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The Times of Israel liveblogged Sunday’s events as they unfolded.
Iran to use more powerful warheads, ‘other weapons’ in planned attack on Israel — report
Missiles launched from Iran towards Israel are seen in the West Bank city of Nablus, October 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Iran is preparing an attack on Israel that will use more powerful warheads and “other weapons” not used in its previous two attacks, Iranian and Arab officials briefed on the plans tell The Wall Street Journal.
An Egyptian official tells The Journal that Tehran warned Cairo privately that its response to Israel’s airstrikes on its territory on October 26 — which was in retaliation for the Islamic Republic’s October 1 ballistic missile attack — will be “strong and complex.”
An Iranian official reportedly says that because its military lost four soldiers and a civilian, there is a necessity to respond.
The report says Iran’s military will be involved in the operation, marking a departure from the April 13-14 and October 1 missile attacks which were carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The official says the attack will target Israeli military sites “much more aggressively than last time,” and that Iraqi territory may be used to launch projectiles.
Video shows shootout between police and suspects in north
Footage shows a shootout between police and suspects in the northern Arab city of Arraba.
Police say shots were fired tonight at a business in the city, and officers responded to suspects who were fleeing from the area.
Police say they are searching for the assailants.
עומדים מאחורי הניידת ויורים: תיעוד חריג של חילופי אש בין שוטרים לחמושים בצפון
(אורלי אלקלעי) pic.twitter.com/W30hMmR8Hr
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) November 3, 2024
Trump says he wouldn’t mind if potential assassin shot journalists to get to him
Republican presidential nominee former US president Donald Trump is reflected in the bullet proof glass as he finishes speaking at a campaign rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania, November 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
LITITZ, Pennsylvania — Donald Trump gives a profane and conspiracy-laden speech two days before the US presidential election, talking about reporters being shot and suggesting he “shouldn’t have left” the White House after his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
In remarks today that bear no resemblance to his standard speech in the campaign’s closing stretch, the former US president repeatedly casts doubt on the integrity of the vote and resurrects old grievances about being prosecuted after trying to overturn his defeat four years ago. Trump intensifies his verbal attacks against a “grossly incompetent” national leadership and the American media, steering his Pennsylvania rally at one point onto the topic of violence against members of the press.
The GOP nominee for the White House notes the ballistic glass placed in front of him at events after a gunman’s assassination attempt in July at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and Trump talks about places where he saw openings in that protection.
“I have this piece of glass here,” he says. “But all we have really over here is the fake news. And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don’t mind that so much.”
It is the second time in recent days that Trump has talked about guns being pointed at people he considers enemies after he suggested former Rep. Liz Cheney, a prominent Republican critic, wouldn’t be willing to support foreign wars if she had “nine barrels shooting at her.”
His remarks also reflect that with less than 48 hours before Election Day, Trump continues to promote falsehoods about elections and argue that he can only lose to Democrat Kamala Harris if he is cheated, even though polls suggest a tight race.
Some of his allies, notably former chief strategist Steve Bannon, have encouraged him to prematurely declare victory on Tuesday even if the race is too early to call. That’s what Trump did four years ago, kicking off a process of fighting the election results that culminated in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.
His campaign later sought to clarify his meaning in talking about the media.
“President Trump was brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life, including one that came within 1/4 of an inch from killing him, something that the Media constantly talks and jokes about,” campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung says in a statement. “The President’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else.”
BREAKING: Trump says he wouldn’t mind if a shooter killed the reporters covering his rally. Don’t want to hear another word from MAGA about incendiary rhetoric. Look in the mirror. pic.twitter.com/8PWdYjBMEQ
— Trump’s Lies (Commentary) (@MAGALieTracker) November 3, 2024
Sister of alleged leak case suspect: ‘To all the single women, wait a bit. He will get out soon’
Eli Feldstein, a Prime Minister's Office employee named as a suspect in an investigation of an alleged leak of sensitive information. (Social media; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
The sister of Eli Feldstein, the central suspect in the alleged leaking of classified material from within the PMO, says her brother has been in the custody of the Shin Bet security services for a week.
In an Instagram story, Feldstein describes her brother as a hard worker with a “pure heart” who worked hard to get to his role. She also notes that he is single.
“So to all the single women, wait a bit. He will get out soon, stronger and braver,” she writes.
Lapid: Netanyahu either incompetent or complicit in leak, he should not be PM
National Unity chair Benny Gantz (left) and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid at a press conference in Jerusalem, November 3, 2024. (X screenshot: used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions over the course of the alleged leaking of classified material from within the PMO show that he is either too incompetent to lead Israel during wartime or is “complicit in one of the most serious security offenses” on the books, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares during a joint press conference with National Unity chairman Benny Gantz in Tel Aviv.
Lapid is speaking shortly after the Rishon Letzion Magistrates Court lifted a gag order on naming Eli Feldstein, the central suspect in the case.
“Netanyahu’s defense is that he has no influence or control over the system he heads. If that’s true, he’s ineligible. He is not qualified to lead the State of Israel in the most difficult war in its history,” Lapid declares.
“This case came out of the Prime Minister’s Office, and the investigation should check if it was not on the prime minister’s orders.
“If Netanyahu knew, he is complicit in one of the most serious security offenses in the law book,” Lapid states. And “if he did not know that his close aides were stealing documents, operating spies within the IDF, forging documents, exposing intelligence sources and passing secret documents to foreign newspapers in order to stop the hostage deal, what does he know?”
Investigators are examining four separate issues in the case: the leaking of top-secret documents; allowing an adviser without security clearance to access meetings and offices that should have been off-limits to him; negligence in the handling of classified documents; and using the documents to influence public opinion about a hostage deal.
“He didn’t know that the person he was bringing as part of his closest entourage into the pit in the Kirya, into the cabinet room, for the most secret discussions, had not received a security clearance from the Shin Bet?” Lapid asks in disbelief.
The prime minister has previously stated that he was unaware of the problems regarding overcrowding on Mount Meron or anything about allegations of misdoings surrounding the purchases of submarines for the Israeli Navy, Lapid adds, referring to two previous scandals. “Now he claims that he does not know what his office is doing while Israel is in the midst of an existential war.”
Gantz, a former member of Netanyahu’s now-defunct war cabinet, tells reporters that before his party left the government, “I said that political considerations had penetrated the holy of holies of Israel’s security” and now “we have reached the stage of proof.”
“Contrary to the impression they are trying to create in the Prime Minister’s Office, this is not [a case about] suspicions of a leak but of profiteering state secrets for political purposes,” he says. “If sensitive security information is stolen, and becomes a tool in a political survival campaign, this is not only a criminal offense, it is a national crime.”
