The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they unfolded.
Israeli intelligence shared with the US claimed that Hamas had access to more bodies than claimed by the Palestinian terror group, Axios reports.
Citing two Israeli officials and one US official, the news outlet reports that Israel has told the US that Hamas is not doing enough to recover the bodies of the dead hostages, and that the Gaza deal cannot move into the next phase until that changes.
“We don’t see Hamas making maximum effort regarding the bodies,” it quotes an Israeli official as saying.
The US official tells Axios that Washington believes Hamas will eventually return all the bodies, “but it is going to take time.”
“We will continue working on it but we can’t allow the deal to collapse,” the official stresses.
US President Donald Trump says Hamas is looking for the bodies of the remaining deceased hostages held in Gaza.
“It’s a gruesome process… They’re digging and they’re finding a lot of bodies. Then they have to separate the bodies,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office..
“Some of those bodies have been in there a long time, and some of them are under rubble. They have to remove rubble,” he continues. “Some are in tunnels… that are way down under the earth.”
Predicting that the next question will be about whether Hamas will disarm, Trump reiterates, “We want the weapons to be given… They’ve agreed to do it. Now they have to do it. If they don’t do it, we’ll do it.”
He clarifies that the US military won’t be directly involved if intervention against Hamas is needed.
Trump claims Arab countries wouldn’t have agreed to get behind his plan for ending the war in Gaza had the US not struck Iran’s nuclear sites.
The caskets containing the apparent remains of two dead hostages have been brought out of the Gaza Strip by troops, the military says.
The bodies are now escorted by the police to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification, a process which officials have said may take up to two days.
Hamas did not provide the identities of the hostages it handed over.
If the two bodies are confirmed to be hostages, the terror group would still be holding the remains of 19 dead hostages in Gaza.
Released hostage Bar Kuperstein uploads his first post to social media following his release from captivity earlier this week.
In a video posted on Instagram, Kuperstein thanks the public for “all the love and support” he has received upon his return.
“I’ve been through a pretty tough time, to put it mildly, it [will take] me some adjusting, but what matters is I’m here with my family, my friends and loved ones. Thank you to everyone who prayed, supported and never gave up,” he says.
בר קופרשטיין במסר ראשון pic.twitter.com/OC1T9fGBMh
— Itsik Zuarets איציק זוארץ (@Itsik_zuarets) October 15, 2025
IDF troops in the Gaza Strip have received two caskets, with the apparent bodies of dead hostages, from the Red Cross a short while ago.
The caskets had been collected by the Red Cross from Hamas in Gaza City.
The IDF is set to inspect the caskets before draping them in Israeli flags and holding a short ceremony led by a military rabbi.
The remains will then be taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification to confirm they belong to slain hostages.
Shadi Abu Sido’s world was shattered in Israeli detention when guards told him his wife and two children had been killed.
“I got hysterical,” the Gaza Palestinian photographer says.
It wasn’t until his release on Monday, part of the US-mediated ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel that halted two years of war, that he discovered his loved ones were alive.
His wife, Hanaa Bahlul, raced down the hallway of his family’s house in Khan Younis and leapt into his arms. He spun her in the air as they clung to each other. Abu Sido kissed his children’s cheeks again and again, murmuring “my love” as he held the daughter and son he thought he would never see again.
“I heard her voice, I heard the voice of my children, I was astonished, it cannot be explained, they were alive. I saw my wife and children alive. Imagine amid death-life,” he says.
Abu Sido, a photojournalist, said he was detained at Shifa hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on March 18, 2024.
He was among 1,700 Gazan detainees uninvolved in the October 7, 2023, massacre, who were arrested as unlawful combatants during the war, to go free on Monday as part of the ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas.
According to Palestinian human rights group Addameer, 2,673 Gazans are detained under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law — a form of administrative detention.
Reuters says that the IDF and Justice Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Defense Minister Israel Katz says he has instructed the IDF to prepare a “comprehensive plan” to defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip in the event of a renewal of the war.
Katz ordered the move during a meeting he held today with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other top generals.
According to Katz’s office, he instructed “the preparation of a plan for the complete defeat of Hamas in Gaza if it refuses to implement [US] President [Donald] Trump’s plan, and it becomes necessary to resume fighting.”
“Under Trump’s plan, Hamas must return all the fallen hostages in its possession, and disarm, while Israel, together with the international force led by the US, will act to destroy all tunnels and terror infrastructure in Gaza to ensure that Gaza is demilitarized [and does not pose] any threat to the State of Israel,” the statement says.
“If Hamas refuses to implement the agreement, Israel, in coordination with the US, will return to fighting and act to achieve the complete defeat of Hamas, change the reality in Gaza, and attain all the objectives of the war,” Katz’s office adds.
Released hostage soldier Matan Angrest eulogizes his commander, Cpt. Daniel Perez, whose body was returned to Israel shortly after he was also freed from over two years in Hamas captivity earlier this week.
“I didn’t prepare anything in advance. I can’t believe I even made it here. This is the least I could do for Daniel and the whole crew,” Angrest says.
He says that Perez “is a figure to be admired. My commander will always be my commander, until the day I die. You will go with me until my last day and even in the world to come.”
“We will keep fighting for Itay Chen, until he returns,” Angrest says, referring to another member of his tank crew, whose body was abducted to Gaza on October 7 and has yet to be returned. “I’m ready to go into Gaza right now to bring him back.”
Kobi Kalfon, father of released hostage Segev Kalfon, offers words of prayer and praise for the return of his son “to his arms.”
Kalfon tears up as he talks about the hard two years of captivity for Segev, the physical and psychological terror that he had to withstand.
He praises the security forces and soldiers, the Israeli nation and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for “his brave decision to take the deal in two hands and fulfill the mitzvah of saving the captives.”
He also thanks US President Donald Trump, envoy Steve Witkoff, hostage envoy Gal Hirsch, IDF negotiator Nitzan Alon and their hometown community of Dimona.
He says that just as Moses fulfilled the pledge of taking Joseph’s bones with him when he left Egypt, so must all the bodies of the hostages be brought home to Israel.
“Enough separation,” says Kalfon of his wish for the nation. “Our strength is in our unity.”
Ruhama Bohbot, the mother of released hostage Elkana Bohbot, says that welcoming her son home is like a rebirth, a personal redemption.
Bohbot says that from now on, she and her son will celebrate a new birthday — the day he was released home from captivity.
Like the other families, she thanks President Trump, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner “for putting all their weight behind this deal so that it would happen,” along with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hostage envoy Gal Hirsch and IDF hostage negotiator Nitzan Alon.
Julie Kuperstein, mother of released hostage Bar Kuperstein, says she dreamed of this moment of standing and saying thank you. Kuperstein says she knew and felt that Bar and the family were in God’s hands.
She calls Netanyahu and Trump “emissaries of God” for bringing about the release of the remaining hostages.
She says that her son Bar, and her husband, Tal, who suffered a stroke during surgery prior to October 7, and relearned how to speak and stand during the last two years, have learned what courage is.
Tal Kuperstein calls his son “a real hero.”
“He returned our smiles to us,” says Kuperstein.
Sharon Alony Cunio, the wife of released hostage David Cunio, says in a statement from Sheba Medical Center that she has waited two years to tell her daughters, “Emma and Yulia, daddy is home.”
This will be the third night that David can hug his young daughters before they go to sleep, and they often fall asleep together, Alony Cunio says, adding that they no longer have to ask her if he’s still alive and if he’ll come home.
She says it will be a long journey of rehabilitation, of healing and mourning the friends and neighbors they lost, the trauma of being taken hostage, the nightmare of captivity.
“I rely on my David, we will return to being a happy family,” says Alony Cunio.
She thanks US President Donald Trump, hostage envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and the negotiating team, “most of whom were in the shadows and did all they could.”
Alony Cunio thanks all the soldiers, and the nation of Israel, who went out to the streets to demand the return of the hostages.
“The victory is yours,” she says.
She adds that they won’t stop the struggle until the last hostage is home, “otherwise it will be a stain for generations to come.”
Arbel Yehoud, the partner of released hostage Ariel Cunio and a former hostage herself, calls herself “emotional and purified” in her statement from the hospital.
She laments that the hostages could have been brought home long ago, and that others could have been saved — including, she says, fellow Nir Oz residents Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, as well as Oded Lifshitz, Amiram Cooper and Yoram Metzger.
Amiram Cooper’s body has not yet been returned from Gaza.
“This unending nightmare is over only when all are buried at home,” says Yehoud, asking people to continue going to the weekly rallies at Hostages Square until all are returned.
She thanks the Trump administration and Steve Witkoff for creating a new reality and for their “huge heart.”
“You saved my life,” said Yehoud, who was released in February 2025 after being kept captive alone for a year and a half. “I’m here because of you, and so is my beloved Ariel and many others.”
Yehoud speaks about being part of the bereaved families in Israel, and her brother, Dolev Yehoud, who was killed fighting invading terrorists in Kibutz Nir Oz, leaving behind his pregnant wife and three children; and about her beloved friends, the Siman Tov family, who were murdered in their home on October 7, 2023.
“I hope for better days,” says Yehoud.
The IDF says the Red Cross has notified the military that it has collected two caskets, with the apparent bodies of slain hostages, from Hamas in Gaza City a short while ago.
The Red Cross is now bringing the caskets to IDF troops inside Gaza, where a small ceremony, led by a military rabbi, will be held. The remains will then be taken for identification.
Hamas has not announced the identities of the hostages it handed over.
“Hamas is required to abide by the agreement and make the necessary efforts to return all the bodies,” the military says.
US President Donald Trump indicates that he’ll allow Israel to resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas doesn’t uphold the terms of the hostage deal inked last week.
“Israel will return to those [Gaza] streets as soon as I say the word,” Trump tells CNN in a phone interview. “If Israel could go in and knock the crap out of them, they’d do that.”
While he recognizes that Hamas has yet to return the vast majority of the 28 bodies of deceased hostages that were held in Gaza before the deal entered into place, he says, “Getting those 20 [living] hostages out was paramount.”
Commenting on Hamas’s execution of several dozen Gazans it alleged had collaborated with Israel, Trump says, “What’s going on with Hamas – that’ll be straightened out quickly.”
Hamas is “going in and clearing out the gangs, violent gangs.”
Pressed on whether those being targeted by Hamas are actually innocent civilians, Trump responds, “I’m doing research on it… We’ll find out about it. It could be gangs plus.”
As for his efforts to coax Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into agreeing to the Gaza ceasefire deal, Trump says, “I had to hold them back… I had it out with Bibi.”
