May 5: German FM says Israel has ‘every right’ to be in south Lebanon, but warns of damages from war

Trump stops short of calling Iranian fire at UAE a ceasefire violation

US President Donald Trump stops short of calling Monday’s Iranian missile fire at the United Arab Emirates a ceasefire.

Picking up another cold call from a journalist, Trump is asked by ABC News whether he’d brand the Iranian strikes a violation of the truce struck last month with Iran.

Trump responds by appearing to downplay the Iranian salvos.

“[It was] not heavy firing,” Trump says. “They were shot down for the most part.”

Pressed again, Trump responds, “We’ll let you know… I’m looking into it.”

Trump tells ABC that “Iran “better hope [the ceasefire] remains in effect. The best thing that can happen to them is that we keep it in effect.”

Obama: In convincing Trump to strike Iran, Netanyahu employed same arguments that he used with me

US President Barack Obama, right, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, November 9, 2015. AFP/ SAUL LOEB)

Former US president Barack Obama says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the same arguments to convince US President Donald Trump to launch a war with Iran that the Israeli premier used on him over a decade ago.

Obama tells The New Yorker that he wasn’t convinced that military action against Iran would have actually addressed the threats posed by the regime.

“I think my prognosis was accurate,” he says, as the US, after striking Iran, is still entertaining many of the trade-offs that Trump criticized Obama for making in the 2015 nuclear deal.

In successfully convincing Trump to strike Iran, it may be that Netanyahu has “gotten what he wanted. Whether that’s what is ultimately best for the Israeli people, I would question that,” Obama argues.

“Whether I think it’s what is good for the United States and America, I would question that,” he adds.

“I think there’s an ample record of my differences with Mr. Netanyahu,” Obama notes.

Despite rift, MBS calls Emirati counterpart to condemn Iranian strikes on UAE

Despite the ongoing rift between their countries, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman phoned Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed to express his solidarity with Abu Dhabi after the latter was targeted with Iranian strikes on Monday.

Saudi state media says MBS condemned Iran’s attacks on the UAE during the call.

Maersk unit’s US-flagged ship transits Hormuz accompanied by US military

Maersk says the Alliance Fairfax, a US-flagged vehicle carrier operated by its Farrell Lines subsidiary, exited the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz accompanied by US military assets on Monday.

American forces are actively assisting efforts to restore commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command tweets.

Some 20% of the world’s oil passed through that vital maritime chokepoint prior to its virtual closure following the US and Israeli war with Iran.

“As a first step, 2 US-flagged merchant vessels have successfully transited through the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM says on X, adding that US Navy guided-missile destroyers are operating in the Gulf under a directive called “Project Freedom.”

The Alliance Fairfax is part of the US Maritime Security Program, which provides financial stipends to dozens of US-flagged, private commercial vessels that guarantee transport for the US military during a war or national emergency.

Maersk says the transit of the Alliance Fairfax was completed without incident and that all crew were safe and unharmed.

Maersk bought Virginia-based Farrell Lines in 2007, the US vehicle carrier operator says.

The Alliance Fairfax was among hundreds of ships stranded in the Gulf with the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz in early March.

At least one other US-flagged vessel remains in the Gulf area.

UK’s Starmer to meet with community leaders to tackle antisemitism after attacks

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, center, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley, right, and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, 2nd left, speak with members of the Jewish community during a visit to Golders Green, north west London, Thursday April 30, 2026, following an attack in which two men were stabbed. (Stefan Rousseau/Pool via AP)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will convene leaders from across society on Tuesday to tackle antisemitism in the wake of the stabbing of two Jewish men and a string of other assaults, his office says.

The attacks have left communities fearing for their safety and piled pressure on the governing Labour Party, particularly ahead of local elections on May 7. The leader of the opposition Conservative Party has called antisemitism a “national emergency.”

The government has since raised the national terrorism threat level to “severe” and announced an additional 25 million pounds ($33.80 million) in funding to bolster protection of the country’s estimated 290,000-strong Jewish community.

Starmer, whose wife is Jewish, says in a statement that last week’s stabbings were part of a pattern of rising antisemitism that has left the country’s Jewish communities feeling frightened and angry.

“Make no mistake, this crisis – it is a crisis for all of us. It is a test of our values… It is not enough to simply say we stand with Jewish communities. We must show it,” he adds.

Tuesday’s meeting will bring together representatives from business, civil society, health, culture, higher education and policing to take part in discussions with members of the Jewish community, hosted by ministers.

The government, which has also promised legislation to deal with state-sponsored threats, says the event forms part of its efforts to accelerate work to confront militancy, protect the Jewish community and strengthen cohesion.

The Global Terrorism Index, issued by the Institute for Economics & Peace, has said that while deaths from terrorism fell worldwide in 2025, terrorism-related fatalities in Western countries surged by 280% compared to 2024, largely driven by antisemitism, Islamophobia and political terrorism.

In Britain, government data published last year showed sharp rises in hate crimes against both Jewish and Muslim communities in the months following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.

Hezbollah confirms its fighters clashed with Israeli troops in south Lebanon

Hezbollah says its forces clashed with Israeli soldiers on Monday in south Lebanon near the border where the troops are still operating, despite a fragile ceasefire since April 17.

The Iran-backed terror group says in a statement that after Israeli troops attempted to advance near the town of Deir Seryan, its fighters “opened fire on the enemy force and engaged in heavy clashes with them.”

Deir Seryan is inside the Israeli-declared “yellow line” running up to 10 kilometers (six miles) deep along the length of the border in south Lebanon, where residents have been told not to return.

The IDF confirmed earlier Monday that there were clashes with Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon during which two of its soldiers were moderately wounded.

The army said that soldiers returned fire, and the Israeli Air Force also struck Hezbollah sites in the area, including buildings used by the terror group and its anti-tank guided missile launch posts.

Hezbollah also claims a series of other attacks on Israeli military targets in south Lebanon that it says were in response to “the Israeli enemy’s violation of the ceasefire.”

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reports Israeli air strikes on more than 20 south Lebanon locations, some of them towns where the Israeli military earlier Monday told residents to evacuate.

Lebanon’s army says that “an officer and a soldier were lightly wounded” in an Israeli strike on the town of Kafra “while they were traveling in a military vehicle between army posts.”

Iran FM says no military solution in Hormuz, warns US and UAE against ‘quagmire’

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says today’s events in the Strait of Hormuz show that there is no military solution to the crisis, adding that talks are making progress with Pakistan’s mediation while warning the United States and the United Arab Emirates against being drawn into a “quagmire by ill-wishers.”

Events in Hormuz make clear that there's no military solution to a political crisis.

As talks are making progress with Pakistan's gracious effort, the U.S. should be wary of being dragged back into quagmire by ill-wishers. So should the UAE.

Project Freedom is Project Deadlock.

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) May 4, 2026

IAEA says Russian-held nuclear plant’s meteorological monitoring equipment damaged in drone attack

The International Atomic Energy Agency says on Monday that some meteorological monitoring equipment at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine was damaged in a drone strike.

An IAEA team observed the damage as they visited the plant’s external radiation monitoring laboratory a day after the plant reported a drone attack, the watchdog says.

South Korean shipping firm says fire on its vessel in Strait of Hormuz has been put out

South Korean shipper HMM says that the fire on its vessel in the Strait of Hormuz has been extinguished.

The ship will be towed to a nearby port in Dubai, the company says, adding no casualties have been reported so far.

IDF: Troops in south Lebanon targeted with Hezbollah mortar fire in 2 separate overnight incidents; no injuries reported

Hezbollah launched several mortars at Israeli troops stationed in southern Lebanon in two separate incidents in the past few hours, the military says.

According to the IDF, no injuries were caused.

Smotrich: Formation of government with Arab party ‘a thousand times’ worse than Oct. 7 failures

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich holds a press conference ahead of the vote on the state budget at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 29, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich claims that Naftali Bennett’s decision to form his 2021-2022 government, which included the Arab Ra’am party, was a far greater disaster for Israel than Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, in which some 1,200 people were murdered and 251 were taken hostage, and which led to a multifront war in which some 900 others have been killed.

Asked during an interview with Radio 103FM what was the greater calamity — the formation of the previous government or the October 7 massacre — Smotrich says: “Of course, the formation of the government with [Ra’am chief] Mansour Abbas.”

He argues that while October 7 was a “tactical failure” that must be probed, a deed that was done on purpose is worse than something that happened unintentionally.

“Someone who knowingly sold the State of Israel to its enemies… is much graver than someone who erred, slipped, failed,” he insists. “A politician who lied, stole, betrayed his values, partners and promises, and sold the country to terror supporters, assassinated democracy and public trust in the political system and in Zionism, is a thousand times graver than the biggest failure imaginable, which is a failure and not a purposeful act.”

Neither he nor the interviewer points out that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been the first to try his best to form a government with Ra’am, a scenario that was thwarted only by the insistence of Smotrich himself.

Smotrich says October 7 must be probed, but argues it stems from a decades-long mistaken approach that he continuously argued against, including criticizing Netanyahu. But he commends the premier for changing this approach after the Hamas attack.

He says he still has serious disagreements with Netanyahu. “I still think the war must end with changes in Israel’s borders, in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and of course in Judea and Samaria,” he says, using the biblical name for the West Bank, and remarking that he believes Netanyahu is wrong for not pursuing this goal.

However, he asserts that Netanyahu is a better choice than opposition leaders who “led a surrender campaign” by calling throughout the war for a hostage deal with Hamas.

Smotrich acknowledges that in the upcoming election, the government needs to answer to the public about the October 7 disaster, but also about what he describes as the immense achievements during the war and the changing of a decades-long policy of putting diplomacy at the forefront and making the army smaller.

Opposition heads pillory Smotrich for saying government with Arabs worse than Oct. 7; he claims his words were ‘distorted’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich hits back as he is criticized for his remark that forming a government with the Arab party Ra’am was far worse than the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught.

Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot of the opposition accuses Smotrich of using the October 7 disaster as a “tool in the shameless campaign of his and the government’s” to belittle the failures surrounding the attack.

“Had you heeded the warnings of experienced professionals, even a failed government like yours could have prevented the disaster,” Eisenkot tweets. “The biggest failure in our history is an indelible stain that will never be removed from the October 7 cabinet.”

Yair Golan, head of The Democrats party, claims Smotrich’s words mean that “as far as he is concerned, a massacre of Israelis is better than a government that doesn’t include him, and this is the whole story: the life of the government is more important to him than the life of the citizens.”

Smotrich issues a follow-up statement claiming his words were “distorted” and accusing critics of playing “petty politics.”

“The question I was asked and which I answered was what was the worse political act — going for a government with Hamas knowingly and on purpose and due to lust for honor and power, or sitting in a government that had a terrible massacre happen on its watch in which Hamas attacked Israel and murdered thousands of people,” Smotrich says, referring to Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am party as “Hamas.”

“So yes, going knowingly to a government with Hamas while lying and stealing votes is the gravest political act Israeli politics has known,” he says.

“The massacre Hamas committed is one of the most terrible we have known since the Holocaust, and nothing compares with it,” he adds, claiming that if the media are “trying to take my words out of context and belittle the massacre, you are evil liars.”

