Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they happened.
Khamenei in Hebrew: ‘The world will see the day when the Zionists are defeated by the resistance’
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to the crowd during a meeting with school and university students, in Tehran, Iran, November 2, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei posts another threat to Israel on his new Hebrew-language account on the social media platform X.
“The world will certainly see the day when the Zionists are defeated in a resounding defeat by the resistance,” he writes, amid indications of an imminent Iranian response to Israel’s recent retaliatory strike.
Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance” of proxies in the Middle East includes Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Syrian and Iraqi militant groups.
It has vowed a “punishing” reprisal to Israel’s October 26 airstrikes, which Jerusalem said took out the Islamic Republic’s air defenses and missile production capabilities.
ICC under pressure from US senators to probe harassment allegations against court’s top prosecutor
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan at the Cour d'Honneur of the Palais Royal in Paris on February 7, 2024. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP)
The International Criminal Court has confirmed receiving a letter from a bipartisan group of US senators calling for the court to investigate sexual misconduct allegations against its top prosecutor Karim Khan, but is declining to comment further on the matter.
The letter sent to the ICC, which was backed by Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, urges the court to complete its investigation into Khan before deciding on the arrest warrants he’s seeking for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and recently fired defense minister Yoav Gallant.
Senators Lindsey Graham, Joni Ernst, Richard Blumenthal, John Thune and John Fetterman also signed the November 1 letter.
Court officials have suggested the allegations against Khan may have been made as part of an Israeli intelligence smear campaign. However, others have suggested that the high-profile charges against Israeli leaders — brought after the sexual misconduct probe began — were meant to distract from Khan’s misconduct.
Khan has categorically denied the allegations, saying there was “no truth to suggestions of misconduct.”
Putin congratulates Trump on election win, says Russia ready for dialogue with US
Russia's President Vladimir Putin answers a question during the Valdai Discussion Club meeting in Sochi on November 7, 2024. (Maxim Shipenkov/Pool/AFP)
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulates Donald Trump on winning the US election, praises him for showing courage when a gunman tried to assassinate him, and says Moscow is ready for dialogue with the Republican president-elect.
In his first public remarks since Trump’s win, Putin says Trump acted like a real man during an assassination attempt on him while he was speaking at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July.
“He behaved, in my opinion, in a very correct way, courageously, like a real man,” Putin says at the Valdai discussion club in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. “I take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election.”
Putin says remarks Trump had made during the election campaign about Ukraine and restoring relations with Russia deserved attention.
“What was said about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to bring about the end of the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion, this deserves attention at least,” says Putin.
Trump said during campaigning that he could bring peace in Ukraine within 24 hours if elected, but has given few details on how he would seek to end the biggest land war in Europe since World War II.
The 72-year-old Kremlin chief gives just one note of caution: “I do not know what is going to happen now. I have no clue.”
Russia and Trump have repeatedly dismissed as nonsense some claims in Western media that Trump was a sort of Russian agent of influence. Russian officials say that during his first term, from 2017 to 2021, Trump was tough on Russia.
Moscow has also repeatedly denied US assertions that Russia meddled in the 2024 and other presidential elections and spread disinformation in an attempt to sow chaos.
In final call, Pentagon chief thanks Gallant for being a ‘trusted partner and friend’
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, right, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, left, listen to the playing of the Israeli National Anthem during an arrival ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington, June 25, 2024. (AP/Susan Walsh)
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin thanked Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for being a “trusted partner and friend,” according to a Pentagon readout from what was the final call between the counterparts following the latter’s ouster by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Austin hailed Gallant’s “expertise, professionalism and seasoned judgment in addressing pressing security challenges” and expressed his hope that he’ll have the same relationship with the new defense minister, the Pentagon says, without naming Israel Katz.
The Biden administration was not happy about Netanyahu’s decision to fire Gallant, with one US official suggesting to The Times of Israel that the move was motivated by narrow political interests, rather than the security of the State of Israel.
Netanyahu claimed disagreements with Gallant on key issues had become insurmountable, but critics have argued the move is largely motivated by Netanyahu’s desire to pass legislation granting blanket exemptions for Haredi draft dodgers. Gallant opposed the bill, which Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition partners have warned is critical for the continued longevity of the government.
Austin reiterated the US commitment to Israel’s security, adding that Washington has further bolstered its posture in the region to defend the Jewish state from Iran and its proxies, the Pentagon readout says.
The US defense chief also reiterated the US commitment to ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza.
Netanyahu’s associates said to take surveillance footage of scuffle between Gallant, security guard at PM’s office
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attend a press conference at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, October 28, 2023. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP)
Associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gathered surveillance camera footage of a scuffle between recently-fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and security staff at the Prime Minister’s Office at the IDF’s Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv, according to the Ynet news site.
The video footage was gathered with the intention of using it to discredit the defense minister, who Netanyahu fired this week citing a lack of mutual trust during a time of war.
According to the Ynet report, the incident in question took place on October 12, 2023, five days after the war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s brutal October 7 massacre.
Gallant is said to have arrived late to a meeting at Netanyahu’s office in Tel Aviv, having been told that it would be held in the “the pit,” the Kirya military headquarters’ underground command room.
According to the report, he was shocked when he was then forbidden from entering the Prime Minister’s Office, and a physical confrontation broke out between Gallant and one of the security guards.
The report quotes an unnamed source as saying that former Likud spokesman Jonatan Urich had “removed the footage from the security cameras in order to use it against Gallant or to threaten him.”
Urich claims not to be aware of the incident, Ynet reports.
A senior political official cited in the report says that at the time, Netanyahu and his associates would frequently attempt to “humiliate” Gallant.
Netanyahu fired Gallant for the second time this week, having previously dismissed and then reinstated him in March 2023.
Gallant was at the helm of the Defense Ministry when Hamas committed its deadly terror assault in southern Israel on October 7 last year. He remained in his post throughout the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip, the fighting on the northern border and the ground operation in southern Lebanon.
Paris mulling new sanctions on Israeli settlers, French FM says in West Bank
France's Europe and Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on November 7, 2024. (Zain Jaafar/AFP)
RAMALLAH – Paris is mulling new sanctions on those enabling the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot says on a visit to the Palestinian territory earlier today.
“France has been a driving force to establish the first sanction regime at the European level targeting individuals or entities, either actors or accomplices of settlement activities,” Barrot says after talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
“This regime has been activated two times already and we’re working on a third batch of sanctions targeting these activities that again are illegal with respect to international law.”
Barrot renews France’s commitment to a two-state solution and says that settlement activities “threaten the political perspective that can ensure durable peace for Israel and Palestine.”
Before meeting Abbas, Barrot visited the adjacent town of Al-Bireh, where extremist settlers allegedly set fire to 20 cars earlier this week, damaging a nearby building.
“These attacks from extremist and violent settlers are not only completely inexcusable, not only contrary to international law, but they weaken the perspective of a two-state solution,” Barrot says.
France’s Europe and Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (C) and Palestinian Authority Interior Minister Ziad al Reeh (L) pose for a picture with Palestinian children during a visit in Ramallah on November 7, 2024. (Zain Jaafar/AFP)
Ramallah and Al-Bireh governor Laila Ghannam expresses outrage that settler attacks are “taking place in full view and hearing of the entire silent international community.”
“Perhaps today, with the visit of the French foreign minister, there will be a spotlight here,” she tells AFP.
Denmark grenade attack last month likely targeted Israeli embassy — report
Israel’s embassy in Denmark was likely the target of grenades thrown nearby last month, Danish media reports, citing the pre-indictment of two teenage suspects detained in the case.
Two Swedes aged 17 and 19 went before a judge in Copenhagen who remanded them for another 20 days.