“This should not be turned into a discussion about the impact of the leaked information or who is leaking more. Stealing classified intelligence information by an official in the Prime Minister’s Office is a black line, period,” Gantz continues.
“We have seen leaks about sensitive negotiations on the subject of the hostages at crucial moments,” Gantz says, and that the current scandal “reminds us of the urgent need to establish a state commission of inquiry” into the events surrounding the Hamas invasion and slaughter on October 7, 2023.
Court allows main suspect in PM’s office leak case to be named: Eli Feldstein
Eli Feldstein, a spokesman with the Prime Minister's Office named as a suspect in an investigation of an alleged leak of sensitive information. (Social media / used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
The Rishon Letzion Magistrates Court lifts a gag order on naming the central suspect in the case of the alleged leak of classified documents from within the Prime Minister’s Office.
The suspect is named Eli Feldstein, who works at the PMO. He was formerly a spokesperson for the office of Otzma Yehudit chief Itamar Ben Gvir.
Feldstein, who is remanded in custody by the court for a further two days, is suspected of illegally gaining access to classified IDF material, with this material then being leaked to foreign media.
The leaked documents are said to have formed the basis of a widely discredited article in the London-based Jewish Chronicle — which was later withdrawn — suggesting Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar planned to spirit hostages out of Gaza through Egypt, and an article in Germany’s Bild newspaper that said Hamas was drawing out hostage-ceasefire talks as a form of psychological warfare on Israel.
Israeli media and other observers expressed skepticism about the articles — which appeared to support Netanyahu’s demands in the talks and absolve him of blame for their failure — when they appeared in early September.
Feldstein is reported to have begun working in the Prime Minister’s Office in October 2023, soon after the Hamas invasion and massacre in southern Israel, despite having failed a Shin Bet security check.
In total, the court says four suspects are being investigated in the case, which began amid concerns in the security establishment that the leaked sensitive information would harm the security of the state and its information sources.
The court says there is a concern that the investigation could be harmed if the gag order is completely lifted at this time.
כקצין חרדי בצה״ל שגר בבני ברק גאה בשירות שלי, גאה במדים הירוקים שלי ולעולם לא אחליף אותם! https://t.co/JrqllF9DUA pic.twitter.com/Ly5snlUfE1
— אלי פלדשטין (@EliEli3172) March 31, 2020
Israeli official says ceasefire in Lebanon possible within two weeks
An air defense system fires interceptor missiles at rockets fired from Lebanon, as seen from Mitzpe Netofa, northern Israel, November 3, 2024. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
Israel can reach a ceasefire deal to end the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon within 10-14 days, an Israeli official tells Channel 12 news.
The US has been pushing for a ceasefire proposal that would restore calm to both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border more than a year after Hezbollah began launching missile and drone attacks against Israel on a near-daily basis.
The Kan public broadcaster on Wednesday published the details of what it said was a draft agreement drawn up by the US for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which forbids Hezbollah from maintaining a presence south of the Litani River.
Barnea reportedly tells hostage families chances for deal with Hamas low
Mossad chief David Barnea attends a state ceremony marking the anniversary of the Hamas October 7 attack, at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)
Mossad spy agency chief David Barnea told relatives of hostages held in Gaza in a recent meeting that the chances for a deal with Hamas are low, Channel 12 news reports.
Barnea told the relatives that mediators have not received any answer from Hamas on recent proposals and that the terror group is still demanding an end to the war in exchange for the release of hostages, Channel 12 reports.
When asked if the government would agree to the end of the war, Barnea reportedly said: “The negotiating team has no mandate from the prime minister to advance a total deal and the end of the war.”
Two of the possible hostage deals currently being discussed are an Egyptian proposal to release four hostages during a two-day ceasefire, and a multi-stage, Qatari-American proposal that would ultimately see all hostages released and the war ended.
Senior Hezbollah commander involved in drone attacks killed in airstrike
A senior commander in Hezbollah’s drone unit was killed in a recent airstrike in Lebanon, the IDF announces.
According to the military, Ali Barakat was a “significant source of knowledge” in Hezbollah’s aerial forces, known as Unit 127, which is responsible for drone and cruise missile attacks on Israel.
The IDF says Barakat spent over a decade planning and carrying out dozens of drone attacks on Israel, and was involved in developing drones and cruise missiles for Hezbollah.
Sa’ar says his party will oppose Haredi daycare bill in Knesset
Minister Gideon Sa'ar speaks at a meeting of his New Hope Faction in the Knesset in Jerusalem on October 28, 2024 (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)
Gideon Sa’ar, the chairman of the coalition’s New Hope party, says that his party will vote against the ultra-Orthodox Daycare Law approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation this afternoon.
“The enactment of the law during the current state of affairs will convey a message of encouraging evasion from service in the IDF and will assist in doing so,” he tweets.
“We cannot harm the value of service in the IDF, those who serve and their families who carry the heavy burden of the country’s security on their shoulders. Therefore, if the proposal approved today by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation is brought to the Knesset Plenum for a vote — we will vote against it.”
The government, he adds, “must strive to carry out significant moves that increase the participation of all sections of the public” in military service.
American Airlines nixes flights to Israel until September 2025
File: American Airlines passenger jets prepare for departure, July 21, 2021, near a terminal at Boston Logan International Airport. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
American Airlines announces it is extending the cancelation of flights to Israel from March 2025 until September 2025.
No US airlines are flying to Israel at the current time due to the ongoing conflict.
IDF says commandos captured man in Syria gathering intel on border for Iran
Ali Suleiman al-Asi, a Syrian man allegedly working on behalf of Iran, who was captured by Israeli commandos in southern Syria, in an interrogation video published on November 3, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Israeli commandos recently carried out a raid in southern Syria where they captured a Syrian man who was allegedly carrying surveillance operations on the border on behalf of Iran, the IDF reveals.
According to the IDF, the raid in Syria was carried out in recent months by the Egoz commando unit, along with field interrogators of the Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504.
The commandos captured Ali Suleiman al-Asi, a Syrian man who lived in the village of Saida, in the Daraa Governorate.
The IDF says that the man worked on behalf of Iran, and was involved in collecting intelligence on the Israeli military’s operations along the Syrian border, “for future terror activity.”
The military was “closely monitoring” al-Asi before he was captured and taken to Israel for questioning.
His arrest has “prevented and disrupted a future attack and led to the exposure of the modus operandi of Iranian entities on the Golan Heights front,” the IDF says.
