crime.”

PM says Houthis ‘just a symptom’ of Iranian aggression

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the courtroom at the Tel Aviv District Court, before the start of his testimony in his criminal trial, May 27, 2025. (Reuven Kastro/POOL)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirms that the Israeli Air Force carried out fresh strikes on Houthi-controlled Sanaa International Airport in Yemen.

“We operate by a simple principle: Whoever harms us — we will harm them,” Netanyahu says in a statement, warning that force will be met with even greater force.

Netanyahu adds that the Houthis are “just a symptom.”

“The main power behind them is Iran, which is responsible for the aggression emanating from Yemen,” he concludes.

Footage from Gaza shows dozens looting humanitarian aid truck en route to northern Strip

Footage circulating on social media shows dozens of Gazans taking control of a humanitarian aid truck that had arrived in the Nuseirat area in central Gaza and unloading its contents.

According to reports, the aid had been intended for the northern Gaza Strip.

Israel blocked aid from entering Gaza for 78 days, arguing that enough had gone in during a six-week ceasefire, while also maintaining that Hamas was diverting much of the assistance.

The move prompted intense international criticism and reports of malnutrition and hunger.

Aid organizations warned of the risk of looting by desperate civilians when aid was resumed.

הלילה בשוק בנוסייראת: עשרות פרקו סיוע ממשאית שלפי דיווח אחד הייתה בדרך לצפון. לא נראה מסודר או המטרה שלשמה המשאית נכנסה. אתמול דווח גם על גניבת קמח שהגיע למאפייה בנוסייראת, יש תיעוד לא מאוד מהמקום ברור שבו נשמע גם ירי ברקע pic.twitter.com/uLMHOkf9BJ

— Nurit Yohanan (@nurityohanan) May 28, 2025

16 people killed in Gaza strikes, Hamas-run authorities say; IDF declines to comment

Gaza’s Hamas-run authorities say 16 people were killed in Israeli strikes since dawn.

“Sixteen people have been killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since dawn,” civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal tells AFP.

Among them, nine belonged to the family of photojournalist Osama al-Arbeed and were killed in a strike on their home in Gaza’s north at 2 a.m., Bassal says.

He adds that Arbeed was injured, noting that he is a videographer and editor at a local film production organization.

And in central Gaza six members of the same family were killed in a strike that left 15 people wounded, “including children,” Bassal says.

One other person, a civilian per Bassal, was killed near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

The figures cannot be independently verified.

When contacted by AFP, the Israeli military declines to comment on the strikes, saying it cannot not do so without precise coordinates.

IDF confirms strikes on Houthi-held airport targeting plane used ‘to transport terrorists’

The IDF confirms carrying out airstrikes at the Houthi-held Sanaa International Airport in Yemen a short while ago.

According to the IDF, the strike hit the airport and an aircraft used by the Houthis “to transport terrorists who advanced terror attacks on Israel.”

“Similar to the ports of Hodeida and Salif that were struck last week, the main airport in Sanaa is routinely operated by the Houthi regime and serves its terror purposes. This is another example of the cruel use made by the Houthi terror organization of civilian infrastructure for terror activities,” the IDF says.

Katz: Israeli strikes at Yemen’s Sanaa airport destroyed Houthis’ remaining plane

Defense Minister Israel Katz seen in the Knesset in Jerusalem, on March 26, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Defense Minister Israel Katz confirms Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck targets at the Houthi-held Sanaa International Airport a short while ago.

In a statement, Katz says the strikes destroyed the final remaining plane in use by the Houthis. The previous planes were destroyed in a strike on the airport on May 6.

“This is a clear message and a direct continuation of the policy we established: Whoever fires at the State of Israel will pay a heavy price,” he says.

“The ports in Yemen will continue to be struck heavily, and the airport in Sanaa will be destroyed again and again, as will other strategic infrastructures in the area used by the Houthi terror organization and its supporters,” Katz continues.

“The Houthi terror organization will be under naval and aerial blockade, as we promised and warned. Anyone who harms us will be harmed sevenfold,” he adds.

Israel carrying out strikes on Houthi-held Sanaa airport in Yemen after repeated missile attacks

The Israeli Air Force is carrying out strikes on the Houthi-held Sanaa International Airport in Yemen, according to local media.

The strikes come after repeated Houthi missile attacks on Israel in recent days.

Earlier this month, also after repeated attacks, Israeli strikes destroyed the airport’s terminal and left craters on its runway, according to Yemeni authorities. The airfield reopened 11 days later.

