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The Times of Israel liveblogged Friday’s events as they happened.
Musk vows to stay Trump’s ‘friend’ in odd black-eyed farewell
Billionaire Elon Musk bade farewell to Donald Trump in an extraordinary Oval Office appearance today in which he sported a black eye, brushed aside drug abuse claims and vowed to stay a “friend and advisor” to the US president.
As the world’s richest person bowed out of his role as Trump’s cost-cutter-in-chief, the Republican hailed Musk’s “incredible service” and handed him a golden key to the White House.
But Trump insisted that Musk was “really not leaving” after a turbulent four months in which his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut tens of thousands of jobs, shuttered whole agencies, and slashed foreign aid.
“He’s going to be back and forth,” said Trump, showering praise on the tech tycoon for what he called the “most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations.”
South African-born Musk, wearing a black T-shirt with the word “Dogefather” in white lettering and a black DOGE baseball cap, said many of the $1 trillion savings he promised would take time to bear fruit.
“I look forward to continuing to be a friend and advisor to the president,” he said.
But many people were more interested in the livid black bruise around Musk’s right eye. The SpaceX and Tesla magnate said that his son was to blame for the injury.
Elon Musk just got asked why he has a black eye. pic.twitter.com/8RScbhfdXv
— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) May 30, 2025
“I was just horsing around with lil’ X, and I said, ‘go ahead punch me in the face,'” 53-year-old Musk said. “And he did. Turns out even a five-year-old punching you in the face actually is…” he added, before trailing off.
Speculation about the cause was further fueled by accusations in the New York Times that Musk used so much of the drug ketamine on the 2024 campaign trail that he developed bladder problems. Musk dodged a question about the drug allegations.
Israel will block Saudi-led delegation of FMs from visiting West Bank — official
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud attends a meeting at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Paris, May 23, 2025. (Teresa Suarez, Pool via AP)
Israel has decided to block a delegation of Middle Eastern foreign ministers led by Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat from making a landmark visit to the West Bank on Sunday, a senior Israeli official confirms to The Times of Israel.
The foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and Turkey were slated to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Sunday.
The senior Israeli official says the PA was planning to host a meeting aimed “at promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
Saudi Arabia and France are cohosting a conference at the UN next month aimed at advancing a two-state solution, and Paris is weighing whether or not it will use the platform to recognize a Palestinian state.
“Israel will not cooperate with moves designed to harm it and its security,” the Israeli official asserts.
The move is likely to further strain Israel’s relations with regional Arab states, which have already deteriorated significantly since the outbreak of the Gaza war.
Confirming first Syria strike in weeks, IDF says it targeted anti-ship missiles stored near Latakia
The IDF confirms carrying out airstrikes near the coastal Syrian city of Latakia a short while ago, saying its fighter jets targeted weapon depots used to store anti-ship missiles.
The missiles had posed a threat to “international and Israeli freedom of navigation,” the military says.
Additionally, the IDF says it struck anti-aircraft missile “components” near Latakia.
It marks the first Israeli airstrike in Syria since May 3.
Israel said to strike military sites near Syrian coastal cities of Latakia and Tartus
Syrian media reports Israeli airstrikes on military sites near Latakia and Tartus on the coast.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
It would mark the first reported Israeli airstrikes in Syria since May 3.
الساحل السوري الان انباء عن غارات على ثكنات عسكرية ..#اللاذقية #طرطوس pic.twitter.com/Ql4wXcHj4Q
— الشارع السوري (@syrian_st) May 30, 2025
UN slams ‘armed individuals’ who stole medical supplies from field hospital warehouse in Deir el-Balah
The United Nations says a group of “armed individuals” raided a warehouse in central Gaza and looted large amounts of medical supplies.
“Today, a group of armed individuals stormed the warehouses at a field hospital in Deir el-Balah, looting large quantities of medical equipment, supplies, medicines, and nutritional supplements that was intended for malnourished children,” says Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Dujarric also says that “yesterday, we and our humanitarian partners only managed to collect five truckloads of cargo from the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing.”
“The other 60 trucks had to return to the crossing due to intense hostilities in the area,” Dujarric adds.
An Israeli official says his country has offered the UN logistical and operational support, but “the UN is not doing their job.”
The official, who speaks on condition of anonymity because he’s not authorized to talk to the media, says other organizations have succeeded in collecting aid from the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing. The official declines to provide details on how many truckloads were collected or which organizations were able to collect them.
Two killed in suspected gangland shooting in the central city of Kafr Qasim
Two men critically hurt in a suspected gangland shooting in Kafr Qasim have both been pronounced dead after being taken to a local hospital.
The two were shot outside a restaurant in the central city, with video from the scene showing diners taking cover amid shrieks and a cry for “help.”
Trump says US also ‘fairly close’ to reaching nuclear deal with Iran
US President Donald Trump reiterates that Washington is “fairly close” to reaching a nuclear deal with Iran.
“I think we have a chance of making a deal with Iran,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office.
“They don’t want to be blown up. They would rather make a deal, and I think that could happen in the not-too-distant future,” he continues, adding that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
Trump says Gaza deal ‘very close,’ announcement may come as soon as today or tomorrow
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30, 2025, in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/AFP)
US President Donald Trump says “we’re very close” to reaching a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas.
“We’ll let you know about it during the day or maybe tomorrow, and we have a chance of that,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office.
טראמפ במסיבת עיתונאים בבית הלבן: אנחנו קרובים מאוד להסכם לגבי עזה, נעדכן היום או אולי מחר@nathanguttman @IWishenko pic.twitter.com/nMzzx21kNi
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 30, 2025
However, Hamas says it is still reviewing a proposal from the US, which it received yesterday.
The proposal also stipulates that the sides still need to agree on the parameters of the IDF’s partial withdrawal from Gaza during the temporary truce.
Sources familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel that Hamas is disappointed with the proposal, as it still gives Israel the option to resume fighting at the end of the temporary truce, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to do.