Their pre-indictment, citing investigations, says they are suspected of violating terrorism laws by “throwing hand grenades at the Israeli embassy in Denmark on October 2,” the Ritzau news agency reports.
The grenades landed on the terrace of a house adjacent to the embassy, where they exploded, causing no injuries.
The two suspects were arrested at a Copenhagen railway station hours later initially on suspicion of violating gun laws.
They have since been accused of a terror offense, and police, who have arrested a man in his fifties in connection with the incident, are also looking for other accomplices.
“It makes no sense to imagine this is an act they committed alone. There must be accomplices,” Ritzau quotes prosecutor Soren Harbo as saying at the start of the hearing.
Palestinian media: Israeli settlers torch car, attack home in northern West Bank
Israeli settlers torched a car and attacked a home on the outskirts of the northern West Bank Palestinian village of Jaba, Palestinian media reports.
Israel has come under intense criticism for failing to crack down on such attacks, with arrests of perpetrators rare. In response, some Western countries began imposing sanctions against settler extremists earlier this year.
عاجل| مصادر صحفية: مستوطنون يحرقون مركبة ويهاجمون منزلاً على أطراف بلدة جبع جنوب جنين. pic.twitter.com/aPPwtmyR2n
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) November 7, 2024
Lapid to incoming defense minister Katz: Don’t be ‘minister of draft evasion affairs’
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid in the Knesset plenum, November 7, 2024. (Dani Shem-Tov/Knesset)
Addressing incoming Defense Minister Israel Katz ahead of a Knesset vote to confirm his appointment, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls on the Likud politician to oppose efforts to pass legislation that would enshrine the exemption of members of the ultra-Orthodox community from military service.
“Minister Katz, it is not true that you are being appointed as the defense minister today, you are being appointed as minister of draft evasion affairs,” Lapid declares.
“If you stand up the day after your appointment and say ‘I will not pass evasion laws,’ you will be remembered in history as the one who stood his ground,” he continues, calling on Katz to “do the right thing.”
Report: US officials wary of Netanyahu assurances he won’t fire other security chiefs
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the White House he does not intend to fire any more security chiefs following the dismissal of Yoav Gallant as defense minister, but US officials do not necessarily trust his assurances, Axios reports.
According to the outlet, administration figures are wary of the possibility Netanyahu will seek to remove more top figures with whom they have working relationships.
“We still have a lot of things to do in the next two months. We don’t have a relationship with [the new defense minister Israel] Katz, and we are concerned it is going to be much more difficult now,” an official tells Axios.
PMO reportedly suspected of holding ‘sensitive, personal footage’ of IDF officer
Reports by two Israeli news channels claim that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office is facing suspicions surrounding sensitive footage of an IDF officer found in its possession.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, a complaint filed to the bureau of IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi two months ago claimed that the PMO was holding “sensitive personal footage related to an IDF officer.”
The report says that the officer in question worked with the PMO, but raised the complaint after concerns the material was being held for nefarious purposes.
A separate report by Channel 12 news claims that a probe is underway to look into whether two “very senior officials” in the PMO were involved in leaking sensitive material on a military official taken from security cameras.
There are scant other details on the alleged affair, the latest to suggest possible issues with the PMO’s handling of sensitive information and questions over their possible use for political means.
In response to the reports, the PMO says in a statement that they are “inventions with nothing behind them but an attempt to defame the office and its workers.”
The statement claims the PMO is the victim of a witchhunt.
“The facts will speak for themselves clearly,” it says.
Now ex-defense minister Gallant thanks US for support as firing becomes official
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks at a memorial for IDF troops killed on October 7 and in the subsequent war, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, October 27, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)
Yoav Gallant is officially relieved of duty as defense minister with the expiration of 48 hours since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired him on Tuesday night.
In a farewell message, Gallant says he spoke to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to thank him “for his partnership and deep commitment to the defense cooperation between our countries, and to the security of the State of Israel.”
He praises Washington for its “extraordinary support” following the October 7, 2023 attack.
“It has been my honor and privilege to serve my country and to work together in further deepening the bond between our nations. Our ties are critical to the security and prosperity of the State of Israel and the Jewish people,” he writes on X.
As I complete my role as Israel’s Minister of Defense, I spoke this evening with my friend, U.S. @secdef Lloyd Austin. I expressed my deep appreciation to the Secretary for his partnership and deep commitment to the defense cooperation between our countries, and to the security… pic.twitter.com/SHJBHOynAk
— יואב גלנט – Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) November 7, 2024
At the Knesset, voting is set to begin on the appointment of Foreign Minister Israel Katz to replace Gallant as defense chief, and to hand the reins of the Foreign Ministry to coalition arriviste Gideon Sa’ar.
A modest handover ceremony for the defense minister role is planned for Friday morning.
Trump official suggests 2020 Israeli-Palestinian peace plan will be back in play
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during an event with US President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, January 28, 2020, to announce the Trump administration's much-anticipated plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The Israeli-Palestinian peace plan advanced by President-elect Donald Trump during his first term will likely be back on the table when he returns to office, according to a former senior aide who reportedly has been tapped to help lead the transition team.
Vision for Peace Conceptual Map published by the Trump Administration on January 28, 2020.
The Trump peace plan envisioned Israel being able to annex all of its settlements in the West Bank while granting the Palestinians a pathway to a semi-contiguous state on the remaining territory. The plan was swiftly rejected by the Palestinian Authority, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the plan with reservations. His settler allies, who are now part of his coalition, rejected the proposal due to its inclusion of a potential Palestinian state.
In an interview with CNN, Brian Hook, who served as Trump’s special envoy for Iran, is asked to respond to an assertion by Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister that normalization with Israel is off the table without the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Highlighting the 2020 peace plan, Hook tells CNN, “much of that work is still relevant today,” adding that the proposal contains all of the conditions Riyadh is seeking in order to normalize with Israel.
However, Hook acknowledges that no one is “in much of a mood” to discuss a two-state solution following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.
“There are many Israelis right now who are focused on other things, specifically keeping them safe from this kind of evil terrorism that they endured on October 7,” he says.
Citing three sources familiar with the matter, CNN reported yesterday that Hook will lead Trump’s transition team at the State Department.
Hook was a key architect of the Abraham Accords with Jared Kushner. Last week, Saudi FM @FaisalbinFarhan told me normalization with Israel was “off the table” without a viable path to Palestinian statehood. This is how Hook responded: pic.twitter.com/0tke4PALEz
— Becky Anderson (@BeckyCNN) November 7, 2024
Hamas-run Gaza authorities claim 14 killed in strike on UN-run shelter; IDF okays 300 trucks of UAE aid
Authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip say Israel struck a school-turned-shelter run by the United Nations in Gaza City, killing 14 people and wounding dozens of others.
The Israeli military does not immediately respond to a request for comment on the attack that hit a UNRWA facility in the Shati refugee camp, just west of Gaza City along the Mediterranean coast.
In recent months, Israel has conducted dozens of airstrikes on schools across the embattled enclave, structures where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by fighting have sought refuge. Israel says Hamas fighters use schools and other protected humanitarian sites as cover, turning Palestinian civilians and aid workers into human shields.
Shortly after the strike, the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of Shati camp among other neighborhoods west of Gaza City, spreading panic among Palestinians who in recent days had sought refuge in those areas from Israel’s renewed offensive against Hamas further north.
Meanwhile, the army says it will allow 300 truckloads of humanitarian aid supplied by the United Arab Emirates to enter the Strip in the coming days.
That’s less than the 350 trucks per day that the United States has said it wants to see enter the war-ravaged territory.
