Nov. 8: At Hostages Square, recently freed captives declare ‘it’s time to save everyone left behind’

Man killed in Jaffa as victim of northern Tel Aviv shooting succumbs to wounds

Police carry out searches in Jaffa for the suspected perpetrator of a deadly shooting in the area on November 8, 2025. (Israel Police)

A man was fatally shot in Jaffa earlier tonight, police say, the second homicide within hours to rock the Tel Aviv area.

The victim was brought by car to Wolfson Hospital by an unknown driver, who promptly left the scene. The man, named by Ynet as Hussein Samouni, was later declared dead by medical staff.

Officers in Jaffa are searching for suspects near the scene of the shooting.

Earlier, a man who was shot and wounded in a northern Tel Aviv parking lot succumbed to his wounds at Ichilov Hospital.

The victim is a Lod resident in his 30s named Amir al-Hawa, Hebrew outlets report. Police apparently suspect the shooting was part of a conflict between two families in the city.

Mississippi man yells ‘f–k the Jews’ and throws coins at Barstool founder Dave Portnoy

Video from Mississippi shows a passerby yelling “fuck the Jews” while appearing to throw coins at Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy.

The incident occurred as Portnoy was filming a segment for his pizza review show, and he responded by saying, “Why don’t you come to the camera, buddy?”

The man and Portnoy then got into a face-to-face exchange that isn’t audible as someone stood between them.

Other bystanders can be heard saying “that was awful” and “outrageous.”

Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) is doing a pizza review when a man approaches and shouts “Fuck the Jews!” Dave handled it so much better than I would have, but my God I’m getting tired of these freaks. Antisemitism is a disease — enough is enough. pic.twitter.com/Hz8lYrCWwV

— Casey Babb (@DrCaseyBabb) November 8, 2025

Cops arrest 6 over riot involving fans of soccer rivals Bnei Sakhnin and Maccabi Hafai

Police arrested six soccer fans this evening after a riot broke out at the end of a match between the Bnei Sakhnin and Maccabi Haifa teams.

The brawl took place outside the stadium, in the streets of the northern Arab city, police say. Locals tell Israel Hayom that Maccabi Haifa fans stormed a nearby restaurant and vandalized property there. Footage from the scene shows a crowd of people sporting the team’s black and green colors rushing toward a restaurant in the city.

Border Police officers are later filmed forcefully detaining the suspected rioters. One of the fans, after being carried out of the restaurant by police, is seen resisting arrest as several cops try to subdue him.

Two people are injured in the altercation. Both are taken by paramedics to receive medical treatment, one with moderate injuries and the other only lightly hurt.

Police add that other fans who lit pyrotechnics during the game have been banned for 60 days from the city’s Doha Stadium and fined NIS 6,000 ($1,840) by Northern District police.

אלימה קשה בין קבוצות אוהדי מכבי חיפה ובני סכנין לאחר התיקו בין הקבוצות. שוטרי המחוז הצפוני עצרו עד כה 6 מעורבים בתגרה האלימה. לפחות 2 אוהדים קיבלו טיפול רפואי ופונו לבי"ח @N12News pic.twitter.com/L1rDvrlmUA

— אור רביד | Or Ravid (@OrRavid) November 8, 2025

Edelstein bashes ex-IDF legal chief for lying to Knesset panel over source of Sde Teiman video leak

Likud MK Yuli Edelstein attends a meeting of the Knesset House Committee, August 4, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud MK Yuli Edelstein asserts he “nearly cried” after hearing that former military advocate general Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi had been behind the Sde Teiman surveillance footage leak.

Speaking to Channel 12 in an interview, Edelstein says that he presided over three closed-door hearings in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on the leaking of surveillance footage purporting to show IDF soldiers abusing a Gazan detainee prior to his ouster as committee chairman.

Tomer-Yerushalmi last month resigned from her post as military advocate general and admitted she leaked the video.

Edelstein recalls meeting privately with the ex-IDF legal chief before one of the hearings.

“She sat in front of me, said that she respects the committee and respects me, but that she worried it would be a meeting full of yelling and screaming, and that she wants a businesslike hearing,” he says.

Edelstein says he promised Tomer-Yerushalmi such conditions, as she provides “businesslike answers” to the difficult questions bound to arise in the meeting.

“All that time she was sitting in front of me… and she’s brazenly lying to me,” he says. “It’s difficult even to conceive that a commander in the IDF would do something like this.”

He says that Tomer-Yerushalmi, while speaking to the committee, insisted that she did not know the source of the leak. He recounts the “terrible feeling” with him throughout the hearings. “I can’t remember that someone has ever tried to trick me in this way.”

He adds that he suspected at the time that Tomer-Yerushalmi was guilty of obstructing the investigation, but lacked hard proof.

He also says that he suspects Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara was involved in obstructing the investigation into the leak; however, she is not a suspect in the ongoing criminal probe into Tomer-Yerushalmi and her close circle.

Via US, Israel said to tell Lebanese army that it’s not properly addressing Hezbollah ceasefire breaches

In a message relayed by the United States, Israel has told Lebanon’s army that it isn’t sufficiently working to disarm Hezbollah, and that the Iran-backed terror group is working to replenish its arsenal in violation of the ceasefire reached last year, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

The report says that in recent weeks, Hezbollah has smuggled hundreds of rockets from Syria into Lebanon, restored missile launchers damaged in the fighting with Israel and enlisted thousands of new recruits.

“You aren’t doing enough against Hezbollah,” the broadcaster quotes the Israeli message to Lebanon as saying. “Without significant action in rural areas and private property, Israel will continue to forcefully attack.”

