Oct. 17: IDF reportedly expects Hamas to return the bodies of more hostages next week

IDF: Red Cross received casket from Hamas, is en route to Israeli troops in Gaza

A gunman wearing the uniform of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, stands guard as Red Cross vehicles enter a warehouse to collect coffins said to contain the bodies of four hostages, in Gaza City, Oct. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Yousef Al Zanoun)

The IDF says the Red Cross has notified the military that it has collected a casket, with the apparent body of a slain hostage, from Hamas in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis a short while ago.

The Red Cross is now bringing the casket to IDF troops inside Gaza, where a small ceremony, led by a military rabbi, will be held.

The remains will then be taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification.

If confirmed to belong to a hostage, it would mean that 18 bodies of dead captives still remain held in Gaza.

Hamas did not identify the hostage whose body it handed over tonight.

Minister: UK government ‘doing everything in our power’ to ensure Israeli fans can attend soccer game

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, is reflected as Britain's Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood speaks to members of the Jewish community at the Community Security Trust (CST) in north west London, Oct. 16, 2025. (Carlos Jasso, Pool Photo via AP)

Britain’s government is doing everything in its power to make sure traveling fans of soccer club Maccabi Tel Aviv can attend a match in Birmingham next month, interior minister Shabana Mahmood says.

“Antisemitism is a stain on our society that shames us all. Every football fan, whoever they are, should be able to watch their team in safety,” Mahmood says on X.

“This Government is doing everything in our power to ensure all fans can safely attend the game,” she writes.

The Birmingham-based Premier League club said yesterday that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans would not be allowed to attend due to security concerns.

The announcement followed a wave of anti-Israel protests in recent days during the Israeli national team’s World Cup qualifiers against Norway and Italy, with police using tear gas on protesters and pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Oslo and Udine. Last year, fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv were ambushed and violently attacked by organized gangs in Amsterdam following a match against Ajax.

IDF: Red Cross heading to Gaza handover site to collect body of hostage from Hamas

People and members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) watch, as Palestinians use an excavator to dig deep into the ground, reportedly searching for bodies of hostages in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2025 (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Red Cross vehicles are now heading to a handover site in the southern Gaza Strip to collect a casket with the apparent body of a dead hostage, the IDF says.

Hamas did not identify the hostage whose body it says it is handing over.

The terror group said that it had “retrieved” the body today. Footage and images from earlier today showed Hamas operatives digging in the Hamad Town residential complex in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, with Arab media naming a hostage whose body was apparently buried in a tunnel in the area.

Trump tells Zelensky he’s reluctant to sell Ukraine Tomahawk missiles after warning Russia he might

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, left, sits before a meeting with US President Donald Trump, from right, Vice President JD Vance and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Oct. 17, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

US President Donald Trump signals to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he’s leaning against selling long-range Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv, while offering optimism that the war is moving toward an end that would mitigate the need for the powerful weapon.

Zelensky at the start of the White House talks says he has a “proposition” in which Ukraine could provide the United States with its advanced drones, while Washington would sell Kyiv the long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles that Ukrainian officials say they desperately need to motivate Russian President Vladimir Putin to get serious about peace talks.

But Trump says he is hesitant to tap into the US Tomahawk supply, a turnabout after days of suggesting he was seriously weighing sending the missiles to help Ukraine beat back Russia’s invasion.

“I have an obligation also to make sure that we’re completely stocked up as a country, because you never know what’s going to happen in war and peace,” Trump says. He adds, “We’d much rather have them not need Tomahawks. We’d much rather have the war be over to be honest.”

Trump’s shifting rhetoric on Tomahawks is certainly disappointing to the Ukrainians. In recent days, Trump had shown an openness to selling Ukraine the Tomahawks, even as Putin warned that such a move would further strain the US-Russian relationship.

But following Thursday’s call with Putin, Trump began downplaying the prospects of Ukraine getting the missiles, which have a range of about 995 miles (1,600 kilometers).

Zelensky had been seeking the Tomahawks, which would allow Ukrainian forces to strike deep into Russian territory and target key military sites, energy facilities and critical infrastructure. Zelensky has argued that the potential for such strikes would help compel Putin to take Trump’s calls for direct negotiations to end the war more seriously.

International Olympic Committee ‘regrets’ Indonesian decision to block entry for Israeli gymnasts

Israel's Artem Dolgopyat competes in the artistic gymnastics men's floor exercise final during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, on August 3, 2024. (Loic VENANCE / AFP)

The International Olympic Committee says it regrets Indonesia’s decision to ban Israeli athletes from competing at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, despite intense efforts by the Olympic body to find a solution.

Israel confirmed this week it would not be taking part in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta after its athletes were denied visas, with the Israel Gymnastics Federation calling the decision shocking and heartbreaking.

Indonesia said last week it had denied visas to Israeli gymnasts amid an outcry over Israel’s military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, costing Israeli athletes a spot in the world championships that start on Sunday in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, which has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel.

“Since the IOC became aware of the situation… it has, on all levels, been in touch with the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), the IOC Member in the country, the National Olympic Committee and the government of Indonesia to help facilitate a solution. Unfortunately, no resolution has been found,” the IOC says in a statement.

“The IOC very much regrets the situation, especially after the remarkable step towards a peace agreement at the Peace Summit in Egypt, as witnessed by the President of Indonesia.”

The IOC says it is up to host countries and organizers of sports events and the respective federations to ensure the participation of all athletes without any discrimination or restriction as per the Olympic Charter.

Indonesia decided not to issue visas to the Israeli athletes, senior legal affairs minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said, citing objections from groups such as a council of Islamic clerics and the government in Jakarta.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

UK’s Prince Andrew gives up royal title Duke of York amid renewed scrutiny over Epstein ties

Britain's Prince Andrew, Duke of York arrives to attend a Requiem Mass, a Catholic funeral service, for the late Katharine, Duchess of Kent, at Westminster Cathedral in London on September 16, 2025 (Jordan Pettitt / POOL / AFP)

Prince Andrew says he is giving up his royal title of the Duke of York and other honors as his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein returns to the headlines.

The younger brother of King Charles III says he and the royal family had decided “the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the royal family,” Prince Andrew says in a statement released by Buckingham Palace.

It comes as excerpts have been published of an upcoming posthumous memoir from Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has alleged she was trafficked by Epstein and had sex with Andrew when she was 17.

Andrew, 65, stepped down from public life in 2019, but denied wrongdoing.

In a statement, he says that “with His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honors which have been conferred upon me.

“As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”

Giuffre died by suicide in April. In the memoir, she details alleged encounters with Prince Andrew, whom she sued in 2021, claiming that they had sex when she was 17. Andrew denied her claims and the two settled the lawsuit in 2022.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre holds a news conference outside a Manhattan court following the jailhouse death of Jeffrey Epstein, August 27, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

Hamas says will hand over body of one hostage at 11 p.m.

People light candles outside Abu Kabir, the forensic institute where the identification process is being carried out on the bodies that were held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Oct. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Hamas announces that it will hand over the body of one hostage at 11 p.m.

The terror group does not identify the hostage.

The Red Cross is due to collect the body from Hamas and then bring it to IDF troops inside Gaza, where a small ceremony, led by a military rabbi, will be held in their memory.

Then, the body will be taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification.

Senior Hamas official: Terror group aims to maintain Gaza security in ‘transitional phase,’ can’t commit to disarm

Hamas fighters prepare for the release of hostages in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on October 13, 2025. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)

Hamas intends to maintain security control in Gaza during an interim period, a senior Hamas official told Reuters earlier this week, adding he could not commit to the group disarming — positions that reflect the difficulties facing US plans to secure an end to the war.

The remarks were published today.

Hamas politburo member Mohammed Nazzal also said the terror group is ready for a ceasefire of up to five years, with guarantees for what happens afterwards depending on Palestinians being given “horizons and hope” for statehood.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview from Doha, where Hamas officials have long resided, Nazzal defends the group’s crackdown in Gaza, where it carried out public executions on Monday.

There were always “exceptional measures” during war and those executed were criminals guilty of killing, he said.

Asked if Hamas would give up its arms, Nazzal said: “I can’t answer with a yes or no. Frankly, it depends on the nature of the project. The disarmament project you’re talking about, what does it mean? To whom will the weapons be handed over?”

He added that issues to be discussed in the next phase of negotiations, including weapons, concerned not only Hamas but also other armed Palestinian groups, and would require Palestinians more broadly to reach a position.

Nazzal also said the negotiations for the second phase of the agreement would begin soon.

