The Times of Israel liveblogged Sunday’s events as they unfolded.

12:46 am

Pentagon chief says US hit Iran-linked sites in Syria after American troops attacked

FILE - US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies before a Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, October 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
FILE - US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies before a Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, October 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

The Pentagon says American forces have launched fresh strikes on Iran-linked sites in eastern Syria following repeated attacks on US troops in Syria and Iraq.

A statement attributed to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the strikes targeted a training facility and a safe house that were “used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran-affiliated groups.”

“The President has no higher priority than the safety of US personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests,” Austin says.

11:49 pm

Israel loses 0:1 to Kosovo in Euro 2024 soccer qualifier

Israel loses 0:1 to Kosovo in their soccer match at Pristina City Stadium, suffering a blow to its chance of qualifying for Euro 2024.

Conceding Milot Rashica’s winning goal in the 41st minute, Israel now has three more matches to play over the next 10 days, after some home games were delayed and moved to Hungary due to the ongoing war against Hamas.

It is competing with Switzerland and Romania for the two qualifying spots.

Israel has never qualified for a European championship.

11:43 pm

Biden discusses efforts to secure hostage deal with Qatari leader

By Jacob Magid

US President Joe Biden discussed efforts to secure the release of the roughly 240 hostages being held by terror groups in Gaza during his latest phone call with Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani earlier today.

Biden “condemned unequivocally the holding of hostages by Hamas, including many young children, one of whom is a 3-year old American citizen toddler, whose parents were killed by Hamas on October 7,” the White House says, highlighting the specific plight of a young American hostage for what appears to be the first time.

Biden also expressed his appreciation to Qatar for its efforts in mediating the release of four hostages last month, two of whom were US citizens, the White House says.

The two leaders discussed the need to protect civilians in Gaza and ensure the continuous flow of humanitarian aid into the enclave, the White House readout adds, noting that Biden also welcomed the $100 million commitment from the Gulf Cooperation Council to support the humanitarian response, which matched the US contribution announced last month.

Biden “affirmed his vision for a future Palestinian state where Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side with equal measures of stability and dignity. arguing that Hamas has been an impediment to this outcome, according to the White House readout.

11:12 pm

Man grabs Greta Thunberg’s mic, raps her for pro-Palestinian messages at climate rally

A man briefly grabs the microphone from climate activist Greta Thunberg in Amsterdam and criticizes her pro-Palestinian activism.

Thunberg has attracted widespread criticism for many posts expressing solidarity with Gaza while barely making a mention of Hamas’s brutal onslaught on October 7 which targeted civilians in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping at least 240.

Addressing tens of thousands, Thunberg invites a Palestinian woman and an Afghan woman onstage, saying: “As a climate justice movement, we have to listen to the voices of those who are being oppressed and those who are fighting for freedom and for justice. Otherwise, there can be no climate justice without international solidarity.”

The man then comes onstage and says: “I have come here for a climate demonstration, not a political view.”

Others intervene to get him off the stage as the crowd boos.

Thunberg says “calm down,” and later chants “no climate justice on occupied land.”

10:50 pm

WHO says Shifa ‘not functioning as a hospital anymore’; Hamas claims babies, patients died

By ToI Staff and AFP

The World Health Organization claims that Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital is “not functioning as a hospital anymore.”

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweets that the UN body has restored communication with its contacts at the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital, lamenting that “the situation is dire and perilous,” that the doctors are working without electricity or water and that “the number of patient fatalities has increased significantly.”

He calls for an immediate ceasefire.

Meanwhile, a Hamas official claims that five premature babies and seven critically ill patients have died in Shifa as the facility suffers fuel shortages amid intense fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas terrorists.

“We fear the toll will rise further by morning,” says Youssef Abu Rish, deputy health minister in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. The figures issued by the terror group cannot be verified.

Israel says a major Hamas command center is located under the hospital, and its troops have been closing in on the compound while pledging to provide a safe evacuation route for civilians. The military promised to help transfer babies to safety, but has said officials have prevented this. The IDF also says it offered the hospital 300 liters of fuel, but that Hamas prevented the hospital staff from accepting it.

Shifa director Mohammad Abu Salmiya has told journalists the Israeli claims are “lies,” arguing that the 300 liters would power generators for “no more than quarter of an hour” anyway.

10:40 pm

Reports: Netanyahu rebuffs Ben Gvir’s demand to treat some Gaza civilians as terrorists

Illustrative: Likud leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu with head of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party MK Itamar Ben Gvir at a vote in the Knesset plenum, December 28, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90/File)
Illustrative: Likud leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu with head of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party MK Itamar Ben Gvir at a vote in the Knesset plenum, December 28, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90/File)

Hebrew media outlets report that an argument broke out earlier today between ministers at the cabinet meeting, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right Public Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir disagreeing about the distinction between terrorists and noncombatants.

According to the simultaneous reports, which imply a deliberate leak, Ben Gvir demanded that Israel treat as combatants Gazan civilians who joined Hamas terrorists and looted Israeli communities on October 7, as well as Palestinians who handed out sweets to celebrate the murderous assault.

Netanyahu reportedly said Israel distinguishes between civilians and terrorists: “The terrorists first of all harm the population, and after that also combat fighters, a bit. For us, it is the other way around. We want to give the population entire areas to build tents, hospitals, we will give humanitarian support — this gives us power.”

Justice Minister Yariv Levin agreed, saying “we must have this distinction between uninvolved and involved. We’re making immense efforts to avoid harming uninvolved people.”

Ben Gvir then interjected: “You’re all the time talking about uninvolved people, but I want it to be clear. This old man running with a stick to abuse civilians — is he uninvolved? He is a terrorist. He is involved. Those who give out sweets and encourage murder are involved, and so are those who came to loot. They are involved, they are terrorists.”

Netanyahu, according to the reports, replied that Israel won’t kill hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and will “make a distinction between terrorists and the population.”

Ben Gvir has complained about being sidelined from wartime decision-making. He isn’t in the war cabinet directing the war, and he says the security cabinet he is part of has not been seriously weighing his stances.

10:12 pm

Kosovo fans boo as Israel players pay tribute to Gaza hostages at start of soccer match

The Israeli national team is kicking off the first of four soccer matches in 10 days that will decide whether the country qualifies for Euro 2024, which would be the first time it ever makes it to the European championship.

As the national anthem Hatikva is played, the team members pay tribute to the at least 239 hostages being held by terrorists in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas onslaught, miming the symbol of half a heart, indicating the heart isn’t whole without their return.

Team officials hug and shed tears at the end of the anthem, but the moment is sullied by loud boos by Kosovo fans.

9:23 pm

Footage from Gaza shows Hamas members beating up residents trying to get food

The Kan public broadcaster airs footage it says was sent by a Gaza resident, showing Hamas officials beating up civilians and preventing them from accessing a truckload of food sent as aid to the civilian population.

The report says that after this was filmed, the Hamas operatives took away the food for the terror group’s own purposes.

9:09 pm

EU condemns Hamas using Gaza hospitals, civilians as human shields

By AFP

The European Union condemns Hamas for using “hospitals and civilians as human shields” in Gaza, while also urging Israel to show “maximum restraint” to protect civilians from the war.