He boasts of the widespread international support his Gaza plan has received. “They want to be part of the Abraham Accords. Now that Iran isn’t a problem.”
Holding pictures of slain hostages whose bodies are still held in Gaza, family members of four released hostages deliver statements to the press at Sheba Medical Center.
Sylvia Cunio, whose two sons, David and Ariel Cunio, were released Monday, stands flanked by her daughter-in-law, Sharon Alony Cunio, who is married to David, and Arbel Yehoud, Ariel’s longtime partner.
“My children are home!” yells Cunio, pumping her fist.
She recalls how her family was nearly crushed on October 7, when two sons and their families were taken captive.
“My David and Ariel are here! My family is complete again, I am breathing again. They are beautiful, they are smiling and I can’t stop crying from happiness. It will take time until they return to themselves, but I rely on my wonderful children.”
Cunio thanks Israel’s soldiers, Israel’s mothers, the Kibbutz Nir Oz community and the entire nation for continuing to fight for her children and all of the hostages.
She also thanks US President Donald Trump and his staff, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog that she can “finally hug my children.”
She tells the bereaved families, whom she says are heroes, that they will always be in her heart, and reminds those present that the battle isn’t over until all the hostages are home, their bodies buried in Israel.
“You will have a grave to go to,” says Cunio, her voice wavering with tears.
Hamas’s military wing claims that it has met its obligations and returned all the living hostages to Israel, and the bodies of all the dead hostages “that it was able to reach.”
The terror group adds that “what remains of the bodies of hostages (that were not returned) — requires great effort and special equipment to search for, and we are making great efforts to resolve this issue.”
Earlier, Hamas announced that it would transfer the bodies of two more hostages tonight.
After they are returned, the bodies of 19 other hostages will remain in Gaza.
Mediators have warned that it may take weeks for Hamas to locate the bodies of all the hostages, due to the level of destruction across the Gaza Strip.
A joint international task force is to be established to locate the missing bodies, and an Egyptian team is already operating in the Strip to locate and extract deceased hostages.
A convoy of Red Cross vehicles is now heading to a handover site in the northern Gaza Strip to collect the bodies of two hostages from Hamas, the IDF says.
The Red Cross will bring the caskets to IDF troops inside Gaza, where a small ceremony, led by a military rabbi, will be held in their memory.
Then, the bodies will be taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification.
Hamas did not identify the hostages it is set to hand over.
“Hamas is required to abide by the agreement and make the necessary efforts to return the captive bodies,” the IDF adds.
After the latest hostage deal was reached, Yosef-Haim Ohana, one of the former hostages released on Monday, spent several days in a pit underground with another six captives, unable to sit or lie down, with barely enough air to survive, according to his father, Rabbi Avi Ohana.
“[Their captors] put seven men in a pit,” he tells Kan Moreshet radio. “They could not sit, only lean against the wall while standing. He lacked oxygen. I thank God, who made him strong. What kept him going was his family.”
According to additional excerpts of the interview quoted by Haredi media, during captivity at some point Hamas terrorists gave Ohana and another hostage a little radio that would allow them to listen to the Quran but they managed to tune the device to Israel’s Army Radio station instead, and Yosef heard his father being interviewed.
“He said to himself, ‘My father is alive! He is waiting for me!’ and it gave him new life,” the rabbi shares.
President Isaac Herzog eulogizes Cpt. Daniel Perez at his funeral at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, after his body was returned this week from Hamas captivity two years after his murder in the Hamas-led massacre on October 7, 2023.
“Today, Captain Daniel Peretz, son of this nation, returns home — to his soil, to our soil,” Herzog says.
Perez, an immigrant from South Africa, was a tank commander in the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion and was killed battling Hamas terrorists on October 7, who then abducted his body to Gaza.
“On that bitter, hasty morning two years ago, Captain Daniel Perez commanded ‘Team Perez’ — his Nahal Oz unit — with composure and extraordinary courage,” Herzog says.
Perez fought “Together with his tank crew,” which included Tomer Leibovitz, Itay Chen and Matan Angrest — the crew’s sole survivor.
Chen’s body was taken to Gaza along with Perez’s, while Leibovitz was killed but not kidnapped. Angrest, who was abducted alive and released on Monday, is in attendance at the funeral.
Herzog honors Chen’s memory, whose body is still held by Hamas in Gaza, saying “we embrace his family today, even as we continue to demand, cry out, pray and act by every means for his immediate return to the landscape of his homeland, as stipulated in [US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire] agreement.”
The president commends the Perez family, saying their bravery and commitment to national unity became apparent throughout his meetings with them during the war, and thanks them for “teaching us another lesson: that even in the deepest personal pain, it is possible to hold onto the faith of an entire nation.”
“We must not stop, must not tire, must not give up or accept a reality in which any of our fallen have not yet returned. The mission is not yet complete. We will continue to do everything until we bring everyone home to eternal rest,” Herzog says.
France accuses Palestinian terror group Hamas of carrying out “summary executions” in Gaza after a ceasefire with Israel.
Hamas has published a video showing the shooting of eight blindfolded and kneeling suspects, branding them “collaborators and outlaws.”
The footage, apparently from Monday evening, emerged as armed clashes were underway between Hamas’s various security units and armed Palestinian clans, some alleged to have Israeli backing.
“France strongly condemns the summary executions carried out by Hamas in recent days in Gaza,” the French foreign ministry says.
“The armed incidents that have occurred in recent days are particularly concerning.”
Mediators informed Hamas today that “Israel’s patience is running out” as it continues to drag out the return of the dead hostages, Channel 12 reports, noting that negotiations to speed up their return are ongoing.
Israeli sources tell the network: “We know exactly how many hostages Hamas is capable of releasing, and whether or not it has access to the bodies. We made it clear to the mediators — Hamas is playing a dangerous game.”
However, the report adds that during political discussions in Israel today, a growing view was shared by many that it would be unwise at this stage to torpedo the ceasefire deal over the issue, and would be better to allow the process to move forward.
Officials with technical expertise have told the political echelon that the process of returning the slain hostages could take weeks, the report adds, while others estimate it’s possible Israel will not be able to recover all the bodies until a joint multinational task force that is set to be established to locate bodies in the Strip whose locations are unknown begins operating.
The remains of seven hostages have been released as part of the ongoing Gaza deal, as well as the body of an unidentified person whom Hamas insists is an IDF soldier, although reports suggest he is a West Bank Palestinian taken to Gaza by the Israeli military as a human shield.
Hamas said that it will return another two bodies tonight.
The military wing of the Hamas terror group says it will hand over the remains of two hostages at 10 p.m. tonight.
Following the announcement, a senior Red Cross official confirms to The Times of Israel that it is expecting to receive the bodies of two hostages.
Hamas did not identify the hostages it is set to hand over.
Hamas has yet to return the bodies of 21 dead hostages.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells Defense Minister Israel Katz that his failure to sign a confidentiality certificate regarding the prosecution of Likud MK Tali Gotliv has “raised concerns” that he is abusing his power to protect a member of his own party from being indicted.
Gotliv is alleged to have violated the Law for the Shin Bet in 2024 by disclosing the identity of a Shin Bet agent when she exposed the partner of key anti-government activist Shikma Bressler as an official in the security service.
Writing to Katz, who, like Gotliv, is a Likud member, Baharav-Miara tells the defense minister that his signature on the confidentiality certificate — designed to prevent the disclosure of classified information during a trial — is necessary to enable an indictment to be brought against Gotliv.
The attorney general notes that Katz’s office told the Shin Bet on August 10 that he had refused to sign the certificate, despite being informed that this could lead to the exposure of the intelligence community’s work methods.
“Your refusal to sign the confidentiality certificate… without presenting any substantive explanation justifying the recommendations of security officials gives rise to a concern of an abuse of your power, and the obstruction of a legitimate legal procedure,” Baharav-Miara tells the defense minister, noting specifically that Gotliv and Katz are members of the same party.
Katz, in response, accuses the attorney general of sending her letter to the press before he even received it, which he says is a “disgusting” way to act.
The defense minister claims he has not been able to deal with the issue of the confidentiality certificate “owing to my many and urgent dealings with matters of security and diplomacy,” and that he will address the request after consulting with the relevant officials.
Released hostage soldier Matan Angrest met with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir at Ichilov Hospital earlier today, and this evening is attending the funeral of his commander, Cpt. Daniel Perez, whose body was returned to Israel by Hamas this week.
“Along the entire way [of the war], you were before my eyes, and your safety was a central consideration. We will not rest until we bring all the fallen hostages back to Israel,” Zamir says to Angrest, according to the IDF.
Ahead of the funeral, Angrest says: “It was important to me to salute and pay final respects to my commander, Daniel, who led our heroic battle that Saturday [on October 7, 2023],” according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“The circle will only be complete when Itay Chen is laid to rest in Israel, together with all the fallen [hostages],” he adds, referring to another member of his tank crew whose body is still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Angrest, Perez, Chen and Tomer Leibovitz were stationed in a tank on the Gaza border on the morning of October 7 and fought for hours against the Hamas invasion.
The bodies of Perez and Chen were taken captive to Gaza, while Angrest was abducted alive. Leibovitz was also killed, but his body was not kidnapped.
Palestinian sources report that prominent security prisoner Marwan Barghouti suffered four broken ribs after being beaten by Israeli prison guards last month.
The former Fatah leader was allegedly beaten while being transferred between detention facilities in mid-September, from Ramon to Megiddo prison, according to a statement from the Hamas-linked Prisoners’ Information Office.
Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the Israel Prison Service as national security minister, denies the allegations but in the same breath says he is “proud that Barghouti’s conditions have changed drastically” during his tenure.
“The murderer Barghouti knows that today, terrorists like him are dealt with firmly, which is why he invents fake news in an attempt to rouse his loathsome terrorist comrades who left him behind in the deal,” says the far-right minister in a statement.
Barghouti, seen by many Palestinians as a potential successor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, has been incarcerated since 2002. He is serving five cumulative life terms plus 40 years in prison for helping plan attacks during the Second Intifada that killed five civilians.
Barghouti has denied the charges against him and has also rejected the Israeli court’s jurisdiction to try him as a member of the Palestinian Authority’s parliament.
Hamas negotiators pressed hard to have Barghouti freed in a recent hostage-prisoner exchange that saw the terror group hand over the remaining 20 living hostages in exchange for 1,968 Palestinian detainees, but they ultimately failed to secure his release.
