Oct. 23: Katz tells Vance that Israel is ‘committed to disarming Hamas’

Man killed, wife injured in shooting in Tamra

A man has been killed after assailants opened fire on his home in the northern Arab city of Tamra, in a shooting that also injured his wife.

Paramedics took the victims, both in their 50s, to Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center, but the husband soon died of his wounds in the hospital. The wife sustained moderate injuries, says Magen David Adom.

Police say they have launched an investigation and are searching for suspects in the incident.

Trump on annexation: ‘Israel is not going to do anything with the West Bank’

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on October 20, 2025. (SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Asked about the Knesset’s advancement of two pieces of legislation to annex parts of the West Bank, US President Donald Trump responds, “Don’t worry about the West Bank.”

“Israel is not going to do anything with the West Bank,” he tells reporters at the White House, in his first comments on the matter since yesterday’s Knesset votes that infuriated Washington.

US Vice President JD Vance, who was in Israel at the time of the votes, called them an “insult.” Trump has previously said he will not allow Israel to annex the territory, an aspiration of some members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition.

In an interview with Time magazine conducted prior to the votes, Trump said regarding West Bank annexation, “Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”

Netanyahu’s office has framed the votes as a “political provocation” by the opposition, and said they are “unlikely to go anywhere.”

Reporter asks White House press secretary if Trump plans to build Third Temple

A reporter for an ultra-Orthodox publication poses a question that had the potential to cause an international incident at the White House press briefing, first declaring that Donald Trump is likely to go down as “the greatest builder of this era,” before asking Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt whether the subject of building the Third Temple in Jerusalem has ever come up during discussions with the US president.

“It has not,” Leavitt responds, quickly putting to bed the possibility.

REPORTER: Looking at these renderings, it got me thinking he’s [Trump] likely going to be remembered as the greatest builder of this era, and you’ve been part of many meetings with him. To your knowledge, has the topic of rebuilding the Holy Temple in Jerusalem ever come up?… pic.twitter.com/gUAmN55LMt

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 23, 2025

The two ancient Holy Temples in Jerusalem were located on the Temple Mount, which is also revered by Muslims and has been a flashpoint for numerous violent conflicts. Discussions of any change to the regulations governing the site, which is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, have repeatedly ignited controversy.

Trump’s construction aspirations have been at issue in the United States because he demolished the White House’s East Wing in order to build a ballroom.

Synagogue in Kherson, Ukraine, hit by missile; rabbi had reportedly left moments earlier to affix mezuzah

A synagogue in Kherson, Ukraine, was hit by a missile, causing significant damage to the building, according to a social media account affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement.

But the posts relate that the rabbi of the synagogue, Yosef Yitzchak Wolff, missed the strike by minutes because he had left the building to affix a mezuzah to the doorpost of a local home.

A post on X by Chabad.org shares photos of the damage, including a large hole in the ceiling of the building and debris on the floor of the sanctuary. According to a report on the strike in another Chabad-focused publication, Wolff’s office was also damaged.

A missile directly struck the main synagogue in Kherson, Ukraine, causing severe damage to the synagogue and the office of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Wolff. He narrowly escaped, having left minutes earlier to affix a mezuzah at a community member’s home. pic.twitter.com/9vHr84gvwL

— Chabad.org (@Chabad) October 23, 2025

Kherson, in southern Ukraine, has been the site of heavy fighting between Ukraine and invading Russian forces.

Wolff is quoted in multiple outlets calling the incident ” a clear moment of hashgacha pratis,” or divine supervision.

“The walls shook, and the sanctuary, the heart of the community, was completely destroyed,” he is quoted as saying. “But our spirit will not be broken. We will strengthen the community and rebuild the synagogue so that prayers can continue to be heard there, God willing.”

This is not the first time Wolff has narrowly avoided a strike in the three-and-a-half-year war. In July, according to Chabad.org, a Russian suicide drone hit the family’s car, crumpling the front of the vehicle.

Wolff, his wife, and their 19-year-old daughter were not injured in that incident.

Israeli officials reportedly tell Vance that Hamas can reach 10 of 13 remaining deceased hostages

US Vice President JD Vance (right) meets with Defense Minister Israel Katz at Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on October 23, 2025. (Elad Malka/Defense Ministry)

Israeli defense officials reportedly told US Vice President JD Vance during a meeting today that Hamas can return the bodies of at least 10 of the 13 deceased hostages still held in Gaza.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, and other military officials presented Vance with the IDF’s intelligence assessment of Gaza during a meeting today and “stated unequivocally” that Hamas is capable of returning at least 10 of the 13 remaining hostages, even before international teams enter the Strip to assist with recovering the bodies.

It has been previously reported that Hamas might not be able to find all the dead hostages, something that Israel is aware of.

According to an Israeli official cited by CNN earlier this month, seven to nine bodies might not be retrieved, while another put that figure at between 10 and 15.

Before the ceasefire, Hamas was holding the bodies of 28 dead hostages. It has since returned 15 of them, along with releasing 20 surviving captives.

Ex-IDF chief Herzi Halevi spotted at hostage rally in Netanya

Herzi Halevi , former IDF chief of staff, joins hundreds at a rally in Netanya, organized by the family of slain hostage and Netanya resident Itay Chen, calling for the release of the 13 deceased hostages held by Hamas, on October 23, 2025. (Adir Stup/Israeli-Pro-Democracy Movement)

Herzi Halevi, who was chief of staff of the IDF during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught, and who remained in the role until he resigned in March, is spotted at a rally for the return of the remaining 13 deceased captives in the coastal city of Netanya.

The photo, distributed by the Israeli Pro-Democracy Protest Movement this evening, appears to show Halevi in a blue button-down shirt listening to a fellow rallygoer whose face is not visible.

In his resignation letter, penned at the beginning of the previous ceasefire in January, Halevi wrote that the IDF was creating the conditions for the release of the hostages, and that the army would continue to fight to free them.

“The IDF will continue to fight to dismantle Hamas’s governance and military capabilities, to secure the return of all the hostages, and to strengthen the security conditions that will allow the safe return of residents to their homes in the south and north,” he wrote.

Earlier in the day, Halevi attended the funeral of Tamir Adar, who was killed defending Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 attack.

‘Days of destiny’: As US fumes over annexation bill, PM and Rubio give very brief, upbeat remarks in Jerusalem

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu give brief statements to the press at Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem, October 23, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

In very brief remarks to the press after meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, “Now we face days of destiny.”

“We want to advance peace. We still have security challenges, but I think that we can work together… [to] both address the challenges and seize the opportunities,” Netanyahu says, characterizing the carousel of senior Trump officials visiting Israel over the past week as being part of “a circle of trust and partnership” between Israel and the US.

“We have more work ahead of us, but we feel very positive about it. We’re making good progress,” Rubio says, referencing the Gaza ceasefire deal inked earlier this month.

“No one’s under any illusions. We’ve already done the impossible once, and we intend to keep doing that,” says the top US diplomat.

Rubio notes that US President Donald Trump has made building on the Gaza ceasefire a “top priority,” as evidenced by his dispatching of senior aides Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, followed by US Vice President JD Vance, and now the Secretary of State.

“It’s a very important achievement, but there’s more work to be done and bigger achievements that lie ahead… We feel very positive and confident that we’re going to get there despite substantial obstacles,” Rubio says, without elaborating on what those obstacles are.

The entire joint appearance lasts less than two minutes, and the pair do not take any questions.

Netanyahu is hosting Rubio amid mounting US fury over the Knesset’s advancing of legislation to annex parts of the West Bank, while Vance was in the country yesterday, and after Trump vowed last month that he wouldn’t allow Israel to make the controversial move. Vance made comments to that effect on Thursday as well, calling the move “very stupid” and saying he was personally insulted that the bill was advanced during his visit.

Time magazine today published a recent interview with Trump in which he warned that Israel would lose all support from the US if it annexed the West Bank, and insisted that it will not happen, adding that he “gave my word to the Arab countries.”