In impromptu speech, ex-hostage Rom Braslavski vows to keep fighting to return all captives ‘even if it takes 20-30 years’

Freed hostage Rom Braslavski addresses a rally at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv calling for the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, November 8, 2025.(Lior Rotstein / Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Rom Braslavski, one of the last 20 living hostages who returned on October 13 as part of the Gaza ceasefire, makes an impromptu speech at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

“My heart is pounding,” he says. “I can’t believe I’m in the place that I used to see on television in Gaza and say, ‘it’s my dream to get there.'”

He thanks the audience for fighting for him, and pays tribute to the troops “who went into Gaza knowing they might die, so that I can live.”

He also expresses regret to the families of hostages held before the current Gaza war — including IDF navigator Ron Arad, who went missing in Lebanon in 1986 — “and all those who were forgotten and whom nobody rescued for years on end.”

“It’s time to save everyone left behind in Gaza,” he says. “Even if it takes 20-30 years, we’ll keep fighting for everyone.”

Ex-hostage Nimrod Cohen: Hamas ‘enjoying playing this messed-up game,’ knows where hostages’ remains are

Freed captive Nimrod Cohen addresses a rally at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv calling for the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, November 8, 2025. (Paulina Patimer/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Nimrod Cohen, who returned from Hamas captivity on October 13 as part of the Gaza ceasefire, says he is certain the terror group knows where the remains of the deceased hostages are and is withholding them in violation of the truce deal.

“I have no doubt Hamas knows where they are and is just enjoying playing this messed-up game,” says Cohen at Hostages Square.

“Every day that passes is another day where one of them could disappear forever,” says Cohen, the only surviving member of his four-man tank crew, the other three of whom have been brought back for burial. “I call from here on decision-makers: Just like I came back and like my whole crew came back, everyone has to come back.”

Cohen thanks the troops of the IDF, Israelis who rallied weekly for the hostages and US President Donald Trump for helping secure his return. He also pays tribute to Oz Daniel, Omer Neutra and Shaked Dahan, the three slain members of his tank crew.

“When I was in hell in Gaza, in the tunnels,” he says, my captors “kept on telling us that the people of Israel gave up on us. That nobody is going out to protest and fight for us. That life is going on and nobody cares.”

“But the day we came home, the moment I crossed the border back into the country, I realized it was all lies,” says Cohen, recalling the thousands of people he saw lining the streets and applauding the return of the last 20 hostages.

Brother of slain hostage held in Gaza urges completion of Trump deal ‘without threats of war or politics’

A woman holds a poster of slain captive Dror Or during a protest at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv calling for the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, November 8, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Elad Or, the remains of whose brother Dror are still in Gaza, calls for the swift completion of the truce-hostage deal that US President Donald Trump brokered between Israel and Hamas.

“A month has passed since the signing of the Trump agreement. A month-long emotional roller coaster; a month-long start to rehabilitation; a month, even at the end of which the mission remains incomplete,” he tells the thousands of people gathered at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

“I’ve come here tonight to cry out and demand that the deal keep being implemented, without threats of war and without politics,” he says. “I’ve come to demand our basic right to say goodbye to Dror and honor him.”

“The agreement is the Trump agreement,” he says. “Even if the searches” for deceased hostages’ remains “take a long time because of the massive destruction in Gaza, even if complex international cooperation is required, even if there are other obstacles — there’s no other choice. Israel needs Dor — everyone — home.”

“We won’t forgive and won’t forget the abandonment by this government, and we won’t stop demanding that the truth be unearthed and those responsible held to account,” he says. “But now, right now, there is a window of opportunity for a modicum of mending.”

US said pressing Israel to grant Hamas operatives in tunnel safe passage if Hadar Goldin’s body returned

The Trump administration is pressuring Israel to allow the 100-200 Hamas terrorists holed up in a tunnel under Rafah safe passage if the terror group returns the body of slain IDF officer Hadar Goldin, Channel 12 news reports, citing a senior US official.

Hamas has given no official indication of when the ostensible body of Goldin is to be returned, and Israel has received no indication either. Hamas told Al Jazeera earlier that it had located the remains of Goldin, whom the terror group killed and abducted amid a ceasefire during the 2014 Gaza war.

According to the reported White House plan, after Goldin’s body is returned, the terrorists will surrender, Israel will pardon them and they will then go into exile or into the Hamas-controlled area of Gaza. The tunnel in which they are hiding will be destroyed, the network adds, while saying Goldin’s body was not in the same tunnel.

Top White House advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are expected to come to Israel this week to close the deal, according to the report.

Solving the episode under the terms of the US proposal would serve as a model for Hamas’s peaceful disarmament, the American official tells the outlet.

IDF says it seized pair of machine guns, 10 pistols smuggled across Egyptian border

Weapons seized by IDF troops following an attempted smuggling on the Israel-Egypt border, on November 8, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says it foiled yet another attempt to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Israel today.

Troops of the Paran Regional Brigade conducted scans in areas on the Egyptian border where smuggling activity took place and located a package containing two machine guns and 10 handguns, the military says.

The weapons were handed over to the police.

Since Friday, the IDF says it has thwarted four weapon smuggling attempts from Egypt into Israel, some of them via drones.

In the past year, there have been frequent attempts to bring weapons and drugs over the Egyptian border using drones.

The Democrats’ Golan: ‘Tonight, the fight begins for the democratic and Zionist soul of Israel’

The Democrats party chief Yair Golan tells the thousands of anti-government protesters gathered on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road that “we will carry out intense sabotage within the confines of the law.”