“The EU is gravely concerned about the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” says a statement issued by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

9:04 pm

IDF vows to restore security in north, warns Hezbollah, Lebanese leadership will pay

By Emanuel Fabian

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says Israel will “change the security situation in the north” amid repeated attacks by the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group and allied Palestinian factions.

“The security situation will not remain in a way where residents of the north will not feel safe to return to their homes,” Hagari says.

He says Hezbollah and the Lebanese government will bear responsibility for any attacks from Lebanon.

“Lebanese citizens will pay the price of this lawlessness, and the decision of Hezbollah to be the protector of ISIS,” Hagari says, referring to Hamas as the jihadist organization.

9:02 pm

Report: Hamas got intel before Oct. 7 from Gazan day laborers working in Israel

In its meticulous planning of the October 7 onslaught, the Hamas terror group gathered some of its intelligence from Gazan day laborers who were allowed to enter Israel every day to work, The Washington Post reports, citing various intelligence officials from multiple countries.

Many of the day laborers worked in the same communities that were targeted and ravaged by Hamas, with entire families shot, burned and mauled to death in their homes.

The report also says evidence gathered from maps and other equipment found on terrorists’ bodies shows that Hamas had intended for at least some of the infiltrators to make it all the way to the West Bank, to start a wider war.

8:05 pm

Shin Bet, IDF nab 20 Hamas terrorists deep inside Gaza, bring them for questioning

By Emanuel Fabian

The Shin Bet security agency and Israel Defense Forces say some 20 members of the Hamas terror group have been arrested by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip to be questioned in Israel.

The agency says it is collaborating with the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504 and other troops to gather intelligence, carry out special operations, arrest wanted Palestinians and interrogate them.

It says the 20 Hamas members were nabbed “in the heart of the Gaza Strip.”

“The interrogations of the terror operatives will be used to obtain up-to-date intelligence from the ground and to aid with the continuation of the ground maneuver and the fighting efforts,” the Shin Bet says.

8:02 pm

German chancellor opposed to ‘immediate’ ceasefire in Gaza

By AFP and ToI Staff
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, center, visits the Territorial Disposition Group capability demonstration, at Cologne-Wahn military airport, in Cologne, Germany, October 23, 2023. (Kay Nietfeld/Pool via AP)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, center, visits the Territorial Disposition Group capability demonstration, at Cologne-Wahn military airport, in Cologne, Germany, October 23, 2023. (Kay Nietfeld/Pool via AP)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he opposes an “immediate” ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, amid international calls to halt Israel’s bid to destroy Hamas due to the terror group’s unprecedented assault on Israel.

“I don’t think the calls for an immediate ceasefire or long pause — which would amount to the same thing — are right,” Scholz says in a debate organized by the German regional daily Heilbronner Stimme.

“That would mean ultimately that Israel leaves Hamas the possibility of recovering and obtaining new missiles,” he adds, calling instead for “humanitarian pauses.”

Scholz’s stance clashes with many Arab countries and with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is due to meet the German leader in Berlin next week.

7:50 pm

IDF says it has struck Hezbollah targets in response to repeated attacks from Lebanon

By Emanuel Fabian

The Israel Defense Forces says fighter jets and drones have carried out strikes against Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon in response to missile, rocket and mortar attacks on northern Israel today.

Among the sites is a Hezbollah weapons depot, the IDF says.

7:48 pm

IDF chief tells mayors army aims to ‘pursue every terrorist and prevent every rocket’

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi meets mayors of southern Israeli cities and councils ravaged by Hamas's October 7 onslaught, in Ashkelon, November 12, 2023. (Ashkelon Municipality)
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi meets mayors of southern Israeli cities and councils ravaged by Hamas's October 7 onslaught, in Ashkelon, November 12, 2023. (Ashkelon Municipality)

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi meets mayors of southern Israeli cities and councils ravaged by Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, and according to Channel 13 news promises them that after the war is over, “not one rocket will fly toward Israel.”

The military later denies that that remark was made, saying Halevi said the IDF “will do everything to pursue every terrorist and prevent every rocket.”

The IDF says that in Ashkelon, Halevi expressed deep commitment to restoring security and prosperity to the devastated region, where almost all residents have been evacuated.

Hailing the civilians’ resilience, Halevi says the military and he personally “are focused on just one goal right now — defeating and dismantling Hamas.”

He acknowledges once again that the IDF failed its mission to defend the residents, reiterating that the army is also in charge of security going forward.

“We will remember what happened, fight, and not allow for such an event to happen again.”

7:08 pm

IDF: We supplied 300 liters of fuel to Shifa, Hamas barred hospital from getting it

By Emanuel Fabian
Israeli troops carry jerrycans of fuel for Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, November 12, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
Israeli troops carry jerrycans of fuel for Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, November 12, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israel Defense Forces says it supplied 300 liters of fuel for “urgent medical purposes” at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, but Hamas prevented the medical center from receiving it.

Early this morning, troops placed the jerrycans near the hospital, as had been coordinated in advance with officials at Shifa.

It says that later, “the IDF received evidence that Hamas officials prevented the hospital from receiving the fuel.”

The military publishes a call between an IDF officer and a senior Gazan health official, who says that Yousef Abu-Al Rish, the deputy health minister in Gaza, forbade the hospital from receiving the fuel.

The IDF doesn’t say what happened with the fuel after that.

The army has accused Hamas of having its main base of operations under Shifa Hospital, and has called on Palestinian civilians in the area, as well as in the entire north Gaza, to evacuate south.

6:55 pm

Visiting Israel, GOP presidential candidate Christie says truce calls ‘make no sense’

By Carrie Keller-Lynn
Republican US presidential candidate Chris Christie, center, speaks with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana (right) during a visit to the ravaged Kibbutz Kfar Aza on November 12, 2023. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset Spokesperson)
Republican US presidential candidate Chris Christie, center, speaks with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana (right) during a visit to the ravaged Kibbutz Kfar Aza on November 12, 2023. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset Spokesperson)

Republican US presidential candidate Chris Christie eschews calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying on a visit to Israel that had Hamas not violated an existing ceasefire by carrying out its October 7 onslaught, there would currently be calm.

A ceasefire reached following a flareup in 2021 was shattered last month when Hamas launched its unprecedented assault into Israel, in which some 1,200 were killed, mostly civilians, and at least 239 were abducted to Gaza.

“We can’t ask Israel to stand down if they believe there is still a legitimate violent threat against them and their people. And I think there is no question that there is. And so they must continue to fight until they have degraded that capability to a point where they can say to their people, come back and live her safely and securely. Until that comes, I don’t think calls for a ceasefire make any sense,” Christie says while touring the ruins of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, devastated by Hamas.

With anti-Israel protests flaring up across the United States, Christie says that many Americans do support Israel’s right to defend itself.

“I want the people of Israel to know that there are hundreds of millions of Americans who stand with them, who understand the atrocities that were committed,” Christie says, speaking within the closed military zone to which Kfar Aza is relegated.

“In the future, we need to stand absolutely shoulder to shoulder with Israel, no daylight,” he adds, standing next to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, who accompanied Christie to southern Israel.