US reportedly mulls plan to replace controversial GHF aid operation in Gaza, create zones for fighters to disarm

People walk with bags of humanitarian aid they received at a distribution center run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), as they cross the Netzarim corridor in the central Gaza Strip, on August 22, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

The United States is reportedly considering a proposal for humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza that would replace the controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

According to a copy of the plan seen by Reuters, it is one of several concepts being explored, said a US official and a humanitarian official familiar with the plan, as Washington seeks to facilitate increased deliveries of assistance to the enclave after two years of war.

A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been in place for 13 days. Under that deal, some more aid is now entering Gaza, where a global hunger monitor warned in August that famine had taken hold. Israel rejects the allegation that there is famine in Gaza.

The “operational backbone” of the proposal seen by Reuters would be a so-called Gaza Humanitarian Belt – 12-16 humanitarian hubs positioned along the line to which Israeli forces have withdrawn within Gaza. Those hubs would serve people on both sides of the line.

The hubs would also include “voluntary reconciliation facilities” for Palestinian fighters to give up their weapons and receive amnesty, and forward operating bases for future forces with the planned international stabilization force to help demilitarize Gaza.

The proposal says the GHF would be “absorbed/replaced” by the UAE/Morocco Red Cross and Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian aid organization.

The proposal reflected a conceptual approach being explored by the US, said a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity. But the official said it was not the only concept for an aid operation and declined to speculate about the likelihood it would be implemented.

Asked for comment on the proposal, the US military’s Central Command referred Reuters to its statement from Tuesday on the opening of the Civil-Military Coordination Center, which is charged with facilitating the flow of security and humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A humanitarian official familiar with the proposal, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they understood “the sharing of that document was premature,” and it does not currently reflect “actual decisions or policy.” Instead, the proposal was “more like a white paper” – an informative document that proposes an option on a particular issue, the official said.

If a formal plan reflecting the ideas in the proposal was approved, it would represent “a warmed-over version of what GHF tried to do,” said the humanitarian official.

WATCH: Netanyahu and Rubio holding press conference

WATCH: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio are giving a press conference.

IDF confirms Lebanon strike, says it targeted Hezbollah weapons depot

The IDF confirms carrying out an airstrike in the Nabaitieh area of southern Lebanon this evening, saying it targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot.

The military says the depot, in the town of Arabsalim, was used by Hezbollah to advance attacks on Israel, and that the terror group was continuing efforts to rebuild its infrastructure in southern Lebanon.

“The presence of the terror infrastructure constitutes a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the army says.

Former hostage Eliya Cohen gets engaged eight months after release from Gaza

Eight months after former hostage Eliya Cohen was released from Hamas captivity, he proposes to Ziv Aboud, his longtime girlfriend.

The pair celebrate their engagement in front of a crowd of whistling, cheering friends and family, including former hostage Or Levy, at the Setai Hotel in Jaffa, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

As they walk toward their friends and family, Cohen says, “We succeeded!”

Cohen said in numerous media interviews that he and Aboud wouldn’t marry until hostages Alon Ohel and Elkana Bohbot were released from captivity. That occurred on October 13, after the ceasefire in Gaza took effect.

Cohen and Levy were held captive together for many months along with Ohel and Eli Sharabi.

Israeli airstrike reported in southern Lebanon

Lebanese media reports an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Arabsalim.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

بالصورة: غارة عنيفة استهدفت عربصاليم pic.twitter.com/AZr7r9Wod4

— هنا لبنان (@thisislebnews) October 23, 2025

Senior Trump official to ToI on annexation bill: ‘The Israelis can’t treat us like we’re Joe Biden’

This combination image shows, from left; President Joe Biden, on March 12, 2020, in Wilmington, Del., and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Oct. 28, 2023, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (AP Photo)

Piling on the criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government after the Knesset advanced legislation to annex parts of the West Bank while US Vice President JD Vance was in the country, a senior Trump administration official tells The Times of Israel, “The Israelis can’t treat us like we’re Joe Biden.”

Netanyahu regularly sparred with former US president Joe Biden during his administration, which ended in January, and was accused of seeking rifts with the Democratic White House for domestic political gain.

The decision by the senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, to draw a comparison to Biden also harkened back to another US-Israeli rift in 2010, under the Obama administration, when the Interior Ministry announced that 1,600 housing units would be built in a Jewish neighborhood of East Jerusalem while then-vice president Biden was in town.

US official: If Netanyahu ‘f**ks up the deal, Donald Trump will f**k him’ — report

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/Mark Schiefelbein)

US President Donald Trump will “f**k” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli leader jeopardizes the Gaza ceasefire deal, a US official said, according to a Channel 12 report.

Correspondent Barak Ravid, speaking in Hebrew on the network, says that a US official told him, “Netanyahu is walking a fine line with President Trump. If he keeps going, he’ll f**k up the Gaza deal. And if he f**ks up the deal, Donald Trump will f**k him.”

“In English, it sounds even cruder,” news anchor Yonit Levi noted at the end of Ravid’s report.

The remark reflects growing frustration in Washington with recent political moves in Israel, particularly the Knesset’s vote yesterday to advance two bills to annex parts of the West Bank, which reportedly stunned US officials.

The source told Ravid that US Vice President JD Vance, who was visiting Israel at the time, was shocked by the decision and believes that Israel is acting in an “unsupervised” manner. Netanyahu updated Vance about the Knesset vote during the vice president’s visit, assuring him that it was merely a “preliminary vote” and would “go nowhere,” the public broadcaster Kan reported.

Vance responded, “This cannot happen while I am visiting here.”

According to the Channel 12 report, Netanyahu had been warned by American officials that the vote could provoke a backlash and destabilize ongoing negotiations over the ceasefire.

Last surviving Warsaw Ghetto Uprising fighter Michael Smuss dies at 99

Michael Smuss in his home. (Zev Stub/Times of Israel)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Michael Smuss, who fought Nazi soldiers with Molotov cocktails during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during the Holocaust and World War II, and became a painter after the war to process his trauma, has died. He was 99.

His wife in Israel confirms his death. She says Smuss died on Oct. 21. Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Center, said the funeral would take place tomorrow.

Smuss was born in 1926 in what was then the Free City of Danzig, now Gdansk, Poland. He later moved to Lodz and Warsaw. In 1940, he became one of the hundreds of thousands of Jews forcefully imprisoned within the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Read more: 82 years after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, its last living fighter bears witness

The Warsaw Ghetto initially held some 380,000 Jews who were cramped into tight living spaces, and at its peak housed about half a million people. Disease and starvation were rampant, and bodies often appeared on the streets.

Smuss joined the Jewish resistance in the ghetto and he was active in an underground group led by rebellion leader Mordechai Anielewicz, according to Frank Steffens, a family member living in Germany.

While working to restore helmets Nazi soldiers used in battle, Smuss had access to a thinning substance which could also be used to make Molotov cocktails. He stole as much of it as he could and passed it to the resistance.

“We filled up bottles which were then put up on the roofs of all the houses close to the entrance of the ghetto, with the expectation that, once they’re going to come, we’ll be throwing them down,” Smuss recounted three years ago in a video for the Sumter County Museum in South Carolina, which exhibited his art at the time.

When the Nazis entered the ghetto on April 19, 1943, with the intention of razing it to the ground, hundreds of Jews took up arms in a desperate attempt to fight back.

On that day, Smuss himself threw Molotov cocktails at the Nazi soldiers from the rooftops of the ghetto, Paul Diedrich, a family member living in Germany, who spent a few months with the man in Israel earlier this year, told The Associated Press.

He was also one of the few resistance fighters to survive the almost one month of fighting.

Smuss was arrested by Nazi troops and was on his way to Treblinka when he was turned back by the Nazis themselves, who needed workers, according to Paul Diedrich’s account. He went on to spend time in other camps before surviving a death march in the spring of 1945.

After the war was over, Smuss went to the US, where he started a family. Later, he moved to Israel. He took up painting and met his second wife, Ruthy.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. 