Released hostage Rom Braslavski, who was freed on Monday after over 730 days of captivity in Gaza, was tortured and starved during captivity, and his captors would offer him extra food in an attempt to persuade him to convert to Islam, according to his mother Tami.
“Rom told me that between April and July they abused him more,” she tells the Kan public broadcaster. “Several times a day, they would beat him with a whip and with things that I will not even mention. He absorbed it.”
“He told me, ‘Mom, I always knew it would end.'”
Braslavski, 21, was working as a security guard when he was taken captive by Hamas terrorists from the Supernova festival on October 7, 2023.
“It’s important for him to maintain his Jewish identity because they asked him to convert to Islam,” Tami says. “They tried to tempt him with food and small gifts. He didn’t break down and didn’t do it.”
At some point, after being given just a half pita in the evening every day, and living with his hands and feet handcuffed, Braslavski decided to act and managed to set fire to a terrorist’s uniform and a book, using the flame to cook some pasta. The smoke attracted the attention of other people nearby, but his captor transferred him to a slightly better location before anyone could find him, Tami shares.
Braslavski revealed to his mother that he saw bodies of slain hostages in Gaza right before he was released.
“He told the Coordinator for the Hostages and Missing [at the Prime Minister’s Office] Gal Hirsch that his mission is not over,” she says.
The fourth body returned by Hamas to Israel last night belongs to a West Bank Palestinian man who had reportedly been used by the Israeli military as a human shield in the Gaza Strip.
Officially, Israel has said that the body returned to Israel did not belong to any hostage.
A source cited by Al Jazeera claimed that Hamas had returned the body of an ostensible Israeli soldier who was captured in northern Gaza’s Jabalia in May 2024.
At the time, the military swiftly denied Hamas’s claim that it had captured a soldier in Jabalia, saying: “The IDF clarifies that there is no incident of a soldier’s kidnapping.”
The terror group had aired a video showing a bloodied person being dragged along the ground in a tunnel, and published images of military gear and submachine guns, which are not commonly used by the Israeli military. Hamas later also published a picture of the man’s face, without naming him.
Palestinian media at the time identified the man as Khalil Dawas, a Palestinian from the West Bank’s Aqabat Jabr camp, near Jericho. The reports said Dawas had been detained by Israel in the past.
The Kan public broadcaster reports, without citing any sources, that the man whose body was returned “operated alongside security forces in searches of underground tunnels” and was “killed by Hamas terrorists a year and a half ago.”
Amid the war, there has been a commonplace — but officially prohibited — practice of soldiers sending detained Palestinians to search buildings and tunnels before troops enter, endangering their lives.
The IDF says it strictly prohibits using civilians as shields, and has opened investigations into several such cases.
Idit Ohel, mother of released hostage Alon Ohel, delivers a statement to the press surrounded by her husband and two other children at Beilinson Hospital.
She relays a message from Alon, saying that he saw how the nation of Israel fought for him and how strangers would hold up pictures of him, and that the show of solidarity gave him the strength needed to survive captivity.
Ohel says her son is worn out from an unimaginable experience, but is improving day by day.
“We always knew he had the emotional ability to survive, but honestly, his abilities were beyond anything we could imagine,” says Ohel.
After living for two years with shrapnel in his right eye — leaving him with limited vision — and his head, Alon will need surgery, she says, adding that medical staff believe that his eyesight can be improved significantly.
Ohel thanks Israel’s security forces and the government for the deal that brought about Alon’s release, as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal, the hostage negotiating team, including the government’s hostage envoy Gal Hirsch and IDF negotiator Nitzan Alon. She also thanks US President Donald Trump and his staff, and the German and Serbian ambassadors for their help and support over the past two years.
Ohel also thanks their family and friends, and “our nation who stood with us, and didn’t stop for a moment, saying ‘You’re not alone, we’re with you.'”
“You were the light at the end of our tunnel and Alon’s tunnel, because of you, we were not alone.”
Ohel also speaks tearfully about the state of the country, and the need to rebuild it into a home that is united, not divided, and which “all of its citizens feel they are part of.”
“It’s up to us to ensure that the new home we build here will be a complete home,” she says, “that it will be a safe home, in the deepest sense of the word.”
Above all else, she says, Israel must become a home “that breathes hope and spreads hope.”
Israeli annual inflation in September dropped more than expected, led by declines in the costs of fresh fruit and foreign travel, along with entertainment and culture, data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics show.
Annual inflation over the past 12 months decelerated to 2.5 percent, down from 2.9 percent in August, 3.1% in July, and 3.3% in June. The inflation rate in August moved within the government’s annual target range of between 1% to 3% for the first time since June 2024.
On a monthly basis, the consumer price index (CPI), a measure of inflation that tracks the average cost of household goods, fell in September by 0.6%, above analysts’ expectations of a decline of between 0.2% to 0.3%.
Israel Manufacturers’ Association President Ron Tomer called on the central bank to act and cut interest rates as soon as possible to support exporters, who are facing financing difficulties, while a strengthening shekel is hurting the competitiveness of Israeli exports.
“At a time when inflation is slowing and exporters are facing a global market full of uncertainty and deal cancellations, it is necessary to ensure that monetary policy does not deepen damage to the economy’s main growth engine,” says Tomer.
In September, declines were seen in the prices of fresh fruit, which were down 3.2%, entertainment and culture fell 2.4%, while communication and transportation prices slipped 2.2%. Expenses for foreign travel dropped 16.2%, and costs of accommodation and travel in Israel were down 9.8%.
These were offset by notable increases in the costs of fresh vegetables, which rose by 3.5%, car insurance was up by 0.7%, and healthcare, by 0.3%.
“The correction in flight prices this month is very significant and the main reason for the downward surprise in the consumer price index,” says Mizrahi Tefahot Bank chief strategist Yonnie Fanning. “There is potential for further declines in flight prices, in light of the increased supply as more foreign airlines are resuming their flight services to Israel, but also as a result of a stronger shekel.”
Rents on renewal of contracts rose 2.6% in September, and rents on contracts for new tenants jumped 5.3%
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will attend two state memorial ceremonies at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem tomorrow to remember those killed during the Hamas-led invasion and massacre on October 7, 2023, and during the subsequent war in Gaza, his office announces.
At 11 a.m., Netanyahu will take part in a state memorial for the fallen soldiers of the war, and later in a 2 p.m. ceremony honoring the victims of the massacre and the war, the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement.
Earlier this month, on October 7, thousands across Israel marked two years since Hamas’s assault, including at a mass memorial in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park — the largest commemoration to date and a replacement for an official state event.
The government, however, designated a national day of remembrance according to the Hebrew calendar, on the 24th of Tishrei — two days after the Hebrew anniversary of the attack, on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah — which this year falls on Thursday, October 16.
President Isaac Herzog will also speak at both ceremonies, his office announces.
He will also take part in additional memorial events: at 4:45 p.m. at the President’s Residence, at 7:30 p.m. at Sapir College in Sha’ar HaNegev, and at 8:10 p.m. near Sderot’s former local police station, which was infamously assaulted by Hamas terrorists during the massacre and later bulldozed by Israeli forces.
A 27-year-old doctor at Soroka Medical Center has died of his wounds after gunmen opened fire on him earlier this month, his employer announces.
Dr. Ziad Abu Abed had been working as a physiatrist in the southern hospital up until the October 5 ambush, in which several attackers fired a burst of bullets at him while in his car near his home in Rahat.
Police said the shooting was related to a longstanding blood feud in the Bedouin city that has claimed three lives since 2013. Officers arrested five suspects who tried to flee the scene of the attack.
“The medical center’s management and staff share in the family’s deep sorrow and express profound shock at the difficult incident,” says Soroka Medical Center in a statement.
The US decision to prioritize the release of the hostages while holding off on reaching an agreement regarding the post-war management of Gaza has given time for Hamas to regroup, a senior European diplomat tells The Times of Israel.
The European diplomat clarifies that the Trump administration’s decision was understandable, given the urgency of freeing the hostages and the likelihood that it would have taken longer to reach an agreement regarding the new governing and security bodies that will replace Hamas in Gaza in addition to the disarmament of the terror group.
Accordingly, Washington decided to split US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war into two, and managed to secure an agreement between Israel and Hamas on an initial ceasefire, Israel’s initial withdrawal, post-war humanitarian aid provisions and the terms of a hostage-prisoner exchange — all of which have been branded as phase one.
With talks on phase two still in their initial phases, Hamas has quickly begun to reassert its control throughout the Strip, conducting summary executions of dozens of members of rival gangs in Gaza and of Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel.
“Hamas remains the most dominant Palestinian force in Gaza, and there isn’t really even any competition because an alternative has still not been presented,” the European diplomat laments.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party is set to vote next week on holding leadership primaries on November 25, 2025, according to Hebrew media reports.
Members of the Likud Central Committee will meet on October 23 to approve the timetable and appoint an internal elections oversight committee.
According to the reports, Netanyahu is expected to run uncontested.
The move is intended to renew Netanyahu’s mandate as party leader, solidify his control and eliminate internal challenges before national elections, which are set to be held by October 2026.
“Once the hostages return, so will Likud’s seats,” one party insider tells Maariv outlet, adding that the move is aimed at potentially “laying the groundwork” for calling early national elections to allow the prime minister to capitalize on his recent bump in popularity following the US-brokered ceasefire deal and return of the 20 remaining Israeli hostages from Gaza.
A Maariv poll found last week that Netanyahu’s Likud would receive 27 of the Knesset’s 120 seats if elections were to be held today, up from 25 seats prior to the Gaza deal.
Nevertheless, the poll found the parties that make up Netanyahu’s coalition would collectively win 48 seats, short of the 60-seat majority needed to govern.
Michel Illouz, the father of slain hostage Guy Illouz, whose body was returned from Gaza earlier this week for burial in his hometown of Ra’anana this afternoon, eulogizes his eldest child after two years of rallying and protesting to bring him home.
“They kidnapped you — they murdered you — they kidnapped me too, and my very identity; they murdered my soul and my heart,” says Illouz. “I’ve been hollow, full of holes, ever since that senseless shooting by those vile terrorists, when they caught you, told you to turn around — and then simply fired two unnecessary bullets into your back.”
Illouz describes driving to the Abu Kabir forensics institute on Wednesday morning to identify him and say goodbye.
“I touched you, tried to smell you, caressed every bone of yours, saw you, was alone with you — and yes, I felt with absolute certainty that it was you,” says Illouz. “Yes, I know, my Guychuk, that you’ve come back to us — back to your family’s embrace, to your friends, and to the millions of people whose hearts your story has touched.”