Macron says upcoming UN conference will ‘give fresh impetus to recognition of a Palestinian state’

France's President Emmanuel Macron (L) and Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto attend a press conference at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on May 28, 2025. (BAY ISMOYO / AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirms his wish to see a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Macron is leaning toward recognizing a Palestinian state, diplomats and experts say, a move that could infuriate Israel and deepen Western splits.

“Only a political solution will make it possible to restore peace and build for the long term,” Macron says, during a visit to Indonesia.

“Together with Saudi Arabia, we will soon be organizing a conference on Gaza in New York to give fresh impetus to the recognition of a Palestinian state and the recognition of the State of Israel and its right to live in peace and security in this region,” he says.

Macron is referring to a June United Nations conference co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia on creating a Palestinian state.

Israel has denounced the potential recognition of a Palestinian state as a “reward for terrorism.”

Indonesia president: We’re willing to recognize Israel if it recognizes a Palestinian state, we must guarantee Israel’s rights and safety

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, listens as Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto speaks during a joint press conference after their bilateral meeting at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto says he would be willing to establish diplomatic relations with Israel if it recognizes a Palestinian state.

He makes the statement amid talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in capital Jakarta.

“The two-state solution and the freedom of Palestine is the only way to achieve the true peace. We must acknowledge and guarantee Israel’s rights as a sovereign country that must be paid attention to and guaranteed safety. Indonesia has stated that once Israel recognizes Palestine, Indonesia is ready to recognize Israel,” he tells a news conference.

Under previous Indonesian president Joko Widodo, Indonesia tolerated low-level, quiet contacts with Israel, mainly on trade, but largely shunned open ties with the Jewish state.

Last year, Widodo’s office denied a report that Jakarta and Jerusalem had intended to normalize relations in October 2023 but the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the resulting war caused the plan to be shelved.

Indonesia has reportedly examined normalizing ties with Israel to smooth its entry to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Moves toward normalization between the countries have been rumored for years, but Indonesia has refused to cement ties until an independent Palestinian state is established and has been a staunch supporter of the Palestinians. The country has a tiny Jewish community.

Anti-Israel protests are common in Indonesia, where support for the Palestinians runs high.

Settlers set fire to vehicles, spray graffiti in West Bank village near Ramallah – Palestinian media

Palestinian media reports that settlers set fire to several vehicles overnight in the village of Rammun near Ramallah in the West Bank.

Images show Hebrew graffiti reading: “Regards from Tzeela, revenge” — referring to Tzeela Gez, an Israeli woman shot to death by a Palestinian terrorist in the West Bank two weeks ago while on her way to hospital to give birth.

There are no reports of injuries in the apparent attack by the settlers, and no comment from Israel Police.

Israeli authorities rarely arrest Jewish perpetrators in such attacks. Some rights groups lament that convictions are even more unusual and that the vast majority of charges in these types of attacks are dropped.

#صور | مليشيات المستوطنين تهاجم فجر اليوم بلدة رمون شرق رام الله وتشعل النيران بعدد من المركبات وتخط شعارات معادية للفلسطنيين. pic.twitter.com/3c3UMd14gV

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) May 28, 2025

Iran executes man it convicted of spying for Israel’s Mossad

Iran has executed a man convicted of spying for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, the judiciary says.

“After identification, arrest, and judicial proceedings against Pedram Madani, who was spying in favor of the Zionist regime, and following the complete process of criminal procedure and the final confirmation and upholding of the verdict by the Supreme Court, he was brought to justice and executed,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online reports.

Arrested in 2020, Madani is said to have attempted to convey classified information to Israel about critical locations in Iran, Mizan says, adding that he was also accused of acquiring wealth by illegal means.

Entangled in a decades-long shadow war with Israel, Iran has put to death many individuals it accuses of having links with Israel’s Mossad intelligence service and facilitating the latter’s operations in the country, notably assassinations or acts of sabotage meant to undermine its nuclear program.

Palestinian media reports 9 killed in overnight Israeli strike in Gaza

Palestinian media reports nine people were killed and 15 injured in an Israeli strike overnight on an area north of Gaza City.

A spokesman for the Hamas-run civil defense authority says the home of a journalist was targeted. Reports say the unnamed journalist survived.

There is no comment from the Israel Defense Forces.

Protesters block Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway in call for hostage deal, elections

Protesters block Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway in a joint call for an agreement to secure the release of the hostages held in Gaza and for elections to be held.

“Hostages home, the government [go] home,” they paint on the road

The demonstration comes as the nation marks 600 days since October 7, 2023.