“We’ll take it up a notch,” he declares. “We’ll give the government a single choice: elections, as fast as possible, on our terms.”

He also calls on State Ombudsman for Judges Asher Kula, who was tapped by the government this week to investigate the Sde Teiman leak affair in an attempt to bypass Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, not to take part in efforts to curb the legal system’s powers.

“History will remember who prevented the coup and who served it. The choice is yours,” says Golan.

“Tonight, the fight begins for the democratic and Zionist soul of the State of Israel, and I guarantee, the State of Israel will remain a democracy. Period,” he says.

“Horrifically, the greatest threat to our existence is an internal threat,” he says. “This government is the most pressing existential threat to the State of Israel.”

Golan announces to applause that from the rally he will head to “a meeting of the opposition heads,” referring to leaders of Zionist parties opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“We’ll fight until we win,” he says. “I promise you we’ll win.”

Prominent anti-government activist Shikma Bressler, who is emceeing the demonstration, rallies the crowd in chants of “democracy.” She also accuses the government of “blood libel” against Bahrav-Miara by blaming her for the cover-up of former military attorney general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi’s leak of surveillance video purporting to show IDF troops at the Sde Teiman detention facility severely abusing a Palestinian inmate.

“The real target of their attacks” on Tomer-Yerushalmi “is Baharav-Miara,” says Bressler.

Ex-hostage Omri Miran joins protest calling for return of the slain captives

Freed hostage Omri Miran is greeted with applause and hugs as he joins a protest at the Sha’ar Hanegev junction in southern Israel, calling for the return of the remaining slain captives held in the Gaza Strip.

שורד השבי עמרי מירן מגיע להפגנה בצומת שער הנגב@pozailov1 @Itsik_zuarets pic.twitter.com/NIqtjR2DPa

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) November 8, 2025

Police seize drums, megaphones from anti-government protesters in Tel Aviv

Mounted officers and police trucks are deployed at the Begin-Kaplan interchange, where protesters had said they would demonstrate. Police are ordering the marchers on Kaplan to move immediately onto Begin to clear the junction.

A commander also orders his officer to confiscate the megaphones and drums of anyone who fails to comply.

As officers snatch a woman’s megaphone, protesters chant, “Where were you in Sde Teiman,” referring to the police’s failure to arrest members of a right-wing mob that stormed the southern detention facility last summer over the arrest of reserve soldiers accused of severely abusing a Gazan detainee.

Freed captives Gali and Ziv Berman visit Hostages Square for first time

Twins Gali and Ziv Berman visit Hostages Square in Tel Aviv for the first since they were freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza, November 8, 2025. (Paulina Patimer/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Twins Gali and Ziv Berman, among the last 20 living hostages who were released last month as part of the Gaza ceasefire, visit Hostages Square in Tel Aviv for the first time.

Photos published by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum show the brothers grinning widely as they clutch one of their hostage posters. In one of the pictures, Gali sits on Ziv’s shoulders as they celebrate.

High Court to hear petitions on AG’s oversight of Sde Teiman investigation

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a Knesset committee meeting on November 18, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The High Court is set to hear two opposing petitions next week regarding Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s role in overseeing the investigation into the Sde Teiman leak affair, Hebrew outlets report.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin has been attempting to bypass Baharav-Miara, whom he charges has a conflict of interest due to her prior oversight of an internal probe into the affair, which failed to trace the leak’s origin to former military advocate general Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi.

Levin attempted to appoint Asher Kula, the state ombudsman for judges, to lead the police investigation in her place, though Baharav-Miara has called the minister’s charges baseless and insisted he does not have the authority to replace her.

Justices Yael Wilner, Alex Stein and Gila Canfy-Steinitz will preside over the hearing Tuesday at 9 a.m., Ynet reports. One of the petitions seeks to bar Baharav-Miara from overseeing the investigation, while the other requests that the court strike down Levin’s appointment of Kula.

IDF says Zamir stressed ‘commitment to bringing back all the fallen hostages’ while updating Hadar Goldin’s family

Israelis gather outside the family home of slain Hamas hostage Lt. Hadar Goldin, in Kfar Saba, November 8, 2025. (Tal Gal/Flash90)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir updated the family of Lt. Hadar Goldin on the details currently known to the military, after Hamas told Al Jazeera earlier that it had located the remains of the slain hostage soldier.

“The chief of staff reiterated his personal and the IDF’s commitment to bringing back Hadar and all the fallen hostages and emphasized the importance of restraint at these sensitive moments, until his arrival and the completion of the necessary checks and verification,” the military says.

‘Not over until it’s final’: Hadar Goldin’s family waiting for official confirmation that his body has been returned

Leah Goldin, left, and Simcha Goldin, the parents of Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin whose body is held by Hamas in Gaza, attend a Tel Aviv rally calling for the release of hostages on July 12, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The family of Lt. Hadar Goldin says that they are awaiting official confirmation of the return of his body to Israel, after Hamas told Al Jazeera earlier that it had located the remains of the slain hostage soldier.

“An entire nation is waiting for Hadar to be returned to us. This is a mission that must and can be accomplished for all of us,” Goldin’s family says in a statement to the media.

The family says that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir visited tonight “to update us on the tremendous efforts to free the hostages, and we salute everyone involved in this national mission.”

“We are waiting for official confirmation that Hadar has returned to Israel. We don’t give up on anyone in this country, ever. We ask everyone to remain calm. Until it’s final, it’s not over,” the Goldins add.