COGAT, the military body in charge of civilian affairs in Gaza, says the aid was brought in by sea and unloaded at the Israeli port of Ashdod, just north of Gaza. It says the shipment, which includes food, water, medical equipment, shelter and hygiene supplies, will be inspected before being trucked into Gaza, though it does not specify a date.
France to summon Israeli envoy after diplomats held amid tussle over church visit
In this grab taken from an AFPTV video footage, Israeli police detain a French gendarme at the Eleona Domain in Jerusalem, on November 7, 2024. (Chloe ROUVEYROLLES-BAZIRE / AFP)
The Foreign Ministry in Paris says it will summon Israel’s ambassador after two French guards with diplomatic visas were arrested during a scuffle ahead of Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot’s visit to a French-owned church in Jerusalem.
“Without having been authorized to do so, Israeli security forces entered the site armed,” says a French statement, referring to the Eleona Church on the Mount of Olives. “The minister did not wish to visit the site under these conditions.”
According to France, two staffers from the French Consulate in Jerusalem were arrested by police, and were released once Barrot intervened.
“These actions are unacceptable,” says the statement. “France condemns them all the more vigorously as they are occurring in a context where it is doing everything possible to work towards de-escalating violence in the region.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry places the blame on the two French diplomats.
“Every minister from a foreign country who arrives on an official visit to Israel is accompanied by security on behalf of the state, and the security accompanies the minister’s movements in all parts of his visit,” says the ministry.
Barrot’s visit to the church was accompanied by personal security provided by Israel, which was “clarified in advance in the preparatory dialogue with the French Embassy in Israel.”
“During the visit, an argument arose between the Israeli security forces and two French security guards who refused to identify themselves,” says the Foreign Ministry. “The two were detained by the police and released immediately after identifying themselves as diplomats.”
Herzog presses hostage issue in call with Trump
(R-L) US First Lady Melania Trump, US President Donald Trump, opposition leader Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal Herzog at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem in 2017. (Haim Zach/GPO)
President Isaac Herzog has spoken with US president-elect Donald Trump to congratulate him on winning this week’s election, Herzog’s office says.
During the call, Herzog stressed “the very urgent need to advance the return of the Israeli hostages, who have been held captive by Hamas for 400 days in terrible suffering,” his office says.
Trump emphasized his love and support for Israel, according to the Israeli readout.
“The presidents agreed that they will continue and stay in touch for the benefit of continuing the fruitful cooperation between the governments and strengthening the deep alliance between the countries,” Herzog’s office says.
Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that Herzog’s brother Michael Herzog would be recalled from his job as ambassador to the US once Trump takes office.
Gallant firing set to become official as court strikes down attempt to block ouster
The High Court of Justice unanimously rules against several petitions asking it to overturn Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to fire Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, saying there was no justification for court intervention.
With the court’s okay, Gallant’s firing is set to go into effect in the next hour. The Knesset is also set to begin voting on replacing Gallant with Foreign Minister Israel Katz at 8 p.m.
The petitions, filed by several government watchdog groups, had argued that the decision to fire Gallant amid a severe and ongoing war was made using non-pertinent and political considerations, and was unreasonable in the extreme.
Justice Yael Wilner writes in the court’s ruling that the discretion of the prime minister in hiring and firing ministers is “very broad” and can include a variety of considerations.
She added that Netanyahu’s stated reason for firing Gallant, a breakdown of trust between him and the defense minister, and the significant difference of agreement the two had over key security and policy issues, meant there were no grounds for judicial intervention.
Wilner does write however that the decision to fire Gallant “does raise unique questions regarding the timing of the decision to remove the minister from his position in the middle of an ongoing war.”
She concludes however that the petitioners did not demonstrate that the decision to fire Gallant rose to the level of being unreasonable in the extreme, and so dismisses the petition.
Justices Yosef Elron and Ruth Ronen concur with Wilner’s ruling.
IDF says two large tunnel networks in Gaza destroyed
The IDF says troops demolished two large tunnel systems and killed several Hamas operatives, including two who participated in the October 7 onslaught, during a recent operation in the southern Gaza Strip.
The operation was carried out by the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade, along with the Desert Reconnaissance Unit, commonly known as the Bedouin Reconnaissance Unit.
According to the IDF, the operation began with airstrikes on Hamas anti-tank missile positions, booby-trapped buildings, and observation posts in southern Gaza.
The military says combat engineers, along with members of the Shin Bet, uncovered two Hamas tunnels in the area, which the IDF describes as attack tunnels. Together, the tunnels were over two kilometers in length. They did not cross into Israeli territory.
The tunnels featured around 10 exit shafts, some of which were booby-trapped with explosives, the IDF says. The soldiers also found weapons inside the tunnels.
During the operation, the troops exchanged fire with several gunmen who emerged from the tunnel system. The IDF says some of the Hamas operatives were killed by the ground forces and others in airstrikes.
According to the IDF, two of the Hamas operatives killed in the operation participated in the October 7 onslaught. They are named as Baha Abu Qarshin, a Hamas Nukhba Force commander, and Muhammad Ibrahim Sateri, a member of Hamas.
Minors accused of planning attacks on security forces
The Shin Bet and Israel Police say they are indicting two minors on suspicion of planning to attack Israeli security forces.
Both of the defendants are residents of the so-called Triangle region southeast of Haifa, where more than 260,000 Arab Israelis live. They were arrested for questioning weeks ago, but an indictment was only filed against them today, according to a statement.
One of the defendants, who recruited the second suspect, is accused of undergoing bombmaking instruction.
The two are also accused of watching training videos on making explosives and carrying out attacks, but its unclear how far along the plot was. When arrested, the pair were found to be in possession of vests and communication devices, authorities say.
Central District Police Commander Chief Superintendent Yair Hatzroni decries the “grave security issue” of “Israeli minors promoting terror activists against innocent people and the very security forces protecting them.”
Biden says he promised Trump orderly transition, in first comments since election
President Joe Biden walks to speak in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, November 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
US President Joe Biden says he told Donald Trump there will be an orderly transfer of power, appearing for the first time since his vice president Kamala Harris was defeated by the former president on Tuesday.
“In a democracy, the will of the people always prevails,” he says from the Rose Garden.
Biden says he spoke with Trump and assured him that he would direct his administration to ensure a “peaceful and orderly transition,” because that’s what the people deserve. Biden’s comments are a subtle jab at Trump, who refused to accept he lost the election in 2020. Trump was reelected this week.
The president reiterates that the US election system “is honest, it is fair, and it is transparent. And it can be trusted, win or lose.”
He closes by saying that defeat doesn’t mean one is defeated.
“America endures,” he says. “We’re going to be ok, but we need to stay engaged.”
Evangelical Trump ally says Israel has until January 20 to wrap up wars
Mike Evans speaks to the press in Jerusalem on November 7, 2024. (Lazar Berman/Times of Israel)
A top evangelical ally of Donald Trump and longtime confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns that Israel must end the wars in Gaza and Lebanon by the time the Republican returns to office.
“The window is open,” says Mike Evans, speaking to The Times of Israel from his Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem. “It’ll close on the 20th of January. Donald Trump does not want this to be happening in the first year of his presidency.”
“You don’t want to put Donald Trump into a position to have to defend a Middle East war,” he continues. “He’s repulsed by Middle East wars.”
Trump, he says, doesn’t want to be the wartime president. “Israel needs to know that and do everything humanly possible while the window’s open.”
Evans says he doesn’t think the isolationist wing of the Republican Party — which includes figures like Tucker Carlson and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance — will take over Trump’s foreign policy in his second term: “Tucker Carlson is a talk show host. I don’t think that Donald Trump embraces Tucker Carlson’s ideology on isolationism at all.”