Hamas terrorists who kidnapped Noa Argamani, Avinatan Or, Eitan Mor killed earlier this year, IDF says

Hamas terrorists Ahmad Ibrahim Rajab Shaar and Ahmad Abu Marhil are seen abducting Avinatan Or from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023. On October 23, 2025, the IDF announced that the pair had been killed in separate strikes in Gaza in August and March 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Hamas terrorists responsible for the abduction of former hostages Noa Argamani, Avinatan Or and Eitan Mor from the Nova music festival, and others who participated in the October 7, 2023, onslaught, were killed in recent strikes in the Gaza Strip, the IDF and Shin Bet announce.

Following an intelligence review, the IDF and Shin Bet say they were able to confirm the deaths of eight Palestinian terrorists who invaded Israel on October 7 and were involved in the abductions and murders of Israelis.

All were killed between March and August, before the ceasefire took effect in the war earlier this month, according to the announcement.

The terrorists are listed by the IDF and Shin Bet as:

• Ahmad Ibrahim Rajab Shaar, responsible for the abduction of Argamani and Or on October 7. Shaar was killed in a strike on August 22.
• Ahmad Abu Marhil, responsible for the abduction of Or on October 7. Marhil was killed in a strike on March 26.
• Arafat Dib, responsible for the abduction of Mor on October 7 and holding him in Hamas captivity in Gaza. Dib was killed in a strike on May 30.
• Odeh Alyan Ahmad Qaware, a Hamas terrorist who held Israeli hostages in captivity. Qaware was killed on August 26.
• Bakr Mujida, who broke Israel’s Gaza border barrier with a tractor and invaded Israel during the October 7 onslaught. Mujida was killed on July 13.
• Firas Ghrir Sweilam al-Hadaf, who invaded Kibbutz Kissufim during the October 7 onslaught. Al-Hadaf was killed on August 23.
• Ibrahim Saleh Rajab Bakhit, who invaded Israel on October 7. Bakhit was killed on July 6.
• Mu’ayid Mahmoud Muhammad Nufal, who invaded Israel on October 7. Nufal was killed on March 27.

This video, issued by the IDF on October 23, 2025, shows airstrikes between March and August 2025 against Hamas terrorists who participated in the October 7 onslaught and abducted Israelis. (Israel Defense Forces)

Rubio lands in Israel, latest US official arriving to safeguard ceasefire

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio lands in Israel, as the carousel continues of Trump officials stopping in Israel to ensure that the ceasefire in Gaza holds.

Rubio posts on X that he is in the country “to reaffirm America’s unwavering commitment to Israel’s security and engage with partners to implement President Trump’s historic peace plan and build on the momentum towards durable peace and integration in the Middle East.”

.@SecRubio has arrived in the region to support the successful implementation of @POTUS’s Comprehensive Plan to end the conflict in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/WHlmH2YDzH

— U.S. Embassy Jerusalem – Palestinian Audiences (@USEmbassyJLMPal) October 23, 2025

His arrival comes shortly after US Vice President JD Vance departed Israel on his own visit.

Israeli settlement councils cannot enforce bylaws on Palestinians, High Court rules

A herd of sheep passes through the Jordan Valley, November 20 2009. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

In a key case regarding the application of Israeli law in the West Bank to Palestinians, the High Court of Justice rules that municipal bylaws passed by Israeli settlement regional councils cannot be applied to Palestinian residents of the territory. Such councils have no authority to enforce their bylaws on Palestinians, the court says.

The ruling comes in response to a petition filed in 2024 by four Palestinian sheep and cattle herders asking the court to order the Jordan Valley Regional Council to stop seizing and holding stray Palestinian livestock and charging the owners heavy fees for doing so, a practice it carried out on several occasions last year.

Civil rights activists argued at the time that the regional council was enacting a form of de facto annexation by applying Israeli civilian laws to the local Palestinian population.

“The Jordan Valley Regional Council does not have the authority to enforce its bylaws against the residents of the region [Palestinians] and their property,” Judge Daphne Barak-Erez writes in her opinion, which was backed unanimously by the other two judges on the panel.

“All of the bylaws enacted by the regional council – including the Stray Animals Bylaw and the Herding Regulation Bylaw – were enacted by virtue of the [military] regulations [for regional councils], which apply to Israeli residents only,” she writes.

Barak-Erez writes as explicitly as possible in the ruling that the Jordan Valley Regional Council “must refrain from exercising its powers” under both its relevant bylaws against livestock “for which there is a reasonable possibility” that they are owned by Palestinians, and that this prohibition “applies both to the seizure of animals, to their keeping in a pen, and to the collection of money from the residents of the area for the care of animals.”

Netanyahu to meet Rubio soon in Jerusalem, PMO says

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at 7 p.m. in Jerusalem, according to his office. The two will make a statement after their meeting.

NYC Mayor Adams to endorse Cuomo in mayoral race, cites Mamdani not fully disavowing ‘globalize the intifada’

Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams is endorsing Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York state, in the race to succeed him in City Hall, multiple outlets report.

Cuomo, a centrist running as an independent, is currently trailing frontrunner Zohran Mamdani as the November 4 election approaches. Mamdani, a far-left state assemblyman, is a harsh critic of Israel. In an interview with The New York Times, Adams cites, among other issues, Mamdani’s refusal to fully disavow the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which many Jews view as a call for antisemitic violence.

Adams says Mamdani would be a mayor who “wants to divide the city on taxes based on ethnicity and run out high-income earners, that mayor that won’t denounce globalize the intifada.”

Mamdani has said he would discourage the phrase’s use and that he will fight antisemitism as mayor. But his staunch opposition to Israel has been a central issue of the campaign. He has declined to say Israel should exist as a Jewish state, accused it of “genocide” three times in a recent debate, and has said he would arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu based on an International Criminal Court arrest warrant if he came to the city, though it’s unclear if he can legally do so.

Adams posts a photo of himself and Cuomo together at a New York Knicks basketball game.

Great win for the Knicks. We need to win for the city. Can’t go backwards. pic.twitter.com/U8iOv6EiMQ

— Eric Adams (@ericadamsfornyc) October 23, 2025

Adams, who, like Cuomo, is a vocal supporter of Israel, dropped out of the race after running a distant fourth. Polls indicated that much of his support went to Cuomo, so it’s unclear how much impact his endorsement will have on Mamdani’s comfortable lead in the polls over Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

IDF says it foiled bid to smuggle weapons from Syria into Lebanon for second time in a week

Weapons seized by IDF troops during an attempted smuggling from Lebanon into Syria, October 22, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says it foiled an attempt to smuggle weapons from Syria into Lebanon in the Mount Hermon area last night.

Soldiers of the 595th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit, who operate surveillance cameras, spotted suspicious movement in the area and dispatched troops to the scene.

Troops of the 810th “Mountains” Regional Brigade and field interrogators of the Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504 detained several suspects near the peak of Mount Hermon, the military says.

According to the IDF, the suspects were trying to smuggle several firearms into Lebanon. The suspects were taken for further questioning.

It marks the second time the IDF has foiled smuggling from Syria into Lebanon in the Mount Hermon area in the past week.

The IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024, mostly within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the countries. Two posts are on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon.

Troops have been operating in areas up to around 15 kilometers (nine miles) deep into Syria, aiming to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of “hostile forces,” including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Clearing Gaza’s ‘minefield’ surface of bombs could take 20-30 years, aid group says

Palestinians walk through destruction in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, October 22, 2025. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Clearing the surface of Gaza of unexploded ordnance will likely take between 20 to 30 years, according to an official with aid group Humanity & Inclusion, describing the enclave as a “horrific, unmapped minefield.”

More than 53 people have been killed and hundreds injured by lethal remnants from the two-year Israel-Hamas war that halted earlier this month in a ceasefire, according to a UN-led database, which is thought by aid groups to be a huge underestimate.

“If you’re looking at a full clearance, it’s never happening, it’s subterranean. We will find it for generations to come,” says Nick Orr, an explosive ordnance disposal expert at Humanity & Inclusion, comparing the situation to British cities after World War II.

“Surface clearance, now that’s something that’s attainable within a generation, I think 20 to 30 years,” he adds. “It’s going to be a very small chipping away at a very big problem.”