The IDF releases footage from al-Asi’s interrogation, where he says that he was approached by a man who told him: “Your area is good, strategic, we can get something from this.” Al-Asi says that the man was “linked to Iran.”
The detained Syrian man tells Israeli interrogators that he was instructed by the Iranian-linked man to “just observe the borders,” while under the guise of Syria’s military intelligence, and pass on information on Israeli patrols.
Iran’s Pezeshkian says ceasefire with proxies could temper threatened attack on Israel
Commuters drive past a billboard bearing pictures of Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian (2-L), armed forces chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri (L) US President Joe Biden (2-R) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) in Vali-Asr Square in Tehran on October 27, 2024. (Atta Kenare / AFP)
Iran’s president says a potential ceasefire between its allies and Israel “could affect the intensity” of Tehran’s response to Israel’s recent strikes on Iranian military sites.
“If they (the Israelis) reconsider their behavior, accept a ceasefire, and stop massacring the oppressed and innocent people of the region, it could affect the intensity and type of our response,” Masoud Pezeshkian says, quoted by state news agency IRNA.
He adds that Iran “will not leave unanswered any aggression against its sovereignty and security,” according to the news agency.
Israeli warplanes carried out the October 26 strikes in retaliation for Tehran’s October 1 ballistic missile barrage.
Iran had in turn described that attack as a reprisal for the killing of Hamas and Hezbollah terror group leaders and an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
At northern border, Netanyahu vows to restore security in north ‘with or without an agreement’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Israel's northern border on November 3, 2024. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the northern border and held a situational assessment on operations against Hezbollah today with top military commanders, his office says.
During the visit, Netanyahu said that “with or without an agreement” with Lebanon, restoring security in the north and returning residents to their homes requires pushing Hezbollah north of the Litani River, preventing the terror group from rearming and responding to any activity against Israel.
“In simple words: enforcement, enforcement, enforcement,” he says adding it was also important to cut off Hezbollah’s “oxygen” from Iran through Syria.
Netanyahu thanked reservists for their achievements, noting their long absence from their everyday lives and their families during the war.
IDF says Hezbollah drone sparked fire in north after it failed to shoot it down
The IDF says a Hezbollah drone launched from Lebanon impacted in the Wadi Ara area in northern Israel a short while ago, sparking a fire.
Firefighters are working to extinguish the blaze.
Amid the incident, the IDF says it attempted to shoot down the drone, before it ultimately impacted near a highway.
Another drone was shot down by a Navy missile boat over the sea, just off the coast of Caesarea, the military says. It was shot down before entering Israeli airspace, according to the IDF.
Sirens had sounded in numerous towns in northern Israel amid the drone attack.
אחרי כ-40 דקות: אירוע חדירת הכטב"ם הסתיים; דיווחים על שריפה סמוך לאליקים | תיעוד@rubih67 @CBeyar, אורלי אלקלעי https://t.co/EHeXAeUgPR pic.twitter.com/wbAatfSDKZ
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) November 3, 2024
PM’s office says Netanyahu visited Lebanese border today
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Lebanese border today, his office says, as the military continued to pound Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.
“Netanyahu visited the Lebanon border today,” his office says in a statement, his second such visit to the frontier in less than a month.
Study finds loss of working hours due to reserve duty skyrocketed since outbreak of war
Reservists of the Carmeli Brigade are seen during operations in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo published on October 29, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
The Israel Democracy Institute releases a study finding the amount of working hours lost due to military reserve duty has soared over the past year amid the Israel-Hamas war.
According to the study, 5 percent of working hours were lost in October 2023, compared to 0.1% a month prior to the October 7 massacre.
The study says 130,000 employees were “mostly fully absent” from work each month between October and December last year.
That number dropped to 34,000 people in June and July this year, representing 1% of working hours, or 2% of men’s working hours, generating a loss of 1.16 million work hours each month, the study says.
“Even these numbers, while lower than during the height of the crisis at the end of 2023, are unprecedented, placing a considerable burden on workers and employers,” researcher Roe Kenneth Portal says.
Taxi company owner, 2 drivers charged for causing death by taking terrorists to Tel Aviv
Israeli security at the scene of a terror shooting attack in Jaffa, October 1, 2024. (Itai Ron/Flash90)
In what the State Attorney’s Office describes as a precedent, three people are indicted on charges of causing death by negligence and causing death by recklessness for driving Palestinians, who they knew did not have entry permits into Israel, across the Green Line, who then carried out a mass-casualty terror attack.
The indictments are filed against the owner of a taxi company, one of his drivers, and another taxi driver who worked in cooperation with that company after they drove two Hamas terrorists across the Green Line from East Jerusalem to Tel Aviv-Jaffa where they murdered seven people and injured 11 in one of the worst terror attacks in Israel in years.
The taxi company had started up a business illegally ferrying Palestinians from the West Bank into Israel who did not have permits to enter.
On October 1, the taxi company owner received a request to take 13 Palestinians without entry permits into Israel, including the two terrorists Mohammad Mesek, 19, and Ahmed Himouni, 25, both of whom were residents of Hebron in the West Bank.
The owner instructed one of his drivers to take the business even though he knew the individuals did not have entry permits when they both knew that “their entry into Israel was forbidden and in order to make money, while taking an unreasonable risk that the company [might be] giving taxi services to terrorists,” the State Attorney’s Office writes in the indictment.
The driver told the Palestinians who got into his taxi to turn off their cell phones and to draw the curtains in the rear windows of the vehicle. The terrorists wore black clothes unlike the other Palestinians who were being transported, and they had two backpacks with them, one which had a dismantled M-16 assault rifle and one which had knives and ammunition inside.
After crossing into Israel, the first driver had some of his passengers, including the two terrorists change taxis with a third driver connected to the company taking them onto Tel Aviv “because of his fear of police inspection.”
According to the indictment filed by the State Attorney’s Office, the terrorists originally planned to conduct their attack at a crowded venue such as a sports stadium, and while passing by Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv, one of the terrorists asked the driver if there was a basketball game on that evening, ostensibly to see if he could carry out a mass-terror attack at the venue.
After the taxi driver dropped the terrorists off at a light rail station in Jaffa, one of the terrorists opened fire at pedestrians and commuters while the other stabbed his victims. Mesek was killed at the scene and Himouni was seriously injured.
With Hezbollah and Hamas weakened, Gallant says Iran looking to ignite terror in West Bank
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (center) attends a situational assessment with top commanders at the Ephraim Regional Brigade in the West Bank, November 3, 2024. (Shachar Yurman/Defense Ministry)
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visits the Ephraim Regional Brigade, which operates around Tulkarm and Qalqilya in the West Bank, and holds an assessment with top commanders, his office says.