Not wanting to be pegged as the party to blame for the impasse, Hamas is leaning toward accepting the proposal, while submitting a series of reservations, the two sources said, in what will likely drag the talks out for at least several more days.
While Netanyahu told hostage families yesterday that he is principally supportive of the deal, he has yet to bring it before the cabinet to be approved, and several far-right members of his coalition have already come out against the proposal.
Earlier this week, Netanyahu infuriated hostage families by declaring that he hoped to make an announcement regarding the hostages “today or tomorrow” only to walk it back, explaining that he meant to explain that Israel is constantly working to secure the release of the hostages.
Iran: Trump ‘must abandon language of threats and sanctions’ if US wants nuclear deal
Iran says US President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities is a clear red line and will have severe consequences, the semi-official Fars News Agency reports.
“If US seeks a diplomatic solution, it must abandon the language of threats and sanctions,” an unnamed official says, adding that such threats “are open hostility against Iran’s national interests.”
West to push UN atomic agency to declare Iran in breach of non-proliferation obligations
In this illustrative image, an Iranian security official in protective clothing walks through a facility just outside the Iranian city of Isfahan, March 30, 2005. (Vahid Salemi/AP)
VIENNA — Western powers are preparing to push the UN nuclear watchdog’s board at its next quarterly meeting to declare Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years, a move bound to enrage Tehran, diplomats say.
The step is likely to further complicate talks between the United States and Iran aimed at imposing fresh restrictions on Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.
Washington and its European allies Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, proposed past resolutions adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors calling on Iran to quickly take steps such as explain uranium traces the IAEA found at undeclared sites.
The IAEA is preparing to send member states its quarterly reports on Iran before the next board meeting, which begins on June 9. One of those will be a longer, “comprehensive” account of issues including Iran’s cooperation, as demanded by a board resolution in November, and diplomats expect it to be damning.
“We expect the comprehensive report to be tough, but there were already no doubts over Iran not keeping its non-proliferation commitments,” one European official says.
Once that report is issued, the United States will draft a proposed resolution text declaring Iran in breach of its so-called safeguards obligations, three diplomats say. A fourth says the Western powers are preparing a draft resolution without going into specifics.
The text will be discussed with countries on the board in the coming days before being formally submitted to the board by the four Western powers during the quarterly meeting, as has happened with previous resolutions, diplomats say.
IDF says siren in north activated due to ‘false identification’
The IDF says the suspected drone infiltration siren that sounded in the northern community of Shamir was a “false identification,” meaning not a threat.
Drone infiltration alert activated in northern kibbutz
A suspected drone infiltration siren is sounding in the northern community of Shamir.
The IDF is looking into the cause of the alert.
IDF: Troops destroyed over 800 weapons and bombs found during recent operations in Gaza
Weapons found by IDF troops in the Gaza Strip, in a handout photo issued by the military on May 30, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says troops have seized and destroyed over 800 weapons and explosive devices that were found during operations in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, amid a new offensive against Hamas.
Dozens of tunnel shafts were also found and demolished, the army adds.
Saudi FM to lead delegation to Ramallah, in first-ever West Bank visit by kingdom’s top diplomat
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud attends the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh on May 14, 2025. (Fayez NURELDINE / AFP)
Prince Faisal bin Farhan will become the first Saudi foreign minister to visit the West Bank on Sunday, a diplomatic source tells AFP, as the Gaza war drags on and Riyadh pushes for Palestinian statehood.
The top Saudi diplomat will head a delegation to Ramallah, a Palestinian embassy source says, the first such trip since Israel captured the territory from Jordan during the 1967 Six Day War.
Prince Faisal’s trip was announced as Israel vowed to build a “Jewish Israeli state” in the West Bank, after doubling down on plans to expand settlements there.
“A ministerial delegation led by the minister of foreign affairs will go to Ramallah on Sunday,” the source tells AFP.
Saudi Arabia sent a lower-level delegation to Ramallah in September 2023, its first since 1967, not long before Hamas’s October 7 attack triggered the Gaza war.
Qatar’s UN envoy says ‘negotiations ongoing’ on current Gaza ceasefire proposal
Qatar is intensively engaged with the United States and Egypt “to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and end the war,” says the Gulf country’s ambassador to the United Nations.
“Negotiations are ongoing on the current proposal,” Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani tells reporters at the UN. “We are very determined to find an ending to this horrific situation in Gaza.”
Throughout the war, Qatar has been an important location for negotiations, and it has served as an intermediary for Hamas
Defense minister tells Hamas to accept Witkoff proposal ‘or be destroyed’
Defense Minister Israel Katz attends a Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony at the Knesset in Jerusalem, April 24, 2025. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)
Defense Minister Israel Katz again threatens Hamas to accept a US-proposed ceasefire and hostage deal, or face destruction.
“The IDF continues its operation in Gaza with full force, striking and dismantling Hamas strongholds, while evacuating the local population from all combat zones and attacking the area from the air, land and sea at an unprecedented scale to ensure maximum protection for our soldiers,” he says in a statement.
“After eliminating the terrorists and clearing the area, the IDF will remove all threats according to the Rafah model, and remain to hold the area,” Katz says, referring to Israel’s plans to capture large areas of Gaza, raze most buildings and hold on to the territory for the foreseeable future.
“This way, we will achieve the objectives of the war: The release of all hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” he says.
“The Hamas murderers must now choose: accept the terms of the ‘Witkoff deal’ for the release of the hostages, or be destroyed,” he adds, referring to US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff’s proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, which was reportedly accepted by Israel.
Lawsuit: Hamas captors showed hostage report about Columbia protesters, called them ‘our own people’
Shlomi Ziv was part of the security detail at the Supernova party when he was taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)
Hamas captors holding Israeli hostage Shlomi Ziv showed him news about protesters at Columbia University, according to a new legal filing.
While playing the news report for Ziv, his captors said, “You see, we have our own people everywhere,” the lawsuit says.