Ex-spy Jonathan Pollard says he’s joining politics, urging expulsion of Gazans and slamming Netanyahu and Bennett

Jonathan Pollard, a former US Navy analyst who spent three decades in prison for spying for Israel, poses for a picture in Jerusalem, on November 2, 2025. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Former spy Jonathan Pollard, who spent decades in US prison before being released and later allowed to move to Israel, announces his intention to join politics ahead of the upcoming Knesset election.

According to Channel 13 news, Pollard is forming a new party together with Nissim Louk, the father of Shani Louk, who was murdered during the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, with her body abducted from the Nova rave into Gaza and recovered by the IDF seven months later.

Making the announcement during an interview last night with the network, Pollard is asked what changed his mind after avoiding joining the political fray for years.

“October 7,” he answers. “Up until that point, I thought that my abandonment and the betrayal by the government was the exception to the rule. But after October 7, I realized that I was not the exception, that the government and the military had betrayed and abandoned the entire country.”

בלעדי: הראיון המלא עם המרגל ג׳ונתן פולארד שמצטרף לפוליטיקה. בעד טרנספר בעזה, בעד גיוס ערבים ומה הוא חושב על נתניהו ובנט? pic.twitter.com/9pI5v3aYDr

— בר שם-אור Bar Shem-Ur (@Bar_ShemUr) May 4, 2026

Pollard says in his English-language remarks that his most important political value is military self-sufficiency.

“I believe very strongly that everyone in this country — Arabs, Jews, it doesn’t matter, right and left — has to serve mandatory national service of one’s choice,” he says.

Asked about his past comments advocating for the expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, Pollard says: “I personally favor forcible transfer of all current residents from Gaza out, and the annexation of Gaza and the repopulation of Gaza by us.”

He therefore says he believes that, as things currently stand, Israel isn’t winning the war it has been fighting since late 2023.

He criticizes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who “pounds his chest and says we’ve never been more successful, ever, in fighting our enemies, and I’m sorry but that is a cold-blooded lie.” He says even supporters of the premier admit that not one enemy has been “decisively defeated” during the war.

Asked if this means he won’t support Netanyahu for prime minister, Pollard says that if this year’s election results point to a continued Netanyahu premiership, “I believe in the democratic process and we’ll have to support him.”

But, he says, his main goal is to “unify the right,” adding that the current government is made up of “yes-men” who don’t sufficiently challenge Netanyahu.

Pollard says he has no problem sitting in a government with Yisrael Beytenu party chief Avigdor Liberman, a veteran hawk and Netanyahu ally who fell out with the premier in 2019 — over Netanyahu’s refusal to initiate a war in Gaza aimed at toppling Hamas — and has been in the opposition ever since.

But he says he does have a problem sitting with former prime minister Naftali Bennett, the current Together party head, “because he’s a liar.”

“It’s chutzpadik (shameless) on his part to point a finger at Netanyahu for October 7, without acknowledging his own responsibility for bringing this disaster about,” he charges. “He was the one who basically doubled the number of Gazan workers coming into the communities along the border.”

IDF airs footage of drone strike on 2 armed Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon

The IDF publishes footage showing a first-person view (FPV) drone strike on two armed Hezbollah operatives who were identified near Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

The two gunmen were identified by reservists of the 226th Paratroopers Brigade, and were struck and killed while trying to flee on a motorcycle, according to the military.

In another incident, the IDF says Hezbollah operatives launched an anti-tank guided missile at Israeli forces stationed in southern Lebanon.

The missile did not cause any injuries, and a short while later, the IDF struck the building from which it was fired.

תיעוד ממצלמת רחפן של כוחותינו בזמן חיסול מחבלים: בפעילות נוספת הותקף מבנה ממנו שוגר טיל נ"ט לעבר הכוחות

כוחות חטיבה 226 בפיקוד אוגדה 146 זיהו באמצעות רחפן חמוש, שני מחבלים חמושים מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה שפעלו בסמוך לכוחותינו בדרום לבנון. בסגירת מעגל מהירה, הכוחות תקפו וחיסלו את… pic.twitter.com/JVB7m7Vn4Q

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 5, 2026

IDF says helicopter, drones to fly over central Israel in practice for Air Force handover ceremony

Two helicopters and several drones will conduct a practice flight over central Israel this morning.

The military says the training is for today’s handover ceremony for the chief of the Israeli Air Force.

At 6 p.m., a flyby of several aircraft will take place during the ceremony. IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar is being replaced by Maj. Gen. Omer Tischler.

Yesterday, the army was criticized for not announcing training flights for the same ceremony ahead of time.

Iran claims Hormuz status quo ‘intolerable’ for US, warns Tehran ‘not even started’ in standoff

Iran’s chief negotiator in talks with the United States warns that his country has “not even started” in its standoff over the Strait of Hormuz.

“We know full well that the continuation of the status quo is intolerable for America; whilst we have not even started yet,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says in a post on X.

Ghalibaf, who is also the speaker of Iran’s parliament, says the actions of the US and its allies have put shipping security at risk, but says their “malign presence will diminish.”

Ra’am leader says Smotrich’s remark that government with him is worse than Oct. 7 disrespects the murdered

Religious Zionism chairman Bezalel Smotrich (L) and Ra'am chairman Mansour Abbas (R). (Sraya Diamant/David Cohen/Flash90)

Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas condemns Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over his statement that former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s decision to include his Islamist Ra’am party in a coalition was a far greater disaster than Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.

“Smotrich has no respect for the 2,100 murdered individuals and their families,” tweets Abbas, referring to all those killed on October 7 and during the subsequent military conflict.

“This is a miserable and immoral statement. Even on its worst day, [Bennett’s] ‘government of change’ was a thousand times better than Smotrich’s ‘October 7 disaster government.’ Human life holds no value in Smotrich’s eyes, just as it holds no value for fanatical extremists anywhere else in the world. Soon, we will change that,” he adds.

Ayman Odeh, the chairman of the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party, also slams Smotrich, declaring on X that “what the racists and Kahanists say is not important, what matters is what we will do.”

“And we, the Arab citizens, together with the democratic Jews, will do everything, simply everything, to prevent Smotrich-Netanyahu-Ben Gvir from continuing to another term,” Odeh adds.

Asked during an interview with Radio 103FM what was the greater calamity — the formation of the previous government or the October 7 massacre — Smotrich replied: “Of course, the formation of the government with Mansour Abbas.”

He argued that while October 7 was a “tactical failure” that must be probed, a deed that was done on purpose is worse than something that happened unintentionally.

Following harsh condemnations by opposition lawmakers, Smotrich issued a statement claiming his words were “distorted” and comparing Ra’am to Hamas.

Last year, the Justice Ministry stated that it was dissolving the “Aid 48” association, a nonprofit connected to Ra’am, following an investigation over alleged money transfers to groups proscribed for terror links. The party itself was not implicated in any wrongdoing.

Though declaredly an Islamist, Abbas has courted controversy among his base by stating that Israel will always be a Jewish state, condemning Hamas’s October 7 attack, and calling on Palestinian terror groups to demilitarize.

In a statement last year, Ra’am blamed the Netanyahu government for funding Hamas and accused it of seeking to divert attention from its own mistakes.

2 flotilla activists on hunger strike; Israel to seek 6-day remand, their lawyers say

Security personnel escort Spanish activist Saif Abu Keshek to a court in Ashkelon on May 3, 2026. (Ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP)

Authorities are expected to ask a court to extend by six days the detention of two foreign activists detained after the Navy interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla, as the pair face their second hearing today, a rights group representing them says.

Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Avila were brought to Israel for questioning last week and are being held at a prison in Ashkelon.

At their first hearing on Sunday, the court extended their detention by two days.

“Our lawyers have been informed that the state is requesting a six-day extension for the two activists,” Miriam Azem, international advocacy coordinator at the Israeli rights group Adalah, tells AFP.

Adalah says the two activists are on hunger strike and today is the sixth day.

The activists were among more than 170 detained by Israel last week when the flotilla seeking to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza was intercepted by the Israeli Navy in international waters. The remainder were all freed Friday in Greece.

Israel says that Abu Keshek and Avila are affiliated with the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), which has been accused by the US Treasury of “clandestinely acting on behalf of” Hamas.

Court further shortens today’s Netanyahu trial hearing

Today’s hearing in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial has been further shortened and will be held in the early evening.

Yesterday, the judges rejected a request by the premier’s lawyers to cancel the hearing, but they made it later and shorter than usual and said it would be held from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Today, the defense asked the court to further shorten the cross-examination testimony and have it run from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., citing an urgent defense and diplomatic schedule.

The court partially accepts this request, saying the hearing will take place from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Trump calls on US Jews to dedicate next Shabbat to America’s 250th anniversary celebration

In his Jewish American Heritage Month proclamation, US President Donald Trump calls on US Jews to dedicate next week’s Jewish sabbath to the national celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary.

“Throughout this historic year, we rejoice in the triumph of the American spirit and rededicate ourselves to the cause of liberty and justice for all,” writes Trump. “In special honor of 250 glorious years of American independence and on the weekend of Rededicate 250 — a national jubilee of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving — Jewish Americans are encouraged to observe a national Sabbath.”

Rededicate 250 is a Christian gathering in Washington on Sunday, May 17, that will be attended by GOP officials and prominent Christian clergy.

“From sundown on May 15 to nightfall on May 16, friends, families, and communities of all backgrounds may come together in gratitude for our great Nation,” writes Trump. “This day will recognize the sacred Jewish tradition of setting aside time for rest, reflection, and gratitude to the Almighty.”

Trump also calls on Americans “to celebrate the heritage and contributions of Jewish Americans and to observe this month with appropriate programs, activities, and ceremonies.”

UK police investigate arson at former synagogue in London, continuing spate of attacks

The scene of an apparent arson attack targeting a former synagogue on London's Nelson Street, May 5, 2026. (Shomrim)

British counter terrorism police are investigating an arson incident at a former synagogue in east London, authorities say, continuing a series of arson and other attacks on Jewish targets in recent weeks.

Police were called to reports of a fire at the former synagogue earlier today, according to the statement. Police add that minor damage was caused to a set of gates and a lock at the front of the building, with no reports of any persons injured.

???? Fire in Disused Synagogue Treated as Arson

???? @LondonFire were called to a fire at a former synagogue on Nelson Street, E1, in the early hours of the morning.

???? Initial CCTV enquiries indicate that the fire was started deliberately.

???? Counter @TerrorismPolice detectives… pic.twitter.com/fdFu5aIwhz

— Shomrim (London North & East) (@Shomrim) May 5, 2026

Court remands 2 flotilla activists until Sunday; lawyer claims one of them wasn’t headed for Gaza

Brazilian activist Thiago Avila is escorted into the Ashkelon Magistrate's Court on May 5, 2026. (Ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP)

An Israeli court has extended the detention of two foreign activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla until Sunday, according to police and their lawyers, as authorities continue to question the pair.

Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Avila appear before the Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court for their second hearing, after they were brought to Israel for questioning last week.