“I intend to go back to the US and talk about this regularly so that the American people who are being asked to sacrifice and to help Israel financially and militarily will know that what they are doing is not only a noble effort on their part, but also what friends do for friends. America has no greater friend in the world than Israel,” Christie continues.

The former New Jersey governor is the first Republican presidential candidate to travel to Israel since war broke out last month.

6:26 pm

US military says 5 service members killed in Friday Mediterranean plane crash

By AFP

Five American service members have been killed when a military aircraft crashed into the Mediterranean during a training exercise, the US European Command (EUCOM) says.

“During a routine air refueling mission as part of military training, a US military aircraft carrying five service members suffered a mishap and crashed into the Mediterranean Sea. All five of the service members onboard the aircraft were killed,” EUCOM says in a statement on the November 10 accident.

6:18 pm

Rights group: Armed settlers in partial IDF uniform intimidate Palestinians in West Bank

By Jacob Magid

Armed and masked Israelis have been filmed entering a school in a-Tuwani, in the south Hebron Hills of the West Bank, appearing to impersonate soldiers as they tear down a Palestinian flag and intimidate local residents, the Yesh Din rights group says, citing reports from local residents.

The Israelis arrived in a car with license plates removed, were in partial IDF uniform and fled the scene upon the arrival of Israeli reserve soldiers, the left-wing group says.

There was no attempt by Israeli authorities to arrest the masked assailants.

“We’re seeing increasing occurrences of Israeli civilians dressed as soldiers in uniform carrying long weapons and inappropriately assuming authority in order to carry out harassment and violence against Palestinians,” Yesh Din says.

“We urge the authorities to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into this phenomenon. This is a misuse of military equipment and weapons intended for self-defense in an unlawful harassment of Palestinian residents,” the rights group adds.

The West Bank has seen a massive uptick in deadly settler violence since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

The Biden administration has called on Israel to condemn and curb the phenomenon and prosecute those responsible. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that he told US President Joe Biden that a small group of extremists are responsible and that they don’t represent the settlement movement.

6:10 pm

IDF uses new tactics to involve intel in Gaza war, killing 7 terrorists in 10 minutes

By Emanuel Fabian
Soldiers of an IDF Military Intelligence Directorate team for the Golani Infantry Brigade are seen working at computers, in a handout photo published November 12, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
Soldiers of an IDF Military Intelligence Directorate team for the Golani Infantry Brigade are seen working at computers, in a handout photo published November 12, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israel Defense Forces says it is employing new tactics to provide troops with quick intelligence amid fighting in the Gaza Strip.

It says there are dozens of small teams in the Military Intelligence Directorate that work with individual divisions and brigades that are operating in Gaza.

The teams, being used for the first time, are tasked with collecting intelligence from various sources in the Military Intelligence Directorate and other agencies, and making them accessible to forces on the ground.

In an example given by the IDF, an intelligence team for the Golani Brigade notified troops on the ground that there were a number of Hamas operatives near them. Within 10 minutes, the troops directed artillery fire and engaged the gunmen, killing seven of them.

6:04 pm

Tens of thousands march in Paris against antisemitism, including political parties

By Canaan Lidor
A protester stands next to flags of France during a march against antisemitism in Paris, on November 12, 2023. (Photo by Geoffroy Van der Hasselt / AFP)
A protester stands next to flags of France during a march against antisemitism in Paris, on November 12, 2023. (Photo by Geoffroy Van der Hasselt / AFP)

Tens of thousands of people march in Paris at a rally against antisemitism that is being led by the heads of the lower and upper houses of the French parliament and two former presidents.

Marching at the head of the event are Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of the French National Assembly, whose father is Jewish, and Gérard Larcher, president of the Senate, who initiated the event following the proliferation of anti-Jewish assaults in France following Hamas’s onslaught against Israel on October 7 and the ensuing war.

Politicians and political parties from across the spectrum are participating in the march, ranging from the Socialist Party of former president Francois Hollande, who is marching, to The Republicans of his right-wing predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, who is also attending.

Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally is marching, but the far-left party of Jean-Luc Melenchon, La France Insoumise, is boycotting the event, calling it a reunion of “friends of unconditional support for the massacre” of Palestinians in Gaza, as he describes it.

Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip following the October 7 onslaught, in which about 3,000 Hamas terrorists killed some 1,200 people, has resulted in the death of more than 10,000 people in the Gaza Strip, according to Hamas officials in the enclave. The figure cannot be verified and is questioned by Israel and others.

President Emmanuel Macron, who has condemned both antisemitism and anti-Zionism, is not attending, but he says in a statement that he “respectfully welcomes the those who march for the Republic, against antisemitism and for the liberation of the hostages.”

His absence is widely understood to be part of an attempt at a more balanced approach toward Israel, which Macron visited last month on a solidarity visit in which he offered to help Israel defeat Hamas. Macron is not attending because “it’s too late and too partisan,” Christophe Barbier, a former editor of l’Epxress daily, says on BFMTV about the march. “We’re a month after the tragedy of October 7, we’re past the emotional stage, we’re in the political one,” Barbier says.

Earlier today, Macron called President Isaac Herzog to say he does not believe Israel is targeting civilians and that he recognizes its right to defend itself, in a clarification on his remarks to BBC Saturday in which he said: “Civilians are bombed – de facto. These babies, these ladies, these old people are bombed and killed. So there is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So we do urge Israel to stop.”

The 1,000 antisemitic incidents that have been recorded in France over the past four weeks surpass the annual tally for such cases recorded in the whole of 2022, Braun-Pivet and Larcher wrote in an op-ed published last week announcing the march.

“Fear is setting in and threatens to become a daily reality unless we act,” they wrote.

5:40 pm

Netanyahu on responsibility for Oct. 7: Did people ask the same about Pearl Harbor, 9/11?

By Carrie Keller-Lynn

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again pushes off a question about his personal responsibility for the failures that led to the October 7 Hamas massacres, saying this question will be dealt with after the war.

“Did people ask Franklin Roosevelt, after Pearl Harbor, that question? Did people ask George Bush after the surprise attack of November [sic] 11?,” Netanyahu tells CNN, referring to the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

“It’s a question that needs to be asked… and I’ve said we’re going to answer all these questions, including me,” after the war, he continues.

5:40 pm

Netanyahu blasts anti-Israel protesters as ‘misguided,’ says they’re backing ‘sheer evil’

By Carrie Keller-Lynn

Against the backdrop of mass protests against Israel and calls on Jerusalem to accept a ceasefire with Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says many of the protesters are “misguided” and supporting “sheer evil.”

“Those who protest for Hamas — you’re protesting for sheer evil,” Netanyahu tells NBC News, claiming that some demonstrators are “misguided people who do not know the facts.”

Pro-Palestinian protests and threats against Jewish students have also become more prominent on American campuses, and Netanyahu says the embrace of Hamas’s narrative is “an indictment of higher education.”

Hamas, Netanyahu says, “are people who deliberately targeted civilians, who raped and murdered women. Who beheaded men. Who burnt babies alive. Who kidnapped little babies and Holocaust survivors. These are the people you are supporting.”

Directing his comments towards anti-Israel protests, he says: “Who do you protest against? Do you protest against the Nazis? Or… against the Allies?”

The premier says that Israel must win its current war with Hamas, echoing previous comments about the need to bring back security for border region residents.