In a statement, Gallant says that due to military operations weakening Iran’s proxies Hezbollah and Hamas, the Islamic Republic is now “looking for additional routes for terror, and are pouring everything they can into Judea and Samaria,” referring to efforts by Tehran to arm terrorists in the West Bank.
IDF tracking target from Lebanon that triggered sirens in Western Galilee, Haifa Bay area
Sirens warning of a drone infiltration sound in the Western Galilee and Haifa Bay area, as the IDF says it is tracking a target that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon.
“The incident is still ongoing,” the IDF says.
Turkey leads multinational call to UN for arms embargo on Israel
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan arrives for a NATO foreign ministers' meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, on April 3, 2024. (Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s foreign ministry says it submitted a letter to the United Nations, signed by 52 countries and two organizations, calling for a halt in arms deliveries to Israel.
“We have written a joint letter calling on all countries to stop the sale of arms and ammunition to Israel. We delivered this letter, which has 54 signatories, to the UN on November 1,” Hakan Fidan says at a press conference in Djibouti, where he was attending a Turkey-Africa partnership summit.
“We must repeat at every opportunity that selling arms to Israel means participating in its genocide,” Fidan says, who added that the letter is “an initiative launched by Turkey.”
Among the signatories were Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Algeria, China, Iran, and Russia, with the two organizations being the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the UN to impose an arms embargo on Israel, which he said would be an “effective solution” to end the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Police custody extended for 2nd suspect in case of alleged intel leak from PM’s office
One of two suspects held in the case of an alleged leak of classified documents from the Prime Minister’s Office has his police custody extended, Hebrew media outlets report.
The other suspect was released from custody earlier today.
A court will rule today on whether the partial gag order on the scandal can be lifted.
Two rockets fired from Lebanon at Haifa land in open areas
Two rockets were fired from Lebanon at Haifa a short while ago.
According to the IDF, both rockets struck open areas.
No injuries are reported.
IDF footage shows commandos raiding Hezbollah base in southern Lebanon
The IDF releases undated footage of the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit raiding a Hezbollah site in southern Lebanon (not the unit’s weekend operation in northern Lebanon, in which a Hezbollah operative was captured).
According to the IDF, the naval commandos, along with members of the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit and Oketz canine unit, raided the compound, which it says was to be used by Hezbollah to plan and carry out infiltration attacks against Israel, as well as other attacks.
The military says the elite forces battled and killed Hezbollah operatives in a tunnel at the compound.
The soldiers also found bunkers where dozens of weapons were stored, including assault rifles, explosive devices, anti-tank missiles, surface-to-air missiles, mortars, and other equipment, the IDF says.
At the compound, the troops also located rocket launchers. The entire compound was later demolished, according to the IDF.
Rocket sirens sound in Haifa
Incoming rocket sirens are triggered in the northern city of Haifa.
Rabin’s family reportedly pushes for cancellation of upcoming state memorial service
President Isaac Herzog at a memorial service marking 27 years since the assassination of late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, held at Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem on November 6, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
The family of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin has requested the government cancel the state memorial service for the assassinated premier, the Ynet news site reports.
The family is concerned that the annual ceremony, this year scheduled for November 13, will be politicized amid the ongoing war, the report says.
Rabin’s wife and granddaughter do not offer a response to the report.
Last year, the annual memorial held at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery was canceled due to the war.
Rabin was shot to death by right-wing extremist Yigal Amir at the end of a mass peace rally in Tel Aviv on November 4, 1995, which was called to highlight opposition to violence and to showcase public support for his efforts to negotiate with the Palestinians.
Otzma Yehudit MK not responsible for spreading image of himself in south Lebanon, IDF says
MK Yitzhak Kroizer speaks during a protest against United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) outisde the agency's offices in Jerusalem, February 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The military says a far-right Otzma Yehudit lawmaker who had been called up to the IDF reserves and then dismissed from duty after a photo circulated showing him posing with Hebrew graffiti in a home in southern Lebanon was not responsible for the image.
MK Yitzhak Kroizer was pictured surrounded by soldiers from his unit with “Office of MK Kroizer” spray-painted on one of the walls behind them.
In a statement, the IDF says that while reserve duties are frozen for lawmakers, an exception was approved due to the needs of a specific operation in Lebanon.
Initially, he was suspended for violating a commitment not to link his service to his public role.
His commander has since revealed that the photo was not taken and spread by Kroizer, and the head of the IDF’s Personnel Directorate gave the MK eight days of leave, to which he was entitled, according to the IDF.
Lapid accuses ministers of dealing ‘fatal blow’ to IDF troops with daycare bill
Members of the Ministerial Committee on Legislation who voted in favor of the “‘evasion financing law” have dealt a fatal blow to the IDF soldiers and reservists today,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares, following the committee’s approval of the so-called Daycare Law.
“This is an irreparable betrayal of our hundreds of dead and thousands of wounded fighters. Is their blood cheap?” he tweets. “The humiliating law must not get a majority in the Knesset.”
Lapid’s outrage is echoed by former religious services minister Matan Kahana (National Unity), who calls the bill “a slap in the face of the reservists.”
“The meaning of this law is the whitewashing and budgeting of evasion,” he says. “If any of the Zionist ministers have even an iota of care left for those who serve, let them immediately file an appeal with the government secretariat and stop the progress of this humiliating law.”
IDF says Hezbollah has fired over 100 rockets from Lebanon at Israel today
Firefighters control wildfires after a massive 25-missile attack on the northern town of Katzrin and central Golan Heights, on November 3, 2024. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)
Since this morning, Hezbollah has fired over 100 rockets from Lebanon at Israel, according to an IDF tally.
No injuries or major damage were caused in the attacks.
Lawyer says 1 suspect in case of alleged intel leak from PM’s office released
One of two suspects in the ongoing investigation into the leak of classified documents from the Prime Minister’s Office has been released from police custody, his lawyer tells Hebrew media outlets.
A court will rule today on whether the partial gag order on the scandal can be lifted.
Airstrikes hit eastern Lebanon’s Baalbek after evacuation warnings
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek on November 3, 2024. (Sam SKAINEH / AFP)
BAALBEK, Lebanon — Several strikes hit Lebanon’s eastern Baalbek region, a Hezbollah stronghold, after the Israeli army issued an evacuation warning for the area, an AFP correspondent says.