Illouz, 26, was wounded and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists while trying to flee the Nova music festival. He later succumbed to his wounds in a Gaza hospital, apparently due to lack of medical treatment.
Michel thanks former hostage Maya Regev, who is present at the funeral, for being with his son before his death, while they were both hospitalized.
Regev recounted following her release from captivity in November 2023 that Illouz had been told by his captors that he was to receive a surprise, and that he had thought, and hoped, it would be sage tea. Instead, it was Regev, who was put in the bed next to him, in Gaza’s Shifa Hospital.
Regev was with him until his death, days later.
“My Guychuk, I love you so, so much,” says Illouz. “I will miss you every second, every minute of my life. Rest now, my sweet boy, rest after two years of journeying through worlds unknown to us.”
Israel is expecting more hostage bodies to be returned later tonight, a senior Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
The remains of seven hostages have been released as part of the ongoing Gaza deal, as well as the body of an unidentified person whom Hamas insists is an IDF soldier.
The Qatari Al-Arabi channel reports that Hamas will hand over tonight to Israel the bodies of 5 hostages.
The 10 released hostages being treated at Sheba Medical Center are all in stable condition, says Prof. Itai Pessach, the associate director-general of the hospital.
The ex-hostages — Gali and Ziv Berman, Bar Kuperstein, and Yosef Chaim Ohana, Elkana Buhbut, David and Ariel Cunio, Segev Kalfon, Maxim Herkin and Rom Broslavsky — have all undergone a series of medical tests, Pessach says.
“While I cannot share more specific details, we remember that every one of them has endured untold adversity and horrors, and therefore the road for recovery is going to be a very long one.”
He says that “as a physician and as a human being, I can’t emphasize enough the impact of being surrounded by their loved ones on the general well-being and their ability to heal.”
The hostages “will probably need weeks, months and maybe years to heal,” Pessach says, “but they’ll finally be taking the first steps to return to life.”
The High Court of Justice tells the government there is “no real argument” against the need to establish a state commission of inquiry into the catastrophic invasion and massacres perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
In the court’s latest decision over petitions demanding the establishment of such an inquiry, it gave the government 30 days to submit a new update about “what the fate” of such a commission will be.
The decision is issued unanimously by a three-judge panel, including hardline conservative judge David Mintz.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel and the Defensive Shield for Israel Forum petitioned the High Court back in 2024, requesting that the court order the government to establish a state commission of inquiry into the events of October 7, after it refused to do so for months after the attack.
The government has vigorously opposed the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 catastrophe, originally on the grounds that such an inquiry could not be conducted while Israel was at war, but later due to accusations by several cabinet ministers that such a commission would be biased against the government.
“The most serious failure in the history of the state requires a thorough and independent investigation,” says the Movement for Quality Government in response to the High Court decision.
“The hostages who returned, those who died, the evacuees who were abandoned — everyone deserves the truth. A state commission of inquiry must be established as soon as possible, without further delays.”
A senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office stresses to The Times of Israel that the war in Gaza is still “not over,” despite US President Donald Trump’s insistence earlier this week that it is, and a letter from the government to hostage families saying that the war had ended.
“We are still in the first phase,” says the official, referring to the ceasefire and hostage release deal. “We have to complete it. Without completing it, it’s not over.”
“Even Trump says it’s over — but he even said that Hamas needs to disarm, and if they won’t do it, ‘we’ll disarm them.'”
“We want to come to the end of this war,” continues the official. “No one wants to be in war. But we have to finish the war with the phases that are really defined in this plan.”
“Hamas will be disarmed,” promises the official.
British far-right anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson has arrived in Israel for a visit at the invitation of Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli.
In a video uploaded to X from the arrivals hall at Ben Gurion Airport, Robinson says he is “here to show solidarity with the Jewish people and the Israeli people” after the British government announced that it would recognize an independent Palestinian state — which Robinson repeatedly refers to as a “terrorist state” — last month.
Robinson, the founder of the far-right nationalist English Defense League, says he supports Israel because he “sees it as an ally, as a partner… this is a beacon of freedom and democracy, of rights, of all the things that we as British people hold dear, and all the places surrounding this are human rights violations [sic], terror states and jihad states.”
In the X post accompanying the video, Robinson praises Israel as a “country with strong, patriotic leadership in [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] and his party.”
I've arrived in the beautiful nation of Israel ????????
Thank you for the invite @AmichaiChikli
I'm honoured to be here and looking forward to meeting as many people as possible.
A country with strong, patriotic leadership in @netanyahu and his party.
Unlike the weak and… pic.twitter.com/2hxdXPQCJ1
— Tommy Robinson ???????? (@TRobinsonNewEra) October 15, 2025
Chikli’s invitation to Robinson sparked anger among the UK’s leading Jewish groups, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council, which decried Robinson in a joint statement as “a thug who represents the very worst of Britain.”
Robinson, born Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, has been imprisoned five times in the last 20 years for a range of offenses spanning from fraud and drug offenses to, most recently, libeling a 15-year-old Syrian refugee.
He founded the EDL to protest against Islamic demonstrations in his hometown of Luton, but it soon attracted a far-right crowd as it became a nationwide movement. He has long campaigned against what he says are crimes committed by Muslim migrants.
Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who underwent comprehensive medical tests on Friday, had a residual respiratory tract inflammation that was treated with appropriate medication and that he is not contagious.
“There was and is no danger of infection to people who have been near the prime minister,” the hospital says, after Prof. Hagai Levine, the doctor for the Hostage Families Forum, criticized the premier for visiting released hostages in the hospital yesterday while unwell.
After Palestinian media reported this morning that a 57-year-old Palestinian man from the village of Zababa near Jenin was beaten to death at a checkpoint close to Ramallah, the Israel Border Police says in response to an inquiry from The Times of Israel that the man was not beaten, but collapsed unexpectedly after crossing into Israel illegally.
“Contrary to what was claimed in your inquiry, and in order to prevent misleading the public, we note that earlier today Border Police officers arrested several illegal residents who had entered Israel unlawfully in the Atarot industrial zone, near the security fence,” the Border Police say.
“The illegal residents were escorted on foot back toward the Palestinian side through a nearby gate in the fence. After they crossed to the Palestinian side, one of them suddenly collapsed.”
The statement claims that Border Police officers “provided him with initial medical treatment and called in medical forces, who arrived at the scene and evacuated him for further medical care.”
The commander of US forces in the Middle East called on Hamas to immediately halt its violence against Palestinian civilians the group has accused of collaborating with Israel, just hours after US President Donald Trump said he had no problem with the crackdown and even referred to those targeted as “very bad gangs.”
“We strongly urge Hamas to immediately suspend violence and shooting at innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza – in both Hamas-held parts of Gaza and those secured by the IDF behind the Yellow Line,” CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper says in a statement. None of the dozens of executions that have been carried out over the past several days have taken place in areas of Gaza controlled by the IDF.
“This is an historic opportunity for peace. Hamas should seize it by fully standing down, strictly adhering to President Trump’s 20-point peace plan, and disarming without delay,” Cooper says.
“We have conveyed our concerns to the mediators who agreed to work with us to enforce the peace and protect innocent Gaza civilians. We remain highly optimistic for the future of peace in the region,” he adds.
Commenting on the executions yesterday, Trump told reporters, “That didn’t bother me much, to be honest with you. That’s okay. It’s a couple of very bad gangs. It’s no different than other countries like Venezuela [that have] sent their gangs into [the US].”
The Rafah Crossing is slated to open tomorrow, overseen by the European Union Border Assistance Mission, a diplomatic source tells The Times of Israel.
It will be open to both people and vehicles, says the source.
Two sources also told Reuters that the opening would open tomorrow.
The coalition is expected to present its proposal for an ultra-Orthodox draft exemption law in the coming days, in an attempt to bring the Haredi Shas party back into the government, Channel 12 reports.
Shas lawmakers resigned from the government in July over the issue of Haredi military conscription but remained members of the coalition, unlike United Torah Judaism, which resigned from both the government and the coalition, and moved to the opposition.
The reported attempt to draw Shas back into the government comes ahead of the Knesset’s winter session, which begins later this month.
According to Channel 12, the proposed draft exemption law will be based on a softened version of a bill regulating mandatory enlistment requirements within the ultra-Orthodox community, which was presented to Haredi lawmakers earlier this year.
The watered-down bill was presented on the eve of Israel’s war with Iran back in June, but it never moved forward, and the following month, both Shas and UTJ resigned from the government.
Since then, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, who is in favor of imposing strong sanctions against Haredi draft dodgers, was removed from his position as chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and replaced with Likud MK Boaz Bismuth.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to bring Shas back into the fold to bolster his fragile government, Channel 12 reports, as he is concerned that his far-right allies, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, may still bolt over the deal to end the war in Gaza.
President Isaac Herzog speaks with freed hostage Matan Angrest over the phone, calling him a “national hero,” in a video released by his office.
“You’re a national hero — we salute you,” the president tells Angrest, who was released on Monday after two years in Hamas captivity.
Angrest — who served in a tank in the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion on the morning of his abduction on October 7, 2023, — thanks Herzog “for all the support during all this time, for being with me even from afar, for the privilege of fighting for this country. I just wanted to say that I’m truly proud of this country!”
Angrest adds that he had no idea about his impending release until Saturday: “I was with another hostage, and we didn’t know anything until Saturday. On Saturday, they brought us up from the tunnels.”
He ends the call by declaring to the president, “The people of Israel live!”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed out of Monday’s summit in Sharm El-Sheikh in order to avoid angering religious coalition members, a senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel.
“We did not travel because of the holiday that was coming in,” the official says of the Simhat Torah holiday, which began around 6 p.m. on Monday evening, shortly after US President Donald Trump’s speech wrapped up at the Knesset.
“It simply went over time,” says the official. “We wanted to go. We planned to go. But what happened is that the speeches went on, Trump, who wasn’t scheduled to speak for more than an hour, spoke for more than an hour, the prime minister spoke for almost an hour, the Knesset speaker spoke for almost an hour.”
“We also have other people that we need to respect and take them into account on religious matters,” the senior official says, likely referencing ultra-Orthodox parties. “They are part of the coalition and we have to take that into account.”
The decision not to fly to the summit on the future of Gaza had nothing to do with wanting to avoid being photographed with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, says the official.
“We knew that Abu Mazen would be there,” says the official of the decision to initially agree to go, using Abbas’s nom de guerre. “It’s simply not true. There is no connection to Abu Mazen.”