“They then told him that Hamas has an ‘army’ operating out of Gaza that focuses specifically on media and sending Hamas propaganda and messaging throughout America and all around the world,” the lawsuit says.
The legal filing is an amended complaint filed yesterday in the federal Southern District court of New York.
The new details about Ziv’s captivity add to his testimony in a separate lawsuit. In that case, Ziv said his captors told him they were collaborating with campus protesters.
The lawsuit identified Ziv’s captor as Abdallah Aljamal, a writer for the Palestine Chronicle, a news outlet run by the People Media Project, a US-based, tax-exempt nonprofit.
A federal judge has ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in that case earlier this month, saying there was reason to believe the nonprofit knew Aljamal was holding Israelis captive and affiliated with Hamas.
Ziv was rescued from Gaza in an IDF operation in June 2024.
Hamas says consulting with other ‘Palestinian factions’ on Witkoff proposal
Hamas announces that it is holding consultations regarding US envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal to end the Gaza war with other “Palestinian factions,” a term referring to other Palestinian terror organizations operating under its rule in Gaza, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
‘Gaza not alone’: Taliban stages anti-Israel demonstrations across Afghanistan
Afghan men holding Taliban flags and Palestinian national flags take part in an anti-Israel protest, after the Friday prayers in front of a mosque resembling the :Dome of the Rock," at Wazir Akbar Khan hilltop, in Kabul on May 30, 2025. (Wakil Kohsar/AFP)
Thousands of Afghans protest across the country against the Israeli bombardment of Hamas in Gaza, responding to a nationwide call by the Taliban authorities.
Large crowds gather in several cities after prayers waving Palestinian flags and burning pictures of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We are out in support with Gaza. And to show the world that Gaza is not alone, we are standing with them. Wherever Muslims are oppressed, we strongly defend them and condemn it,” says 28-year-old Jannat, who goes by one name, in the capital Kabul.
Iran rails at Austria over ‘fake’ intel report saying Tehran is seeking nuclear bomb
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran summons Austria’s charge d’affaires after it branded as “fake” an Austrian intelligence report that said Tehran is seeking to acquire atomic weapons.
The spat comes even as Tehran pursues delicate negotiations with the United States on its nuclear program.
In its annual report on global threats, Austria’s domestic intelligence service (DSN) said Monday that Iran’s “nuclear weapons development program is well advanced.”
The United States, Israel and other Western countries have repeatedly accused Iran of seeking to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Iran has categorically denied the claims, instead arguing that it is pursuing a nuclear program for civilian purposes alone.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, Iran is the only country in the world that enriches uranium up to 60 percent.
That rate is still below the 90 percent threshold required for a nuclear weapon, but far above the 3.67 percent limit set under a 2015 agreement with world powers.
“All efforts to prevent Iran’s armament through sanctions and agreements have so far proved ineffective,” the Austrian report says.
Today, Iran’s foreign ministry condemns “the fake information” disseminated in the report and demands an explanation from Austria’s government.
It summoned Austria’s charge d’affaires in Tehran Michaela Pacher to “convey Iran’s strong protest,” the official IRNA news agency reports.
It says that during the meeting, the ministry “emphasized the complete contradiction of the Austrian report with numerous IAEA reports.”
The IAEA, whose headquarters are in the Austrian capital, will in the coming days publish its own review of Iran’s nuclear activities.
German FM: Future arms deliveries to Israel will depend on Gaza humanitarian situation
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Jerusalem on May 11, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
BERLIN — Germany will decide whether or not to approve new weapons shipments to Israel based on an assessment of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul says in an interview with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung published today.
Wadephul questions whether what is happening in Gaza is in line with international law
“We are examining this and, if necessary, we will authorize further arms deliveries based on this examination,” he adds.
Hamas claims to target ‘undercover’ Israeli troops in video of Rafah IED attack
Armed men are seen before being targeted in a Hamas attack in Rafah, in a video issued by the terror group on May 30. 2025. (Screenshot: Telegram)
Hamas publishes an unusual video purporting to show its operatives detonating an explosive device against what it says are “undercover” Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza’s Rafah.
The video shows a group of armed men in civilian clothing being hit by a bomb.
Some reports from Gaza have indicated that the armed group is affiliated with Yasser Abu Shabab, a leader of a large clan in the Rafah area.
Abu Shabab claims his forces have been protecting aid convoys, while Hamas has accused him of looting the aid trucks and maintaining connections with Israel.
Israeli officials have declined to comment on Abu Shabab’s or other militias’ activities in Gaza.
Macron: ‘We’ll kill our credibility if we abandon Gaza,’ grant Israel ‘a free pass’
French President Emmanuel Macron further hits out at Israel over the war with Hamas in Gaza, amid an escalating war of words between Jerusalem and Paris.
“If we abandon Gaza, if we consider there is a free pass for Israel, even if we do condemn the terrorist attacks, we will kill our credibility,” Macron tells a top defense forum in Singapore, adding: “And this is why we do reject double standard.
Israel accuses France’s Macron of ‘crusade against the Jewish state’
France's President Emmanuel Macron gives the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue Summit in Singapore on May 30, 2025. (Ludovic Marin/AFP)
After France’s president says European countries should adopt a tougher stance against Israel if it doesn’t change its humanitarian aid policies in Gaza, Israel accuses Emmanuel Macron of embarking on a “crusade against the Jewish state.”
The reference to a crusade is a loaded charge. French knights and religious leaders played a leading role in the medieval religious wars launched by European Christians — widely referred to as the Franks — primarily to free the Holy Land from Muslim rule. Jews in France, German-speaking territories and the Land of Israel were targeted by Crusaders in bouts of extreme violence.
Jews still read agonizing poems from the period on Tisha B’Av, their national day of mourning.
“The facts do not interest Macron,” says the Foreign Ministry in a post on X. “There is no humanitarian blockade. That is a blatant lie. Israel is currently facilitating the entry of aid to Gaza through two parallel efforts.”
