Oct. 20: Israel receives casket from Gaza with apparent remains of hostage

Syria announces seizure of 12 million Captagon pills

A member of the security forces with Syria's new government stands over pills of Captagon, a brand name of the psychostimulant drug Fenethylline, inside a warehouse that used to hide pills inside children's toys, hookahs, house doors and plastic insulation, during a raid in Latakia on January 19, 2025. (AAREF WATAD / AFP)

The Syrian interior ministry says it seized about 12 million Captagon stimulant pills in a raid on a drug smuggling network operating near Damascus.

The seizure marks one of the largest drug busts since the transitional authority assumed power in late 2024.

Following “precise monitoring and tracking of a smuggling network attempting to traffic large quantities of narcotics abroad,” security forces seized “around 12 million Captagon pills in the Al-Dumayr area,” Brigadier General Khaled Eid, director of the Anti-Narcotics Department, says in a ministry statement.

The leader of the network was arrested during the operation, according to Eid. The confiscated drugs will be destroyed.

The operation reflects the department’s “determined approach to combating smuggling, cutting off its sources, and prosecuting” those involved in drug trafficking.

Captagon, which is similar to an amphetamine, became Syria’s largest export during the civil war that erupted in 2011, with its trade serving as a key funding source for the government of ousted president Bashar al-Assad. Since Assad’s fall, the new authorities have reported numerous major seizures across the country. However, neighboring countries continue to report the interception of large shipments.

Foreign UN staff confined to Yemen compound by Houthis since Saturday

Fifteen international staff with the United Nations have been confined to the UN compound in Yemen’s capital Sanaa since an incursion by the Houthi authorities on Saturday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric says.

He says the staff are now free to move around the compound and have been in contact with their families and UN agencies, adding: “We hope that they will be free to leave the compound as soon as possible.”

Dujarric says five Yemeni staff who were also detained in the compound since Saturday have been released.

In addition, another 53 UN staff remain arbitrarily detained by the Houthis, he says, some since 2021. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Oman on Monday about the detentions, Dujarric says.

The Iran-aligned Houthis have controlled most of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, since seizing power in 2014 and early 2015. The United Nations has repeatedly rejected Houthi accusations that UN staff or UN operations in Yemen were involved in spying. Dujarric last week described the accusations as “extremely worrying.”

Vance en route to Israel to shore up Gaza ceasefire

US Vice President JD Vance has departed for Israel as part of efforts to advance and bolster the Gaza ceasefire, along with Second Lady Usha Vance.

He is due to meet with Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials.

His trip comes shortly after President Donald Trump warned Hamas it would be “eradicated” if it breaches the Gaza deal, but said he would give the Palestinian terror group a chance to honor the truce.

????BREAKING: Vice President JD VANCE and Second Lady Usha Vance board Air Force on the way to ISRAEL

The 48th President is enroute to OVERSEE the Peace Deal in the Middle East! ????????????pic.twitter.com/zNSNpldcyI

— The Patriot Oasis™ (@ThePatriotOasis) October 20, 2025

Vance to depart for Israel shortly, together with his wife

US Vice President JD Vance will depart Washington shortly for Israel.

He is joined by Second Lady Usha Vance.

Casket containing apparent remains of hostage is in en route to forensic institute for identification

The casket containing the apparent remains of a dead hostage has been brought out of the Gaza Strip by troops, the military says.

The body is 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 identity of the hostage it handed over.

The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said earlier that it had handed over the body of the hostage, implying that it was being held by the terror group.

This appears to contradict Hamas’s claim that the body was retrieved yesterday.

If the body is confirmed to be a hostage, the remains of 15 dead hostages would still remain held in Gaza.

IDF says 2 terror operatives killed in Gaza City after crossing Yellow Line, firing on troops

Several Palestinian terror operatives who crossed the Yellow Line — to which the military withdrew under the terms of the current ceasefire — in Gaza City, and opened fire on troops, were killed in a drone strike, the military says.

The incident took place this afternoon in Gaza City’s eastern Shejaiya neighborhood.

According to the IDF, the operatives had been identified crossing the Yellow Line “in a way that posed an imminent threat” to troops. The gunmen then opened fire on the troops, without causing injuries, the army says.

The IDF says the troops directed an Israeli Air Force drone that struck and killed the gunmen.

Palestinian media reported that two people were killed in the area.

Report: PM taps American-Israeli businessman as rep to US center overseeing ceasefire; Vance to visit command center tomorrow

Michael Eisenberg, co-founder and partner at Israeli VC firm Aleph. (Courtesy of Aleph VC)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed Israeli-American businessman Michael Eisenberg as his representative to the US-led international monitoring mechanism overseeing implementation of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement, Channel 12 reports, citing two senior Israeli officials and one senior American official familiar with the matter.

Eisenberg was previously involved with a group of businesspeople who helped establish the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the US- and Israel-backed mechanism that distributed food in the Strip, but is reportedly being suspended under the ceasefire terms.

According to the TV report, he will serve as Netanyahu’s representative in the American command center alongside Maj. Gen. Yaki Dolf, who represents the IDF and Israel’s defense establishment in the same forum.

It remains unclear how responsibilities will be divided between the two, the Hebrew network adds.

The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment to Channel 12 on the report, though it did not deny the report. Eisenberg declined to comment directly, saying only: “I prefer not to respond to discreet conversations, but it will always be an honor for me to answer any call-up the country asks of me.”

The report adds that US Vice President JD Vance is expected to visit the command center after arriving in Israel tomorrow, and may even enter the Gaza Strip, though no final decision has yet been made.

Red Cross hands over casket with apparent remains of hostage to IDF 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 allegedly to collect coffins containing the bodies of four deceased hostages, in Gaza City, October 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Yousef Al Zanoun)

IDF troops in the Gaza Strip have received a casket, with the apparent body of a dead hostage, from the Red Cross a short while ago.

The casket had been collected by the Red Cross from Hamas in southern Gaza.

The IDF is set to inspect the casket before draping it in an Israeli flag 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.

Report: Witkoff, Kushner warned Netanyahu not to endanger ceasefire, met with senior IDF officials to verify deal’s progress

US President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in meetings today not to take any action that could endanger the first phase of Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan, Channel 12 reports, citing sources familiar with the discussions.

The pair also met with senior IDF officials to verify progress on the deal, the report says.

“Do not act in a way that would endanger the ceasefire. We want to do everything to reach the second phase,” the envoys reportedly told Netanyahu, adding that while “self-defense” is acceptable, “risking the ceasefire” is not.

Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who also attended the meeting, conveyed that Israel remains committed to the ceasefire framework and expects Hamas to uphold its side of the agreement, the Hebrew network adds.

In a highly unusual occurence, the two Trump envoys also met with two IDF major generals today, Channel 12 says. According to the network, they sat down with the head of the IDF’s Technological Division and the head of Military Intelligence to assess Israel’s efforts to advance Trump framework.

During the meetings, participants discussed “the entire mechanism for dismantling and demilitarizing postwar Gaza,” and “made it clear that they want to ensure the IDF is making all the preparations necessary to carry out the second phase of the agreement,” according to the report.

The meetings took place with authorization from the political echelon, the network notes.

Karhi claims Isaac Amit took over Supreme Court presidency ‘by force’

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi at a committee meeting at the Knesset, June 24, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi claims that Supreme Court President Isaac Amit illegitimately appointed himself to the post of Supreme Court president. Karhi posted on X hours after Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana caused an uproar by refusing to acknowledge Amit by his title, and referred to him merely as a justice instead.

Karhi, who, like Ohana, is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, declares:

“He who appointed himself by force, in violation of the law, to the Supreme Court presidence is not the president,” writes Karhi, who, like Ohana, is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

He accuses Amit, who was appointed president in January of this year, of having “trampled on the people and the government.”

“Amit is not the president. He is acting in the place of the president, he dreams of being the president, maybe he’s close to being the president — but he was not appointed legally, and therefore he is simply not the president,” insists Karhi.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin fiercly opposed the appointment of Amit, a liberal judge, as president, and sought to intall now-retired Supreme Court judge and staunch conservative Yosef Elron instead, upending the court’s established norms.