Evans was among the key Christian leaders who consolidated Evangelical support for Trump in 2016. He says that Trump must continue backing Israel if he wants to hold onto support from the large Evangelical constituency, noting that they no longer need him to reverse access to abortion.
“There is no Roe v. Wade now,” he says. “The major thing for Evangelicals now is Israel.”
He says the massive billboards he has paid for across central Israel calling on Trump to “Make Israel Great Again” are a reminder to the president-elect.
“I’m talking to Donald Trump right now through the billboards, and he knows those billboards are up,” he claims.
IDF says it hit Hezbollah drone force command center
Israeli fighter jets struck a command center belonging to Hezbollah aerial forces in the Lebanese coastal city of Tyre a short while ago, the IDF says.
According to the military, the command center was being used by Hezbollah’s aerial forces to carry out explosive-laden drone attacks on Israel, as well as manage surveillance drones.
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו לפני זמן קצר, מתחם פיקוד ושליטה במרחב צור ממנו פעלו מחבלי היחידה האווירית של חיזבאללה (127), בחמ״ל זה פעלה היחידה למימוש מתווי כטב״מי נפץ ואיסוף לעבר שטח מדינת ישראל<< pic.twitter.com/woLUm9s0F9
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 7, 2024
Separately, the IDF says fighter jets struck Hezbollah weapon depots and rocket launchers in southern Lebanon, including a launcher used to fire rockets at the Carmel region earlier today.
Netanyahu to dispatch new envoy to US once Trump back in White House
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked his ambassador in Washington, Michael Herzog, to extend his three-year term until US president-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20, the Prime Minister’s Office says.
Netanyahu will announce a new envoy tomorrow, his office says.
“The Prime Minister thanked Ambassador Herzog for his work over the last three years, and for his significant professional contribution, especially during a challenging war period,” says the PMO.
French FM scratches trip to Jerusalem church after diplomatic scuffle
Israeli police entered the French-owned Eleona church compound in Jerusalem and briefly detained two gendarmes, prompting French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot to abandon a scheduled visit, an AFP journalist says.
La police israélienne arrête 2 gendarmes français dans le domaine de l’Eleona, propriété française à Jérusalem-Est. Les gendarmes avaient demandé aux policiers de ne pas entrer dans ce lieu, avant la visite prévue du MAE @jnbarrot pic.twitter.com/597vz2Manv
— Sami Boukhelifa (@sambklf) November 7, 2024
“I will not enter the Eleona Domain today, because Israeli security forces entered with weapons, without prior French authorization, without agreeing to leave today,” Barrot says at the scene, calling the standoff “unacceptable.”
France claims the sanctuary on the Mount of Olives as its territory under international treaties. It has been the focus of diplomatic incidents in the past.
Exiting stage, Gallant tells hostage families IDF has no reason to remain in Gaza
Outgoing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly told families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel’s military has no reason to remain in the Strip.
According to reports in Hebrew media, Gallant told the families that he and IDF head Herzi Halevi were both skeptical of claims that there were security or diplomatic justifications for leaving troops in the Strip.
“I can tell you what there was not, security considerations. Me and the IDF chief said there was no security reason for remaining in the Philadelphi Corridor,” he is quoted saying by Channel 12 news, referring to a strip of land in Gaza.
“Netanyahu said that it was a diplomatic consideration, I’m telling you there was no diplomatic consideration,” he added, according to the report, which is seemingly based on accounts from families who attended the meeting.
“There’s nothing left in Gaza to do. The major achievements have been achieved,” he’s quoted saying. “I fear we are staying there just because there is a desire to be there.”
He also said the idea that Israel must remain in Gaza to create stability was “an inappropriate idea to risk soldiers’ lives over,” reports say.
The comments are the starkest yet highlighting differences between Gallant, who backed a ceasefire deal to bring hostages home, and Netanyahu, who fired his defense chief on Tuesday. Gallant’s ouster officially goes into effect in two hours.
Some 50 rockets fired at Haifa, Galilee in recent barrage, IDF says
First responders are seen in Kiryat Yam after cars caught fire as a result of a rocket attack on November 7, 2024. (Courtesy: MDA)
Some 50 rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel in an attack about an hour ago, according to the IDF, bringing the total tally today to over 120 rockets launched into the country.
The IDF says that some 20 rockets were fired at the Western Galilee and another 30 were launched at the Haifa Bay area in the barrage.
Some of the rockets were intercepted, the IDF says. Several rockets impacted, including one in the Haifa suburb of Kiryat Yam that caused damage to several cars.
Separately, the IDF says a drone launched from Lebanon a short while ago was shot down by air defenses over the Galilee Panhandle.
No injuries were caused in the latest attacks. An 85-year-old man was lightly injured by shrapnel earlier.
UK’s Guardian appears to muff general’s quote on return of north Gaza civilians
Palestinian men check the damage outside a building destroyed in an Israeli bombardment against Hamas in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 7, 2024. (AFP)
Contrary to a Wednesday report in The Guardian, the commander of the IDF’s 162nd Division did not say that Palestinian civilians will be prevented from returning to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip and that no humanitarian aid will be delivered there.
The British newspaper appears to have mistakenly taken a somewhat inaccurate paraphrase of comments by division commander Brig. Gen. Itzik Cohen from a report in Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, presenting it as a direct quote from the general.
After the Guardian piece was published, the army responded to the broadsheet that the comments were taken out of context and did not “reflect the IDF’s objectives and values,” the Guardian reports.
Cohen had given an off-record briefing to reporters on Tuesday on the IDF’s ongoing operation in Jabalia.
In the briefing, reporters were told that Palestinian civilians who are being evacuated from the Jabalia area specifically — not all of northern Gaza — will not be able to return for now, to allow the army to continue operations against Hamas.
The vast majority of the estimated 55,000 Palestinians who have evacuated the Jabalia area in recent weeks have headed to Gaza City, also in the Strip’s north.
The IDF plans to evacuate civilians from other towns in the northern Gaza Strip, including Beit Lahiya, to operate against Hamas without harming innocents. The estimated 3,000 civilians in Beit Lahiya will not be able to return to their homes amid operations against Hamas there.
It is unclear how long such operations will last.
Separately, since the beginning of the ground offensive, the IDF has not allowed Palestinians who evacuated to southern Gaza to return to the Strip’s north.
UEFA says no problem with bloodstained ‘Free Palestine’ banner at Paris soccer game
The Paris St Germain soccer team will not face disciplinary proceedings after their fans unfurled a “Free Palestine” banner before kickoff in yesterday’s Champions League game at home to Atletico Madrid, European soccer’s governing body UEFA says.
The 50×20-meter banner was displayed in the Auteuil Kop of the Parc des Princes, prompting France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau to criticize the Qatar-owned club.
As well as the slogan “Free Palestine,” the banner showed a bloodstained Palestinian flag, a gesticulating man with a keffiyeh scarf covering all his face except his eyes, the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and a young boy wrapped in the Lebanese flag. It also depicted the entire State of Israel within the pattern of a keffiyeh as the letter “i” of “Palestine.”
Under the banner, a message unrolled by the PSG fans read: “War on the pitch, but peace in the world.” Later in the game, another message was unveiled, saying: “Does a child’s life in Gaza mean less than another?”
Spectators unfurl a huge a banner reading “Free Palestine,” depicting the entire State of Israel within the pattern of a keffiyeh in the letter “i,” alongside Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock, Lebanese flag imagery, prior to the UEFA Champions League soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Atletico Madrid, at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on November 6, 2024. (Reuters/Stephanie Lecocq)
UEFA bans “provocative” or “insulting” political messages in stadiums, but says the banner will not lead to potential sanctions despite some uproar in France and although previous political messages at matches resulted in punishments.