The correspondent reports at least three strikes on the area, which has seen heavy air raids in recent days by Israel. A month ago Israel stepped up its battle against the Lebanese terror group, which has been firing rockets and explosive drones into Israel for over a year.
Ministers advance Haredi daycare subsidies bill despite Smotrich’s opposition
MK Yisrael Eichler attends a United Torah Judaism faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on October 28, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
A Haredi-backed bill aimed at preserving daycare subsidies for members of the ultra-Orthodox community is approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation and is expected to go to the Knesset plenum for a preliminary vote on Wednesday, announces a spokesman for United Torah Judaism MK Yisrael Eichler, the legislation’s sponsor.
The controversial legislation passes the cabinet-level body despite opposition from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, which earlier today stated that it would not back the bill unless it also enshrines preferential treatment for the families of IDF reservists.
The bill aims to guarantee that the children of ultra-Orthodox men who are obligated to perform military service but have not done so will continue to be eligible for taxpayer-supported daycare subsidies.
Previously the law allowed families in which a mother works and a father studies full time in yeshiva in lieu of military service to receive the subsidies, worth thousands of shekels a month.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara recently declared the arrangement illegal after the High Court of Justice ruled in June that ultra-Orthodox men are obligated to serve in the IDF and that financial support for such students was also illegal by extension.
Addressing the bill ahead of today’s vote, Baharav-Miara’s office described it as “unconstitutional,” arguing that “the principle of equality will be harmed through state and institutional encouragement of avoiding conscription into the IDF.”
Responding to the bill’s approval by the government, the opposition Yesh Atid party states that “the names of the members of the ministerial committee who approved the law for financing mass evasion during a difficult and painful war will forever be a symbol of betrayal and a knife in the back of the middle class, the reservists, the IDF’s wounded and the memory of the fallen.”
3 killed in Israeli strike near Sidon, Lebanese health ministry says
Lebanon’s health ministry says three people were killed and nine wounded in an Israeli strike on Haret Saida, a densely populated area near the southern city of Sidon.
Israel has been carrying out airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon alongside its ground offensive in the south of the country.
“The Israeli enemy’s raid on Haret Saida resulted in an initial death toll of three people killed and nine others injured,” the ministry says.
The strike was apparently not preceded by an Israeli evacuation warning.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
IDF: Some 30 rockets fired at Galilee region in recent barrage, drone intercepted
A barrage of some 30 rockets was fired at the Lower Galilee half an hour ago, the IDF says.
Some of the rockets were intercepted, and some impacts were identified. There are no reports of injuries.
Separately, a drone launched from Lebanon was shot down by air defenses over the Hula Valley, the IDF adds.
Man charged for throwing torches at police during anti-government protest
A screen grab provided by police from a video apparently showing a torch thrown by a protester toward a mounted officer during a demonstration in Jerusalem on April 3, 2024 (Israel Police)
The State Attorney’s Office files an indictment against an anti-government protester who allegedly threw torches at police officers during a demonstration in Jerusalem in April, on charges of obstructing a police officer under aggravated circumstances and committing an act of recklessness and negligence.
According to the indictment, Tel Aviv resident Roy Gordon threw a burning torch at a police position during a demonstration close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s private home on Azza Street in Jerusalem on April 2.
The torch did not hit anyone and was extinguished by a police officer after it hit the ground.
Several minutes later Gordon threw another torch, which had gone out but reignited as it flew through the air and eventually hit the horse of a mounted police officer, before being extinguished as it fell to the ground.
The protest in which the incident took place generated furious response from government officials at the time, after some protesters tried to break through police lines to get closer to the prime minister’s home.
Police used tough riot control methods at the time, dragging away protester Ayala Metzger, daughter-in-law of Hamas hostage Yoram, and spraying skunk spray from water cannons at others.
Man dies of wounds sustained during rocket barrage interception in Nahariya last month
Medics treat a Nahariya man wounded by Hezbollah rocket fire on October 23, 2024. (Magen David Adom)
A man has died of wounds sustained during a rocket barrage fired at Nahariya last month, the Galilee Medical Center announces.
The 57-year-old man from Nahariya was injured by shrapnel as a rocket barrage was intercepted on October 23.
The victim is not immediately publicly named.
The man was apparently was hit in the head by shrapnel amid a barrage of 25 rockets targeting the area.
He was hospitalized in intensive care and underwent a number of surgeries, the medical center says.
Rocket sirens sound in Galilee region
Rocket sirens sound in towns and communities throughout the Galilee region.
Ex-hostage posts photo of herself, brothers in Gaza tunnel in plea for deal: ‘How much longer will you ask them to survive like this’
Agam Goldstein-Almog, left, and her little brothers Gal and Tal, in a Gaza tunnel on October 8, 2023, in a photo apparently obtained by the IDF (Instagram used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Agam Goldstein-Almog releases photos of her and her younger brothers when they were being held hostage in Gaza. They were kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza along with their mother after their father and older sister were murdered by terrorists.
Goldstein-Almog posts the images on Instagram along with a plea for the remaining hostages to be released.
“Sitting in a tunnel in Gaza, being photographed and asking to go home,” she writes. “With tired, frightened eyes that a day earlier saw the worst things possible, and afraid of what they will see in the future.
“Today is November 3, 2024, and on this date last year I did not know that I would be released in three weeks, I did not know if I would even survive, if I would meet more hostages. I was afraid of what my eyes would see. I did not want to see more disasters, more pain.
“I will probably never be able to tell what those eyes saw. Those eyes that looked every day at the clock, waiting, not knowing why.
“Those eyes that looked closely at the hostages there. I looked into your eyes and I didn’t know it would take so long. How can we look you in the eyes? What will we say to you? What have they done to you there since we left you? Today I see you in my eyes, and I see people for whom you are not the top priority.
Agam Goldstein-Almog in a Gaza tunnel on October 8, 2023 in a photo apparently obtained by the IDF (Instagram used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
“I see you, and then I see your mother fighting for you wherever possible. I see two worlds and I know what you see there. Look into my eyes, lost and exhausted in the photo, and tell me that I will have to survive like this for another 51 days. I would not believe it.
“And I am angry, Because if they had released me a week earlier, I would have been saved from so much. Even one day earlier.
“So what will I say about them? Soon it will be 400 days and how much could we save them from what their eyes will see? And how much more will we put onto them with postponement and delay? Look them in the eyes, how much longer will you ask them to survive like this?”
The images appear to have been obtained by the IDF.
Chen Goldstein-Almog, 48, and three of her four children — Agam, 17, Gal, 11 and Tal, 9 — were released on November 26 as part of a temporary ceasefire deal. Her husband Nadav and eldest daughter Yam were murdered in the safe room of their home.