Since Levin did not have the votes on the Judicial Selection Committee to elect Elron president, he refused to convene the committee for 16 months, until ordered to do so by the Supreme Court itself, sitting in its capacity as the High Court of Justice.

The court then appointed Amit as its president, leading Levin and a number of other senior government ministers to announce that they do not recognize his authority.

IDF: Red Cross has received casket from Hamas, bringing it to troops now

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 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.

PM denies plans to call early elections, says they’ll take place as scheduled

Speaking to reporters in the Knesset after its opening session following a three-month recess, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies plans to call early elections, saying they will take place as scheduled.

“The intention is to pass… an [IDF] draft law [regulating ultra-Orthodox military service], and then to hold elections at their scheduled time,” Netanyahu says.

The next elections are scheduled for October 2026.

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

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, October 14, 2025. (AP Photo/ Yousef Al Zanoun)

Red Cross vehicles are now heading to a handover site in the southern Gaza Strip to collect the body of a hostage from Hamas, the IDF says.

Hamas did not identify the hostage whose body it is set to hand over.

The terror group said that it “retrieved” the body yesterday.

IDF: Yellow concrete blocks to be placed every 200 meters to mark Yellow Line boundary in Gaza

IDF troops set up a physical marker on the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip, October 20, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF provides additional details on the physical markers demarcating the Yellow Line — to which the military withdrew under the terms of the current ceasefire — in the Gaza Strip.

The concrete blocks painted yellow, topped with a yellow metal sign, are 3.5 meters (nearly 11.5 feet) tall, and are being placed at distances of some 200 meters (more than a tenth of a mile) from each other along the Yellow Line, the military says.

The IDF began marking the line yesterday, and the military says the effort will continue “in the coming period.”

The Yellow Line, as drawn out by mediators, encompasses over half of the Strip’s territory, or 53 percent — most of which is outside of urban areas.

IDF troops set up a physical marker on the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip, October 20, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Trump says he could tell Israel to renew Gaza fighting, but giving Hamas chance to ‘behave’ first

US President Donald Trump says he could ask Israel to return to withdrawn areas of Gaza and eradicate Hamas if he wanted to, but he is holding off for now, in order to give the fragile ceasefire he brokered earlier this month a chance to suceed.

“We made a deal with Hamas that they’re going to be very good, they’re going to behave, they’re going to be nice, and if not, we’re going to eradicate them if we have to,” Trump tells reporters in the White House.

He reiterates his belief that yesterday’s deadly attack on IDF troops in Gaza was not authorized by the terror group’s leadership.

“I don’t believe it was the leadership, but they have some rebellion in there among themselves. They killed some people — a lot of people,” Trump continues, appearing to transition to speak about the dozens of executions Hamas has carried out against rival clan members, not the attack on Israeli troops on Sunday.

“But this is a violent group… They got very rambunctious and they did things that they shouldn’t be doing. If they keep doing it then we’re going to straighten it out, and it’ll happen very quickly and pretty violently,” Trump says, again suggesting that the US will be the one to take out Hamas before clarifying that others will do Washington’s bidding.

“We had countries calling me when they saw the killing with Hamas, saying, ‘We’d love to go in and take care of the situation ourselves,'” he claims. No country has publicly expressed willingness to send troops into Gaza, save for Indonesia. Azerbaijan and Turkey have privately expressed willingness, according to officials familiar with the matter.

“In addition, Israel would go in in two minutes if I asked them. I could tell them, ‘Go in and take care of it.’ But right now, we haven’t said that. We’re going to give it a little chance,” Trump says.

Government watchdog demands Levin publish Isaac Amit’s appointment as Supreme Court president in state gazette

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit (left) speaks to Justice Minister Yariv Levin at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on April 10, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel has petitioned the High Court of Justice, requesting that it order Justice Minister Yariv Levin to publish the appointment of Judge Isaac Amit as president of the Supreme Court in the official state gazette, since he has failed to do so over the last eight months.

Amit was appointed president on January 26, and sworn in at the President’s Residence, without the presence of Levin and the prime minister, on February 13.

The organization notes that Israel’s various justice ministers have published the appointment of Supreme Court presidents in the country’s history in the gazette “for decades,” a practice Levin has deviated from for undeclared reasons, despite the Law for the Courts stipulating the necessity of doing so.

In its petition, the Movement for Quality Government also noted that on May 12 this year, Levin published the appointment of a numerous judges in the gazette and the appointment of Supreme Court judge Noam Sohlberg as the court’s vice-president, but did not publish Amit’s appointment at the same time.

Levin fiercely opposed the appointment of Amit, a liberal judge, as president and sought to have installed now-retired Supreme Court judge and staunch conservative Yosef Elron instead.

Since Levin did not have the votes on the Judicial Selection Committee to elect Elron president, he refused to convene the committee for 16 months, until ordered to do so by the Supreme Court itself, sitting in its capacity as the High Court of Justice.

Head of the Movement for Quality Government Eliad Shraga said Levin’s refusal to publish Amit’s appointment was “an unprecedented injury” to the independence of the judiciary.

“Eight months of not recognizing the appointment, deviating from a practice of decades, and selective publication of all appointments except for the president — all of these indicate an improper attempt to subordinate the judicial system to political agents,” said Shraga.

The petition comes as Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana refused to refer to Amit as president of the Supreme Court in the opening of the Knesset’s winter session today, and Ohana’s decision not to invite Amit to US President Donald Trump’s speech to the Knesset following the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, despite inviting Likud party activists and other political functionaries to the event.

Levin’s office declined to respond to the petition.

Trump: Hamas violating ceasefire, will be ‘taken care of really quickly’ if it doesn’t stop

US President Donald Trump waits for the arrival of Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese at the White House on October 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/ Getty Images North America/ Getty Images via AFP)

US President Donald Trump says Hamas is “in violation” of his Gaza ceasefire agreement, warning that it will “be taken care of really quickly” if the terror group does not “straighten it out themselves.”

Trump’s comments to reporters at the White House appear to reference the deadly attack on Israeli troops yesterday, though, Washington has also criticized Hamas’s execution of rival gang members in the Strip over the past two weeks.

This is the first time that Trump has publicly declared that Hamas is violating the agreement after the White House pushed back on Israeli claims last week that the terror group was violating the terms of his deal by failing to return the remaining hostages’ bodies. US officials argued that Hamas was doing what it could to retrieve the bodies in difficult circumstances when many of them are buried deep under Gaza’s rubble.

Defense committee postpones talks on Haredi conscription bill until next week as legal adviser works on new version

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth (Likud) announces that he is postponing a series of scheduled discussions of the government’s controversial conscription bill in order to provide his panel’s legal adviser with the opportunity to formulate an updated version of the bill.

“In light of the fact that the legal adviser requires additional time to prepare a draft of the conscription bill for discussion based on the summary document that was submitted, the committee chair has decided to postpone the discussions that were planned for the coming week, in order to ensure that the next stage of deliberations will take place only on the basis of a consolidated legal draft as part of an efficient and focused legislative process,” a spokesman for the committee says in a statement.

Last Thursday, Bismuth submitted a document outlining the principles of a potential ultra-Orthodox draft bill to committee legal adviser Miri Frenkel Shor.

The Likud lawmaker’s office said that “based on the document, a draft law will be formulated in the coming days that will guide the committee in the continuation of the legislative process to regulate the issue of conscription.”

According to Hebrew-language news reports, the document stipulates that within five years, 50 percent of the annual Haredi draft cohort will be conscripted, and the age of exemption will remain at 26. Yeshiva budgets will only be cut for failing to meet enlistment quotas after a year, and personal sanctions will only go into effect after two years if the overall enlistment goal is not met.

Moreover, those sanctioned will not lose their driver’s licenses, although restrictions on issuing licenses to draft evaders will apply under the new proposal.

Bismuth’s proposal immediately drew harsh criticism from opposition politicians, with former prime minister Naftali Bennett accusing Netanyahu of engaging in a “stinking trick, really trading in blood.”

Addressing the Knesset this evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that in the new Knesset session, the government will pass a bill to draft 10,000 Haredim into the military within two years.