“The court approved their detention until Sunday morning,” Miriam Azem, international advocacy coordinator at the Israeli rights group Adalah, which represents the detainees, tells AFP.

A lawyer for Avila claims in court that he hadn’t been on his way to Gaza, but rather had been on a fishing journey to Greece, according to Hebrew media.

Police say the court accepted their request for a five-day remand extension, adding that not all the suspected offenses are related to the flotilla.

The activists were among more than 170 detained by Israel last week when the flotilla seeking to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza was intercepted by the Israeli Navy in international waters. The remainder were all freed Friday in Greece.

Israel says that Abu Keshek and Avila are affiliated with the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), which has been accused by the US Treasury of “clandestinely acting on behalf of” Hamas.

4 IDF soldiers indicted in separate cases for smuggling goods into Gaza

Four soldiers have been indicted for smuggling contraband into the Gaza Strip, the military announces.

One indictment was filed by military prosecutors on Sunday against two soldiers, a company commander with the rank of captain and a sergeant, charging them with aiding the enemy, taking bribes, smuggling under aggravated circumstances, tax offenses and other crimes.

According to the indictment, between February and May 2024, the sergeant sold cigarettes “in large quantities” that were smuggled into Gaza with the help of a non-commissioned officer from the same unit, netting him between NIS 1.2 and 1.5 million ($407,000-$508,000).

In May 2024, the soldier shared the scheme with his company commander, the captain, and offered him to participate, in order to “streamline and improve the smuggling method.”

The officer agreed to join the scheme, and until the end of 2024, the pair and the NCO smuggled a total of 250 packages of cigarettes, often twice or three times a week. The indictment says they made NIS 6.5-7 million ($2.2-$2.4 million) from the smuggling.

The two had already been indicted in March this year for smuggling cigarettes to Gaza in May 2025, and they were demoted to private, the lowest rank.

The latest indictment comes after new information was revealed during the interrogation of other suspects.

A second indictment, also filed on Sunday, charged a reservist with the rank of corporal with aiding the enemy, taking bribes, smuggling under aggravated circumstances, tax offenses, and other offenses.

According to that indictment, from late 2024, the reservist, alongside an NCO, smuggled packages of cigarettes and nicotine into Gaza on at least eight occasions. The smuggling netted them between NIS 650,000 and 700,000 ($220,000-$240,000).

A third indictment was filed yesterday against a company commander with the rank of captain, charging him with aiding the enemy, taking bribes, smuggling under aggravated circumstances, and tax offenses.

During September 2025, the officer worked with an NCO under his command, who had smuggled contraband into Gaza in the past, to bring cigarettes into the Strip, according to the indictment.

The pair smuggled packages of cigarettes, a motorcycle, and mobile phones on three occasions, netting them NIS 900,000-1.1 million ($305,000-$370,000).

The officer was also indicted for fraud and breach of trust. This is over an incident on January 10 this year, in which another officer, charged last week, brought an Israeli civilian into Gaza to smuggle contraband.

After two days, a civilian who previously served in the unit contacted the company commander to ask for his assistance with extracting the civilian who had remained in Hamas-run territory in Gaza.

The officer complied with the request and, without seeking to know the circumstances, extracted the civilian from Gaza from an area near the border. The indictment says the officer tried to conceal his actions, instructed the civilian to behave as if the incident never occurred, and did not report it to anyone else.

The two NCOs involved in the case are being held in detention amid an ongoing investigation.

MK Eitan Ginzburg quits Gantz’s Blue and White party, in 2nd defection in 3 days

Blue and White MK Eitan Ginzburg in the Knesset, Jerusalem on November 4, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Blue and White lawmaker Eitan Ginzburg announces he is leaving the centrist opposition party, marking the second defection from the party in three days and the fifth in the past year, as the once-pivotal faction appears to be steadily hemorrhaging lawmakers as it has collapsed in opinion polls.

Hebrew media reports say he is expected to join Naftali Bennett’s and Yair Lapid’s joint Together slate, though neither Ginzburg nor Together has commented on this.

The announcement comes hours after party chief Benny Gantz summoned Ginzburg and issued an ultimatum to declare his political intentions, amid reports he has been in talks with other parties.

In a lengthy post on X, Ginzburg praises Gantz as “a courageous leader of remarkable strength and integrity,” but says Blue and White no longer has the ability “in its current form to continue driving the necessary change.”

He does not detail his next move, saying only that he is seeking “a framework in which I can best contribute my abilities” and “continue fighting to restore hope.”

Ginzburg’s exit follows MK Chili Tropper’s two days ago, less than a year after former number two Gadi Eisenkot left to form the Yashar party, followed by Matan Kahana and Orit Farkash-Hacohen, who both joined Yashar, though Farkash-Hacohen remains in the Knesset.

It remains unclear whether Gantz will seek Ginzburg’s resignation from the Knesset, amid reports that the party leader is pushing for Farkash-Hacohen to step down to prevent the transfer of campaign financing to Yashar. Under Israel’s system, public funding is tied to a faction’s Knesset representation, meaning lawmakers who switch parties can effectively shift resources with them.

The party says Tropper will remain in the Knesset to avoid handing the coalition an extra vote that could help advance a draft exemption law for Haredi yeshiva students. If any of the departing lawmakers resign from the Knesset, they would be replaced by the next candidates on the joint Blue and White–New Hope list that was elected to the Knesset in 2022. Because Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope faction has since joined the coalition, such a resignation could effectively hand the coalition an additional vote on key legislation.

Netanyahu meets Board of Peace Gaza envoy in Jerusalem

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team meet the Board of Peace pointman for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee and others in Jerusalem, May 5, 2026. (Prime Minister's Office)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with the Board of Peace pointman for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov in Jerusalem.

US Ambassador Mike Huckabee is attending the meeting as well.

Mladenov is expected to ask for Israel to lift some restrictions on the entry of humanitarian items into Gaza, and to limit its military operations there, according to Army Radio.

Mladenov held talks with Hamas leaders for weeks and has given the group until April 11 to accept the Board of Peace’s proposal for it to gradually hand over all of its arms.

Hamas has largely refused the demands to give up all of its weapons.

Instead, the terror group submitted a counteroffer to the Board of Peace, insisting that the issue of its weapons only be addressed as part of a framework culminating in the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Sa’ar in Germany for visit focused on ‘security and economic ties,’ will meet Merz

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is in Germany for a diplomatic visit, during which he will meet with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Bundestag President Julia Klöckner, as well as other government officials, according to a statement from his office.

“Strengthening ties with Germany and the ongoing dialogue with it are central to our foreign policy. This is particularly important during this challenging period. Our goal is to deepen our ties with Germany, including our security and economic ties,” Sa’ar says in the statement.

Merz has sharply criticized the economic fallout from the US-Israeli war with Iran in recent weeks, straining ties with US President Donald Trump.

Sa’ar will also visit the Gleis 17 (platform 17) memorial at the Grunewald railway station, from which thousands of Berlin’s Jews were deported to concentration camps by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust, and will meet with leaders of the German Jewish community, his office adds.

Bennett accuses Smotrich, PM of promoting October 7 denial

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett speaks in a video statement, May 5, 2026. (Screenshot)

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett slams Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for claiming that Bennett’s decision to include the Islamist Ra’am party in a coalition was a far greater disaster than Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.

“Anyone who calls the October 7 massacre a ‘tactical failure’ is adding himself to the list of Israel-haters and massacre deniers,” Bennett declares in a video message.

“On October 7, Israelis who were partying were beheaded. Entire families were slaughtered in their beds. Children witnessed terrorists executing their parents before their eyes. For long hours, women and men were brutally raped. Babies and elderly people in the Gaza Envelope were kidnapped from their homes,” Bennett says, explaining that he is “repeating these facts because [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and Smotrich and their government are trying with all their might to make people forget the atrocities that occurred on their watch, and under their full responsibility, and as a result of their failed policy, for which they are responsible.”

“The more they fail, the more they try to incite against me to erase their own disgrace,” Bennett continues, promising to soon “send all the massacre deniers home” and “establish a state commission of inquiry.”

Asked this morning during an interview with Radio 103FM what was the greater calamity — the formation of the previous government or the October 7 massacre — Smotrich replied: “Of course, the formation of the government with [Ra’am chief] Mansour Abbas.”

He argued that while October 7 was a “tactical failure” that must be probed, a deed that was done on purpose is worse than something that happened unintentionally.

Following harsh condemnations by opposition lawmakers, Smotrich issued a statement claiming his words were “distorted” and comparing Ra’am to Hamas.

Trump: If we return to war on Iran, it will take 2-3 weeks to complete

US President Donald Trump calls out the members of the press as he arrives on Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, May 3, 2026. (AP/ Matt Rourke)

US President Donald Trump indicates that if he decides to return to war against Iran, it would take 2-3 weeks to achieve his goals in the war.

“We’ve taken out much of what we’d have to do, probably another two weeks, two weeks, maybe three weeks,” he tells conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.

“We either make the right deal, or we win very easily from the military standpoint,” says Trump.

He stresses that “these lunatics will not have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump also says that taking Iran’s stockpile of highly-enriched uranium must be part of a deal.

“Yes, we do. That’s part of it,” he says.

Trump downplays the importance of Iran’s ballistic missiles and funding of proxies, two central Israeli goals of the war.

“Look, missiles are bad, but yeah, and they do have to cap it, but this is about they cannot have a nuclear weapon,” says Trump.

He refuses to say that Iran would be stopped from funding proxies, only saying that they wouldn’t be in a position economically to do so, given the damage being done to Iran’s energy infrastructure.

Trump says that the US is keeping Iran’s conventional army — as opposed to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — intact.

“We’re not looking to decimate the army,” he says. “We purposefully have not gone after them too much, because we think that they’re much more moderate, actually.”

Two days before US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican, Trump accuses the pontiff of endangering Catholics by ostensibly accepting a nuclear Iran.

“The Pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and I don’t think that’s very good,” says Trump. “I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people. But I guess if it’s up to the Pope, he thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

IDF says Gaza strike killed Hamas Nukhba commander who participated in Oct. 7 attack

The IDF says it killed a commander in Hamas’s elite Nukhba force who took part in the October 7, 2023, onslaught in a central Gaza airstrike yesterday.

According to the military, the commander, identified as Anas Muhammad Ibrahim Hamed, infiltrated Israel and participated in the Nova music festival massacre, where terrorists killed over 360 people and seized dozens of hostages.

The military says Hamed was targeted in a “precise aerial strike” yesterday after posing what the IDF described as an “immediate threat” to troops operating in the Strip, publishing footage of the strike.

צה"ל חיסל מפקד נוח'בה שפשט למסיבת הנובה ב-7 באוקטובר והיווה איום מיידי על כוחותינו

צה"ל תקף אתמול במרכז רצועת עזה וחיסל את אנס מוחמד אבראהים חמד, מפקד נוח'בה בארגון הטרור חמאס, שפשט לשטח מדינת ישראל ולמסיבת הנובה במהלך הטבח הרצחני ב-7 באוקטובר.

