Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they happened.
Oman’s deputy envoy to US: ‘Dangerous confusion’ between Judaism and Zionism fuels antisemitism
Oman's deputy ambassador to the US Sabra Ahmed Al-Hooti addresses an event marking Omani National Day in Washington on November 19, 2024. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)
WASHINGTON — In remarks at Oman’s National Day celebration in Washington, Muscat’s deputy ambassador to the US warns against conflating between Zionism and Judaism.
“We must also be mindful of the dangerous confusion between Judaism as a religion and Zionism as a political ideology. This confusion actually fuels antisemitism and undermines efforts for peaceful resolutions to the conflict,” says Sabra Ahmed Al-Hooti.
Successive polling shows, however, that a substantial majority of Jews view Israel as a central part of their Jewish identity.
Oman’s then-sultan hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018 and Muscat has been floated as a potential candidate to join the Abraham Accords. But in 2022 its lower house of parliament voted to expand its Israel boycott law. Still, it opened its airspace to Israeli flights last year.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, Muscat has joined other countries in the region in doubling down in their stance against normalizing relations with Israel before a Palestinian state is established.
The Israel-Palestinian conflict is the first issue mentioned in Al-Hooti’s brief remarks welcoming guests. She reiterates Oman’s call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for the establishment of a Palestinian state before highlighting the past year’s achievements for Muscat domestically and in its relations with the US.
Military says Israelis rescued from Palestinian town after suspected ‘criminal incident’
Following earlier reports, the IDF says that it rescued two Israeli citizens who entered the Palestinian town of Dayr Balut in the West Bank and “were attacked.”
The military says the incident was “likely criminal in nature,” indicating that there was some dispute involved and it was not a nationally motivated terror attack. One of the Israelis was treated at the scene, and they were both transferred to police custody, the IDF adds.
IDF says it shot down drone heading toward Israel ‘from the east’
The IDF says that it shot down in the past hour a drone that was fired at Israel “from the east,” usually indicating it was launched from Iraq.
The drone was shot down before entering Israeli airspace, the military says.
The incident marks the sixth drone that the IDF has shot down throughout the day, it says, after five others were launched from Lebanon. One of them was intercepted over the Western Galilee while the rest were intercepted before entering Israel, the military says.
כלי אחד יורט בשעות הבוקר במרחב הגליל המערבי, יתר הכלים יורטו בטרם חצו לשטח הארץ
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 19, 2024
US admiral says wars in Ukraine, Mideast eating away at US air defense stocks
A Patriot missile mobile launcher is displayed outside the Fort Sill Army Post near Lawton, Oklahoma, on March 21, 2023. (AP/Sean Murphy, File)
Conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are eating away at US stockpiles of air defenses, the top US admiral overseeing American forces in the Asia-Pacific region says.
“With some of the Patriots that have been employed, some of the air-to-air missiles that have been employed, it’s now eating into stocks and to say otherwise would be dishonest,” Adm. Sam Paparo, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, says during an event.
“Inherently, it imposes costs on the readiness of America to respond in the Indo-Pacific region, which is the most stressing theater for the quantity and quality of munitions, because the PRC is the most capable potential adversary in the world,” Paparo says, using an acronym for the People’s Republic of China.
Polls close in war-delayed municipal elections for displaced residents of south
The polls are now closed in southern Israel’s long-delayed municipal elections, which were held nine months after most of the rest of the country held their own already war-delayed votes.
According to the Interior Ministry, only 65 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the Eshkol Regional Council, Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, Sdot Negev Regional Council and city of Sderot.
According to the Interior Ministry, 65,335 voters were eligible to take part in the elections. While ballot counting has already begun, verified results will likely only be released at the end of the week. A second round of voting will be held on December 3 in any location where a candidate fails to garner at least 40% of the vote.
“Despite the ongoing war, the elections were held in an orderly manner and without any unusual events,” Interior Minister Moshe Arbel says in a statement.
The highest turnout was in the Sdot Negev Regional Council and Sderot at 79% and 63.5%, respectively, while only 45.5% of eligible voters cast ballots in the Eshkol Regional Council, where Michal Uziyahu was unilaterally declared the next council head due to the fact that she ran unopposed.
“We’re so preoccupied by so many other things that last night on the [community] WhatsApp group, people were saying, ‘Wait, it’s a day off? There’s elections?'” Adele Raemer, a displaced resident of Kibbutz Nirim, tells The Times of Israel.
“I have every confidence that Eshkol is going to rise up from this thing and be bigger and better and stronger. Communities are intent on coming back and rising up from this. What I need is for the government and the army to be just as intent on helping us get that done,” she says — praising Uziyahu as an able advocate for her region.
Erdogan admits to blocking Herzog’s flight to COP29 from using Turkish airspace
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, shows the way to President Isaac Herzog during a welcome ceremony, in Ankara, Turkey, March 9, 2022. (AP/Burhan Ozbilici)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirms that Turkey had barred President Isaac Herzog from its airspace earlier this week, forcing him to cancel his planned visit to the United Nations COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Herzog’s office announced on Saturday that he would not be attending the conference due to “security considerations.”
During a press conference at the G20 Leaders Summit in Brazil, Erdogan confirms that Herzog was prevented from flying over Turkey in the official Wing of Zion airplane, due to Turkey’s opposition to the war on Hamas in Gaza.
“With regard to the Israeli president going to Azerbaijan for the COP summit, we did not allow him to use our airspace,” Turkish media cites Erdogan as saying in response to a question about Turkish pressure on Israel to end the fighting. “There are other areas, there are other opportunities, we told him to travel from there… but I do not know whether he was able to go or not.”
US: Gaza aid looting impossible to solve without ‘new governance and security authority’
Palestinians loot a humanitarian aid truck as it crosses into the Gaza Strip in Rafah, December 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
WASHINGTON — US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says looting of humanitarian aid convoys in Gaza cannot be fully addressed until a new Palestinian-led governing and security force replaces Hamas in the Strip.
While the US and the international community have pushed for the Palestinian Authority to play this role, the idea has been rejected outright by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has often likened the PA to Hamas.
Netanyahu said earlier this week that he has directed the IDF to come up with new solutions to ensure the safe distribution of aid, though Israeli officials have told The Times of Israel over the past year that the security establishment also feels that the PA is the only viable alternative to continued Hamas rule in Gaza.
At a press briefing, Miller criticizes the repeated looting of aid convoys, saying those behind the actions are siphoning assistance away from civilians who desperately need it.
The US is working with Israel to try and find interim solutions to address the looting that has intensified as the IDF has gradually depleted Hamas’s military presence in Gaza, including the terror group’s ability to maintain internal security, says the State Department spokesperson.
At the request of the US, Israel opened new routes for delivering aid within Gaza aimed at avoiding roads targeted by looters. However, a subsequent case of looting reportedly ended up taking place on one of these new routes.
The US has been careful not to say that Hamas is directly behind the aid looting, while Israel has repeatedly insisted that the terror group siphons off much of the aid coming in.
“Ultimately, you are not going to finally solve this problem without an end to the war and the establishment of a new governance and security authority inside Gaza,” Miller says, adding that the US also strongly opposes having Israel become the occupying power in Gaza.
Knesset passes 2 laws cutting national insurance benefits for terror convicts
Lawmakers debate the so-called 'Rabbis Bill' in the Knesset plenum, November 12, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The Knesset gives final approval to two bills cutting national insurance benefits for terror convicts.