Iran confirms it has scrapped cooperation deal with UN nuclear watchdog

Iran has scrapped a cooperation deal that it signed with the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA in September, its Supreme National Security Council Secretary says, according to state media.

The statement comes around three weeks after Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Tehran would end the agreement, which let the IAEA resume inspections of its nuclear sites, if Western powers reinstated UN sanctions.

Those were reinstated last month.

The confirmation will be a setback for the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been trying to rebuild cooperation with Tehran since Israel and the United States bombed the nuclear sites in June.

“The agreement has been cancelled,” Larijani says while meeting with his Iraqi counterpart in Tehran, according to state media.

“Of course, if the agency has a proposal, we will review it in the secretariat,” he adds.

Hitting back at Lapid, Netanyahu says he spent 40 years warning of Iranian threat but was always ‘met with ridicule’

After a scathing speech by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, in which he accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of letting threats from Hamas and Iran grow unchecked, the premier returns to the Knesset podium, and says that Lapid called for Israel to leave Gaza in November, 2024.

“You dare speak about the Iranian threat?” he continues. “For years, 40 years, including when I was in the government, and prime minister, I warned and fought against this threat. And I tried to enlist everyone, the coalition and the opposition.”

“And I was met with ridicule,” he says.

“I was always met with documented opposition, and public opposition,” says Netanyahu.

“The threats have not ended. They are licking their wounds,” he warns.

“We must limit the internal fights,” says Netanyahu in a return to the theme of unity.

‘Who was prime minister on October 7?’ Lapid assails Netanyahu after premier boasts of leading Israel to victory

Opposition leader and Yesh Atid party chair Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on October 20, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Addressing the plenum at the opening of the winter parliamentary session, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid criticizes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had defended his running of the war in Gaza during his own speech, demanding to know, “Who was prime minister on October 7? The opposition?”

“We bombed in Iran. Who was the Prime Minister when Iran amassed its power? Hezbollah has 150,000 missiles. Who was the Prime Minister when Hezbollah amassed 150,000 missiles? We won the war. Who was the Prime Minister on October 7?”

“You talked about Iran but didn’t act. You can’t sell me stories,” Lapid declared. “I was in the Prime Minister’s office, we opened the drawers to look for the plans, and there was nothing.”

Lapid also omits Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana’s title, after Ohana pointedly referred to Supreme Court President Isaac Amit merely as a justice and not by his proper title.

Slamming Ohana, Lapid declares that he is “Speaker of only half the Knesset.”

“You know that’s not correct,” Ohana replies.

PM says he will build up Israel’s domestic arms industry, turn country into an AI superpower

After facing weapons embargoes that he says slowed Israel’s progress in the war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is advancing the country’s domestic arms industry.

“We will have to invest more in our national security,” he says.

He also boasts about his National Artificial Intelligence Directorate, and that Israel will become an AI power in much the same way it has become a cyber power.

He boasts that ties with the US have never been as close as they are now, including personal ties between him and US President Donald Trump, and says that he will talk to US Vice President JD Vance tomorrow about two things — “the security challenges facing us, and the diplomatic opportunities facing us.”

Netanyahu says that in the new Knesset session, the government will pass a bill to draft 10,000 Haredim into the military within two years.

“There are many more of enlistment age who aren’t Haredim, and they also have to enlist,” he says, without specifying who those individuals are.

He concludes with a promise that Israel “will win,” as coalition MKs give him a standing ovation.

Netanyahu says all Israelis must ‘lower the flames’ of ‘baseless hatred’

In order to make peace with more neighbors and defeat its enemies, Israel must preserve its unity, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I call on everyone, on both members of the opposition and the coalition, and through you to the public… we know what a terrible catastrophe baseless hatred caused in our history.”

“This is the time to lower the flames,” he says, moments after accusing the opposition of having pushed to end the war in Gaza on Hamas’s terms.

“In a democracy, we can come to decisions of majority and minority. It is also possible to reach compromise. It also possible, and necessary, to debate disagreements,” he says. “But to do this with a focus on the matter at hand, certainly not with violence, certainly not with threats of murder of elected officials, certainly not with threats of murder against the prime minister and his family, and also the families of ministers.”

Netanyahu says the government will soon pass the 2026 budget, and “we will continue strengthening Israel’s economy.”

He says that Israel’s economic performance during the war is stunning the world.

“Inflation is going down, the shekel is strong, unemployment is at a nadir, and the stock exchange is at an all-time high,” he brags.

Netanyahu claims Israelis would have died ‘in nuclear smoke’ if he had listened to opponents calling to end the war

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a plenary session of the opening day of the winter session at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, on October 20, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Hamas “felt the sword on its neck,” and was forced to accept the current hostage-ceasefire deal because he sent the IDF into Gaza City, its last major stronghold.

As IDF troops pushed into Gaza City, “Hamas understood it was facing annihilation.”

“If I had listened to many of those in this hall, and outside it,” Netanyahu continues, “you who called for me to stop the war, to surrender, to throw up my hands…If I had given in to these demands, the war would have ended with a crushing victory for Hamas and the entire Iranian axis.”

“You know it, and we all know it,” he says, as opposition lawmakers are ejected for interrupting.

Israelis from all sectors of society “would have gone up to heaven in nuclear smoke” if he had stopped the war, claims Netanyahu.

He says he would not accept “that the war ended with the terms of surrender that Hamas pushed for, unfortunately with the help of people in Israel as well,” pointing in the direction of the opposition “and with the help of world governments, with the help of international press, with the help of the entire world.”

“We strengthened Israel’s deterrence, we straightened our posture, we brought back our hostages – all the living, some of the slain are still there, we will bring them back too.”

“We cemented our status as a superpower,” he boasts, “but the campaign is not over.”

He says Hamas blatantly violated the ceasefire yesterday with its deadly attack on IDF troops in Rafah. Netanyahu emphasizes that Israel struck back at Hamas with 153 tons of explosives at dozens of targets, including senior commanders. “The ceasefire is a not a permit for Hamas to threaten us,” he says. “There is and will be a very heavy price for aggression against us.”

At the end of the second stage of the ceasefire, he promises, “Hamas’s military and governing will be eliminated.”

Netanyahu stresses that Israel also has a hand extended to those who want to live in peace. “And today, there are quite a few,” he says cryptically, “even a lot.”

“Peace is made with the strong, not the weak,” says Netanyahu, “and today everyone knows that Israel is a very strong country. A country that is stronger than ever.”

Odeh urges opposition factions to work together to topple Netanyahu’s government ‘as soon as possible’

Hadash-Ta'al chair Ayman Odeh attends a protest against the Israeli government and for the release of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip, at the Goma junction, northern Israel, on August 30, 2025. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

Hadash-Ta’al chairman Ayman Odeh calls on fellow opposition factions to join together to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “as soon as possible.”

Addressing reporters ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Odeh says that the government has three aims during the current parliamentary session, “harming the West Bank…promoting the judicial coup…and preventing the Arab population from running in the next elections.”

“I call on the opposition factions to act together, in unity, against these three things, not just against one thing, but in principle against this government in all directions, and to do everything to overthrow this government as soon as possible,” he says.

“The Hadash-Ta’al faction will work to increase the voter turnout among the Arab population and democratic Jews in order to prevent the government from continuing for another term.”

PM to Knesset: Hamas was never previously ready to accept current deal to return all hostages, keep IDF in most of Gaza; Israel working ‘non-stop’ to bring home deceased hostages

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Knesset, October 20, 2025 (Knesset channel)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says “we have to bring the slain hostages home, until the very last one,” as he addresses the Knesset plenum.

He reads the names of the 16 slain hostages still held in Gaza, starting with Hadar Goldin, an IDF officer killed in 2014.

He accidentally calls slain hostage soldier Itay Chen “Eitan Chen,” prompting corrections from the opposition and a general rumpus in the plenum.

“No one needs to remind us of the importance of the sacred mission of bringing back the slain hostages,” the premier says. “We are working non-stop, including in the meeting I held just before I arrived here,” a likely reference to his meeting with top White House advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

He rejects the assertion that the deal Israel accepted earlier this month was available a year ago. “At no stage – not six months ago, not a year ago, not a year and a half ago – at no stage was Hamas ready to accept the proposal that we attained now. The return of all our hostages at once, IDF control over the majority of Gaza’s territory, IDF presence in the majority of Gaza’s territory, and an explicit commitment with broad international agreement, including Arab countries, and almost all the Muslim world, to demilitarize the Strip, and disarm Hamas.”