המחבל היווה איום מיידי לכוחות… pic.twitter.com/73MIhlpcX8

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 5, 2026

UK’s Starmer convenes local leaders to fight antisemitism, says foreign country may be behind wave of attacks

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a meeting with leaders from across society to discuss tackling antisemitism, at Downing Street in London, May 5, 2026. (Hannah McKay/Pool Photo via AP)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer urges leaders from across society to work together to eradicate antisemitism “from every corner,” as he convenes a meeting following a spate of attacks on Jews, including the stabbing of two men in London.

The attacks have left Jewish communities fearing for their safety and piled pressure on Starmer to show he can tackle them. The opposition Conservative Party has called antisemitism a “national emergency.”

Starmer tells the meeting — which brings together representatives from business, health, culture, higher education and policing for talks with members of the Jewish community — that investigators are examining whether a foreign state could be behind some of the incidents.

“Our message to Iran or to any other country that might seek to foment violence, hatred or division in society, is that it will not be tolerated,” Starmer says, adding that the government is fast-tracking legislation to tackle threats.

Starmer also announces new requirements for universities to publish details of antisemitic incidents on their campuses and the steps being taken to address them.

“Only by working together, we eradicate antisemitism from every corner,” Starmer says.

Former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen joins Eisenkot’s Yashar party

Former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, left, and Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot, in a photo released May 5, 2026. (Courtesy/Yashar)

Gadi Eisenkot announces that former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen is the latest to join his Yashar party, praising Cohen’s extensive security experience and morality.

“Yoram, my friend, brings with him more than 35 years of rich security experience and expertise in all matters related to national security. He is a professional, statesmanlike and ethical voice that represents the type of leadership that Yeshar offers to the people of Israel. Leadership of responsibility and integrity; of results, not of slogans,” Eisenkot says in a statement.

“Israel is facing major security and social challenges, which if navigated and handled incorrectly by leadership, as it is today, could bring us to the brink of collapse. In the face of the magnitude of the hour, I decided to respond to the emergency call-up order issued by my friend Gadi,” says Cohen.

“I am joining the Yashar party today because I see my friend, Gadi, as the right man at the right time and in the right place to lead the State of Israel,” he adds.

The pair is scheduled to hold a press conference in Tel Aviv this evening at 6 p.m.

Cohen served as head of the Shin Bet from 2011 to 2016 under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and has since become a fierce critic of the sitting premier. He was one of several former top security officials to decry verbal attacks on the Shin Bet by Netanyahu’s associates and has accused the prime minister of misusing the security agency for political purposes.

Last year, Cohen said Netanyahu once asked him to “disqualify” his political rival Naftali Bennett from his security cabinet by revoking his security clearance, citing a case of an unspecified “loyalty problem.” Netanyahu’s office denied the story and accused Cohen of making it up.

Cohen has also claimed that during his tenure, Netanyahu asked him more than once to carry out “illegitimate acts,” such as requesting that he wiretap the government’s top defense officials to ensure that they were not leaking information from a particularly sensitive security meeting.

Cohen follows former religious services minister Matan Kahana, ex-Blue and White MK Orit Farkash-Hacohen, former Finance Ministry budget chief Shaul Meridor, and former chief of staff to three welfare ministers and social policy adviser Inbar Yehezkeli in joining Yashar.

Israel and US preparing for potential ‘short campaign’ to pressure Iran in talks amid truce tensions – report

An Iranian cleric walks past an anti-US billboard referring to President Donald Trump and the Strait of Hormuz, installed on a building at the Valiasr Square in Tehran on May 2, 2026 (AFP)

Israel and the US are coordinating preparations for a potential new round of strikes on Iran as the ceasefire appears increasingly at risk amid escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, an Israeli source tells CNN.

“The intention would be to carry out a short campaign aimed at pressuring Iran into further concessions in negotiations,” the source says, adding that the strikes would target energy infrastructure and senior Iranian officials, and were mostly prepared ahead of the ceasefire last month.

The source emphasizes that any resumption of the war is ultimately up to US President Donald Trump, according to CNN.

Clashes reported between Hamas operatives and Gazans in Strip’s north; background unclear

Media outlets opposed to Hamas in Gaza report exchanges of fire between Hamas operatives and members of the Strip’s Kafarneh family in western Gaza City. Footage shows a vehicle going up in flames, and according to some reports, Hamas has closed off streets in the area.

No further details are currently known.

The Kafarneh family is a large Gaza clan originally from the northern part of the Strip, and the circumstances of the clashes remain unclear.

مليشيات حماس تهاجم خيام وبيوت عائلة الكفارنة في منطقة النصر غرب مدينة غزة، ما أدى إلى حالة من التوتر والخوف بين السكان. وأفاد شهود عيان بفرض منع تجول في شارع النصر، خاصة في محيط منطقتي السويدي واليازجي ومنطقة O2. pic.twitter.com/ebVPtjYGnM

— قناة عودة الفضائية (@AwdehTV) May 5, 2026

WATCH: Pentagon chief holds briefing on Iran war

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth is holding a live briefing focusing on the Iran war.

Katz says Netanyahu’s criminal trial compromising national security

Defense Minister Israel Katz criticizes the continuation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trial, arguing that it is interfering with national security decision-making.

In a post on X, Katz says that during the current “complex and sensitive” security situation, Netanyahu has had to step out of court proceedings to take urgent calls from him on a secure line – a situation he describes as “a harm to the state’s security and an absurdity that must stop.”

Earlier today, Netanyahu’s defense asked the court to further shorten today’s cross-examination testimony, citing an urgent defense and diplomatic schedule, and have it run from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., after the judges had already made it later and shorter than usual, and said it would be held from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The court partially accepted this request, saying the hearing will take place from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

IDF says Hezbollah tried, failed to down Israeli drone over Lebanon; terror group’s UAV downed

Hezbollah attempted to shoot down an Israeli Air Force drone over southern Lebanon a short while ago, the military says.

The IDF says the surface-to-air missile “failed” and no damage was caused to the drone.

Separately, the Air Force shot down an apparent Hezbollah drone over southern Lebanon, the IDF says.

Earlier today, Hezbollah launched several explosive drones and an anti-tank guided missile at Israeli troops, and several explosive devices planted by the terror group were detonated near the forces, the IDF says.

According to the military, no injuries were caused in the attacks.

UAE restricts airspace after Iranian missile, drone attack

The United Arab Emirates has restricted flights to a handful of approved routes until at least May 11 and activated emergency security protocols, according to Notices to Air Men (NOTAMs) published by its General Civil Aviation Authority.

The restrictions come two days after the UAE lifted all precautionary airspace measures and said its airspace was clear.

UAE said yesterday that its air defenses were thwarting Iranian missiles and drones, forcing multiple flights to divert to Oman’s Muscat and circle over Saudi Arabia.

The NOTAMs states, “EMIRATES FIR PARTIALLY CLOSED,” referring to the flight information region, and adding that flights into and out of the UAE are permitted only via specific entry and exit points.

France’s Macron to speak today with Iran’s president

French President Emmanuel Macron will speak with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian later today, as he pushes for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“I will be speaking with the Iranian president shortly,” Macron tells reporters at a press conference in Yerevan, adding that France has long advocated for “the restoration of freedom of navigation” in the vital waterway.

Spain demands release of flotilla activist after Israel extends detention

Israeli officers bring Spanish flotilla activist Saif Abu Keshek to a court in Ashkelon on May 5, 2026. (Ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP)

Spain renews a demand for the “immediate release” of a Spanish activist who participated in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla and is held in Israel after his detention was extended until Sunday.

Spain’s consul in Tel Aviv will continue to visit Saif Abu Keshek, “providing full protection and in permanent contact with his family,” foreign ministry sources say. “The government of Spain demands his immediate release and that all his rights be respected.”

FIFA invites Iran to Zurich headquarters to discuss World Cup

Iran's players pose for a team picture ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Asia zone qualifiers group A football match between Iran and the North Korea at the Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran on June 10, 2025. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

FIFA has invited the Iranian football federation (FFIRI) to its headquarters for talks over the country’s participation at this year’s World Cup, a source tells AFP.

Iran’s presence at the tournament, held in the United States, Canada and Mexico between June 11 and July 19, has been shrouded in uncertainty since the eruption of war in the Middle East in February following strikes by the United States and Israel.

The source says FIFA has asked the FFIRI to visit its Zurich base “by May 20 to prepare for the World Cup.”

Last week, FIFA president Gianni Infantino reiterated Iran will play their World Cup games in the United States as scheduled.

“Let me start by the outset, confirming straightaway that of course Iran will be participating at the FIFA World Cup 2026,” Infantino said as he addressed delegates at the FIFA Congress in Vancouver. “And of course, Iran will play [in] the United States of America.”

Iran’s delegation was the only absentee from the 211-member congress after a clash with Canadian border officials. Canada, which designated the IRGC a terrorist organisation in 2024, said individuals linked to the force were “inadmissible.”

On his return home, Taj told local media he wanted a meeting with FIFA to discuss a variety of subjects.

Iran’s team, which is due to be based in Tucson, Arizona, during the World Cup, face New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt in Group G. The Iranians open their World Cup campaign against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15.

Western Wall stone on display at IDF HQ brought back to Jerusalem’s Old City

From left to right: Israel Antiquities Authority director Eli Escusido, UTJ MK Meir Porush, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Western Wall Heritage Foundation's Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, with a Western Wall stone returned to the site, May 4, 2026. (Western Wall Heritage Foundation)

A 2000-year-old stone weighing around five tons that had fallen off the Western Wall in Jerusalem and had been on permanent display at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv was returned to the Western Wall site yesterday, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation says in a statement.

“The stones of the Western Wall belong to the wall, and therefore it was clear that the stone must be returned to its natural place alongside the other stones in the Old City of Jerusalem,” Defense Minister Israel Katz says, according to the statement. “Each stone carries the story of the Jewish people — from prayers and hope, through destruction, to the strength and renewed sovereignty of the State of Israel.”

The Western Wall is one of the external walls that surrounded the Jewish holy Temple before it was razed by the Romans in 70 CE. During the destruction, several stones collapsed and were uncovered in excavations in the area of the Western Wall Plaza. Some of them have been exhibited around the country. One is on permanent display at the President’s Residence.

In the past year, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which manages the site, has been asking to return the stones to their original location.

“The stones of the Western Wall are not only stones; they carry the soul of the Jewish people, the pain of exile and the joy of return,” says Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, head of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. “Even when there were attempts to bring this sanctity into the centers of national decision-making, their natural place is here, in their original home.”

Drone warning sirens sound in Lebanon border town of Misgav Am

Sirens warning of a drone attack from Lebanon sound in the northern border community of Misgav Am.

The IDF says it is investigating.

Golan says opposition should partner with Ra’am to topple ‘failed, corrupt government’

Leader of the Democrats party Yair Golan leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 23, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Democrats chairman Yair Golan calls on the leaders of the opposition to embrace the Arab Ra’am party as a potential partner in order to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, calling it “the appropriate Zionist response” to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s attacks on the Islamist faction.

In a video message, Golan appeals “personally and directly” to his fellow leaders of the “liberal and democratic bloc,” arguing that “if we must rely on the votes of the Ra’am party to topple this failed, corrupt, and most dangerous government to Israel’s security, then Ra’am is a worthy partner.”