On Tuesday, Trump said he had communicated to Hamas that it must disarm or it would be forced to. Trump has also suggested Hamas was given temporary approval for internal security operations in Gaza, and has endorsed Hamas killing members of gangs.

Noting Trump’s remarks, Nazzal said there was an understanding regarding Hamas’s presence on the ground, without specifying among whom, and claimed it was to protect aid trucks from thieves and armed gangs.

“This is a transitional phase. Civilly, there will be a technocratic administration, as I said. On the ground, Hamas will be present,” he said. After the transitional phase, there should be elections, he said.

Nazzal said mediators had not discussed with the group an international stabilization force for Gaza, which was proposed in Trump’s ceasefire plan.

Hamas’s founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel, although the group’s leaders have at times offered a long-term truce with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state. Israel regards this position as a ruse.

Nazzal said Hamas had suggested a long-term truce in meetings with US officials, and wanted a truce of at least three to five years to rebuild the Gaza Strip.

“The goal isn’t to prepare for a future war,” he said.

Beyond that period, guarantees for the future would require states to “provide horizons and hope for the Palestinian people,” he said.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

IDF confirms earlier drone strike in Lebanon, says Hezbollah operative killed

Troops of the Alon Reserve Infantry Brigade operate in the southern Lebanon town of Yaroun to demolish a building used by Hezbollah, late October 16, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF confirms carrying out a drone strike in southern Lebanon earlier today, saying it killed a Hezbollah operative.

The operative who was targeted while driving in the southern Lebanon town of Khirbet Selm was involved in restoring Hezbollah military capabilities in the area, according to the IDF.

A Hezbollah operative is targeted in a drone strike in the southern Lebanon town of Khirbet Selm, October 17, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Separately, the IDF discloses that in a ground operation carried out by reservists of the Alon Brigade in the southern Lebanon town of Yaroun late Thursday, a building used by Hezbollah was demolished.

The military says the building had posed a threat to Israeli troops operating in the area.

IDF says it carried out airstrike on terror cell that emerged from Khan Younis tunnel, approached troops

The IDF says it carried out an airstrike against a group of terror operatives who emerged from a tunnel and approached troops in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis earlier today.

The operatives had “posed an imminent threat” to the forces, and they were targeted “in accordance with the deal,” the military says.

In another incident, several terror operatives emerged from a tunnel in the Rafah area and opened fire on Israeli troops, the IDF says, adding that no injuries were caused in the incident.

IDF preparing for possibility Hamas will return body of hostage later tonight

Palestinians watch members of the Hamas militant group searching for bodies of the hostages in an area in Hamad City, Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The IDF is preparing for the possibility that Hamas will return the body of a hostage later tonight, the Times of Israel has learned.

Currently, the bodies of 19 hostages remain held in Gaza.

Footage and images from earlier today showed Hamas operatives digging in the Hamad Town residential complex in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, with Arab media naming a hostage whose body was apparently buried in a tunnel in the area.

UK government says working with police to ensure Maccabi Tel Aviv fans can attend Aston Villa game

Maccabi Tel Aviv's fans clap hands after the end of the Europa League soccer match between PAOK and Maccabi Tel Aviv at Toumpa stadium, in Thessaloniki, Greece, September 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

The UK government says it is aiming to enable all fans to attend a soccer game between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv after outrage over a ban on the Israeli team’s supporters.

“The government is working with policing and other partners to do everything in our power to ensure this game can safely go ahead, with all fans present,” a government spokesperson says. “We are exploring what additional resources and support are required so all fans can attend.”

Birmingham-based Villa said yesterday that the club had been informed by the Safety Advisory Group (SAG), responsible for issuing certificates for matches, that no away fans would be permitted at the Europa League game on November 6.

Freed hostage says Ben Gvir’s comments led to terrorists beating them unconscious with whips

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads an Otzma Yehudit faction meeting at the Knesset on July 7, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Comments made by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir about Palestinian prisoners led Hamas to worsen the conditions of the hostages in Gaza, including beating them with horse whips until they were unconscious, Channel 12 news reports, citing comments by a hostage released earlier this week.

“We were subjected to severe abuse every time Ben Gvir spoke out about the [Palestinian] prisoners,” the unnamed former hostage reportedly says.

“Once he talked about food and they locked us in a cage and said we could eat one date and drink salt water,” the freed hostage says.

“Once after he spoke on television, some terrorists came in with horse whips and beat us until some of us lost consciousness,” the former hostage says.

Earlier this year, released hostages also said that Ben Gvir’s behavior led to a worsening of the conditions in which they were held.

Channel 12 notes that defense officials warned Ben Gvir on a number of occasions that his words and actions to worsen the conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails could lead to the further mistreatment of those held in Gaza.

Witkoff to travel to Israel, Egypt next week to advance implementation of Gaza deal

White House Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff is recognized by President Donald Trump during his speech to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, Monday, October 13, 2025, in Jerusalem, as Lauren Rappoport watches. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)

US special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to the Middle East on Sunday evening to follow up on the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, reports say.

The reports are confirmed to The Times of Israel by a source familiar with the matter.

Another source tells Axios that Witkoff is expected to visit Israel and Egypt, and will also likely go to Gaza.

Witkoff is expected to try and make progress on the creation of the international stabilization force (ISF), and reconstruction in areas of Gaza that are not under Hamas control, particularly Rafah, the report says.

According to Axios, the visit is set to come amid growing discomfort in Israel over what is perceived to be Hamas dragging its feet over the return of the bodies of hostages that are still held in Gaza, and with the terror group killing and arresting members of rival groups in the Strip.

“We think Hamas is holding between seven to ten bodies that it can return at any minute. They choose not to do it and are creating a crisis,” an unnamed senior Israeli official tells the outlet.

The official tells Axios that Trump called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the latter was meeting with advisers on the Hamas refusal to return more bodies, and the Israeli premier told the US president of concerns over the issue. The Israeli official tells Axios that Trump said he was working on the matter.

Axios and the Kan public broadcaster say that the US has told Israel that the issue of the hostages’ bodies should not be used as an excuse to impose sanctions or impact the implementation of unnamed next steps in the deal. While Israel has threatened sanctions such as reducing the entry of aid into the Strip, it has not taken action, Kan notes.

Hamas has returned the remains of nine deceased hostages since it accepted the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, which on Monday saw the release of the final 20 living hostages still held by terror groups in the Strip.

The bodies of 19 more hostages remain in Gaza.

IDF expects Hamas to return the bodies of more hostages next week – report

Security forces pay their respects as the convoy carrying four bodies, three of them hostages, arrives at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv, on October 15, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The Israeli military expects Hamas to return the bodies of further hostages next week, Channel 12 reports.

Hamas has returned the remains of nine deceased hostages since it accepted the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, which on Monday saw the release of the final 20 living hostages still held by terror groups in the Strip.

The bodies of 19 more hostages remain in the Strip.

After the Palestinian terror group insisted that the bodies it has returned so far are the only ones it can currently locate, a senior Israeli official told the outlet yesterday that “there is a double-digit number of hostages that it can return.”

Ostrich escapes Ramat Gan zoo, is caught and returned home a short time later

An ostrich escaped the Ramat Gan Safari and went on the lam in the Tel Aviv suburb earlier today, Hebrew-language media reports.

The safari park says that the male ostrich made a run out of the entrance gate as it was closing.

“The curious ostrich began running into the park area and the nearby Ramat Chen neighborhood, to the surprise of passersby,” the statement reads.

The zoo says the curious bird was returned home a short time later after handlers sedated the ostrich to enable his safe retrieval.

An investigation is underway to establish how the bird escaped to prevent any similar incidents in the future, the park says.

רחובות רמת גן – יען ברחה מהספארי pic.twitter.com/xjC8cmG7vl

— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) October 17, 2025

EU eyes helping disarm Hamas; bloc ministers to discuss dropping proposal for Israel sanctions

A masked Hamas gunman in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, ahead of handing over Israeli hostages to the Red Cross, Oct. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The EU is looking at providing funding and expertise to help disarm Hamas under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, a document seen by AFP says.

The 27-nation bloc is discussing what role it can play after Europe was left on the sidelines as Trump sealed the first stage of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.

According to Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza, the next phases of the truce should include the disarmament of Hamas, the offer of amnesty to terror leaders who decommission their weapons and establishing the governance of post-war Gaza.

EU foreign ministers are set to discuss how the bloc might be involved in the peace process at a meeting on Monday.

In a document circulated today, the EU’s diplomatic arm says member states should “assess and explore ways to finance and provide expertise for disarmament.”