“There will… be no disciplinary case because the banner that was unfurled cannot be in this case considered provocative or insulting,” a UEFA spokesperson says.
The announcement appeared to mark a break in the UEFA’s policy of strictly policing nationalist messages at soccer games.
Hezbollah says Trump same as Biden, doubts he will end Israeli strikes in Lebanon
Lebanese soldiers stand guard as a crane removes the wreckage of a vehicle at the site of an Israeli drone attack in Aaraiya, east of Beirut, on November 7, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Fadel ITANI / AFP)
Hezbollah welcomes any effort to stop the war in Lebanon but does not pin its hopes for a ceasefire on a particular US administration, Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim al-Moussawi tells Reuters when asked about Donald Trump’s election victory.
“It might be a change in the party who is in power, but when it comes to Israel, they have more or less the same policy,” Moussawi says. “We want to see actions, we want to see decisions taken.”
US diplomatic efforts to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which included a 60-day ceasefire proposal, faltered last week ahead of the US election on Tuesday in which former president Trump recaptured the White House.
Moussawi acknowledges the heavy toll of Israeli attacks that have blown apart thousands of buildings, mostly in Lebanon’s Shiite Muslim-dominated south and east and Beirut’s southern suburbs, but claims the group’s military capabilities remained strong.
“Our hearts are broken – we are losing very dear lives. This feeling that [Israel] cannot be punished or brought to international justice is a result of US support which renders them immune to accountability,” he says. “America is a full partner in what’s happening because they can exercise influence to stop this destruction.”
Massad Boulos, a Lebanese-American billionaire who is the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter, Tiffany, says he will be in charge of negotiating with the Lebanese side to reach an agreement to end the war, Lebanese broadcaster Al Jadeed reported this week.
He also said that Trump was aiming to end the war before he took office in January, according to Al Jadeed.
Israeli officials lay out Lebanon ceasefire demands to visiting French minister
Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer laid out to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot today the security guarantees Israel demands in a ceasefire in Lebanon, according to a French statement.
On Gaza, Barrot relayed his concerns over Israeli legislation to curtail UNRWA activities, says his office. He also called for a “credible and responsible” postwar plan that includes the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza.
The two sides agreed on reforms need in the Palestinian Authority, but Barrot warned about security risks inherent in undermining the PA economically, according to France.
There was also agreement, say the French, on the need to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and continuing to destabilize the region.
Car reported hit in rocket attack on Haifa area
Video shared online shows a parked car in the Haifa suburb of Kiryat Yam on fire after apparently being hit during a rocket attack from Lebanon.
A direct hit inside Kiryat Yam pic.twitter.com/l9ksfFgEkT
— MagicFlower 🇮🇱🎗️🌹 (@MagicFLower22) November 7, 2024
There is no immediate information on possible injuries in the strike.
Rocket sirens sound in Haifa area in apparent fresh attack
Several loud blasts are reported in the Haifa area following sirens triggered by an apparent rocket attack.
Alarms were sounded in the bay city as well as the Krayot suburbs and other areas of the Western Galilee.
Pictures and videos appear to show interception attempts in the sky over the area.
The attack is the second to target the city in under an hour.
כעשרים שיגורים זוהו במטח האחרון לעבר חיפה והסביבה@idanavni75 https://t.co/no57EBPETw pic.twitter.com/IeA6CAWI3b
— ישראל היום (@IsraelHayomHeb) November 7, 2024
Judge orders officer suspected in leaks case kept behind bars
A court has ordered that a suspect arrested in a high profile case involving leaks of classified military documents be held in custody until early next week, the Ynet news site reports.
The unnamed suspect, identified in reports as a reserves intelligence officer, is one of five people arrested in the affair, which involves allegations that classified documents were fed to foreign media outlets as part of a campaign to dampen support for a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza.
During the remand hearing, the suspect’s lawyer argues that his client is innocent of allegations that he harmed state security.
“This is a political arrest,” he is quoted saying by Ynet.
Nonetheless, he is ordered kept behind bars for four days.
Much of the case remains under gag order and the only suspect named so far is Eli Feldstein, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The other four suspects are all connected to the defense establishment. According to a Channel 12 news report, the Shin Bet suspects that an “infrastructure” was put in place that was able to access “all the classified material held by IDF Military Intelligence,” and that “it extracted — and may have intended to continue to extract in the future — classified material that could expose the capabilities of the entire intelligence community” — encompassing the IDF, the Shin Bet, and the Mossad.
Sirens triggered in Kiryat Shmona, Metula
Rocket warning sirens are sounding in towns in the Upper Galilee panhandle near the Lebanese border, including Metula and Kiryat Shmona.
There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage in the apparent attack.
Lebanon says four peacekeepers, three troops hurt in Sidon strike
The Lebanese army says three of its troops and four Malaysian UN peacekeepers were wounded in an Israeli strike near an army checkpoint in the southern city of Sidon.
Three others, identified as Lebanese nationals, were killed, the army says.
“The Israeli enemy targeted a car while it was passing through the Awali checkpoint in Sidon, which led to the killing of three citizens who were inside it, in addition to the injury of three soldiers manning the checkpoint and four members of the Malaysian” contingent in the UNIFIL peacekeeping force, the army says in a statement.
There is no immediate comment from the Israeli military or UNIFIL. The identity of the three casualties in the car was not clear, but Israel has in the past targeted Hezbollah members as they travel on public roads.
Mbappe will not face Israel and Italy in Nations League soccer matches, in ‘one-off decision’ by France’s coach
Real Madrid's French forward #09 Kylian Mbappe looks on during the UEFA Champions League, league phase day 4 football match between Real Madrid CF and AC Milan at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on November 5, 2024. (Pierre-Philippe MARCOU / AFP)
PARIS, France — Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe was not named in France’s squad to face Israel and Italy in Nations League games, coach Didier Deschamps says.
Deschamps does not say whether Mbappe, who played with his club in the Champions League on Tuesday, was injured, arguing his choice was a “one-off decision” and that the player “wanted to come” and join the team.
French FM says time ‘ripe’ for deal to end Middle East conflicts
France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) arrives for a meeting with his Israeli counterpart in Jerusalem on November 7, 2024. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)
After the election victory of Donald Trump, conditions are ripe for an end to the wars in Lebanon and Gaza, says French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot between meetings in Jerusalem with outgoing Foreign Minister Israel Katz, and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.
“On the one hand, the very significant tactical successes obtained by Israel, and in particular the elimination of Yahya Sinwar, the architect of this ignoble massacre, favor the end of military operations,” says Barrot, speaking in French to cameras outside the Foreign Ministry. “On the other hand, a new American president has been elected. He has never made a secret of his desire to end the interminable wars in the Middle East. The conditions therefore seem to me to be ripe for moving, in the coming weeks, toward a diplomatic solution to the ongoing conflicts.”
He says he is discussing with Katz and Dermer a diplomatic agreement that will lead to “a strong, sovereign Lebanese state, with a monopoly on legitimate force, which will be able to live in security alongside Israel.”
Barrot also accuses Israel of violating international law by “the continued bombing of northern Gaza against civilian populations and infrastructure, the restrictions on access to humanitarian aid, the violence of extremist settlers in the West Bank, the rapid increase in settlements, the weakening of the Palestinian Authority, the delegitimization of the United Nations and its main agency on the ground.”
He stresses that “the Palestinian question will not disappear, regardless of the American administration in charge.” Barrot is meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Mohammad Mustapha later today.
Barrot also has harsh words for Iran and praises the recent Israeli strike: “The Iranian attack on October 1, which we helped to ward off, like the one in April, was unacceptable. Israel had the right to respond: it did so with force, but also with moderation. The escalation must now stop. And Iran must end its race toward nuclear weapons, which threatens the fundamental interests of Israel and France alike.”