Dr. Michal Steinman, director of Nursing at Rabin Medical Center (Beilinson), tells The Times of Israel that the five released hostages being treated in the hospital’s Returned Hostages Unit, Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, Alon Ohel, Eitan Mor, and Avinatan Or, have “severe but treatable nutrition problems.”
“The body remembers those 700-plus days of captivity and starvation,” Steinman says.
In February, when the hospital was preparing to treat nine released hostages — Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Naama Levy, Daniella Gilboa, Tal Shoham, Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, and Omer Wenkert — Steinman says the staff did “detective work” to understand their needs, and are now using the same protocols.
“Medically, right now, we don’t have any surprises,” she says. “The hostages interact, they smile. They came with a big drive to heal, recover, and rehabilitate.”
Steinman says she feels “very optimistic” about the hostages’ recovery.
“It’s going to be a very long road, and there are going to be ups and downs, but I think each one of them developed really special techniques of survival and how to keep their mind and soul guarded,” she says.
“It will take time,” Steinman says. “But these five amazing young men will live their lives, and they have plans and dreams to share with the world. They are really an inspiration.”
Dr. Chen Kugel, head of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine (Abu Kabir), says that the fourth body that arrived yesterday from the Gaza Strip “is not associated with one of the deceased captives.”
The institute confirmed this morning that it had received the bodies last night of three slain hostages, Tamir Nimrodi, Uriel Baruch, and Eitan Levy.
Kugel says that tests were carried out to determine the cause of death, to provide families with full information on their loved ones’ final moments.
Dr. Nurit Bublil, head of the lab department at the institute, says multi-disciplinary forensic teams have been working “around the clock” over the past two days to identify the deceased captives, using “advanced forensic methodologies, including complex imaging techniques, dental record comparisons, anthropological profiling and DNA analysis.”
On Tuesday, the institute identified the bodies of deceased hostages Guy Illouz, Yossi Sharabi, Bipin Joshi and Daniel Perez.
Earlier today, a senior Hamas source told Al Jazeera that the fourth body it returned overnight was “a soldier who was captured in a resistance operation.”
The source said the incident took place in May 2024 in the Jabaliya refugee camp, during which an IDF soldier was killed and captured — an incident that at the time the military swiftly denied had occurred.
Mourners are taking part in a funeral procession for Guy Illouz, whose body was returned to Israel on Monday night after he was killed in Hamas captivity.
The mourners hold Israeli flags, mirroring the coffin draped with a flag, as they walk behind the van it is being transported in.
Illouz’s coffin is being driven from Rishon Lezion to Ra’anana, his family’s hometown, where he will be buried in a local cemetery.
“This is a hero of Israel who saved people at the Nova [music festival]!” says one man in the procession. “This is what heroes look like.”
“He was a musician — his music will live forever,” says a woman, weeping.
Later today, people will gather to commemorate Uriel Baruch, who was killed on October 7, at his family’s synagogue in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood of Jerusalem. His body was returned Tuesday night, along with that of Eitan Levy, a cab driver who was killed on October 7. Levy will be buried on Thursday near his home in Bat Yam.
A senior source in the “resistance,” the term used for terror groups in Gaza led by Hamas, tells Al Jazeera that “the body the enemy claims does not belong to an Israeli is that of a soldier who was captured in a resistance operation.”
The source says the incident took place in May 2024 in the Jabaliya refugee camp, during which an IDF soldier was killed and captured.
At the time, the military swiftly denied Hamas’s claim that it had captured a soldier in Jabalia, saying: “The IDF clarifies that there is no incident of a soldier’s kidnapping.”
The terror group had aired a video showing a bloodied person being dragged along the ground in a tunnel, and published images of military gear and submachine guns, which are not used by the Israeli military.
Palestinian media at the time identified the man in the video as Khalil Dawas, a Palestinian from the West Bank’s Aqabat Jabr camp, near Jericho.
Up until now, Hamas had not directly addressed the fact that one of the four bodies handed over to Israel last night was not that of a hostage.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is suffering from bronchitis, says his office, adding that it “poses no danger to him or those around him.”
Netanyahu canceled his schedule for the day and is at home resting, says the Prime Minister’s Office in an announcement.
Netanyahu visited freed hostages recuperating at Rabin Medical Center last night. Prof. Hagai Levine, doctor for the Hostage Families Forum, criticizes the visit after Netanyahu discussed his illness in court. “If Netanyahu has a cold that refuses to subside, as he claimed today in court, why did he visit yesterday survivors of captivity with weakened immune systems and put them at risk?” Levine writes on X.
Netanyahu, 75, has battled health issues in recent years. He had his prostate removed in late December, and in March 2024, he had hernia surgery. That same month, he missed several days of work after contracting the flu.
In 2023, he underwent surgery to have a pacemaker installed after suffering a transient heart block. A week earlier, he had been hospitalized for what he said at the time was dehydration. Doctors subsequently revealed that the prime minister has had a heart conduction problem for years.
BERLIN, Germany — A German Foreign Ministry spokesperson says that reported executions by Hamas in Gaza in clashes with local clans constitute acts of terror against the population, but Germany sees an unchanged need to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
The left-wing Democrats party has formally requested to hold a vote of no confidence in the government, after Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana did not invite the president of the Supreme Court and the attorney general to attend US President Donald Trump’s Knesset address on Monday, amid a years-long battle between the branches of government.
The party says that the request was submitted due to “the trampling of the judiciary by the head of the legislative branch – a breach of trust against the State of Israel,” referring to Ohana’s actions.
“The government’s conduct undermines the duty of loyalty of its representatives and of the Knesset toward Israel’s official institutions,” says the party in a statement.
“This is a government lacking public legitimacy that is working to dismantle the state and its institutions. We will continue to act with full force to bring down the government and advance elections to the Knesset,” the statement continues.
The next election is scheduled for no later than October 2026.
Police prosecutors indict a man today after he allegedly threatened to kill Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and harm other elected officials outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv.
The defendant, a 46-year-old resident of Rishon Lezion, approached soldiers outside the base on the eve of Simchat Torah earlier this week and threatened to murder the premier, police say.
He had previously written Facebook posts expressing his desire to “slaughter” Netanyahu with a pistol, Ynet reports. The defendant was reportedly kept in police custody for two extra days by order of the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court and recommended for psychiatric examination.
Police accuse the defendant of making threats on three separate occasions and request that he remain in detention until the end of legal proceedings, law enforcement says.
Police have arrested a motorcyclist suspected of fatally shooting two men on Route 443, north of Modi’in.
The assailant’s gunfire also wounded two others, who are currently being shuttled to nearby hospitals with severe injuries, paramedics say.
Footage taken by a passenger in a vehicle driving alongside the motorcyclist appears to show the shooter opening fire.
תיעוד מטורף של החיסול על כביש 443 ליד יער בן שמן: קטנוע עם 2 נוסעים פותח באש לעבר הג'יפ.
2 הרוגים ועוד 2 פצועים קשה.
טירוף בלב הארץ ליד נהגים חפים מפשע.שיא של כל הזמנים במקרי רצח. עידן המשילות של בן גביר בשיאה. pic.twitter.com/jrxiH4Nnfs
— Josh Breiner (@JoshBreiner) October 15, 2025
Police chief Danny Levy is currently on his way to the scene of the shooting, which law enforcement believes is linked to a “violent dispute in the Arab sector.”
A senior Israeli official denies a report in The Wall Street Journal that Israel and Hamas have begun negotiating the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
“We are still in the first phase,” says the official. “We will talk about the second phase when we complete the first one.”
The official adds that there are mid-level Israeli officials in Sharm el-Sheikh, but they are there to discuss the return of the remaining slain hostages and the full implementation of phase one.
MOSCOW, Russia — Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulates Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on the fact that parliamentary elections were held earlier this month and said Moscow was ready for stronger ties with Damascus.
Putin makes the comments at the start of a meeting with Sharaa in the Kremlin.
The visit to the Russian capital is Sharaa’s first since coming to power after he toppled Moscow’s ally, Bashar al-Assad, late last year.
Sharaa tells Putin that Syria will respect all past agreements with Moscow.
Three men have been severely injured in a reported shooting incident near an army base north of Modiin.
Paramedics are currently treating the three victims, all in serious condition after they were wounded in a violent incident on Route 443, near the Green Line.
Authorities are treating the shooting as a criminal incident rather than a terror attack for the time being, the Kan public broadcaster reports, in what was likely an attempted hit.
The Rafah Crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt will not open today, contrary to some reports, an Israeli security official tells The Times of Israel.
“Preparations are ongoing for its opening for the exit and entry of Gazans only,” the official says.
Yesterday, Israel said it would not reopen the crossing as a sanction against Hamas for its slow release of the bodies of hostages, though it appears the crossing was not ready to be opened today anyway.
The official also says that humanitarian aid continues to enter Gaza as usual, via the Kerem Shalom Crossing and other crossings, following security inspection by Israeli authorities.
The IDF says it opened fire on several suspects who crossed the so-called Yellow Line — to which the military withdrew under the terms of the ceasefire — in Gaza City’s eastern Shejaiya neighborhood earlier today.
The suspects had approached Israeli forces, “constituting a violation of the agreement,” the army says, adding that troops opened fire “to remove the threat.”
Palestinian media reports that two were killed in the incident.
Greta Thunberg describes undergoing “torture” while in Israeli custody after violating the maritime blockade on Gaza on board the Global Sumud Flotilla, in an interview with the Swedish Aftonbladet newspaper.
Together with the interview, the newspaper publishes an image of Thunberg opening up her suitcase on which the words “Whore Greta,” are written along with a drawing of an Israeli flag and a penis. Thunberg says that the suitcase was confiscated by the IDF and returned to her like this.
After arriving in Ashdod, Thunberg describes being in a “dystopian” scene in which she was dragged to a paved area with iron fences.
“I saw maybe 50 people sitting in a row on their knees with handcuffs and their foreheads against the ground,” she claims. “They dragged me to the opposite side from where the others were sitting, and I had the flag around me the whole time. They hit and kicked me.”
“Then they ripped off my frog hat, threw it on the ground, stomped and kicked it, and kind of threw a tantrum,” she adds.
“The guards have no empathy or humanity, and they keep taking selfies with me. There’s a lot I don’t remember. So much is happening at once. You’re in shock. You’re in pain, but you go into a state of trying to stay calm,” she says.
She also recounts that 60 people were put into a small outdoor cage at one point at Ketziot Prison in southern Israel.
“It was so hot, like 40 degrees. We begged the whole time: Can we have water? Can we have water? In the end, we screamed. The guards walked in front of the bars the whole time, laughing and holding up their water bottles. They threw the bottles with water in them into the trash cans in front of us,” she says.