Palestinian hurt by stone-throwing recently spoke to ToI about struggle of olive harvest

Bashar Eid on the roof of his home in the village of Burin near Nablus in the West Bank on October 30, 2025. (Nurit Yohanan/Times of Israel)

Bashar Eid, a Palestinian from the village of Burin, was injured this afternoon along with four Israeli activists while trying to harvest olives near his home.

He tells The Times of Israel that settlers threw stones at him and the activists, resulting in an injury to his neck. He was evacuated to a Palestinian hospital, where he is expected to undergo surgery.

Eid recently spoke with The Times of Israel about his repeatedly failed efforts to reach his olive groves. About two weeks ago, the area near his home was declared a closed military zone, with Israeli activists who came to assist him detained and two American volunteers deported from the country as a result.

15 reported hurt in West Bank settler attacks, including press photographer and Israeli activists

The Red Crescent says 15 people were injured in recent hours in settler attacks in the villages of Burin and Beita, near Nablus.

Palestinian media report that several Palestinians were wounded when settlers attacked them while they were harvesting olives in Beita.

Footage from the scene shows masked men beating Palestinians with clubs. Among the injured, according to the report, is Reuters photographer Raneen Sawafteh.

Palestinian outlets also report that several people, including Israeli activists, were injured in a similar attack while harvesting olives in Burin. Footage from the site shows people throwing stones at Palestinians.

Watch: Masked Israelis attack Reuters’ photographer Raneen Sawafta in the West Bank town of Beita. 10 journalists, activists and land owners were injured during the attack on an olive harvest today. Video credit: David Reeb pic.twitter.com/xT0fY4VhHT

— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) November 8, 2025

هجوم مستوطنين على قرية بورين جنوبي نابلس ما خلف 4 إصابات#نابلس #الحدث pic.twitter.com/VUr6Y1ocVQ

— ا لـحـدث (@AlHadath) November 8, 2025

IDF says troops killed 2 terror operatives who entered Israeli-controlled Gaza

The IDF says it killed two terror operatives who crossed the Yellow Line demarcating the military’s withdrawal and approached troops in two separate incidents in the Gaza Strip today.

In the first incident in the Strip’s north, two operatives were identified crossing the Yellow Line and approaching troops in a way that “posed an immediate threat” to them, the military says.

The IDF says troops opened fire, killing one of the suspects.

In a separate event in central Gaza, a terror operative was identified crossing the Yellow Line and approaching troops, the military says. The Israeli Air Force then struck and killed the operative “to remove the threat to the forces,” the IDF adds.

IDF chief visits family of Lt. Hadar Goldin after Hamas reported recovering his remains

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir arrives at the home of Leah and Simcha Goldin in Kfar Saba, November 8, 2025. (Screenshot/Channel 12 News)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has arrived at the home of Leah and Simcha Goldin, parents of Lt. Hadar Goldin — whose body has been held by Hamas since the 2014 Gaza war.

Earlier, a senior source in the military wing of Hamas told Al Jazeera that Goldin’s body had been located by the terror group in an IDF-held area of southern Gaza’s Rafah. The source added that the bodies of six “martyrs” — apparently referring to Hamas fighters — were also recovered.

Hamas has not yet announced its intention to return any bodies to Israel today.

IDF says operative killed in Lebanon’s Baraashit was trying to restore Hezbollah’s military capabilities

Heavy machinery is used to remove rubble from a site targeted overnight by an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese village of Et Taybeh on November 7, 2025. (Rabih Daher/AFP)

The IDF confirms carrying out a drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Baraashit earlier today, saying it killed a Hezbollah operative.

The operative was involved in attempts to restore Hezbollah military infrastructure in the area, the military says, adding that his actions “constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”

צה"ל חיסל מחבל בארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בדרום לבנון

צה"ל תקף וחיסל מוקדם יותר היום , בהובלת אוגדה 91 ובאמצעות חיל האוויר, מחבל מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב ברעשית שבדרום לבנון.

המחבל עסק בניסיון שיקום תשתיות צבאיות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב ופעולותיו היוו הפרה של ההבנות בין… pic.twitter.com/ZPskuoidvz

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 8, 2025

Male nurse, food seller among inmates held at underground jail for Oct. 7 terrorists — report

A nurse and food seller were among the detainees who have been held without charge at an underground prison facility designated for Palestinian terrorists who took part in the Hamas-led October 7 attack against Israel, according to the Guardian.

The British newspaper reports the young food seller was among the Palestinian prisoners released as part of the Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal, with his lawyer for the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel saying he was jailed after being “taken from a checkpoint on a road.”

The nurse is reportedly still held along with over 1,000 other detainees at the jail, where there is no natural light and Hebrew media outlets have previously said inmates are provided with the minimal necessities required by international law.

In response to the report, the Israel Prisons Service says that it “operates in accordance with the law and under the supervision of official comptrollers.” It also adds that “it is not responsible for the legal process, classification of detainees, arrest policy, or arrests.”

Remains located by Hamas belong to IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, killed in 2014 Gaza war — Al Jazeera

Lt. Hadar Goldin, whose body is being held in Gaza after he was killed fighting in the Strip on August 1, 2014. (courtesy)

According to Al Jazeera, the body that Hamas claims to have located today in southern Gaza’s Rafah belongs to Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed and abducted by the terror group on August 1, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge.

Hamas has not yet announced its intention to return the body, which it has held for 4,117 days, to Israel. Goldin was killed and abducted by Hamas in a violation of an internationally brokered ceasefire that had just come into effect.

A senior source in the terror group tells Al Jazeera that alongside the body of Goldin, the bodies of six “martyrs” — apparently referring to Hamas fighters — were also recovered.