“There’s no life for us, there’s no future for us” if we don’t win, he says.

5:33 pm

Netanyahu reiterates PA can’t rule Gaza, Israel must maintain ‘military responsibility’

By Carrie Keller-Lynn

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubles down on his Saturday remark that the Palestinian Authority is not fit to govern Gaza should Israel succeed in dislodging Hamas’s control over the coastal enclave.

“As far as the civilian management of Gaza, we have to see the following two things: Gaza has to be demilitarized and Gaza has to be de-radicalized,” Netanyahu tells NBC News.

“And I think so far, we haven’t seen any Palestinian force, including the Palestinian Authority, that has been able to do it,” he adds, saying “it’s too early to say” who will govern the Strip.

“They teach their children to hate Israel, they’re paying for slay,” Netanyahu says of the Ramallah-based PA, referring to monthly stipends it pays to jailed terror convicts and relatives of slain attackers. Additionally, more than a month since Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught that catalyzed the war, Netanyahu says “the Palestinian Authority president refuses to condemn this savagery.”

US officials have said that neither Israel nor Hamas will govern a postwar Gaza, but expect Israel to exercise a transitional security control over the area.

Netanyahu says that Israel plans to maintain “military responsibility” over the Strip, because Israel does not trust another entity to prevent terror from creating another stronghold in Gaza.

“I think that the only force right now that can guarantee that Hamas terrorism does not reappear and take over Gaza again is the Israeli military. So overall military responsibility will have to be with Israel,” Netanyahu tells NBC.

“If we want to have peace, we have to destroy Hamas,” he adds.

5:23 pm

Netanyahu said to tell ministers to weigh every word when talking about war

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly warns ministers to weigh their every word in public remarks about Israel’s war with Hamas.

“Every word has meaning when it comes to diplomacy. If you don’t know — don’t speak,” he says during a cabinet meeting, according to several Hebrew media reports.

“We need to be sensitive,” he adds.

There is no immediate response from the ministers.

The prime minister is presumably referring to statements from Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter and Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu in recent weeks on Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Dichter has said the war is causing the “Gaza Nakba,” while Eliyahu has indicated Israel might consider dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza, later walking it back as a “metaphorical” remark.

5:16 pm

Netanyahu to NBC: Hostage deal possible; Shifa Hospital rejected Israeli fuel offer

By Carrie Keller-Lynn

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there “could be” a potential deal to release some of the 239 hostages believed to be held by Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza, but the premier cites the sensitivity of negotiations and declines to provide additional details.

“I think the less I say about it, the more I’ll increase the chances that it materializes,” Netanyahu tells NBC News on Sunday.

Netanyahu also tells NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Israel has offered to supply fuel to Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, which is in dire need of it, but that the offer was rejected.

The premier reaffirms his stance that military pressure on Hamas is increasing the chances to secure hostage releases, a position running counter to American allies’ call for humanitarian pauses as a way to ease their release.

“We heard that there was an impending deal of this kind or of that kind and then we learned that it was all hokum. But the minute we started the ground operation, that began to change,” Netanyahu tells the American network.

For over a week, Israel has secured daily humanitarian corridors to enable Palestinians to evacuate a distance several kilometers, from north to south Gaza. Today, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson announced a multi-hour humanitarian pause in fighting in Gaza City’s Jabaliya neighborhood.

“Military pressure,” Netanyahu continues, “is the one thing that might create a deal, and if a deal is available, well, we will talk about it when it’s there. We’ll announce it if it’s achievable.”

Regarding whether Israel knows where hostages are currently held, the premier says: “We know a great deal, but I won’t go beyond that.”

4:57 pm

IDF: 7 troops injured in earlier mortar attack in north; 15 rockets fired from Lebanon

By Emanuel Fabian

The Israel Defense Forces says seven soldiers were lightly wounded in a mortar attack from Lebanon on the Manara area earlier today.

All the soldiers were taken to a hospital for treatment.

The military also says some 15 rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel in the last hour.

Four projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, while the rest landed in open areas, causing no injuries or damage.

Troops are responding with artillery shelling against the sources of the rocket fire, the IDF says.

Meanwhile, the Hamas terror group says that its Lebanon branch launched a barrage of rockets at Haifa, Nahariya and nearby towns on the Lebanon border.

4:42 pm

PA claims phone, internet in Gaza will grind to halt on Thursday due to lack of fuel

By Gianluca Pacchiani

Ishaq Sidr, the Palestinian Authority’s minister of telecommunications and information technology, claims that telephone and internet services in the Gaza Strip will come to a complete halt on Thursday due to a lack of fuel, and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

PA and Hamas officials have launched repeated warnings over the past weeks that the Strip is days away from running out of fuel, which is critical for hospitals, transport, food production, water treatment and other vital operations. However, such warnings have been sounded since the very first days of the war and have turned out to be exaggerated since fuel is yet to run out.

Additionally, Israel has provided evidence that Hamas is storing large fuel reserves for its own terror activities, and that it has diverted fuel from hospitals to its own infrastructure.

Consequently, Israel has repeatedly refused to allow the delivery of fuel into Gaza.

Internet and phone networks have been down on at least several occasions in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war. An interruption took place on October 27-29, as Israel launched a widened ground offensive. The latest communication blackout was on November 1, lasting for several hours.

At today’s press conference in Ramallah, Sidr says that technical crews in Gaza have made tremendous efforts to keep internet and phone service going despite the ongoing military operation, and claims that alleged Israeli efforts at paralyzing the communications network in Gaza amount to a violation of international law and are “aimed at concealing Israeli crimes.”

4:33 pm

Air raid sirens sound in Acre, Kiryat Bialik, other northern towns

Air raid sirens are blaring in the northern cities of Acre and Kiryat Bialik, as well as other smaller towns in the Galilee.

The cause isn’t immediately clear. The Lebanon border has flared up, with a missile causing civilian casualties in Israel earlier today.

4:26 pm

France-operated ship to serve as floating hospital off Sinai coast this weekend — source

By Jacob Magid

A ship dispatched by the government of France will dock off the coast of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula this week and will operate as a floating hospital for wounded Gazans with roughly 70 beds, a diplomat at Israel’s Embassy in Washington reveals to The Times of Israel.

While there had initially been proposals for ships to dock off the coast of Gaza, it is too damaged from the ongoing fighting for large boats to be able to dock there.

Israel is also supportive of a European Union effort for the establishment of a marine humanitarian corridor, with ships of aid first docking in Cyprus for inspections before continuing to Gaza, a second Israeli official says.

But the damage to Gaza’s port due to Israeli airstrikes complicates this proposal, which has been floated for years and never implemented.

A spokesperson for France’s embassy in Tel Aviv does not deny the developments but tells The Times of Israel, “The specifics of this operation, as well as the suggested humanitarian maritime corridor, are still subject to discussions among all relevant parties.”

Israel has been pushing for field hospitals and other alternatives to the existing medical centers in Gaza, saying that Hamas is operating command centers beneath them.

One of Hamas’s main command centers is believed to be located under Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which the IDF has closed in on over the weekend.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Israel offered to supply fuel to the hospital, which is in dire need of it, but that the offer was rejected.