An EU diplomat says that any involvement would likely be limited to “technical support” and that Europe would not be involved in any sort of “intervention force.”

The document says that the EU, the largest international donor to Gaza, should focus on helping ramp up humanitarian aid deliveries to the region.

“The priority is to ensure the immediate delivery of aid at scale into and throughout Gaza in line with international humanitarian law,” it says.

The EU has said it is ready to redeploy a monitoring mission to the Rafah crossing point with Egypt when it opens and could help train a future police force in Gaza.

As the biggest international donor to the Palestinians, the EU is also expected to play a role in helping cover the cost of reconstruction.

But diplomats say they expect Middle East states to take the lead and the EU doesn’t want to rebuild Gaza if Israel could launch fresh offensives in the future.

“The EU should have a key role also in the recovery and reconstruction process,” the document says, pointing to a “Palestine Donor Group” Brussels is pushing to establish.

“The EU should maximize its leverage with a view to gaining more influence on the process through the variety of tools at its disposal.”

The EU has struggled to exert influence during the war in Gaza due to splits within the bloc between countries supporting Israel and those closer to the Palestinians.

Ministers on Monday will discuss whether to drop proposals for possible sanctions on Israel, including curbing trade ties, after the Trump ceasefire deal.

Israel is pushing for the measures to be dropped, but a raft of EU states argue they should be kept on the table to maintain pressure to secure the peace process.

Several said killed by IDF fire in Gaza; military says ‘suspicious vehicle’ crossed ceasefire line, neared troops

The IDF says it targeted a vehicle that crossed the so-called Yellow Line — to which the military withdrew under the terms of the ceasefire — in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood earlier today.

The “suspicious vehicle” had been identified crossing the line and approaching Israeli forces in the area, the army says.

According to the IDF, warning shots were fired toward the car. After it continued to approach troops, “in a way that threatened them,” the forces struck the vehicle “to remove the threat,” the military says.

Palestinian media reports that the vehicle was carrying displaced Palestinians seeking to return to their homes, and that several were killed and wounded in the incident.

The IDF has repeatedly warned Palestinians not to enter areas in Gaza currently under Israeli control or approach troops.

Turkish disaster specialist said to be waiting for Israeli permission to help recover hostage bodies in Gaza

Members of the Hamas terror group apparently work on searching for bodies of the hostages in an area in Hamad City, Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A team of Turkish disaster response specialists is stationed at the Egyptian border, awaiting Israeli authorization to enter Gaza and help in search and recovery operations, a Turkish official tells AFP.

The 81-member team from Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) is equipped with specialized search-and-rescue tools, including life-detection devices and trained search dogs.

They “are currently waiting at the border on the Egyptian side,” the official says.

The group is prepared to locate and recover bodies trapped under rubble.

“It remains unclear when Israel will allow the Turkish team to enter Gaza,” says the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Initially, Israel preferred to work with a Qatari team, but we are hopeful that our delegation will be granted access soon.”

A source from the Hamas terror group tells AFP the Turkish delegation is expected to enter Gaza by Sunday.

There is no immediate comment from Israeli authorities, which do not operate the crossings during the Jewish Sabbath.

AFAD personnel are experienced in operating under extreme conditions, having responded to numerous natural disasters, including the devastating earthquake in southeastern Turkey in February 2023, which claimed over 53,000 lives.

The Turkish official notes that the team’s mission includes locating both Palestinian and Israeli bodies, including hostages believed to be buried or hidden in collapsed structures.

However, the task is complicated because some Israeli hostages may have been disguised in local clothing to evade detection by Israeli drones during transfers.

“This situation is expected to complicate search operations and delay progress,” the official says, adding that Hamas is expected to provide location data related to hostages.

Concerns have been raised by some observers over the potential misuse of the Turkish team’s heavy equipment, with fears that it could be repurposed by Hamas to access underground tunnels.

Security Council urges Israel, Lebanon to respect ceasefire, gives backing to UNIFIL and Lebanese army

People inspect the damage at a cement manufacturing complex a day after a series of Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese village of Ansar on October 17, 2025, which the IDF said had targeted Hezbollah facilities. (Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)

The United Nations Security Council welcomes work by Lebanon to exercise its sovereignty over the whole country and urges Israel and Lebanon to respect the ceasefire reached last year.

“The members of the Security Council welcomed the efforts and commitments of the Lebanese government to exercise its sovereignty over its whole territory, through the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and recognize no authority other than that of the Government of Lebanon,” the international body says.

The organization also urges the international community to continue support for the Lebanese Armed Forces in their deployment south of the Litani River.

Under the US-brokered ceasefire, Hezbollah and Israel were both required to withdraw from south Lebanon, while UNIFIL deployed there alongside the Lebanese military, in part to help dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure.

Israel has maintained its troops in five locations it deems strategic, and kept up regular strikes on what it says are Hezbollah targets violating the truce.

The statement also gives full backing to the UNIFIL peacekeeping force, and urges “all parties to take all measures to respect the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel and premises and recalled that peacekeepers must never be targeted by attack.” In a number of recent incidents, the IDF has dropped munitions near UNIFIL troops. The IDF has said on some occasions that the grenades were dropped to disperse Hezbollah operatives.

UNIFIL has been deployed since 1978 to separate Israel and Lebanon, and numbers some 10,000 personnel from almost 50 countries. In August, the UN Security Council voted to end UNIFIL’s mission in 2027.

Cabinet set to vote on changing name of Gaza war to ‘War of Revival’

From left, National Security Advisor Tzahi Hanegbi, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz at the IDF command bunker at the Kirya in Tel Aviv on September 16, 2025 (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

The cabinet will vote on Sunday to officially rename the war against Hamas and Iran’s proxies to “War of Revival.”

The proposal, brought forward by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, would replace the current name, “Swords of Iron,” which was announced by the Israel Defense Forces on the day of the Hamas onslaught on October 7, 2023, shortly after the premier’s declaration that Israel was at war.

Netanyahu first suggested the name “War of Revival” a year ago at a cabinet meeting to mark the first anniversary of the start of the conflict, saying, “This is the war of our existence — the ‘War of Revival.'”

Critics have suggested the government’s proposed name is part of attempts to evade responsibility for any of the failures ahead of October 7, 2023, and on the day itself.

Despite its formal name, many in Israel refer to the conflict as the “October 7 war.”

Nobel Peace Prize winner Machado told Netanyahu she appreciates Israel’s achievements in war, PM’s office says

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado waves from atop a truck during the closing election campaign rally for presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez in Caracas, Venezuela, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

Newly crowned Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that she greatly appreciates his decisions and decisive actions in the war, and Israel’s achievements, according to a statement from the premier’s office.

The statement says the Venezuelan opposition leader called Netanyahu and told him that she was pleased there was an agreement to secure the release of the hostages, the Prime Minister’s Office says.

According to the statement, Machado also said she understood Israel’s struggle against the Iranian axis of evil, which she apparently noted was working against both Israel and the people of Venezuela.

Netanyahu congratulated Machado on winning the Nobel Peace Prize and praised his work to promote democracy and world peace, the statement says.

There is no statement from Machado on the call or its contents.

In an interview published earlier this week, Machado said she believes US President Donald Trump deserves to win next year’s prize.

Machado, a former presidential candidate, was announced as the winner of the prestigious award last week, dashing Trump’s hopes of snagging the vaunted prize after securing the first phase of a hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Former US National Security Adviser John Bolton makes 1st court appearance after indictment

John Bolton, left, who served as US President Donald Trump's national security adviser during his first term, leaves his house in Bethesda Maryland, Oct. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

John Bolton arrives at a federal courthouse to surrender to authorities on charges accusing the former Trump administration national security adviser of storing top secret records at home and sharing with relatives diary-like notes that contained classified information.

Bolton does not comment to reporters as he enters the courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, where he is expected to make an initial appearance before a judge on the 18-count indictment brought against him yesterday.

Authorities have suggested that classified information was exposed when operatives believed to be linked to the Iranian government hacked Bolton’s email account and gained access to sensitive material he had shared. A Bolton representative told the FBI in 2021 that his emails had been hacked, prosecutors say, but did not reveal that Bolton had shared classified information through the account or that the hackers had possession of government secrets.

The third case against a Trump adversary in the past month will unfold against the backdrop of concerns that the US Justice Department is pursuing the Republican president’s political enemies while at the same time sparing his allies from scrutiny.