Orr, who went to Gaza several times during the conflict, is part of his organization’s seven-person team that will begin identifying war remnants there in essential infrastructure like hospitals and bakeries next week.

For now, however, aid groups like his have not been given blanket Israeli permission to start work on removing and destroying the ordnance nor to import the required equipment, he says.

COGAT, the Israeli agency overseeing Gaza aid, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It blocks items into Gaza that it considers have “dual use” – both civilian and military.

Orr said it was seeking permission to import supplies to burn away bombs rather than detonate them, to ease concerns about them being repurposed by Hamas.

Food supplies into Gaza not meeting nutritional needs on the ground, aid groups say

Palestinians receive donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City, October 23, 2025. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Supplies of food into Gaza are not meeting its population’s nutritional needs despite a ceasefire having taken effect earlier this month, aid groups say, adding that some parts of the territory are experiencing famine.

“The situation in the Gaza Strip remains catastrophic, even two weeks after the ceasefire began,” Bahaa Zaqout, director of external relations at Palestinian nonprofit group PARC, says via video link from Deir Al Balah in Gaza.

Aid groups, including Oxfam, say the delivery of aid into Gaza is facing major hurdles, with many international nonprofits still restricted from getting supplies in, while commercial goods that have entered are not meeting nutritional needs on the ground.

Oxfam and 40 other aid organizations, including Medecins Sans Frontieres and the Norwegian Refugee Council, publish a joint letter today raising alarm about sustained restrictions on aid because of ongoing registration issues.

COGAT, the Israeli agency that oversees the flow of aid into the Gaza Strip, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Israel has rejected allegations of famine in the territory.

Zaqout cites examples of biscuits, chocolate and soda being allowed in on commercial trucks, while items such as seeds and olives remain restricted from entering.

“Unfortunately, these do not respond to the minimum nutritional values required for children, women and the most vulnerable groups,” Zaqout says.

He also says that though some fruits and vegetables are getting in, prices remain high and out of reach of most people.

One kilogram of tomatoes costs around 15 shekels (about $4.50), and previously used to cost one shekel.

The UN World Food Program said on Tuesday that supplies into Gaza were ramping up but were still far short of its daily target of 2,000 tons because only two crossings are open, and none to the north of the Strip.

The ceasefire plan brokered by US President Donald Trump envisages “full aid” being sent into Gaza.

“We expected Gaza to be flooded with aid the moment the ceasefire began, but that’s not what we’re seeing,” says Bushra Khalili at Oxfam.

Knesset panel to debate bill regulating conscription next week, as coalition tensions mount

MK Boaz Bismuth leads a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting at the Knesset on August 11, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee will debate a revised draft of a government-backed bill to regulate ultra-Orthodox conscription next Thursday.

According to a Knesset spokesperson, the discussions “will be based on the updated text of the bill by the committee chairman, which will be forwarded to the committee members in advance of the discussion.”

Protesting the fact that the new bill was not ready at the start of the Knesset winter legislative session this week, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party announced this morning that it would withdraw from all coalition roles it holds in the Knesset, giving up its chairmanships of parliamentary committees.

On Tuesday evening, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth, a Likud MK, had said to Channel 14 that a revised draft of the government’s long-delayed bill would be presented to lawmakers next week, with the goal of sending it to the plenum for its final two readings in December.

The previous day, Bismuth had announced that he was postponing a series of scheduled discussions of the bill because his committee’s legal adviser required additional time to prepare a draft of the legislation based on a document of principles he had submitted last week.

According to Hebrew news reports, the document stipulates that within five years, 50 percent of the annual eligible Haredi draft cohort will be conscripted, and the age of exemption from conscription will remain at 26. Government funding for yeshivas will only be cut if they fail to meet army enlistment quotas after a year. Sanctions on individuals who do not serve in the army will only go into effect after two years if the overall enlistment goal is not met.

Moreover, sanctioned individuals will not lose their drivers’ licenses, although restrictions on issuing new licenses to draft evaders will apply.

In what many see as an attempt to secure support for Bismuth’s bill, and to pave the way for Shas’s return, the Likud party decided on Wednesday evening to boot former Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein from the panel altogether.

Shas MK: Party ‘is in the right-wing bloc’ despite quitting coalition posts

Then-religious services minister Michael Malkieli attends a plenum session on the so-called Rabbis Bill in the Knesset, January 15, 2025. (Goldberg/Flash90)

A Shas lawmaker said that the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party is still part of the right wing bloc in the Knesset, despite resigning its coalition posts today to protest the government’s failure to advance a draft exemption bill for yeshiva students.

“We are in the coalition,” says former religious services minister Michael Malkieli. “Shas is a party that is in the right-wing bloc, built the right-wing bloc, and will maintain the right-wing bloc.”

“There was a decision to resign from the government and this morning we resigned from the committees because there was no progress and we hope that a way will be found to return,” Arutz Sheva quotes Malkieli telling a conference organized by the national-religious newspaper Makor Rishon.

Shas announced this morning that it will withdraw from all coalition roles it holds in the Knesset, giving up its chairmanships of parliamentary committees to protest the lack of a law regulating the conscription of yeshiva students.

But the party is not quitting the coalition and will not topple the government, although the move does put additional pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pass a bill regulating conscription, which has been derided by the opposition as an “evasion law” that allows ultra-Orthodox men to avoid the draft.

Shas quit the government in July over increased enforcement against draft dodgers as well as the coalition’s failure to pass legislation regulating the status of yeshiva students. Its exit from the government followed that of fellow ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism, which, unlike Shas, also left the coalition.

Smotrich apologizes for his ‘keep riding camels in the desert’ jab at Saudi Arabia

Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich speaking at the Knesset plenum in Jerusalem, September 29, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/ Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich apologizes for his comments earlier today in which he derided a possible normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia if it means the establishment of a Palestinian state, telling Riyadh to “keep riding camels.”

In a video posted to X a few hours after he made the remark, he apologizes, saying, “My comment about Saudi Arabia was absolutely inappropriate, and I apologize for the insult it caused.”

He doubles down on his opposition to Palestinian statehood, saying, “I expect from the Saudis not to do us harm and not to deny our heritage, our tradition and the rights of the Jewish people to its historic homelands in Judea and Samaria, and to establish true peace with us.”

Smotrich said earlier today, “If Saudi Arabia tells us ‘normalization in exchange for a Palestinian state,’ friends — no thank you. Keep riding camels in the desert,” at the “Halacha in the Technological Era” conference organized by the Zomet Institute and the Makor Rishon newspaper.

The remark drew widespread criticism and was made ahead of a planned White House meeting between US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss normalization.

Riyadh has said it will only normalize ties if Israel commits to a clear path toward Palestinian statehood — a condition Smotrich and other members of Netanyahu’s government reject.

Over a dozen Arab, Muslim countries blast annexation vote as ‘blatant’ international law violation

US President Donald Trump and other world leaders pose for a photo during a summit to support ending the two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza after a breakthrough ceasefire deal, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)

Saudi Arabia leads a group of over a dozen Arab and Muslim countries in a joint statement blasting the Knesset’s advancement of bills to annex parts of the West Bank.

The countries “condemn in the strongest terms the approval [by the] Israeli Knesset of two draft laws aiming to impose a so called ‘Israeli sovereignty’ over the occupied West Bank, and on Israeli illegal colonial settlements as a blatant violation of international law.”

Signing onto the statement are the “Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Republic of Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Republic of Türkiye, the Republic of Djibouti, the Sultanate of Oman, Republic of The Gambia, the State of Palestine, the State of Qatar, the State of Kuwait, the State of Libya, Malaysia, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the League of Arab States, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.”

The countries “reaffirm that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory.”

US President Donald Trump, who likewise opposes Israeli annexation of the West Bank, has recently touted prospects for Saudi-Israeli normalization.

Ben Gvir on Trump’s opposition to West Bank annexation: ‘Israel is a sovereign and independent state’

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at a speaking event in New York City during his visit to the United States, April 24, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, in a social media post directed at US President Donald Trump, writes that “Israel is a sovereign and independent state” and that “members of the Knesset vote according to their own discretion.”