The Foreign Ministry points to the entry of almost 900 aid trucks into Gaza this week, and the debut of the Gaza Humanitarian Fund distribution sites, which have delivered over two million meals in four days, according to its own account. Aid deliveries to Gaza resumed last week after Israel barred goods from entering the enclave on March 2.
“Instead of applying pressure on the jihadist terrorists, Macron wants to reward them with a Palestinian state,” says the Foreign Ministry. “No doubt its national day will be October 7.”
Macron said earlier today that recognition of a Palestinian state, with conditions, is “not only a moral duty, but a political necessity.”
France is considering recognizing a Palestinian state ahead of a United Nations conference, which France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting between June 17-20, to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel’s security.
“It is against Israel — under attack on multiple fronts in an attempt to destroy it — that Macron seeks to impose sanctions,” continues the Foreign Ministry.
“Hamas, for its part, has already praised Macron’s statements. Hamas knows why.”
Israel’s defense officials believe Hamas control over Gaza is slipping, helped by new aid system
Palestinians take part in an anti-Hamas protest, calling for an end to the war with Israel, in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on March 26, 2025. (AFP)
Israeli defense officials believe Hamas is losing control of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, as a new aid distribution system ramps up its activities in an effort to prevent the terror group from controlling the aid and the Gazan population.
Three out of four aid distribution sites began their activities in Gaza this week, with the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation handing out tens of thousands of packages of food to Palestinians. The distribution sites can feed 1.2 million Palestinians, according to Israeli officials.
“The barrier of fear from Hamas has been broken. Hamas repeatedly tried to break the population and resist the distribution plan to preserve its ability to control food and, consequently, the residents of the Gaza Strip,” a defense official tells reporters.
“The residents of the Strip voted with their feet against Hamas and flocked en masse to the distribution centers, thereby breaking an initial barrier of public fear from Hamas, which undermines its governing component needed to preserve its ruling capabilities,” the official says.
According to the official, the new aid distribution system is intended first to cut Hamas off from the aid — as it is no longer involved in the distribution process — and secondly to cut the population off from Hamas, potentially collapsing the terror group’s civil rule in the Strip, which is one of Israel’s war goals.
The official slams “many elements within Hamas and UN organizations that defame and hope for the failure of the aid distribution plan via the distribution centers.”
“These elements have united and share a common narrative and goal: Preserving Hamas’s governmental and economic ability to take control of the aid intended for the population,” the official says.
Hamas carried out a propaganda campaign in recent months against the new aid distribution system, and also tried to threaten civilians who sought to head to the sites, according to the official.
“There are early signs of the success of the strategy and method, as a turning point; the aid distribution centers are an extraordinary success,” the official claims. “This is a process of continuous learning and adaptation, a process of shaping the course.”
“Elements in Gaza and within Hamas are trying to create chaos and disorder to sabotage our efforts and drive a psychological campaign and generate a false narrative,” the official adds.
The UN, which Israel recognizes as a “key player” in Gaza’s humanitarian situation, is opposed to and has publicly objected to the new aid system, the official says, adding that recently the UN has been uncooperative in collecting aid from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to distribute it in the Strip.
UN officials and aid groups say they have faced significant challenges distributing the aid because of insecurity, the risk of looting, and coordination issues with Israeli authorities.
Of the 238 trucks of aid that set out from Kerem Shalom to be distributed in Gaza in recent days, 135 were looted, according to military estimates. The looting was largely carried out by civilians, and in some cases, armed gangs who had no affiliation with Hamas, the defense official said, underlining the terror group’s weakened control.
According to the official, to enable the UN to collect and distribute the aid entering Gaza, the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) held meetings with UN officials, and several adjustments were made to the transportation routes — some of which had gone through combat zones — and other logistical solutions were provided.
Still, COGAT has accused the UN of failing to collect over 550 truckloads of aid waiting on the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom Crossing.
After meeting PM, mother of slain hostage decries partial release of captives: ‘Again a selection’
Jonathan Samerano was killed on October 7, 2023 and his body taken hostage by Hamas terrorists (Courtesy)
Families of hostages held in Gaza are pleading with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ensure that any agreement to end the war must include the freedom of all the hostages.
There are 58 hostages left in Gaza, of whom Israel believes approximately a third are still alive.
Ayelet Samerano, the mother of Jonathan Samerano, whose body is being held in Gaza, was among the family members who met with Netanyahu on Thursday. She says the news that only 10 hostages and several bodies would be released has once again plunged the families into indescribable uncertainty.
“It’s again a selection, you know, all the families, we are right now standing and thinking, is it going to be my son? Isn’t it? What will happen after part of them come, what will be with the rest?”
Israel has accepted a new US proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Hamas, the White House said Thursday, while Hamas has had a cooler response.
“If they (Hamas) want guarantees, we will give them guarantees that after the last hostages will back to Israel, we will stop the war,” Samerano says. “I’m telling you, Netanyahu, say yes. All our countries say yes, the families say yes. All the families, when we are saying, stop the world and give us the hostages back.”
IDF says Air Force struck dozens of targets in Gaza over past day
Smoke billows from the Gaza Strip amid Israeli airstrikes, as seen from the Israeli side of the border with the Palestinian territory, May 29, 2025. (Jack Guez / AFP)
The Israeli Air Force struck dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military says.
According to the IDF, the targets included terror operatives, buildings used by terror groups, observation and sniper posts, tunnels and other terror infrastructure.
Gaza is ‘the hungriest place on earth,’ UN humanitarian agency warns
Palestinians line up for food distribution in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, May 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Gaza is “the hungriest place on Earth,” a spokesman for the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA says, warning that the Palestinian territory’s entire population is now at risk of famine.
At a press briefing in Geneva, spokesman Jens Laerke asserts that Gaza is “the only defined area — a country or defined territory within a country — where you have the entire population at risk of famine; 100 percent of the population at risk of famine.”