Smotrich sparked an uproar this morning when he asserted that former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s decision to include Ra’am in his 2021-2022 government was far worse than the governmental failures tied to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught — the worst terror attack in Israeli history.

Facing intense right-wing attacks, Bennett has said that, if elected in this year’s election, he would only rely on Zionist parties for his coalition, rather than sitting again with Ra’am.

Addressing other opposition leaders, Golan insists that “the time has come to stop cooperating with this campaign of incitement and delegitimization and to start acting like a governing alternative” rather than “following the political rules of the game set by Netanyahu and his far-right partners.”

Hegseth: Iran ceasefire ‘is not over’, the US is ‘not looking for a fight’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to members of the media during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, May 5, 2026. (AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The ceasefire between Iran and the US “is not over,” says Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a Pentagon press conference.

The comments come a day after Iran fired missiles and drones at UAE and Oman.

Hegseth pushes back on the “false premise that somehow President Trump is being pulled in by Prime Minister Netanyahu.”

He says the US is “grateful for [Israel’s] input, their insights, the existential nature of the threat they face from an Iranian bomb.”

Hegseth acknowledges that Israel “may have some objectives at times that are slightly different than ours, but there’s only one hand on the wheel ultimately.”

Speaking about Project Freedom, the US initiative to help commercial ships out of the Persian Gulf, Hegseth says that “American forces won’t need to enter Iranian waters or airspace.”

“We’re not looking for a fight,” he stresses, adding that “we’d prefer this to be a peaceful operation, but we are locked and loaded to defend our people, our ships, our aircraft, and this mission without hesitation.”

Hegseth also says that Washington plans to “hand over” the effort to secure the Strait of Hormuz “to the world.”

“Hundreds of ships from nations around the world are lining up to go through the strait,” claims Hegseth, while emphasizing that America’s “iron-clad blockade remains in full effect.”

Top US general: Iran’s ceasefire attacks have fallen ‘below threshold’ of restarting war

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine speaks to members of the media during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, May 5, 2026. (AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Top US General Dan Caine says Iran’s attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz have so far not met the threshold that would require the United States to restart combat operations.

Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says that since the ceasefire was announced on April 7, Iran has fired at commercial vessels nine times and seized two container ships.

He says Iran has attacked US forces more than 10 times. However, the attacks fell “below the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this point,” Caine tells reporters.

But US forces are ready to resume major combat operations against Iran if they are ordered to do so, he adds.

US Central Command “and the rest of the joint force remain ready to resume major combat operations against Iran if ordered to do so. No adversary should mistake our current restraint with a lack of resolve,” Caine says.

Visiting Bahrain, Zelensky offers to sign deal to share anti-drone expertise

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a press conference in Rome, April 15, 2026. (AP/ Alessandra Tarantino)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky holds a meeting with King Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa during a visit to Bahrain and offers to sign a deal to provide drones.

“Our country is facing similar terrorist strikes almost every day, and our people have relevant experience in full-scale defense. Ukraine is ready to share this security expertise with Bahrain and help strengthen the protection of life,” Zelensky says on X.

After sirens in north, IDF says several drones intercepted above southern Lebanon

The air force successfully intercepted “several aerial targets” over southern Lebanon following sirens warning of a suspected drone infiltration in the border community of Misgav Am, the IDF says.

According to the military, the targets were downed before crossing into Israeli territory. Sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol.

Macron says he will speak with Iran’s president, urges against escalation

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of the European Political Community in Yerevan, Armenia, May 4, 2026. (AP/Anthony Pizzoferrato)

French President Emmanuel Macron says the Iranian president has asked to hold a phone conversation amid the increasingly shaky Mideast ceasefire.

“I will be speaking with the Iranian president shortly at his request,” Macron says.

″France has maintained a consistent position from the start. We call for the cessation of all hostilities, the return to diplomatic negotiations, and respect for all countries in the region,” Macron says.

“The only possible option is the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz… and the absence of any tolls or coercive measures,” he adds. “Any unilateral escalation against tankers, container ships, or third countries is a mistake that fuels war and leads to escalation.”

Haredi IDF soldiers attacked by Meron revelers on Lag B’Omer

People gather to watch the lighting on the central bonfire during Lag B'Omer celebrations on Mount Meron, northern Israel, on May 4, 2026. (David Cohen/Flash90)

An ultra-Orthodox IDF soldier who went up to Mount Meron was assailed and derided as a “Nazi” by a group of Haredi revelers last night during Lag B’Omer, as thousands defied authorities’ efforts to limit crowds at the northern pilgrimage site.

In a video uploaded to social media, a group of men are seen near the tomb complex as they encircle two armed soldiers in uniform, one of them with a black kippah and sidelocks, while shouting them down.

אברומי לינשה הגיע במדים למירון והותקף באלימות pic.twitter.com/NBjopQtJuH

— הפרגוד (@moshepargod) May 5, 2026

Crowds were also filmed attacking police over the course of the night. In one instance, a group of Haredi men threw plastic chairs and water bottles at several officers in their vicinity.

Last night, thousands of revelers broke through barriers meant to limit crowds at Meron, flouting police’s decision to scale back planned festivities in the area for fear of Hezbollah rocket fire. Despite IDF Home Front Command regulations capping outdoor public gatherings in the area at 200 people and indoor public gatherings at 600 people, the actual number of revelers far exceeded this. By Sunday, some 20,000 people were reported to have already arrived in Meron.

Showing up to the site last night, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir lauded police operating in the area for being “gentle” with those trying to reach Meron, while urging the public to refrain from traveling there.

Magen David Adom paramedics tell Channel 12 that a total of 23 people have been injured at the site over the course of the holiday, including one person who is in moderate condition after being hit in the head. The rest were treated for light injuries.

Jailed Iranian Nobel winner Mohammadi ‘between life and death,’ say her supporters

This photo taken in 2021 shows Narges Mohammadi in Tehran, Iran. (Reihane Taravati via AP)

Jailed Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi is fighting for her life after being hospitalized under guard for the last five days with a heart condition, her supporters said on Tuesday.

“We are not just fighting for the freedom of Narges, we are fighting so that her heart continues to beat,” said her Paris-based lawyer Chirinne Ardakani at a news conference of her supporters, adding that the 2023 laureate was now “between life and death.”

Reports: One killed, several wounded in IDF strike in Gaza

Gaza media outlets affiliated with Hamas report that one person was killed and several others were wounded in an IDF strike in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City.

According to the reports, the strike targeted a local police station.

The IDF has not yet commented on reports of the strike.

#صورة| من مكان استهداف نقطة تابع للشرطة الفلسطينية في مركز حي الشيخ رضوان شمال قطاع غزة. pic.twitter.com/yVu7gU1ks7

— شبكة فلسطين للحوار (@paldf) May 5, 2026

Slamming court for not canceling testimony, PM says he spoke with 4 world leaders in past 24 hours

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the courtroom at the District Court in Tel Aviv, before the start of his testimony in the trial against him, October 28, 2025. (Miriam Alster/ Flash90/ File)

At the start of his testimony in his ongoing corruption trial, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he’s spoken with four world leaders in the past 24 hours, slamming the court for not canceling his appearance today despite his request.

Instead, the court agreed to shorten his testimony to take place between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. today.

“This whole thing is absurd, it’s ridiculous,” he tells the court, according to Hebrew media reports.

“In the past 24 hours I spoke with four heads of state — with [US President Donald] Trump, you can imagine about what; with the prime minister of the Czech Republic; with Arab leaders I won’t detail, on various issues; and today with [Board of Peace Gaza chief] Nickolay Mladenov about Gaza, where there are interesting developments,” Netanyahu says.

“All of this, in addition to three security discussions with the senior defense establishment. And in the meantime, we’re devoting three hours to the question of how I responded to a headline,” Netanyahu rants, referencing ongoing questioning about his relationship with Walla news site owner Shaul Elovitch, a key element of one of the three corruption cases.

“It’s absurd. They’re wasting the time of the State of Israel,” he says.

IDF says recent north Gaza strikes killed armed Hamas operatives

The IDF says it carried out strikes in northern Gaza today and yesterday, targeting armed Hamas operatives who it says posed an immediate threat to troops.

According to the military, an armed cell was struck earlier today near forces deployed along the Yellow Line, while in a separate incident yesterday, troops from the 14th Reserve Armored Brigade identified five operatives approaching the ceasefire line.

The air force carried out strikes in both cases, guided by ground forces. The IDF says most of the operatives were killed and additional casualties were identified, without providing further details.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reports one person killed and several others wounded, some seriously, in today’s strike, and another killed with several injured in yesterday’s incident. Civilians were reportedly among the casualties.

The military adds that steps were taken to minimize civilian harm, including the use of precision munitions and aerial surveillance.

UAE says it is under drone and missile attack from Iran again

The UAE says that Iran has fired more drones and missiles at the country for the second consecutive day.

Iran fired 12 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles, and four drones at the UAE yesterday, according to the Emirati Defense Ministry.

State comptroller says bloated government, politically motivated reshuffles led to dysfunction

A group photo of the 37th Government of Israel, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, December 29, 2022. (Avi Ohayon/Government Press Office)

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman warns that Israel’s government is unusually large and inefficient, with up to three times as many ministries as European countries, around half of which do not exist elsewhere.

Issuing a new comptroller report, Englman says that political considerations have driven repeated structural changes that undermine government effectiveness, disrupt public services and hamper efforts to rehabilitate the north.

The audit finds that successive governments have expanded in size despite repeated recommendations since 2011 to reduce the number of ministries. For example, while Israel had 31 ministries in 2024, Sweden, with a similar population and roughly 20 times larger size, had just 11.

Even during the ongoing war, a decision to examine closing superfluous ministries was largely never implemented, with Englman concluding that “political considerations and constraints ultimately outweigh the need” to streamline government operations.

The Finance Ministry recommended closing 10 superfluous government ministries in order to offset the strain put on the budget by the war in Gaza in December 2023 including the Settlements and National Missions Ministry, Jerusalem and Jewish Tradition Ministry, and the Heritage Ministry. To date, of the ministries included in the proposal, only the Advancement of the Status of Women Ministry has been closed.

The comptroller also highlights the scale of bureaucratic upheaval: between 2020 and 2024, no fewer than 76 changes were made, transferring areas of responsibility between ministries, with some functions moved multiple times. These repeated shifts, he says, weaken government effectiveness, erode institutional knowledge, and waste millions in public funds.

Englman singles out the government’s failure to rehabilitate northern Israel and the south following October 7 as “one of the most painful failures caused by the government’s conduct.”

“In less than two years, the government made several decisions to transfer responsibility between ministries and officials — even during a state of emergency and wartime,” he says.

The lack of a consistent government approach, Englman adds, contributed to fundamental failures identified in a previous June 2025 report, including the absence of a multi-year rehabilitation plan for the north and “the government’s inability” to return displaced residents and rebuild the region.