“When people fainted, we banged on the cages and asked for a doctor. Then the guards came and said, ‘We’re going to gas you.’ It was standard for them to say that. They held up a gas cylinder and threatened to press it against us,” she says.
“During the nights, guards regularly came by and shook the bars, shining flashlights, and several times a night they came in and forced everyone to stand up,” she states.
She was deported on October 6, days after being detained on the flotilla.
Ahead of their deportation, the Foreign Ministry denied claims that Israel was mistreating Thunberg and other detained activists on the intercepted flotilla.
President Isaac Herzog paid a visit to the freed twin hostages Gali and Ziv Berman, who were released on Monday after two years of captivity in Gaza.
In a video shared on his X account, Herzog and his wife, Michal, warmly welcome the brothers back to Israel at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, telling them about how closely the Israeli public has followed their captivity and how bravely their “exceptional” family has advocated for their release.
When told how moving it was to see a photo of the brothers embracing upon their release, Gali confirms to Herzog that the brothers were held separately before being freed and were unaware that they would be reunited on Monday.
“We didn’t know where [the other twin] was. Suddenly, they brought him out,” Gali tells the president, describing the moment he saw his twin.
Channel 12 reported that the twins were held separately and completely cut off from the outside world during their captivity, and endured periods of a lack of food.
“The twins, Gali and Ziv Berman, entered the hearts of an entire nation. We were thrilled to see them finally together, protected and surrounded by their loving family,” Herzog writes on X, adding that Israel is “waiting for everyone” to return, in reference to the bodies of deceased hostages that remain in Gaza.
התאומים גלי וזיו ברמן נכנסו ללבבות של עם שלם.
התרגשנו לראות אותם סוף סוף יחד, מוגנים ומוקפים במשפחתם האוהבת ובצוותי הרפואה של המרכז הרפואי שיבא תל השומר.מחכים לכולם. pic.twitter.com/847J6fibqb
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) October 15, 2025
Palestinian media reports that two Palestinians were killed by IDF fire in the Shejaiya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City.
The IDF has not yet issued a response.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid accuses Justice Minister Yariv Levin and other coalition members of sowing internal discord at a time when deceased hostages are still held by terror groups.
“While the international effort to locate the remaining deceased hostages continues, the justice minister and the rest of the coalition members are busy stirring divisions among us,” he says in a post on X.
Levin recently announced support for a controversial bill that would allow the defense minister to reduce or limit the number of hearings in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial, as the struggle continues to retrieve the bodies of 21 dead hostages held by Hamas. The terror group has returned just seven deceased hostages over the past two days under the US-brokered ceasefire.
“The coalition can’t go a single day without dragging us into internal conflict. The time has come for sane and responsible leadership,” says the Yesh Atid leader.
Defense Minister Israel Katz paid a visit to released hostage Bar Kuperstein, who was an off-duty soldier when he was abducted by Hamas terrorists from the Nova party near Re’im on October 7, 2023.
Katz heard from Bar about his time in captivity, “and thanked him for his bravery on October 7, when he assisted participants of the Nova festival and provided medical treatment to some of them before being abducted by the Hamas terror organization,” a statement from his office says following their meeting at Sheba Hospital.
“The defense minister emphasized the commitment to bringing back all the fallen hostages, stating that this is the top priority alongside disarming Hamas and demilitarizing Gaza,” Katz’s office adds.
Reuters video shows a first group of trucks moving from the Egyptian side of the border into the Rafah crossing at dawn today, some tankers carrying fuel and others loaded with pallets of aid.
However, it was not clear if that convoy would complete its crossing into Gaza as part of the 600 trucks that were due to enter the enclave today — the full daily complement required under the ceasefire plan. Aid trucks entered Gaza through other crossings from Israel.
“Humanitarian aid continues to enter the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom Crossing and other crossings after Israeli security inspection,” an Israeli security official says.
The Kan public broadcaster reported that today’s aid deliveries would include food, medical supplies, fuel, cooking gas, and equipment to repair vital infrastructure.
With the release of the body of hostage Bipin Joshi to Israel on Tuesday, Nepalese Prime Minister Sushila Karki posted a message on X, expressing her heartfelt tribute to him and her deep condolences to the grieving family and relatives.
“I am stunned by the news confirming the tragic death of Bipin Joshi amidst two years of unwavering hope and prayers,” writes Karki. “This heartbreaking news has caused us profound pain.”
Joshi, 23, arrived in Israel in September 2023, 25 days before October 7, as a student on the Learn and Earn program, working and studying at Kibbutz Alumim.
There were 16 other Nepalis at the kibbutz. Ten were killed, five were injured and one escaped unharmed.
Prime Minister of Nepal, Sushila Karki:
I am stunned by the news confirming the tragic death of Bipin Joshi amidst two years of unwavering hope and prayers. This heartbreaking news has caused us profound pain.
In this difficult moment, I offer my heartfelt tribute to him and… https://t.co/llw3NxqBKa— Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) October 15, 2025
The family of Bipin Joshi, the Nepalese agricultural student taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and killed in captivity in Gaza, expresses grief and sorrow in a statement after his body was brought back to Israel on Tuesday.
“With immense pain, we received the news of the worst of all,” write the Joshis.
“Our dear son, Bipin — brother and soulmate to our daughter Pushpa — was murdered in Hamas captivity. The ground was pulled out from under our feet. It is hard to put into words the void left without him, a void that opened two years ago and has deepened into an immense abyss. Bipin left us full of excitement, setting out for a year of study in Israel. We never imagined that the hug we gave him then would be our last.”
The Joshis thank US President Donald Trump and the US, Israeli and Nepalese governments, along with the people of Israel and IDF soldiers, for fighting for their son and brother, and helping bring him home and “close the circle.”
The family was in the US last week and published a video filmed in Hamas tunnels about a month after October 7, in which Joshi could be seen speaking to the camera.
“Today we can say it loud and clear: Bipin, you are a hero!” writes the family.
The statement describes the Hamas grenade he pushed away from the entrance of the shelter in Kibbutz Alumim, where he and other agricultural workers were hiding on October 7, before he was abducted. He had arrived at the kibbutz about a month earlier.
“We were so afraid that they would know you were a hero, that they would harm you — we only prayed you would survive,” they write. “Before you were taken, you managed to send a message to your cousin, asking him to be strong and always look toward the future. It is hard to imagine a future without you, Bipin. Every flower in the garden we planted for you will remind us of you — every orchard, every field. You are part of the landscape of Nepal, and now also part of the landscape of the Land of Israel.”
Yaron Or says his son Avinatan Or was handcuffed to a cage for a year after he tried to flee from his captors in Gaza.
“Avinatan tried to escape from captivity, and then they beat him,” Yaron Or tells Kan radio. “He was handcuffed to the bars. It was a barred place 1.8 meters high, and the length of it was the length of the mattress, plus a little. You can call it a cage.”
Or says his son was in a tunnel the entire duration of his captivity. “They didn’t starve him, but the food was scarce. He is very thin,” Or says.
“Around him, there were all these guards whose relatives were killed by the IDF bombings. And I think that it’s simply a miracle that they didn’t harm him,” Or says.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complains of a cough and a cold during his testimony under cross-examination in the Tel Aviv District Court this morning, and requests that the hearing finish early, which the judges agree to.
Netanyahu says the cold has “refused to get better,” and that his doctor has recommended he take several days’ rest, or at least reduce the number of hours he is working.
The hearing had been scheduled to end at 4:30 p.m., but Netanyahu requested at around midday that he testify for just another hour or two.
Alon Nimrodi, the father of deceased hostage Tamir Nimrodi, whose body was confirmed today to have been returned from Hamas last night, tells Channel 12 in an emotional interview that he feels “fortunate” to have final confirmation of his son’s death — which the IDF had not officially announced until his body was recovered — and emphasizes that the “struggle” is not over until all 21 remaining deceased hostages are brought back to Israel.
Tamir was confirmed this morning to be among the three dead hostages returned last night, making him the final confirmed deceased hostage taken by Palestinian terrorists on October 7, 2023. The IDF said it assesses that Tamir was abducted alive from his military base on October 7 and killed in captivity at the start of the war.
Describing the moment he received his eldest son’s body, Alon tells the Hebrew network: “The moment we so feared — the moment I refused to believe would come — and all along I kept saying, if there’s even a 0.1% chance, we’ll move heaven and earth to bring Tamir back safely.”
“We, like every one of the hostage families, never had the right to give up or relax for even a single moment,” he continues, adding, “For us, the journey ended in a terrible way — not like I had hoped — but there is a long struggle ahead for the release of 21 other hostages who are in the Gaza Strip, and we must continue to struggle until they all return home.”
He adds hesitantly, “We feel fortunate — which is a terrible thing to say about your own son who was killed in Gaza, your eldest son who was kidnapped — but I mean to say that we are lucky to have received his body back.”
“In a certain sense, there is some relief, because there is now the certainty… there is a certain easing in knowing that our son has returned to us, even if it’s in this coffin,” he says, before breaking down in tears.
After sharing details about his son, whom he calls “my hero,” Alon reiterates that “The struggle isn’t over” and thanks the IDF soldiers “who allowed us to breathe right now,” with the return of the hostages.
Earlier on Monday, ahead of the release of the 20 living hostages, Alon wrote on social media that there was still no final announcement regarding his son’s fate and that his family was desperately awaiting confirmation.
Following the completion of examinations at the Abu Kabir forensic institute, the IDF says the fourth body returned by Hamas last night does not belong to any of the hostages.
The body is assessed to belong to a Palestinian.
The other three bodies were identified as Staff Sgt. Tamir Nimrodi, 18, Uriel Baruch, 35, and Eitan Levy, 53.
“Hamas is required to make all necessary efforts to return the deceased hostages,” the IDF adds.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says the military “will not rest until we return all [of the hostages]. This is our moral, national and Jewish duty.”
Hamas is still holding the bodies of 21 dead hostages, after returning seven in the past two days.
“In coordination with the political echelon, we will insist and stand firm on upholding all the agreements,” Zamir says at a handover ceremony for the chief of the Northern Corps.
At the ceremony, Maj. Gen. Yaki Dolf takes over the Northern Corps, a mostly dormant unit, from Maj. Gen. Dan Goldfus, who now heads the shadowy Depth Corps.
Dolf was also tapped by Zamir to head a new military headquarters that will liaise between the IDF and the US-led international monitoring mechanism overseeing the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s main indexes rise as trading opens following the release of all living hostages held captive by the Hamas terror group in Gaza.