Rocket sirens triggered in Haifa, surrounding areas
Incoming rocket sirens sound in the northern city of Haifa and in surrounding areas.
צבע אדום (07/11/2024 15:03): אזורים מנשה, המפרץ, הכרמל pic.twitter.com/bHudYbb7wm
— צופר – צבע אדום (@tzevaadom_) November 7, 2024
Ben Gvir extends ban on family visits for security prisoners
Illustrative: Nafha prison, in southern Israel, October 29, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir extends by another month a temporary measure preventing security prisoners in Israeli jails from receiving visits from family members.
Following the Hamas October 7 attack last year, Ben Gvir announced new restrictions on terror inmates in Israeli prisons, aimed at worsening their living conditions.
Iran’s Pezeshkian says Trump victory makes no difference to policy in Tehran
Commuters drive past a billboard bearing pictures of Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian (2-L), armed forces chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri (L) US President Joe Biden (2-R) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) in Vali-Asr Square in Tehran on October 27, 2024. (Atta Kenare / AFP)
TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian downplayed the significance of Donald Trump’s election, saying it would have no impact on the Islamic Republic, state media reports.
“It makes no difference to us who won the US election,” he says, according to the official IRNA news agency, adding Iran has prioritized “developing relations with Islamic and neighboring countries.”
85-year-old man lightly hurt by shrapnel in northern rocket barrage
An 85-year-old man is treated for light shrapnel wounds after rockets were fired from Lebanon in the Asher Regional Council area, the Magen David Adom ambulance service says.
Medics say the man is also being treated for shock and was taken by ambulance to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
Lebanese media reports UNIFIL peacekeepers hurt in Israeli strike
A convoy of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon armored ambulance drives in the Marjayoun area in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel, to accompany Red Cross ambulances after being granted permission by Israeli forces to retrieve the bodies of people killed during Israeli air strikes on the village of Khiam on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
SIDON, Lebanon — UN peacekeepers in Lebanon were wounded today in an Israeli strike near their vehicle at the entrance to the southern city of Sidon, the official National News Agency says.
“Enemy aircraft targeted a car in Sidon near the army checkpoint,” NNA says, adding vehicles from the UNIFIL peacekeeping force were in the “same lane” during the raid, which led to injuries among its members, who were receiving treatment at the scene.
Barrage of 40 rockets fired from Lebanon at north, IDF says
The IDF says 40 rockets were fired from Lebanon a short while ago, triggering sirens in the Upper and Western Galilee and Haifa Bay area.
The military says some were shot down, while others struck inside Israel.
Rocket sirens sound in Haifa suburbs, Nahariya, Acre and surrounding towns
Sirens sound in communities along the coast north of Haifa, warning of incoming rocket fire.
Alerts are heard in Acre, Nahariya and the Haifa suburbs.
Rocket sirens sound in communities close to Lebanon border
Sirens sound in northern border communities, warning of incoming rocket fire.
Minister calls on Netanyahu to reverse decision appointing Elkin to oversee rebuilding of north, south
Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf attends a discussion and vote on the inclusion of MK Gideon Sa'ar as a minister in the government at the plenum hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem on September 30, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to appoint New Hope lawmaker Ze’ev Elkin as a minister in the Finance Ministry.
According to the coalition agreement signed by New Hope and Likud yesterday, Elkin will oversee the Tekuma Directorate, tasked with rehabilitating the Gaza border communities overrun by Hamas terrorists on October 7, and the Northern Rehabilitation Directorate.
In a statement, Wasserlauf appeals to Netanyahu to instead bolster his own ministry, arguing that Elkin’s appointment creates administrative overlap and “could lead to increased bureaucracy and a delay in projects essential to the development of the region.”
A spokesman for Elkin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Wasserlauf’s complaint comes as the coalition adds two new ministerial roles for New Hope MKs Elkin and Sharren Haskel despite also advancing a new state budget containing massive cuts across the government in order to finance the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Rebuilding the areas affected by the war has gone slowly, with almost none having taken place thus far.
Last month, lawmakers in the Knesset Economics Committee heard that the Tekuma Directorate will be forced to delay critical development plans unless the Finance Ministry releases NIS 5 billion ($1.3 billion) of the directorate’s NIS 19 billion ($5 billion) budget.
Netanyahu’s firing of Gallant is legal, attorney general tells High Court in response to petitions
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) at a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, November 1, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO); Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at a farewell ceremony for retiring acting Supreme Court President Uzi Vogelman, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, October 1, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/POOL)
In response to a number of petitions, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells the High Court that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is legal and there should therefore not be an intervention in the matter.
Baharav-Miara says that Netanyahu has the authority to fire ministers, including due to political considerations, if the prime minister believes that his policies cannot by advanced by those he appointed and that the move would ensure the proper functioning of the government.
One of the petitions was from the Movement for Quality Government, which asked the court to intervene on the dismissal.
In a statement, the watchdog argued that Gallant’s termination was “a narrow political move that places personal and political interests above the good of the state and the security of its citizens,” linking the premier’s decision to the contentious Haredi draft legislation.
Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that he had fired Gallant, a lawmaker from his own Likud party with whom he has frequently clashed since the government’s accession at the end of 2022, and whom he fired in March 2023 only to reverse the move amid intense public objection.
The premier announced that Foreign Minister Israel Katz would replace Gallant as defense minister, with Gideon Sa’ar becoming foreign minister.
Opposition politicians accused the premier of playing politics at the expense of Israel’s security.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant salutes, at the conclusion of his address to the nation following his firing by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, delivered from the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, November 5, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Additional squadron of US F-15E fighter jets said en route to Israel ahead of expected Iran attack
A pair of US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles fly over northern Iraq after conducting airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria on Sept. 23, 2014. (US Air Force/Senior Airman Matthew Bruch)
The United States is continuing to send forces to the Middle East ahead of an expected Iranian attack on Israel, with flight tracking sites showing American F-15E aircraft en route to Jordan.
According to Haaretz, at least 12 of the jets are on their way to the region, joining the fighter planes already deployed.
There is no formal announcement from the US military.
Iranian leaders have warned they will mete out a “punishing” reprisal attack against Israel for a series of retaliatory sorties on October 26 — themselves a reaction to a massive Iranian ballistic missile attack on October 1 — that Jerusalem says knocked out the Islamic Republic’s air defenses and missile production capabilities.
Reports have indicated the Iranian attack may come as soon as this week and that projectiles could be launched from Iraq.
Earlier this week, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered several B-52 Stratofortress bomber aircraft, tanker aircraft and Navy destroyers to deploy to the Middle East,
Last month, the US rushed its advanced THAAD, or the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, system to to Israel. The anti-missile system is a critical part of the US military’s layered air defense systems and adds to Israel’s already formidable anti-missile defenses.
Agencies contributed to this report.
IDF: Rocket fired at Netiv Ha’asara intercepted by air defenses
A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip at the border community of Netiv Ha’asara was intercepted by air defenses a short while ago, the IDF says.
There are no injuries in the attack.
Rocket sirens in Netiv Ha’asara, close to Gaza border
Sirens sound in Netiv Ha’asara, close to the border with the Gaza Strip, warning of incoming rocket fire.
The alert comes less than 24 hours since alerts were last heard in the community.
2024 ‘virtually certain’ to be world’s hottest year on record, EU scientists say
A woman, center, weeps as patients of heatstroke receive treatment at a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, June 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan, File)
This year is “virtually certain” to eclipse 2023 as the world’s warmest since records began, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) says.
The data is released ahead of next week’s UN COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan, where countries will try to agree on a huge increase in funding to tackle climate change. Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election has dampened expectations for the talks.