He writes the post on X following yesterday’s preliminary Knesset votes on two bills that would annex parts of the West Bank. Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party voted in favor.

Trump has said he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. US Vice President JD Vance, who was visiting Israel during the vote, called it “very stupid.”

Ben Gvir emphasizes that he has “great respect” for Trump, whom he calls “the best American president toward Israel.”

He also appears to address Trump’s comments to Time magazine, published today, that the president may pressure Israel to free prominent Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, a convicted terrorist who is imprisoned in Israel.

Ben Gvir calls Barghouti “a vile Nazi murderer responsible for the blood of many civilians, women, and children” who “will not be released and will not lead Gaza.”

Hamas negotiators recently unsuccessfully pushed to secure Barghouti’s release in the US-brokered hostage-prisoner exchange deal.

Released hostage Matan Angrest heads home from hotel, days after hospital release

Released hostage Matan Angrest on his way home, October 23, 2025. (Paulina Patimer/Hostages Forum)

Released hostage Matan Angrest takes a three-hour route home to Kiryat Bialik from Kfar Maccabiah Hotel, where the Angrest family and other hostages’ families have been staying.

Angrest was released from Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center-Ichilov in Tel Aviv last week, and has been staying at Kfar Maccabiah near the city until now.

Over the past few days, Angrest attended the funeral of his commander, Daniel Perez, whose body was returned from Gaza, and visited Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square.

The Angrests call on the public to celebrate his return, and well-wishers accompany the family at various points along the route, with Israeli flags and shirts from the campaign to bring him home and from Angrest’s favorite soccer team, Maccabi Haifa. A crowd sang to Angrest as he left Kfar Maccabiah earlier today.

After furious US criticism, PM’s office calls annexation bills ‘political provocation’ that are ‘unlikely to go anywhere’

US President Donald Trump (left) talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset, October 13, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP)

After biting criticism from US Vice President JD Vance of yesterday’s preliminary Knesset votes to annex parts of the West Bank, and the publication of a Time magazine interview in which US President Donald Trump said Israel would lose “all support” from the US if it annexed the territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says the vote “was a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord during Vance’s visit to Israel.”

“The two bills were sponsored by opposition members of the Knesset,” the PMO says in a statement sent out in English.

“The Likud party and the religious parties (the principal coalition members) did not vote for these bills, except for one disgruntled Likud member who was recently fired from the chairmanship of a Knesset committee,” the statement says, referring to Yuli Edelstein. “Without Likud support these bills are unlikely to go anywhere.”

In fact, Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism, which are members of the coalition, did support the bill.

The broader of the two bills was sponsored by far-right MK Avi Maoz of the one-man Noam party — which was part of the coalition until it left earlier this year. The bill would require Israel to “apply its laws and sovereignty to the areas of settlement in Judea and Samaria to establish the status of these areas as an inseparable part of the sovereign State of Israel.”

Trump predicts Israel and Saudi Arabia will normalize ties by end of year; disses PA’s Abbas, weighs intervening on jailed Barghouti

US President Donald Trump arrives with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the group photo with Gulf Cooperation Council leaders during the GCC Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 14, 2025. (Alex Brandon/AP)

Israel and Saudi Arabia will normalize ties by the end of year, US President Donald Trump predicts.

“I think we’re very close. I think Saudi Arabia is going to lead the way,” he says in an October 15 Time magazine interview published today, in response to a question about Saudi-Israel normalization.

“They had a Gaza problem and they had an Iran problem,” he says. “Now they don’t have those two problems.”

Asked whether “Saudi will join the Abraham Accords by the end of the year,” he answers, “Yes, I do. I do.”

Trump also says that he will visit the Gaza Strip at some point.

The president indicates that he doesn’t see Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as the leader of the Palestinians.

“They don’t have a leader right now, at least a visible leader, and they don’t really want to, because every one of those leaders has been shot and killed. It’s not a hot job,” said Trump, adding that he has always found Abbas “reasonable, but he’s probably not.”

He would not commit to Abbas heading a Palestinian Authority governing body in Gaza.

At the same time, Trump says he has been discussing the matter of imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti and would make a decision on whether he wants Israel to free the convicted terrorist.

“I am literally being confronted with that question about 15 minutes before you called,” he says. “That was the question. That was my question of the day. So I’ll be making a decision.”

Trump: ‘I stopped’ Netanyahu from fighting Gaza war, ‘he would have just kept going,’ maybe ‘for years’

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/Mark Schiefelbein)

US President Donald Trump tells Time magazine that he made Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stop fighting the war against Hamas in Gaza, and that it may have continued for years otherwise.

In the interview, published today and conducted on October 15, days after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza took effect, Trump says he told Netanyahu the war could not go on without end.

“I said to Bibi, ‘Bibi, you can’t fight the world. You can fight individual battles, but the world’s against you. And Israel is a very small place compared to the world.'”

The US president continued, “You know, I stopped him, because he would have just kept going. It could have gone on for years. It would have gone on for years. And I stopped him, and everybody came together when I stopped, it was amazing.”

He calls Israel’s attempted strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar a “mistake” that was “terrible,” but says it created momentum toward the deal.

“And when he made that one tactical mistake, the one on Qatar, and that was terrible, but actually, and I actually told the emir, this was one of the things that brought us all together, because it was so out of joint that it sort of got everybody to do what they have to do.”

Slain hostage Amiram Cooper’s son: Keep up pressure on Hamas, rebuilding Nir Oz ‘will send a message’

Rotem Cooper, whose father, deceased hostage Amiram Cooper, is still held in Gaza, on October 23, 2025, in Kibbutz Nir Oz (Courtesy screenshot)

Rotem Cooper, the son of Amiram Cooper, who was taken hostage in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack and killed in captivity, says in a press briefing that his father is the last remaining from a group of seven hostages who were initially held together in Gaza.

Cooper is one of 13 deceased hostages whose body is still held in the Strip.

Cooper, an economist and poet who was 85 at the time of his kidnapping, and his wife, Nurit, were brutally taken from their home on Kibbutz Nir Oz in the October 7 attack, after terrorists shot through their front door. They were held together underground along with other kibbutz members, until Nurit was freed on October 23, 2023.

On December 18, 2023, Hamas released a propaganda clip showing Amiram alongside his friends Chaim Peri and Yoram Metzger. In March 2024, Hamas claimed that all three had been killed in Israeli airstrikes. That June, Israel confirmed that Cooper, Peri, Metzger and Nadav Popplewell had been killed in captivity. Subsequently, the kibbutz held a farewell ceremony for Cooper, and his family sat shiva for him.

In August 2024, the IDF recovered the bodies of six deceased hostages — Alex Dancyg, Yagev Buchshtav, Peri, Metzger, Popplewell, and Avraham Munder. Israel said it believes Peri and Metzger were shot dead by their captors in mid-February 2024.

Cooper says there must be continued pressure on Hamas to release the remaining deceased hostages.

“It’s a terrific agreement,” says Cooper of the ceasefire deal that took effect earlier this month that stipulates the release of all Israeli hostages. He said the deal has had “terrific outcomes. We’re in a different situation than we were two weeks ago, with 20 living hostages home and 15 returned for burial.”

Cooper, who has lived in the US for many years, speaks from his parents’ home in Nir Oz, which shows some signs of reconstruction, including bullet holes that were plastered over.

“It’s encouraging to see,” says Cooper. “For a long time there were only burned houses here.”

Nir Oz had a population of 400 before October 7. All but six of its homes were burned or destroyed.

Cooper says that some 80 people will soon be living there — 50 kibbutz members and about 30 army personnel.

“Nir Oz is ground zero. We had 64 people killed and 76 taken hostage,” he says. “October 7 affected each and every family.”

He says that rebuilding Nir Oz is important for the memory of his father, making the kibbutz “bigger, stronger and more beautiful” than it was before.

“That will send a message to Hamas,” says Cooper.

Sa’ar says government against annexation bill at ‘this stage’; calls vote ‘political move by the opposition’

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar speaks during a ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, September 15, 2025. (Olivier Fitoussi/POOL)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar stresses that the government opposes the bill to annex parts of the West Bank that advanced in the Knesset yesterday, and is instead focused on US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza conflict.