“We are determined to achieve…all the goals of the war,” he promises, adding the goal of “eliminating Hamas as a diplomatic and military actor.”

Netanyahu says ‘all sides’ need to acknowledge those in charge, after Knesset speaker snubs Supreme Court president

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit (first row, left) attends a plenary session of the opening day of the winter session at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on October 20, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Speaking at the opening of the Knesset, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responds to President Isaac Herzog’s criticism of Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana minutes earlier for refusing to acknowledge Supreme Court President Isaac Amit’s position, saying he “agrees” with Herzog.

“Isaac Amit is the president of the Supreme Court,” says Netanyahu, with Herzog sitting next to the lectern. “That’s a fact.”

“But I am the prime minister of Israel, and these are ministers in the government of Israel,” he says to applause from the coalition and shouts of protests from across the aisle. “That’s a fact. And that is the speaker of Israel’s Knesset, and these the members of Israel’s Knesset, and that is also a fact.”

“These facts must be recognized by all sides, and not just by one side. That’s what is needed here, Mr. President.”

Red Cross confirms planned Hamas handover of hostage body at 8 p.m.

The Red Cross is preparing for Hamas to hand over the body of a slain hostage tonight at 8 p.m. Israel time, a senior Red Cross official tells The Times of Israel.

The terror group said earlier it will release a body at that time, asserting that it was “found yesterday.”

Herzog, at Knesset, takes pains to welcome Supreme Court president with his proper title, after snub by Ohana

President Isaac Herzog speaks during a plenary session of the opening day of the winter session at the Knesset, October 20, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Addressing the opening of the winter parliamentary session, President Isaac Herzog takes pains to refer to Supreme Court President Isaac Amit by his proper title, sparking cheers and clapping from opposition lawmakers enraged that only minutes earlier Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana refused to acknowledge Amit’s position.

“I had a long, pragmatic speech prepared, but this is a very, very significant moment in our national life, and my heart is bleeding,” says Herzog, and moves on to level criticism of Ohana’s treatment of Amit, after the Speaker referred to Amit merely as a Supreme Court “justice” rather than as the head of Israel’s top court.

“My heart is bleeding because there is a difference between a principled debate, which is certainly legitimate and includes legitimate opinions, and sheer discourtesy, disrespect for human dignity, disrespect toward institutions and other branches of government, and disrespect toward the judges of Israel,” says Herzog. “And I will give a voice to the judges of Israel.”

Directly addressing Amit, who is in the Knesset gallery, Herzog says: “I am saying to you, Mr. President, president of the Supreme Court, I cordially welcome you.”

His remarks get a standing ovation from opposition MKs.

Just under a week ago, Herzog criticized Ohana severely for declining to invite Amit to US President Donald Trump’s address to the Knesset.

Hamas says it will hand over hostage’s body at 8 p.m., says it was ‘found yesterday’

An armed Palestinian man looks on as an excavator is used to dig deep into the ground, reportedly searching for hostage bodies, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2025 (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Hamas’s military wing announces that it will transfer the body of a hostage to Israel this evening at 8 p.m.

The body was “found yesterday,” the terror group says.

On Sunday, Hamas said it would hand over the body of a hostage “if conditions on the ground allowed,” and in the end no transfer to Israel took place.

Louvre denies contacting Israeli intel firm for help locating stolen jewels

A French police officer stands in front of the Louvre Museum after a robbery, in Paris on October 19, 2025. (Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP)

The management of the Louvre museum denies having contacted a private Israeli intel firm to investigate the weekend’s audacious jewel heist at the iconic French institution.

“The Louvre management denies it,” museum representatives say when asked by AFP, without further comment.

The Israeli CGI Group, based in Tel Aviv, told AFP earlier the Louvre had asked for its help for the investigation due to its past success recovering stolen artifacts from a German museum in 2019.

Lapid heard accusing left-wing leader Golan of trying to ‘weaken’ Yesh Atid party, in leaked audio

(L) Yesh Atid leader MK Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on May 12, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) and (R) The Democrats party leader Yair Golan holds a press conference in Tel Aviv, May 20, 2025 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accused Yair Golan’s leftwing The Democrats party of “weakening” his centrist Yesh Atid party during a Zoom with party activists, according to a leaked recording published by the Kipa news site.

The Democrats “want to weaken us because they want to draw votes away from us,” he says. Such behavior is “legitimate in the political world, but they also know the truth — and the truth is that Yesh Atid is doing an exceptional job in opposition under very difficult conditions, winning battles without losing its identity and without becoming what it hates.”

Asked about Lapid’s comments ahead of his weekly faction meeting, Golan replies that his party is “fighting for the country and democracy, and therefore we are getting stronger.”

“If Lapid’s Yesh Atid is weakening, there is a simple answer to that: I simply invite them to join us — to join us in the struggle to save Israel.”

Knesset speaker refers to Supreme Court president as merely ‘justice’; MKs protest, are forcibly removed

Opposition lawmakers Gilad Kariv and Naor Shiri are forcibly removed from the Knesset plenum after yelling at Speaker Amir Ohana, after he acknowledges Supreme Court President Isaac Amit merely as a justice and not by his proper title at the opening of the winter parliamentary session.

Ohana did not invite either Amit or Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to last week’s speech by US President Donald Trump, prompting criticism by opposition lawmakers and President Isaac Herzog.

The move came as the government is seeking to fire Baharav-Miara and Justice Minister Yariv Levin refuses to recognize Amit’s authority as chief justice, with the coalition continuing to push to curb the powers of the courts as part of its judicial overhaul plans.

MKs Gilad Kariv and Naor Shiri removed from the Knesset plenum pic.twitter.com/0c837iAqDL

— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) October 20, 2025

In a tweet after his removal, Kariv tweets that Ohana is “trampling the honor of the Knesset, the honor of the judicial system, and the honor of Israeli society as a whole.”

Opposition lawmakers repeatedly interrupt and boo Ohana during his speech, with Yesh Atid MK Meirav Cohen yelling that he had “not learned anything” and was “doing exactly what you did before October 7.”

Ohana “has learned nothing in the past two years. He is forcefully taking us back to division and destructive rupture and to the days that preceded the disaster of October 7,” tweets Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, accusing him and the government of “weakening the State of Israel.”

Responding to his critics, Ohana warns that voters’ democratic power is “being eroded…because of the conduct of the judicial system.”

“We want with all our hearts for Israel to be a state governed by the rule of law and this house represents that more than anything. But the rule of law, not the rule of jurists,” he says.

Opposition leaders, accusing PM of indecision, urge no Qatari, Turkish troops in Gaza

A composite image shows Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman (L), Opposition Leader Yair Lapid (C), and Blue and White - National Unity chairman Benny Gantz (R), at their respective faction meetings at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on July 14, 2025. (All photos Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The leaders of the opposition open the Knesset winter legislative session with scathing criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s handling of national security, including its response to yesterday’s ceasefire violation by Hamas.

Addressing reporters ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said that Israel needs a “zero-tolerance policy towards any violation of the ceasefire” although he cautioned that Israel’s goal should not be to go back to war.

“Hamas was not defeated because Netanyahu does not know how to defeat it. The way to defeat it is to bring an effective Egyptian government in its place, and to make a constant effort, military and political, with the understanding that we will not stop until Hamas is destroyed, even if it takes time,” he adds — arguing that Turkey and Qatar cannot be allowed to send peacekeeping troops to Gaza.

A multinational team meant to help secure the Gaza Strip following the end of Israel’s war with Hamas will likely be headed up by Egypt, The Guardian reported on Saturday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told Trump that Ankara was also prepared to send forces to Gaza, although Arab officials have repeatedly told The Times of Israel that the United Arab Emirates and Qatar do not intend to contribute troops.