At 9:05 a.m. on August 1, 2014, just over an hour after the start of a humanitarian ceasefire, Hamas gunmen emerged from a tunnel in the southeastern part of Rafah and attacked troops of the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, killing three soldiers, including Lt. Hadar Goldin — whose body was dragged by the terror operatives back into their tunnel.

Earlier today, it was reported that Red Cross and Hamas members were headed to the Jenina neighborhood of Rafah to search for the body of an Israeli hostage.

Jenina, which is on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line — meaning IDF-held territory — is where some 150 Hamas operatives are assessed by the IDF to be holed up in a tunnel network.

Defense officials said earlier this week that the body of Goldin is being held in the area, though the IDF denied having any intelligence indicating that the remains are being held in the tunnel with the trapped gunmen.

The US has been pressuring Israel to permit safe passage for the operatives who are trapped in the IDF-held area, as part of efforts to advance to the next stage of the emerging ceasefire framework based on Trump’s plan.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir recommended to political officials earlier this week that Israel should condition the safe passage of the operatives from Rafah to Hamas-held areas of the Strip on the return of Goldin’s body. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel will not allow them safe passage.

Israeli filmmaker Joseph Cedar working on new thriller starring Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver

Israeli filmmaker Joseph Cedar is working on a new thriller titled “Useful Idiots” featuring Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver, with the former starring as a disillusioned veteran real estate journalist investigating the identity of a mystery penthouse buyer.

A synopsis of the movie cited by the Hollywood Reporter says it revolves around “a mysterious oligarch, whose influence stretches across Manhattan and beyond – protected by a network of fixers, enablers, and a brilliant young strategist. Out of her depth, Diane digs deeper into the investigation, her determination to uncover the truth revealing a web of corruption and danger at the highest levels, ensnaring Diane, her family, and all those around her.”

Cedar cowrote the script with Shachar Bar-On, a producer for “60 Minutes” on CBS.

Hamas reports recovering remains of hostage in Rafah

A Red Cross convoy carrying the body of a deceased hostage handed over by Palestinians terrorists makes its way toward the border crossing with Israel, to be transferred to Israeli authorities, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, November 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A senior source in the military wing of Hamas tells Al Jazeera that the body of a hostage was recovered in southern Gaza’s Rafah today.

The outlet names the hostage. However, most Israeli media outlets generally refrain from publishing the names until the families of the hostages have been notified.

Earlier today, it was reported that Red Cross and Hamas members were headed to the Jenina neighborhood of Rafah to search for the body of an Israeli hostage.

Jenina, which is on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line — meaning IDF-held territory — is where some 150 Hamas operatives are assessed by the IDF to be holed up in a tunnel network.

Defense officials said earlier this week that the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin is being held in the area, though the IDF denied having any intelligence indicating that the remains are being held in the tunnel with the trapped gunmen.

Ireland’s soccer governing body backs resolution calling for UEFA ban on Israel

Members of Irish soccer’s governing body have approved a resolution instructing its board to submit a formal motion to UEFA requesting the immediate suspension of Israel from European competitions, a source at the meeting tells Reuters.

The resolution cites alleged violations by Israel’s Football Association of two provisions of UEFA statutes, namely its failure to implement and enforce an effective anti-racism policy and organization of clubs in territories sought by the Palestinians for a future state without the consent of the Palestinian Football Association.

Lebanon reports 3 killed, several more wounded in Israeli drone strikes today

Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed three people and wounded several more today, according to the Lebanese health ministry, with Israel announcing one of the attacks had hit arms smugglers from a group affiliated with Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reports that two brothers from the town of Shebaa were hit while driving on a road on the slopes of Mount Hermon in southeastern Lebanon, “causing their SUV to catch fire and resulting in their deaths.”

The Israeli military confirms that it conducted a strike near Shebaa that killed two smugglers from the Lebanese Resistance Companies, a group allied with Hezbollah.

“The terrorists were involved in smuggling weapons used by Hezbollah and their activities constituted a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the Israel Defense Forces said, referring to the ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed terrorist group.

“The IDF will continue to operate in order to remove any threat posed to the State of Israel,” it warns.

Lebanon’s health ministry confirms the death toll in Shebaa, later reporting that another strike on a car in the southern village of Baraashit killed one person and wounded four.

A similar Israeli strike on Saturday morning on a car near a hospital in the southern city of Bint Jbeil wounded seven people, according to the ministry.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

IDF says troops downed another drone from Egypt smuggling weapons into Israel

Weapons seized by IDF troops following an attempted smuggling on the Israel-Egypt border, on November 8, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says it foiled another attempt to smuggle weapons into Israel from Egypt using a drone overnight.

The drone was identified crossing the border by soldiers monitoring surveillance cameras and the Israeli Air Force’s air traffic control array.

Troops stationed in the area then downed the device. According to the IDF, the drone was found to be ferrying three assault rifles.

The weapons were handed over to the police for further investigation.

In the past year, there have been frequent attempts to bring weapons and drugs over the Egyptian border using drones. Two smuggling attempts were foiled by the IDF on Friday.

Palestinian man, 4 foreign activists hurt in West Bank settler attack — report

A Palestinian man and four foreign activists were injured in a settler attack in the West Bank village of Burin, the Palestinian WAFA news agency reports.

Settlers attacked the group with stones and sticks while they were harvesting olives, the report says.

The 57-year-old Palestinian was taken to the hospital by the Red Crescent, and the activists were treated on site for injuries, the report adds.

Hamas-run ministry says death toll in Gaza war passes 69,000

Bodies of unidentified Palestinians returned from Israel as part of the ceasefire deal are brought to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, November 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry says that the death toll has climbed to 69,169, with another 170,685 wounded since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel.