He called the vote on Wednesday “a political move of the opposition.”

At a press conference in Jerusalem, Sa’ar is asked about the Knesset’s preliminary approval of a bill that would apply Israeli sovereignty to all West Bank settlements, alongside a separate proposal to annex a major settlement city. He is also asked about US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s warning today that the move could endanger Trump’s plan.

Sa’ar, who publicly floated the idea of annexing the settlements a month ago, responded that “the government hadn’t participated in the vote, and that demonstrates our approach.”

“That was a political move of the opposition to try to embarrass the government during the visit of [US] Vice President JD Vance,” he says. “But I can assure you that that was, as you know, a preliminary reading, and that will not go forward without the support of the Israeli government. That was not legislation that was brought to the Knesset by the government,” he stresses.

“As much as it’s our wish or aspiration, we have decided not to bring it [at] this stage to the Knesset, because now on the table, we have huge efforts to [do] everything that Trump’s plan will be successful, and we will invest in that,” the foreign minister concludes.

Trump: Israel would ‘lose all of its support’ from the US if it annexed the West Bank

US President Donald Trump on the cover of Time Magazine, October 2025.

US President Donald Trump says that Israel would lose “all support” from the United States if it tried to move ahead with annexing the West Bank.

In an October 15 Time magazine interview about the US-brokered ceasefire, published today, Trump is asked about those in the Israeli coalition pushing to annex all or parts of the West Bank.

“It won’t happen. It won’t happen. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries,” Trump says. “And you can’t do that now. We’ve had great Arab support. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. It will not happen. Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.”

Sa’ar: Israel committed to ceasefire, will respond ‘forcefully’ to any Hamas attacks

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar (right) speaks alongside his Abanian counterpart Elisa Spiropali at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on October 23, 2025. (GPO)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says that Israel is committed to helping Washington’s ceasefire plan in Gaza succeed, while demanding that Hamas return the remaining deceased hostages and, in the plan’s second phase, fully disarm.

Speaking at a Jerusalem press conference alongside his Albanian counterpart, Elisa Spiropali, Sa’ar thanks US Vice President JD Vance “for his important visit to Israel” this week, adding that Israel looks forward to hosting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is set to arrive later today.

“We spoke about [US President Donald] Trump’s [ceasefire] plan. Israel is committed to working towards the success of President Trump’s plan. There are difficulties, but we are doing, and we will do, everything we can to work towards its success,” he says.

He stresses that “Hamas must uphold the agreement. We know it can easily return most of the remaining 13 dead hostages,” accusing the terror group of “slowly trickling the return in order to delay the second phase of laying down its arms.”

“Hamas and Islamic Jihad must lay down their arms. Gaza must be demilitarized… This is at the heart of the Trump plan,” he continues. “We will not compromise on it. Attacks by Hamas on our forces will not be tolerated. They will be answered forcefully.”

Sa’ar also criticizes “the hypocrisy of the international community,” saying that “the silence is deafening” in reaction to “mass public executions” of Palestinians by Hamas in Gaza since the ceasefire began.

He also bashes the International Court of Justice for its ruling yesterday calling on Israel to work with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which Israel claims has been thoroughly infiltrated by Hamas, accusing the court of “trying to force Israel to accept measures that would endanger our security.”

“UNRWA still employs over 1,400 Hamas terrorists to this day,” Sa’ar claims, adding that Israel “will not agree to cooperate” with the agency.

He thanks Spiropali for her visit to Israel, adding that the two ministers signed joint MOUs “on training young diplomats and cooperating on public diplomacy.”

Iran says any attacks on country would ‘lead to another failure’

Iran warns against fresh attacks on its country, after the UN nuclear watchdog chief said he fears a possible “renewed use of force” if attempts at diplomacy with Tehran fail.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says it was not clear whether IAEA chief Rafael Grossi’s remarks were meant “out of concern or as a threat.”

“But those who issue such threats must understand that repeating a failed experience will only lead to another failure,” he adds in a video published by the foreign ministry.

Iran’s leadership has repeatedly asserted that Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities during a 12-day war in June failed to do significant damage.

Vance used virtual reality system to ‘observe’ Gaza during his visit to Israel

US Vice President JD Vance (right) meets with Defense Minister Israel Katz at Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on October 23, 2025. (Elad Malka/Defense Ministry)

During US Vice President JD Vance’s visit to the IDF headquarters at the Kirya in Tel Aviv, he and Second Lady Usha Vance utilized a virtual reality system to “observe” the Gaza Strip, The Times of Israel has learned.

Vance then received an intelligence briefing about the Gaza Strip, with a focus on the efforts to bring back the slain hostages, the disarmament of Hamas, and the demilitarization of Gaza, The Times of Israel has learned.

On the Israeli side, the meeting was attended by Defense Minister Israel Katz, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai, Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, Defense Ministry director general Maj. Gen. (res.) Amir Baram, and IDF military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder.

Vance was accompanied by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and US CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper.

As he departs Israel, Vance calls initial Knesset vote on annexing West Bank ‘very stupid political stunt; I personally take some insult’

US Vice President JD Vance waves as he boards Air Force Two en route to Washington, DC, at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on October 23, 2025. (Nathan HOWARD / POOL / AFP)

Speaking at Ben Gurion Airport after a two-day trip to Israel, US Vice President JD Vance says that yesterday’s preliminary Knesset vote on annexing the West Bank offended him and was “very stupid.”

The vote was “weird,” he says in response to a question, adding that he was “sort of confused by that.”

Vance says he was told it was a “political stunt, that it had no practical significance” and “it was purely symbolic,” but that “if it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it.”

“The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel,” he says. “The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy, and if people want to take symbolic votes they can do that, but we certainly weren’t happy about it.”

Asked about the ceasefire in Gaza, Vance says that “right now, we can say with confidence that Israel is respecting the ceasefire, Hamas is respecting the ceasefire.”

“There are exceptions,” says Vance. “There are little exceptions that break out here and there. That would be expected when these parties have been at war for two years. But so far, the ceasefire is actually holding, the peace is actually holding and now we’re trying to figure out how to make it stick over the long term.”

“Our message is — do whatever you can do work with us to make this peace stick,” he says to Israel.

The new International Security Force “is now going to take the lead in disarming Hamas,” says Vance.

“That’s going to take some time, and it’s going to depend a lot on the composition of that force,” he continues. “There are certain countries who I expect will be quite good at it, and there are other countries that can play a role but I don’t think are going to be quite as useful. But a lot of that depends on which forces actually come to bear and how we’re actually able to implement phase two of the peace plan.”

“We can always pick up the phone and call Hamas, at least through an intermediary, when we want to,” says Vance when asked if there have been recent conversations with the terror group. “But most of our communication has been with our Gulf Arab friends and, of course, with the Israelis about what this international security force is going to look like. That is not primarily a Hamas conversation. That’s a conversation between us, the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Qataris, and other folks who are going to be involved in this in one form or another.”

IDF says it carried out drone strike against terror operative who crossed Yellow Line in Gaza

The IDF says it carried out a drone strike against a Palestinian terror operative who crossed the Yellow Line — to which the military withdrew under the terms of the current ceasefire — in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis today.

According to the IDF, the operative had been detected crossing the Yellow Line “in a way that posed an imminent threat” to troops.

The IDF says the troops directed an Israeli Air Force drone that struck and killed the operative. Palestinian media also reported one dead in the strike.

Smotrich on Saudi normalization: ‘No thank you, keep riding camels’

Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich speaking at the Knesset plenum in Jerusalem, September 29, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/ Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that he won’t agree to a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia if it means the establishment of a Palestinian state, dismissing Riyadh as being free to keep “riding camels.”

“If Saudi Arabia tells us ‘normalization in exchange for a Palestinian state,’ friends — no thank you. Keep riding camels in the desert in Saudi Arabia,” Smotrich says, speaking at a conference called “Halacha in the Technological Era” organized by the Zomet Institute and the Makor Rishon newspaper.