A Palestinian man carries a box of food from the World Food Programme (WFP) after collecting it in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

At his Yisrael Beytenu party’s faction meeting, Avigdor Liberman accuses the government of exhibiting “the same defeatism and the same containment” as before October 7, arguing that instead of renewing the war in response to Hamas’ violation, Netanyahu “forced a ceasefire” on the IDF.

While Israeli troops were being killed, Netanyahu was busy in the cabinet renaming the war the “War of Revival,” he adds.

Israel must put “the seizure of additional territory beyond the Yellow Line” on the table, argues Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz, referring to the line separating Hamas and Israeli areas of control in Gaza.

“Yesterday’s response was too little, and too short,” Gantz says, even as he warns Israel “must not immediately return to war.”

“Hamas must understand that there is a painful price for its violations,” he says, warning that installing an international administration in Gaza will take a long time and that “we cannot entrust our security to soldiers from other countries, whether from Turkey or Qatar.”

“Whoever thinks that a government of national unity means sitting in a government of Netanyahu and the extremists is living in a fantasy. Whoever says we will be Netanyahu’s 61st yes vote is lying and telling you a story he wants to sell,” he adds.

Netanyahu finishes meeting with Witkoff, Kushner; PM to meet JD Vance tomorrow

US envoy Steve Witkoff (left) and US President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner (right) flank Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a cabinet meeting on October 9, 2025. (Maayan Toaf / GPO)

Top White House Middle East advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have wrapped up their meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, the Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel.

US Vice President JD Vance will be landing in the wee hours of the morning overnight, and will meet Netanyahu during his visit, according to the PMO.

Freed hostages Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein released from hospital

L: Segev Kalfon (Courtesy, undated); R: Bar Kuperstein at Sheba Hospital on October 17, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Segev Kalfon and Bar Kuperstein have been released from Sheba Medical Center, the hospital says.

They were both released, along with the other 18 living hostages who remained in Hamas captivity at the time, on October 13, as part of phase one of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza.

Both men were abducted by terorrists from the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel.

Israeli intel firm says Louvre asked it to help locate stolen artifacts

French police officers stand next to a basket lift used by robbers to enter the Louvre Museum, on Quai Francois Mitterrand, in Paris on October 19, 2025. (Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP)

A private Israeli intel firm says France’s Louvre museum has asked for its help to locate artifacts stolen yesterday in an audacious daylight robbery.

“The Louvre exceptionally asked us to uncover the identity of people involved in the theft and to retrieve the stolen artifacts,” CGI Group CEO Zvika Naveh tells AFP.

Naveh says his company’s past success in locating artifacts stolen from a German museum in 2019 contributed to the Louvre’s choice of his company for the task.

Ben Gvir threatens to stop voting with coalition if death penalty for terrorists bill does not pass

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir speaks at a Knesset faction meeting in the Knesset on October 20, 2025 (Sam Sokol/ Times of Israel)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says that if a death penalty for terrorists does not pass its first reading in the Knesset plenum within the next three weeks, his far-right Otzma Yehudit party will no longer consider itself obligated to vote with the coalition.

Addressing reporters ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset on the opening day of the winter parliamentary session, Ben Gvir says that with the release of the last living hostages from Gaza there are “no more excuses” not to advance the legislation, which he says will deter terrorism. Ben Gvir also reiterates his demand that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continue the war and “dismantle Hamas.”

If the government doesn’t dismantle Hamas, “I will dismantle the government,” he adds, without specifying a deadline.

Ben Gvir’s statement serves as an elaboration of a threat he made on Saturday evening when he told Channel 12’s Meet The Press that he had given Netanyahu a deadline to dismantle Hamas and enact the death penalty for terrorists, threatening that if his conditions were not met, his party would quit the government.

“What I want, and this is also what Netanyahu promised me, is the dismantlement of Hamas, and if he doesn’t dismantle Hamas, he knows very well what will happen,” Ben Gvir said in the interview, declining to say how much time he had given Netanyahu to comply with his demands.

UK’s King Charles visits scene of Manchester synagogue attack

Britain's King Charles III looks at bouquets of flowers during a visit to Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, north Manchester, on October 20, 2025. On October 2, 2025, an attacker drove a car into a crowd outside the synagogue before going on a stabbing spree, killing two people and leaving three wounded. (Photo by Chris Jackson / POOL / AFP)

The UK’s King Charles visits the scene of a deadly terror attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur.

Charles is seen being shown floral tributes left at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation by Rabbi Daniel Walker. He then met community leaders.

Many community members welcome the monarch.

“I’ve come here to see other people who care about what’s happened and to know that it still matters to people in the UK,” Yakov Schleider, 15, tells the BBC.

“For the King to be here, it shows me that the UK is upset about this attack,” he says.

Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, were both killed, and three others were seriously wounded in the attack on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. One of the victims was likely killed by a stray police bullet.

The attacker, identified as Jihad al-Shamie, 35, was also shot dead by police.

IDF says jet bombed terror operatives approaching troops in southern Gaza

An Israeli Air Force fighter jet struck and killed several terror operatives who approached Israeli forces in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis earlier today, the IDF says.

According to the military, the operatives had been identified crossing the Yellow Line — to which the military withdrew under the terms of the current ceasefire — in the Khan Younis area, and approached troops “in a way that posed an imminent threat.”

The ground troops, upon identifying the operatives, directed an IAF fighter jet to strike them, the military adds.

IDF says it hit Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon

The IDF confirms carrying out airstrikes in southern Lebanon a short while ago, saying it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure in the Nabatieh area.

“The Hezbollah terror organization continues its attempts to rebuild terrorist infrastructure throughout Lebanon,” the army says, adding that “the presence of terror infrastructure and the activity of the Hezbollah terror organization in the area constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”

The military also publishes footage of the strikes.

צה"ל תקף מטרות טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בלבנון

לפני זמן קצר, צה"ל בהובלת פיקוד הצפון, תקף באמצעות חיל האוויר תשתיות טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב נבטיה שבלבנון.
ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה ממשיך בנסיונות שיקום של תשתיות טרור ברחבי לבנון.

הימצאותם של תשתיות הטרור ופעילות ארגון… pic.twitter.com/JFxsqaicK2

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 20, 2025

Khamenei tells Trump to ‘keep dreaming’ he destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities

Iranians walk past a poster featuring Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei outside the venue of the 22nd Police and Security Equipment Exhibition at Imam Khomeini Mosque in Tehran on October 15, 2025. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejects an assertion by US President Donald Trump that the United States has destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

“The US president proudly says they bombed and destroyed Iran’s nuclear industry. Very well, keep dreaming!” Khamenei says on X.

Reports of Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon

Lebanese media reports Israeli airstrikes near the village of Jarmaq in southern Lebanon.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

????????????مشاهد للغارات العنيفة على منطقة المحمودية – الجرمق pic.twitter.com/RwnFbxHtXb

— bintjbeil.org (@bintjbeilnews) October 20, 2025

Hamas to meet with Gaza truce mediators in Cairo

A Hamas delegation is to meet Qatari and Egyptian officials in Cairo today to discuss the continuation of a fragile Gaza ceasefire, a source close to negotiations told AFP.

The Israeli military struck dozens of Hamas positions across Gaza yesterday after terror operatives killed two of its soldiers and Israel accused the group of “a blatant violation” of the truce.

Hamas denied any knowledge of an attack and in turn asserted Israel had broken the ceasefire deal in place since 10 October.

The source says that the delegation, headed by Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, would discuss “the dozens of airstrikes that killed dozens in the Gaza Strip” yesterday.

Egypt and Qatar have long played a mediating role in indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, aiming to bring about an end to the war sparked by Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Hamas’ delegation will also meet Egyptian officials to discuss an upcoming intra-Palestinian dialogue hosted by Egypt and aiming “to unify the Palestinian factions,” the source tells AFP.

US Vice President Vance to arrive in Israel on Tuesday, Israel Airports Authority says

US Vice President JD Vance speaks with reporters upon his arrival to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on October 19, 2025 (Oliver Contreras / POOL / AFP)

US Vice President JD Vance is to visit Israel on Tuesday, the country’s airport authority says in a statement today announcing preparations for his arrival at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport.

Israel Airports Authority says traffic disruptions around the airport are expected between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. local time and that some flights are scheduled to be moved to another terminal.