C3S says that from January to October, the average global temperature had been so high that 2024 was sure to be the world’s hottest year – unless the temperature anomaly in the rest of the year plunged to near-zero.
The scientists say 2024 will also be the first year in which the planet is more than 1.5 ºC hotter than in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period, when humans began burning fossil fuels on an industrial scale.
Carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal, oil and gas are the main cause of global warming.
Countries agreed in the 2015 Paris Agreement to try to prevent global warming surpassing 1.5 ºC (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), to avoid its worst consequences.
The world has not breached that target – which refers to an average global temperature of 1.5 ºC over decades – but C3S now expects the world to exceed the Paris goal around 2030.
In Israel, French FM says diplomatic solutions are possible to free hostages, ensure safety of all
Foreign Minister Israel Katz (R) greets his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot before a meeting in Jerusalem on November 7, 2024. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)
In Israel for the second time in a month, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot says that he has come “to continue an exacting dialogue on Lebanon and Gaza.”
“Diplomatic solutions are possible to free the hostages, protect civilians and ensure the safety of all,” he writes on X, shortly before meeting outgoing Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
“It is time to end the tragedy that began on October 7.”
Barrot met hostage families earlier today, and is now meeting Katz in Jerusalem, before heading to the Prime Minister’s Office to meet Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.
He will then head to Ramallah for meetings with Palestinian Authority officials.
398 jours de cauchemar.
Aux proches d’Ofer et Ohad, dès mon arrivée à Tel Aviv, j’ai exprimé à nouveau l’émotion et la solidarité de la Nation.
La France continuera de faire tout ce qui est en son pouvoir pour libérer les siens, et tous les otages encore retenus à Gaza. pic.twitter.com/Ome3GF9o65
— Jean-Noël Barrot (@jnbarrot) November 7, 2024
2 arrested on suspicion of raping 14-year-old girl in Eilat
Two suspects, one of them a minor, have been arrested on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl in the southern city of Eilat, Hebrew-language media reports.
According to the Ynet news site, the two suspects, 19 and 17.5, residents of Sderot, are accused of sexually assaulting the girl during a summer vacation.
The outlet says police received a complaint last month after the girl, a resident of Eilat, was found to need a lengthy medical procedure as a result of the assault.
The two suspects are expected to appear in court in Eilat later today for a hearing on their detention.
On Monday, in a separate case, eight were sentenced over the gang rape of a 16-year-old in Eilat in 2020 in a case that shocked the country.
IDF says Beirut strikes targeted Hezbollah, accuses terror group of using human shields
A ball of fire rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Beirut's southern suburbs on November 7, 2024. (Ibrahim Amro/AFP)
Overnight, Israeli fighter jets struck a series of Hezbollah targets in Beirut, the IDF says.
According to the military, the targets included Hezbollah command rooms and other military infrastructure.
The Hezbollah sites were located “in the heart of a civilian population,” the military says, accusing the terror group of using human shields.
Before the strikes, the IDF issued evacuation warnings to civilians in the area.
במהלך הלילה, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר, בהכוונה מודיעינית מדוייקת של אגף המודיעין, תקפו מפקדות ותשתיות צבאיות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בביירות.
חיזבאללה ממקם את נכסיו בלב אוכלוסייה אזרחית כשיטת לחימה וזו דוגמא נוספת לניצול של חיזבאללה במרחב האזרחי בלבנון>> pic.twitter.com/qcC8UkIow9
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 7, 2024
French minister: Paris Saint-Germain soccer team may face sanctions over fans’ ‘unacceptable’ ‘Free Palestine’ banner
Spectators unfurl a huge a banner reading 'Free Palestine,' depicting the entire State of Israel within the pattern of a keffiyeh in the letter 'i,' alongside Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock, Lebanese flag imagery, prior to the UEFA Champions League soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Atletico Madrid, at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on November 6, 2024. (Reuters/Stephanie Lecocq)
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau criticizes the unveiling of a giant “Free Palestine” banner at a Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) soccer match, saying it was “unacceptable.”
Asked if he would seek sanctions against PSG, Retailleau tells Sud Radio: “I am not ruling out anything. I will demand explanations from PSG.”
Yesterday, fans from the soccer club unveiled a giant “Free Palestine” banner before the kickoff of their Champions League game against Atletico Madrid, eight days before France takes on Israel in Paris in a Nations League game.
The banner, which draped an entire, floor-to-ceiling section of the audience, showed the Dome of the Rock — a focus of Palestinian imagery, and part of the religious site after which the Hamas terror group named its October 7, 2023, onslaught against Israel.
The banner also featured a torn Palestinian flag with red splotches, and a child wearing a shirt with imagery from the flag of Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Hezbollah terror group.
In addition, the letter “i” in “Free Palestine” was a depiction of a map that included the entire territory of the State of Israel along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip colored in the pattern of the Palestinian keffiyeh.
“War on the pitch, but peace in the world,” a message underneath said.
During the match, fans unrolled another message that read: “Does a child’s life in Gaza mean less than another?”
PSG — which is majority-owned by the Qatari government — said it had not been aware “of any plans to display such a message.”
Defense Ministry signs deal to procure squadron of F-15IA fighter jets
An F-15I fighter jet of the IAF's 69th Squadron takes off from the Hatzerim Airbase in southern Israel to carry out a strike in Beirut against Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, September 27, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The Defense Ministry signed a deal yesterday to procure a squadron of F-15IA fighter jets — the Israeli variant of the advanced F-15EX.
The $5.2 billion deal includes 25 F-15IA jets, produced by Boeing, with options for 25 more. The jets are being financed by US military aid to Israel.
Under the deal, the jets will be supplied in batches of four to six a year, starting in 2031.
The Defense Ministry says that the new fighter jets will be “equipped with cutting-edge weapon systems, including the integration of state-of-the-art Israeli technologies.”
“The upgraded aircraft will feature enhanced range capabilities, increased payload capacity, and improved performance across various operational scenarios. These advantages will enable the Israeli Air Force to maintain its strategic superiority in addressing current and future challenges in the Middle East,” the ministry says.
Eyal Zamir, the Defense Ministry director general, says that since the beginning of the war Israel has secured nearly $40 billion worth of procurement agreements.
“While focusing on immediate needs for advanced weaponry and ammunition at unprecedented levels, we’re simultaneously investing in long-term strategic capabilities. This F-15 squadron, alongside the third F-35 squadron procured earlier this year, represents a historic enhancement of our air power and strategic reach — capabilities that proved crucial during the current war,” Zamir says in a statement.
The president of Boeing Israel, Ido Nehushtan, says in a statement that “Boeing takes pride in its longstanding partnership with Israel, a relationship that dates back to our nation’s establishment.”
“The company will continue working with the US and Israeli governments to deliver the advanced F-15IA aircraft through standard military procurement channels,” he adds.
Woman in critical condition after Jerusalem apartment fire
A woman aged around 70 is in critical condition following a fire at at apartment in Jerusalem, medics say.
According to Magen David Adom, the woman was found unconscious at the residence on Leah Goldberg Street in East Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood.
IDF: North Gaza offensive expands to Beit Lahiya amid intel on Hamas operations there
Troops operating in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo released by the military for publication on November 7, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says it has expanded its ongoing ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip to the town of Beit Lahiya.
The Kfir Brigade began operations in Beit Lahiya in the past day, after the IDF says it had prior intelligence, and evidence on the ground, of Hamas members operating there.
Some 3,000 Palestinians are estimated to be residing in Beit Lahiya. The IDF says it is enabling the civilian population to safely evacuate the town as the troops operate against Hamas.
One soldier with the Kfir Brigade’s Nahshon Battalion was seriously wounded during the fighting yesterday.