Board of Peace Gaza chief says talks with PM were ‘positive and substantive’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team meet the Board of Peace pointman for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee and others in Jerusalem, May 5, 2026. (Prime Minister's Office)

Board of Peace Gaza point man Nickolay Mladenov says he had a “positive and substantive discussion” today with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the path ahead in Gaza.

“We all reaffirmed our commitment to the full implementation of [US] President [Donald] Trump’s 20-Point Comprehensive Plan,” he says.

“Working with all sides to turn commitment into concrete actions,” Mladenov writes on X. “This will require decisions for progress. We keep moving forward in the interest of a better future for Israelis and Palestinians.”

4 pro-Palestinian activists convicted for role in 2024 raid on Elbit factory

Bodycam footage from August 6, 2024, shows an officer aiming a taser gun at an intruder at Elbit UK's site in Bristol, England, after the intruder struck a police officer with a sledgehammer. (Screen capture: Channel 4)

Four British pro-Palestinian activists are convicted of criminal damage relating to a 2024 raid on a factory operated by Israeli defense firm Elbit, while two of the defendants are acquitted.

Prosecutors at London’s Woolwich Crown Court say the six defendants were members of the now-banned group Palestine Action, which organized the assault on the Elbit Systems UK facility in Bristol, southwest England, in August 2024.

The six – Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31 – had all denied charges of criminal damage.

Head, Corner, Kamio and Rajwani were found guilty, while Rogers and Devlin were found not guilty.

Corner, who was accused of hitting a police officer with a sledgehammer, was convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm, but found not guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Anti-Zionist group announces protest outside New York City synagogue today

The entrance to Park East Synagogue, with dueling protesters on each side, separated by police, in New York City, November 19, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

The Pal-Awda anti-Zionist activist group announces a protest tonight outside Park East Synagogue in New York City.

The group says it is targeting an event that markets real estate in Israel.

Protests outside synagogues in the city tend to be especially vitriolic.

Activist groups around the city are sharing advertisements for the protest, while Jewish community members are circulating calls for a counter-demonstration.

In November, Pal-Awda protested outside the same synagogue. The demonstrators harassed Jewish passersby with antisemitic epithets and chanted “Death to the IDF” and “We need to make them scared.”

That demonstration, targeting an event about moving to Israel, sparked outrage, leading to New York City Council legislation that requires the police to formulate and publicize plans for handling protests at houses of worship. The legislation became law last month, but police are not yet required to implement new measures.

Tonight’s protest could present a challenge to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

After the November protest, which took place following Mamdani’s election win but before he took office, he criticized both the protesters and the synagogue, provoking backlash.

Outgoing Air Force chief says judicial overhaul protests were ‘a step away’ from damaging force

Outgoing IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar speaks at a handover ceremony at the Tel Nof Airbase, May 5, 2026. (Screenshot/IDF)

Outgoing Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar says the IAF was “only a step away” from its foundations being undermined amid the protests over the judicial overhaul nearly three years ago.

“At the beginning of my tenure, we were in the eye of the storm, with the outbreak of the protests against the judicial reform,” Bar says in his parting speech at the Tel Nof Airbase. “We drew the clear boundary line between politics and influence and the IDF.”

“This was not easy, but we fought to preserve the competence and cohesion of the Air Force, and its designation as the defender of Israel, under all conditions, so that no opinion or stance not directly related to the mission of safeguarding the security of the state would enter within its walls,” Bar says.

He says that today he still stands by this decision to not allow protests to enter the IAF.

“We were only a step away from undermining the foundations of the Air Force. And nevertheless, when the war broke out, all the servicemen and women proved devotion and resilience on the day of command, on October 7, and also when we faced the challenges of the war in seven arenas simultaneously,” Bar says.

Israel needs ‘objective external investigation’ into October 7, says outgoing Air Force chief

IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar speaks to soldiers at an Iron Dome battery, January 21, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)

Outgoing Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar calls for an “external” committee to investigate the failures of the October 7, 2023, onslaught, something the government has resisted forming for nearly three years.

“It is clear to all that the full picture will become clear only after the work of an objective external investigation committee,” he says at a handover ceremony.

“This is essential for the IDF, for all the security bodies in the state, for the [bereaved] families… and for the trust between the citizens and the IDF and the country that is supposed to protect them,” Bar says.

Vienna police bracing for protests and ‘disruption attempts’ at Eurovision next week

The Eurovision logo is seen during the official opening of the stage at the Wiener Stadthalle prior to the 70th Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), in Vienna, Austria on April 28, 2026. (Joe Klamar / AFP)

Vienna police expect protests against Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest to include “blockades and disruption attempts,” they say, calling the competition in the Austrian capital one of the biggest security events they have faced.

A celebration of pop music and high camp, the contest is taking place in particularly tense circumstances this year as five national broadcasters, including Spanish heavyweight RTVE and Ireland’s RTE, are boycotting after failing to oust Israel from the contest.

A handful of demonstrations, mainly against but also in favor of Israel’s taking part, have been registered so far for next week, with attendance estimated at up to 3,000. Protests must be registered with 48 hours’ notice.

“We expect there will in fact be blockades and disruptive actions, particularly on the day of the final, whether through authorized or unauthorized gatherings,” Xenia Zauner, a senior police official who will oversee the security operation, tells a press conference.

Police are preparing for a wide range of threats.

Drones will be banned within 1.5 km (0.9 miles) of sites including the contest venue, and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation will set up a task force in New York next week that Austrian authorities can contact around the clock to address cyber threats, police say.

While the general “terrorism alert level” in Austria has been at the second-highest notch for more than two years, there is no specific threat against the contest, says Vienna police Vice President Dieter Csefan.

Interceptor missile launched at suspected Hezbollah drone, says IDF

An interceptor missile was launched toward a suspected Hezbollah drone a short while ago, the military says.

The “suspicious aerial target” did not cross the border from Lebanon into Israel, according to the IDF.

In another incident earlier, the army says a Hezbollah drone crashed near Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, without causing any injuries.

Outgoing Air Force chief: Israel worked closely with US on Iran, but won’t cede independence

Outgoing IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar speaks at a handover ceremony at the Tel Nof Airbase, May 5, 2026. (Screenshot/IDF)

Outgoing IAF chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar says Israel will maintain its ability to act independently against Iran, following the joint war with the United States against the Islamic Republic.

“We fought Iran shoulder to shoulder with the number one superpower in the world, in cooperation and with unprecedented operational achievements,” he says.

“We shared the most intimate intelligence, worked together on the plans, and flew together, two air forces that are a tremendous and unified force,” Bar continues.

He says the IAF “will preserve this capability, but we will also not give up our ability to act independently.”

“Even at these very moments, we are alert and prepared for any development, in defense and in offense,” Bar adds.

Wounded IDF reservist joins Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party

IDF reservist Capt. Israel Ben-Shitrit, who is joining Yisrael Beytenu, in an undated photo from military duty. (Courtesy)

IDF Capt. Israel Ben-Shitrit, an IDF reservist who served as a deputy company commander in the Alexandroni Brigade and was seriously wounded in battle in Gaza in early 2024, joins Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party.

In a statement, the party describes the 40-year old father of five from Yeruham as “an entrepreneur and a man of action” who has worked “to strengthen shared responsibility in Israeli society, to promote the rehabilitation of IDF wounded soldiers, and to deepen the connection between the State of Israel and Diaspora Jewry.”

As part of Yisrael Beytenu, he will “promote true equality” in conscription, “improve the rehabilitation system for IDF wounded, expand the response to post-trauma victims, and connect with Diaspora Jewry,” the party adds.

In his own statement, Ben-Shitrit says he is joining the party “to fight for true equality in the burden, to strengthen the warriors and the wounded in body and mind, the reservists, to strengthen Israeli society and to ensure that no one is left behind.”

Welcoming Ben-Shitrit, Liberman says that he “represents a generation of warriors who demand justice and equality of the burden,” a reference to the contentious IDF service exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox community.

Speaking with AFP last year, Ben-Shitrit said he was still haunted by the ghosts of the war he left behind.

“The scream of the soldier asking for rescue… no matter where I am, I will always hear that scream,” he told AFP, speaking of a comrade he had been unable to save.

AFP contributed to this report.

Incoming Air Force chief says Israel ‘closely monitoring’ situation in Iran; ‘prepared to take the entire Air Force eastward if required’

Incoming IAF chief Maj. Gen. Omer Tischler (right) speaks at a handover ceremony at the Tel Nof Airbase, May 5, 2026. (Screenshot/IDF)

Incoming Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Omer Tischler says the force is “closely monitoring” the situation in Iran.

“We are closely monitoring what is happening in Iran, and are prepared to take the entire Air Force eastward, if we are required to do so,” he says at a handover ceremony.

Tischler replaces Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, who served in the role for four years.

Trump: ‘I’ll let you know’ when Iran is considered to have violated the ceasefire

US President Donald Trump speaks before signing a proclamation in the Oval Office at the White House, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

US President Donald Trump declines to say what Iran would have to do for him to deem that it has violated the ceasefire.

“You’ll find out because I’ll let you know when they do,” Trump tells a reporter in the Oval Office. “They know what not to do.”

“They should do the smart thing because we don’t want to go in and kill people,” he adds.

The US has stopped short of accusing Iran of violating the ceasefire, even though Tehran has repeatedly targeted the UAE over the past two days.

IDF chief says military ‘closely monitoring’ Iran and prepared to ‘respond with force’

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir speaks at a handover ceremony for the chief of the Israeli Air Force, at the Tel Nof Airbase, May 5, 2026. (Screenshot/IDF)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says the military is “prepared to respond with force” if Iran targets Israel amid the escalation in the Gulf.

“Our forces are deployed across all sectors, fighting and prepared in immediate readiness for any scenario — from near and from far,” Zamir says at a handover ceremony for the chief of the Israeli Air Force.

“The IDF, in all its systems, maintains high readiness,” he says.

Zamir says the military is “closely monitoring developments in the Persian Gulf” and is “prepared to respond with force against any attempt to harm Israel.”

Reports: Three Palestinians injured in settler attack in southern West Bank

The Red Crescent says three Palestinians were injured in a settler attack in the South Hebron Hills area of the southern West Bank.

According to one report, they were attacked while grazing livestock. No further details are currently available.

#متابعة| مستوطنين يعتدون على المواطنين في مسافر يطا، وحاولوا سرقة قطيع من المواشي. pic.twitter.com/DRUcGMtFip

— شبكة فلسطين للحوار (@paldf) May 5, 2026

Proposed UN resolution threatens Iran with sanctions over attacks on Strait of Hormuz

In this picture obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency on May 4, 2026, two men sitting in a skiff are seen fishing near a vessel anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas in southern Iran. (Amirhossein KHORGOOEI / ISNA / AFP)

A proposed UN resolution demands Iran halt attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and stop the imposition of “illegal tolls.”

The proposed Security Council resolution, co-sponsored by the United States and Gulf nations, threatens Iran with sanctions or other measures if it doesn’t restore freedom of navigation and immediately disclose where sea mines have been placed in and around the vital waterway.

The draft, obtained today by The Associated Press, also demands that Iran “immediately participate in and enable the United Nations efforts to establish a humanitarian corridor in the strait” to enable vital aid, fertilizer and other goods to transit.