The latest jump in deaths is attributed to more bodies being recovered under the rubble since the ceasefire was announced in the devastated Strip, and also because of the identification of previously unidentified bodies.

The toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 476. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.

Times of Israel contributed to this report.

Hamas terrorist involved in Oct. 7 living in Belgium, traveling freely across Europe, antisemitism watchdog says

A Hamas terrorist who participated in the October 7, 2023, massacre is living in Belgium and has been traveling freely across Europe, the Belgian JID antisemitism watchdog finds.

Mohannad al-Khatib, who defines himself as a freelance journalist, was seen in images inside Israel on October 7 and makes regular anti-Israel posts, according to Hebrew media outlets citing the watchdog report.

JID Vice President Ralph Pais tells Channel 12 news that they have handed a 65-page dossier to the authorities with evidence that Khatib was involved in the massacre and is now publishing anti-Israel propaganda from Belgian soil.

They're not all dead though. Mohannad al-Khatib, who can be seen in the video, is now living it up in Belgium. This is him at a pro-Hamas rally in Bruxelles, posted Oct 11, 2025.#leavingGaza
Link in 1st comment https://t.co/R1WqEBBGyp pic.twitter.com/b367LNlwUb

— Imshin (@imshin) October 26, 2025

Another Israeli strike reported in southern Lebanon

Lebanese media reports another Israeli strike targeting a car in the southern Lebanon town of Baraashit.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

مشاهد من مكان الغارة الإسرائيلية على سيارة في برعشيت pic.twitter.com/E6NGrOHCZI

— هنا لبنان (@thisislebnews) November 8, 2025

IDF confirms it killed two Hezbollah-linked operatives in south Lebanon

The IDF confirms carrying out a drone strike near the southeastern Lebanese town of Shebaa earlier today, saying it killed two members of a Hezbollah-allied militia.

The two operatives of the Lebanese Resistance Companies were involved in smuggling weapons for Hezbollah, according to the military.

The IDF says the operatives’ actions were a violation of the ceasefire deal.

צה"ל חיסל שני מחבלים מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בדרום לבנון

צה"ל תקף וחיסל מוקדם יותר היום , בהובלת אוגדה 210 ובאמצעות חיל האוויר, שני מחבלים מארגון הטרור ׳הפלוגות הלבנוניות׳ שפועל בהכוונת ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בכפר שבעא שבדרום לבנון.

המחבלים עסקו בהברחת אמצעי לחימה ששימשו את ארגון… pic.twitter.com/IBPkrJiXUR

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 8, 2025

Iran announces periodic water cuts to Tehran due to drought

An Iranian girl drinks water during a heatwave in the capital Tehran on August 9, 2025. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran says it was planning to cut water periodically in Tehran, to limit consumption as the country faces one of its worst droughts in decades.

“This will prevent waste, even if it causes some inconvenience,” Iran’s Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi says on state television.

Several local media outlets have reported that night-time cuts were already underway in the megacity of more than 10 million.

EU blasts Israeli strikes in Lebanon as violation of ceasefire

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the village of Tayr Debba, southern Lebanon, November 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zaatari)

BRUSSELS, Belgium — The European Union condemns Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon and asks it to respect a ceasefire with the Hezbollah terror group.

Israel says its airstrikes are targeting efforts by Hezbollah to rearm in violation of the ceasefire.

“The EU calls on Israel to cease all actions that violate resolution 1701 and the ceasefire agreement reached a year ago in November 2024,” the EU’s foreign affairs spokesman Anouar El Anouni states.

“At the same time, we urge all Lebanese actors and especially Hezbollah to refrain from any measures or responses that could further inflame the situation,” he adds.

“Focus by all parties must be on preserving the ceasefire and the progress achieved so far.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

One reportedly killed in Israeli drone strike in southeast Lebanon

Lebanese media reports at least one dead in an Israeli drone strike targeting a car between the towns of Shebaa and Rashaya al-Wadi in southeastern Lebanon.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

بالفيديو، مشاهد للسيارة المستهدفة بين منطقتي جنعم شرق شبعا وراشيا الوادي.#الميادين_لبنان pic.twitter.com/zwU8011w9L

— الميادين لبنان (@mayadeenlebanon) November 8, 2025

Gaza hospital officials say 15 Palestinian bodies returned from Israel

Illustrative: Employees of the Nasser Medical Complex unload one of the thirty bodies of Palestinians released as part of the hostage-ceasefire deal, as the body bags arrive in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 31, 2025. (AFP)

Hospital officials in Gaza say they have received the bodies of 15 Palestinians returned from Israel.

The handover comes in accordance with the ceasefire deal reached last month, in which Israel agreed to exchange the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every slain hostage handed over by terror groups in Gaza.

Last night, Lior Rudaeff’s body was returned to Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Red Cross, Hamas members said searching for body of hostage in Israeli-held area of Rafah

Illustrative: A Hamas gunman stands not far from an International Red Cross (ICRC) vehicle, as a search for the bodies of killed Israeli hostages takes place, in Gaza City on November 2, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

The Saudi Al-Hadath channel reports that Red Cross vehicles and Hamas members are headed to the Jenina neighborhood of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip to search for the body of an Israeli hostage.

Jenina, which is on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line — meaning IDF-held territory — is where some 150 Hamas operatives are assessed by the IDF to be holed up in a tunnel network.

Defense officials said earlier this week that the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin is being held in the area, though the IDF denied having any intelligence indicating that the remains are being held in the tunnel with the trapped gunmen.