4:21 pm

Report: One potential hostage deal would see release of women and minors

NBC News cites a US administration official confirming earlier reporting that a potential deal being discussed would see some 80 women and children held hostage by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza released in exchange for Israel freeing imprisoned female and underage terror convicts.

The official says that’s just one of the options and there’s “no certainty that any proposed deal will succeed.”

Some potential hostage deals are thought to have been scrapped after their details were published in the media before they could be finalized.

4:07 pm

Macron calls Herzog, says he didn’t mean to accuse Israel of intentionally bombing civilians

President Isaac Herzog (R) meets visiting French President Emmanuel Macron at his residence in Jerusalem on October 24, 2023. (Amos Ben-Gershom / GPO)
President Isaac Herzog (R) meets visiting French President Emmanuel Macron at his residence in Jerusalem on October 24, 2023. (Amos Ben-Gershom / GPO)

French President Emmanuel Macron calls President Isaac Herzog to continue his damage control over his remarks from Friday, in which he told BBC there was “no justification” for Israel’s alleged bombing of “these babies, these ladies, these old people,” reiterating his call for a ceasefire in Gaza and saying “there is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So we do urge Israel to stop.”

According to Herzog’s office, Macron called to make clear that he “does not and did not intend to accuse Israel of intentionally harming innocent civilians in the campaign against the terrorist organization Hamas.”

“President Macron also emphasized that he unequivocally supports Israel’s right and duty to self-defense, and expressed his support for Israel’s war against Hamas,” the statement from the Israeli President’s Residence continues.

“President Macron explained that his comments during the interview were made in reference to the humanitarian situation, which remained an important issue for him and many countries,” the statement says. “President Macron reiterated to President Herzog his commitment to demanding the immediate release of the hostages, and noted he was working to help on this important issue.”

Herzog says Macron’s reported comments “caused much pain and upset in Israel,” and welcomed Macron’s walking back of the comments in several statements and in the call with Herzog.

“The State of Israel and the IDF continue to act in a humanitarian manner and in accordance with international law,” Herzog is quoted as telling Macron, adding that Israel is taking “all possible measures to prevent harm to uninvolved civilians” and casting the blame for civilian casualties on Hamas.

3:47 pm

IDF strikes several Hezbollah targets, including cell behind recent missile attack

By Emanuel Fabian

The Israel Defense Forces says its fighter jets have struck a number of Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon in response to missile attacks on the border.

Additionally, the IDF says the Hezbollah cell behind a missile attack on civilians near the northern community of Dovev earlier has been struck.

Two more cells that launched mortars from Lebanon at areas near the communities of Menara and Yir’on were also struck, the IDF says. The military does not immediately provide information on potential casualties in those attacks.

Mortars were also fired at an army base on the border, causing no injuries. The IDF says troops are responding with artillery shelling.

3:30 pm

Rocket sirens sound in towns on northern border with Lebanon

Rocket sirens sound in a number of towns in northern Israel, including Kiryat Shemona.

There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The alerts come amid sky-high tensions on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, shortly after a number of people were badly wounded in an anti-tank missile attack by the Hezbollah terror group that struck a number of vehicles near the northern community of Dovev, close to the border.

3:04 pm

Rocket sirens sound in Gaza border town

Rocket sirens sound in the Gaza border community Holit.

There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The towns surrounding the Strip have been largely evacuated of civilians since the initial days of the war, which was sparked by the October 7 massacre by the Hamas terror group.

3:01 pm

IDF: Troops captured ‘al-Karameh area’ in north Gaza, destroyed long-range rocket launchers

By Emanuel Fabian
Tanks of the Harel Reserve Brigade are seen in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza, in a handout photo published November 12, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
Tanks of the Harel Reserve Brigade are seen in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza, in a handout photo published November 12, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israel Defense Forces says troops of its Harel Reserve Brigade have captured the “al-Karameh area” — apparently named after a local hospital — between Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip.

According to the IDF, during the raids, the troops destroyed Hamas infrastructure in the area, including long-range rocket launchers aimed at Israel, anti-tank missile launch positions, tunnels, and observation posts.

The Harel Brigade troops also killed several Hamas operatives during the fighting.

2:50 pm

Posters of kidnapped women defaced in Bnei Brak; police hunt suspect

Israel Police say they are hunting for a suspect in Bnei Brak who defaced posters of women kidnapped to Gaza by Hamas terrorists on October 7.

Police say the posters were vandalized on Hazon Ish Street in the predominantly Haredi city.

Over 240 people were kidnapped to Gaza during the devastating Hamas attack. Relatives and supporters campaigning for the release of the hostages have used a poster campaign to highlight their plight.

Photographs of women on billboards or signs are regularly defaced by ultra-Orthodox extremists. In Jerusalem, the Egged bus cooperative was sued several times for refusing to allow ads with pictures of women on buses that travel through Haredi areas.

2:29 pm

Rocket sirens sound in northern town on Lebanon border

By Emanuel Fabian

Rocket sirens sound in the northern community of Shtula.

The alert comes shortly after a number of people were critically and seriously wounded in an anti-tank missile attack from Lebanon by the Hezbollah terror group.

That missile struck a number of vehicles near the northern community of Dovev, close to the border. Some of the victims were Israel Electric Corporation employees who had arrived to repair power lines damaged by previous fire from Lebanon.

2:25 pm

Safed hospital says treating 2 of the multiple wounded in missile attack

Ziv Medical Center in Safed says it has received two of the injured in the anti-tank missile attack from Lebanon claimed by the Hezbollah terror group.

The hospital says one person is in serious condition and the second is lightly wounded.

A number of other people were critically and seriously injured in the attack.

2:02 pm

Hezbollah claims responsibility for anti-tank missile attack targeting Israeli civilians

By Emanuel Fabian
The scene after an anti-tank guided missile was fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel, injuring civilians on November 12, 2023 (Screen grab used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
The scene after an anti-tank guided missile was fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel, injuring civilians on November 12, 2023 (Screen grab used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

The Lebanese Hezbollah terror group claims responsibility for the anti-tank guided missile attack targeting civilians near the northern community of Dovev on the Lebanon border.

In a statement, the terror group falsely claims it hit soldiers installing surveillance equipment.

The Israel Electric Corporation said its employees were hit in the attack while repairing power lines.

1:35 pm

Israel Electric Corporation: Workers wounded in Lebanon missile attack were repairing lines damaged by previous attack

The Israel Electric Corporation says its employees were wounded in the anti-tank guided missile attack from Lebanon.

The IEC says the workers were close to Moshav Dovev, working to repair power lines damaged by previous fire from Lebanon in order to ensure electricity supply to the area.

One person was injured critically and a number were wounded seriously in the attack. It is not clear if all those hurt are IEC employees.

1:11 pm

1 person critically wounded, others seriously hurt in anti-tank guided missile attack from Lebanon

The Magen David Adom emergency service says one of the civilians injured in the anti-tank missile attack on northern Israel is in critical condition.

Three to five other people are in serious condition, a spokesman tells Channel 12 news.

The wounded are being transported by the Israel Defense Forces from the scene of the attack to a safer area where they can be treated by paramedics.

12:53 pm

Several civilians wounded in anti-tank guided missile attack from Lebanon, IDF says

By Emanuel Fabian

Several civilians are wounded in an anti-tank guided missile attack from Lebanon, the military says.