The proposed resolution was drafted under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which can be enforced militarily. It threatens “effective measures that are commensurate with the gravity of the situation, including sanctions” if Iran doesn’t comply.

A previous resolution aimed at opening the Strait of Hormuz, where about 20% of the world’s crude oil had transited, was vetoed by Russia and China.

UN human rights chief says Ben Gvir’s noose birthday cake is ‘despicable’

Left: A large birthday cake featuring a golden noose and guns is presented to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at his 50th birthday party, on May 2, 2026. Right: Ayala Ben Gvir gives her husband a second, smaller birthday cake, also featuring a noose, on May 2, 2026. (Screenshot: Itamar Ben Gvir via Instagram)

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk says he is “disgusted” by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir being photographed at his birthday party over the weekend with a cake from his wife with a noose on it symbolizing the death penalty law he managed to pass through the Knesset.

“Celebrating executions is despicable. The Israeli government must urgently repeal its discriminatory death penalty law,” Turk tweets.

Pakistani military urges restraint as US-Iran tensions rise

Pakistan's Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshall Asim Munir, right, talks to Vice President JD Vance as Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, left, listens before Vance boards Air Force Two after attending talks on Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 12, 2026. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Pakistan’s top military leadership urges restraint to help ease rising tensions between the United States and Iran.

The call came during a Corps Commanders Conference chaired by army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir.

Munir since last month has been in contact between the US and Iranian officials as part of Pakistan’s efforts to end the conflict.

In a statement, the military says participants reviewed the evolving security environment amid Pakistan’s outreach to Washington and Tehran, adding that lasting peace depends on collective restraint, responsibility and respect for sovereignty.

Green groups welcome move to allow public access to Sea of Galilee trail

View of the Sea of Galilee. (Dov Greenblat/Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel)

Environmental groups welcome a decision by the National Planning and Building Council to walk back some of its proposals to limit public access along the Sea of Galilee Circular Trail.

Four kibbutzim, operating right up to the shore, had asked to keep strangers out by fencing themselves off and operating gates that would be locked for several hours every evening and night. Having originally agreed to this, the council reversed its decision. Instead, it will allow them to fence up to three meters (10 feet) from the shore to allow free passage beyond.

Requests by various churches for fences, gates and alternative routes will, however, be met. There will be a diversion around the Sapir water pumping station.

The Sea of Galilee Circular Trail received general planning approval in 2007. Since then, public access to 32 kilometers (20 miles) of uncontentious segments has been approved. Of these, around seven kilometers (4.35 miles) of the trail have been built.

The decision reached today proposes a trail route as close as possible to the water line, with tourism hubs along the way, ranging from shaded stopping areas and rest corners to complexes that allow for day or night stays, all maintaining measured development that respects the environment.

The plans for these stretches will now be formally deposed and made available for public comment.

The final area to be discussed by the council will be the nine-kilometer (5.6-mile) stretch through the city of Tiberias.

Adam Teva V’Din says in a statement that the council’s about-face marks a “significant achievement for the public and for future generations, who will gain freedom of movement in the coastal space that belongs first and foremost to all of us.”

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel says the council “took an important step today in its decision to open the Sea of Galilee shores to the general public… In doing so, it upheld the principle that the seashores are public property and that the public has a basic right to access the shores and natural resources.”

Visiting Berlin, Sa’ar says whoever harms Christians in Israel ‘will be dealt with severely’

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (R) and his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa'ar shake hands after a press conference at the Foreign Office in Berlin on May 5, 2026. (RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP)

Christians are safe in Israel, says Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, after a meeting with his German counterpart Johann Wadephul.

“Christians are safe and prosperous in the Holy Land,” says Sa’ar. “And whoever raises a hand against our fellow Christians is and will be dealt with severely.”

Turning to the war against Iran, Sa’ar says that “we strongly condemn the regime’s unprovoked attacks against the United Arab Emirates.”

“The regime’s assassination of the freedom of navigation is a threat to world order,” says Sa’ar. “If this naval terror isn’t dealt with — it will spread around the world.”

He blames Hezbollah for the ongoing fighting in Lebanon, noting that Israel withdrew in 2000 and from Gaza in 2005.

“The minimum we expect of those who supported the withdrawals then — is to support us when we are attacked from the very territories we withdrew from,” he says.

“Israel has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon,” says Sa’ar. He blasts the Lebanese government for failing to clear southern Lebanon of Hezbollah arms.

“The efforts were very limited,” says Sa’ar. “They haven’t dismantled terror infrastructure in private property in the homes and underground.”

Sa’ar stresses that Israel has much to offer Germany, one of its closest allies.

“Israel is a partner for Germany: In defense, security, intelligence cooperation, economic compatibility and the fight against terror,” he says.

“Israeli technology protects Germany: in the air, land and sea,” he continues. “Our Arrow 3 batteries, UAVs and anti-drone systems, autonomous submarines and the tank Windbreaker.”

“Our intelligence cooperation prevents terror attacks on German soil and saves German lives,” says Sa’ar.

Report: Trump nearly ordered Iran strikes in recent days, but held off after new proposal from Tehran

US President Donald Trump speaks before signing a proclamation in the Oval Office at the White House, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly shifted his stance in recent days on whether to resume military action against Iran, but is currently holding off to allow negotiations to play out, Channel 12 reports, citing senior US officials.

According to the report, Trump came close on Friday to ordering a renewed wave of strikes, but reversed course at the last moment after Iran submitted an updated proposal for a deal to end the war — a proposal he later rejected. Instead, he opted to proceed with an operation to free up the Strait of Hormuz for shipping while giving diplomacy more time.

Trump is reportedly facing pressure from advisers outside the White House to resume fighting, though officials stress that as of now, he still prefers to exhaust negotiations.

However, US officials warn that if talks remain deadlocked in the coming days, Trump is prepared to order a short and powerful military campaign aimed at breaking the impasse.

Trump’s advisers, including Jared Kushner, are said to have told him progress is being made in narrowing gaps with Iran, but cautioned there is no guarantee any agreement reached with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would be accepted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Meanwhile, US officials are downplaying recent Iranian attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and against the United Arab Emirates, saying they do not cross a threshold that would necessitate renewed war.

Earlier today, Trump declined to say what Iran would have to do for him to deem that it has violated the ceasefire, telling reporters, “I’ll let you know when they do.”

At the same time, the US military is continuing operations to secure shipping lanes in the strait, maintaining its blockade on Iran and preparing for the possibility of rapid military action if ordered, the report adds.

Ex-Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, Eisenkot’s latest recruit, says leaving Netanyahu in power is ‘dangerous’

Former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen (left) and Yashar party chief Gadi Eisenkot at a press conference in Tel Aviv, May 5, 2026. (Arik Marmor)

Addressing reporters in Tel Aviv during a joint press conference with Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot, whose party he just joined, former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen declares that allowing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “failed” ruling coalition “to continue managing the State of Israel is, in my opinion, an irresponsible and even dangerous act for the country.”

“The choice to enter politics is not natural for me. I spent most of my life behind the scenes, and I prefer field operations over speeches,” Cohen declares, adding that he believes, together with Eisenkot, “we have the personal, organizational, and managerial ability to deal with current challenges, make decisions even if they are complex, bring change, and give hope to the people.”

Asked why he had not united with former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid as part of their new Together party, Eisenkot replies that he had “worked for many months to create an infrastructure for victory in the elections” and, in pursuit of this goal, had “met with all the candidates and tried to reach a three-way structure because I thought that was the right solution, and it did not work out.”

As such, “I continued to strengthen Yashar to be as large as possible,” he continues, noting that Bennett and Lapid had only informed him of their plans “five minutes before the press release.”

“My understanding is that we are facing the most critical elections since the establishment of the state, and forces must be joined to win,” Eisenkot says, stating that he will sit in a government with any party that agree with the values of a “Jewish-democratic state, recognition of the values of the Declaration of Independence, and recognition of the duty of military and shared service.”

This, Cohen adds, currently excludes the Knesset’s Arab parties.

Replying to a reporter’s question regarding reports that he is in talks with Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman to unite their two parties, Eisenkot says that the two have “maintained a long relationship” and have met and spoken in recent months, but that he did not want to get into specifics regarding the issue.

Eisenkot adds that his party will be split 50/50 between men and women and that a third of its candidates will be young people. He also calls on all parties currently polling under the electoral threshold, including his old party, Blue and White, to either drop out of the race or join with other factions.

Iran Guards vow ‘firm response’ if ships diverge from declared Hormuz corridor

Cargo ships are seen at sea near the Strait of Hormuz, as viewed from a rocky shoreline near Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, May 1, 2026. (AP/Fatima Shbair)

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warn that they will respond firmly to any ships that diverge from the Islamic Republic’s approved route through the Strait of Hormuz.

“We warn all vessels planning to transit the Strait of Hormuz that the only safe passage is the corridor previously announced by Iran. Any diversion of ships to other routes is dangerous and will result in a firm response from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards navy,” it says in a statement carried by state television.

The warning comes on the second day of a US effort to facilitate the transit of commercial ships through the waterway, which Iran closed in response to the US-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic.

US reiterates desire for Netanyahu-Aoun meeting after Lebanese leader rebuffed idea

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Collage/AP)

The US reiterates its backing for a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun after the latter said yesterday that such engagement wouldn’t be appropriate until a security deal is reached with Jerusalem in which the IDF would halt attacks in Lebanon.

“President Trump has been clear that direct engagement between the two countries is the best way to swiftly advance a lasting peace and security agreement,” a State Department official says in a statement sent to querying reporters.

“Diplomacy is ongoing, and we will not comment on our ongoing discussions with the two countries,” the official continues, apparently referencing reports that the US is working to schedule a third round of ambassador-level talks between Israel and Lebanon in Washington next week.

“Hezbollah is still trying to derail negotiations with attacks on Israel and threats inside of Lebanon,” the State Department official says. “We are working to create the conditions and political momentum needed to move this forward.”

Police arrest man for spitting at ex-PM Olmert in Tel Aviv

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert seen in Paris, France, on June 9, 2025. (STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)

Police have arrested a man for allegedly spitting on former prime minister Ehud Olmert at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque earlier today.

Officers arrested the man, in his 40s, on suspicion of assault “after he allegedly spat at a public figure,” police say.

The suspect is a well-known right-wing activist, Channel 12 News reports.

Olmert, a former member of the right-wing Likud party, is a staunch supporter of a two-state solution and since leaving office, has been intensely critical of the policies advanced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Despite mayor’s cancellation, ‘Globalize the intifada’ event proceeds in Sydney

An event seeking to promote the slogan “Globalize the intifada” is happening in a park in Sydney after the city’s mayor had blocked it from taking place in a state council-owned venue.

The event, which was canceled yesterday after fears that it would spark violence, attracted just about 150 people and was held without major incident, according to local news reports.

The forum was intended to defend the phrase against efforts to ban it, and drew strong criticism from politicians and Jewish leaders. Australian lawmakers have sought to proscribe the use of the slogan in public debate since the deadly terror shooting targeting a Hanukkah celebration at the city’s Bondi Beach in December, which killed 15 people.