Sea change: Images show exuberant freed hostage Omri Miran at beach with young family

Omri Miran pictured at the beach with his wife Lishay and two daughters on October 17, 2025, soon after his discharge from the hospital, and four days after he was released from more than two years in Hamas captivity in Gaza. (Screenshot via X; Eli Teichman and Shir Katz)

Omri Miran, freed Monday after 738 days held by terrorists in Gaza, looks exuberant as he visits the beach and paddles in the sea with his wife and two young daughters.

In footage, Miran watches as four-year-old Roni, and Alma, 2, play in the surf and build a sand castle.

A photo shows Miran grinning as he stands in the water, tilting his face upward toward the sky.

לראשונה אפשר להבין את המשמעות האמיתית של המילה ״חופשי״.
עמרי מירן בים.
צילום: אלי טייכמן ושיר כץ. pic.twitter.com/IoHeXP3Kjc

— Michal Peylan • מיכל פעילן (@michalpeylan) October 17, 2025

Miran was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the Gaza war.

Earlier today he was discharged from Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center and was greeted by hundreds upon his arrival at Kibbutz Kramim, to which his wife Lishay and the girls relocated due to the widespread destruction in Nahal Oz.

משפחת מירן מבלה בחוף – בהרכב מלא: עמרי, לישי, רוני ועלמא@YoavBorowitz @YCiechanover (צילום: אלי טייכמן ושיר כץ) pic.twitter.com/nkZ5YodVny

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 17, 2025

Egypt says resolving Palestinian issue is key for progress in India-Europe transit corridor

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, October 13, 2025. (AP/Amr Nabil)

Egypt’s foreign minister says that resolving the Palestinian question is key to making progress in a US-backed transport project to connect India to Europe via the Middle East by sea and rail.

The project known as the India-Middle East Economic Corridor (IMEC) was announced on the sidelines of a summit of the leaders of the Group of 20 major economies in September 2023 and was seen as a US alternative to China’s Belt and Road push on global infrastructure.

War broke out a month after the announcement, following the Palestinian terror group Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

“We have to bear in mind that connectivity is very important as part of a final settlement of the Palestinian cause,” Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty tells reporters during a visit to New Delhi.

He says he discussed the IMEC during talks with his Indian counterpart and adds that Egypt is open to being a part of the project.

The corridor aims to extend from India across the Arabian Sea to the United Arab Emirates and through Saudi Arabia before connecting through Jordan and Israel to Europe. India and the UAE signed a framework agreement for the project last year.

“The IMEC is an important project, but we have to understand that what happened over the last two years is that if you have escalation, that could hinder the cooperation, the connectivity,” Abdelatty tells reporters.

He also says that Egypt has had a loss of more than $9 billion since the Iran-aligned armed group Houthis started its attacks on ships in the Red Sea, which the group says it has carried out in solidarity with the Palestinians.

“We are paying a heavy price,” he says. “We used to have, every day, at least 75 ships crossing the Suez Canal both ways. Now, 25 maximum 50, so it dropped by at least 60%.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Shark recently seen off Israeli coast apparently caught in Gaza

Footage from Palestinian media shows Gazans crowding around a shark on a beach in the Strip, apparently the whale shark that has been seen off the Israeli coast in recent weeks.

It is unclear whether the shark was hunted or washed up on the beach.

Big fish at Gaza beach pic.twitter.com/RqTl1pkC5u

— Muhammad Smiry ???????? (@MuhammadSmiry) October 17, 2025

UK’s Starmer ‘angered’ over ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans, working to change decision

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to members of the Jewish community at the Community Security Trust (CST) in north west London on October 16, 2025 (CARLOS JASSO / POOL / AFP)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is “angered” by the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending a match at Birmingham’s Aston Villa and Downing Street is working to change the decision, a spokesperson tells UK media.

“Like everyone seeing this news, the PM has been angered by the decision,” the spokesperson says, according to Sky News. “We are working towards changing this decision, and we are working to support relevant partners.”

“It’s an operational decision for the police, but as everyone can see, the prime minister has been angered by this news,” the spokesperson says. “Ministers and local officials are working with police to try and amend this decision.”

The spokesperson says there will be a further update later today.

Downing Street also pushes back after independent MP Iqbal Mohamed called the Israeli fans “terrorists.”

“Thank you all who put the safety of Aston Villa fans, Birmingham residents and the British public above the Zionist and political pressure to let Israeli hooligans and terrorists run riot in our country,” wrote Mohamed yesterday.

When asked if the lawmaker was using acceptable language, the spokesperson says: “No, the prime minister has made his opinion very clear.”

Villa said the club had been informed by the Safety Advisory Group (SAG), responsible for issuing certificates for matches, that no away fans would be permitted at the Europa League match on November 6.

UEFA, which runs the Europa League, has called on the clubs and authorities to “agree on the implementation of appropriate measures necessary to allow” Maccabi fans to be able to attend.

Lebanese media reports 1 killed in IDF drone strike on car in Khirbet Selm

Lebanese media reports one dead in an Israeli drone strike on a car in the southern Lebanon town of Khirbet Selm.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

مراسلة «الأخبار»: إصابة مواطن جرّاء استهداف العدو سيارته في خربة سلم بينما كان ينقل قفران النحل pic.twitter.com/IAi5wq8u8V

— جريدة الأخبار – Al-Akhbar (@AlakhbarNews) October 17, 2025

Son of Mango founder allegedly a suspect in fashion tycoon’s 2024 death in fall; family confident of his innocence

Isak Andic, the founder of Spanish fashion brand Mango, arrives at the Fall-Winter 2011 Mango's fashion show in Paris, May 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

The family of Mango founder Isak Andic, who died in a fall from a cliff near Barcelona 10 months ago, says it is confident his son Jonathan is innocent amid reports he is being officially investigated for possible homicide.

The family says in a statement that it “will continue to cooperate, as it has done until now, with the competent authorities. Furthermore, it trusts that this process will be concluded as soon as possible and that it will prove Jonathan Andic’s innocence.”

It says it will provide no further comment at this stage.

La Vanguardia newspaper said late on Thursday that the judge looking into Andic’s death began officially investigating Jonathan in September for the homicide of his father because of contradictory statements he gave as a witness and that authorities were searching his phone for more evidence.

During the 10-month probe, investigators haven’t found any conclusive evidence linking Jonathan Andic to his father’s death, La Vanguardia adds.

Isak Andic died falling more than 100 metres (328 ft) from a cliff while hiking with members of his family in the Montserrat caves near Barcelona.

The case is still sealed and the judge has not provided any information about it, the court’s press office says.

Isak Andic’s Sephardic Jewish family moved from Turkey to Spain when he was young. He opened Mango’s first store in Barcelona in 1984 and over the following decades helped Mango grow into one of Europe’s leading fast fashion makers. He was worth $4.5 billion, according to Forbes.

Bar Kuperstein, an off-duty IDF soldier when taken hostage at Nova, visited by his commander

Lt. Col. 'Daled' meets with released hostage soldier Bar Kuperstein at Sheba Hospital, October 17, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Released hostage Bar Kuperstein, who was an off-duty soldier in the Nahal Brigade’s 932nd Battalion when he was abducted by Hamas terrorists from the Nova party near Re’im on October 7, 2023, was visited by his military commander today.

The officer, Lt. Col. “Daled,” was the 932nd Battalion commander on October 7 and is now the commander of the Nahal Brigade’s training base.

Also joining the meeting at Sheba Hospital was Lt. (res.) Tamir Dudi, a company commander in the 932nd who was wounded during the war.

During the meeting, Nahal Brigade commander Col. “Aleph,” who is currently stationed in Rafah, called Kuperstein and told him, “I’m happy we succeeded and am sending you a strong hug from the whole brigade.”

Hamas urges mediators to proceed with next stage of ceasefire deal, even as Israel awaits return of final bodies

Palestinians walk past a destroyed building at a makeshift market in the Nuseirat refugee camp, located in the central Gaza Strip, on October 15, 2025, two days after a ceasefire came into effect. Israel was expected to allow Gaza's sole border crossing to the outside world to reopen on October 15 to allow humanitarian aid into the devastated territory as part of a US-backed ceasefire deal. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

Hamas calls on mediators to follow up on the implementation of the remaining provisions of a US-brokered ceasefire agreement with Israel, which brought fighting in Gaza to a halt after two years of war.

The terror group says in a statement that there is a need to complete the formation of a community support committee, which should begin its work in administering the Gaza Strip.

The first phase of the deal has yet to be completed, however, as Hamas has not handed over the bodies of the final 19 deceased hostages.