The missile struck a number of civilian vehicles near the northern community of Dovev, close to the border.

Their conditions are not immediately clear.

The Israel Defense Forces says it is responding with artillery shelling toward the source of the missile fire.

Separately, the IDF says it struck a cell in southern Lebanon preparing to launch rockets or missiles at Israel.

Also overnight, an IDF drone hit an anti-tank missile squad in southern Lebanon preparing to carry out an attack near Metula, the IDF adds.

12:39 pm

Top Palestinian official: Netanyahu’s ‘hatred of failure’ pushes him to ‘moral, political blindness’

By Gianluca Pacchiani
Secretary general of the Executive Committee of the PLO Hussein al-Sheikh at his office in Ramallah, June 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Secretary general of the Executive Committee of the PLO Hussein al-Sheikh at his office in Ramallah, June 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee, comments on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s press conference last night, saying that the premier’s “hatred of failure” is pushing him to “moral, humanitarian and political blindness,” which will lead to “further bloodshed, destruction and displacement.”

“Netanyahu came out yesterday to announce the strategic goal of the war: the complete reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, forgetting or ignoring that his occupation is doomed, and we are the ones who will remain,” al-Sheikh writes on his account at X, formerly Twitter.

In a joint press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz, Netanyahu indicated that Israel would oppose the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza following the war — an aspiration expressed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas over the past week, and with which Washington also reportedly agrees.

Gaza cannot be ruled by “a civil authority that educates its children to hate Israel, to kill Israelis, to eliminate the State of Israel… an authority that pays the families of murderers [amounts] based on the number they murdered… an authority whose leader still has not condemned the terrible [October 7] massacre 30 days later,” Netanyahu said of the PA last night.

The premier also reiterated that Israel will persist with its military offensive to eradicate Hamas in the wake of the terror group’s October 7 massacre.

12:22 pm

Arabic annotated copy of ‘Mein Kampf’ found among possessions of terrorist in Gaza home

President Isaac Herzog holds up a copy of an Arabic translation of 'Mein Kampf' that he says was found by Israeli troops in a children's room used as a terror base in the Gaza Strip, photo released on November 12, 2023 (President's Residence)
President Isaac Herzog holds up a copy of an Arabic translation of 'Mein Kampf' that he says was found by Israeli troops in a children's room used as a terror base in the Gaza Strip, photo released on November 12, 2023 (President's Residence)

President Isaac Herzog reveals that an annotated copy of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” was found in a children’s room that was used as a base by terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip.

Herzog holds up a copy of the Arabic translation of the Nazi leader’s book during an interview with the BBC.

“This is Adolf Hitler’s book, ‘Mein Kampf,’ translated into Arabic,” Herzog tells the BBC, according to a statement from the President’s Residence. “This is the book that led to the Holocaust and the book that led to World War II.”

The President’s Residence says the book was found in a residential building, among the personal belongings of a terrorist, and had been annotated.

“The terrorist wrote notes, marked the sections, and studied again and again, Adolf Hitler’s ideology to hate the Jews, to kill the Jews, to burn and slaughter Jews wherever they are. This is the real war we are facing,” Herzog says.

“After the massacre and atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7 — the day on which the largest number of Jews were murdered since the Holocaust — this is another revelation that testifies to the sources of inspiration of the terrorist organization Hamas, and proves once again that all its actions have the same goal as the Nazis — the destruction of Jews,” the President’s Residence says in a statement.

An annotated copy of an Arabic translation of ‘Mein Kampf’ that President Isaac Herzog says was found by Israeli troops in a children’s room used as a terror base in the Gaza Strip, photo released on November 12, 2023 (President’s Residence)
12:06 pm

IDF publishes audio of officers telling Gaza hospital staff how to safely evacuate southward

By Emanuel Fabian
People stand outside the emergency ward of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on November 10, 2023, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (Khader Al Zanoun/AFP)
People stand outside the emergency ward of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on November 10, 2023, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (Khader Al Zanoun/AFP)

The Israel Defense Forces publishes recordings of calls between a senior officer in the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and hospital staff at the Shifa, Rantisi, and Nasr hospitals in northern Gaza, instructing them how to safely evacuate toward the southern part of the Strip.

Palestinians have been able to leave the three hospitals, either by foot or in ambulances, after the IDF secured routes that lead to the Salah a-Din road, which serves as a humanitarian corridor for several hours during the day.

The IDF has accused Hamas of using Gaza’s hospitals for terror purposes, including situating its main headquarters under Shifa.

“Anyone who wishes to move from the hospital and toward the hospital, Al-Wehda Street, east of the hospital, is open,” says a senior officer in COGAT’s Coordination and Liaison Administration, to an official at Shifa.

“There are no Israeli forces on the eastern side of the hospital,” the officer says.

 

11:32 am

Rocket sirens in Nahal Oz

Rocket fire continues toward the Gaza border communities, with sirens sounding in Nahal Oz.

There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The communities have been largely evacuated of civilians since the initial days of the war.

11:13 am

Israel says 14,320 tons of humanitarian aid have entered Gaza since start of war

By Tal Schneider
An Egyptian Red Crescent member stands next to a shipment of humanitarian aid bound for the Gaza Strip unloaded off a Qatar Emiri Air Force C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft after landing at Arish International Airport in North Sinai province in northeastern Egypt on November 9, 2023 (Karim JAAFAR / AFP)
An Egyptian Red Crescent member stands next to a shipment of humanitarian aid bound for the Gaza Strip unloaded off a Qatar Emiri Air Force C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft after landing at Arish International Airport in North Sinai province in northeastern Egypt on November 9, 2023 (Karim JAAFAR / AFP)

COGAT, the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, says that 14,320 tons of humanitarian aid have entered the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war.

“There is no limit to the amount of food, water and medical equipment that can enter Gaza,” COGAT says. “We invite the international community to coordinate and we will facilitate.”

While aid has trickled into the Strip, humanitarian organizations say it is nowhere near enough.

Israel says Hamas has stockpiles of fuel and supplies that it is keeping from an increasingly desperate civilian population.

10:57 am

Rocket sirens in Gaza border towns

Rocket sirens sound in the Gaza border communities of Kfar Aza and Sa’ad.

The communities have been largely evacuated of civilians since the first days of the war.

There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

10:47 am

IDF says chief of staff Halevi flew over Gaza, spoke with forces over the radio

By Emanuel Fabian
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi boards a plane operated by the IAF's 100th Squadron at the Hatzor airbase, November 12, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi boards a plane operated by the IAF's 100th Squadron at the Hatzor airbase, November 12, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi flew over the Gaza Strip to view the military’s ground operation and to speak with forces over the radio.

A video published by the IDF shows Halevi identifying the Golani Brigade in Gaza.

“Right now we are waving at you with the flag of the 1st Brigade, and with the flag of the number one country,” says Col. Yair Palai over the radio.

“Tell all your people that you are doing an important job, everyone is behind you, and the entire IDF is working for you to advance, until victory,” Halevi responds.

Halevi was joined by Israel Air Force’s chief of staff, Brig. Gen. Omer Tishler, and the commander of the 100th Squadron, Lt. Col. Shay (his last name is withheld by the IDF for security reasons).