The first law, sponsored by Likud MK Ariel Kallner, is approved 29-8 in its third and final reading in the Knesset and revises the National Insurance Law to cut child allowances paid to parents of minors imprisoned for security or stone-throwing offenses.
The second, sponsored by Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky, passes 34-2 and revokes National Insurance Institute benefits paid to anyone living abroad who “has been convicted of an offense pronounced by the court to be an act of terrorism.”
The new law mandates the cessation of payments under the National Insurance Law, such as work injury allowances to eligible non-residents of Israel who fall under its purview.
According to the explanatory notes for the bill, which passed its first reading 23-7 in July: “In the course of the Swords of Iron war [in Gaza], it became apparent that there are also benefits paid to residents of the Gaza Strip who were involved in terrorist activity.”
Addressing the Knesset Labor and Welfare Committee earlier this month, Malinovsky stated that there are currently more than 30 people detained in Israel who meet this definition.
“The circus is over, the benefits for terrorists are being stopped,” she said at the time. “Thanks to the law, we will put an end to the absurd situation in which state benefits [paid for] from Israeli taxpayer money go to terrorists who have blood on their hands and have harmed innocent citizens.”
2 Israelis extracted from Palestinian town after being wounded — reports
According to initial reports, two Israelis were extracted by IDF troops after being wounded in the Palestinian town of Dayr Balut in the northern West Bank.
In a statement, the Rescuers Without Borders first responder group says that two Israelis from central Israel entered the town and were attacked by local Palestinians.
It was not clear what the purpose of their visit was to the Palestinian village. Various reports indicated that the pair were from Ramle and some said they had entered the town accidentally.
Hebrew media report that the two were successfully extracted by IDF troops while wounded but conscious. There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
IDF: Hezbollah has fired around 70 rockets into Israel so far today
A photo taken from the southern Lebanese city of Tyre shows rockets fired from Lebanon towards Israel on November 19, 2024. (KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
Hezbollah has fired some 70 rockets from Lebanon that crossed into Israel Tuesday, according to an IDF tally.
Five people were wounded in attacks on the north and central Israel this morning, and damage was caused by some of the strikes.
Israel, US to establish bilateral channel to discuss harm to civilians in Gaza
Palestinian man Moein Abu Odeh searches for clothes through the rubble of a house destroyed in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 18, 2024. (Hussam Al-Masri/Reuters)
WASHINGTON — Israel has agreed to establish a new bilateral channel through which the US will be able to raise concerns regarding specific military incidents in which civilians have been harmed, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller announces.
The establishment of the channel was one of over a dozen demands made by the US in a letter to Israel on October 13, warning Israel that failure to meet them risked a partial arms embargo.
Explaining the need for the new committee, the US explained in the letter that existing channels have been insufficient amid the mounting cases in which civilians have been killed amid Israel’s war against Hamas.
The letter stated that the US wanted to see the new channel hold its first virtual meeting by the end of October. While Israel did not meet this deadline, Miller says during a press briefing that the new channel will convene for the first time at the beginning of December.
The purpose of the channel is to assist the State Department in past and future assessments into cases where US-provided weapons were potentially used by the IDF in strikes that harmed civilians. Such probes are ongoing, but the US wanted a formal mechanism set up to better secure answers to its questions on the matter.
The US said last week that while Israel did not fully meet some of the demands listed in the letter aimed at alleviating the Gaza humanitarian crisis, it made progress on enough of them to remain in compliance with US law, which bars the transfer of weapons to countries that block aid from civilians.
Suspect accused of firing flares at PM’s home is senior Navy officer who halted reserve duty over judicial overhaul
Flares are fired at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home in Caesarea, November 16, 2024. (Video screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
The Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court clears for publication the name of three of the suspects arrested for firing flares at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private home in Caesarea on Saturday night.
One of them is Rear Adm. (res.) Ofer Doron, a former senior Navy officer who announced last year that he would no longer show up for volunteer reservist duty in protest of the government’s controversial judicial overhaul plan, and was suspended from the reserves in response.
The other two suspects are named as Amir Sadeh and Itai Yafeh, both longtime anti-government protesters.
According to Channel 12 news, the three suspects told police that they did not intend to fire toward Netanyahu’s home, and that they even fired a test to make sure it would not head in that direction but that the wind forced it off course. Nobody was harmed in the incident and no damage was caused, and the Netanyahus were not home at the time.
The three suspects remain in detention.
Beirut says 3 Lebanese soldiers killed in Israeli airstrike in south
A photo taken from the southern Lebanese city of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the village of Qlaileh on November 19, 2024. (KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
The Lebanese army says three of its soldiers were killed when Israel struck their position in the south today, with the health ministry reporting eight other people wounded.
“The Israeli enemy targeted an army position in the town of Sarafand in the south, killing three soldiers,” the army says in a statement. The health ministry says the attack also wounded eight people, including “citizens who were nearby.”
There was no immediate comment from the IDF on the incident.
IDF says Hezbollah behind attacks on two UNIFIL bases today in Lebanon
A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) convoy drives through the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on November 14, 2024. (Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
Another UNIFIL base in southern Lebanon was hit by Hezbollah rockets earlier today, according to the Israeli military.
The IDF says that at around 1:30 p.m., a UNIFIL position near the southern Lebanese village of Shama was hit by several rockets launched by Hezbollah from the Maaliyeh area.
Italy’s defense ministry said that eight rockets hit the headquarters of the Italian contingent of the UN peacekeeping force in Shama, and a ministry source told AFP that “Hezbollah was responsible for the attack.”
No injuries were reported.
Earlier today, the IDF said a Hezbollah rocket attack damaged a separate UNIFIL position in the southern Lebanon village of Ramyeh, in an attack that the UN agency confirmed was “fired most likely by non-State actors within Lebanon.”
מוקדם יותר היום, בסמוך לשעה 13:30, נפגע מוצב יוניפי״ל במרחב ׳שמע׳ בדרום לבנון, כתוצאה ממספר רקטות ששיגר ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה ממרחב 'אל מלכיה' שבדרום לבנון>> pic.twitter.com/Zehg65dBl7
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 19, 2024
Over half of eligible voters have cast ballots in war-delayed municipal elections in south
MK Yaakov Asher and election officials meet in at the central election headquarters during southern Israel’s municipal elections, November 19, 2024. (Interior Ministry)
With only hours to go before polls close, the Interior Ministry reports that as of 7 p.m., 53% of eligible voters have cast ballots in southern Israel’s long-delayed municipal elections.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. in the Eshkol Regional Council, Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, Sdot Negev Regional Council and Sderot, more than a year after they were originally slated to take place and nine months after most of the rest of the country held its war-delayed vote.
According to the Interior Ministry, 65,335 voters are eligible to take part in the elections at 15 polling stations within the southern districts and at an additional seven polling stations set up across the rest of the country for residents of the south displaced by the fighting.
While ballots will begin to be counted as soon as the polls close at 10 p.m. this evening, verified results will likely only be released at the end of the week due to the large number of so-called double-envelope ballots expected to be cast by displaced residents and IDF troops, the ministry says.
Despite this, Michal Uziyahu was unilaterally declared the next head of the Eshkol Regional Council on Tuesday afternoon, due to the fact that she ran unopposed.
UN chief denounces ‘systematic’ looting of Gaza humanitarian aid
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)
The United Nations chief denounces the “systematic” looting of humanitarian aid in Gaza, a day after Hamas authorities claimed that 20 people were killed in a security operation targeting such groups.