Israeli drone strike reportedly wounds 7 people in southern Lebanon

An Israeli drone strike on a car in the southern Lebanon town of Bint Jbeil wounded seven people, Lebanese health authorities say.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak hails heroism of returned hostage Lior Rudaeff

Lior Rudaeff (Courtesy)

Nir Yitzhak hails the heroism of returned hostage Lior Rudaeff, killed while battling Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists who attacked the community on October 7, 2023.

“Exactly two years and a month ago, he left his home for the last time to protect his family and the place that had been his home all his life. Thanks to his courage and resourcefulness, a greater disaster was averted, but he paid for it with his life,” Nir Yitzhak said in a statement.

“Lior was a man of the land, family and community. A volunteer, neighbor and true friend who was always there for everyone. The entire Nir Yitzhak community grieves Lior’s passing and lovingly embraces his beautiful wife, his children, his grandchildren and all the family members at this difficult and heartbreaking moment of closing a circle.”

Rudaeff family: ‘After 763 nightmarish days, he is home’

Nadav Rudaeff, the son of Hamas hostage Lior Rudaeff, outside the United Nations in New York City, September 26, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

The family of deceased hostage Lior Rudaeff, whose body was returned from Gaza overnight, welcomes the news, saying that it brings an end to “763 nightmarish days.”

“After 763 days of nightmare, he came home,” Rudaeff’s daughter Noam posts on social media with a picture of her father. “Now you are home, now you are here.”

“Thank you to all the good people who stood with us in our uncompromising and humane fight to return him and all the hostages home,” she writes.

The Hostage Families Forum also welcomes the news.

“The families of the hostages and the returned are embracing the family of Lior Rudaeff at this time, as their beloved Lior of blessed memory was returned to Israel today for proper burial,” the forum says in a statement.

“Alongside the grief and the understanding that their hearts will never be whole, Lior’s return provides some measure of comfort to a family that has lived with agonizing uncertainty and doubt for over two years,” the statement says. “We will not rest until the last hostage is brought home.”

S&P upgrades Israel’s credit rating outlook after Gaza ceasefire

The headquarters of US financial company Standard and Poor's (S&P) in lower Manhattan, New York, May 2014. (mixmotive via iStock by Getty Images)

Global credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s upgrades Israel’s credit rating outlook to stable from negative, citing prospects of “military de-escalation” in Gaza and the wider region following the US-brokered ceasefire agreement with the Hamas terror group.

The rating agency says that the stable outlook reflects the “assumption that the scale of direct military confrontation will remain contained, even if tensions between Hamas and Israel persist and the broader regional security environment remains fragile.”

“This could soften pressure on Israel’s economy, labor market and public finances,” says S&P analyst Karen Vartapetov. “The path to a lasting peace agreement will remain long, however.”

S&P, which downgraded Israel’s credit rating twice last year, kept the country’s A/A-1 credit rating in place. Following the outbreak of war with Hamas, the rating agency in October 2023 lowered Israel’s credit outlook from stable to negative. A negative outlook puts a country at risk of credit rating downgrades. A lower rating raises credit costs for the government, businesses and households.

S&P says it “could raise the ratings if Israel’s growth and fiscal outcomes proved much stronger than we currently project.”

“Rating upside could also stem from a significant and lasting reduction in regional geopolitical and security risks,” says Vartapetov.

Body of hostage returned from Gaza identified as Lior Rudaeff

Lior Rudaeff (Courtesy)

Military representatives notified the family of Lior Rudaeff that his body was returned to Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad last night, following the completion of identification efforts by forensic experts.

Rudaeff, 61, the deputy security coordinator at Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak and a member of its civil defense squad, was killed while battling Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in the community on the morning of October 7, 2023, and his body was abducted to Gaza by the Hamas-allied terror group.

Like other civil defense squad members who were killed while fighting Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, Rudaeff was posthumously promoted to the rank of warrant officer in reserves.

Rudaeff is survived by his wife, Yaffa, his four children, Noam, Nadav, Bar and Ben, several grandchildren, his father, Giora, and his siblings Idit and Doron.

“The Israeli government shares in the deep sorrow of the Rudaeff family and of all the families of the fallen hostages,” the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement.

The PMO says that Israel is “determined, committed and working tirelessly” to bring back the remaining five slain hostages for burial, adding that Hamas is “required to fulfill its commitments to the mediators and return them as part of the implementation of the agreement.”

The bodies of five slain hostages now remain held in the Strip — four Israelis and one foreign national: Meny Godard, Lt. Hadar Goldin, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, Dror Or, and Sudthisak Rinthalak.

Trump says no US officials will attend G20 in South Africa, citing its ‘abuse’ of white farmers

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says that no US government officials will be attending the Group of 20 summit this year in South Africa, citing the country’s treatment of white farmers.

Trump had already announced he would not attend the annual summit for heads of state from the globe’s leading and emerging economies. Vice President JD Vance had been scheduled to attend in Trump’s place, but a person familiar with Vance’s plans who was granted anonymity to talk about his schedule says Vance will no longer travel there for the summit.

“It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa,” Trump says on his social media site. In his post, Trump cites “abuses” of Afrikaners, including violence and death as well as confiscation of their land and farms.

The Trump administration has long accused the South African government of allowing minority white Afrikaner farmers to be persecuted and attacked. As it restricted the number of refugees admitted annually to the US to 7,500, the administration indicated that most will be white South Africans who it claimed faced discrimination and violence at home.

But the government of South Africa has said it is surprised by the accusations of discrimination, because white people in the country generally have a much higher standard of living than its Black residents, more than three decades after the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule.