Laerke rejects Israel’s assertion that there is no risk of famine in the Palestinian enclave.
He says that since Israel partially eased a total aid blockade on the Strip that it imposed on March 2, 900 trucks of aid have been authorized to enter.
But he says so far, only 600 trucks have been offloaded on the Gaza side of the border, and a smaller number of truckloads have then been picked up, due to multiple security considerations.
“This limited number of truckloads that are coming in… it’s a trickle,” Laerke says, describing it as “drip-feeding food.”
He claims the mission to deliver aid is “in an operational strait-jacket that makes it one of the most obstructed aid operations not only in the world today, but in recent history.”
Alongside the UN aid deliveries, a new aid distribution system has started operations in Gaza in recent days, run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The UN and other organizations have withheld backing for GHF, saying it fails to fulfill the principles of humanitarian work, won’t be able to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, and allows Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
At old-new settlement, Katz lashes out at Macron: Recognition of Palestinian state ‘on paper’ will be met with settlements ‘on the ground’
Defense Minister Israel Katz meets with IDF officials at the site of the Sa-Nur settlement in the West Bank after the government approves its reconstruction, May 30, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
On a visit to the site of the Sa-Nur settlement, Defense Minister Israel Katz hits out at French President Emmanuel Macron, who said earlier today that the recognition of a Palestinian state, with conditions, is a “moral duty.”
Katz’s visit to the West Bank comes after the Israeli government approved the construction of 22 new settlements, including the reestablishment of Sa-Nur, which was evacuated in 2005 alongside Israel’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip.
Lauding the government’s decision as a “historic moment” for the settler movement, Katz says it also serves as a “clear message to Macron and his friends.”
“They will recognize a Palestinian state on paper — and we will build the Jewish-Israeli state on the ground. The paper will be thrown in the trash can of history and the State of Israel will flourish and prosper,” Katz declares.
“Do not threaten us with sanctions because you will not bring us to our knees. The State of Israel will not bow its head in the face of threats,” the defense minister says. “We are a people with a long and glorious history. We will stand tall and continue to lead the State of Israel on a safe and strong path, until victory.”
Katz is accompanied on his visit by Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, Civil Administration chief Brig. Gen. Hisham Ibrahim, and Defense Ministry military secretary Brig. Gen. Guy Markizeno.
Defense Minister Israel Katz meets with IDF officials at the site of the Sa-Nur settlement in the West Bank after the government approves its reconstruction, May 30, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
He says that his connection to Sa-Nur is a personal one, as he served there as a paratrooper during his military service and later “fought against uprooting the settlement as part of the disengagement plan.”
“I promised then that we would return and today we have returned here, with the decision to re-establish the settlement, along with the establishment of 21 additional new settlements in Judea and Samaria,” says Katz, referring to the West Bank by its Biblical name.
“This is a historic moment for settlement in Judea and Samaria, which will bolster it as Israel’s protective wall, and will also strengthen security in this region,” he says of the new settlements.
And, he says, it is a “crushing response” to the terror organizations that are trying to harm and weaken our hold on this region of the country.”
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says it distributed two million meals in past 4 days
Displaced Palestinians carrying relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private US-backed aid group, return from aid distribution centers in Rafah to their tents in the southern Gaza Strip on May 29, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation announces that it has distributed over two million meals in the four days that it has been providing aid to Gazan civilians.
The total number of meals, says the GHF in its daily update, is “approximately 2,170,822 via roughly 23,040 boxes.”
Each box is meant to provide three meals a day, for about four days, for a family of roughly five people.
The Tel Sultan distribution site along the Egypt-Gaza border distributed six truckloads of food today, according to the statement, totaling 5,760 boxes providing approximately 332,640 meals.
There were no security incidents over the past day, says GHF.
The foundation’s past statements have downplayed or whitewashed breakdowns in order and shots fired by private security contractors.
“No civilians or individuals involved with the distribution of aid were injured, no lives were lost and all available food was distributed without interference this week,” says GHF.
The UN has said 600 trucks of aid need to be distributed each day in order to properly feed the Strip’s roughly two million people.
GHF has faced criticism due to the lack of access for tens of thousands of residents still located in north Gaza, but it says that it plans to open additional sites — including in the northern Strip — in the coming weeks.
“This is just the beginning,” says interim executive director John Acree. “Our commitment to safely and effectively supplying food directly to a large, hungry population is unwavering, and we look forward to continuing to scale and strengthen on our initial undertakings to help meet the basic food security needs of the people in Gaza.”
IDF says troops demolished kilometer-long Hamas tunnel under Khan Younis, in southern Gaza
During recent operations of the 98th Division in the Khan Younis area of the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF says it demolished a kilometer-long Hamas tunnel.
The tunnel was discovered by the Commando Brigade and the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit, amid a new offensive against Hamas.
According to the IDF, while scanning the tunnel, troops located several Hamas operatives holed up inside and eliminated them.
תיעוד מבצעי: כוחות עוצבת הקומנדו בשיתוף לוחמי יהל״ם השמידו תוואי תת-קרקעי של חמאס באורך של כקילומטר בדרום רצועת עזה
לכל הפרטים:https://t.co/ZgUCEbnn2o pic.twitter.com/mWeFjzpJdp
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 30, 2025
IDF says it struck Hezbollah weapons storage site in eastern Lebanon overnight
Overnight, Israeli fighter jets bombed a Hezbollah weapons storage site in Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa Valley, the military says.
According to the IDF, the strike was carried out after Hezbollah was identified attempting to restore the facility, which had been targeted previously.
Hamas official says Israel’s response to US truce proposal fails to meet terror group’s ‘legitimate demands’
Hamas has received Israel’s response to a US proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal and is thoroughly reviewing it, even though the response fails to meet any of the Palestinian “just and legitimate demands,” senior Hamas official Basem Naim tells Reuters.
Naim’s comments appear to contradict a BBC report earlier today, which cited an unnamed Hamas official as saying that the terror group would reject the US proposal, as it doesn’t meet key demands.