“Armed looting has become systematic and must end immediately. It is hindering life-saving aid operations and further endangering the lives of our staff,” says Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “However, the use of law enforcement operations must be lawful, necessary and proportionate.”
Iran says no charges filed against student who stripped to underwear
An Iranian student protests against harassment by stripping to her underwear outside her university in Tehran, November 2, 2024. (Video screenshot)
Iran’s judiciary says it has not issued an indictment against a student who stripped down to her underwear earlier this month at a university in Tehran.
“Considering that she was sent to the hospital, and it was found that she was ill, she was handed over to her family… and no judicial case has been filed against her,” judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir tells a news conference, without naming her.
Earlier in November, footage of a female student circulated online, showing her sitting and briefly walking at Islamic Azad University in Tehran before stripping down to her underwear. The move sparked harsh reactions from officials in Iran, where covering the neck and head and dressing modestly became mandatory for women following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Science Minister Hossein Simaei described it as an “immoral and uncustomary” act, while adding that she had not been expelled from her university.
London-based human rights group Amnesty International said the woman was “violently arrested after she removed her clothes in protest against abusive enforcement of compulsory veiling by security officials.”
IDF says interceptor hit missile over Ramat Gan last night but failed to cause it to explode
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)
An updated IDF probe into last night’s missile strike in Ramat Gan has found that the Hezbollah projectile launched from Lebanon was hit by an interceptor at an altitude of 12 kilometers (7.5 miles), but failed to cause it to explode.
The interceptor hit the Hezbollah missile, causing it to break up in the air but not detonate. The warhead and other fragments fell to the ground, exploding on a building in the Tel Aviv suburb.
The impact wounded several people, including one in serious condition, and caused extensive damage to the surrounding buildings.
A separate IDF probe into the deadly rocket strike on a home in the northern Arab town of Shfar’am last night has found that the woman who was killed was in an improperly built reinforced room.
Four Fajr-5 rockets were launched by Hezbollah in the attack, with three being intercepted by air defenses, according to the IDF. The fourth rocket struck the roof of the three-story building.
Safaa Awad, 41, was inside a reinforced room when the sirens went off, but the room was not built to code, according to the investigation.
The room had also improperly included a layer of ceramic tiles on the walls, which shattered as a result of the rocket impact, and hit Awad.
Visiting central Gaza, Netanyahu vows Hamas will not rule in Strip, offers $5 million reward per hostage
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the Netzarim Corridor in the central Gaza Strip on November 19, 2024. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)
Visiting the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows that Hamas will not rule the Strip and that anyone who harms Israeli hostages will pay a heavy price.
Netanyahu says that IDF troops in Gaza have “achieved excellent results toward our important goal — that Hamas will not rule in Gaza. We are destroying its military capabilities in a very impressive manner, and we are moving on to its ruling capabilities… Hamas will not be in Gaza.”
Netanyahu toured the area alongside Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar.
The prime minister says Israel is also doing everything it can to bring home its hostages, “and we are not letting up. We will continue to do so until we reach everyone — both the living and the dead.”
Addressing “those who are holding our hostages,” Netanyahu says that “whoever dares to harm our hostages — will bear the responsibility. We will pursue you and we will get you.”
He also reiterates his offer to provide $5 million to anyone in Gaza who turns a hostage over to Israel: “The choice is in your hands, but the result will be the same. We will bring everyone home.”
Court rules PA must compensate victims of 2001 Jerusalem Sbarro suicide bombing
Police and medics surround the scene of a suicide bombing inside Jerusalem's Sbarro restaurant, Thursday, August 9, 2001. Fifteen people were killed, and 130 injured. A sixteenth victim died in 2023. (AP/Peter Dejong)
The Jerusalem District Court ruled earlier today that the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization are required to pay tens of millions of shekels to victims of the 2001 terrorist bombing of the Sbarro pizza restaurant in central Jerusalem, Channel 12 reports.
Sixteen civilians were killed in the August 9, 2001 suicide bombing, including seven children, and 130 people were wounded, in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks of the Second Intifada.
The court made the determination on the basis of the PA’s yearslong policy of making financial payments to terrorists and the families of terrorists, the TV report says.
It says the precedent-setting court ruling potentially also opens the door for victims of the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 massacre to seek financial compensation from the PA.
The court issued its ruling in response to two suits that victims of the 2001 bombing have been pursuing for the past two decades, the report says, and relied upon a Supreme Court ruling that the Palestinian Authority can be held liable for terrorist acts, due to its policy of paying stipends to security prisoners in Israeli jails and the families of those killed during attacks on Israelis.
Justice Isaac Amit, setting out the Supreme Court ruling in April 2022, found that the decision to pay convicted Palestinian terrorists and those killed as part of the “struggle against Israel” made the PA liable for their actions. “[The PA] expresses its consent to their actions, in a manner that takes responsibility for the acts. This justifies that [the PA] will be assigned personal and direct responsibility,” Amit wrote.
Meir Schijveschuurder, a lawyer for the victims whose own parents and three brothers were among the fatalities in the bombing, hailed today’s ruling, telling Channel 12, that the court decision would help quell “rampant terrorism because the Palestinians will not be able to bear the financial consequences.” The decision, he said, “will bring relief to the families of the victims, and significantly reduce terrorism.”
The Channel 12 report indicates that the compensation ordered by the court could be paid out of funds that Israel has been withholding since 2018 from the monthly tax revenues it collects on behalf of the PA.
Italy says 8 Hezbollah rockets hit its UNIFIL headquarters in south Lebanon; no injuries
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Shama on November 16, 2024. (Kawnat Haju/AFP)
Eight rockets hit the headquarters of the Italian contingent of the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL in Shama, in southern Lebanon, Italy’s defense ministry says.
No injuries were reported, but five Italian soldiers are being monitored in the base’s medical facility, the ministry says in a statement.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto had originally blamed Israel for the attack, but a Defense Ministry source said that Crosetto “did not have the right information” when he spoke. “Hezbollah was responsible for the attack,” the source tells AFP.
The rockets hit some outdoor areas and the base’s supply warehouse, where no soldiers were present.
In its own statement, UNIFIL says the rockets struck the headquarters’ “maintenance workshop,” causing heavy damage, but did not identify who was responsible.
The IDF did not immediately return a request for comment.
Earlier today, the IDF said a Hezbollah rocket attack damaged a separate UNIFIL position in the southern Lebanon village of Ramyeh, in an attack that the UN agency confirmed was “fired most likely by non-State actors within Lebanon.”
Argentina to pull its troops out of UNIFIL force in Lebanon
Members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol the southern Lebanese Marjayoun district, near the border with Israel, on October 16, 2024. (AFP)
Argentina has notified the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon of its withdrawal from the force, a UNIFIL spokesperson says, in the first sign of cracks in the unity of the mission amid an escalation in violence along the border.
“Argentina has asked its officers to go back [to Argentina],” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti says in response to a question about a newspaper report.
He declines to comment on the reason for their departure, referring the question to Argentina’s government.
Argentina is one of 48 countries contributing peacekeepers to UNIFIL, with a total of three staff currently in Lebanon, a UN website shows.
UNIFIL has previously referred to “unacceptable pressures being exerted on the mission through various channels.” The peacekeeping body has blamed attacks on its troops on both Israel and Hezbollah in recent weeks.
PM denies report he rejected request to expand mandate of hostage deal negotiators
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, walking outside his office at the Knesset on November 11, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)
The Prime Minister’s Office issues a denial of a report in Ynet which claims that Benjamin Netanyahu refused to expand the mandate of the negotiating team seeking to reach a hostage-truce deal with Hamas.
“Yet another false and biased leak from a sensitive security meeting, designed to subject Israel to Hamas’s dictates of surrender,” the PMO says in a statement. “This is not how you hold negotiations — and this is not how to free the hostages.”
The Ynet report says Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz rejected the suggestion by the negotiating team — including Mossad chief David Barnea — to expand Israel’s parameters toward reaching a hostage release deal, despite their warning that without such an expansion, no agreement can be reached.
Iraqi PM calls Israeli complaint over militia drone attacks a ‘pretext to attack Iraq’
This handout picture shows Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani holding a press conference in the southern province of Basra Governorate on September 2, 2023. (Iraqi Prime Minister's Press Office/AFP)
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani dismisses an Israeli complaint to the UN Security Council about strikes by Iraq’s Iran-backed Shiite militias on Israel as a “pretext and argument to attack Iraq” and to “expand the war in the region.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar had earlier posted on X a letter to the Security Council saying that “Israel has the inherent right to self-defense… and to take all necessary measures to protect itself and its citizens against the ongoing acts of hostilities by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.”
The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed to have launched dozens of drones at Israel since war broke out last year with the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack.
Most of the group’s attacks have failed to cross Israel’s border or were downed by air defenses, according to the IDF. Last month, two soldiers were killed by a drone launched by the group at an army base in the Golan Heights, and in September, one struck the Eilat port, causing damage and lightly wounding two people.
Sa’ar said some of the militias are part of the Popular Mobilization Forces — a coalition of mostly Shiite armed groups that’s technically part of the Iraqi army although it operates in practice largely outside state control — and urged the Iraqi government to “take immediate action to halt and prevent these attacks.”
Al-Sudani’s office says in a statement that Iraq has refused to enter into the regional conflict while “seeking to provide relief to the Palestinian and Lebanese people.”
Palestinian Islamic Jihad confirms 3 members killed in Israeli raid in Qabatiya
Weapons recovered from three Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives who were killed by troops in the West Bank city of Qabatiya, November 19, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group confirms the deaths of three members in an Israeli military raid in the northern West Bank this morning.
The gunmen killed in an exchange of fire with Border Police officers in Qabatiya are named by the terror group as Anwar Saba’neh, 25, Raed Hanaysha, 24, and Suleiman Tazazaa, 32.
The IDF and Police said that Hanaysha was wanted for involvement in recent shooting and bombing attacks against soldiers in the West Bank.
Border Police officers surrounded a building in Qabatiya where Hanaysha and the other two gunmen were holed up, and carried out a tactic known as “pressure cooker,” which involves escalating the volume of fire against a building to flush suspects out.
The trio were killed in an exchange of fire, and the military says it seized three assault rifles and other military equipment from the building.
تزُف سرايا القدس الجناح العسكري لحركة الجهاد الإسلامي في فلسطين
-الشهيد المجاهد أنور نضال توفيق سباعنة (25 عاماً).
-الشهيد المجاهد رائد عبد الرحمن صادق حنايشة (24 عاماً).
-الشهيد المجاهد سليمان عدنان سليمان طزازعة (32 عاماً).من أبطال سرايا القدس-كتيبة جنين مجموعات قباطية. pic.twitter.com/qicjSnYTBp
— Asrawi (@Asrawithethird) November 19, 2024
US Treasury imposes sanctions on six senior Hamas officials
Basem Naim, a Hamas leader who is a former Gaza health minister, speaks during a press conference in Cape Town on November 29, 2023. (RODGER BOSCH / AFP)
The US imposes sanctions on six senior Hamas officials, the US Treasury Department says, adding that the sanctions target the group’s representatives abroad, a senior member of the Hamas military wing and those involved in supporting fundraising efforts for the group and weapons smuggling into Gaza.
“Hamas continues to rely on key officials who seemingly maintain legitimate, public-facing roles within the group, yet who facilitate their terrorist activities, represent their interests abroad, and coordinate the transfer of money and goods into Gaza,” Treasury’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith says in the statement.
“Treasury remains committed to disrupting Hamas’s efforts to secure additional revenue and holding those who facilitate the group’s terrorist activities to account,” he adds.
Among those targeted are Abd al-Rahman Ismail abd al-Rahman Ghanimat, a longtime member of Hamas’s military wing who is now based in Turkey, the Treasury says, accusing him of being involved in multiple attempted and successful terrorist attacks.
Two other officials based in Turkey, as well as Basem Naim, a member based in Gaza who has participated in Hamas’s engagements with Russia, and Ghazi Hamad, a leader authorized to speak publicly on behalf of the group who previously oversaw border crossings at Gaza were also among those targeted, according to the Treasury.
UN: Iran has increased stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels
Centrifuges line a hall at the Uranium Enrichment Facility in Natanz, Iran, in a still image from a video aired by the Islamic Republic Iran Broadcasting company on April 17, 2021, six days after the hall had been damaged in a mysterious attack. (IRIB via AP)
Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels in defiance of international demands, according to a confidential report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog seen today by The Associated Press.
The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency says that as of Oct. 26, Iran has 182.3 kilograms (401.9 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%, an increase of 17.6 kilograms (38.8 pounds) since the last report in August.
Uranium enriched at 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
The IAEA also estimates in its quarterly report that as of Oct. 26, Iran’s overall stockpile of enriched uranium stands at 6,604.4 kilograms (14,560 pounds), which represents an increase of 852.6 kilograms (1,879.6 pounds) since the last report in August. Under the IAEA’s definition, around 42 kilograms (92.5 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60% purity is the amount at which creating one atomic weapon is theoretically possible — if the material is enriched further, to 90%.
The amount being held by Iran is more than 32 times the limit set in a 2015 accord between Iran and world powers to limit its nuclear program.
IDF says drone from Lebanon struck Upper Galilee, causing no injuries
A drone seen over the Haifa area on November 12, 2024. (Video screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
The IDF says a drone launched from Lebanon a short while ago impacted in the Upper Galilee.
The drone set off sirens in numerous towns before it exploded.
There are no injuries in the incident, according to the military.
Yemen’s Houthis claim to have twice attacked Panama-flagged vessel
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claim responsibility for an attack that twice targeted a Panama-flagged bulk carrier traveling through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden yesterday.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree makes the claim about the attack on the Anadolu S in a prerecorded statement.
Missiles twice splashed down near the ship yesterday, causing no damage or injuries.
After meeting US envoy, Lebanese parliament speaker says deal ‘is good in principle’
Amos Hochstein, center, a senior adviser to US President Joe Biden, and US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa A. Johnson, left, meet with Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri tells Asharq Al-Awsat that “the situation is good in principle,” after meeting with US special envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut to discuss a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
“Some details” still have to be finalized, Berri says, before the next stage, which includes Hochstein’s likely visit to Israel.
“We are waiting for what he will bring from there,” says Berri.
The speaker says that Hochstein told him that the US had coordinated with the Israelis about the proposal.
US envoy Hochstein likely to arrive in Israel tomorrow, says Israeli official
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (R) meets with US special envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut on November 19, 2024. (AFP)
US special envoy Amos Hochstein will likely arrive in the country tomorrow, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel, though the visit is not certain.
Hochstein met with top Lebanese officials today about a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, describing the meetings as “very productive.”
Drone alert sirens sound in Upper Galilee
Sirens warning of a drone infiltration sound in the Upper Galilee as the IDF says it is tracking a target that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon.
The military says “the incident is still ongoing.”
Rocket alert sirens also sound in several border communities.
France urges collective EU response to ‘explosion’ of antisemitism in Europe
Protesters clash with French gendarmes during an anti-Israel rally in Paris, on November 13, 2024, on the eve of the UEFA Nations League 2025 football match between France and Israel. (Gregoire CAMPIONE / AFP)
France calls for a collective response to “one of the worst explosions of antisemitism” in Europe’s recent history, as EU ministers gather to discuss the issue.
French European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad says he organized the gathering in Brussels with his Dutch counterpart to tackle a resurgence in antisemitic violence since the start of the war in Gaza last year.
“I wanted us to have… a frank conversation about the causes of the rise in antisemitism and the best ways to address it and really make it a priority for the European institutions,” Haddad, who has Jewish heritage, tells AFP.
Haddad says Europe is witnessing “one of the worst outbreaks of antisemitism” since World War II.
“When we talk about antisemitism, it is not just the defense of European Jewish communities that is at stake, it is the preservation… of our fundamental values,” he adds.
IDF: UNIFIL position in south Lebanon damaged in Hezbollah rocket attack
A United Nations flag flies in the back of one of the armored vehicles of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) during a patrol around Marjayoun in south Lebanon on October 8, 2024. (AFP)
A UNIFIL position in the southern Lebanon village of Ramyeh was damaged in a Hezbollah rocket attack this morning, the Israeli military says.
Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, writes on X that the site was hit by a rocket launched by Hezbollah from the Deir Aames area, during a barrage on northern Israel at 9:50 a.m.
He says UNIFIL reported casualties and damage as a result of the site being hit by the rocket.
There is no immediate comment from UNIFIL on the incident.
#خاص في وقت سابق اليوم تعرض موقع تابع لقوات اليونيفيل الدولية لاصابة في منطقة قرية رامية جنوب لبنان حيث تبين من الفحص ان الموقع أصيب نتيجة سقوط قذيفة صاروخية أطلقها حزب الله الارهابي من منطقة دير عامص خلال الرشقة الصاروخية التي أطلقت نحو الاراضي الاسرائيلية في تمام الساعة 09:50.… pic.twitter.com/TfhhY0icnR
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) November 19, 2024
IDF issued over 1,000 ‘arrest warrants’ to ultra-Orthodox who ignored draft orders, says officer
Illustrative: An IDF soldier walks among Haredi Jewish men during a protest against a potential new draft law that could end their exemptions from military service in Jerusalem, October 31, 2024. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)
After issuing 3,000 draft orders to members of the ultra-Orthodox community over the summer, the IDF has issued 1,126 “arrest warrants” to those who did not show up to the induction centers, a senior officer tells lawmakers.
“Of the 3,000 ultra-Orthodox who received [draft] orders, 1,126 were issued arrest warrants for those who did not report to the first and second orders,” says Brig. Gen. Shay Taib, head of the Personnel Directorate’s Planning and Personnel Management Division, during a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting.
“After that, they will receive a call for immediate recruitment, and anyone who does not come [to the induction center] will be declared an evader,” Taib says.
The consequences of being declared a draft evader include receiving a “no exit order” — being barred from leaving the country — and during any encounter with the police, the draft dodger can be arrested. The IDF Military Police does not plan to actually carry out arrests of those who do not show up to the induction centers, but instead wait until they are declared draft evaders and leave it to law enforcement.
Responding to Taib, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid issues a statement demanding that Defense Minister Israel Katz direct the IDF to “immediately” issue an additional 7,000 conscription orders to ultra-Orthodox Israelis of military age “and strengthen enforcement against those who did not report for duty.”
On Sunday, the IDF sent the first 1,000 of 7,000 new draft orders to male members of the ultra-Orthodox community slated to go out in the coming months. It follows a previous round of 3,000 draft orders sent out during the summer. Out of those 3,000 men, less than 10% showed up at induction centers.
The military said it currently requires some 10,000 new soldiers — mostly combat troops — but can only accommodate the enlistment of an additional 3,000 ultra-Orthodox this year, due to their additional needs. Added to the around 1,800 Haredi soldiers who are already drafted annually, this would mean only 4,800 out of more than 60,000 eligible ultra-Orthodox men would be conscripted, a number that committee chair Likud MK Yuli Edelstein has long dismissed as insufficient.
In a statement following today’s hearing, Edelstein says the army’s figure of 3,000 “is not acceptable to me” and should be higher.
“In addition, those who contributed three years to the state should receive more than those who chose not to contribute. This is true for every citizen in the State of Israel,” ultra-Orthodox or otherwise, he adds.
British envoy says UK prepared to put ‘its own personnel in harm’s way’ to defend Israel from Iran
Simon Walters, British ambassador to Israel, speaks at an event in Tel Aviv marking one year since the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, October 13, 2024. (Paulina Patimer / Hostages Families Forum)
The UK is ready to protect Israel again should Iran attack, says the British envoy to Israel.
“The United Kingdom will be a close ally and is prepared to put its own aircraft and its own personnel in harm’s way to defend Israel,” says Ambassador Simon Walters, speaking to Israeli journalists at his Ramat Gan residence.
He notes that the Royal Air Force flew alongside Israeli and US pilots during the April Iranian missile and drone attack on Israel, and adds: “Without going into detail, on October 1, the British armed forces again played a role in trying to disrupt the Iranian attack on Israel.”
Turning to Gaza, Walters says that military pressure on Hamas will not get the hostages out nor will it destroy Hamas.
“I hear people calling for the continuation of the war until Hamas is destroyed and I think they are kidding themselves,” says Walters. “They are imagining an outcome that will never come. So it is essential that we would recognize that and focus our efforts on getting a hostage deal because it is the only way we can get them home.”
He puts the blame for the continued conflict squarely on Hamas: “Hamas could end this suffering by agreeing to a ceasefire and releasing all hostages immediately and unconditionally. We must be clear that the responsibility for the attacks of October 7 and for the kidnapping of the hostages belongs entirely to Hamas.”
On the suspension of some British arms licenses to Israel, Walters says that the risk of violations of international law “is evidently present here.”
He points at the fact that Israel has not allowed the Red Cross to visit prisoners taken from Gaza. “Had the Red Cross visited regularly, it would provide reassurance of the conditions, it would not only protect the prisoners,” he says, adding that it would also protect guards from accusations. He adds that UK NGOs are suing the government in court to try to force further arms restrictions on Israel, and that the government is fighting those attempts in court.
Walters also raises concerns over restrictions on Palestinians’ ability to harvest olives in the West Bank, and over attacks by Israeli extremists.
“At the end of the day, this is an aspect of the occupation, which many Israelis do not see and are not aware of,” he says.
IDF reservist killed in Hezbollah drone attack in southern Lebanon
Sgt. First Class (res.) Omer Moshe Gaeldor (IDF)
An IDF reservist was killed in a Hezbollah drone attack in southern Lebanon this morning, the military announces.
The slain soldier is named as Sgt. First Class (res.) Omer Moshe Gaeldor, 30, of the Golani Brigade’s logistics unit, from Jerusalem.
According to an initial IDF probe, Gaeldor and three other soldiers were hit by an explosive-laden drone launched by Hezbollah during a “security operation” carried out by the logistics team around two kilometers from the Israeli border in southern Lebanon. The team was providing security for the Golani Brigade, which was operating deeper in southern Lebanon.
Gaeldor was killed and the other three troops were seriously wounded by the blast.
French defense minister calls on Gulf states to help boost Lebanese army
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)
France’s defense minister urges the wealthy Gulf states to find ways to bolster Lebanon’s armed forces, saying they will be crucial for securing border areas after Israel’s war with Hezbollah.
As efforts towards a ceasefire increase, Sebastien Lecornu tells AFP that the Gulf monarchies, rich from oil and gas, should consider “operational support” for the Lebanese forces.
“I have reiterated to each counterpart that we need them to support the Lebanese armed forces,” Lecornu says after visits to Qatar and Saudi Arabia. “Both in the central role they play in welfare matters, and in the security aspect. We will have to think about more operational support on the military side.”
Lecornu was speaking in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi before meeting President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed at the end of his three-country tour.
“To secure the border between Israel and Lebanon, and to reinforce Lebanon’s sovereignty, the armed forces must be properly armed,” he adds.
Israel sends 1,000 units of blood to northern Gaza hospital
Rubbish and debris are scattered near damaged buildings in the vicinity of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on October 31, 2024. (AFP)
The Israeli military has facilitated the delivery of blood units to a hospital in isolated northern Gaza.
Israel has imposed a tight siege on the northernmost part of the territory since launching an offensive there in early October. Aid groups say very little humanitarian assistance has been allowed in and have warned of famine.
The Israeli military agency in charge of transferring aid to Gaza, COGAT, says it sent 1,000 units of blood through a northern crossing yesterday. The UN’s health cluster says the blood shipment was delivered to Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled the northernmost reaches of the Strip since the offensive began, and hospitals there have struggled to function.
In viral video, former Israeli hostage confronts anti-Israel activist: ‘I’m asking you to check facts’
(Right) Moran Stella Yanai, who was held hostage for 54 days in Gaza before being freed in the November 2023 deal, speaks during a panel event on the Gaza conflict alongside Aidan Doyle (left), who was a leader of the anti-Israel encampment at UCLA. (Youtube screenshot from Gr8.Debate / TCC)
A video of a former Israeli hostage confronting an anti-Israel activist on a panel has gone viral for the woman’s comments on coexistence and the need for activists to learn the facts on the conflict.
Moran Stella Yanai, who was held hostage for 54 days in Gaza before being freed in the November 2023 deal, recently took part in a panel on the Gaza conflict alongside Aidan Doyle, who was a leader of the anti-Israel encampment at UCLA. Mosab Hassan Yousef, the pro-Israeli disowned son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, was also on the panel.
Noting that she had worked with Arabs and had been friends with Arabs for years, Yanai confronted Doyle on his vociferous criticism of Israel.
“Have you ever been to Israel? Have you visited Gaza before? Probably not,” she said, which Doyle, visibly uncomfortable as she spoke, did not contest. “Did you know that the vast majority of the hostages believe in coexisting?”
Yanai went on: “On October 7, and this is what [the terrorists] told me, they didn’t know about the Nova festival, they didn’t know that we have 3,000 people there. They planned, and they told me that, they planned to move on and kill as much as they could. In Beersheba, in Tel Aviv, in Haifa — they wanted to slaughter everybody.
(Right) Moran Stella Yanai, who was held hostage for 54 days in Gaza before being freed in the November 2023 deal, speaks during a panel event on the Gaza conflict alongside Aidan Doyle (left), who was a leader of the anti-Israel encampment at UCLA. (Youtube screenshot from Gr8.Debate / TCC)
“When I was entering Gaza and there is a video that I saw, 100% of civilians celebrating me being taken… All I saw was 100% of civilians lynching me, beating me up. I was with a broken leg. I had bruises all over my body. Do you know that I’ve never cursed them? I’ve never argued with them. And I’ve never treated them like garbage. I respected them even when they abused me, because I believe that if I want to be respected, I have to respect everybody else.
“So I’m asking you one thing and one thing only because I see you’re not comfortable. I’m asking you to check facts on both sides.”
IDF says it killed new commander of Hezbollah’s medium-range rocket unit in strike
The commander of Hezbollah’s medium-range rocket unit was killed in an airstrike yesterday in southern Lebanon, according to the IDF.
The previous commander of the unit was killed in a strike on Beirut in September.
Ali Tawfiq Dweiq was killed in an airstrike on the village of Jouz, adjacent to the southern Lebanon city of Nabatieh.
The medium-range rocket unit is responsible for attacks on Haifa and other areas deep in northern Israel, as well as central Israel. The IDF says Dweiq was responsible for over 300 rockets launched at Israel since he took over the role.
Since Sunday, the IDF says over 150 strikes were carried out against Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including 25 weapon depots and some 30 rocket launchers. At least 11 strikes were carried out in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Hezbollah in the past week has launched some 400 rockets at Israel. Since Thursday, the IDF says, 22 out of 27 drones launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon were intercepted.
Army says 98th Division started operations in new areas of southern Lebanon
Troops of the IDF's 98th Division operate in southern Lebanon, in a handout image released by the IDF on November 19, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF’s 98th Division has begun operations in new areas of southern Lebanon, the military says.
The division, with the Paratroopers Brigade and 7th Armored Brigade, is working to locate and destroy Hezbollah infrastructure that threatens the Kiryat Shmona area.
Before the operation, the IDF launched numerous airstrikes on the area, which had been used by Hezbollah for rocket attacks on the Galilee Panhandle and Kiryat Shmona.
Three other divisions, the 91st, 36th and 146th, are operating in other areas of southern Lebanon.
MDA suspends paramedic who celebrated death of Arab woman in rocket attack
Magen David Adom has suspended and intends to dismiss a paramedic who tweeted her joy over the death of an Arab woman in a rocket strike on Shfar’am yesterday, MK Ahmad Tibi says.
The paramedic had posted on Instagram: “There’s no reason to feel sorry. She’s a terrorist by every definition. She doesn’t support us in any way. May her f**cking be a blessing.”
Expressions of hatred toward Arabs by extremists are often seen on social media when they are killed in attacks.
Sa’ar says he opposes attacks on AG, but also opposes ‘judicial activism’
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar speaks during a handover ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on November 10, 2024. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)
In response to ongoing political attacks on Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who appointed her while serving as justice minister in the previous government, tells Channel 12: “I oppose the vitriol against the attorney general and her office, but also oppose judicial activism, as always” — indicating he believes her positions that are out of line with the government’s sometimes go too far.
Sa’ar says he noted his opposition to attacks on Baharav-Miara in several recent cabinet meetings.
Prior to Sa’ar rejoining the government, Barahav-Miara was often accused by coalition members of being a “plant” of Sa’ar’s who ostensibly opposed government policy on his behalf. He has rarely commented.
In Lebanon, US envoy Hochstein says there is a ‘real opportunity’ to end fighting
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (R) meets with US special envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut on November 19, 2024. (AFP)
US special envoy Amos Hochstein says there is a “real opportunity” to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, after meeting Lebanon’s Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri in Beirut’s Ain el-Tineh Palace.
At a press conference after the meeting, Hochstein says, “I came back because we have a real opportunity to bring this conflict to an end.”
He adds that gaps between the sides have been “significantly narrowed.”
“I’m here in Beirut to facilitate that decision, but it’s ultimately the decision of the parties… It is now within our grasp,” he says.
He also says talks with Berri were “very constructive.”
Qatar confirms Hamas leaders no longer in country, but says office not closed permanently
Qatar officially confirms that Hamas officials are no longer in the country after they were asked to leave late last month amid an ongoing impasse in hostage negotiations.
An Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel over the weekend that Hamas leaders in Doha had left for Turkey last week.
On November 8, the Biden administration revealed that it had asked Qatar to oust Hamas leaders amid Washington’s frustration with the terror group rejecting repeated hostage deal proposals.
Qatar later confirmed asking Hamas to leave but insisted that it made the decision on its own due to frustration with both sides’ refusal to engage constructively in negotiations. Moreover, it framed the move as reversible, insisting that it is prepared to resume its role as mediator if Israel and Hamas change their approach to the talks.
To that end, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari says during a press conference that the Hamas political office in Doha has not been closed permanently. If such a decision is made, it will be announced by Qatar, and not through other means, he adds, in an apparent shot at Biden administration officials, who had announced the move on November 8.
In the meantime, al-Ansari says Hamas leaders are currently out of Doha and “are moving between different capitals.”
Turkey has confirmed that Hamas’s key foreign leaders are in Ankara while insisting that it has not opened an office for them — an apparent effort to avoid the ire of the Biden administration. US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller still cautioned Turkey yesterday against hosting Hamas officials at all.
For its part, Israel has begun engaging more intensively with Turkish officials in order to jumpstart hostage negotiations. Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar traveled to Ankara over the weekend to meet with his Turkish counterpart on the matter, the Arab diplomat said.
The development may call into question the purpose of ousting Hamas from Doha, with the sides apparently planning to conduct negotiations in a similar manner in Ankara.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem to give a speech
The head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, Naim Qassem, will give a speech today, Hezbollah’s media office says.
Police say officers fired at suspicious man at checkpoint near Jerusalem
Border Police at the Shuafata checkpoint near Jerusalem after the shooting of a suspicious individual, November 19 ,2024 (Israel Police)
Police say Border Police officers fired at a suspicious man at the Shuafat checkpoint north of Jerusalem.
They say officers noticed the man hiding a bag near the crossing before advancing on foot through a vehicle lane. Despite repeated orders to stop, the suspect continued moving toward the checkpoint. Officers fired at his lower body, neutralizing him.
The suspect, who sustained moderate injuries, was taken by medical teams for treatment.
Israel welcomes EU sanctions on Iran as ‘necessary steps’
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar praises the European Union’s decision to widen sanctions on Iran, calling it “necessary” to combat the threats from Iran.
In a post on X, Sa’ar writes that the fresh EU sanctions announced yesterday, imposed over Iran’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are “necessary steps in the international community’s fight against the Iranian threat, which constitutes the greatest danger to the security and stability of the Middle East, Europe, and the entire world.”
Long-delayed municipal elections underway in southern Israel
With the long-delayed municipal elections in southern Israel underway, the Interior Ministry announces that 14.59 percent of all eligible voters have voted as of 11:30 a.m.
Polls opened at 7 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 are eligible to take part in the elections at 15 polling stations within the southern districts and at an additional seven polling stations set up across the rest of the country for residents of the south displaced by the fighting.
While ballots will begin to be counted as soon as the polls close at 10 p.m. this evening, verified results will likely only be released at the end of the week due to the large number of so-called double envelope ballots expected to be cast by displaced residents and IDF troops, the ministry says.
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.
הבחירות בשדרות: שר הרווחה יעקב מרגי בסיור קלפיות משותף עם ראש העיר אלון דוידי, יחד עם צוות המטה ופעילי תנועת ש"ס. מוקדם יותר קיים השר מרגי ישיבת עבודה במטה יום הבחירות ובמטה הטלפניות pic.twitter.com/njZL44IloO
— משה ויסברג (@moshe_nayes) November 19, 2024
UN says over 200 children killed in Lebanon in under two months
The UN says over 200 children have been killed in Lebanon in the less than two months since Israel escalated its attacks targeting Hezbollah, after a year of the terror group assaulting the Jewish state.
“Despite more than 200 children killed in Lebanon in less than two months, a disconcerting pattern has emerged: their deaths are met with inertia from those able to stop this violence,” James Elder, spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, tells reporters in Geneva.
“Over the last two months in Lebanon, an average of three children have been killed every single day,” he says.
Ukraine vows no surrender, Kremlin issues nuke threat on 1,000th day of war
A Ukrainian serviceman of the 24th Mechanized Brigade fires a 152 mm self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions at an undisclosed location near Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region on November 18, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Handout / 24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces / AFP)
Ukraine says its forces will never surrender to Russia, 1,000 days after Moscow launched its brutal invasion, while the Kremlin also pledges victory and escalates its nuclear saber-rattling.
The grim anniversary opened with an overnight Russian strike in the eastern Ukrainian region of Sumy that gutted a Soviet-era resident building and killed at least nine people, including a child. President Volodymyr Zelensky published images of rescue workers hauling bodies from the debris and called on Kyiv’s allies to “force” the Kremlin into peace.
The foreign ministry echoes Zelensky’s comments in a statement marking the anniversary by calling on allies to ramp up their military support to bring about a “sustainable” end to the war.
“Ukraine will never submit to the occupiers, and the Russian military will be punished for violating international law,” the ministry says. “We need peace through strength, not appeasement.”
The Kremlin also vows to defeat Ukraine.
“The military operation against Kyiv continues… and will be completed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters, using Russia’s preferred language for its invasion. The comments come as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree broadening the scope for when Moscow will consider using nuclear weapons in a clear warning to the West and Ukraine.
The Kremlin says the move, which enables Russia to use nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear state if they are supported by nuclear powers, is “necessary to bring our principles in line with the current situation.”
IDF shoots down 2 drones heading toward Israel from Lebanon
Two drones heading toward Israel from Lebanon were shot down by air defenses a short while ago, the IDF says.
The military says the two drones were intercepted before crossing into Israeli airspace, and no sirens were activated according to protocol.
Separately, another two drones launched from Lebanon set off sirens across the Upper Galilee shortly before 11 a.m.. The IDF says both drones did not cross into Israel, and the incident is over.
Sirens warn of drone infiltration in Galilee; IDF tracking several targets
Sirens warning of a drone infiltration sound in the Upper Galilee as the IDF says it is tracking several targets that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon.
“The incident is still ongoing,” the IDF says.
Report: Shfar’am woman killed by rocket was sheltering in improperly built reinforced room
Channel 12 news reports that an initial investigation into the death of a woman in a rocket impact in Shfar’am yesterday shows that while she was in a reinforced room at the time of her death, the room was not built to code.
The report says the room’s walls appear to have improperly included a layer of ceramics, which shattered as a result of the rocket impact and hit Safaa Awad, 41, fatally injuring her.
Bank Leumi reports 29.8% increase in 3rd-quarter profits
Illustrative: Israelis walk next to Bank Leumi in Jerusalem, on November 16, 2014. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90/ File)
Bank Leumi, one of Israel’s two largest lenders, reports a 29.8 percent increase in net profit in the July to September quarter as it cashes in on high interest rates paid by mortgage and loan holders.
Leumi’s profit of NIS 2.3 billion ($617 million) in the third quarter is up from NIS 1.8 billion ($482 million) during the same period last year. Net interest income increases by 4.5% to NIS 4.5 billion ($1.2 billion) in the quarter compared with NIS 3.9 billion ($1.04 billion) a year ago.
The country’s banks have come under fire for being slow in passing on higher Bank of Israel interest rate increases to savings accounts, while fully profiting from the fruits of elevated borrowing costs on loans and mortgages. Meanwhile, households and businesses have been struggling to make repayments and the cost of living continues to rise during the ongoing war with the Hamas terror group.
Yesterday saw two other banks, Hapoalim Bank and Israel Discount Bank, also post high profits for the same period amid high interest rates.
Leumi’s loan portfolio in the third quarter grows by 7.1% compared with the corresponding period last year. In the first nine months of 2024, the loan portfolio increases by 6.5%. Deposits by the public rise by 8% in the third quarter compared with the same quarter last year.
Leumi says it will pay a quarterly dividend of 40% of net profit to shareholders, out of which NIS 688 million ($185 million) is a cash dividend and the remainder will be paid out from a share buyback.
One person lightly wounded in rocket strike on Karmiel
The scene of a rocket impact in Karmiel, November 19, 2024 (Israel Police)
One person was lightly wounded in a rocket impact in the northern city of Karmiel, first responders say.
Police say they received reports of a rocket that struck a home in the city, causing damage and lightly injuring the person.
Sirens had sounded in Karmiel and surrounding towns amid a Hezbollah rocket barrage.
The IDF says 25 rockets were launched in the attack, some of which were intercepted. Several impacts were also identified, the military adds.
Four lightly hurt by broken glass in rocket attack on central Israel
Four people are lightly wounded by broken glass following the Hezbollah rocket attack on central Israel, medics say.
Magen David Adom says windows in a building were shattered by a nearby rocket impact. An exact location has not been given.
According to the IDF, five rockets were launched in the attack, some of which were intercepted. Several impacts were also identified.
IDF kills at least 3 Palestinian gunmen in Jenin area raid
At least three Palestinian gunmen have been killed by Israeli troops during a raid in the Jenin area of the West Bank, a military source says.
Undercover Border Police officers surrounded a building in Qabatiya where several wanted Palestinians were holed up and carried out a tactic known as “pressure cooker,” which involves escalating the volume of fire against a building to flush suspects out.
No Israeli soldiers are injured. The operation is expected to continue in the coming hours.
10 rockets launched at northern Israel; none hurt
The army says 10 rockets were launched at northern Israel from Lebanon a short time ago. Several were intercepted while others hit open areas.
There are no reports of casualties or damage.
Military says 5 rockets launched at central Israel, some hit
The military says five rockets were launched at central Israel from Lebanon.
Some were intercepted while others impacted.
There are no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Sirens sound in central Israel as rockets launched from Lebanon
Sirens sounded in central Israel a short time ago, including in the Sharon region, Ra’anana and Herzliya.
The IDF says it identified incoming rockets from Lebanon.
US envoy Amos Hochstein arrives in Lebanon for ceasefire talks
US special envoy Amos Hochstein arrives in Lebanon for truce talks with officials on Tuesday, state media reports.
The United States and France have spearheaded efforts for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
Iran slams new EU, UK sanctions as unjustified
Iran’s foreign ministry slams as unjustified the new sanctions by the European Union and Britain against Tehran over its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“While the president of Ukraine has admitted that no Iranian ballistic missiles have been exported to Russia, the measures of the European Union and United Kingdom in applying sanctions against Iran cannot be justified,” ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei says in a statement.
IDF finding far more Russian arms in Hezbollah’s possession than expected — report
Troops of the 226th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade operate in southern Lebanon, in a handout image released on November 18, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Israeli troops operating in south Lebanon have encountered large amounts of Russian weaponry in the use of Hezbollah, in numbers greater than the military had expected, The Wall Street Journal reports.
According to the paper, much of the weaponry apparently reached the terror group from Syria’s military, which has been supplied by Russia for years.
Hezbollah’s cache of modern, sophisticated weaponry far exceeded prior military estimates in both quantity and capability, the Journal says, bolstering the group’s ability to strike and kill Israeli soldiers.
Israeli strike said to hit south Beirut building without prior evacuation warning
An Israeli airstrike without a prior evacuation warning destroyed a three-story building in Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight, according to Lebanese media.
Lebanese media report that several people were moderately wounded in the incident.
There was no comment from the IDF.
فرق الإسعاف تهرع الى المكان المستهدف في حي المصبغة – #الشياح بالضاحية الجنوبية لبيروت pic.twitter.com/7XYmpX2jIo
— Lebanon Debate (@lebanondebate) November 19, 2024
Shin Bet chief traveled to Turkey to discuss restarting Gaza talks — report
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar attends a farewell ceremony in honor of then-police chief Kobi Shabtai at the National Police Academy in Beit Shemesh, on July 14, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar traveled to Turkey — where an Arab official told The Times of Israel senior Hamas figures are now being hosted — over the weekend for talks with his counterpart Ibrahim Kalin, the Walla news site reports.
Citing sources involved in the matter, the report says the pair discussed efforts to restart the Gaza ceasefire-hostage talks and the possibility of Turkish assistance.
G20 urges ‘comprehensive’ ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon, calls for return of hostages
Leaders pose for a group photo at the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 18, 2024. (Ludovic Marin/AFP)
RIO DE JANEIRO — G20 leaders called for “comprehensive” ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon — where Israel is fighting respectively against Hamas and Hezbollah — in a joint statement at a summit in Brazil.
The leaders of the world’s biggest economies call for a US-proposed permanent ceasefire in Gaza in return for the release of all hostages, as well as a Lebanon ceasefire “that enables citizens to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line.”
Hezbollah agrees to US ceasefire proposal with ‘comments’ — Lebanese official
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri (R) meets with US special envoy Amos Hochstein (L) in Beirut, on October 21, 2024. (AFP)
Lebanon and Hezbollah have agreed to a US proposal for a ceasefire with Israel, with some comments on the content, a top Lebanese official tells Reuters, describing the effort as the most serious yet to end to the fighting.
Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, says Lebanon had delivered its written response to the US ambassador in Lebanon on Monday and that White House envoy Amos Hochstein was traveling to Beirut to continue talks.
There is no immediate comment from Israel.
Hezbollah, a heavily armed movement backed by Iran, endorsed its long-time ally Berri to negotiate over a ceasefire.
“Lebanon presented its comments on the paper in a positive atmosphere,” Khalil says, declining to give further details. “All the comments that we presented affirm the precise adherence to (UN) Resolution 1701 with all its provisions.”
He is referring to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a previous war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
Its terms require Hezbollah to have no armed presence in the area between the Lebanese-Israeli border and the Litani River, which runs some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the frontier — clauses the terror group violated from the get-go.
Khalil claims the success of the initiative now depended on Israel, saying if Israel did not want a solution, “it could make 100 problems.”
Khalil says Israel was trying to negotiate “under fire,” a reference to an escalation of its bombardment of Beirut and the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs. “This won’t affect our position.”
Israel urges UN to press Iraq over attacks by ‘pro-Iranian militias’
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar says he has sent a letter to the UN Security Council, urging it to pressure Iraq’s government to put an end to attacks on Israel by “pro-Iranian militias.”
“This evening, I sent a letter to the president of the UN Security Council, in which I called for immediate action regarding the activity of the pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, whose territory is being used to attack Israel,” Saar says in a post on X that featured a copy of the letter.
This evening I sent a letter to the President of the UN Security Council in which I called for immediate action regarding the activity of the pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, whose territory is being used to attack Israel.
I emphasized that the Iraqi government is responsible for… pic.twitter.com/3Bq7nJENkS
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) November 18, 2024
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