The country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has said he’s told Trump that information about the alleged discrimination and persecution of Afrikaners is “completely false.”

Nonetheless, the administration has kept up its criticisms of the South African government. Earlier this week during an economic speech in Miami, Trump said South Africa should be thrown out of the Group of 20.

Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio boycotted a G20 meeting for foreign ministers because its agenda focused on diversity, inclusion and climate change efforts.

US includes entirety of Trump’s 20-point peace plan in UN resolution establishing Gaza security force

US President Donald Trump addresses the Knesset, October 13, 2025, in Jerusalem. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)

The US has added the entire text of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war to the UN Security Council Resolution its looking to pass in order to establish an International Stabilization Force in Gaza, according to a copy obtained and verified by The Times of Israel.

The 20-point plan was added as an annex to the resolution, which would effectively enshrine the Trump proposal into international law.

The addition was made over the last 48 hours, a European diplomat tells The Times of Israel.

While the US has held consultations on the resolution this week with other Security Council members along with the delegations of Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Palestine Liberation Organization, it hasn’t been open to making any significant changes, the diplomat says, confirming reporting in The New York Times.

One of the few changes that was made over the past several days was pertaining to the handover of Gaza’s administration from the US-envisioned Board of Peace to the Palestinian Authority.

Initial versions of the US-sponsored resolution said the transfer will not take place until the PA “has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the [Board of Peace].”

But the latest version obtained by The Times of Israel says the handover will occur when the PA “has satisfactorily completed its reform program as outlined in” Trump’s 20-point plan.

The 20-point plan offers little detail regarding the reform plan, referring to “various proposals, including President Trump’s peace plan in 2020 and the Saudi-French proposal from earlier this year.

The 2020 plan doesn’t include an explicit reform program but does have a long list of tasks that the PA is required to meet in order to be granted a state, including recognizing Israel as a Jewish state — something that Ramallah has long refused, arguing that it’s 1993 recognition of Israel as part of the Oslo Accords is sufficient.

The French-Saudi plan lists out the reform criteria as the abolishment of the PA’s controversial pay-to-slay program, removing incitement from Ramallah’s textbooks and school curriculum, and the holding of elections.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas signed legislation in February scrapping Ramallah’s old welfare program that included payments to prisoners based on the length of their sentence, and has pledged to hold elections within a year of the war ending. He also said in September that the PA is in the midst of developing educational curricula in accordance with UNESCO standards and that the reform will be completed within two years.

Mexico denies knowledge of alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Israeli ambassador

Mexico’s foreign relations and security ministries issues a brief joint statement saying that “they have no report with respect to a supposed attempt against the ambassador of Israel in Mexico,” after the US and Israel accused Iran of plotting to assassinate the Israeli envoy to Mexico City.

The foreign ministry “reiterates its willingness to maintain fluid communication with all accredited diplomatic representations in our country,” the statement says. The security ministry “reaffirms its respectful and coordinated collaboration, always within the framework of national sovereignty, with all security agencies that request it.”

Iran’s embassy in Mexico meanwhile denies the Islamic Republic plotted to assassinate the Israeli ambassador.

“It is a media invention, a great big lie, whose objective is to damage the friendly and historic relations between both countries (Mexico and Iran), which we categorically reject,” Tehran’s embassy in Mexico posts on X.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

US is chief shot caller at Gaza ceasefire HQ in southern Israel — Israeli official

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visits the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat, October 24, 2025. (Olivier Fitoussi/POOL)

Israel has been playing a secondary role at the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat where the Gaza ceasefire is monitored, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.

The US has been the prime decision-maker at the CMCC, including on issues pertaining to the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, the official says.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, which was responsible for facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip during the war has been relegated to more of a contractor role, the Israeli official adds, confirming details of a Washington Post report.

Cornell University to pay $60M in deal with Trump administration to restore federal funding

People walk on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, February 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Cornell University has agreed to pay $60 million and accept the Trump administration’s interpretation of civil rights laws in order to restore federal funding and end investigations into the Ivy League school.

Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff announces the agreement, saying it upholds the university’s academic freedom while restoring more than $250 million in research funding that the government withheld amid investigations into alleged civil rights violations. He said the government’s funding freeze had stalled research, upended careers and threatened the future of academic programs.

The university agreed to pay $30 million directly to the US government, along with another $30 million toward research that will support US farmers.

The agreement is the latest struck between President Donald Trump’s administration and elite colleges he has accused of tolerating antisemitism and promoting far-left ideas. Trump is still locked in a standoff with Harvard, the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university, and lately has tried an incentive-based approach by offering preferential access to federal funding for other schools that sign onto his political agenda.

Kotlikoff says the agreement revives the campus’s partnership with the federal government “while affirming the university’s commitment to the principles of academic freedom, independence, and institutional autonomy that, from our founding, have been integral to our excellence.”

The six-page agreement is similar to one signed by the University of Virginia last month. It’s shorter and less prescriptive than others signed by Columbia University and Brown University.

US removes sanctions on Syrian president ahead of meeting with Trump

Syria President Ahmad Al-Sharaa approaches the podium to speak during the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, at U.N. headquarters. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)

The United States removes sanctions on Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a day after the United Nations Security Council did the same, ahead of his meeting with US President Donald Trump next week.

Sharaa, whose Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham ousted longtime leader Bashar al-Assad’s regime, was affiliated for many years with al-Qaeda and was sought for prosecution as a terrorist.

According to a notice on the US Treasury Department website, the United States removed Specially Designated Global Terrorist designations from both Sharaa and Syria’s interior minister, Anas Khattab.