Settlers fence off Palestinian community in the northern Jordan Valley
A group of settlers was filmed earlier today erecting a fence around Ein al-Hilweh, a small Palestinian community in the northern Jordan Valley.
The fence does not surround all sides of the village, but the residents rely on sheep herding for their livelihood, and the fence will prevent them from accessing grazing areas.
A local source tells The Times of Israel that the fence was set up by two groups of settlers who arrived at the site in recent hours. According to the source, the settlers appeared to be teenage boys.
امتداد استيطاني مستمر.. مستوطنون يسيّجون أراض جديدة في منطقة عين الحلوة بالأغوار الشمالية. pic.twitter.com/s28w47m1DZ
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) May 30, 2025
Shin Bet said to warn government that high violent crime rates in Arab society may trigger wave of intercommunity violence
The Shin Bet is reportedly warning government officials that the rise in violent crime in Arab society has the potential to ignite a wave of internecine violence far worse than the riots that swept across mixed cities on the backdrop of the 2021 Gaza offensive.
“The rise in crime within the Arab community is reaching the level of a security threat that endangers the democratic regime, and this requires greater involvement from the Shin Bet,” a senior official in the agency said during a government discussion on the matter, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
Earlier this month, Shin Bet officials reportedly urged politicians to treat the proliferation of illegal arms in Arab society as a national security threat that must be dealt with immediately, after its research division issued a report on the matter.
Over the past day, three Arab Israelis have been killed in three separate shootings in the northern Arab towns of Tamra, Arara and Kafr Kanna, in an unabating crime wave which has claimed 98 lives since the start of 2025.
After Sanaa airport strikes, Houthis claim they’ll start targeting Israeli civilian aircraft
An El Al flight takes off from Ben Gurion International Airport, outside of Tel Aviv, August 25, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels plan on escalating their actions against Israel by targeting planes belonging to El Al and other Israeli carriers, sources from the Yemeni rebel group tell Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar newspaper.
The threat comes after Israeli fighter jets bombed the Houthi-controlled Sanaa International Airport earlier this week, following weeks of near-daily ballistic missile attacks on Israel.
The targeted plane was said by Defense Minister Israel Katz to be the last remaining plane operated by the Houthis, after six other aircraft were destroyed by an earlier Israeli strike.
The Houthis have since claimed that the targeted aircraft was being used to carry out medical evacuations to Jordan.
In retaliation for the strike, Houthi sources tell Al-Akhbar that “the upcoming operations will differ in quantity and substance from the previous operations” against Israel, and will see the rebel group “add the civilian aircraft belonging to the Israeli entity to the list of targets.”
It is not clear if the Iran-backed group has the necessary weapons to make good on its threat.
Earlier this month, however, a spokesperson for the group claimed to Newsweek that it had obtained “new weapons” capable of enforcing an “aerial blockade” on Israel.
Many foreign airlines suspended their Israel routes earlier this month after a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis struck inside the grounds of Ben Gurion International Airport, leaving most Israelis dependent on flag carrier El Al, as well as smaller carriers Arkia and Israir.
PM’s office says Netanyahu underwent routine colonoscopy this morning
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underwent a successful routine colonoscopy this morning at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, says his office.
The PMO has not said whether or not Netanyahu was under general anesthesia or moderate sedation during the procedure.
Report: Saudi Arabia warned Iran to make nuclear deal with US or risk war with Israel
US President Donald Trump speaks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during an arrival ceremony at the Royal Terminal of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. (AP/Alex Brandon)
Saudi Arabia’s defense minister warned Iranian officials in Tehran last month that they should take US President Donald Trump’s offer to negotiate a nuclear agreement seriously because it presents a way to avoid the risk of war with Israel, according to Saudi and Iranian sources.
Saudi Arabia’s 89-year-old King Salman bin Abdulaziz dispatched his son, Prince Khalid bin Salman, with the warning destined for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to two Gulf sources close to government circles and two Iranian officials.
Present at the closed-door meeting in Tehran, which took place on April 17 in the presidential compound, were Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, armed forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the sources say.
While media covered the visit of the 37-year-old prince — who is also Saudi Arabia’s defense minister — the content of King Salman’s covert message has not been previously reported.
Prince Khalid, who was Saudi ambassador to Washington during Trump’s first term, warned Iranian officials that the US leader has little patience for drawn-out negotiations, according to the four sources.
The Saudi minister said it would be better to reach a deal with the US than face the possibility of an Israeli attack if the talks broke down, the two Gulf sources say.
He argued that the region — already riven by recent conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon — could not withstand a further escalation in tensions, say the two Gulf sources and one senior foreign diplomat familiar with the discussions.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia and Iran do not respond to requests for comment.
The report comes after Hebrew media reported yesterday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, along with Qatari Emir Tamim Al Thani, Emirati President Mohammed Bin Zayed, told Trump during his visit earlier this month that they were opposed to a military strike on Iran’s nuclear program.
The leaders said they believe their countries will be targeted by Iran in case of an attack.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Jewish-owned property firm vandalized by anti-Israel group in London; police treating incident as ‘racially aggravated’
London police are investigating after a business in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Stamford Hill was vandalized earlier this week by anti-Israel activists who claimed that it was connected to Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems.
According to local media, the windows of the Jewish-owned property firm were smashed in and the storefront was covered in red paint. The words “drop Elbit” were painted on the road in front of the store.
Furniture and computers within the store were also said to have been vandalized.
A Jewish-owned business in north London was targeted in a "traumatic antisemitic" attack overnight. Windows smashed, red paint daubed and 'Drop Elbit' graffiti stamped on the pavement. The property company in Stamford Hill has no known connection to Israel. pic.twitter.com/qvMceMqInF
— Jane (@janeprinsley) May 29, 2025
The anti-Israel Palestine Action activist group later took responsibility for the incident, claiming on X that the property business, Discovery Park, “owns the business park which houses Elbit’s factory Instro Precision.”