משפחות חטופים ופעילים חוסמים את איילון דרום וכתבו על הכביש ״החטופים הביתה הממשלה הביתה״ לציון היום ה-600 בשבי pic.twitter.com/Vvjpaf55e7

— Bar Peleg (@bar_peleg) May 28, 2025

Israelis gather nationwide to mark 600 days since hostages taken on Oct. 7: ‘Save Them Now’

Protesters in Shoham call for the release of the hostages on Day 600 of the war., May 28, 2025 (Danny Guttman/Pro-democracy protest groups)

Beginning at 6:29 a.m., the moment when Hamas launched its October 7, 2023 terrorist attack, Israelis gather at different locations around the country in the formation of the yellow hostage symbol.

The demonstrations, a call to free the 58 remaining hostages in Gaza, mark 600 days of war.

They gather in the predawn hours in the shallow waters of the Mediterranean Sea near the US Embassy branch in Tel Aviv, with the numbers 58 and 600 and “Save Them Now” spelled out in the sand.

People stand in a circle at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, wearing yellow shirts and holding yellow balloons, waiting for the moment when the digital board counting the days, hours, minutes and seconds of captivity switches from 599 to 600.

As the counter turns to 600, the circle releases their balloons and calls, “Bring them home now!”

People gather in a yellow formation on a grassy public knoll in Zichron Yaakov, tie a massive yellow hostage ribbon around Jaffa’s clocktower, hold yellow balloons in Ramat Aviv, and create a human yellow ribbon around intersections in Hadera, Holon, Kfar Saba, Nahalal Junction, Modiin and Emek Hefer.

A human chain forms along the main road from Na’an to Sitriya in the north, while in Jerusalem, residents gather together at the park near the home of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who has been heading Israel’s hostage negotiation team, for the morning service that include prayers for the new month. Critics note that no hostages, with the exception of US-Israeli national Edan Alexander, have been freed since Dermer took on the role over 100 days ago.

At 7:10 a.m., a group of bereaved parents stand in a park across from the Tel Aviv high-rise home of Knesset speaker Amir Ohana, speaking into a microphone, asking the Likud lawmaker to go out to his balcony and look at them.

“Go out on your porch and look at us,” says one father. “Our children were killed and assaulted on October 7. For 600 days, you have turned away from us. We won’t let this break us, and we’ll continue to fight.”

The bereaved parents say they are working on a proposal for legislation calling for new elections because the government refuses to create a state commission of inquiry, investigating the events that led to the Hamas terror attack of October 7.

Israelis protest for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip in Yesud HaMa’ala, marking 600 days of the hostages’ captivity, May 28, 2025 (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

Report: US officials concerned Israel could carry out strikes on Iran without much warning

Pictures released by the Israeli Air Force showing planes returning after intercepting a missile attack from Iran, April 14, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

US officials are worried that Israel could decide to carry out strikes on Iran’s nuclear program without much warning, the New York Times reports.

The outlet says that US intelligence believes that Israel could make the preparations to carry out an attack in as little as seven hours, which would leave them very little time to attempt to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to change his mind, the report says.

Those American intelligence officials are said to doubt the efficacy of a unilateral strike by Israel, with Israeli officials said to believe that the US would have no choice other than to assist if Tehran were to strike back.

The report says that Israeli officials have told Washington that a strike could be carried out even if a nuclear agreement is reached between the US and Iran.

In response, the Prime Minister’s Office dismisses the report as “fake news.”

It comes after a flurry of reports of heated disagreements between US President Donald Trump and Netanyahu on the matter of Iran’s nuclear program.

600 days since October 7, freed hostages plea for remaining captives to be released

A demonstration at the beach in Tel Aviv to mark 600 days in captivity for the hostages, May 28, 2025 (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

Six hundred days since October 7, 2023, when terrorists invaded southern Israel in a massacre that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, former hostages issue pleas for the remaining captives to be freed.

In a column published by Haaretz, former hostage Or Levy, whose wife Eynav Levy was murdered on October 7, says that every second in Gaza is dangerous.

“On a day like this, I ask you to fight. Fight for those left behind. Fight for their families, who never rest for a moment. Fight for those who are looking to close the circle, and bury their loved ones,” he writes.

“Fifty-eight people were left behind. Fifty-eight families who stopped their lives on that damned Saturday, and since then — haven’t returned. Haven’t returned to life. Haven’t returned to smile. Haven’t returned to breathe,” he writes.

“During my time in captivity, we talked a lot about our luck in being born in the State of Israel. So I was sure that they would not forget us, that they would not rest until we all returned. And that is really true — I see the mobilization of everyone,” he writes.

“But unfortunately, it is not true for the people who decide, for the decision-makers. Therefore, I turn to you again — the elected officials, the leaders of our country: Please, do not forget them. Please, bring them home,” says Levy, who was held for 491 days. “Because they do not have time. Every second there — hurts. Every second there — is dangerous. And at any moment — someone could die there.”