#GlobaliseTheIntifada public meeting now in a park in #Redfern because ⁦@cityofsydney⁩ canceled the booked venue pic.twitter.com/TFT2pOqTtU

— Green Left (@GreenLeftOnline) May 5, 2026

“We reject the implication… that our meeting risks public safety and respect for members of the community,” the organizers write on Instagram.

The phrase has become a flashpoint in public debate, with Jewish groups and others viewing it as a call to antisemitic violence because the first and second intifadas were violent Palestinian uprisings that killed hundreds of Israeli civilians. Defenders of the slogan say it is a legitimate expression of political speech, and accuse critics of suppressing pro-Palestinian advocacy.

In a statement on social media yesterday, Mayor Clover Moore said the event risked “contributing to hostility and fear.”

Iran denies carrying out attacks against the UAE in recent days

Iranians drive past a huge billboard carrying the image of the slain Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killed in February 2026 in a military attack by the US and Israel on Iran, in a street in Tehran on May 5, 2026. (AFP)

Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya ​joint military ‌command says it has not carried out attacks against the United Arab Emirates in recent days, yet warned of a “crushing response” if any action is carried out by the Gulf country against Iran.

The UAE was subject to a second day of what it said were missile and drone attacks from Iran after four weeks of relative calm since the United States announced a ceasefire.

German FM says Israel has ‘every right’ to be in south Lebanon, but warns of damages of war

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (R) and his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa'ar shake hands after a press conference at the Foreign Office in Berlin on May 5, 2026. (RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP)

Germany’s foreign minister offers qualified support for Israel’s military operations in Lebanon during a visit by his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Sa’ar, in Berlin.

Johann Wadephul underscores Germany’s staunch support for Jerusalem, but says close alliances will not “avoid difficult topics.”

Sa’ar defends the continued fighting in southern Lebanon, arguing that Israel needs to destroy Hezbollah, and promising that “Israel has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon.”

Wadephul endorses that stance, calling Israel’s ongoing invasion “necessary.”

“There’s every right for Israel to be there,” Wadephul adds.

But Wadephul also warns that “Lebanon must not be allowed to become a theater of war where it is the civilians who pay the price,” and says that “a younger generation growing up amidst the ruins of their parents’ homes” will not make Israel any safer.

Wadephul condemns Hezbollah attacks on Israel “in the strongest possible terms,” and says direct talks between Israel and the Lebanese government offer “hope.”

Brazil’s Lula demands ‘immediate’ release of Gaza flotilla activists

Brazilian activist Thiago Avila is escorted into the Ashkelon Magistrate's Court on May 5, 2026. (Ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP)

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva demands that Israel release two activists taken from a Gaza-bound flotilla, one of whom is a Brazilian national.

“Our government, together with that of Spain — which also had a citizen detained — demands that they be fully guaranteed their safety and immediately released,” Lula writes on the X social network.

Brazilian Thiago Avila and Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek both appeared in court earlier today, where their detention was extended by six days. The pair, held in a prison in Ashkelon, were among dozens of activists aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off the coast of Greece early on Thursday.

Rubio: Around 23,000 people trapped on ships in Persian Gulf due to Iran’s blockade

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Washington decided to launch Project Freedom in order to rescue some 23,000 civilians from 87 countries who are currently on ships trapped in the Persian Gulf due to Iran’s closing of the Strait of Hormuz.

“These innocent sailors and commercial crew members have been stranded out at sea” because of Iran’s blockade, Rubio says in opening remarks at a White House press briefing, adding that those stranded for weeks are running out of food and water and that at least 10 sailors have already died.

Iran on April 17 announced the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz but proceeded to continue harassment of ships after the US said it would maintain a blockade of Iranian ports in order to hold Tehran’s feet to the fire in negotiations for a permanent end to the war.

Rubio says many nations reached out to the US for assistance in restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, leading Trump to authorize Project Freedom over the weekend.

Trump has “directed the United States military to guide these stranded ships to safety, to provide a protective bubble under which they can operate,” Rubio continues.

US officials have privately clarified that US vessels will not be physically escorting individually stranded ships.

“This is the first step toward reopening the strait and bringing this regime’s last-ditch act of economic arson to a close,” Rubio says.

The US secretary of state stresses that Project Freedom is a defensive operation, meaning US forces will not open fire unless shot at first.

He says two US-flag merchant ships have already been successfully extracted from Hormuz as a result of Project Freedom, though roughly 2,000 vessels are said to remain.

“The goal here is to establish a transit zone protected by a bubble of US naval and air assets that allows ships to move through it and reach the market to begin to increase confidence in the ability to do so,” Rubio adds.

30 Democratic lawmakers ask Rubio to reveal details of Israel’s nuclear program

Satellite photo provided by Planet Labs PBC shows the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center near the city of Dimona, Israel, July 5, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

A group of 30 House Democrats demands that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio disclose details of Israel’s nuclear weapons program.

“We cannot develop a coherent nonproliferation policy for the Middle East,” they say in a letter to Rubio, “including with respect to Iran’s civil nuclear program and Saudi Arabia’s civil nuclear ambitions, while maintaining a policy of official silence about the nuclear weapons capabilities of one party central to the ongoing conflict in which the United States is a direct participant.”

“We ask that you hold Israel to the same standard of transparency that the United States expects from any other country that may be pursuing or retaining nuclear weapons capability,” says the group, led by Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro.

Israel does not confirm or deny having atomic weapons, and the White House has also maintained ambiguity around Israel’s nuclear program over the decades.

The Democrats argue that Congress “has a constitutional responsibility to be fully informed about the nuclear balance in the Middle East, the risk of escalation by any party to this conflict, and the administration’s planning and contingencies for such scenarios. We do not believe we have received that information.”

They ask for details on Israeli warheads and launchers, enrichment capabilities, what is produced in Dimona, and what the US has been told about Israeli doctrine and red lines.

“The United States openly acknowledges the nuclear weapons programs of the United Kingdom, France, India, Pakistan, Russia, China and North Korea,” they write. “We ask that Israel be held to the same standard as any other foreign country, and that the United States government speaks candidly about its potential nuclear weapons capabilities, whatever they may be.”

Current Iran talks are over a framework for future negotiations, says Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a press briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, May 5, 2026. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reveals that the current negotiations with Iran are over a general framework for further discussions on Tehran’s nuclear program, rather than a final agreement.

“The process we’re engaged in now… is coming up with some level of understanding about the topics that they’ve agreed to negotiate on,” Rubio says during a White House press conference.

“We don’t have to have the actual agreement written out in one day. This is highly complex and highly technical. We have to have a diplomatic solution that is very clear about the topics that they’re willing to negotiate on and the concessions they are willing to make at the front end in order to make those talks worthwhile.”

“That’s what [US envoys] Steve [Witkoff] and Jared [Kushner] and the whole team is working on, and I hope to have good news on it,” Rubio says.

He insists that the US has the upper-hand in talks with Iran, due to its sanctions and blockade of Tehran’s ports.

Nonetheless, Iran has refused to accept US demands that it give up its right to enrich and hand over its stockpiles of highly-enriched uranium.

Amid Trump feud, Pope Leo says his mission is only to ‘preach peace’

Pope Leo XIV talks to journalists as he leaves his residence in Castel Gandolfo, on the outskirts of Rome, to return to the Vatican, May 5, 2026. (AP/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Leo rejects US President Donald Trump’s misrepresentation of his views on Iran and nuclear weapons, as the feud between the pair continues.

Speaking to reporters, Leo says the Catholic Church “for years has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt there.”

Trump again accused Leo in an interview today of being “OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” Leo has said no such thing and Catholic Church teaching says the mere possession of nuclear weapons is “immoral.”

Leo doubles down on his insistence that his call for peace and dialogue in the US-Israeli war in Iran is biblically inspired.

“I’ve spoken from the first moment of being elected, and we’re near the anniversary: I said ‘Peace be with you,’” Leo says as he left his country house in Castel Gandolfo.

“The mission of the church is to preach the Gospel, to preach peace. If someone wants to criticize me for announcing the Gospel, let him do it with the truth,” Leo said. “And so I hope simply to be listened to about the value of the Word of God.”

Rubio says Israel-Lebanon peace deal is ‘imminently achievable’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says a peace deal between Israel and Lebanon is “imminently achievable,” but Hezbollah is playing spoiler.

“By and large, I think a peace deal between Lebanon and Israel is imminently achievable, and should be,” Rubio says during a White House press briefing. “The problem with Israel and Lebanon is not Israel or Lebanon, it’s Hezbollah.”

“The reason why Lebanon gets attacked by Israel is because Hezbollah is… launching rockets against Israelis,” he argues.

Hezbollah has argued that it is acting to push Israel out of the large buffer zone it has created in southern Lebanon — one that Jerusalem says is necessary to protect its northern border towns from Hezbollah fire.

Rubio says the US is mediating between Jerusalem and Beirut, with the goal of empowering the Lebanese government to “begin to challenge Hezbollah in disarmament.”

“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that both sides continue to talk so the progress can be made on some sort of permanent ceasefire that isn’t constantly spoiled by Hezbollah,” Rubio adds.

IDF: Palestinian suspects hurled Molotov cocktail in West Bank, fled inside church

Palestinian media outlets report that in recent hours, the IDF has been operating in the village of al-Khader, near Bethlehem, including inside the Mar George (St. George) Church in the village.

In response to a query from The Times of Israel, the IDF says that “two terrorists threw a Molotov cocktail and stones at a road near the village and then fled to a church compound. Forces carried out searches near the church and are continuing to operate in the area.”

Syria says it arrested a Hezbollah cell plotting assassinations of government officials

Syrian authorities announce they have arrested a Hezbollah-affiliated cell plotting to assassinate government officials, while the Lebanese terror group denies the “false accusations.”

The Syrian interior ministry says it conducted a “series of simultaneous security operations” in the Damascus countryside, Aleppo, Homs, Tartus and Latakia provinces.

It says the operations led to the “dismantling of an organized cell affiliated with the Hezbollah militia, whose members infiltrated Syrian territory after receiving intensive specialized training in Lebanon.”

Preliminary investigations reveal that the cell was planning “targeted assassinations against high-level government officials,” the ministry statement says, adding that they seized military equipment including explosive devices and RPG launchers, among other weapons.

It published the pictures of 11 suspects, without specifying their nationalities, saying they included the official responsible for plotting and overseeing assassinations.

Hezbollah issued a statement “categorically denying the false accusations from the Syrian interior ministry.”

“The repetition of these claims by Syrian security authorities despite our repeated declarations that Hezbollah has no presence inside Syrian territory… raises major questions,” the Iran-backed group claims.

It adds that it “suggests that there are those who seek to ignite tensions and strife between the Syrian and Lebanese peoples.”

IDF: Hezbollah fired rockets at troops in south Lebanon, no injuries caused

Israeli military vehicles drive in the Ras al-Bayada area in southern Lebanon, May 5, 2026. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

Hezbollah launched several rockets at Israeli troops stationed in southern Lebanon, in two incidents a short while ago, the military says.

The IDF says the rockets struck near the troops, but did not cause any injuries.