Israel claims that Hamas is withholding at least some of the bodies deliberately, while the terror group insists that it cannot locate them due to the level of destruction in the Gaza Strip.

Police confiscate weapons from home of Oxford student who led antisemitic ‘Zios’ chant

British police have confiscated weapons from the home of an Oxford University student who was arrested for inciting racial hatred after leading chants of ‘put the Zios in the ground’ in London last week, British media reports.

On Saturday, a man was caught on video leading protesters in a chant of “Gaza, Gaza, make us proud, put the Zios in the ground.” ‘Zio’ is a slur for Jews popularized by KKK leader David Duke.

The monster chanting "Put Zios in the ground" is Samuel Williams, a PPE student @BalliolOxford whose family are from Bavaria, the birthplace of the Nazi party. Will Balliol discipline him? Unlikely, his hate-speech will probably guarantee him a "First".pic.twitter.com/vjw3MuNyjm

— Never Again (@Never_Again2020) October 13, 2025

The man was later identified as Samuel Williams, a student of politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford University. He had previously been pictured in photos shared by the Oxford Students Palestine Society.

Williams was suspended from his studies by Oxford and arrested for inciting racial hatred. He was released on bail, but a police investigation of his parents’ home on Thursday in the village of Pembury in Kent uncovered a significant stash of weapons and ammunition, according to the Daily Mail.

Police confiscated the weapons, although it is not clear whether they were illegally owned.

Antisemitism has been rampant throughout the UK since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught on Israel. Jewish students in UK universities have faced unprecedented hatred, including threats and intimidation, according to a recent report presented to the House of Lords by StandWithUs UK.

Trump says Saudi officials willing to join Abraham Accords, has had ‘very good conversations’ with them

US President Donald Trump says that Saudi officials indicated a willingness to join the Abraham Accords “as recently as like yesterday.”

“I had some very good conversations,” he says in an interview broadcast on Fox Business Network. “They couldn’t have done it during the war,” he adds.

He also says the Saudis couldn’t have normalized relations with Israel “with Iran as a power,” a reference to the blows Tehran suffered during the June Israeli-US bombing campaign.

UK loses bid to block challenge to Palestine Action ban under anti-terrorism laws

Protestors hold placards at a "Lift The Ban" demonstration in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action, calling for the recently imposed ban to be lifted, in Trafalgar Square, central London, on October 4, 2025. (JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

The British government loses its bid to block the co-founder of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel campaign group Palestine Action from bringing a legal challenge over the banning of the group under anti-terrorism laws.

Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, was given permission to challenge the group’s proscription, with her case due to be heard next month.

Britain’s Home Office (interior ministry) asked the Court of Appeal to overturn that decision and rule that any challenge to proscription should be heard by a specialist tribunal.

Judge Sue Carr rejects the Home Office’s appeal, saying Ammori’s case can proceed in the High Court.

Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organization by the government in July, making it a crime to be a member, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

More than 1,000 people have since been arrested for holding signs in support of the group, with over 100 charged.

Palestine Action was banned a month after some of its members broke into the RAF Brize Norton air base and damaged two planes, for which four members have been charged.

Kibbutz Neot Semadar named one of world’s best tourism villages by UN Tourism

An aerial view of the Arts Center in Kibbutz Neot Semadar, southern Israel, on April 12, 2018.(Menachem Lederman/Flash90)

Kibbutz Neot Semadar, located in the Arava Desert region of southern Israel, is named as one of the best tourism villages in the world for 2025 by UN Tourism.

Among the kibbutz’s key features is the architecturally unique, hand-built Art Center.

The Art Center, according to Neot Semadar’s website, “merges sustainable desert architecture with traditional construction techniques,” and was built over a period of 15 years by the community’s founders.

The kibbutz has 22 guest rooms available for visitors, which are billed as offering a chance for an eco-friendly, sustainable getaway.

It is also home to an organic winery and a vegetarian cafe.

The kibbutz says that its inclusion on the UN Tourism list “stands as a testament to living in harmony with people, nature and creativity.”

As of 2023, Neot Semadar had a population of around 260 people.

IDF says it foiled another 2 attempts to smuggle over weapons from Egypt via drone

Two more attempts to smuggle weapons and other contraband into Israel from Egypt, using drones, were foiled this morning, the military says.

The IDF says that in the pre-dawn hours, troops located a drone after it crossed the border and was downed, and found it to be ferrying two assault rifles, magazines and ammunition.

A second drone was found this morning with other unspecified contraband, the IDF adds.

Earlier today, the IDF said overnight it captured another drone with two assault rifles.

כוחות צה”ל סיכלו ניסיון הברחת אמצעי לחימה בגבול המערבי

לוחמי צה״ל סיכלו במהלך הלילה, ניסיון הברחה של אמצעי לחימה במרחב חטיבת פארן.

תצפיות צה״ל זיהו רחפן שחצה ממערב לשטח מדינת ישראל בניסיון להבריח אמצעי לחימה, הכוחות איתרו את הרחפן שנשא שני נשקים, מחסניות ותחמושת.

בנוסף, הבוקר… pic.twitter.com/YVy4kaAnf9

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 17, 2025

NY anti-Israel activists set up display featuring photos of terror chiefs to mark anniversary of Sinwar’s death

Anti-Israel activists in New York City set up a display with images of prominent terror leaders to mark the first anniversary of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s death.

Israeli forces killed Sinwar, the architect of the October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, in Gaza on October 16, 2025.

A far-left, anti-Israel activist group called the Bronx Anti-War Coalition organized the vigil for Sinwar.

The group’s exhibit features images of Sinwar and other Hamas leaders alongside Hamas insignia, as well as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian leaders, according to a video shared by the activist group.

The images are arrayed around flowers and candles, a banner that says, “Glory to the axis of resistance,” and a Quran.

It’s unclear how many are attending the rally. An announcement for the event was shared by other anti-Israel activist groups in the city, including the anti-Israel campus coalition at Columbia University.

Vigil for Yahya Sinwar & all Martyrs in the struggle against Zionism & US-led Western imperialism

“We must continue on the same path we started, or let it be another Karbala.” —Martyr Yahya Sinwar ????

????The Bronx, NYC pic.twitter.com/UltoMIoD8I

— ????????????????????????Bronx Anti-War ???????????????????????????????? (@BXAntiWar) October 17, 2025

The Bronx Anti-War Coalition describes itself as an “anti-imperialist, direct-action coalition resisting state violence while advancing decolonization.”

The group’s platform commits to “the abolition of the Zionist entity” and says on its website, “We view the Palestinian Resistance and the Axis of Resistance as the only realistic path toward achieving liberation for Palestine.”

The coalition, one of the smaller anti-Israel groups in the city, brings activists to protests in the city, but the vigil was not publicly advertised by the leading pro-Palestinian groups in New York.

Those groups, such as the Palestinian Youth Movement and the People’s Forum, have nonprofit status or route their funding through registered nonprofits. Publicly endorsing a US-designated terrorist group could be construed as illegal, material support for a terrorist group and expose them to legal action, jeopardizing their funding.

The groups back Palestinian “resistance,” and some activists at their rallies wear terrorist insignia, but the groups’ public statements do not feature US-designated terrorists.

Three British neo-Nazis jailed for planning attacks on mosques and synagogues

Three British right-wing extremists were jailed for a total of 29 years earlier today after they were convicted of planning to carry out an attack at mosques or synagogues as part of what they believed to be a coming “race war.”

Brogan Stewart, 25, Marco Pitzettu, 26, and Christopher Ringrose, 35, were preparing an act of terrorism when they were arrested in February 2024, prosecutors said at their trial.

The trio were also each charged with two counts of collecting information which may be useful to someone preparing an act of terrorism, while Ringrose was charged with manufacturing a component for a 3D-printed firearm.

They pleaded not guilty, but jurors at Sheffield Crown Court convicted them of all charges in May.

Judge Johannah Cutts jails Stewart, who prosecutors said played a leading role, for 11 years. Ringrose is jailed for 10 years and Pitzettu for eight years.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford had told jurors that the three defendants expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler and perpetrators of notorious terrorist attacks, as well as hatred for non-white people, especially Muslims and immigrants.

“It was their belief that there must soon come a time when there would be a race war between the white and other races,” Sandiford said.

Among hundreds of messages sent by the trio, including in a Telegram group called “Einsatz 14,” the defendants discussed executing then-prime minister Rishi Sunak and torturing imams.

Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, says in a statement that the trio “espoused vile racist views and advocated for violence, all to support their extreme right-wing mindset.”