“Instro Precision continues to export targeting gear to Israel, making both the Israeli weapons maker and its landlord, perpetrators of genocide,” it declares, referring to Israel’s ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
A spokesperson for Discovery Park tells the Standard, however, that it has no connection to the Elbit subsidiary factory located within its Kent business park.
BREAKING: Palestine Action target the London-based landlords of Kent's Elbit weapons factory, Instro Precision.
Instro Precision continues to export targeting gear to Israel, making both the Israeli weapons maker and its landlord, perpetrators of genocide. pic.twitter.com/TDN2yrEump
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) May 29, 2025
Speaking to the Jewish Chronicle, the president of Jewish neighborhood watch group Shomrim, Herschel Gluck, says he believes the incident to have been antisemitic in nature, rather than anti-Israel.
The owners of the company “are visibly Jewish,” says Gluck. “The people who run the business and this business itself have nothing to do with Israel.”
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police tells the Jewish Chronicle that it has yet to make any arrests, but that it is treating the incident as “racially aggravated criminal damage.”
The spokesperson says police presence has been increased in the area.
Israel worried US may drop demand for Iran to cease enriching uranium to speed up negotiations — WSJ report
Israel is concerned that the US, in its haste to sign a new nuclear agreement with Iran, may drop key clauses that it sees as a red line while also effectively curtailing Israel’s ability to carry out any military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The report comes after US President Donald Trump confirmed earlier this week that he had warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against taking military action that could disrupt the negotiations.
Both the US and Israel have agreed that any deal must include a requirement for Iran to cease all uranium enrichment activity, and US special envoy Steve Witkoff has insisted that this is a red line he will not back down from.
But as Iran has said it will not agree to this condition, insisting it enriches uranium for civilian purposes, the Journal reports that Israeli officials believe the US may drop the demand and proceed with a less comprehensive agreement rather than risk collapsing the negotiations.
While it is unlikely that Israel will be satisfied with this outcome — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned in the past that “a bad deal is worse than no deal — it will be hard pressed to launch any military offensive without US support, the Journal estimates, citing Israeli security experts.
Confirming that the two countries aren’t seeing eye-to-eye as to the best way to approach a new nuclear agreement, an unnamed senior US official tells the news outlet that there are “some disagreements with Israel over how to approach this right now.”
The official seemingly indicates, however, that the US could eventually back Israel’s pursuit of military action, “if they [Iran] don’t want to make a deal.”
Macron: Europe should ‘harden position’ against Israel if it doesn’t ease humanitarian crisis in Gaza
French President Emmanuel Macron says that European countries should “harden the collective position” against Israel if it does not respond appropriately to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
With international pressure mounting on Israel over the deepening hunger crisis in Gaza, Macron says action is needed “in the next few hours and days.”
He also asserts that recognition of a Palestinian state, with conditions, is “not only a moral duty, but a political necessity.”
The French president has increasingly voiced criticism of what he says are Israel’s “shameful” policies in Gaza, amid a total aid blockade on the Palestinian territory, which was only recently partially lifted.
In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Macron of siding with Hamas against Israel and of echoing “blood libels” against the Jewish state.
BBC: Hamas to reject latest US proposal for ceasefire and hostage release deal
The BBC quotes an unnamed senior Hamas official as saying that the Palestinian terrorist group will reject the latest US proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
The source says the proposal doesn’t meet Hamas’s key demands, including ending the war started by its October 7, 2023, terror atrocities.
IDF soldier seriously wounded by accidental misfire in southern Gaza
An IDF soldier serving with the 188th Armored Brigade’s 74th Battalion was seriously wounded in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, the military says.
According to an initial IDF probe, the soldier was hit by an accidental misfire.
He was taken to hospital for treatment.
Ben & Jerry’s board denounces ‘genocide in Gaza,’ escalating fight with owner Unilever
Ben Cohen, left, and Jerry Greenfield, co-founders of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, attend a protest in Washington, in this November 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
The independent board of Ben & Jerry’s says the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza is a “genocide,” escalating a bitter feud between the ice cream maker and its longtime London-based corporate parent Unilever.
“Ben & Jerry’s believes in human rights and advocates for peace, and we join with those around the world who denounce the genocide in Gaza,” the board says in a statement viewed by Reuters. “We stand with all who raise their voices against genocide in Gaza — from petition-signers to street marchers to those risking arrest.”
Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s have been at odds since at least 2021 when the Chubby Hubby ice cream maker said it would stop selling in the Israel-controlled West Bank. Ben & Jerry’s sued its owner last year over its alleged attempts to silence it on Gaza and criticize US President Donald Trump. Its statement on Gaza is unusual for a major US brand.
A Unilever spokesperson says that the comments reflect the views of the independent social mission board of Ben & Jerry’s, and they do not speak for anyone other than themselves.
“We call for peace in the region and for relief for all those whose lives have been impacted,” the spokesperson says.
Unilever has asked a US judge to dismiss Ben & Jerry’s lawsuit. The company is also in the process of separating out its ice cream business, including Vermont-based Ben & Jerry’s, to an independent company this summer.
Ben & Jerry’s has said its year 2000 merger agreement with Unilever gave its independent board “primary responsibility” to pursue the company’s social mission. The crux of the dispute between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever is how much leeway the board actually has.
Full text of Witkoff’s proposal for Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal
US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on May 28, 2025, Washington. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/AFP)
The following is the text of US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff’s proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, which was passed along to Hamas for its approval on May 29, 2025. The authenticity of the text was confirmed to The Times of Israel by two sources familiar with the negotiations.
Framework for Negotiating an Agreement to a Permanent Ceasefire
1. Duration: 60-day ceasefire. President Trump guarantees Israel’s adherence to the ceasefire during the agreed-upon period.
2. Release of Hostages: 10 Israeli live hostages and 18 deceased hostages, from the “list of 58” to be released on days 1 and 7-half of the living and deceased hostages (5 living and 9 deceased) will be released on day 1 of the agreement. The remaining half of the hostages (5 living and 9 deceased) will be released on day 7.