10:40 am

Lapid: Smotrich ‘harming war effort’ for reportedly still prioritizing funding for West Bank, Haredi schools

By Carrie Keller-Lynn
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid speaks during a press conference in Tel Aviv, October 26, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid speaks during a press conference in Tel Aviv, October 26, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid reacts angrily to reports that the Finance Ministry will continue to fund political priorities in the West Bank and for ultra-Orthodox schools, despite a government resolution to reallocate coalition discretionary funds to the war effort.

“While IDF soldiers are risking their lives, Finance Minister [Bezalel] Smotrich is harming the war effort, harming national resilience, harming Israeli society,” Lapid writes on X.

Smotrich, a far-right former settler activist, “is not interested in anything except his ‘base,'” Lapid says, and is using “Israeli citizens’ money to practice petty politics during wartime.”

The Kan public broadcaster reported Saturday that Smotrich decided to transfer hundreds of millions of shekels to priorities in the West Bank and to ultra-Orthodox school networks, against advice from the treasury’s professional staff. The latter answers Haredi political demands.

A Finance Ministry official told the Knesset’s Finance Committee last week that the treasury has enough funds to support the war effort. Smotrich has repeatedly promised to reopen the budget in order to redistribute funds in line with war priorities.

On Friday, Smotrich said that he froze 70% of non-transferred 2023 coalition funds, some NIS 1.6 billion, to be redistributed to the war effort.

10:19 am

Israel signs agreement to sell David’s Sling air defense system to Finland

By Emanuel Fabian
Defense Minister Director General Eyal Zamir (center left) and Finland's Ambassador to Israel, Nina Nordström (center right), and other officials are seen after signing the sale of the David's Sling air defense system to Finland, November 12, 2023. (Defense Ministry)
Defense Minister Director General Eyal Zamir (center left) and Finland's Ambassador to Israel, Nina Nordström (center right), and other officials are seen after signing the sale of the David's Sling air defense system to Finland, November 12, 2023. (Defense Ministry)

Israel’s Defense Ministry has signed an agreement for the sale of the David’s Sling air defense system to Finland, in a deal estimated at 317 million euros (NIS 1.3 billion).

Director General Eyal Zamir signed the “historic agreement” at the ministry’s headquarters, it says, in an event attended by Finland’s Ambassador to Israel Nina Nordström and Finnish Defense Attaché to Israel Col. Oula Asteljoki.

The president and CEO of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Yoav Har-Even; head of the ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research & Development, Dr. Daniel Gold; head of the Israel Missile Defense Organization, Moshe Patel, and other officials attended the signing.

David’s Sling, produced by Rafael, is capable of intercepting rockets and missiles at a range of 40-300 kilometers (25-185 miles).

The system has been operational in Israel since 2017 and makes up the middle tier of Israel’s multi-layer missile defense capabilities, which also includes the short-range Iron Dome and the top-level Arrow systems, which are intended to engage long-range ballistic missiles.

The system made its first real-world interception in May.

10:07 am

IDF says will continue with humanitarian pauses to enable evacuation from north Gaza

By Emanuel Fabian
Palestinians evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din Street in Bureij, Gaza Strip, Nov. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Palestinians evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din Street in Bureij, Gaza Strip, Nov. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

The Israel Defense Forces says humanitarian pauses in the northern Gaza Strip will continue today to enable Palestinians to evacuate south.

The IDF’s Arabic-language Spokesman, Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, says on X that Salah a-Din road will be open for southbound movement for a total of seven hours today, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Additionally, he says the IDF will make “tactical pauses in military activities” in the town of Jabaliya and the nearby neighborhood of Izbat Malien today between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., so that Palestinians can reach the humanitarian corridors to evacuate south.

There will also be a safe route from Shifa Hospital, via Al-Wehda Street, to reach the Salah a-Din road, for Palestinians to reach southern Gaza, he says.

9:49 am

Rocket sirens sound in northern community

Incoming rocket sirens sound in the northern community Gornot HaGalil, close to the border with Lebanon.

There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

It is the first time sirens have sounded in the north of the country in some 13 hours.

The alert comes amid repeated missile and rocket attacks by Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group. Hezbollah has also carried out several drone attacks.

9:21 am

Fierce battles in Gaza City as IDF troops close in on Shifa Hospital, where Hamas HQ is said to be

Fierce fighting continues in and around Gaza City between Israel Defense Forces troops and armed gunmen, as the military closes in on Shifa Hospital, where Israel says Hamas’s main headquarters are located.

Live footage of the area appeared to show heavy fighting in the vicinity of the hospital, with the constant sounds of gunfire and explosions.

Witnesses say that airstrikes continued in the area overnight.

Health officials say thousands of medics, patients and displaced people are trapped in the area surrounding Shifa Hospital, with no electricity and dwindling supplies.

The IDF has said it will help to evacuate babies from the hospital in the coming hours.

Israel has presented evidence in recent weeks that Hamas’s main command center is located underneath Shifa and accused the terror group of using the hospital and its occupants — with 1,500 beds and some 4,000 staff — as human shields for the elaborate bunkers and tunnels beneath it.

Additionally, Israel says Hamas has stockpiles of fuel and supplies that it is keeping from an increasingly desperate civilian population.

9:09 am

IDF: Hamas gunmen opened fire at Israeli troops enabling Gaza civilians to evacuate

By Emanuel Fabian
An Israeli bulldozer and a battle tank cross a barbed wire fence at a position along the border between the Gaza Strip and southern Israel on November 12, 2023, (Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)
An Israeli bulldozer and a battle tank cross a barbed wire fence at a position along the border between the Gaza Strip and southern Israel on November 12, 2023, (Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)

The Israel Defense Forces says a “significant” number of troops continue to fight in Gaza City’s al-Shati camp.

It says that in one incident, Givati Brigade troops identified civilians in a building, and enabled them to evacuate.

But during the evacuation, Hamas opened fire at the soldiers. The troops returned fire and tanks shelled the gunmen, killing them, and allowing the civilians to continue to evacuate the area, the IDF says.

In another incident, the IDF says the soldiers identified a group of Hamas operatives holed up in a building in al-Shati, and directed an aircraft to strike them.

Meanwhile, a fighter jet struck a Hamas weapons depot in a building in the camp, after a missile was fired from it, the IDF says.

Lastly, in an incident last night, Nahal Brigade troops operating near al-Shati identified four Hamas operatives near them, and directed a drone to strike them. The drone hit three of them, before chasing down the fourth and killing him as well, the IDF says.

8:10 am

US asks for clarification of Netanyahu’s comments that Israel will have security control of Gaza after war

By Jacob Magid and ToI Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks about the Israel-Hamas war during a press conference on November 11, 2023. (Marc Israel Sellem/POOL)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks about the Israel-Hamas war during a press conference on November 11, 2023. (Marc Israel Sellem/POOL)

The United States has asked for clarification of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments that Israel will have security responsibility for the Gaza Strip for an indefinite period after the war against the Hamas terror group.

The demand for clarification was first reported by the Kan public broadcaster, and a US official confirmed the report to The Times of Israel.

Last night, Netanyahu indicated that Israel would oppose the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza following the war — reportedly a goal sought by Washington — lambasting it as an entity that educates children to want to eliminate Israel, supports terrorism and hasn’t condemned Hamas’s October 7 massacres, which sparked the ongoing war.

On Friday, Netanyahu said the IDF will remain in control of the Gaza Strip after the current war ends, and will not rely on international forces to oversee security along the border.

Last week, Netanyahu told ABC News that Israel will have “overall security responsibility” over the Gaza Strip “for an indefinite period” after the war against Hamas ends.

7:35 am

Far-right leaders to attend Paris march against antisemitism, far-left leader will not

French far-right politician Marine Le Pen, center, arrives during a campaign tour in Pertuis, southern France, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
French far-right politician Marine Le Pen, center, arrives during a campaign tour in Pertuis, southern France, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Leaders of far-right political parties will be among the tens of thousands expected to attend today’s march in Paris against antisemitism, but not those of the far-left, the BBC reports.

National Assembly speaker Yael Braun-Pivet and Gerard Larcher, the Senate speaker, called Tuesday for a “general mobilization” at the march against the upsurge in anti-Semitism. They are to lead the march behind a banner stating “For the Republic, against antisemitism.”

According to the BBC, Marine Le Pen, a three-time presidential candidate for the National Rally (the party formerly known as the National Front), was among the first to announce that she would join the march, along with party president Jordan Bardella.

However, the report said far-left leader of France Unbowed, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, quickly announced his party would not be attending as the event was a “rendezvous for unconditional supporters of the massacre [of Gazans].”

The report says that a few years ago, the idea that a far-right party would attend a march against antisemitism, and a far-left party would not, would have been “unthinkable.”

More than 3,000 police and gendarmes will be deployed in the French capital to maintain security at the “great civic march,” according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

French President Emmanuel Macron says he will attend in his “thoughts.”

“I’ll be there in my heart and in my thoughts,” Macron says after warning last week that antisemitism was on the rise again in France.

Tensions have been rising in France, home to large Jewish and Muslim communities, after the Hamas terror group’s devastating October 7 assault on Israel, and the war that has ensued in which Israel has vowed to topple the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip.

France has recorded nearly 12,250 antisemitic acts since the attack.

7:00 am

In letter to French, Macron urges battling ‘unbearable resurgence of antisemitism’

In a letter to his nation, French President Emmanuel Macron stresses the need to combat the “unbearable resurgence of unbridled antisemitism,” branding the phenomenon “odious.”

“In one month, more than a thousand antisemitic acts were committed on our soil. Three times more acts of hatred against our Jewish compatriots in a few weeks than during the whole of last year,” Macron says in the letter, published on the Le Parisien news website.

“Our Jewish compatriots therefore experience legitimate anguish. Fear to take their children to school. Fear of going home alone. Fear to the point of hiding their name to protect themselves,” Macron writes, adding: “A France where our fellow Jewish citizens are afraid is not France. A France where French people are afraid because of their religion or their origin is not France.”

He hails police actions aimed at countering the epidemic and bringing antisemitism “back to where it belongs: in court and behind bars. No tolerance for the intolerable.”

Macron notes the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, reiterating that he backs Israel’s right to defend itself without qualification. But he urges political dialogue and building a “humanitarian coalition” that will facilitate a “humanitarian truce leading to a ceasefire.”

“We want justice, peace and security for the people of Israel, for the Palestinian people and for the states of the region,” he concludes, urging unity among the French.

6:15 am

Rocket alert sounds in evacuated Israeli town near Gaza

The first rocket alert alarm of the day sounds in Kissufim, near Gaza.

The community has long been evacuated amid the ongoing war and after border area towns were devastated during the Hamas onslaught on October 7.

There are no immediate reports of impacts or casualties.

5:04 am

US official McGurk said set to visit Israel as part of Mideast quest for hostage deal

Brett McGurk, US White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, speaks during the 17th IISS Manama Dialogue in the Bahraini capital Manama on November 21, 2021 (Mazen Mahdi / AFP)
Brett McGurk, US White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, speaks during the 17th IISS Manama Dialogue in the Bahraini capital Manama on November 21, 2021 (Mazen Mahdi / AFP)

Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East, will reportedly visit Israel on Tuesday as part of a whirlwind tour of countries in the region with the goal of reaching a US-brokered deal securing the release of many of the hostages being held in Gaza by Palestinian terrorists.

The Walla news site, citing two unnamed Israeli and American senior officials, reports that McGurk will first visit Brussels for talks with NATO and European Union officials on the Israel-Hamas war.

He’ll then arrive in the Jewish state, where he’ll meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and senior security and intelligence officials, the report says.

McGurk will then head to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, the report says.

The White House declines to comment on the report, which says one of the options under discussion is a deal that would see 80 women and children freed from captivity in Gaza in return for Israel releasing female and underage terror convicts from prison, as well as a several-day pause in the fighting and possibly some fuel entering Gaza.

4:30 am

World Health Organization says it’s lost contact with Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital

Palestinians at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, November 10, 2023. (Flash90)
Palestinians at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, November 10, 2023. (Flash90)

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has lost communication with officials at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, saying it assumes its contacts have joined the stream of an estimated hundreds of thousands of civilians who have fled to the Strip’s south in recent days.

Fighting has raged increasingly closer to the Palestinian enclave’s biggest hospital, under which Israel says the Hamas’s terror group maintains a major command center as part of its vast network of tunnels.

Jerusalem has urged the hospital’s staff and patients, along with all Gaza City residents, to flee south to avoid harm as Israeli forces isolate and attempt to gain control of the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

There have been reports of gunfire targeting civilians seeking to exit the hospital and flee, with Israel saying the shooters are Hamas gunmen and the terror group blaming Israel.

In a series of tweets, WHO says several people have died and others injured in attacks that have hit parts of Shifa Hospital, and that some areas of operations have shut down.

The UN body says it “has grave concerns for the safety of the health workers, hundreds of sick and injured patients, including babies on life support and displaced people who remain inside the hospital.

“WHO calls again for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as the only way to save lives and reduce the horrific levels of suffering. Hospitals, patients, health staff, and persons sheltering in health facilities are protected under the Geneva Conventions & International Humanitarian Law,” it says.

The organization also calls for the “sustained, orderly, unimpeded and safe medical evacuations of critically injured and sick patients into Egypt through the Rafah Border Crossing.”

Regarding the at least 239 hostages held in the Strip by terrorists after they were abducted from Israel on October 7, WHO says “all hostages should receive appropriate medical care and be released unconditionally.”

3:26 am

Air Force strikes terror targets in Syria in response to rocket fire

Israeli warplanes struck terror infrastructure in Syria a short while ago, the Israel Defense Forces says.

The IDF says this is in reaction to rocket fire several hours ago from Syria toward the Golan Heights.

The IDF doesn’t immediate give details about the targeted sites.

2:24 am

Jordan says it has again dropped humanitarian aid to Gaza from planes

Jordan has again dropped humanitarian aid from the air to help a field hospital operated by Amman in the Gaza Strip, the Jordanian army has announced according to Hebrew media.

The packages are reportedly dropped from planes along with parachutes, in the second such operation in recent weeks. The previous time, about a week ago, was coordinated with Israel, despite no Israeli officials inspecting the equipment ahead of time.

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