“Some of their defense in court was that it was all fantasy or just part of harmless chat; however, all three took real-world steps to plan and prepare for carrying out an attack on innocent citizens,” Dunkerley adds.

Trump expects expansion of Abraham Accords soon, hopes Saudi Arabia will join

US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, October 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Alex Brandon)

US President Donald Trump says he expects an expansion of the Abraham Accords soon and hopes Saudi Arabia will join the pact that normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and some Arab states.

“I hope to see Saudi Arabia go in, and I hope to see others go in. I think when Saudi Arabia goes in, everybody goes in,” Trump says in an interview broadcast on Fox Business Network.

Family of Hadar Goldin, whose body has been held by Hamas since 2014, rallies at Mefalsim, near the Gaza border

The family and supporters of Hadar Goldin gather near Mefalsim on October 17, 2025. (Erez Volach/Israel Democracy Protest movement)

The family of Hadar Goldin, the Givati Brigade officer killed in 2014, whose body is still held captive in Gaza, gathers for the weekly rally at the Black Arrow Memorial at Mefalsim in the Gaza Envelope.

Goldin is counted among the 19 remaining hostage bodies held in Gaza.

‘Get out of here!’ Justice Minister Yariv Levin heckled at Inbar Haiman’s funeral

Justice Minister Yariv Levin is heckled by an attendee at the funeral of slain hostage Inbar Haiman.

“Get out of here!” the heckler demands of Levin.

The heckler is identified as prominent hostage deal advocate and anti-government activist Alon Mishali.

“We cannot accept this!” he says, apparently referring to the presence of Levin — a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party — although the applause he receives from those around him drowns out the rest of his remarks in the footage.

Levin is accompanied by fellow Likud member, Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel.

Mishali also uploaded a video of Levin and Gamliel’s arrival at the funeral on Facebook, inquiring: “How dare they show their faces at Inbar Haiman’s funeral?”

“Don’t normalize the fact that they have no shame,” he demands in the post. “You will legitimize those who are consciously destroying Israel and its most basic values!”

???? מוקד יריב לוין
???? מוקד הרצוג

מהומה בהלוויה.
אלון משעלי
״אסור לנו לקבל את זה!!!״
זועם על יריב לוין והנשיא שנמצאים לידו .

צילום: עידו ששון pic.twitter.com/0pfdFZLn3g

— מחאת השכנים (@NeighborsPT) October 17, 2025

Released hostage Matan Angrest discharged from hospital

Freed hostage Matan Angrest has been discharged from Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center after completing all required medical examinations, the hospital says.

Angrest was released from Hamas captivity on Monday.

In a statement, the hospital says it will continue to accompany him and his family, and carry out further medical examinations as necessary.

The hospital calls on the public and the media to respect the family’s privacy at this time.

‘A free spirit, brave and sensitive’: Herzog eulogizes Inbar Haiman, asks her family for forgiveness

President Isaac Herzog, pictured with his wife Michal, speaks at the funeral of slain hostage Inbar Haiman in Petah Tikva, on October 17, 2025. (Paulina Patimer/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

President Isaac Herzog eulogizes slain hostage Inbar Haiman, the last female hostage held in Gaza, whose body was returned to Israel on Wednesday night, at her funeral in Petah Tikva.

“Dearest Inbar, beloved, brave – the last of the [female] abductees to return to us!” Herzog begins, adding, “We are all here… to finally grant you a place of rest.”

Addressing the Haiman family, Herzog asks them for “forgiveness. Forgiveness that we were not there for you. Forgiveness that we could not save you. Forgiveness that it took us so long to bring you home.”

The president describes Haiman — a 27-year-old visual communications student who was murdered at the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led massacre on October 7, 2023 — as “an artist by nature, a free spirit, brave and sensitive.” He laments that she “met her death with such cruelty — dragged into the darkness of hell by Hamas monsters.”

“In what kind of world must parents hope, for two long, horrific years, just for the right to bury their beloved daughter?” he asks.

With the return of Haiman’s body alongside eight other deceased hostages this week — and the release of the final 20 living hostages still held in Gaza — Herzog says, “perhaps, at last, we can begin to breathe a little.”

He stresses, however, that “the mission is not yet complete” until the remaining 19 deceased hostages are brought home, adding, “we must neither rest nor be still until every last one of our abducted fallen is granted proper rest in the soil of our homeland.”

Emily Damari pans Aston Villa over ‘disgusting decision’ to bar Israeli fans from game

Released hostage Emily Damari speaks on a large screen during the Premier League match between Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. at the Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv, February 3, 2025 (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

Former hostage Emily Damari comes out against the decision by English soccer club Aston Villa to bar Israeli fans from its match against Maccabi Tel Aviv next month.

Damari, a dual British-Israeli citizen and fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv, says that Aston Villa’s “disgusting decision” represents the very opposite of what soccer stands for.

“I am shocked to my core with this outrageous decision to ban me, my family and my friends from attending an Aston Villa game in the UK,” Damari writes on X.

“Football is a way of bringing people together irrespective of their faith, color or religion and this disgusting decision does the exact opposite. Shame on you.”

Urging the club to “come to your senses and reconsider,” Damari likens Aston Villa’s announcement to “putting a big sign on the outside of the stadium saying ‘No Jews allowed.'”

I was released from Hamas captivity in January and I am a die hard fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
I am shocked to my core with this outrageous decision to ban me, my family and my friends from attending an Aston Villa game in the UK.
Football is a way of bringing people together… https://t.co/ngqsP2qbKI

— Emily Damari (@EmilyDamari1) October 17, 2025

UN says reversing famine in Gaza will take time

The United Nations says it will take time to reverse a famine in the Gaza Strip and urges the opening of all crossing points into the war-shattered Palestinian territory.

“It’s going to take some time to scale back the famine,” the UN World Food Programme’s spokeswoman Abeer Etefa tells a media briefing in Geneva, saying the WFP has five distribution points up and running but wants to get to 145 to “flood Gaza with food.”

Israel has continued to deny that the Gaza Strip is suffering from a famine, calling the declaration back in August a “modern blood libel.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Freed hostage Omri Miran discharged from hospital, days after return from captivity

Released hostage Omri Miran reunites with his wife Lishay Miran-Lavi after over two years in Hamas captivity, at the Re'im base on October 13, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)

Freed hostage Omri Miran has been discharged from Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center upon completing all necessary tests, the hospital says.

Miran was released from Hamas captivity on Monday.

In a statement, the hospital says it will continue to accompany him and his family, and conduct further medical examinations as necessary.

The hospital calls on the public and the media to respect the family’s privacy at this time.

UK regional police commissioner calls for review of ban on Israeli soccer fans

A British regional police commissioner has asked for an immediate review of a decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a soccer match against Aston Villa at their ground in Birmingham in November, he says.

The commissioner for the area, Simon Foster, is an elected official who oversees the work of the police force in the region. He does not have operational control of decisions such as whether to allow fans to attend.

The soccer club announced yesterday that it would not allow Maccabi fans to attend the match due to safety concerns.

The Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Crowds pay last respects along route of slain hostage Inbar Haiman’s funeral procession

Crowds line the Aluf Sade bridge over Highway 4 in the direction of Petah Tikvah, awaiting the funeral procession of Inbar Haiman, wearing pink in honor of her nickname, Pink, on October 1, 2025. (Yael Gadot/Israeli Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

The funeral procession for slain hostage Inbar Haiman makes its way from Rishon Lezion toward the cemetery in Petah Tikvah, as people line the roads and bridges to pay their last respects.

Haiman, 27, was murdered at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, and her body was taken to Gaza, where it was held until it was returned to Israel on Wednesday night.

Haiman’s family requested that those paying their last respects wear the color pink, in honor of the visual communications student’s graffiti moniker, Pink.

Haiman was the last female hostage held in Gaza.

UK government looking for way to circumvent ban on Israeli soccer fans attending Aston Villa match

Fans at the Israeli Super Cup match between Hapoel Be’er Sheva and Maccabi Tel Aviv at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv, July 13, 2025. (Flash90)

The UK’s culture secretary is looking into reversing a decision by the Aston Villa soccer club to bar Israeli fans from attending its match against Maccabi Tel Aviv next month, Science and Technology Minister Ian Murray says in a round of interviews with British news outlets.

The club said yesterday that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans would not be allowed to attend due to security concerns. The announcement drew condemnation from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as well as from the leaders of the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, and Reform UK.

It was welcomed, however, by independent MP Ayoub Khan, who had campaigned for the match against the Israeli team to be canceled.

Murray tells Sky News that Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy will meet with Home Office officials later today “to see if there’s a way through” the ban, which he says is “completely and utterly unacceptable.”