3. Humanitarian Assistance: Aid will be sent into Gaza immediately once Hamas agrees to the ceasefire agreement. Whatever agreement is reached on aid to the civilian population will be respected throughout the course of the agreement. Aid will be distributed through agreed upon channels that will include the United Nations and Red Crescent.
4.Israeli Military Activities: All Israeli offensive military activities in Gaza will cease upon this agreement entering into force. During the ceasefire period, there will be a cessation of aerial movement (military and surveillance) in the Gaza Strip for 10 hours daily, or 12 hours daily during days when exchange of hostages and prisoners take place.
5. IDF redeployment:
a. On day 1, after the release of the Israeli hostages (5 living and 9 deceased), redeployment in the northern part of the Gaza Strip and in Netzarim corridor, in accordance with article 3 regarding the humanitarian aid and base on maps to be agreed upon.
b. On day 7, after the release of the Israeli hostages (5 living and 9 deceased), redeployment in southern part of the Gaza
Strip in accordance with article 3 regarding the humanitarian aid and based on maps to be agreed upon.
c. The technical teams will work out final redeployment boundaries during proximity negotiations.
6. Negotiations: On day 1, negotiations under the auspices of the mediators-guarantors on the necessary arrangements for a permanent ceasefire will commence, including:
a. Keys and terms for the exchange of all the remaining Israeli hostages for a number to be agreed upon of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
b. Issues relating to redeployments and withdrawals of Israel forces and long-term security arrangements within the Gaza Strip.
c. Arrangements relating to the “day after” in the Gaza Strip which would be raised by either side.
d. The announcement of a permanent ceasefire.
7. Presidential Support: The President is serious about the parties’ adherence to the ceasefire agreement and insists that the negotiations during the temporary ceasefire period, if successfully concluded with an agreement between the parties, would lead to a permanent resolution of the conflict.
8. Release of Palestinian Prisoners: In exchange for the release of the 10 Israeli live hostages, consistent with the terms and conditions of phase 1 of the January 19, 2025 agreement regarding the hostages and prisoners, Israel will release 125 “life sentence” prisoners and 1,111 Gazan detainees who were detained after 7 October 2023. In exchange for the release of the remains of 18 Israel hostages, Israel will release 180 deceased Gazans. The release will be performed simultaneously in accordance with an agreed mechanism and without public displays or ceremonies. Half of these releases will occur on day 1 and the other half will occur on day 7.
9. Status of Hostages and Prisoners: On day 10, Hamas will provide complete information (proof of life and medical status report/proof of death) on each of the remaining hostages. In exchange, Israel will provide complete information on the Palestinian prisoners that were detained from the Gaza strip since 7 October and the numbers of deceased Gazans held in Israel. Hamas commits to ensure the health, welfare and security of the hostages during the ceasefire.
10. Remaining Hostages Released upon Agreement: The negotiation on the necessary arrangements for a permanent ceasefire should be completed within 60 days. Upon agreement, the remaining hostages (living and deceased) from the “list of 58” provided by Israel will be released. In case negotiations on arrangement for a permanent ceasefire are not concluded within the aforementioned time period, the temporary ceasefire may be extended under conditions and for a duration to be agreed upon by the parties so long as the parties are negotiating in good faith.
11. Guarantors: The mediators-guarantors (US, Egypt, Qatar) will guarantee that the ceasefire will continue for the 60-day period and for any agreed upon extension, will guarantee that serious discussions will be held on the necessary agreements for a permanent ceasefire and will make every effort to ensure the completion of the above-mentioned negotiations.
12. Envoy Presides: Special Envoy, Ambassador Steve Witkoff would come to the region to finalize the agreement. Steve Witkoff will preside over the negotiations.
13. President Trump: President Trump will personally announce the ceasefire agreement. The United States and President Trump are committed to working to ensure that good faith negotiations continue until a final agreement is reached.
IDF probing why security forces didn’t halt Tel Aviv concert amid Houthi missile attack
The IDF says it is investigating after a concert held this evening at Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park was not halted due to the Houthi missile fire on Israel, despite sirens sounding in the area.
In statement, the IDF says it received reports that during the concert, the attendees did not hear the siren that was activated across central Israel, including in the Tel Aviv area.
“The performance was not stopped by security forces at the time of the alert, and the incident is being investigated,” the military says.
IDF confirms striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including weapons dump near Sidon
The IDF confirms carrying out airstrikes in Lebanon this evening, saying it targeted military facilities and other infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah.
The targets included a site used to store weapons near Sidon, where recent Hezbollah activity was identified, the military says. The facility has been struck by the IDF previously, and the activity was related to Hezbollah’s efforts to restore the site, according to the IDF.
Additionally, the IDF says it hit several sites used to store rocket launchers in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah activity was also identified.
IDF issues evacuation warning for several areas of north Gaza
The IDF issues a new wide evacuation warning for Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip, as part of the military’s expanded offensive against Hamas.
The warning calls for Palestinians residing in Atatra, Jabalia, and the Gaza City neighborhoods of Shejaiya, Daraj, and Zeitoun to head west.
“The IDF will expand its offensive activity in the areas where you are located to destroy the capabilities of the terror organizations,” the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Col. Avichay Adraee says on X, adding that the areas marked on the map are “considered dangerous combat zones.”
#عاجل ‼️ الى جميع سكان قطاع غزة المتواجدين في مناطق العطاطرة، جباليا البلد، الشجاعية، الدرج والزيتون
⭕️تواصل المنظمات الإرهابية نشاطها التخريبي في المنطقة ولذلك سوف يوسّع جيش الدفاع نشاطه الهجومي في مناطق وجودكم لتدمير قدرات المنظمات الإرهابية
????من هذه اللحظة، سيتم اعتبار المناطق… pic.twitter.com/EGwZk13nnZ— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) May 29, 2025
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