Neither the White House nor the Prime Minister’s Office has confirmed the trip.

IDF gearing up for Hamas to hand over body of hostage tonight

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, October 14, 2025. (AP Photo/ Yousef Al Zanoun)

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

Yesterday, Hamas said it located the body of a hostage and would return it to Israel “if the field conditions are suitable.”

Hamas is still holding the bodies of 16 hostages.

Police close case against Ra’anana couple accused of spying for Iran

Police have closed an espionage case against Doria Achiel and Yuvda Israilov, a young couple arrested on suspicion of spying for Iranian interests.

They were suspected of passing information to harm state security, maintaining contact with a foreign agent, conspiring to commit a crime and drug possession, but charges were never filed against the pair, says their lawyer Nir David.

The two were arrested by police in their Ra’anana home at the Shin Bet’s directive in July. Officers raided the apartment, seizing phones and computers thought to have contained correspondence between the pair and supposed Iranian handlers.

Both denied the accusations and were released to house arrest by the Petah Tikvah Magistrate’s Court a week after their initial detention.

Dozens of Israelis have been arrested and charged over the past two years on suspicion of spying on Tehran’s behalf, after making contact with Iranian agents via social media. Only one of the alleged spies has been convicted so far, as most cases are still making their way through the legal system.

Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing to Gaza reopens for aid

A truck carrying humanitarian aids crosses the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing, heading for inspection by Israeli authorities before entering Gaza Strip, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)

Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza reopened for aid, an Israeli military official says, a day after Israel temporarily closed it, accusing Hamas of violating an ongoing ceasefire.

Following a decision at the political level, aid flowed through Kerem Shalom “in full compliance with the signed agreement,” the official says, adding that Gaza’s Rafah crossing to Egypt for people “will remain closed until further notice.”

Freed hostage Rom Braslavski discharged from hospital

Former hostage Rom Braslavski looks at the Tel Aviv skyline from his Tel Hashomer hospital room after his release from captivity on October 13, 2025. (GPO)

Freed hostage Rom Braslavski was discharged from Sheba Medical Center today, the hospital says.

Braslavki was released from two years of Hamas captivity in Gaza last Monday, after he was taken captive by Hamas terrorists from the Supernova festival on October 7, 2023.

In a statement, the hospital says he will continue his outpatient treatment at the Returning to Life Clinic, designed for hostages and their immediate families.

US envoy warns Lebanon that Israel will likely attack if it doesn’t disarm Hezbollah

US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria and Lebanon Thomas Barrack delivers a statement following a meeting with Lebanon's president at the Presidential Palace in Baabda on August 26, 2025. (Anwar Amro/AFP)

If Lebanon does not disarm Hezbollah, Israel will likely attack the Shiite terrorist group, warns US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack.

“Should Beirut continue to hesitate, Israel may act unilaterally – and the consequences would be grave,” cautions Barrack in a long post on X.

“If Beirut fails to act, Hizballah’s military arm will inevitably face major confrontation with Israel at a moment of Israel’s strength and Iran backed Hizballah’s weakest point,” writes Barrack, who is also the US envoy to Turkey.

A range of US-backed initiatives in Lebanon meant to nudge Lebanon toward peace with Israel “have stalled,” he laments.

Barrack also insists that “Saudi Arabia now stands at the precipice of formal accession” to the Abraham Accords, an assessment that is rosier than most recent reports.

IDF continues to demarcate Gaza ceasefire’s ‘Yellow Line’

The IDF is continuing to demarcate the Yellow Line — to which the military withdrew under the terms of the current ceasefire — in the Gaza Strip with physical markers.

Footage from this morning shows concrete blocks painted yellow being moved by heavy machinery. Yellow metal signs will be attached to them.

On Friday, Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the physical markers so that the boundaries of the military’s control are clearly visible.

He said 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.

The IDF is continuing to demarcate the Yellow Line — to which the military withdrew under the terms of the current ceasefire — in the Gaza Strip with physical markers.

Footage from this morning shows concrete blocks painted yellow being moved by heavy machinery. Yellow metal… pic.twitter.com/r8h0nmvK6Z

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 20, 2025

Likud MK says Witkoff and Kushner pushing Israel into the ‘gates of hell,’ this isn’t a Miami business deal

Likud MK Amit Halevi speaks during a committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, August 4, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud MK Amit Halevi slams US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who arrived in Israel this morning, saying that they were pushing Israel into the “gates of hell” with the Gaza ceasefire deal.

“What Kushner is doing, and Witkoff and that whole gang, is not pushing us into the next stage [of the Gaza ceasefire deal], but pushing us into the gates of hell,” Halevi tells Army Radio.

“That is the meaning of bringing the Qataris and the Turks and the Emiratis,” he says, referring to plans to have an international force disarm Hamas in Gaza. “By the way, none of them will come when the gun against their heads is a Hamas gun.”

“These are just fantasies being sold to the public,” says Halevi.

“Mr. Witkoff should have long ago reached the conclusion that the Middle East is not running a business in Miami, or some tourist enterprise in Miami,” he says.

“The time has come to understand, the West needs to understand the enemy it is facing and act accordingly,” he says.

The backbencher from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party has been a strident critic of the deal and last week boycotted US President Donald Trump’s speech to the Knesset.

Canadian PM Carney says he would arrest Netanyahu if he entered Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at a press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City on September 18, 2025. (Yuri Cortez/AFP)

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says he would arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he entered Canada.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Carney was asked if he would fulfill the commitment of his predecessor Justin Trudeau to detain Netanyahu on war crimes charges, to which Carney replied “yes.”

The International Criminal Court last week rejected Israel’s bid to appeal against arrest warrants issued by the ICC for Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over the war with Hamas in Gaza.

In a ruling last year, the ICC found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel denies all the allegations.

#urgent
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney: We will arrest Netanyahu if he visits Canada pic.twitter.com/ej0aiF0AmY

— mahmoud khalil (@zorba222) October 20, 2025

France’s Louvre Museum to remain closed after heist

French police officers stand in front of the Louvre Museum after robbery, in Paris on October 19, 2025. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP)

France’s most visited museum, the Louvre, will remain closed today, a spokesperson says, after a spectacular jewel heist yesterday shocked the country.

France’s Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin admitted to security flaws in protecting the Louvre that had led to robbers a day earlier stealing imperial jewels in broad daylight from the famed Paris museum.

“What is certain is that we have failed, since people were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of Paris, get people up it in several minutes to grab priceless jewels and give France a terrible image,” he told France Inter radio.

IDF says soldiers fired on several terror operatives who approached troops in eastern Gaza

The IDF says it opened fire on several Palestinian terror operatives who approached troops in eastern Gaza City this morning.

In a first incident, several operatives had been identified crossing the Yellow Line — to which the military withdrew under the terms of the current ceasefire — in the neighborhood of Shejaiya, and they “posed an imminent threat” to troops, the IDF says.

“The forces fired at the terrorists who crossed the Yellow Line in order to remove the threat to the troops,” the military says.

A short while later, the IDF says another group of terror operatives crossed the Yellow Line in Shejaiya and posed a threat to troops. The soldiers again opened fire on the operatives to “remove the threat,” the army adds.

Palestinian media reports that at least two people were killed in the area this morning.

Multiple websites including Amazon’s cloud unit down for thousands of users

The logo of Amazon Web Services (AWS) is seen during the opening of the Hannover Messe industrial trade fair for mechanical and electrical engineering and digital industries, on March 31, 2025 in Hanover, northern Germany. (Photo by RONNY HARTMANN / AFP)

Multiple online platforms including Amazon’s cloud unit AWS, Robinhood , Snapchat and Perplexity were down today, Downdetector says, while the CEO of Perplexity says the root cause was an AWS issue.

Amazon.com, PrimeVideo and Alexa were all facing issues, according to Downdetector.

Paypal’s Venmo was also down.

Israel warns Hamas operatives behind IDF lines in Gaza to immediately evacuate or be targeted

People run for cover following an Israeli strike that targeted a building in the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip on October 19, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

Israel warns Hamas operatives who are holed up on the eastern side of the Yellow Line — the 53% of the Gaza Strip under Israeli control as part of the ceasefire — to evacuate immediately or be targeted.