The benchmark TA-125 index gains 1.1 percent. The index has soared more than 37% from the start of the year, hitting multiple record highs over the past weeks on hopes for a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza and release all remaining hostages.
The Tel Aviv bourse was closed for trading on October 13 on the eve of the Simchat Torah Jewish holiday, when freed Israeli hostages were reunited with their families after two years of captivity in Gaza.
“Positive momentum will be limited unless we see progress on the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement,” IBI chief economist Rafi Gozlan tells The Times of Israel. “Following the end of fighting and start of release of hostages, advancement from here to the second phase of the agreement is less clear and will be more challenging.”
The TA-35 index of blue-chip companies rises 1.2%. The TA-90 index, which tracks the shares with the highest capitalization not included in the TA-35 index, increases 0.7%. The TA-Technology jumps 2.3.% and the TA-Construction index is up 2.4%.
The shekel is also strengthening, appreciating by some 0.5% against the greenback and trading at NIS 3.29 to $1.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin announces he will support a highly controversial bill that would enable the defense minister to reduce or limit the number of hearings for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial. He also said that the premier should never have been put on trial in the first place.
Levin makes his comments after Netanyahu’s trial on corruption charges resumed this morning in the Tel Aviv District Court, where several Likud ministers and MKs arrived in a coordinated show of support for the prime minister.
The bill, drafted by hardline Likud MK Ariel Kallner but yet to be submitted to the Knesset, would enable the defense minister to reduce or limit the number of hearings in a criminal trial during a time of war, should such a step be deemed necessary for security purposes and after consultation with the justice minister.
“This morning, instead of continuing the difficult struggle to [secure the] return of all the slain hostages, to disarm Hamas, and to expand the circle of peace, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to appear in court and answer bizarre questions about dolls and cigars,” says Levin, referencing some of the allegations against Netanyahu, who faces charges of taking a bribe, along with fraud and breach of trust.
Levin says he will bring Kallner’s bill for approval in the key Ministerial Committee for Legislation as soon as it is submitted to the Knesset.
Left-wing Democrats MK Gilad Kariv blasts Levin’s announcement, saying it demonstrates the government’s return to its judicial overhaul agenda and the coalition’s determination to abolish Netanyahu’s trial.
“The citizens of Israel will not let the government of negligence continue its destruction and devastation. We will know how to stand up in the streets and in Knesset committees with the same strength as we have done until now,” he says.
Police are investigating the fatal shooting of a school security guard in the northern town of Kafr Yasif, law enforcement says.
The victim, named by Arabic outlets as Nidal Masada, 35, was found in critical condition by paramedics and transported to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
The shooting reportedly wounded one other person, a man in his 70s. He was also taken to the hospital, where he is being treated for moderate injuries.
Police say they are searching for suspects involved in the incident.
For the first time since the October 7, 2023, onslaught, the IDF is reopening Zikim Beach near the northern border with the Gaza Strip to the general public.
Following a fresh assessment, the military says IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir approved a recommendation by the Southern Command to reopen Zikim Beach to the public, in coordination with the regional council, and remove a closed military zone imposed on the area since the start of the war.
The beach will reopen tomorrow, the army says.
The IDF says the move was made possible “following significant operational activities” in the northern Gaza Strip area and preparations by the Southern Command and Navy.
On the morning of October 7, 38 Hamas terrorists in seven speedboats set out from the Gaza Strip. Some of the terrorists reached the beach area, where they killed 17 civilians and one soldier.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says that Hamas must be erased, following the terror group’s failure to return all deceased Israeli hostages as part of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement, which came into effect last week — an agreement the far-right minister opposed.
“Enough with the disgrace,” Ben Gvir says in a statement. “Moments after opening the crossings to hundreds of trucks, Hamas very quickly returned to its known methods — to lie, to cheat, and to abuse families and the bodies. This Nazi terror understands only force, and the only way to deal with it is to erase it from the face of the earth.”
Israel has accused Hamas of violating the recently implemented ceasefire by withholding the bodies of deceased hostages. Hamas released the final 20 living hostages on Monday and has returned the bodies of seven dead captives, but is still holding 21 deceased hostages.
Ben Gvir said last night that Hamas is “playing games” by delaying the return of the bodies of Israeli hostages, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to issue “a clear ultimatum to Hamas: if you do not immediately return all the bodies of our fallen and you continue with these delays, we will immediately halt all aid supplies entering the Strip.”
Prominent members of the Young Republican US political organization trafficked in antisemitism and racism in an internal chat, Politico reports.
The leaked chat shows group members joking about killing people in gas chambers, a “Hitler aesthetic,” and white supremacist references.
One group member said a chapter of the organization would “vote for the most right wing person” to lead the national group. “Great. I love Hitler,” a group leader responded, according to the report.
Many of the anti-Jewish and other racist statements appeared to be jokes.
Other messages referred to a “fat stinky Jew” and implied that Jews are dishonest, the report says.
“Everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber,” one message said.
Other messages referenced neo-Nazi themes, such as the number 1488, a white supremacist trope.
Politico says the Telegram chats included seven months of messages from Young Republican leaders in New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont.
The chats expose the insider discourse of up-and-coming Republican activists.
Prominent Republicans, such as New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, have denounced the chat.
Group members were also racist against Black people and other minorities, joked about rape, and used other violent language, the report says.
The reason you have 28,000 messages across the entire Young Republican leadership, with everyone tolerating it or participating in it, is because MAGA, fka the Republican Party, has a culture of fascism, racism, and violence. Shocking brazenness. pic.twitter.com/L1t6EpsKNB
— John Jackson (@hissgoescobra) October 14, 2025
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem says that Hamas is following up on its commitments to return the bodies of hostage soldiers, in an apparent, indirect acknowledgement of Israel’s accusations that it has violated the deal.
His remarks, cited in Hamas-affiliated media, came after the terror group appeared to return a body to Israel that did not belong to a hostage. Hamas is still holding 21 hostages’ bodies in the Gaza Strip.
Qassem adds that Israel “committed a serious violation of the agreement when it killed civilians in Shejaiya and Rafah, and we call on the mediators to compel Israel to abide by its commitments.”
Several Likud cabinet ministers and MKs arrive at the Tel Aviv District Courthouse this morning in a show of support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has returned to the witness stand to give testimony under cross-examination in his criminal trial.
The arrival of the senior Likud figures in court comes after a call was put out within the Likud party last night for such efforts to be made, Hebrew media reported.
So far, Economy Minister Nir Barkat, Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, and MKs Osnat Mark and Nissim Vaturi have come to the court to back the prime minister.
A handful of protesters outside the courthouse heckle the ministers and parliamentarians as they arrive.
Palestinian media reports that a 57-year-old Palestinian man from the village of Zababa near Jenin was beaten to death in the vicinity of the city of al-Ram, close to Ramallah.
The man is named by the reports as Salim al-Far.
According to some reports, the incident took place at the Qalandiya checkpoint.
The IDF has not yet issued a response.
The military says its representatives notified the families of Staff Sgt. Tamir Nimrodi, 18, Uriel Baruch, 35, and Eitan Levy, 53, that their bodies were returned by Hamas last night, and had been identified by forensic experts.
Their families were notified “following the completion of the identification process,” the Israel Defense Forces says.
Neither the IDF nor the Prime Minister’s Office mentions the fourth body handed over by Hamas, which is assessed to belong to a Palestinian.
“The Government of Israel shares in the profound grief of the Baruch, Nimrodi, and Levy families, and of all the families of the fallen hostages,” says the Prime Minister’s Office in a statement.
Nimrodi, who was abducted alive from the Coordination and Liaison Administration to the Gaza Strip base near the Erez Crossing on October 7, 2023, is assessed to have been killed in captivity at the start of the war, the military says. Until now, Israel had not confirmed his death.
“Final conclusions will be formulated after the completion of the examination of the circumstances of death” at Abu Kabir, the IDF says.
Baruch, according to the IDF’s intelligence, was murdered by Hamas on October 7 near Mefalsim after fleeing the Nova music festival near Re’im, and his body was abducted to Gaza.
The IDF says that according to its intelligence, Levy was also murdered by Hamas on October 7 near Mefalsim, and his body was abducted to Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office warns that Hamas “is required to fulfill its commitments to the mediators and to return [the remaining bodies] as part of the agreement’s implementation.”
“We will not compromise on this and will spare no effort until we bring back all of the fallen hostages,” promises the PMO, “every single one of them.”
A body returned by Hamas yesterday does not belong to any of the hostages held by the terror group, and instead belongs to a Palestinian from Gaza, a security official tells Hebrew media outlets.
The three other bodies returned were identified as Tamir Nimrodi, Eitan Levy, and Uriel Baruch.
In a video from the hospital, freed hostage Avinatan Or says he hopes to meet all his loved ones soon.
“Is it recording? I don’t know what this technology is,” he jokes. “I was offline for two years.”
Or expresses his joy and says he hopes to reunite with his loved ones soon.
“I heard you did a lot for me,” he says.
Tamir Nimrodi, a hostage soldier whose body was returned yesterday from Gaza, was killed by IDF strikes, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum says in a statement.
“Tamir was kidnapped alive from his base and killed by IDF bombings in captivity,” the statement reads.
Earlier, his family said in a statement that he was “murdered” in Hamas captivity.
Forensic scientists are investigating whether one of the four bodies returned by Hamas last night does not belong to a hostage, after the identities of three others were confirmed earlier, Channel 12 reports.
While the other bodies were confirmed to have belonged to Uriel Baruch, Tamir Nimrodi, and Eitan Levy, the fourth has not been identified.
Earlier this year, Hamas gave Israel a body that it said belonged to slain hostage Shiri Bibas, which was soon identified as a Palestinian from Gaza. Bibas’s remains were subsequently handed to Israel.
After his body was returned yesterday, Tamir Nimrodi’s family says he was “murdered in Hamas captivity.”
The fate of the soldier, who was abducted from his base near the Erez crossing, was the last among the captives to be unconfirmed until his body was identified this morning.
“After two years of excruciating uncertainty, we received the difficult news of the identification of our dear Tamir. Tamir was kidnapped cruelly from his base and murdered in Hamas captivity,” his family says, adding they will stand by other families until all bodies are returned to Israel.
Eitan Levy, 53, has been confirmed as one of the bodies returned by Hamas last night, the Hostages and Missing Families forum announces.
Levy, from Bat Yam, was listed as missing for more than 40 days before being officially recognized as a hostage. After 62 days, the Israel Defense Forces informed his family that he was presumed killed while in captivity in Gaza.