Bennett: ‘Anti-Zionist’ daycare subsidies bill for Haredi men who defy draft is ‘shameful’
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett speaks at an Israel Hayom conference, August 14, 2024. (Screenshot, used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)
In an extended post on Twitter this morning, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett decries as “shameful” a bill that would preserve daycare subsidies for members of the ultra-Orthodox community who defy draft orders, arguing that it would “take money from those who serve and move it into the pockets of those who evade.”
Previously the law allowed families in which a mother works and a father who studies full time in yeshiva in lieu of military service to receive the subsidies, worth thousands of shekels a month for ultra-Orthodox families.
The attorney general declared the arrangement illegal after the High Court of Justice ruled in June that ultra-Orthodox men are obligated to enlist in the IDF and that financial support for such students was also illegal by extension.
“Make a note: if this disgraceful law passes, none of our ultra-Orthodox brothers will enlist,” Bennett states, adding that while he had previously supported exemptions in order to integrate the ultra-Orthodox into the workforce, “since the war we are in a completely new reality: “The IDF needs 20,000 soldiers.”
“The only reason this devastating law is being promoted now is because [United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak ] Goldknopf issued a political ultimatum,” Bennett continues, calling the bill “an anti-Zionist law.”
Smotrich: Will only back Haredi daycare subsidies bill if IDF reservist families get preferential treatment
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting of his Religious Zionism party at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, October 28, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party informs cabinet secretary Yossi Fuchs and Justice Minister Yariv Levin that it will not support a Haredi-backed bill to preserve daycare subsidies for members of the ultra-Orthodox community who defy draft orders unless the legislation also enshrines preferential treatment for the families of IDF reservists.
The government is slated to vote on the bill — which aims to guarantee that the children of ultra-Orthodox men who are obligated to perform military service, but have not, will continue to be eligible for state-paid daycare subsidies — during today’s meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Legislation.
In exchange for supporting the bill, Religious Zionism demands that the families of reservists receive priority in daycare admissions and that they receive higher levels of subsidies.
The Attorney General’s Office has called the proposed legislation “unconstitutional,” arguing that “the principle of equality will be harmed through state and institutional encouragement of avoiding conscription into the IDF.”
Previously the law allowed families in which a mother works and a father who studies full time in yeshiva in lieu of military service to receive the subsidies, worth thousands of shekels a month for ultra-Orthodox families.
The attorney general declared the arrangement illegal after the High Court of Justice ruled in June that ultra-Orthodox men are also obligated to serve in the IDF and that financial support for such students was therefore illegal by extension.
Meanwhile, Smotrich has been losing support from his base for his silence, until recently, on the issue of draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men.
Iranian authorities arrest female student who stripped to underwear to protest harassment
Iranian authorities arrested a female student yesterday after she staged a solo protest against harassment by stripping to her underwear outside her university, reports say.
The woman, who has not been identified, had been harassed inside Tehran’s prestigious Islamic Azad University by members of the Basij paramilitary force who ripped her headscarf and clothes, according to reports by several news outlets and social media channels outside Iran.
She then took off her clothes in protest and sat outside the university dressed in just her underwear before defiantly walking in the street to the astonishment of passersby, videos posted on social media show.
In Iran, a student harassed by her university’s morality police over her “improper” hijab didn’t back down. She turned her body into a protest, stripping to her underwear and marching through campus—defying a regime that constantly controls women’s bodies. Her act is a powerful… pic.twitter.com/76ekxSK7bI
— Masih Alinejad ????️ (@AlinejadMasih) November 2, 2024
Under the dress code mandatory in Iran, women must wear a headscarf and loose-fitting clothes in public.
The footage appeared to have been shot by onlookers in a neighboring building. Another video showed her being bundled into a car by men in plainclothes and driven off to an undisclosed location.
The Amir Kabir newsletter alleges she was beaten during the arrest.
“Iran’s authorities must immediately and unconditionally release the university student who was violently arrested after she removed her clothes in protest against abusive enforcement of compulsory veiling by security officials,” Amnesty International says.
The London-based rights group, which has in the past years chronicled allegations of abuse against women in Iranian prisons, adds: “Pending her release, authorities must protect her from torture and other ill-treatment and ensure access to family and lawyer.”
It adds that “allegations of beatings and sexual violence against her during arrest need independent and impartial investigations.”
Iran’s conservative Fars news agency confirmed the incident in a report, publishing a picture with the student heavily blurred out.
It says the student had worn “inappropriate clothes” in class and “stripped” after being warned by security guards to comply with the dress code.
Citing “witnesses,” it says the security guards spoke “calmly” with the student and denied the reports that their action had been aggressive.
Near-nationwide protests erupted in 2022 following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested for an alleged breach of the dress code.
PM asks AG to join petition against gag order over probe into adviser’s alleged intel leak
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, surrounded by ministers, leads a cabinet meeting at the Bible Lands Museum to mark Jerusalem Day, June 5, 2024. The alleged suspect in a security leak is blurred and circled to the left of the image (Haim Zach/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asks Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to join the petition to have the gag order lifted on the ongoing investigation into the leak of classified documents from the Prime Minister’s Office, his office says in a statement.
A court will rule today on whether the partial gag order on the scandal can be lifted.
IDF officer seriously wounded during fighting in north Gaza
An officer with the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion was seriously wounded during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip this morning, the IDF says.
He was taken to a hospital for treatment.
IDF: Some 35 rockets fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon in recent barrage, taking morning’s tally to over 60
Some 35 rockets were launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon at northern Israel a short while ago.
The IDF says a barrage of some 10 rockets was fired at the Western Galilee, most of which were intercepted by air defenses, while the rest struck open areas.
A separate volley of 25 rockets was launched at the Golan Heights, which all struck open areas, according to the military.
No injuries were caused in the attacks.
Since this morning, Hezbollah has fired over 60 rockets at Israel, according to an IDF tally.
IDF calls on civilians near 4 buildings in Lebanon’s Baalbek to evacuate ahead of strikes
The IDF is calling on civilians near four buildings in Baalbek in northeastern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah.
Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, publishes maps alongside the announcement, which call on civilians to distance themselves at least 500 meters from the sites within the next four hours.
“You are located near Hezbollah facilities and assets, against which the IDF will operate in the near future,” Adraee says.