He acknowledges, however, that it may not be possible to override the ban if it becomes “an operational issue for the police.”

According to the BBC, the UK’s West Midlands Police supports the ban on Maccabi fans attending the game, due to concerns that there will be a repeat of the “violent clashes and hate crime offenses that occurred during the 2024 UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam.”

Still, Murray tells Sky News that the UK “can’t allow this (the ban) to happen.”

“We can’t allow a country to become a place where we’re excluding people from public events,” he says.

Separately, he tells the BBC that the ban is “the wrong decision in terms of antisemitism but it also [sends] the wrong message to the entire country — that you would be banned from going to public events if you’re of the wrong race, religion or creed.”

After 11-year-old boy said killed by troops near Hebron yesterday, IDF claims it opened fire in response to stone-throwing

Mohammad Bahjat Al-Hallaq, allegedly shot dead by IDF troops in the southern West Bank on October 16, 2025. (Wafa)

The IDF acknowledges that it opened fire on “suspects” in the Hebron area yesterday, in response to a Times of Israel inquiry regarding reports of an 11-year-old boy being shot and killed by Israeli troops in the village of al-Rihiya, south of Hebron in the southern West Bank.

“Yesterday, during an operational activity in the area of al-Rihiya, in the Judea Brigade, disturbances and stone-throwing were directed at IDF forces,” the military says. “The forces responded with fire toward the stone-throwing suspects and hits were identified.”

The military does not directly acknowledge the reports that an 11-year-old boy was killed, saying only that “the incident is under investigation” and that no troops were hurt.

Reports yesterday identified the victim as Mohammad Bahjat Al-Hallaq.

According to the official Palestinian Authority news agency, Al-Hallaq had been playing soccer on a school playground with a group of friends when troops opened fire on them. He was struck in the pelvis and rushed to hospital in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead.

Right-wing Tzav 9 group says it will resume blocking aid to Gaza until all bodies of hostages returned

Illustrative: Activists block the entrance to Ashdod port during a protest against aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip, February 1, 2024 (Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Right-wing activist group Tzav 9 announces that it will once again start blocking aid trucks from entering the war-torn Gaza Strip due to what it says are Hamas “violations” of the ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Israel has accused Hamas of violating the agreement by failing to hand over the bodies of the last 19 hostages in a timely manner. The terror group insists that it has returned all those it could access, however, and that efforts are ongoing to locate the rest.

“As long as there is no agreement, continuing to transfer aid to the terror group is forbidden,” declares Tzav 9 in an announcement. “The aid allows it to rehabilitate without any compensation and without the return of the dead. No aid will be transferred until the last of the dead is returned.”

Tzav 9 was formed by a group of right-wing activists who believed that Israel should block all aid from entering Gaza in the months following the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault. For several months, the movement made a name for itself by blocking routes leading to Gaza, staging protests near the border crossings, and in some instances, looting and trashing the aid packages aboard the aid trucks.

Until Friday’s announcement, the group appeared to have become largely inactive.

Ex-hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal suffering from potentially irreversible hearing loss in one ear, father says

Guy Gilboa-Dalal at the hospital following his release from captivity on October 13, 2025. (Government Press Office)

Freed hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal may have suffered permanent hearing loss in one ear, his father tells the Walla news outlet.

Gilboa-Dalal was abducted by Hamas from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, and was released from captivity on Monday, under the ceasefire and hostage release deal.

His father, Ilan Dalal, tells Walla that his son’s long captivity left him with a number of medical issues, including the complete loss of hearing in one ear.

“The doctors still don’t know if the hearing damage is reversible,” he says.

He is also suffering from digestive issues, various infections and severe vitamin deficiencies, Dalal says.

Despite the challenges, Dalal says his son is already dreaming of setting off on a sightseeing trip to Japan.

“If he travels there, it will be a family trip, we’ll all join him,” he says, adding that Guy’s return has left the family “happier than the day he was born.”

Moody’s keeping Israel’s credit rating unchanged until it is clear that Gaza ceasefire will last

Global credit rating agency Moody’s will not yet change Israel’s credit rating, it says in a report on the impact of the ceasefire in Gaza.

Instead, it will wait to ensure that the ceasefire holds and that fighting does not resume before it raises Israel’s score.

“The deal is credit positive for Israel because it will further enable resources and policymakers’ attention to shift back to supporting the economy and fiscal consolidation efforts,” the agency acknowledges. “However,” it says, “any significant benefit to Israel’s credit profile from the deal would come after a sustained move beyond the initial first phase.”

This decision is due to the estimation that future phases of the Gaza deal will be “increasingly difficult to achieve,” Moody’s says. “Risks remain high that the deal will not be fully implemented, which could result in the ceasefire breaking and the resumption of military conflict in Gaza.”

It says, however, that it expects Israel’s real GDP growth for 2025 will be close to 2.5 percent, up from its previous forecast of 2.0%.

But as it had already assessed that the war wouldn’t last beyond early 2026, Moody’s says the ceasefire has a limited effect on forecasts for 2026 and beyond.

IDF says it foiled attempt to smuggle weapons into Israel from Egypt via drone

Weapons and a drone that were seized by IDF troops following an attempted smuggling on the Egyptian border, October 17, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says it foiled an attempt to smuggle weapons into Israel from Egypt, using a drone, overnight.

Troops located the drone after it crossed the border and was downed, which was found to be ferrying two assault rifles, the military says.

In the past year, there have been frequent attempts to bring weapons and drugs over the Egyptian border using drones.

Freed hostage Matan Zangauker discharged from hospital, days after release from captivity

Einav Zangauker is reunited with her son, freed hostage Matan (L) , after he was held in Gaza for over two years, in Re'im on October 13, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Freed hostage Matan Zangauker has been discharged from Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center upon completing all necessary tests, the hospital says.

Zangauker was released from Hamas captivity on Monday,

In a statement, the hospital says it will continue to accompany him and his family, and carry out further medical examinations as necessary.

The hospital calls on the public and the media to respect the family’s privacy at this time.

IDF: Israeli motorist came under fire near Ramallah overnight; no injuries but vehicle damaged

An Israeli motorist came under fire while driving near the West Bank Palestinian village of Baytin, near Ramallah, overnight, the military says.

According to the IDF, there are no injuries, but damage was caused to the vehicle.

“Upon receiving the report, IDF troops were dispatched to the scene, began searches, and placed a closure on several villages in the area,” the military adds.

Katz orders IDF to place physical markers along boundary of ‘Yellow Line’ in Gaza

This image published by Defense Minister Israel Katz's office on October 17, 2025, shows a mockup of a physical marker that will be placed in the Gaza Strip to demarcate the Yellow Line. (Courtesy)

Defense Minister Israel Katz says he has instructed the IDF to place physical markers along the so-called Yellow Line — to which the military withdrew under the terms of the current ceasefire — in the Gaza Strip, so that the boundaries of the military’s control are clearly visible.

He says the markers will serve as a warning to “Hamas terrorists and Gaza residents that any violation or attempt to cross the line will be met with fire.”

The IDF has killed several Palestinians in recent days, saying that they crossed the Yellow Line and posed a threat to Israeli troops.

The Yellow Line, as drawn out by mediators, encompasses over half of the Strip’s territory, or 53% — most of which is outside of urban areas. In reality, the IDF is not holding all of that territory with ground troops, with many of its posts positioned closer to the Israeli border.

In potential future phases of the ceasefire deal, the IDF will further pull back its troops in the Strip.

According to an image published by Katz’s office, the markers that the IDF is set to place in Gaza appear similar to the blue barrels that mark the UN-recognized Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon.

Report: Shas eyeing return to government next week amid apparent progress on Haredi conscription law

Chairman Aryeh Deri attends a meeting of the Shas party Council of Torah Sages in Jerusalem, July 16, 2025. (Flash90)

The ultra-Orthodox Shas party could return to the government as early as next week, the Kan public broadcaster reports, after Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth announced that he had submitted a document outlining the principles of a potential ultra-Orthodox draft bill to the committee’s legal adviser.

Shas resigned from the government in July over the failure to pass a draft exemption law for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.

Now, however, the party is keen to return to the government quickly, as the temporary ministerial appointments made due to the resignation of Shas lawmakers will become permanent on October 20, Kan reports.

Prior to its resignation, Shas held the health, interior, labor, welfare, and religious services portfolios.

The portfolios were transferred temporarily to Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Tourism Minister Haim Katz in Shas’s absence.