Eliya Cohen speaks at an event in the United States, explaining the hellish conditions for those held hostage in Gaza.

“I was a Hamas captive for 505 days. We were taken to an underground tunnel and chained,” Cohen tells an event at Israel’s consulate in Los Angeles, according to the Ynet news site.

“The terrorists would only remove the chains once every two or three months, to allow us to bathe. Every night you go to bed with one thought: ‘What am I going to do tomorrow to get a piece of pita bread?'” he says.

“600 days that our brothers have been in captivity. There are still 58 kidnapped. We must not give up.”

Cohen and Levy were returned to Israel dangerously emaciated.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 58 hostages, including 57 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023.

They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF, and 20 are believed to be alive.

There are grave concerns for the well-being of three others, Israeli officials have said.

ICC prosecutor was readying warrants for Smotrich, Ben Gvir before going on leave — WSJ

Itamar Ben Gvir (right), head of the Otzma Yehudit party, and chairman of the Religious Zionism party Bezalel Smotrich at an election campaign event in Sderot, October 26, 2022. (Flash90)

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan was readying to request arrest warrants for Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir before going on leave amid a sexual misconduct probe, the Wall Street Journal reports.

According the US newspaper, which cites current and former International Criminal Court officials, Khan was building a case against Smotrich and Ben Gvir over their roles in promoting Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Other unidentified officials besides Ben Gvir and Smotrich are also reportedly being investigated by the ICC for working to expand settlements.

It is unclear whether Khan’s deputies will move forward with the case against the two far-right ministers, with the report noting such a move could bring further US sanctions and would entail deep political risks at a time when the court has no top prosecutor in place.

After shooting, Washington Jewish museum to reopen on Thursday

The entrance to the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, May 22, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

The Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, will reopen on Thursday, after two Israeli embassy staffers were murdered while leaving the building last week.

Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, a couple, were gunned down after leaving an event at the museum on Wednesday night. The alleged attacker shouted “Free Palestine” after the shooting, and told police, “I did it for Gaza.”

The museum will reopen on Thursday morning with a program memorializing Lischinsky and Milgrim, the museum says in a statement.

Speakers at the event will include the museum leadership, elected officials and local clergy.

The museum will reopen to the public on Thursday at noon.

Report: Trump told Netanyahu he ‘doesn’t want anything to impede’ potential Iran nuclear deal

During their phone call last week, US President Donald Trump told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he “doesn’t want anything to impede” a potential nuclear deal between the United States and Iran, a White House official tells Axios.

The official says Trump’s message to Netanyahu is that “he doesn’t want him to antagonize at a time when he is trying to solve problems,” and while he is keeping the “other option” open, he wants to first give a chance to diplomatic talks.

The news site also quotes a source who says that Israel believes its window to successfully strike Iran could soon be closed.

The report comes a day after Israeli television revealed the call included heated disagreements between Netanyahu and Trump over how to take on Iran.

Sa’ar warns Israel ‘will simply be destroyed’ if weapons embargo imposed

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar addresses a memorial event for Yaron Lischinsky Sarah Milgrim, at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, May 26, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar warns that an arms embargo on Israel will result in the country’s destruction and “another Holocaust.”

Speaking at an International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance event, Sa’ar notes calls by Hamas and Iran for Israel’s destruction.

“Which states have drawn the necessary conclusions from these remarks and this reality? What is the meaning of actions or remarks, by politicians or countries, of imposing a weapons embargo on Israel. If these moves succeed — Israel will simply be destroyed,” he says. “There will be another Holocaust, in the Land of Israel. This is in fact a way to deprive the Jewish nation of the means to defend itself. Means we so lacked during the long years of exile and the period of the Holocaust.”

Senior US official hails GHF, blasts UN for refusing to get behind aid distribution effort

Palestinians open a box containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization approved by Israel, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration hails the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, while blasting the UN for refusing to cooperate with the group’s new aid distribution initiative, hours after thousands of Palestinians overran one of its sites in Rafah.

“Aid is getting to the people in need, and through their secure distribution system, Israel is kept safe and Hamas empty handed,” says a statement to reporters attributed to a senior administration official.

The official appears to cite GHF’s figures, stating that roughly 8,000 boxes of food have been distributed in the foundation’s first two days of operation, with each box feeding 5.5 people for 3.5 days, totaling 462,000 meals.

The Trump official says GHF is managing to operate in Gaza, despite attempts by Hamas to place blockades on aid trucks. “GHF is a threat to Hamas’s longstanding system of looting the assistance intended for the people of Gaza.”