#عاجل إلى جميع السكان المتواجدين في منطقة بعلبك وتحديدًا في المباني المحددة في الخرائط المرفقة والمباني المجاورة لها
⭕️أنتم تتواجدون بالقرب من منشآت ومصالح تابعة لحزب الله حيث سيعمل ضدها جيش الدفاع على المدى الزمني القريب
⭕️من أجل سلامتكم وسلامة أبناء عائلتكم عليكم اخلاء هذه… pic.twitter.com/qfvSP5hUJW
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) November 3, 2024
CENTCOM chief Kurilla meets Halevi, tours THAAD missile defense battery deployed in Israel by US
US CENTCOM chief Gen. Michael Kurilla (left) meets with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, in a handout image published November 3, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
United States CENTCOM chief Gen. Michael Kurilla held an assessment with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi over the weekend, the Israeli military says.
The IDF says the assessment focused on “security-strategic issues and joint preparations in the region, as part of the response to threats in the Middle East, with an emphasis on Iran.”
Kurilla’s visit comes amid preparations in the IDF for a potential Iranian response to Israel’s retaliatory strikes in Iran on October 26.
The general arrived in Israel on Thursday. During his visit, Kurilla also toured a THAAD missile defense system battery that was deployed by the US in Israel, as part of those preparations.
“The IDF will continue to deepen its relationship with the US Armed Forces, due to our commitment to strengthening regional stability and the coordination between the militaries,” the IDF adds.
Rocket sirens in southern Golan Heights, northern border towns
Rocket sirens sound in a number of towns in the southern Golan Heights, in addition to communities close to the northern border.
There have been a number of rocket barrages from Lebanon so far this morning, with all the projectiles intercepted or striking open ground.
‘Unconstitutional’: AG blasts bill to preserve daycare subsidies for kids of Haredi men who defy draft
An ultra-Orthodox Jew protesting against the drafting of Haredim to the Israeli army holds a sign reading, "We won't draft to an enemy army," outside the IDF Recruitment Center at Tel Hashomer, in central Israel, September 2, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
The Attorney General’s Office declares as “unconstitutional” a bill being advanced by the coalition to guarantee that the children of ultra-Orthodox men who are obligated to perform military service, but have not, will continue to be eligible for state-paid daycare subsidies.
“A Knesset law cannot be considered constitutional if it means that the principle of equality will be harmed through state and institutional encouragement of avoiding conscription into the IDF in defiance of the Law for Security Services, contrary to the needs of the IDF, and contrary to the obligation of equal burden [in military service],” the Attorney General’s Office tells Justice Minister Yariv Levin.
The bill, a key political demand of the ultra-Orthodox coalition parties, is scheduled for a vote today in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which Levin chairs.
The legislation is a private member’s bill, however, meaning that it does not need the approval of the Attorney General’s Office to be advanced in Knesset.
Previously the law allowed families in which a mother works and a father who studies full time in yeshiva in lieu of military service to receive the subsidies, worth thousands of shekels a month for ultra-Orthodox families.
The attorney general declared the arrangement illegal after the High Court of Justice ruled in June that ultra-Orthodox men are obligated to enlist in the IDF and that financial support for such students was also illegal by extension.
The daycare subsidies constitute a critical component of the household economy of many ultra-Orthodox families, which is why the Haredi parties have exerted heavy pressure on the government to reinstate them. This pressure has increased due to the government’s inability at present to pass a new law reinstating blanket military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, as the Haredi parties have also demanded.
At rally marking 1979 embassy siege, Revolutionary Guard chief says Israel, US ‘cannot survive by killing Muslims’
Women wave Iranian, Palestinian and Hezbollah flags as they carry a mock coffin bearing the Israeli flag during a rally outside the former US embassy in Tehran on November 3, 2024 (ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Iranian demonstrators gather outside the former US embassy in Tehran to mark the anniversary of the 1979 hostage crisis that has for decades shaped relations between Washington and Tehran.
“Death to Israel, Death to America!” chant crowds of Iranians outside the building, which is currently a museum known as the “Den of Spies,” and covered with striking anti-American murals.
Others burnt the Israeli and US flags.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Hossein Salami criticizes Israel and the United States, saying they “cannot survive by slaughtering and killing Muslims.”
“We always warn them that if they don’t change their behavior, they will go towards collapse and destruction,” he says during a speech at the Tehran rally.
Iranians have held the rallies annually since 1979.
The hostage crisis began in November 1979 following the Islamic Revolution led by Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini that ousted the Western-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
Students loyal to Khomeini stormed the embassy building and held 52 staff hostage for 444 days while demanding that Washington hand over Iran’s recently toppled shah, who was being treated in the United States for cancer.
Washington officially broke off relations with Tehran in 1980, midway through the crisis, and they have been frozen ever since.
Bangladeshi national killed in Beirut airstrike
Lebanese army soldiers secure the area outside a building that was targeted in an Israeli airstrike on Hezbollah in Beirut's southern suburbs on November 2, 2024 (IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP)
DHAKA, Bangladesh — A Bangladeshi worker died in a airstrike in Lebanon, Dhaka’s foreign ministry says, as the Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets were said to hamper efforts by Dhaka to repatriate citizens.
Mohammad Nizam, 31, was killed on Saturday afternoon in a reported strike as he stopped at a coffee shop on the way to work in Beirut, Bangladesh’s ambassador to Lebanon, Javed Tanveer Khan says in a statement.
Mohmmad Jalaluddin says his younger brother Nizam had lived in Beirut for more than a decade, and had not been among the estimated 1,800 Bangladeshis who had registered for an evacuation flight home.
“We want to bury him in our ancestral home, and are now waiting for the government’s response,” Jalaluddin tells AFP.
But senior Bangladeshi foreign ministry official Shah Mohammad Tanvir Monsur says it is challenging to arrange a flight into Beirut.
“With the ongoing war, there are hardly any flights from Lebanon to Bangladesh,” Monsur says. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to repatriate our citizens who have registered to return home.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
IDF: Two rockets fired from Lebanon at northern Israel, triggering earlier sirens
The IDF says two rockets were fired from Lebanon at north Israel a short time ago, triggering sirens south of Haifa and in communities along the border.
The military says one of the projectiles was intercepted and the second struck open ground.
There were no reports of injuries.
Rocket sirens sound in towns south of Haifa, along northern border with Lebanon
Sirens sound in a number of communities on the coast south of Haifa, warning of incoming rocket fire.
Alerts are also heard in Shlomi and surrounding communities close to the northern border with Lebanon.
The warnings come shortly after a barrage of some 10 rockets was fired at the Galilee.