Meanwhile, in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, the military says some 50 terror operatives were killed in the past day.
IDF: Some 60 Hezbollah operatives killed in airstrikes north of Lebanon’s Litani River
Troops operating in Lebanon in an undated photo released by the military for publication on November 7, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)
Some 60 Hezbollah operatives were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes on some 20 targets in northeastern Lebanon’s Baalbek and other areas north of the Litani River, the IDF says.
Separately, the military says that dozens more Hezbollah targets were struck by the Air Force in the past day, including a rocket launcher used in an attack on central Israel, weapon depots, and other infrastructure.
Troops of the 91st and 36th divisions, meanwhile, continue to operate in southern Lebanon. In the past day, the IDF says troops killed Hezbollah operatives and demolished sites belonging to the terror group, including rocket launchers and weapon depots.
Drone strike targets gunmen in West Bank’s Tulkarem, IDF says
The IDF says it carried out a drone strike against a group of gunmen in the West Bank city of Tulkarem a short while ago.
Further details will be provided later, it adds.
Giuliani to appear in NY court after missing deadline to surrender assets
Rudy Giuliani, the former personal lawyer for former US President Donald Trump, speaks with reporters outside of the E. Barrett Prettyman US District Courthouse after a verdict was reached in his defamation jury trial on December 15, 2023 in Washington, DC (Anna Moneymaker / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
Rudy Giuliani will appear in a New York City courtroom today to explain to a federal judge why he hasn’t surrendered his valuables as part of a $148 million defamation judgment.
US District Judge Lewis Liman ordered the former New York City mayor to report to court after lawyers for the two former Georgia election workers who were awarded the massive judgment visited Giuliani’s Manhattan apartment last week only to discover it had been cleared out weeks earlier.
The judge had set an Oct. 29 deadline for the longtime ally of once-and-future US President Donald Trump to surrender many of his possessions to lawyers for Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss.
The possessions include his $5 million Upper East Side apartment, a 1980 Mercedes once owned by movie star Lauren Bacall, a shirt signed by New York Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio, dozens of luxury watches and other valuables.
Liman originally scheduled a phone conference about the situation, but he changed it to a hearing in Manhattan federal court that Giuliani must attend after the judge learned about the visit to the former mayor’s apartment.
IDF announces soldier killed following Hezbollah rocket barrage on Wednesday
Sgt. Ariel Sosnov Sasonov (Israel Defense Forces)
A soldier was killed in a Hezbollah rocket barrage on northern Israel yesterday, the IDF announces.
He is named as Sgt. Ariel Sosnov Sasonov, 20, of the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion, from Jerusalem.
Sasonov was killed by an impact amid a barrage of some 50 rockets on the border community of Avivim.
Three other soldiers were lightly hurt in the attack.
Separately, the army says that an infantryman in the Kfir Brigade’s Nahshon Battalion was seriously wounded yesterday during battles in northern Gaza, and was taken to a hospital.
US judge blocks Austin’s voiding of plea deals sparing 9/11 mastermind, others from death penalty
WASHINGTON — A judge at the US military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has ruled that plea bargains struck by alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two codefendants remain valid, striking down an order by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to throw out the plea deals and continue to trial, a government official says.
The official speaks on condition of anonymity because the order, by Air Force Col. and Judge Matthew McCall, has not yet been posted publicly or officially announced.
The plea agreements would spare Mohammed and two others the risk of the death penalty in exchange for guilty pleas in the long-running 9/11 case. Government prosecutors negotiated the deals with the defense under government auspices, and the top official for the Guantanamo military commission approved the deal.
The plea deals in the September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, spurred immediate political blowback by Republican lawmakers and others when announced in early August.
Within days of the deals becoming public, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a brief order saying he was nullifying the plea agreements. Plea bargains in possible death penalty cases over one of the gravest crimes ever on US soil were a momentous step that should only be decided by the defense secretary, Austin said then.
Police say border cops shot driver who accelerated at them in attempted ramming
Police say border cops shot a suspect who attempted to carry out a ramming attack in a West Bank town outside of Jerusalem.
According to police, the suspect accelerated his vehicle toward officers in Anata, who opened fire and “neutralized” him after he ignored their calls to stop.
No police were injured. There is no immediate word on the suspect’s condition.
Knesset passes law to deport relatives of terrorists, including Israeli citizens
Lawmakers give final approval to legislation that would allow the government to deport the family members of terrorists who are Israeli citizens, passing the bill in the two final Knesset plenum readings it must clear to become law.
Sixty-one MKs vote in favor of the measure, with 41 opposing it.
The controversial legislation, sponsored by Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky, gives the interior minister the power to expel a first-degree relative of someone who carried out an attack if he or she had advance knowledge and either: (a) failed to report the matter to the police or (b) “expressed support or identification with an act of terrorism or published words of praise, sympathy or encouragement for an act of terrorism or a terrorist organization.”
The bill expressly applies to Israeli citizens, who would retain their citizenship even after being expelled from the country. It stipulates that after receiving information regarding an individual, the minister will convene a hearing during which a suspect will have the right to present a defense. The minister will then have 14 days to make a decision and sign a deportation order.
Both the Justice Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office have raised concerns about the legislation, which stipulates that those being expelled would be sent either to the Gaza Strip or other destinations, depending on circumstances, for between 7-15 years for citizens and 10-20 years for legal residents.
Lebanon health ministry raises death toll in Baalbek strikes to 40
Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed 40 people around the eastern city of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley on Wednesday, according to the country’s health ministry, and at dusk more strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Israeli strikes on Baalbek and the Bekaa Valley killed 40 people and wounded 53, the health ministry says. The Israeli military doesn’t comment.
Israel has repeatedly battered strongholds of Lebanese terror group Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut.
The Israeli military ordered residents in the southern suburbs to evacuate several locations on Wednesday. Two waves of bombing followed, one late Wednesday and another early Thursday.
Lebanon’s Al Jadeed TV reports there were at least four strikes on Thursday. There is no immediate report of casualties or details on what was hit.
Strikes hit Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut following Israeli evacuation warnings
BEIRUT — AFP footage shows at least two strikes hitting south Beirut early Thursday morning, about an hour after the Israeli army called for residents of four districts of the Hezbollah bastion to evacuate.
AFP footage shows two plumes of smoke rising above south Beirut, with AFP journalists in the Lebanese capital hearing loud bangs. Earlier, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee urged residents of four south Beirut neighborhoods to evacuate, including from a location near Beirut’s international airport.
Trump’s Lebanese in-law: Lebanese view Trump as last hope to end the war
Massad Boulos listens as Republican presidential nominee and former US president Donald Trump speaks at a campaign office, October 18, 2024, in Hamtramck, Michigan. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Lebanese-American businessman and Donald Trump surrogate Massad Boulos denies a report claiming that he will serve as the US point man for Lebanon in the incoming administration.
A quote attributed to Boulus claiming to have secured the role was posted on Al Jadeed TV’s website, but Boulos tells The Times of Israel that the Lebanese network wrongly attributed it to him. The story was taken down from Al Jadeed’s site on Thursday.
Boulos joined the Trump inner circle after his son Michael married the former president’s daughter Tiffany in 2022. He helped Trump make significant inroads in the Arab American in yesterday’s election.
In an interview earlier this week with the Lebanese MTV network, Boulos said Trump will fulfill his recent promise to Lebanese Americans to “end the destruction in Lebanon” through a “comprehensive regional peace agreement.”
“People see that Biden and Harris failed to end the wars and failed to even return the American hostages from Gaza… Lebanese Americans are migrating to Republican Party and to Trump because they feel that Trump is their only hope to end this war, and end all the wars… so we can start talking about rebuilding Lebanon and Gaza,” Boulos said.
read more: