Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Monday’s events as they happened.
PM reportedly asked Shin Bet to declare it unsafe for him to testify in criminal trial
Haaretz reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office recently asked the Shin Bet security service to provide a legal opinion against the premier testifying in his criminal trial on security grounds.
With Netanyahu’s scheduled December 2 testimony approaching, he wants the Shin Bet to tell the court that it is not safe for him to be spending long periods of time in the same publicly known location, given concerns of drone and missile attacks from Iranian proxies, Haaretz says.
The Shin Bet rejected the request from Netanyahu’s office, but has begun looking into how it can ensure the premier’s security throughout the trial.
Frustrated by the Shin Bet’s conduct, Netanyahu confidants have been urging him to fire the agency’s head Ronen Bar. The Walla news site reported that the premier considered the move, which Netanyahu’s office vehemently denied.
Notably, Netanyahu rejected calls to step down while on trial, insisting that he is capable of running the country while tending to his personal legal matters at the same time.
IDF says fragments from intercepted missile source of Ramat Gan impact
After an initial probe, the IDF says the impact in Ramat Gan this evening that caused extensive damage and wounded five people, was confirmed to have been from fragments of an intercepted missile.
“A preliminary investigation of the air defense systems found that the interceptor hit a surface-to-surface missile launched from Lebanon at a high altitude, and broke it into several pieces,” the IDF says in a statement.
“As a result of the interception, part of the missile hit the ground and caused damage and casualties,” the military says, adding that the incident is under further investigation.
Report: Aide Feldstein showed PM classified intel before it was illegally leaked to German daily
Spokesperson Eli Feldstein is seen at an event with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the war against Hamas in Gaza, sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023, massacre. (IDF)
The Kan public broadcaster reports that Eli Feldstein shared allegedly stolen classified intelligence with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before its contents were leaked to the German Bild daily.
Thus far, Netanyahu has not been implicated directly in the scandal that has landed Feldstein behind bars, but Kan suggests that the premier may have even directed the aide to leak the classified intelligence in order to skew the public debate regarding a hostage deal in his favor.
Kan says that Netanyahu expressed interest in the document that Feldstein brought to his attention.
MK laments countless racist posts from Jewish Israelis celebrating death of Arab teacher
Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi highlights the flood of racist comments posted by Israelis on social media celebrating the death of a Shfar’am teacher who was killed in a Hezbollah rocket attack in the northern Arab town of Shfa’am.
“Again, the same racism, again the same vileness, the same human piles of garbage who are happy that the late Safaa Qaat Awad was killed by a missile from Lebanon,” tweets Tibi, attaching a photo showing dozens of comments celebrating the woman’s death after it was reported in an Instagram post.
“I sent a letter to the state ombudsman a month ago. I was told the matter is under review. How come no one gets arrested — with or without a flannel cloth over their eyes?” he asks, referring to the police arrest of an Arab teacher last month, which exposed law enforcement to charges of racism.
תופעה: שוב אותה גזענות, אותה שפלות , אותם פסולת אנושית , השמחים כי ספאא קוט עוואד ז״ל נהרגה מטיל מלבנון. כבר שלחתי מכתב ליועמ״שית לפני חודש . ענו לי כי זה בבדיקה. איך זה שאף אחד לא עצור עם או בלי פלנלית? @brown_johnbrown pic.twitter.com/HZkzFl4CEr
— Ahmad Tibi (@Ahmad_tibi) November 18, 2024
Hamas says it killed over 20 ‘gang members involved in stealing aid trucks’ in Gaza
Gaza’s Hamas-run interior ministry says that at least 20 people were killed during a security operation against “gangs” that looted trucks bringing aid to the war-torn territory.
“More than 20 members of gangs involved in stealing aid trucks were killed in a security operation carried out by security forces in cooperation with tribal committees,” the ministry says in a statement.
The terror group, itself, has been accused of siphoning off aid entering Gaza for its fighters and of charging fees to groups distributing the aid.
Lebanon says US truce plan ‘very positive’ — official
The Lebanese government has largely endorsed a US truce proposal to end the Israel-Hezbollah war, and was preparing final comments before sending a response to Washington, a Lebanese official tells AFP.
A government official who has been following the talks closely says that “we have made a lot of progress. Lebanon has a very positive view on this proposal.”
“We are finalizing our last remarks about the US wording of the draft,” the official adds.
Another government official tells AFP that Beirut was “waiting for US special envoy Amos Hochstein to arrive so we can review certain outstanding points with him.”
Both sources, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, say Hochstein was expected in Beirut this week.
They also say Israel has not yet responded to the truce plan.
Netanyahu: Even if there’s a Lebanon truce deal, Israel will need to operate against Hezbollah
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicates that Israel will need to continue to operate militarily against the Iran-backed Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah, even if a ceasefire deal is reached in Lebanon.
“The most important thing is not (the deal that) will be laid on paper,” Netanyahu told the Knesset in a speech earlier today.
“Even if there is a paper [setting out an agreement], worthy though it may be, we will be required, in order to ensure our security in the north (of Israel), to systematically carry out operations — not only against Hezbollah’s attacks, which could come. Even if there is a ceasefire, nobody can guarantee it will hold. So it’s not only our reaction, a preventive reaction, a reaction in the wake of attack, but also the capacity to prevent Hezbollah from strengthening.”
“We will not allow Hezbollah to return to the state it was in on October 6, 2023,” he says.
Deadly triple stabbing shocks New York
A man went on a deadly stabbing spree in New York, police and the mayor say, killing two people and critically injuring a third.
Police issued an image of the suspected attack weapon, a large, bloodied kitchen knife, but have so far not commented on any possible motive for the triple slashings.
“Two lost their lives, one is fighting for her life,” New York mayor Eric Adams tells a media briefing.
“We have someone in custody and we are not looking for any additional suspects.”
Police say that the suspect first struck in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, in the west of the city, attacking a man outside a building site around 8:22 a.m.
The 36-year-old victim later died.
The attacker then crossed the city, attacking a man fishing in the East River two hours later, killing the 68-year-old.
At 10:55 a.m., the suspect went on to attack a 36-year-old woman close to the Manhattan headquarters of the United Nations.
The suspect is 51, with eight prior arrests, and was arrested near the UN, where he was armed with two kitchen knives, detectives say.
4-year-old boy, 41-year-old woman in serious condition after Hezbollah rocket at Shfar’am
Among those wounded in the direct Hezbollah rocket impact in Shfar’am this evening are a woman aged 41 and a 4-year-old boy in serious condition, Rambam Hospital in Haifa says.
The medical center says a total of 56 victims were brought for treatment, mostly for acute anxiety. Among the victims are 18 children, the hospital adds.
A woman, identified as Safaa Awad, 41, was killed in the attack.
Four killed in Israeli strike on central Beirut – Lebanese health ministry
At least four people were killed and 18 others injured in an Israeli strike on central Beirut, the Lebanese health ministry says, without differentiating between civilians and combatants.
Israel has been targeting Hezbollah operatives throughout Lebanon.
EU ministers decide against suspending dialogue with Israel
European Union foreign ministers did not agree to suspend political dialogue with Israel during a meeting on Monday, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski says, following a proposal from EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
“We know that there are tragic events in Gaza, huge civilian casualties, but we do not forget who started the current cycle of violence,” Sikorski tells reporters in Brussels. “And I can tell you that there was no agreement on the idea of suspending negotiations with Israel.”
TV survey: Netanyahu’s Likud rising; 43% say he shouldn’t fire attorney-general, 37% say he should
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) at a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, November 1, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO); Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at a farewell ceremony for retiring acting Supreme Court President Uzi Vogelman, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, October 1, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/POOL)
A Channel 12 survey shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party would easily be the largest in the Knesset if elections were held today, but also that the current, governing Netanyahu-led bloc of parties — which holds 68 of the Knesset’s 120 seats — would fall far short of a majority.
Likud would win 26 seats in the Knesset, followed by Benny Gantz’s National Unity on 19, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid on 15, Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu on 13, Yair Golan’s The Democrats on 12, Shas on 9, United Torah Judaism on 8, Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit on 8, and the mainly Arab parties Ra’am and Hadash-Ta’al on 5 seats apiece.
Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism and the Arab party Balad would win no seats, the poll shows.
The Netanyahu-led bloc — Likud, Shas, UTJ and Otzma Yehudit — would together win 51 seats, a rise of two seats since Channel 12’s previous survey. The anti-Netanyahu bloc would win 64. (Hadash-Ta’al would hold the other five.)
Were it to run, a putative party led by former prime minister Naftali Bennett would win 23 seats to Likud’s 24, the survey shows, taking much of its support from National Unity.
Were Likud’s former defense minister Yoav Gallant to set up a party and run, it would win 8 seats, the survey says, taking its support from several parties, but not Likud, which would win 26 seats. Gallant was fired two weeks ago by Netanyahu and has indicated no desire to set up his own party.
Asked whether they favor Netanyahu’s reported intention to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miari, 43 percent of respondents say she should not be fired, while 37% back her ouster.
Asked if they favor a ceasefire in Lebanon, 47% say yes, with 35% saying no.
Asked if they support conscription for all ultra-Orthodox males, 54% say yes, while 37% back a negotiated compromise with the ultra-Orthodox parties on the issue.
The poll was conducted by Mano Geva and Midgam. Channel 12 does not give the margin of error.
No alternative to UNRWA in Gaza besides Israel, agency chief says
The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, its chief tells reporters, repeating calls for countries to resist an Israeli ban on the organization.
Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA commissioner-general, is in Geneva for a strategy meeting with donors, after it was banned by Israel from operating there last month in what he said is one of the darkest moments in the agency’s history.
“I have drawn the attention of the member states that now the clock is ticking…. We have to stop or prevent the implementation of this bill,” he tells reporters, saying there is no alternative to the agency’s services in Gaza besides allowing Israel to take them over.
Israel has worked to blackball the agency after repeated revelations of its ties to Hamas.
Netanyahu says Israel has destroyed all four of Iran’s S-300 batteries
In his speech to the Knesset, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at length about the results of Israel’s two strikes on Iran, in response to ballistic missile and drone attacks in April and in October.
In response to the April attack, Israel destroyed one of the four S-300 air defense batteries around Tehran, he says.
In the second strike in late October, Israel destroyed the remaining three batteries, he says. Israel struck other air defense systems, and Iran’s missile production capabilities, he continues.
He also confirms an Axios report that the Israeli strikes destroyed an active nuclear weapons research facility in the Parchin military complex, outside of Tehran. “There is a certain element of the nuclear program that was damaged in this attack.”
Netanyahu says he has spoken about stopping Iran’s nuclear program recently with both US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump.
Netanyahu also insists he and his team are working “day and night to bring all the hostages back.”
“To this day, we have brought back 154,” he says. “117 alive, and another 37, unfortunately, no longer alive.”
He argues that senior US officials agree that maximum pressure must be applied on Hamas so that it will back off its “unrealistic” demands for a deal.
“We will bring home dozens more hostages, I hope in the near future,” he adds, stopping short of saying all of them will be returned shortly.
Netanyahu says Israel moved up pager attack due to fears it was about to be exposed
Israel decided to activate its pager attack on Hezbollah in September, ahead of time, because it was about to be discovered, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hints strongly in a Knesset speech.
His cabinet initially planned to launch an attack against Hezbollah in October, he says, but had to move up the planning “when our special means was about to be revealed.”
“From the moment I learned that this was about to be revealed, I decided that it was necessary to act immediately,” he claims. “There were those who argued that the US should be informed ahead of time. I argued that the US should not be informed because this could lead to either resistance or a leak, which is the same thing. A leak would have immediately demonstrated the effectiveness of the move. I denied it outright — and we acted.”
Netanyahu says that in the subsequent operations, 70-80 percent of Hezbollah rocket and missile capabilities were destroyed.
He also speaks about his deliberations ahead of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah: “A legitimate argument arose that such an action could lead to the expansion of the campaign.”
“There was a completely legitimate debate, and there was also a second demand,” he continues. “The demand was to update and coordinate this attack with the US. Again, with all due respect to our friends in the US, I rejected it outright.”
He says that the debate over whether to strike Nasrallah continued on his September flight to New York ahead of his speech to the UN.
“Two hours later, I called the defense minister and IDF chief of staff, and said that we had to eliminate the man. When we landed in New York, we convened the [security cabinet]. There was almost an absolute majority. One person argued differently, but the entire cabinet got behind it, and we made the decision, it was carried out — and the rest is known.”
Lebanon reportedly submits written response to US truce proposal
Lebanon has submitted a written response to a US truce proposal, a Lebanese official source and Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed says.
There was no immediate response from the US embassy in Beirut to a Reuters request for comment.
Victim of Hezbollah rocket attack on Shfar’am named as Safaa Qaat Awad
The woman killed in tonight’s Hezbollah rocket attack in Shfar’am, has been identified as Safaa Qaat Awad, a teacher in the northern Arab town and a mother of four.
مقتل المربية صفاء قط (عواد) جراء سقوط صاروخ على مبنى سكني خلال تواجدها داخل ملجئ في شفاعمرو… pic.twitter.com/QGR3I32boB
— |فرات نصار|פוראת נסאר|FURAT NASSAR (@nassar_furat) November 18, 2024
5 wounded, including one seriously, after Hezbollah missile attack on central Israel, medics say
Medics at the scene of an impact of rocket fragments between Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak in central Israel, November 18, 2024. (Magen David Adom)
Five people are wounded, including one seriously, in the Bnei Brak and Ramat Gan area, following a Hezbollah missile attack on central Israel, medics say.
Magen David Adom says it is taking a 54-year-old woman in serious condition, another person in moderate condition, and three others good condition to Beilinson Hospital.
The victims were all hit by shrapnel, MDA says.
The IDF says one missile was fired from Lebanon in the attack, which was intercepted by air defenses.
Fragments from the interception impacted between the two Tel Aviv suburbs, causing a fire and damage to surrounding buildings and vehicles.
IDF says it shot down drone from Lebanon over northern Israel
The IDF says a drone launched from Lebanon was shot down by air defenses over northern Israel a short while ago.
Sirens sounded in the Haifa area during the incident.
US Senate to consider dead-in-the-water measures to block weapons sales to Israel
The US Senate could vote as soon as Wednesday on legislation that would block arms sales to Israel, backed by lawmakers who say Israel is obstructing aid shipments desperately needed by Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
The “resolutions of disapproval” were filed by Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats. Strong bipartisan support for Israel means the resolutions are not expected to pass, but backers hope they will encourage Israel’s government and President Joe Biden’s administration to do more.
“This war has been conducted almost entirely with American weapons and $18 billion in US taxpayer dollars. Israel has dropped US-provided 2,000-pound bombs into crowded neighborhoods, killed hundreds of civilians to take out a handful of Hamas fighters, and made little effort to distinguish between civilians and combatants,” Sanders says in a statement.
“These actions are immoral and illegal,” he says.
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen on Monday says he supported the joint resolutions of disapproval, as did Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren last week.
US law gives Congress the right to stop major foreign weapons sales by passing resolutions of disapproval. Although no such resolution has both passed Congress and survived a presidential veto, the law requires the Senate to vote if a resolution is filed. Such resolutions have at times led to angry debates, embarrassing to past presidents.
US warns Turkey not to host Hamas leaders after they fled Doha to Ankara
The US warns Turkey against hosting Hamas leaders, after an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel over the weekend that the terror group’s senior officials based in Doha fled last week to Ankara.
Turkey has not denied that Hamas officials are now in the country, but has insisted that it is not opening an office for them.
The US says it asked Qatar to oust Hamas leaders, arguing that the terror group has refused to substantively engage in negotiations for months.
Qatar has denied taking this step due to US pressure, but has admitted to halting its mediating role.
Asked during a press briefing about The Times of Israel’s reporting on Hamas officials moving to Turkey, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says Washington does not “believe the leaders of a vicious terrorist organization should be living comfortably anywhere,” including NATO allies such as Turkey.
Miller notes that some Hamas officials, such as Khaled Meshaal, are under US indictment and should be turned over to the United States.
“We will make clear to the government of Turkey, as we have made clear to every country in the world, that there can be no more business as usual with Hamas,” he adds.
Medics responding to reports of Hezbollah rocket impact in Ramat Gan
Medics are responding to reports of a rocket impact in the Ramat Gan area following a Hezbollah attack from Lebanon.
Footage shows a large fire in the area.
There are no immediate reports of injuries.
There are reports of a rocket impact in the Ramat Gan area. pic.twitter.com/ShGuiLj3xu
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 18, 2024
The IDF says one missile launched from Lebanon at central Israel was intercepted by air defenses.
The impact in the Ramat Gan area was apparently shrapnel, following the interception of the Hezbollah projectile, according to the military.
US says progress made on Israel-Hezbollah deal, as envoy said set to depart for Beirut
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says the Biden administration has made progress toward a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that would see UN Security Council Resolution 1701 fully enforced.
The resolution calls for Hezbollah disarm and to withdraw its forces to north of the Litani River.
Axios also reports that the US special envoy for Lebanon, Amos Hochstein, will depart shortly for Beirut to try and finalize a deal.
Hochstein had reportedly delayed his departure, leading to speculation that a deal was not in the offing.
Sirens triggered in Tel Aviv, central Israel following long-range rocket fire from Lebanon
Sirens are sounding in central Israel following long-range rocket fire from Lebanon.
The alerts are activated in Tel Aviv and surrounding towns.
US says Netanyahu directed Katz to ensure 350 trucks of aid enter Gaza each day
Palestinians, including children, wait to receive food distributed by an aid organization in Deir Al Balah, Gaza, on November 18, 2024. (Hassan Jedi/ Anadolu/ Reuters)
The Israeli security cabinet voted last week to increase the amount of aid entering Gaza to 250 trucks per day, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller reveals during a press briefing.
The US sent Israel a letter demanding a series of steps to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, warning that failure to adopt those measures risks placing Israel out of compliance with US law, which bars the transfer of weapons to countries that block humanitarian aid from civilians.
One of the letter’s demands was for Israel to increase the amount of aid to 350 trucks a day.
While Israel fell short of this and other demands, the US said it had made enough progress in meeting them to maintain compliance with US law. The decision came days after the election of Donald Trump, who would likely have reversed any US decision to withhold weapons from Israel.
Miller says that Netanyahu also instructed Defense Minister Israel Katz to make every effort to ensure that Israel meets the 350 truck benchmark.
Israel has also removed 30 items from its list of “dual-use items” that are banned from entering Gaza, as requested by the US in its letter to Israel, Miller says.
Israel also expanded the Muwasi humanitarian zone by 25%, Miller adds.
The IDF is also implementing a UN plan to prepare for winter, which includes repairing roads, facilitating the entry of winter-specific aid and vaccinations for winter specific diseases, Miller says.
This series of steps are revealed for the first time by the US, apparently because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government wants to avoid criticism from its hardline supporters. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have opposed such measures to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, arguing that aid should be withheld in order to pressure Hamas to release the hostages.
Democrats chief warns PM that public response to firing of AG would dwarf previous anti-gov’t demonstrations
If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tries to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, the public response will dwarf previous anti-government protests, warns The Democrats chief, Yair Golan.
“Be careful, Bibi. You once tried to stage a coup and brought October 7 on all of us. We will no longer pay with our lives because of your personal and criminal entanglements,” Golan tweets.
Southern Israeli municipalities to hold elections tomorrow after nearly year-long delay
Residents of southern Israel will cast their ballots in local elections on Tuesday, the better part of a year after municipal elections were held in rest of the country.
Polls will open at 7:00 a.m. in the Eshkol Regional Council, Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council, Sdot Negev Regional Council, and Sderot, nine months after they were postponed due to the ongoing war in Gaza.
According to the Interior Ministry, 65,335 voters will be eligible to take part in the elections at 15 polling stations within the southern districts, while an additional seven polling stations will be set up across the rest of the country for those displaced by the fighting.
In a statement, the ministry announces that it will “operate a special transportation system for the benefit of the evacuees in the cities of Bat Yam, Ashkelon, Netivot and Gan Yavne.”
Israel’s first nationwide local elections since 2018 had initially been scheduled for October 31, 2023, but were pushed off to January 31, in the wake of Hamas’s devastating attack on southern Israel on October 7. They were delayed a second time, due to the number of reservists still fighting, and were finally held across most of the country in February.
Mothers of Gaza hostages stage protest outside Knesset to pressure gov’t for deal
The Shift 101 silent protest for the hostages outside the Knesset on November 18, 2024. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
A group of hostage mothers dressed in white stand in the middle of a larger circle of women inside the Knesset on Monday afternoon, part of Shift 101, a new protest movement that gathers silently outside government institutions in Jerusalem, aiming to pressure the government to return the hostages home.
“It was not easy because you’re in a vulnerable place and you’re singing your pain, and almost nobody stopped,” says Idit Ohel, whose son, Alon Ohel, was taken captive from the Nova desert rave on October 7, 2023. “You’re thinking, ‘Okay, what do I need to do for them to say something, to say ‘We’re with you,’ or to stop and see it and feel it.”
“I don’t care how you do it,” says Ohel. “Just bring Alon-y home.”
It is the third week of Shift 101, and the first time these quiet activists have entered the Knesset. After standing and quietly singing in a main hallway of the government building, the mothers and activists with them rejoin others sitting in silent protest on Kaplan Street outside the Knesset, all in white on the chilly, November afternoon, some holding white umbrellas, as it begins to drizzle softly.
Niva Wenkert, far left, Shira Albag, Ayelet Levy, Devorah Idan, Orly Gilboa and Idit Ohel at the Shift 101 gathering for the hostages outside the Knesset on November 18, 2024 (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
Ohel and several hostage mothers are present, including Niva Wenkert, mother of hostage Omer Wenkert, Shira Albag, mother of hostage Liri Albag, Ayelet Levy, mother of hostage Naama Levy, Orly Gilboa, mother of hostage Daniella Gilboa, and Devorah Idan, mother of hostage Tsahi Idan.
Shift 101 is not political, says Ohel, but rather all kinds of mothers and women and men who want the 101 remaining hostages to come home.
“We’re saying things in a different way,” adds Ohel. “I think it’s very powerful to be quiet because sometimes when you’re loud, nobody can hear.”
Palestinian reportedly arrested by Israeli security forces after being beaten by settlers in West Bank
A Palestinian truck driver was arrested by Israeli security forces after being assaulted by settlers near the West Bank city of Jericho, the official Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa reports.
Wafa says a group Mohammed Qandeel was beaten by a group of settlers before being detained by the IDF, which prevented the Palestinian Red Crescent from treating him.
Qandeel later told Palestinian media that he was released after 10 hours, but only after being fined roughly $300 for the incident.
No settlers were arrested in the assault, Palestinian media adds.
Asked for comment, the IDF took 12 hours to respond before telling The Times of Israel that the incident was in the Israel Police’s jurisdiction.
The Israel Police have yet to respond to a request for comment.
Mohammed Qandil, a Palestinian man, was driving from Jericho to Ramallah when his car broke down. Ten Israeli settler terrorists attacked him, severely beating him and critically injuring his eye.
When the Israeli army and police arrived, they detained him for 10 hours and… pic.twitter.com/wV9YxyR6h7
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) November 17, 2024
Another barrage of 10 rockets fired at Galilee from Lebanon
Another barrage of 10 rockets was fired from Lebanon at the Western and Upper Galilee a short while ago.
The IDF says the rockets struck open areas.
Hezbollah has launched over 100 rockets at northern Israel today, according to an IDF tally.
Lapid questions Netanyahu’s commitment to free the hostages
Responding to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that he has “left no stone unturned” in his effort to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid tells lawmakers that Netanyahu “is not ready to take the smallest political risk to bring 101 hostages home.”
“Do the government ministers, the members of the cabinet, the prime minister, especially the prime minister, really believe that they have no more sacred, greater duty than to return hostages home?” Lapid asks following a speech by Netanyahu in the Knesset plenum during a so-called 40 signatures debate — which the opposition can call once a month and the prime minister is legally obliged to attend.
“What if a reservist is kidnapped tomorrow? Mr. Prime Minister, will you do everything to get him back? Will he return home or will he end up like Hersh and Carmel and Eden and Yotam and Alon?” Lapid asks, naming Israeli hostages who died in Gaza.
“The reservists can’t trust you. They look at this government, they look at you, Mr. Netanyahu, and they know that there is no one to trust. They are fulfilling their duty, the government is not fulfilling its duty,” he continues, linking the hostage issue to Netanyahu’s support for legislation to maintain draft exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox.
“Actions speak louder than words. If there’s no hostage deal, then you didn’t succeed. If you fired the defense minister to pass a draft evasion law, then the evasion law is more important to you than security.”
Netanyahu says Biden’s counsel throughout the war was repeatedly off mark
Speaking in the Knesset plenum nearly two weeks after the US election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly criticizes the Biden administration’s judgment and policies at major junctions in Israel’s ongoing war against Iran and its proxies.
“The US objected, had reservations, expressed opposition, it did not threaten, it did not apply sanctions, not at that time,” he says. “It expressed reservations and suggested that we not go in on the ground. It said, ‘It can be handled from the air.'” It sent experts. We decided to follow our view and go in, a ground offensive.”
The US, adds Netanyahu, also opposed going into Gaza City, the city’s Shifa Hospital, Khan Younis, and especially Rafah.
Biden officials had publicly urged Israel to calibrate its Rafah offensive to minimize civilian harm.
“President Biden told me that if we go in, we will be alone,” he claims. “He also said that he would stop shipments of important weapons to us. And so he did. A few days later, [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken appeared and repeated the same things and I told him — we will fight with our fingernails.”
The US withheld a single shipment of 2,000-lb bombs, allowing all other weapon transfers to continue.
Netanyahu notes that the US “helped us significantly” at the beginning of the war, and the Biden visited Israel.
The premier criticizes voices in Israel who urged him to heed Washington’s directives, and those who pushed for an end to the war.
Netanyahu criticizes US positions after Iran’s drone and missile attacks on Israel. “Again, we were told by our friend that there is no need to respond. And I said that sitting and not reacting is not acceptable, and we responded.”
The prime minister says that Israel’s response took out air defense batteries and “inflicted real damage on Iran’s ballistic missile production capability.”
On attempts to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon, Netanyahu says that “the important thing is not the piece of paper.”
“In order to ensure security in the north, we have to take systematic action against Hezbollah attacks that could come,” he argues. “This is not only our reaction, but our ability to prevent Hezbollah’s ability to build up its power.”
Netanyahu’s address is interrupted repeatedly by opposition lawmakers and by protesters in the gallery who laid out posters with the faces of hostages held in Gaza. Some are ejected by Knesset security.
Netanyahu says he met with aides and members of security services until 3 a.m. last night to discuss new ways to get hostages home.
Netanyahu says the focus now, after destroying the vast majority of Hamas’s organized military structure, is on harming Hamas’s ability to rule Gaza — a claim he has made for months.
“I asked the IDF to come up with an orderly plan to eradicate the governmental capacity, which is related to the denial of their ability to distribute humanitarian aid,” he says. “We want to ensure that the humanitarian aid is not looted by Hamas and others.”
As he has done repeatedly in recent weeks, Netanyahu blasts the “countless leaks from the cabinet and the negotiating team.”
“The leaks seriously harm the chance of obtaining a deal for the release of hostages, they delay the release of our hostages,” he says.
He denounces leaks that he says help Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah, and says “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
He refers to the ongoing investigation of the alleged theft of IDF intelligence documents and the alleged leak of one of the documents by his former aide Eli Feldstein, who has been in detention for three weeks: “They are destroying the lives of young people.”
He implies that there is a discriminatory focus in what the law enforcement authorities choose to investigate, saying: “I have called time after time for the phenomenon [of leaks from the cabinet and negotiating team] to be investigated. I asked, how can it be that leaks that cause immense damage to the State of Israel are not investigated? … I was told: You need to send a letter. So I sent a letter, setting out a range of terrible, criminal leaks, that do tremendous harm to Israel.”
He continues, “And yet, as of this moment, nobody has been investigated and nobody has been arrested [for those leaks]. Nobody’s life has been ruined,” he says, another implied reference to the ongoing detention of Feldstein. “Everybody understands what’s going on here. Nobody is stupid. The public is not stupid… The people are not stupid.”
Medics declare death of woman critically injured by Hezbollah rocket that hit Shfar’am building
Medics say they have declared the death of a woman who was critically injured by a rocket impact in Shfar’am.
At least five others were wounded when the rocket launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon struck a three-story building in the northern Arab town.
According to the IDF, five rockets were launched in the attack.
A video shows the moment a Hezbollah rocket impacted in the northern Arab town of Shfar'am, wounding at least six people, including a woman in critical condition.
Additional footage shows the aftermath of the impact. https://t.co/kQKhhYdZON pic.twitter.com/zP5PsDmqxJ
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 18, 2024
The Magen David Adom emergency service says the woman killed was in her 50s and was inside a “protected space” at the time of the attack.
It is unclear if MDA is referring to a bomb shelter, known as a Mamad, or some other kind of protected area in the building.
White House condemns ‘sickening’ march of neo-Nazis in Ohio
The White House condemns a “sickening” march of neo-Nazis that took place in Columbus, Ohio, over the weekend.
“Hate directed against any of us is a threat to every single one of us. This sickening display comes during a tragic rise in antisemitic rhetoric and violence that is a crisis the American people should all come together against. That is why President Biden launched and continues to act on the first ever national strategy to fight antisemitism in American history,” says White House spokesperson Andrew Bates.
This is *not* normal and *not* ok. Minutes from where my parents and sister live in the Short North. Columbus, OH. We must call it out loudly, wherever and whenever we see or hear it. Hate has no home here. Now or ever. pic.twitter.com/7yqFM9p9I7
— Beryl Brown Piccolantonio (@BerylBrownPic) November 17, 2024
Rescue workers extract woman in critical condition from Shfar’am building hit by Hezbollah rocket
The Fire and Rescue Service says it has extracted a woman in critical condition from a three-story building that was hit by a Hezbollah rocket in the northern town of Shfar’am.
She was handed over to medics for treatment. Another five people wounded in the rocket strike are lightly hurt, according to first responders.
Netanyahu: Israel will reevaluate its ability to act against Iran’s nuclear program once Trump takes office
Israel’s ability to act against Iran’s nuclear program “will be reevaluated” together with the White House once Donald Trump takes office in January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
He tells the group that Israel’s decision to refrain from attacking “certain targets” in Iran in response to ballistic missile attacks was not made because of an American ultimatum, according to the Knesset readout of the meeting.
Netanyahu tells the lawmakers that efforts to reach a hostage deal with Hamas are still taking place.
Netanyahu says Israel is still looking to close deals to release a small number of hostages, and that Israel is offering money and safe passage for Gaza who release hostages they are holding.
He tells the lawmakers that Hamas continues to insist that the IDF withdraw fully and that Hamas remain the ruler of the Gaza Strip, and that he will not accept those terms.
Netanyahu notes that Israel has made significant progress in destroying Hamas’s military, but only “partial progress” in destroying its ruling capacity, especially the distribution of humanitarian aid.
Six wounded after Lebanon rocket strikes building in northern Arab town of Shfar’am
At least six people are wounded when a rocket from Lebanon strikes the northern Arab town of Shfar’am, according to medics.
Magen David Adom says it is treating five victims who are conscious, and there is a woman trapped in the building that was hit. First responders say she is seriously wounded.
Medics are responding to reports of a rocket impact in the northern town of Shfar'am, following a barrage launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/uhKsrjS29v
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 18, 2024
According to the IDF, five rockets were launched from Lebanon in the latest attack on the Galilee.
Interceptor missiles were launched to counter the attack, and several impacts were identified, the military says.
Netanyahu says Israel’s retaliatory strike on Iran hit component of its nuke program
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel’s retaliatory attack on Iran last month degraded its defense and missile production capabilities and also hit an element of its nuclear program.
“It’s not a secret, it has been published,” Netanyahu says in a Knesset speech. “There is a specific component in their nuclear program that was hit in this attack.”
However, Netanyahu adds that Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon has not been blocked. Iran nuclear “program itself, its capacity to act here, has not yet been thwarted. We’ve delayed it… but it has progressed” over the past few years. Iran has “advanced its enrichment; it still has a long way to go in other areas.” The imperative to stop Iran’s march to the bomb “is on us.”
He says he has discussed this with both President Biden and, recently, with President-elect Trump.
Israel’s April strike on Iran, he says, took out one of four Russian-supplied S-300 surface-to-air missile defense batteries around Tehran.
In October, he says, Israel destroyed the remaining three batteries and caused serious damage to Iran’s ballistic missile production capabilities and its ability to produce solid fuel, which is used in long-range ballistic missiles.
Last week, the Axios news site revealed that Israel destroyed an active nuclear weapons research facility in Parchin during last month’s attack on Iran.
Smotrich calls for reoccupying northern Gaza in order to free hostages
In order to free the hostages, Israel needs to reoccupy northern Gaza, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich tells reporters in the Knesset ahead of his far right Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting.
“In order to return the hostages, we need to occupy the entire northern Gaza Strip, and inform Hamas unequivocally that if the hostages are not returned, we will apply Israeli sovereignty there and remain forever,” Smotrich says, maintaining that this threat will give Hamas the motivation to keep the hostages alive.
He says any hostage deal that includes Israel agreeing to end the war will amount to a surrender to Hamas.
Smotrich calls on AG to resign, accusing her of ignoring incitement against PM, blocking government policy
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls on the attorney general to resign, accusing her of failing to respect Israeli democracy.
Addressing reporters ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Smotrich says that Gali Baharav-Miara “stands by and does nothing” in the face of incitement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, instead “encouraging the same attacks and expressions of hatred.”
“Instead of respecting Israeli democracy and the will of the public and its elected officials, and allowing the implementation of the government’s policy in accordance with the law,” Baharav-Miara on Sunday evening opposed a government effort to force the retirement of ministerial legal advisers who have served for more than seven years.
Baharav-Miara’s objections were rooted in the desire “only to protect her friends and squeeze millions into their pockets at the expense of the citizens of Israel,” Smotrich says.
Biden administration sanctions key settlement organization Amana
People at the Evyatar outpost in the West Bank, June 22, 2023. (Flash90)
The Biden administration has sanctioned Amana, the settlement movement’s main development organization.
While the impact of the move was likely blunted by this month’s election of Donald Trump, who may well reverse such sanctions, it still sends a signal to other Western countries that have followed the US in imposing similar sanctions against Israeli extremists in the West Bank for the past year.
Amana has maintained ties with individuals and outposts that have already been sanctioned by the US for perpetrating violence in the West Bank, the Treasury Department says in its announcement.
The Biden administration considered targeting Amana for months, given that barring American companies from any financial interaction with the organization could severely hamper the settler development arm’s ability to operate. In recent months, settler leaders had been lobbying the Israeli government to try and thwart the move.
An Amana subsidiary, Binyanei Bar Amana, along with a smaller outpost construction firm, Eyal Harei Yehuda, were also designated by the Treasury Department, together with three individuals.
In total, 17 individuals and 16 entities have been sanctioned through an executive order signed by US President Joe Biden last February, which allowed the US to target those destabilizing the West Bank amid mounting frustration over Israel’s failure to crack down on settler violence.
Report: US envoy holds off on traveling to Beirut, blunting optimism about potential ceasefire
After optimistic reports in recent days about progress toward a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, US special envoy Amos Hochstein tells Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri that he will not be coming to Beirut tomorrow, Axios reports.
Hochstein will delay his trip until receives “more clarifications” regarding Lebanon’s positions, says Axios, citing US officials.
Earlier today, a diplomatic official told The Times of Israel that no final decision had been made regarding the trip, and that the decision would be made based on progress in the talks.
IDF says it intercepted two drones from Lebanon over Western Galilee
Two drones launched at Israel from Lebanon were intercepted by the Israeli Air Force over the Western Galilee a short while ago, the IDF says.
There are no reports of injuries.
Netanyahu to speak at the Knesset, his office says
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak in the Knesset shortly before 6 p.m., his office says.
Netanyahu’s address will come during a so-called 40 signatures debate — which the opposition can call once a month and the prime minister is legally obliged to attend.
Lapid says Netanyahu government encouraging draft evasion and civil uprising
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is encouraging “draft evasion and civil uprising” by supporting legislation to maintain the widespread exemption of Haredi yeshiva students from military service, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid tells reporters ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.
“When demonstrators in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem shout ‘We will die rather than enlist’ while IDF soldiers die every day, it is a civil uprising,” Lapid asserts.
Anyone praising the avoidance of military service on religious grounds is desecrating God’s name, says Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman ahead of his faction meeting.
Liberman slams Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, the head of the Slabodka Yeshiva in Bnei Brak and a leading ultra-Orthodox rabbi, for claiming that draft evasion is a “mitzvah.”
Desperate for cash, Gazans sell clothes plucked from rubble
Moein Abu Odeh clambers up a pile of rubble in southern Gaza, searching for clothes, shoes, anything he can sell to raise cash more than a year into the Israel-Hamas war, which began with the terror group’s brutal October 2, 2023, attack.
The father of four delves under blocks and brushed away piles of concrete dust at the site of one airstrike in the southern city of Khan Younis. His plan was to sell what he found to buy flour.
“If food and drink were available, believe me, I would give (these clothes) to charity,” he says. “But the struggles we are going through (mean we) have to sell our clothes to eat and drink.”
Widespread shortages have generated a trade in old clothing, much of it salvaged from the homes of people who have died in the conflict.
At one makeshift market, shoes, shirts, sweaters and sneakers are laid out on dusty blankets.
A girl tries on a single worn-out boot, which could come in handy this winter if she can afford it in Gaza’s ruined economy.
A trader gets an edge on his competitors by shouting out that his wares were European.
One man laughs as he got a young boy to try on a green jacket.
“We get clothing from a man whose house was destroyed. He was digging in the concrete to get some (clothing) and we buy them like this and sell them at a good price,” displaced Palestinian Louay Abdel-Rahman says.
He and his family have arrived in the city from another part of Gaza with only the clothes they were wearing. So he also keeps some back for them. “The seasons have changed from summer to winter and we need clothing,” he says.
“All our children only have short-sleeve clothing and nobody is helping them,” Saeed Doula, a father of seven, says. “The war is all-encompassing.”
Hezbollah says 4 members killed in IDF airstrike yesterday that targeted its media chief
Hezbollah in a rare acknowledgement says four members were killed in yesterday’s Israeli airstrike on Beirut targeting Mohammad Afif, the head of the terror group’s media relations.
The four, named as Musa Haidar, Mahmoud al-Sharqawi, Hilal Termos, and Hussein Ramadan, were killed alongside Afif in the strike on the offices of the Syrian Ba’ath Party in central Beirut, according to Hezbollah.
They were all members of Hezbollah’s media relations department, which Afif headed.
Hezbollah on its official channels largely stopped updating on members slain in Israeli strikes since Israel began a new offensive against the terror group in September.
Officially, the terror group has named 521 members killed by Israel amid the fighting. The IDF estimates this number to be around 3,000.
Ben Gvir alleges AG is in fishing expedition against him
National Security Itamar Ben Gvir attends a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 13, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir accuses Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of engaging in a fishing expedition, searching for a legal pretext to take action against him.
Addressing reporters ahead of his far right Otzma Yehudit party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Ben Gvir claims that a whistleblower had informed him of a “completely criminal” incident in which Baharav-Miara sent one of her deputies to the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 serious crimes unit asking to “open a criminal investigation against me for the distribution of weapons.”
After being informed “that there was nothing, everything was clean,” the deputy was then allegedly reprimanded by the attorney general, who then “sent another deputy of hers” with instructions to “investigate and find something for me against minister Ben Gvir.”
Baharav-Miara’s office quickly issues a statement asserting Ben Gvir’s claim was invented.
The High Court of Justice last week adopted the position of petitioners that the National Security Ministry under Ben Gvir had issued firearms permits without authority.
Ben Gvir’s allegations, for which he did not provide proof, come only days after Baharav-Miara told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he must reevaluate Ben Gvir’s tenure, in light of the latter’s repeated and ongoing intervention into operational police matters and his politicization of police promotions.
The two have clashed repeatedly over Ben Gvir’s handling of the police, with the attorney general declaring a promotion by the far-right minister “illegal” and ordering the police commissioner to halt the dismissal of the force’s top legal adviser.
Addressing reporters shortly before Ben Gvir, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid stated that firing Baharav-Mirara would “bring the issue of the prime minister’s recusal back to the table.”
If Netanyahu fires Baharav-Mirara, it could violate the premier’s conflict of interest arrangement, drafted in 2020 by then-attorney general Avichai Mandelblit. The High Court had ordered Netanyahu to sign off on the arrangement so he could continue to serve as prime minister while on criminal trial for fraud, bribery and breach of trust.
PM says he won’t back deal that ends war with IDF leaving Gaza ‘so Hamas can return to power’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 13, 2024. (Chaim Goldbergl/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that “the only thing that Hamas wants is a deal that ends the war and for the IDF to leave the Strip in order to return to power,” according to Israel National News. “I am not ready to allow that under any circumstance.”
He continues to insist that Hamas “sees the pressure on Israel” and therefore believes that it can hold out for a better deal, according to the report.
The security establishment has warned that such a positions is a likely death sentence for the hostages.
Netanyahu says he gave instructions that by Thursday he is to have on his desk a plan for replacing Hamas in the distribution of humanitarian aid, says the outlet.
“We’ve struck Hamas militarily, but we haven’t harmed their ruling capabilities enough,” says Netanyahu according to Channel 12.
Members of the committee tell the outlet that Netanyahu that does not believe that an agreement in Lebanon will be effective, and therefore Israel is insisting on freedom of action against Hezbollah, according to Channel 12. Netanyahu tells the lawmakers that those demands are not being supported by the mediating countries, according to the report.
IDF: Barrage of 40 rockets fired from Lebanon at Western Galilee; no immediate injury reports
A barrage of some 40 rockets was fired from Lebanon at the Western Galilee a short while ago.
The military says interceptor missiles were launched to counter the attack, but there were several impacts.
There are no immediate reports of injuries.
Hezbollah has launched some 100 rockets at northern Israel today, according to an IDF tally.
Some 60 rockets fired into Israel from Lebanon so far today
Hezbollah has fired some 60 rockets from Lebanon that crossed into northern Israel today so far, according to an IDF tally.
Two people were lightly hurt in the Western Galilee, and damage was caused to a building in Kiryat Shmona and a chicken coop in Margaliot.
Official says US Lebanon envoy will only come to region if progress made in ceasefire talks
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (R) meets with US special envoy Amos Hochstein (L) in Beirut, on October 21, 2024. (AFP)
As of last night, no final decision had been made on US special envoy Amos Hochstein coming to the region, a diplomatic official tells The Times of Israel.
The decision will be made based on progress in negotiations over a ceasefire in Lebanon, says the official.
The comments come amid reports in Lebanon that Hochstein was due in Beirut on Tuesday amid progress in the efforts.
Troops foil West Bank car-ramming attack
The IDF says troops foiled an attempted car-ramming attack in the southern West Bank this morning.
According to the military, a Palestinian woman accelerated her car toward soldiers near the village of at-Tuwani.
The troops opened fire, “neutralizing” the alleged assailant, the IDF says, adding that she is being taken for further questioning.
No soldiers were hurt in the incident.
FM Sa’ar slams Amsterdam mayor for backtracking on use of word ‘pogrom’ to describe antisemitic violence
Mayor of Amsterdam Femke Halsema (L) is about to speak during an emergency meeting of the Amsterdam City Council on November 12, 2024, days after the Dutch capital was rocked by violent antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans. (Photo by Nick Gammon / AFP)
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar blasts Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema for saying on a panel that she regrets using the word “pogrom” to describe violence against Israeli soccer fans earlier this month.
“The statement made by the Mayor of Amsterdam is utterly unacceptable,” writes Sa’ar on X. “The failure that occurred on that night must not be compounded by a further grave failure: a cover-up.”
“Hundreds of Israeli fans who came to watch a football match were pursued and attacked, targeted by a mob asking for their passports to check if they were citizens of the Jewish state,” says Sa’ar. “There is no other word for this than a pogrom.”
The day after the game between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv, Halsema said in a press conference that “boys on scooters crisscrossed the city looking for Israeli football fans. It was a hit-and-run. I understand very well that this brings back the memory of pogroms.”
Yesterday, she accused Israel of using the word as “propaganda.”
“I have seen how the word ‘pogrom’ became very political, propaganda, in fact,” she said. “The Israeli government speaks of a Palestinian pogrom on the streets of Amsterdam, Dutch politicians use the word ‘pogrom’ to discriminate against Moroccan residents, Muslims. That is not what I meant and that is not what I wanted.”
“The application of the term ‘pogrom’ was not an Israeli invention,” Sa’ar fires back. It was used by Dutch politicians who recognized the severity and antisemitic nature of the incident.”
“We will never again accept the persecution of Jews on the soil of Europe or anywhere else!”
Large food convoy violently looted in Gaza, UNRWA says
Trucks loaded with aid drive down the Salaheddin road in the central town of Deir el-Balah in the Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024. (Eyad Baba/AFP)
A convoy of 109 trucks was violently looted on Nov. 16 after crossing into Gaza, resulting in the loss of 98 trucks, an UNRWA aid official tells Reuters.
The convoy carrying food provided by UN agencies UNRWA and the World Food Program was instructed by Israel to depart at short notice via an unfamiliar route from Kerem Shalom crossing, Louise Wateridge, UNRWA senior emergency officer tells Reuters.
“This incident highlights the severity of access challenges of bringing aid into southern and central Gaza,” she said.
She does not specify who looted the convoy.
Man lightly wounded in rocket strike in north
A 34-year-old man was lightly wounded by the blast of a rocket impact in northern Israel in the latest Hezbollah barrage, medics say.
Magen David Adom says the man is being taken to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
Netanyahu aide jailed in leaks case placed under suicide watch
Eli Feldstein, a spokesman in the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is the main suspect in an investigation launched in late October 2024 of alleged illegal access and leaking of classified intelligence material. (Kan screenshot, used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)
Eli Feldstein, a former spokesman and aide to Prime Minister Netanyahu and a central suspect in the Prime Minister’s Office leaks affair, has been put under suicide prevention watch in prison, the Prison Service and Hebrew media report.
“Wardens found something in the cell of a security prisoner held in a jail in the south that necessitated, in accordance with the instructions of the prison commander, his immediate transfer to a cell where he could be monitored to prevent a suicide,” the service says in a statement without naming the prisoner.
Hebrew media identify Feldstein.
The reports initially said that a noose had been found in his cell, but later clarified that Feldstein appeared to have taken a rubber frame off the window of the cell, sparking fears he could use it to harm himself.
Yesterday, the State Attorney’s Office informed the court that it intends to prosecute Feldstein and another key suspect over the affair.
Feldstein and the other suspect, whose name has not been released for publication, are suspected of transferring classified information to harm the state, collecting classified material to harm the state, and conspiracy to commit a crime, among other charges.
He is suspected of leaking a classified document to the German newspaper Bild in order to change the public discourse over the fate of the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza; have Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar blamed for the impasse in hostage release negotiations; and imply that protests demanding the release the hostages were playing into Hamas’s hands.
Canada said to foil Iranian plot to assassinate renowned Jewish jurist Irwin Cotler
Former Canadian justice minister and human rights advocate Irwin Cotler, seen in Jerusalem in early 2023. (Jeremy Sharon/Times of Israel)
Canadian authorities have foiled an Iranian attempt to assassinate renowned Jewish jurist Irwin Cotler, a former Canadian justice minister and attorney general, the Globe and Mail reports.
Citing an anonymous source, the report says Cotler was informed in late October that he faced imminent threat of assassination within 48 hours from Iranian agents.
The source said Royal Canadian Mounted Police had been tracking two suspects, but could not say if they had been detained or had left the country.
The source tells the paper that Cotler was informed last week that the threat had now been significantly lowered, without giving further details.
Cotler is recognized as an expert on matters of free speech, freedom of religion, minority rights, peace law and war crimes justice. He has close ties to Israel.
According to the report, Cotler has been under 24/7 RCMP protection since the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
The measures include armed guards and armored vehicles.
The report notes that Cotler has raised the ire of the regime in Tehran since 2008 over his efforts to have the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared a terrorist organization.
The report also says that the threats could be linked to a Tehran plot to kidnap and assassinate an Iranian-American journalist in New York. Cotler was told by the FBI that his name came up in its probe, the report says.
Troops find and destroy dozens of Hezbollah rockets and launchers
A rocket launching site found by troops of the 226th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade in southern Lebanon, in a handout image released on November 18, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Dozens of Hezbollah launchers and rockets were located and destroyed by reservists of the 226th Paratroopers Brigade during recent operations in southern Lebanon, the IDF says.
The military says the reserve brigade has been operating in an area from which Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets at Israel in the past year.
The troops located several multiple-rocket launchers and mortar positions, along with caches of rockets and other equipment.
A rocket launching site found by troops of the 226th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade in southern Lebanon, in a handout image released on November 18, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
They also located a tunnel system dug into a mountain in the area. Inside the tunnel, the troops found weapons, equipment, and food used by Hezbollah operatives, according to the IDF.
IDF holds conference for ultra-Orthodox reservists set to be sent to new Haredi brigade
Ultra-Orthodox draftees and soldiers attended a conference for the new Hasmonean Brigade, at the Glilot Base near Tel Aviv, November 17, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF last night held a conference for members of the ultra-Orthodox community who are set to be drafted into the army’s new Haredi brigade, known as Hasmonean Brigade, as reservists.
The military says it is establishing a reserve company in the new brigade, made up of those who already completed the so-called Shlav Bet track, in which older people are put through two weeks of basic training before being sent to serve in noncombat roles.
The reservists will now undergo an additional six-month combat training period, before being sent to Hasmonean Brigade’s reserve company, according to the IDF.
Some 200 Haredi men participated in the conference last night, where the IDF says they were told that the brigade will “have an ultra-Orthodox character, in which the ultra-Orthodox soldiers will receive all the necessary conditions to maintain their lifestyle.”
The men met with the head of the IDF Training Command, Maj. Gen. David Zini, and the current head of the brigade, Col. Avinoam Emunah — both of whom are Orthodox.
The military says that the wives of some of the draftees met separately with Zini’s wife for “an open conversation about their feelings” and what the military provides to the families of soldiers.
According to the IDF, so far the military has completed drafting the staff for Hasmonean Brigade as well as establishing infrastructure for the induction of the brigade’s first standing army company next month.
Rothman refuses to allow relatives to play videos of hostages in captivity in Knesset committee meeting
Ofir Angrest (c) brother of hostage Matan Angrest, speaks at a meeting of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in the Knesset in Jerusalem, on November 18, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
MK Simcha Rothman refuses to allow two relatives of captured hostages to play videos of the hostages in captivity during a meeting of the Knesset Law, Justice and Constitution Committee.
Relatives of Hostages Sasha Trufanov and Matan Angrest asked to play videos of their loved ones to the committee, but were refused with Rothman saying that playing any recordings had to be coordinated ahead of time.
“How can I coordinate, this is the only way I have seen my brother,” Ofir Angrest, Matan’s brother, retorts, accusing the government of abandoning the hostages.
“He doesn’t have time, he needs you, why aren’t you fighting for him?” he asks.
“He went to battle knowing he might die. Hamas kidnapped my brother from a tank. Where is the IDF? You have abandoned my brother,” he says.
Matan Angrest was on duty at the Nahal Oz base on the morning of October 7, when some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
His mother revealed that he was seen bruised in a video found inside Gaza by IDF soldiers.
Rothman also refused to allow a video of Trufanov, who is being held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to be played. The terror group has released several propaganda videos of him in recent weeks.
Woman lightly injured by shrapnel in Hezbollah rocket attack
A woman was lightly wounded in the latest rocket barrage from Lebanon on northern Israel, medics say.
Magen David Adom says the 65-year-old woman was hit by shrapnel in the neck, and she is being taken to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
Another person is being treated for acute anxiety, MDA adds.
Iran says it wants nuclear talks without ‘destructive and evil pressures’
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (R) shakes hands with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi before a meeting in Tehran on November 14, 2024. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Iran says it hoped talks on its nuclear program would be conducted “away from political pressure and considerations” ahead of a UN nuclear agency board meeting this week.
“All our efforts and our emphasis in our talks were to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to do its technical work away from the destructive and evil pressures of some parties,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei tells reporters in his weekly press conference.
Agency chief Rafael Grossi traveled on Wednesday to Iran for talks with top officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian.
The visit came ahead of a meeting of the IAEA’s board of governors this week in Vienna, in which the UK, Germany and France are expected to pass a new resolution critical of Iran.
Baghaei expressed hopes that the parties would “allow the issues between Iran and the agency to continue in a technical way and away from political pressures and considerations.”
He hailed Grossi’s visit as “beneficial and positive,” saying it brought “good understandings” between Tehran and the agency.
A 2015 deal between Iran and world powers granted it relief from sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. But the accord collapsed and sanctions were reinstated following the United States’ unilateral withdrawal in 2018 under Donald Trump.
Iran in response rolled back its commitments under the deal, ramping up the enrichment levels to 60 percent, just below the required levels to produce a nuclear bomb.
Turkish official denies that Hamas leaders booted from Qatar have moved there, says they’re just visiting
Senior Hamas official Khaled Meshaal (L) and Ziyad al-Nakhalah, (C) Secretary-General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, during the funeral of the slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, in the Qatari capital Doha on August 2, 2024. (Mahmud Hams / AFP)
Reports that Palestinian terror group Hamas’s office has moved to Turkey do not reflect the truth, a Turkish diplomatic source says, adding members of the group visited the country from time to time.
Doha said last week it had told Hamas and Israel it will halt its efforts to mediate a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal until they show willingness and seriousness.
Turkey has fiercely criticized Israel over its offensives in Gaza and in Lebanon and does not deem Hamas a terrorist organization. Some Hamas political officials regularly visit Turkey.
The denials come after an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel yesterday that senior members of Hamas’s abroad leadership left Qatar last week for Turkey.
The Arab diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, downplayed the significance of the move for the terror group, stressing that Hamas’s leadership abroad already spends much of its time in Turkey when they are not holding meetings in Qatar.
High Court hears petition on Daycare Bill linked to ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers
An ultra-Orthodox Jew with a sign saying 'We'd rather die than get drafted,' at a protest in Bnei Brak, November 17, 2024. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)
The High Court of Justice is hearing petitions against Labor Minister Yoav Ben Tzur’s refusal to publish funding criteria for child daycare subsidies for this school year, in protest of the attorney general’s instructions that the ministry cannot grant the subsidy to families in which the father is a full-time ultra-Orthodox yeshiva student who is currently obligated to perform military service, but has not done so.
Ben Tzur’s stance has held up the disbursement of some NIS 200 million to child daycare centers according to Ynet, causing severe problems for the organizations running the daycare centers and families that need the subsidy to send their children there.
At the same time, the court is also hearing a petition by the Emet L’Yaakov organization which argues that the attorney general’s position is harming the welfare of ultra-Orthodox working mothers and their children.
The legal motions follow a High Court ruling in June this year that after the law for ultra-Orthodox military service exemptions for yeshiva students expired at the end of June 2023 there was no legal framework for such exemptions and that such men were required to perform military service, and that financial support for such students was also illegal by extension.
In court, Justice Ofer Grosskopf challenges the position of Emet L’Yaakov, saying the state could not obligate people to perform military service with one hand and with the other give them subsidies to help them avoid performing military service.
Zalman Black, an attorney representing Emet L’Yaakov, argues however that there is no direct connection between the issue of enlistment and the issue of the daycare subsidies, and that therefore the attorney general’s instructions not to fund daycare subsidies for the children of Haredi men who have not performed military service was illegitimate.
Attorney Adiah Shinvald representing the Berl Katznelson Foundation, one of the petitioners against Ben Tzur, insists that the minister cannot refuse to publish the funding criteria due to his argument with the attorney general.
“The ministry, due to funding arguments, is holding up the subsidy for 70,000 toddlers. This is an entire community of people who really need the subsidy and are being used as a negotiating chip,” says Shinvald.
30 rockets fired at northern Israel from Lebanon, no injuries
A barrage of some 30 rockets was fired from Lebanon at the Western Galilee a short while ago.
According to the IDF, some of the rockets were intercepted and the rest hit open areas.
There are no reports of injuries or major damage.
יירוטים מהעיר נהריה. pic.twitter.com/7R07tUoINe
— מה חדש. What's new❓ (@Gloz111) November 18, 2024
‘His blood is on her head’: Large banner over Tel Aviv highway says AG responsible if anything happens to Netanyahu
A large banner is placed overlooking the highway in Tel Aviv holding Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara responsible if anything should happen to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The sign bears pictures of Netanyahu and Gali Baharav-Miara and reads “His blood (God forbid) is on her head.”
The banner is paid for by Noam, a far-right, one-man party in the coalition known for its homophobic, misogynist and anti-pluralist positions.
The banner is the latest in a series of moves by members of the government against Baharav-Miara that have been condemned as incitement.
בין לה-גרדיה למחלף השלום, כרזה של מפלגת אבי מעוז (המטומטמים טעו במיקום התמונות). אם זו לא הסתה לרצח אני לא יודע מה כן pic.twitter.com/CqXQjKzv3v
— Hai Tsabar (@HTsabar) November 18, 2024
Yesterday, in an incendiary post on X, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi called for her to be fired while invoking principles of Jewish law associated with attempted murder to justify his position.
It comes following an incident in which flares were fired at Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea on Saturday night, with Baharav-Miara accused of failing to tackle violence and incitement from anti-government protesters.
Dutch FM says EU needs to continue dialogue with Israel as Borrell pushes to limit ties
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks to the press ahead of a Foreign Affairs Council at the EU headquarters in Brussels on November 18, 2024. (Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP)
The European Union needs to continue its diplomatic dialogue with Israel amid tensions in the Middle East, Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp says, disagreeing with the EU’s top diplomat who proposed to pause the dialogue with the country.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell last week proposed that the bloc suspend its political dialogue with Israel, citing possible human rights violations in the war in Gaza, according to four diplomats and a letter seen by Reuters.
Borrell says the move is necessary to pressure Israel.
Hostage supporters protest outside Netanyahu residence: ‘They won’t survive another winter’
Families and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, hold photos of their loved ones during a protest calling for their release outside the prime minister's house in Jerusalem, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Dozens of family members of hostages and their supporters protest outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, calling on him to reach a deal to free the captives held by Hamas in Gaza.
They warn that a deal is even more urgent with winter approaching.
“The hostages won’t survive the freezing cold in the tunnels of Gaza,” the organizers say in a statement.
“While Netanyahu and his team are busy trying to skew public opinion, 101 hostages are dying in impossible conditions.”
US envoy Hochstein will be in Beirut on Tuesday amid ceasefire push
US Special envoy Amos Hochstein, center, gives a statement to the media after his meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
US envoy Amos Hochstein will travel to the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday for talks on a ceasefire between the Hezbollah terror group and Israel, a Lebanese political source tells Reuters.
Lebanese media outlet Voice of Lebanon also reported the visit, quoting Lebanese member of parliament Kassem Hashem. The US has submitted a new truce proposal to the Lebanese state in the hopes of putting a halt to more than a year of fighting.
News of Hochstein’s visit follows reports in Lebanese media that a positive response to the ceasefire proposal had been submitted.
The New York Times reported over the weekend that Hezbollah’s Iranian backers had sent messages to the group saying that they supported an end to war.
Man killed in car explosion in Petah Tikva
One man was killed and another wounded in an explosion in a vehicle in the central city of Petah Tikva, police say.
Police say sappers are on the scene and investigating the cause of the blast.
Jordan confirms ‘flying object’ hit Aqaba area amid interceptor malfunction
View of the Jordanian city of Aqaba, as seen from the Israeli city of Eilat. November 10, 2019. (Moshe Shai/FLASH90)
Jordan’s military confirms that a “flying object” impacted near the border with Israel in the Aqaba area, the kingdom’s state-run Petra news agency reports.
The report appears to confirm footage showing an errant Israeli interceptor missile hitting near the city, which abuts the Israeli Red Sea city of Eilat. The interceptor was fired overnight to thwart a drone approaching the city, according to the Israeli military, which says the UAV was downed by another interceptor.
According to Petra, there were no serious injuries or damage due to the missile hitting near the city.
Sappers were called to the scene of the impact and curious onlookers were asked to keep their distance from the shell.
Errant Israeli interceptor appears to hit Jordan’s Aqaba
Videos shared online from Jordan show a malfunctioning interceptor missile apparently hitting the kingdom’s Red Sea city of Aqaba, which nearly abuts Eilat.
In the videos, the interceptor appears to land near the Ayla inlet, a luxury development just a few hundred meters from the border with Israel.
Two explosions are heard, one seemingly triggered as part of the missile’s apparatus aimed at destroying enemy projectiles, and a second one from the missile impacting wth the ground.
⚡️ An Israeli interceptor missile penetrates Jordanian airspace and hits Aila inside the Jordanian city of Aqaba. pic.twitter.com/jB7A4wzCLL
— The Global Monitor (@theglobalmonit) November 17, 2024
There has been no comment from Jordanian authorities overnight.
The army said earlier that an interceptor fired at a drone approaching the Eilat area from Iraq malfunctioned and fell in the Eilat area.
🇮🇱🇯🇴 The Israeli Iron Dome interceptor, which failed after attempting to intercept an Iraqi drone over Eilat, fell in the Aqaba area in Jordan!!#WWIII #Israel #iranattack #Jordan #droneattack pic.twitter.com/u9OIG5ZDTD
— THE SQUADRON (@THE_SQUADR0N) November 18, 2024
Incoming majority leader says Senate will sanction ICC unless case against Israelis dropped
Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Senator John Thune says the US must pass legislation threatening the International Criminal Court with sanctions if it seeks arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others.
“If the ICC and its prosecutor do not reverse their outrageous and unlawful actions to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli officials, the Senate should immediately pass sanctions legislation, as the House has already done on a bipartisan basis,” tweets Thune, who will become the majority leader of the Senate in early January when Republicans officially take over Congress.
If the ICC and its prosecutor do not reverse their outrageous and unlawful actions to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli officials, the Senate should immediately pass sanctions legislation, as the House has already done on a bipartisan basis. If Majority Leader Schumer does…
— Senator John Thune (@SenJohnThune) November 17, 2024
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has asked a pre-trial panel at the Hague to approve his request for arrest warrants against Netanyahu, former defense minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas officials who have since been killed by Israel. Khan alleges that war crimes may have been committed during fighting in Gaza.
Thune indicates he is happy for current majority leader Chuck Schumer to pursue such legislation sanctioning the ICC, but says if he does not “the Senate Republican majority will stand with our key ally Israel and make this – and other supportive legislation – a top priority in the next Congress.”
Houthi attack reported on ship in southern Red Sea
A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a commercial ship late Sunday night traveling through the southern reaches of the Red Sea, though it caused no damage nor injuries, authorities say.
A ship’s captain saw that “a missile splashed in close proximity to the vessel” as it traveled near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center says in an alert.
The attack happened some 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Yemen’s port city of Mocha.
20241117 – UKMTO WARNING INCIDENT 134 – UPDATE 001https://t.co/ZgjRM6rsdX#MaritimeSecurity #MARSEC pic.twitter.com/9nXKR3r0qq
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) November 17, 2024
“The vessel and crew are safe and proceeding to its next port of call,” the UKMTO adds.
The Houthis do not immediately claim the attack. However, it can take the rebels hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults.
Unsealing secret Hamas papers, families of October 7 victims sue Iran in US court
Vehicles drive past a billboard on a highway in Tehran, Iran, Oct. 7, 2024, showing slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, center, killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, right, and the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike. The billboard contains a verse of Quran that reads: 'We will surely inflict punishment upon the wicked.' (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Families of American victims of the October 7 attacks led by Hamas have filed suit in a US federal court against Iran and an array of linked terror groups, presenting what they say is new proof of Tehran’s involvement in the attack, according to a lawyer representing several plaintiffs.
The suit, which has been seen by The Times of Israel, relies on what attorneys for the plaintiffs say are secret documents uncovered by lawyer Gary Osen showing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps funneling millions of dollars to Hamas.
The complaint also includes a document from a 2022 meeting of senior Hamas members Yahya Sinwar, Khalil al-Hayya and others plotting out the contours of mutual defense agreement between Hamas and other Iran-backed groups should war break out. The paper includes a decision to request Iran send Hamas $7 million monthly “to mobilize and prepare for … confrontations.”
According to the New York Times, the $7 million monthly was sought to ready for the October 7 attack.
Aside from Iran and the IRGC, the suit also names Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
While the documents include references to funding for Hamas from Qatar and Turkey, neither US ally is named in the suit. Also left out are Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who were taken off the US’s terror blacklist by the Biden administration.
Many of the victims in the suit were killed or kidnapped on October 7, though other plaintiffs include families from southern Israel who suffered emotionally during or after the attacks. Families of several soldiers killed in combat are also named.
Among the 37 families of victims in the suit is Yechiel Leiter, who is set to become Israel’s ambassador to the US. Leiter’s son Moshe Leiter was killed in battle in Gaza in late November 2023.
The suit seeks unspecified financial awards for the families under the US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and Anti-Terrorism Act.
US progressive Ocasio-Cortez suggests blaming AIPAC as Democrats lick wounds
Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York speaks during the Democratic National Convention on August 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appears to suggest that pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC was responsible for Democrats’ poor performance in this month’s election, which saw Republican Donald Trump defeat Vice President Kamala Harris and the GOP take control of both the House and Senate.
If people want to talk about members of Congress being overly influenced by a special interest group pushing a wildly unpopular agenda that pushes voters away from Democrats then they should be discussing AIPAC https://t.co/2o22CMMtqw
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 17, 2024
“If people want to talk about members of Congress being overly influenced by a special interest group pushing a wildly unpopular agenda that pushes voters away from Democrats then they should be discussing AIPAC,” the Democrat writes on X.
The comment comes after a senior advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders points a finger at lobbies representing corporate or industrial interests.
The claim from Ocasio-Cortez, a leading member of the party’s progressive flank, comes as the Democrats have entered a period of soul-searching following the drubbing at the polls.
While some have pointed to the Biden Administration’s support for Israel as a factor in driving away some Arab and Muslim voters, most pundits have suggested that the party’s focus on identity politics and embrace of progressive cultural matters rather than economic issues for pushing working class voters into the Trump camp.
AIPAC says it spent $53 million to support 361 pro-Israel candidates from both sides of the political aisle, while helping to defeat 24 anti-Israel candidates. It has recently begun targeting Sanders for his attempts to block arms sales to Israel.
In response to the tweet from Ocasio-Cortez, the lobby snarkily posts screenshots showing vote totals for two fellow members of the progressive anti-Israel “Squad” who were defeated in Democratic primaries by AIPAC-backed challengers.
Fact check on what Democratic voters find popular vs unpopular, @AOC. https://t.co/hwCTqBS0SS pic.twitter.com/CQjZIp4Kil
— AIPAC 🇺🇸🇮🇱🎗️ (@AIPAC) November 17, 2024
Lebanon says 11 killed in strikes on Tyre
A photo taken from the southern Lebanese city of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Qlayleh on November 17, 2024. (Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
Lebanon’s health ministry says 11 people were killed and dozens were wounded in Israeli strikes on the Tyre region in the south of the country.
“The raids of the Israeli enemy on villages in the Tyre district have left 11 dead and 48 wounded,” says a ministry statement.
The region is a stronghold of the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Army says interceptor missile crashed into Eilat area
The army says it is investigating after an interceptor missile hit the southern resort city of Eilat area during an attempt to shoot down a drone fired from Iraq.
“A number of interceptors were fired at the target, one of the interceptors fell in the area,” the Israel Defense Forces says.
It adds that there have been no reports of injuries.
Video appeared to show the interceptor missile streaking into the sky over the city before falling back down and appearing to land near a hotel strip near the coast, as terrified onlookers watched.
Notably, no explosion is heard as the missile impacts the ground.
⚡️⭕️ Interceptor missile failure while attempting to intercept a drone in the city of Umm al-Rashrash (Eilat) in southern occupied Palestine pic.twitter.com/lxfsD76Gs7
— Middle East Observer (@ME_Observer_) November 17, 2024
⚡️Incredibly clear footage showing an Israeli interceptor malfunction and fall back down moments ago in Eilat pic.twitter.com/WUf5wdoSKu
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) November 17, 2024
The army said earlier the drone was successfully downed before reaching Israeli territory.
IDF downs drone from Iraq fired toward Eilat
The Israel Defense Forces says it shot down a UAV fired “from the east,” after sirens were activated in the Red Sea resort city of Eilat.
The IDF generally uses “from the east” to denote projectiles launched from Iraq.
The military says the air force downed the drone before it entered Israeli territory.
It does not comment on videos appearing to show a failed interceptor rocket falling in the city.
The United Hatzalah rescue service says it is treating a number of people seeking help for acute anxiety following a drone alert that sounded in Eilat.
The Magen David Adom rescue service says it is also responding to a call related to the attack, but that it does not yet have any details on possible casualties.
The launch is claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iran-backed militia, which claims it targeted a “vital asset” in the Eilat area.
Rocket alerts sound in northern Galilee
Rocket sirens are sounding in Kiryat Shmona and other towns in the Galilee panhandle near the border with Lebanon.
There are no immediate reports of impacts.
Drone alert sounds in Eilat, interceptor appears to fail
The Israel Defense Forces says it is investigating after a drone infiltration alert was triggered in the far southern city of Eilat just after midnight.
According to the Home Front Command, the incident has ended.
Videos from the city shared on social media appear to show an interceptor fired into the sky above the city before crashing back down to earth.
There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
⚡️Seems as though an Israeli interceptor failed and fell back on Eilat pic.twitter.com/6YN9YuBOXK
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) November 17, 2024
⚡️Watch failed interceptor missile diving directly into Eilat center. https://t.co/DfkAEZyykp pic.twitter.com/wPPRVQ42tD
— MenchOsint (@MenchOsint) November 17, 2024
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