Report: Israel warns Baghdad it may target Iran-backed militia; Tehran attempting to transfer missiles to Iraq
Popular Mobilization Forces burn representations of US and Israeli flags during al-Quds Day in Baghdad, Iraq, May 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Ali Abdul Hassan, File)
Israel has identified targets in Iraq it will strike if Iran-backed militia continue to attack Israel from there, and has warned Baghdad, the London-based Saudi Elaph news site reports.
Unnamed officials apparently tell the outlet that satellites have monitored Tehran working to transfer ballistic missiles and related equipment from Iran to Iraqi territory, with the presumed goal of using them in an expected upcoming attack on Israel.
The report says Israel is monitoring and identifying targets belonging to the Iran-backed militias, as well as Iraqi state targets, and has warned Baghdad that it must rein in the militias and stop them from using its territory to launch attacks.
Iraqi sources are said to have expressed concern that Iran is using Iraq to shift the fighting away from its own territory.
Iranian officials are increasingly threatening to launch yet another strike against Israel in response to Jerusalem’s October 26 attack on the Islamic Republic that targeted military bases and facilities and which Iran said killed at least five people.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Iranian military facilities came weeks after the Islamic Republic’s October 1 attack, in which Iran launched some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, killing a Palestinian man in the West Bank.
Any further attacks from either side could engulf the wider Middle East, already teetering over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s ground operation of Lebanon, into a wider regional conflict just ahead of the US presidential election on Tuesday.
IDF: Some 10 rockets fired from Lebanon in latest attack on northern Israel
The Israel Defense Forces says some ten rockets were fired at northern Israel in the latest barrage from Lebanon.
The military says some of them were intercepted while others struck open ground.
No injuries were immediately reported.
Rocket sirens sound in Acre, Haifa area
Sirens sound in Acre and the Haifa area, in addition to multiple nearby communities, as the Galilee region apparently comes under rocket attack.
Terrorist involved in Oct. 7 onslaught on Kibbutz Nir Oz killed in strike, IDF says
Illustrative: Israeli soldiers walking next to the destruction caused by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, near the Israeli-Gaza border, in southern Israel, November 21, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
A Hamas Nukhba Force terrorist who participated in the October 7 onslaught was killed in a drone strike in the southern Gaza Strip last week, the IDF announces.
According to the military, Rafaat Ibrahim Mahmoud Aqdih was among the Nukhba terrorists who raided Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, killing and abducting civilians.
During the war, the IDF says he served as an assistant to the head of the Nukhba Force in Khan Younis.
צה״ל ממשיך לפגוע במחבלי חיזבאללה וחמאס: במרחב אל-חיאם בלבנון חוסלו שני מחבלים מרכזיים של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה; ברצועת עזה חוסל מחבל נח׳בה שפשט לקיבוץ ניר עוז ב-7 באוקטובר
כוחות אוגדה 91 יחד עם כלי-טיס של חיל-האוויר תקפו וחיסלו את המחבל פארוק אמין אלעשי, מפקד מתחם אל-חיאם של… pic.twitter.com/KrCsbqqJWH
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) November 3, 2024
Rocket sirens sound in communities near northern border with Lebanon
Sirens sound in multiple communities close to the northern border with Lebanon, warning of incoming rocket fire.
IDF: Hezbollah commander responsible for rocket attacks on Metula area killed in strike
Troops operating in Lebanon in an undated photo released by the military for publication on November 3, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)
The commander of Hezbollah’s forces in southern Lebanon’s Khiam was killed in recent Israeli drone strike, the IDF announces.
Farouq Amin al-Ashi, the commander of the Khiam area, was responsible for numerous rocket and missile attacks from the village on Israeli towns in the Galilee Panhandle, especially Metula, the military says.
A separate strike in Khiam killed Yousef Ahmed Noun, who the IDF identifies as a company commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force in the area.
IDF says drone crossed into Golan, then crashed or returned to Syria
The IDF says a drone crossed into Israeli airspace in the southern Golan Heights a short while ago.
Sirens sounded in several towns amid the incident, before contact was lost with the device.
The IDF says the incident is now over.
No impacts were identified in Israeli territory, and there are no reports of damage or injuries, the IDF says.
The drone may have crashed in an open area, without exploding, or possibly returned to Syria. The IDF is still investigating.
The IDF says the drone was launched “from the east,” a term it uses to describe attacks from Iraq.
Suspected drone alarms sound in Golan; IDF says incident ‘over’
A series of suspected drone infiltration alerts sound in towns in the southern Golan Heights.
The IDF says a few minutes later that the incident is “over,” without elaborating.
IDF soldier killed by grenade explosion in Gaza; Military Police probing circumstances
An Israeli soldier was killed by a grenade explosion early Saturday morning in the northern Gaza Strip, the IDF announces.
The Military Police has launched an investigation into the circumstances of the deadly incident, which was apparently not directly related to the fighting.
The IDF does not announce the soldier’s identity. He is named by local authorities as Shneur Zalman Cohen, 20, from the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar.
שניאור כהן, לוחם גבעתי בן 20 מיצהר, נהרג אתמול בעזה.
בן למשפחה חב״דית ותיקה ביישוב, למד בישיבת חב״ד במצפה יצהר.
גם אביו עושה מילואים בהגמ״ר.
שניאור הותיר אחריו הורים ו8 אחים ואחיות pic.twitter.com/HucHZ2DStX— Carmel Dangor כרמל דנגור (@carmeldangor) November 2, 2024
Harris opens ‘Saturday Night Live,’ urges US to ‘keep Calm-ala and carry on-ala’
Democratic US presidential candidate Kamala Harris appears on the “Saturday Night Live” TV comedy show, adding a surprise jolt to the US presidential election just three days before her showdown with Republican Donald Trump.
“Keep Calm-ala and carry on-ala,” Harris says in unison with the actor who plays her on the show, Maya Rudolph.
It is Harris’s first time on the show, which has had other presidential candidates over its decades-long run.
KEEP CALM-ALA & CARRY ON-ALA! ❤️ @KamalaHarris @MayaRudolph @nbcsnl #SNL pic.twitter.com/OgjJQrK1g2
— Frank Costa (@feistyfrank) November 3, 2024
US B-52 bombers arrive in region as Iran threatens to attack Israel again
The US Central Command announces that B-52 bombers have arrived in its area of responsibility, which mainly consists of the Middle East.
The deployment, announced on Friday, is possibly an attempt to deter Iran from attacking Israel again — as it has promised to do — following several recent direct attacks on each other.
B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers from Minot Air Force Base's 5th Bomb Wing arrived in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. pic.twitter.com/6mDs4n5G2u
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) November 2, 2024
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