GHF was established earlier this year in close coordination with Israeli officials who sought to advance a new method of aid distribution that could circumvent Hamas attempts at diversion.

But the UN and other international organizations have withheld much-needed backing for the GHF, arguing that its initiative violates humanitarian principles by requiring Gazans to walk long distances in order to receive heavy boxes of aid from a small number of distribution sites, likely leading to further displacement of Palestinians.

“The UN and other aid agencies were wrong to criticize,” the senior Trump administration official says, making no mention of Tuesday’s mass-looting incident in one of the two distribution sites GHF has begun to operate. “These organizations echoed Hamas talking points rather than praising those who are delivering results.”

While GHF was only registered this year, the Trump official says the project was born during the Biden administration but was dropped due to “bureaucratic incompetence.”

The Trump administration was impressed by the idea, though, and got behind it. “We support bold, out-of-the-box efforts to make life better for Gazans. GHF is doing exactly that. And we’re proud to back their incredible mission,” the official says.

US will renew push for countries to fund GHF once it demonstrates results — official

Displaced Palestinians receive food packages from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in western Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 27, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration plans to renew its push for countries and international organizations to fund the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation once its new aid distribution initiative proves to be a success, a US official tells The Times of Israel.

The US official acknowledges that European countries and other nations approached earlier this month about backing GHF did not respond “favorably.”

“Countries are used to doing what they have always done,” the US official says.

However, the US official is unfazed by the initial negative response from countries, who have refrained from bankrolling GHF to date.

“The United States is a leader in innovation and once GHF works, others will want to share in its success,” the official adds.

Asked about the overrun of one of GHF’s Rafah distribution sites by thousands of Palestinians on Tuesday, the US official downplays the incident, insisting that it lasted 20 minutes and that over 400,000 meals were fed as a result of the foundation’s work.

Netanyahu lauds new Gaza aid plan, says starvation policy allegations a ‘lie’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses an international summit on combating antisemitism, hosted by the Foreign Ministry, on May 27, 2025. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defends the US and Israel-backed aid distribution plan in Gaza that began operations today, calling it a critical tool to weaken Hamas and firmly rejecting accusations that Israel uses starvation as a weapon of war, during an English-language speech at the Foreign Ministry at an international summit on combating antisemitism.

Addressing the incident in which thousands of Gazans briefly overran one of the newly opened aid distribution sites in the south of the enclave this afternoon, Netanyahu acknowledges that, “There was some loss of control momentarily.”

“Happily, we brought it back under control. We’re going to put many more of these [distribution sites],” says the premier.

According to Netanyahu, the initiative aims to make Hamas operatives “like fish without the water,” by leaving them “without the tool for governance which they use, and that’s basically…the humanitarian aid that they loot.”

Dismissing allegations that Israel is pursuing a deliberate policy of starving Gaza’s civilian population, Netanyahu calls such claims “the current fad, the current lie” that “spreads like wildfire” in the media.

“From day one, or the early days of the war, we decided on a policy: we’re going after Hamas, we’re not going after the civilian population,” says Netanyahu.

He claims that Israel stayed true to this commitment by taking actions to allow civilians to evacuate combat zones and by “supplying them with essential requirements: food, water, medicine. That’s what international law and common sense requires.”

The premier does not mention the more than two months, starting on March 2 and ending only last week, during which all deliveries to the Gaza Strip were suspended, and no food or medical supplies were allowed to enter the enclave.

He claims that there is no proof of malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, and that this can be seen in photographic evidence taken from IDF security inspections of detained civilians and combatants.

“You don’t see one, not one emaciated from the beginning of the war to the present,” he says, not offering any proof to back up his claim.

According to the premier, the “best way” for Israel to combat what he says are false accusations is “winning the war quickly.”

“That’s what we’re trying to do. Win the war quickly, free our hostages, destroy Hamas. The two go hand-in-hand. Because you don’t get the release of hostages unless you apply military pressure. And then, of course, make sure that Gaza doesn’t pose a threat to Israel in the future,” he says.

Netanyahu goes on to assert that false accusations against Israel inspired the murder of the two Israeli embassy staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim in a shooting attack in the US last week.

He says that he met the “beautiful couple” while visiting Washington, and that the two were “killed only because they were Jews.”

He posits that the murder suspect, who shouted “Free Palestine” while being arrested, felt justified in his crime because he felt “Israel is doing the same” by deliberately murdering Gazan civilians.

“No we’re not. We’re not doing the same,” he declares. “We take pains to not do the same,” the premier declares. “We go out of our way to create safe zones, to give humanitarian aid, to make sure that civilians leave.”