Previous reports have indicated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is actively working to bring the ultra-Orthodox party back into the fold, in a bid to stabilize his coalition, which currently lacks a majority.

Two men shot and killed near Ibtin, in northern Israel

Two men in their 40s were shot and killed in a violent incident near the Bedouin village of Ibtin, in northern Israel, a short while ago.

Magen David Adom received a report shortly after 7 a.m. of a violent incident near Haifa, the emergency service says.

Upon arrival, paramedics say they found the two men unresponsive and without a pulse. They were declared dead at the scene of the incident.

Police have opened an investigation and are searching for the perpetrator.

The incident is being treated as criminal, meaning police do not suspect it to be terror-related.

Body of slain hostage Bipin Joshi to be repatriated to Nepal next week — report

People participate in a candlelight vigil for Bipin Joshi, a Nepali man who was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and was recently declared dead and his body transferred to Israel, in Kathmandu, Nepal, October 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

The body of slain hostage Bipin Joshi is to be repatriated to his home country of Nepal next week, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

Joshi, a Nepalese agricultural student, was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and killed in captivity in Gaza. His body was returned to Israel on Tuesday.

According to Kan, the repatriation process was delayed due to Joshi’s body being returned on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, which meant that preparations for his return to Nepal could not begin until the holiday ended.

The Directorate for Hostages, Missing Persons and Returnees at the Prime Minister’s Office denies to Kan, however, that the process was delayed due to the Jewish holiday, saying that it began preparations as soon as the forensic identification process was complete, despite the Jewish holiday.

It says that the process of selecting airlines for the repatriation is almost finished, at which point Joshi’s body will be repatriated to Nepal for burial, following a ceremony at the airport in Israel.

Al Jazeera footage purports to show Hamas operatives searching for bodies of hostages in Khan Younis

A video released overnight by the Qatari Al-Jazeera channel purports to show Hamas operatives searching for the bodies of hostages in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

The operatives can be seen working alongside bulldozers and heavy machinery to clear rubble from the heavily damaged streets.

Nineteen bodies of murdered hostages are still in Gaza. In recent days, Hamas claimed it had returned all the hostages that it could locate at this time, and was making efforts to find the remaining bodies.

Israel, however, has said it has intelligence indicating Hamas is still holding additional hostage bodies that it has not handed over.

Overnight, the terror group said it would take time to return the remaining bodies, as they are buried in tunnels allegedly destroyed by Israel or under the rubble of buildings damaged in Israeli strikes.

فيديو | مشاهد توثق بدء مقاتلي كتائب القسام الحفر بحثًا عن جثث الأسرى الإسرائيليين المفقودين في خان يونس جنوبي قطاع غزة. pic.twitter.com/BWJOfexwzf

— فلسطين أون لايـن (@F24online) October 17, 2025

Witkoff: Am confident all the hostages will return, Hamas ‘must unequivocally disarm’

US special envoy Steve Witkoff addresses an event at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington on October 16, 2025. (Screen capture/YouTube)

US special envoy Steve Witkoff reiterates the Trump administration’s commitment to returning all remaining bodies of hostages still held in Gaza.

“We will pursue the return of the bodies of the deceased until they all come home. And I’m confident they will all come home,” Witkoff says in remarks at an event at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington commemorating the second anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.

Witkoff touts the integral role that US President Donald Trump played in securing a ceasefire last week that has seen the release of all remaining living hostages.

“President Trump understands something most leaders forget — that moral clarity without strength means nothing, and it is that combination of conviction and power that has saved lives,” the US envoy asserts.

In the final days of talks in Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month, “the mediating countries managed to convince Hamas that keeping the remaining 20 hostages was no longer an asset. It was their liability, and they began to believe it,” Witkoff states.

He goes on to recall his two trips to Gaza over the past year.

“Each time I wear my black MAGA [hat], people come up to me on the Gaza side because they want peace too,” Witkoff continues.

“They want stability, opportunity, a better life for their children. A future for Gazans must include jobs, education, hope, aspirations — not just guns and violence,” he says.

“Israel should never have to live under the threat of rockets flying at its people or the fear of terrorist attacks. But Gazan people must be able to live a decent life as well or there won’t be a possibility for long-term peace.”

Witkoff reiterates that “Hamas must unequivocally disarm, and they can have no future in Gaza; no future as they have been” — appearing to leave open the possibility that the US would accept Hamas remaining in the Strip if it undergoes an ideological transformation.

“Only when extremism ends can prosperity begin. Peace in the region will save countless lives of Israelis and Gazans alike, and bring dignity to those who have suffered for far too long,” Witkoff says, pledging to quickly expand the Abraham Accords.

Mamdani repeatedly accuses Israel of genocide in NYC mayoral debate

Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a mayoral debate, October 16, 2025, in New York. (AP/Angelina Katsanis)

Zohran Mamdani, the leading candidate for New York City mayor, accuses Israel of genocide three times within a few minutes in a debate with his rivals, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa.

Cuomo accuses Mamdani of not being a democrat because Mamdani supported the “leave it blank” campaign during the Democratic presidential primaries to protest US support for Israel during the Gaza war.

“I said leave it blank in the presidential primary because primaries are a place to air dissent, and like many Americans, I was horrified by the Israeli genocide of Palestinians,” Mamdani says.

Asked about declining to call on Hamas to lay down its arms in an interview Wednesday, Mamdani backtracks, saying, “Of course I believe that they should lay down their arms.”

“Calling for a ceasefire means ceasing fire, that means all parties have to cease fire and put down their weapons, and the reason that we call for that is not only for the end to the genocide but also unimpeded access of humanitarian aid,” he says.

“We also have to ensure that it addresses the conditions that preceded this, conditions like the occupation, the siege and apartheid, and that is what I’m hopeful for,” he says.

Mamdani also attacks Cuomo for volunteering to join Netanyahu’s legal defense team in the international court “during the course of this genocide.”

Starmer slams ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans at upcoming soccer match as ‘wrong decision’

Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the plan to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a Europa League soccer match at Aston Villa is the “wrong choice” after police advise the club no away fans can be at the game due to security concerns.

“This is the wrong decision. We will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets. The role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation,” Starmer writes on X.

Four police officers lightly wounded in Rahat car chase

Four police officers have been lightly injured in a car chase in Rahat, apparently after rushing to the scene of a mass brawl between two warring families in the Bedouin city.

Police say the officers encountered a suspicious vehicle during an operation to stamp out violent disputes between rival families.

Attempting to flee law enforcement, the driver struck a police car and injured those inside, police say. Cops then chased down the vehicle and shot at it until it came to a halt. The driver, a man in his 20s, was detained for questioning.

The four injured officers were taken to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba for further treatment.

Footage from the scene that was filmed from a distance shows men running toward a stopped car near a traffic circle in the southern city, after several gunshots are heard.

Rahat has seen a surge of violence which has claimed two lives this past month, mainly due to blood feuds between warring families in the city.

♦️ דיווח ראשוני: 4 שוטרים נפצעו במרדף אחרי עבריינים בעיר רהט תוך חילופי ירי.

על פי המידע הראשוני, ניידת משטרה הייתה מעורבת בתאונת דרכים במהלך המרדף שכלל חילוף יריות בין שוטרים לעבריינים חמושים במקום. pic.twitter.com/fGotk4Hdx8

— Asslan Khalil (@KhalilAsslan) October 16, 2025

Police in the city have tried to crack down on the phenomenon, but lack the personnel and technological resources to do so, Rahat’s mayor told the Times of Israel earlier this month.

On Wednesday, a 27-year-old doctor at Soroka Medical Center died of his wounds after gunmen opened fire on him earlier this month, as part of a longstanding feud that has claimed four lives, including his, since 2013. Officers arrested five suspects shortly after the ambush.

Earlier in October, a 21-year-old pharmaceutical student named Adam al-Ubra was fatally shot in a revenge killing. He had been on a break from school in Jordan and visiting family at the time. Three suspects were arrested in connection with the homicide.

Hamas claims it can’t return remaining hostages’ bodies without equipment to clear rubble

Hamas asserts the return of hostages’ bodies from Gaza may take time, as the bodies are buried in tunnels allegedly destroyed by Israel or under the rubble of buildings that the terror group says were damaged in Israeli strikes.

The retrieval of the remaining bodies requires equipment to remove rubble, which is currently unavailable due to Israel’s ban on entry of such tools, Hamas claims in a statement.

The Palestinian terror group also says it remains committed to the Gaza agreement and keen to hand over all the remaining bodies of the hostages held in the enclave, but states Israel is to blame for the delay.