His comment has drawn criticism for its racist tone and comes amid plans by US President Donald Trump to host Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House next month to discuss, among other things, advancing an Israel-Saudi normalization agreement.

Riyadh has long insisted that it will only normalize ties with Israel if Jerusalem agrees to establish a time-bound, irreversible pathway to a future Palestinian state — something Smotrich and other members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government vehemently oppose.

Katz to Vance: Israel is ‘committed to disarming Hamas’

US Vice President JD Vance (right) meets with Defense Minister Israel Katz at Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on October 23, 2025. (Elad Malka/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Israel Katz tells US Vice President JD Vance during a meeting this afternoon that Israel is “committed to bringing back all the fallen hostages, to disarming Hamas, and to ensuring a better future for the region,” according to his office.

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and the IDF’s top brass also joined the meeting at the military’s Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv, which largely focused on the Gaza Strip.

No further details are provided on the meeting.

AG to Netanyahu: Enforcement against IDF draft-dodgers must be expanded

Ultra Orthodox Jewish men block a road in Jerusalem during a protest against the jailing of IDF draft evaders on September 18, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara asks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to increase enforcement against military draft-dodgers, given that there is a high level of draft evasion at present and that the number of conscripts is not sufficient for the needs of the IDF.

The attorney general is referring to the tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox men who became subject to the draft following a 2024 ruling by the High Court of Justice, and the issuance by the IDF of some 80,000 draft orders to those men in July this year.

In a letter sent to the prime minister yesterday, Baharav-Miara also points out that officials in the defense establishment have said that dealing with this draft evasion phenomenon “requires expanding the basket of personal administrative sanctions” which can be used against the draft dodgers, something she says is entirely within the power of the government.

“The situation in which the burden of reserve [military] duty is heavy and the security establishment has said that it needs to extend the period of service for regular conscripts, but in which the government is not taking the measures it can to increase enforcement for obligatory conscription, constitutes a severe injury to equality which cannot be legally justified,” the attorney general tells Netanyahu.

Enforcement of draft orders against ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who are not obligated to enlist has become a major political headache for Netanyahu, with UTJ quitting the coalition over the issue and Shas leaving the government and quitting its coalition roles but not yet pulling out of the coalition.

IDF says it targeted Hezbollah training camp in airstrikes on Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley

The IDF confirms carrying out airstrikes in Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa Valley a short while ago, saying it targeted a Hezbollah training camp where operatives were gathered and a precision missile manufacturing site, among other targets.

According to the military, the training camp was used by Hezbollah to plan attacks against Israel.

The missile manufacturing site in the Beqaa Valley has previously been struck by the IDF numerous times.

The IDF says it also struck a Hezbollah military site in northern Lebanon.

In total, five fighter jets hit 16 Hezbollah targets during the strikes in the Beqaa Valley and in the north of the country, according to the military.

“The storage of weapons, the presence of terror infrastructure, and the conduct of military training against the State of Israel by Hezbollah terrorists constitute a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and a threat to the State of Israel,” the military adds.

Israeli airstrikes reported in Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa Valley

Lebanese media reports a wave of Israeli airstrikes in the eastern Beqaa Valley a short while ago.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

مراسل «الأخبار»: غارات إسرائيلية عنيفة على جرود بلدة شمسطار وجرود النبي شيت في السلسلة الشرقية pic.twitter.com/B4RtT9m8vm

— جريدة الأخبار – Al-Akhbar (@AlakhbarNews) October 23, 2025

Mother of Tamir Adar at his funeral: ‘You’re free, at home’

Family and friends attend the funeral of slain hostage Tamir Adar at Kibbutz Nir Oz, October 23, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Yael Adar, the mother of Tamir Adar, eulogizes her son at his funeral in Kibbutz Nir Oz, two years after he was killed and two days after his body was finally returned to Israel.

“You’re free, at home,” says his mother. “You’re here now, on the grass where you used to run around, beside the tree you used to climb, across from the babies’ house where you arrived when you were born, near the paths where you learned to walk, to run, to ride your bike — on the lawn where you rolled and laughed in joy on holidays, at celebrations, and just in puddles after the rain.”

Yael calls her son a defender of his community, saying that because of his actions on October 7 other people present at the funeral are alive.

The funeral is attended by freed hostages Yarden Bibas, Sagui Dekel-Chen, David Cunio and Yagil Yaakov as well as former IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi.

Yael says she pictures Tamir in constant, focused motion, fighting along the paths they once walked together. She recalls asking him if he needed to be in the local security squad, and his answer was that he did, and that he believed the army would arrive right away if needed.

“As a soldier, you trusted them — because that’s who you were,” she says. “And that morning, you were there alone… with just a handful of your friends.”

She says Tamir was a child who loved nature, hiking, soccer and basketball, and the fields and crops of the kibbutz. He was a present, loving brother, son and grandson, and a devoted partner and father, she adds.

Yael recalls coming to his and Hadas’s Nir Oz home a few weeks after October 7. She saw the destruction and devastation, and his green IDF unit album with all his commendations, and thought how lucky it was that the Hamas terrorists didn’t see it on October 7.

She asks his forgiveness for how it ended, and that it took two years to bring him home.

“Know this, Tamir — I will neither forget nor forgive,” says Adar. “And now that you are home, I will still seek the path to reconciliation — in prayer that the price we paid will not be in vain, that you will be the compass for healing, for unity, just as this nation united to fight for your return and to honor you today — the nation, in all its diversity.”

‘I’m sorry, Tamiri’: Family of slain hostage bids farewell at Nir Oz funeral

Moshe Adar eulogizes his son, Tamir Adar, at his Kibbutz Nir Oz funeral on October 23, 2025. (Alon Gilboa/Hostages Forum)

Moshe Adar, the father of Tamir Adar, eulogizes his son at his funeral, saying: “You’ve finally come home, to the place where you were born, where you grew up, where you built your family. To the place you fought for with supreme courage — until you could fight no more.”

Adar was killed defending Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, and his body was taken captive to Gaza, and was returned to Israel this week.

Moshe notes that he and his son served together in the kibbutz defense squad for many years, and were always told during training that in any incident, the squad would have to hold on until the army arrived.

“But the army didn’t come,” says Adar. “I’m sorry, Tamiri — that a little earlier I left the security squad and wasn’t there with you when you needed me. I’m sorry.”

Adar says he misses their impromptu meetings in the kibbutz fields in the middle of the day, and says his son is missed by so many, and is also still so present. He tells his son that his children, Neta and Asaf, are “amazing and special,” just like their father, and that Hadas, his son’s widow, is raising them beautifully.

Adar’s sister, Roni Adar, says she can now eulogize her brother because he’s come back, laid to rest in the soil of the country he loved and went out to defend, and is now buried next to his best friend.

She thanks Adar for 23 years of life as siblings, for guiding her and lightening heavy moments: “I’m sorry no one came to help you,” she says. “I’m sorry you were there so many hours, alone, with just a few friends. I’m sorry you saw what happened in the kibbutz.”

Nir Adar, Tamir’s brother, begins his eulogy by saying that he feels guilt and shame that he is able to bury Tamir while the “noble Goldin family” and 12 other families are still waiting to receive their loved ones’ bodies, referring to Hadar Goldin, a lieutenant in the Givati Brigade who was killed in August 2014 and whose body is still held by Hamas in Gaza.

“Even in this sacred moment, we continue to experience this terrible terror, with all its many faces,” says Nir Adar. “I swear: I will not rest and I will not be silent until the last hostage is returned — because I know what it feels like to be abandoned, to be left behind, to be forgotten. And what we are fighting for here is something much greater.”

Nir reads aloud the names of the 13 hostages whose bodies are still held captive by Hamas in Gaza.

Foreign Press Association ‘disappointed’ by 30-day delay in court hearing on Gaza access

The Foreign Press Association says it is disappointed after the High Court grants the state another 30 days to respond to its petition demanding free media access to the Gaza Strip.

“The Foreign Press Association is disappointed in the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to grant the State of Israel yet another delay regarding the independent entry of journalists into Gaza,” the FPA said in a statement after the hearing.