Defense Minister Israel Katz says he instructed the IDF to convey this warning to Hamas via the US-led international monitoring mechanism overseeing the ceasefire in Gaza.

“Any Hamas operative found beyond the Yellow Line in territory under Israeli control must evacuate immediately. The leaders of Hamas will bear responsibility for any incident,” Katz says in a statement.

“Anyone who remains in the area will be targeted without any further warning, to allow IDF troops to operate freely and immediately against any threat,” he says.

Katz says the “protection of IDF soldiers is the top priority and we will take all necessary steps to ensure this.”

Yesterday, terror operatives emerged from a tunnel deep within Israeli-held territory in southern Gaza’s Rafah and launched RPGs at troops, killing two soldiers. Another three troops were wounded by sniper fire in the same area.

Hamas claimed that it was not responsible for the attack because “communication has been cut off” with its operatives in the zones under Israeli control.

The military has assessed that there are Hamas operatives still holed up in the terror group’s tunnels in areas under IDF control.

Witkoff, Kushner land in Israel amid push to safeguard Gaza ceasefire

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and top White House advisor Jared Kushner land in Israel, the US Embassy tells The Times of Israel.

Their visit is part of a concerted US push to keep the fledgling ceasefire in Gaza from fraying further, a day after two IDF troops were killed in a Hamas attack and Israel responded with airstrikes across the Strip.

Israeli diplomats said added to WhatsApp groups run from Iran

Illustrative: A cybersecurity expert talks about Iran hacking techniques, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, September 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Israeli diplomats have been added to WhatsApp groups run from Iran and other hostile nations, the Ynet news site reports, citing an internal security warning issued to Foreign Ministry staff.

“Recently, there have been reports of [diplomats] being added to WhatsApp groups, not through their contacts. These are groups that are opened and run by our adversaries from phone numbers from Iran, Pakistan, and more,” the warning says.

“Therefore, it is necessary to be vigilant about the groups you join and are added to, and even change the settings so that you can only be added to the groups by contacts who are registered with you,” it says.

Germany plans to order 15 more US-made F-35 jets

Illustrative: A Royal Air Force F-35 lands at the Farnborough International Air Show in Farnborough, England, on July 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius intends to order an additional 15 F-35 fighter jets from US manufacturer Lockheed Martin, a parliamentary source tells Reuters, backing a report by Spiegel magazine.

Planners expect the additional aircraft to cost some 2.5 billion euros ($2.9 billion) according to confidential documents prepared for the German parliament’s budget committee, the source says.

Germany has already ordered 35 of the US-made jets to replace its fleet of 85 ageing Tornado fighter jets, which are set to be decommissioned.

The F-35 aircraft are designated to succeed the Tornados in their role of carrying US nuclear bombs stored in Germany in the event of a conflict.

Berlin previously denied plans to acquire an additional 15 F-35 fighter jets in July, but a significantly expanded defense budget has since created more scope for weapons purchases.

IDF drone crashes near Gaza border after malfunction

An Israeli Air Force drone crashed in an open area near the Gaza border community of Ein Hashlosha this morning.

According to the IDF, the drone suffered a technical malfunction, and it was collected by troops.

“There is no fear of information leaking,” the IDF says, adding that the incident is under further investigation.

Israel calls for renewed ties with Bolivia after country elects new center-right president

Bolivia's presidential candidate for the Christian Democratic Party (PDC), Rodrigo Paz, delivers a speech to supporters following the results of the run-off presidential election in La Paz, on October 19, 2025. (Photo by Jorge BERNAL / AFP)

Israel welcomes the election of  Rodrigo Paz after Bolivians elected a pro-business center-right senator as their new president, ending two decades of socialist rule, saying that Jerusalem hoped this would herald a “new chapter” in relations between the countries.

Bolivia severed ties with Israel in November 2023, accusing it of crimes against humanity in its response to the October, 7, 2023 Hamas massacre.

“I congratulate President-elect Rodrigo Paz on his election as the new President of Bolivia,” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says in a statement. “We extend our warm wishes to the Bolivian people for their democratic process and their choice for renewal.”

“Bolivia has a long history of friendship with Israel and the Jewish people. We look forward to opening a new chapter in our bilateral relations and advancing cooperation in a wide range of fields for the benefit of both nations,” Sa’ar says.

In his victory address, Paz said Bolivia was “reclaiming its place on the international stage.”

Paz also said he had received a congratulatory message from US President Donald Trump, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington “stands ready to partner with Bolivia on shared priorities.”

Under ex-president Evo Morales, Bolivia took a sharp turn to the left: nationalizing energy resources, breaking ties with Washington and making alliances with China, Russia and fellow leftists in Cuba, Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America.

Woman buried Holocaust survivor mom in backyard to keep getting compensation checks — police

Police seen searching for the body of a Holocaust survivor who was allegedly buried in the backyard of her daughter's home on a picture released on October 20, 2025 (Israel Police)

Israel police say they have detained a woman from the northern city of Karmiel and her partner on suspicion that they buried her 93-year-old Holocaust survivor mother in the backyard after she died in a bid to keep getting her survivor and social security benefits.

“After an investigation of several weeks, the northern district police managed to find the body of the deceased in a 3-meter deep pit in the yard of the house in Karmiel,” police say in a statement.

Police say they began investigating after relatives of the woman expressed concern about her welfare after receiving conflicting accounts from the daughter.

The two were detained after giving police conflicting reports about the fate of the woman, including that she had passed away in April 2024 and had been buried in a different city due to the ongoing war.

The partner later took his own life while in detention after realizing that police had discovered that he was the one who had hidden the body, police say.

The woman faces charges of fraud and interfering in a police investigation, along with failing to report the death.

Cargo aircraft skids off a Hong Kong runway into the sea, killing 2 airport workers

A view of the cargo aircraft that skidded off a Hong Kong runway on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

A cargo aircraft skidded off a Hong Kong runway and collided with a security patrol car before both fell into the sea, killing the two people in the car, authorities say. The plane’s four crew members are unhurt.

The Boeing 747, flown by Turkey-based ACT Airlines, was landing at Hong Kong International Airport around 3:50 a.m. on arrival from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The aircraft was being operated under lease by Emirates, a long-haul carrier based in Dubai.

The captains did not seek help before landing and had taxied about halfway down the runway before skidding off it to the left, Steven Yiu, the airport authority’s executive director in airport operations, says during a press conference.

“The patrol car absolutely did not rush onto the runway. It was the plane that went off the runway and crashed into the patrol car outside the fence,” he says.

When rescue crews arrived, the plane was broken into two parts, floating in the sea, and the four crew members were waiting to be rescued at its open door, says Yiu Men-yeung, a fire services official.

The four crew members had no apparent injuries, says Tong Sze-ho, acting senior assistant chief ambulance officer of the fire services department.

Rescuers dove into the sea and found the two security workers trapped in the car after a 40-minute search, Yiu Men-yeung says.

Kushner: Israel must improve life for the Palestinians if it wants to be ‘integrated’ into region

Israel must start aiding the Palestinians and helping to improve their quality of life if it wants to become fully integrated into the Middle East, says Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, in an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes.

“The biggest message that we’ve tried to convey to the Israeli leadership now is that, now that the war is over, if you want to integrate Israel with the broader Middle East, you have to find a way to help the Palestinian people thrive and do better,” he says, sitting alongside US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

He says that the pair are “just getting started” with relaying this message to Israel.

Regarding Kushner’s vision for the Palestinian people, and what he believes allowing them to “thrive” looks like, he says that the US is “focused on creating a situation for joint security and economic opportunity for Israelis and Palestinians so that they can live side by side in a durable way.”

“What you end up calling it over time, we’ll allow the Palestinians to determine that themselves,” he says, in answer to a question about a path to Palestinian statehood.

Vance downplays renewed violence in Gaza, says truce will have ‘hills and valleys’

US Vice President JD Vance downplays the renewed violence in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, telling reporters that there would be “fits and starts” in the truce.

“Hamas is going to fire on Israel. Israel is going to have to respond,” he said.