A cab driver, Levy, dropped a passenger off in Kibbutz Be’eri around 7:15 a.m. on October 7, 2023. He then called his son, Shahar, to tell him about the Hamas missiles. While on the phone, Shahar heard his father run into a Hamas ambush, and he heard Arabic shouting in the background and shooting before the call was ultimately disconnected.
After Levy was missing for 40 days, his family was informed that he was believed to be held hostage in Gaza. Then, in December 2023, authorities confirmed that Eitan had been murdered on October 7 and his body taken captive.
In August 2024, his family agreed to release graphic footage of Levy’s body being driven through the streets of Gaza and being kicked and stomped on by Gazans.
After his death was confirmed, Eitan’s family held a memorial service and sat shiva, the weeklong mourning period, but were not able to hold a funeral.
He is survived by his son, Shahar, and his sister, Sigi.
“Alongside the sorrow and the understanding that the heart will never be whole again, Eitan’s return brings some measure of solace to a family that has lived with painful uncertainty for more than two years,” the headquarters says. “We will not rest and we will not stop until all 20 hostages are returned home.”
Tamir Nimrodi, 19, a soldier taken hostage from his base near the Erez Crossing on October 7, 2023, has been identified as one of the bodies returned by Hamas last night, his family confirms.
Until now, Nimrodi’s fate had not been confirmed by Israel, but it had expressed “grave concern” about him. The return of his body is the first confirmation that he was killed in captivity.
The Nimrodi family says Tamir was “kidnapped cruelly from his base and murdered in Hamas captivity,” in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Nimrodi was serving in COGAT’s Coordination and Liaison Administration to the Gaza Strip when he was kidnapped. He was seen in footage, along with Nik Baizer and Ron Sherman, walked by terrorists, in their shorts and t-shirts, to the gate of the base.
Uriel Baruch, 35, who was taken captive from the Supernova music festival on October 7, 2023, has been confirmed as one of the bodies returned by Hamas last night, his family announces.
Baruch attended the rave with his friend, Michel Yoav, and the two fled the site of the festival in Uriel’s car when the Hamas attack began. They encountered a cell of terrorists at the Mefalsim Junction who opened fire on the car.
Uriel’s family came across videos that showed Michel shot dead in the car and Uriel on the ground nearby, but they did not know his fate. They were later told by the IDF that he was believed to have been taken captive to Gaza.
In March 2024, the IDF informed his family based on new intelligence that Uriel had been killed on October 7 and his body taken hostage. The family sat shiva, the weeklong mourning period, but did not hold a funeral.
The government has reportedly decided to cancel the sanctions planned for today, which were set to include limiting humanitarian aid and keeping the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt shut.
The measures were announced yesterday after Hamas initially only handed over the remains of four out of 28 dead hostages held in the Strip by Palestinian terrorists.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, the leadership has canceled the steps due to Hamas returning last night what it claims is the bodies of four more hostages. The bodies have been taken to a forensics institution, where the identification process may take up to two days. Hamas hasn’t named these four hostages.
Additionally, Hamas has informed the mediators that it will transfer four more bodies of deceased hostages to Israel later today, a Middle Eastern diplomat and a second source familiar with the matter have told The Times of Israel.
Therefore, the Rafah crossing will reopen today and the humanitarian aid will be fully allowed into Gaza, as planned, according to Kan.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives an interview to CBS News, amid his years-long near-total boycott of Israeli media, saying that if Hamas doesn’t agree to disarm, “all hell” will break loose.
“We agreed to give peace a chance,” says Netanyahu when asked by the American network how it can be said that the war is over when the IDF is still deployed in parts of Gaza and Hamas is reasserting control of the Strip.
The premier touts US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, which has been okayed by both Israel and Hamas, and stipulates that the Palestinian terror group must be disarmed and Gaza demilitarized, with no weapons factories operating inside the Strip and no smuggling on its borders.
“We agreed, let’s get the first part done, and now let’s give a chance to do the second part,” Netanyahu says, voicing hope that Hamas will hand over its arms peacefully, and paraphrasing Trump as saying that otherwise, “all hell breaks loose.”
Trump has said that if Hamas doesn’t uphold its side of the deal, “we will disarm them,” perhaps “violently.”
Asked what it would take for him to declare the war over, the premier says: “I think that, for the foreseeable future, not only for Israel but for the free world, and for the civilized world, you have to maintain your ability to defend yourself, because freedom is not permanent, nor is it automatic. If you cannot defend free societies, they will be overtaken by authoritarian or totalitarian regimes.”
When the interviewer remarks that this sounds like Israel will be at war for another 100 years, Netanyahu disagrees, saying that “the way you purchase peace is through strength” and touting the Trump-brokered normalization deals he signed in 2020 with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, though the latter is indefinitely suspended.
“I think we have an opportunity to make peace with many, many more,” he adds. “And that, I think, would be the greatest gift we can bring the people of Israel, the people of the region, and the people of the world.”
Asked about a remark Trump made at the Knesset on Monday that he isn’t “the easiest guy to deal with,” Netanyahu says: “Well, I hope he says that because I’m very tough on the matters that pertain to my country’s future. When I believe that what I’m asked to do is fine, I say [it] is, and when I think I have to say ‘no,’ I say it. And that’s my job. My job is to protect the Jewish state and assure the future of the Jewish people.”
Hamas has informed the mediators that it will transfer four more bodies of deceased hostages to Israel on Wednesday, a Middle Eastern diplomat and a second source familiar with the matter tell The Times of Israel.
The transfer would bring the number of hostages’ bodies returned by Hamas to 12, while another 16 would remain in the Strip.
Hamas has claimed that it needs time to reach all of the bodies as some of them are located underneath the rubble of buildings and tunnels bombed by the IDF, while others are located in areas under the IDF’s control.
Israel has dismissed Hamas’s claims as stalling tactics and has threatened to limit aid, keep the Rafah border crossing with Egypt closed, and resume fighting if the terror group doesn’t immediately return the remaining bodies.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Hamas misrepresented the number of bodies it told mediators it would be able to produce of the 28 that remained in Gaza before the deal was signed.
“We were told they had 26, 24 dead hostages… and it seems as though they don’t have that because we’re talking about a much lesser number,” Trump said, adding that he wants them all back.
The caskets containing the apparent remains of four dead hostages have arrived at the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification, the Health Ministry says.
The identification process may take up to two days.
Hamas has not provided the identities of the hostages it handed over.
The World Cup qualifier between Italy and Israel wraps up without major incidents amid a heavy police presence that included snipers on the stadium roof.
Italy won 3-0, dashing Israel’s last hopes of qualifying for next year’s tournament, and there were skirmishes between protesters and police on the streets of Udine at a pro-Palestinian demonstration before the match but no disruptions during the game itself.
The Israel team bus was escorted to the stadium by 13 police vehicles, including some from the special forces, and several motorbikes. The sound of helicopters surveilling the city filled the air since the morning, with drones spotted in the sky and snipers also seen on the roof of the Israel team’s hotel.
In the city center, around 10,000 people attended a pro-Palestinian march, which stayed incident-free for nearly three hours before arriving at its final stop. Then about 50 people — with their faces covered — started clashing with police, who used water cannons and tear gas to try and disperse them.
Some spectators booed Israel’s anthem before the match, but applause from the rest of the crowd largely drowned that out.
Attendance at the match was estimated at around 10,000 in the 25,000-seat stadium, including a small group of Israel supporters carrying their national flag in the main stand.
The family of Cpt. Daniel Perez will hold a second funeral for him this evening in Jerusalem, two years after his death, after his body was returned on Monday from Gaza by Hamas.
Perez, an immigrant from South Africa who was a tank commander in the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion, was killed battling Hamas fighters on October 7 and his body taken captive.
His death was declared by the IDF in March 2024, and his family decided at the time to hold a funeral, burying his blood-soaked clothing at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem. His remains are expected to be added to the casket during this evening’s proceedings.
The funeral is slated for 8 p.m. Israel time and will be streamed live at https://www.youtube.com/live/ZLdiTQv7K6o
The caskets containing the apparent remains of four dead hostages have been brought out of the Gaza Strip by troops, the military says.
The bodies are now being taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification, which officials have said may take up to two days.
Hamas did not provide the identities of the hostages it handed over.
The terror group is still holding the bodies of at least 20 hostages in Gaza.
UDINE, Italy — Italy beats Israel 3-0 at home thanks to a Mateo Retegui double and a late goal from Gianluca Mancini, securing at least a World Cup playoff berth amid tension between police and some demonstrators at a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel march. The defeat means Israel cannot qualify for the World Cup.
Retegui put Italy ahead just before the break after he was fouled and converted the resulting penalty. He netted the second in the 74th minute by winning possession on the edge of the area, cutting inside and curling his effort into the top corner.
Defender Mancini scored with a close-range header in second-half stoppage time to wrap up a comfortable win.
Norway leads Group I on 18 points. Italy is second with 15, six clear of Israel, who have only one game left and cannot overtake Gennaro Gattuso’s side.
The group winners qualify directly for next year’s World Cup, with the runners‑up entering the playoffs.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The families of recently freed Argentine-Israeli hostages David and Ariel Cunio, and Eitan Horn send a letter to US President Donald Trump, delivered by Argentine President Javier Milei today in Washington.
“We write to you today with hearts overflowing with joy,” they write, in a Spanish-language letter shared with The Times of Israel by the Argentinian embassy in Israel.
“After 738 days of darkness and suffering, our loved ones – Eitan Horn and David and Ariel Cunio — today they are home. After so much pain and uncertainty, this day feels like a miracle.”
“We can finally breathe again,” the families write. “You gave us back the light we thought we had lost. He gathered our family and restored our hope.”
They say that they are “proud Argentine citizens. Our roots are in Argentina, our lives in Israel, but our hearts belong to both nations that remained united in values and friendship.”
They tell Trump that his leadership “reminded us that humanity and courage know no distance. What you have done will never be forgotten.”
“Thanks to you, our homes are filled with happiness again,” they tell him, adding that he “demonstrated to the world that freedom, moral clarity, and humanity can prevail even in the darkest of times.”
The families tell Trump that he is worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.
They ask Trump to continue working for the return of all the slain hostages, including Argentine citizen Lior Rudaeff.
“You gave us back our family,” they say. “You gave us back our faith in life. That’s why we will bear your name on our hearts forever.”
Eitan Horn’s brother, Iair, and David Cunio’s wife and two daughters were also kidnapped but released in earlier exchanges.