“So we think that it has the best chance for a sustainable peace. But even if it does that, it’s going to have hills and valleys, and we’re going to have to monitor the situation.”

Vance calls on Gulf Arab countries to establish a “security infrastructure” in order to ensure that Hamas is disarmed, a key part of the peace deal.

“The Gulf Arab states, our allies, don’t have the security infrastructure in place yet to confirm that Hamas is disarmed,” he says.

Vance says that a member of the Trump administration was “certainly” going to visit Israel “in the next few days” to monitor the situation.

He does not confirm who that would be, but says, “it might be me.”

Earlier, a US official told The Times of Israel that US special envoy Steve Witkoff and fellow adviser to US President Donald Trump Jared Kushner would arrive in Israel Monday, while Vance would land in the country on Tuesday.

Nava Freiberg contributed to this report.

Trump says ceasefire violations by Hamas to be ‘handled toughly but properly’

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One, October 19, 2025, en route to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, as he returns from a trip to Florida. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

US President Donald Trump suggests that Hamas leadership was not involved in the deadly attack against IDF troops in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday, blaming it instead on “some rebels within.”

Still, he tells reporters aboard Air Force One that “either way, it’s going to be handled properly. It’s going to be handled toughly, but properly.”

Expressing hope that the ceasefire would hold, Trump says the US wants to ensure “that it’s going to be very peaceful with Hamas.”

“As you know, they’ve been quite rambunctious. They’ve been doing some shooting, and we think maybe the leadership isn’t involved in that,” he reiterates.

Center-right Rodrigo Paz elected president of Bolivia, ending two decades of socialist rule

Center-right senator Rodrigo Paz has won a runoff presidential election in Bolivia, official provisional results show, ending two decades of socialist rule blamed by many for the South American country’s myriad economic problems.

With 97 percent of ballots counted, Paz had 54.5 percent of the vote compared to 45.4 percent for his rival, right-wing former interim president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal says.

Paz, the 58-year-old son of a former president, has vowed a “capitalism for all” approach to economic reform, with decentralization, lower taxes and fiscal discipline mixed with continued social spending.

US believes Hamas acting in good faith, searching for remaining bodies of hostages, Kushner says

Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's adviser and son-in-law, speaks with CBS' Lesley Stahl (not pictured) on 60 Minutes, in an interview aired on October 19, 2025. (Screenshot/CBS 60 Minutes)

US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner tells CBS’ 60 Minutes that he believes Hamas is actually looking for the bodies of deceased hostages, and is not intentionally dragging out the process of returning them to Israel.

As of early Monday, Hamas has yet to return 16 of the 28 deceased hostages that were still in Gaza when the ceasefire deal came into effect on October 10.

The terror group has said it is unable to immediately locate the remaining bodies due to the level of destruction in the Gaza Strip, but Israel has accused the terror group of lying, claiming that it has access to most of them and could hand them over at any time.

Asked about the conflicting accounts and the US’s role in navigating the differences, Kushner says there has been “a very intense effort on behalf of our joint center with Israel and with the mediators in order to convey whatever information Israel has on the whereabouts of the bodies to the mediators and to Hamas– in order to retrieve them.

The US is trying to “push both sides to be proactive in terms of finding a solution instead of blaming each other for breakdowns,” Kushner says.

Pressed on whether he believes Hamas is “acting in good faith — seriously looking for the bodies,” Kushner answers in the affirmative.

“As far as we’ve seen from what’s being conveyed to us from the mediators, they are so far,” he says. “That could break down at any minute, but right now– we have seen them looking to honor their agreement.”

Trump says Gaza ceasefire still in effect after attack on IDF troops, Israeli strikes

US President Donald Trump confirms that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is still in effect, after a day of violence sparked by an attack on IDF troops in Rafah.

Two IDF soldiers were killed in the attack and three others were injured, leading Israel to respond with a wave of intense strikes against what it said were 20 Hamas targets across the Palestinian enclave.

The Hamas-run civil defense said 45 people were killed in the strikes, but did not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Witkoff says he connected with Hamas leader al-Hayya over shared experience of losing a son

US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff describes sharing a moment of connection with Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya over their shared experience of losing a son, in an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes Program.

The US envoy met with al-Hayya in Egypt earlier this month during negotiations to end the war in Gaza, in a highly unusual face-to-face meeting between a US official and a member of the Palestinian terror group.

He says that when he entered the room for the meeting with the Hamas delegation, he found himself sitting directly next to al-Hayya.

“We expressed our condolences to him for the loss of his son,” says Witkoff. “He mentioned it. And I told him that I had lost a son, and that we were both members of a really bad club, parents who have buried children.”

Witkoff’s late son, Andrew, died at the age of 22 of an opioid overdose. Al-Hayya’s son, Himam al-Hayya, was killed in the Israeli airstrike on Hamas headquarters in Doha on September 9, which failed to kill any of the senior Hamas leaders it had targeted.

Kushner, for his part, describes watching the conversation between Witkoff and al-Hayya, whom he describes as a “hardened” person who has “been through two years of war.”

“They green-lit an assault that raped and murdered and did some of the most barbaric things,” he says of Hamas and the October 7, 2023, massacre that sparked the two-year war in Gaza. “They’ve been holding hostages while Gaza’s been bombed. And they’ve withstood all the suffering.”

“But when Steve and him spoke about their sons, it turned from a negotiation with a terrorist group to seeing two human beings kind of showing a vulnerability with each other.”

Witkoff says Trump was ‘very comfortable’ with idea of him meeting with Hamas directly to secure Gaza deal

US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff says US President Donald Trump was “very, very comfortable” with the idea of him and fellow adviser Jared Kushner meeting directly with Hamas in order to secure a deal to end the war in the Gaza Strip.

It was reported last week that the two men met directly with senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya and other Hamas leaders at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to avoid a logjam in negotiations and seal the hostage release and ceasefire deal.

Speaking to CBS’ 60 Minutes program about the process of arranging the meeting with the terror leaders, Witkoff says he approached Trump, along with Kushner, to ask if the president would be “comfortable with allowing us to go and meet with Hamas” if it would lead to a deal.

“That was the question we asked him and the entire foreign policy staff,” Witkoff says.

“And the answer came back: ‘If you feel that you can get to a deal, of course. Why wouldn’t I encourage you to get into that room and get it finished?'”

He says that, in his opinion, Trump had been “very, very comfortable” with the possibility of the two advisers meeting directly with Hamas, calling the president’s decision to allow the meeting to go ahead “courageous.”

Witkoff: Netanyahu’s phone call with Qatari PM was ‘pivotal’ step in reaching Gaza deal

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner speak with CBS in an excerpt from an interview released on October 17, 2025. (CBS screenshot)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apology to his Qatari counterpart for the Israeli strike in Doha on September 9 was a crucial step in the process toward a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, US special envoy Steve Witkoff says on CBS’s 60 Minutes” program.

Netanyahu phoned Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani while visiting Trump at the White House on September 29, to apologize for targeting a meeting of the Hamas terror group’s political leadership in Doha.

The strike failed to kill any of the key Hamas leaders it had been targeting and led to Qatar refusing to continue serving as a mediator between Israel and Hamas during negotiations over the Gaza war.

Shortly after Netanyahu apologized to al-Thani under Trump’s watchful gaze, the White House released its plan for ending the war in Gaza, and said both Israel and the Arab world had accepted it.

Netanyahu’s apology to al-Thani was “pivotal,” Witkoff tells 60 Minutes, in an interview alongside fellow Trump adviser, and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

“It was the linchpin that got us to the next place. It was really, really important that it happened.”

Asked whether Trump had to push Netanyahu to apologize, Kushner says that the Israeli premier “wasn’t [going to] do anything, or say anything, or agree to anything he didn’t feel comfortable with,” and that he knew that the apology was “what needed to be done at that moment to make peace.”

“The apology needed to happen. It just did,” chimes in Witkoff. “We were not moving forward without that apology. And the president said to him, ‘People apologize.'”

Kushner adds that the phone call between Netanyahu and al-Thani led to the formation of a “trilateral mechanism between the countries which didn’t happen before.”

“I believe over time Israel and Qatar could actually turn out to be incredible allies in the region to advance things forward,” he suggests.