“The state today once again relied on stalling tactics to prevent the entry of journalists,” the statement continues.

Nicolas Rouget, an FPA board member, says outside the courtroom that “we have a right to inform the public, the people of the world, the Israeli public, the Palestinian population… we feel we must stand by them, by our Palestinian colleagues in Gaza, who have been the only ones able to inform the public about this conflict over the last two years,” he adds.

‘Forgive us for not protecting you’: Herzog eulogizes Tamir Adar at Nir Oz funeral

President Isaac Herzog and Michal Herzog, second and third from right, next to Yael Adar, mother of Tamir Adar, at his Kibbutz Nir Oz funeral on October 23, 2025. (Courtesy Hostages Forum)

President Isaac Herzog eulogizes Kibbutz Nir Oz member Tamir Adar, whose body was returned to Israel on Tuesday night and is being buried at Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Adar was killed while battling Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and his body was taken captive to Gaza. Herzog eulogizes him as a farmer, educator and kibbutz member who loved people and nature.

“Alongside this unfathomable sorrow, there is also a sense of upright pride — of admiration and honor for the member of the kibbutz security squad who charged forward and fought with courage and self-sacrifice in the face of the enemy that came in hordes that cursed day — to slaughter, torture, and kidnap the people of Kibbutz Nir Oz,” says Herzog. “Tamir went out to defend his home, quite literally. He and his comrades were there alone.”

The president recalls Adar’s last words to his wife, Hadas: “You don’t open the door to anyone, even if it’s me asking you to open it.”

Says Herzog, “He understood exactly what was happening.”

Herzog says the family — Yaffa Adar, Tamir’s grandmother who was taken hostage and released; Hadas, Adar’s widow; Adar’s father, Moshe, and mother, Yael — “led a heroic Israeli and international struggle.”

“Since that dreadful day — October 7 — in our many meetings with your family and with the Nir Oz community, we’ve heard again and again of the courage of the security squad fighters, you among them — and each time, we were moved and filled with pride anew,” says Herzog to Tamir Adar.

“I stand here — as president of the State of Israel — and in my mouth is an appeal for forgiveness,” he says. “Forgive us — for you and your comrades in the security squad were left alone to face those human monsters. Forgive us — that only after more than two years are we bringing you home, to your kibbutz. And forgive us — all of you, the men and women of the extraordinary Nir Oz — whom we have seen since that first day, in your grief and in your strength. Forgive us for not protecting you and your loved ones that bitter, fateful day.”

Herzog mentions his discussion yesterday with US Vice President JD Vance about doing everything necessary to bring to proper burial all of the hostages whose bodies are still being held in Gaza.

“He reaffirmed this sacred commitment, and also emphasized President Trump’s and his team’s determination to bring about a dramatic change in our region and on our borders — so that Nir Oz and all the residents of the Gaza border area will finally know peace, security and a changed reality, also for the people of Gaza,” says Herzog.

Yad Vashem workers strike over wage dispute

Visitors seen at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem on May 2, 2024, ahead of Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Day. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Employees at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum are striking today to protest what they describe as the Treasury’s withdrawal from a negotiated wage agreement.

A union of 400 workers says it is the first full-day strike in the institution’s history. The site remains open to visitors despite the strike, Yad Vashem notes.

Workers accuse the Finance Ministry and Yad Vashem management of backtracking on a pay-raise deal reached after seven years of talks. According to union representatives, the average Yad Vashem salary is 72% lower than the public-sector average, with many staff earning under NIS 9,000 ($2,723) a month.

“Employees who have devoted their lives to preserving the memory of the Holocaust are being treated with contempt,” says workers’ committee member Yiftach Meiri. “This is a moral failure by the state.”

Yad Vashem says in response that 95% of the new collective agreement has already been finalized, offering “significant wage increases” for the next five years. The institution expresses regret over the strike, calling the remaining disputes “bridgeable.”

High Court gives state 30 more days to respond to petition on media access to Gaza

Palestinian children and a journalist examine the destroyed Al Jazeera tent at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on August 11, 2025, following an overnight strike by the IDF. (Bashar Taleb / AFP)

After a brief hearing, the High Court of Justice gives the state another 30 days to file an update on its position on the independent entry of journalists into the Gaza Strip, in response to a 2024 petition by the Foreign Press Association (FPA) demanding such access.

During the short hearing, the three presiding judges all point out that the circumstances in Gaza had changed substantially due to the ceasefire that came into force earlier this month, with Judge Ruth Ronen saying this would require a new review of the situation.

The basis of the state’s arguments against allowing independent access to Gaza for the press rests on concerns that the entry of journalists to Gaza would pose security risks to IDF soldiers and to the journalists themselves, concerns which would presumably be mitigated by the cessation of hostilities.

Gilead Sher, representing the FPA, points out that the proceedings around the petition had already been seriously delayed, and asks the court to ensure that the state does provide an update within 30 days.

He also asks the court to provide an interim solution for independent press access to Gaza.

Shas quits its coalition positions to protest lack of Haredi draft legislation

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 announces that it will withdraw from all coalition positions it holds in the Knesset, giving up the chairmanships of parliamentary committees to protest the lack of a law regulating the conscription of yeshiva students.

Despite this, the party is not quitting the coalition and will not topple the government.

“In accordance with the directive of the Council of Torah Scholars… according to which the government must bring to a vote the law to regulate the status of yeshiva students no later than the opening of the winter session of the Knesset — which unfortunately has not yet been implemented — Shas announces its withdrawal from its coalition roles in the Knesset,” the party says in a statement.

The party pledges to “continue to lead the struggle against the political and cruel persecution campaign directed against students of the holy yeshivas, who study Torah day and night for the sake of all Israel and for the success of the soldiers,” adding that “when the status of yeshiva students is settled, Shas will return to its positions in the government and the Knesset.”

In the meantime, it will “operate in full coordination with the Haredi factions and will continuously consult with the Council of Torah Sages regarding its position on votes in the Knesset plenum,” the statement continues, implying that Shas may not feel bound by coalition discipline.

This decision means that Shas MKs will no longer chair the Education and Health Committee and the Special Committee for Bridging Social Gaps in the Periphery.

In July, the United Torah Judaism party left Netanyahu’s coalition after being presented with a copy of a proposed enlistment bill prepared by then-Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein, which contained harsh sanctions against draft evaders. Shas soon followed UTJ in quitting the government and resigning its cabinet positions, but had, until now, stayed in the coalition and retained its committees chairmanships.

Israeli professor in London says masked students threatened to behead him

An economics professor at City University of London tells British media that masked demonstrators stormed his classroom yesterday, threatening to behead him and shouting accusations that he is a “war criminal” and a “Nazi.”

“They came right up to me and screamed in my face,” Michael Ben-Gad tells Sky News. “One of them made a threat about having my head chopped off.”

Masked students wearing keffiyehs threatened to behead an Israeli professor during his lecture at City University of London.

Professor Michael Ben-Gad said he has repeatedly faced harassment from Free Palestine students at the university but declared, “No one is going to… pic.twitter.com/wxXkTCYIws

— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) October 23, 2025

Ben-Gad, who served in the IDF in the 1980s and has ties to Israeli universities, said he has been targeted by an anti-Israel group called City Action for Palestine, which is demanding his dismissal.

The university has said it will not tolerate the harassment of its staff and students, and that Ben-Gad has the full support of the university and its senior management team.

Ben-Gad has also refused to back down. “I’m insisting on carrying on my duties. The students have a right to expect nothing less from me,” he tells Sky News.

Antisemitism has soared in the UK since the start of the conflict. More than 1,500 antisemitic incidents were recorded across the country in the first half of 2025, the second-highest total ever, the Community Security Trust, which provides security to Jewish organizations across the country, said earlier this year.

Vance visits Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem

US Vice President JD Vance tours the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem on October 23, 2025. (Nathan HOWARD / POOL / AFP)

US Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Vance, who is Catholic, is taking a brief tour of the church before attending a private mass, according to the White House pool report.

He will then head for Tel Aviv and meet with the IDF chief of staff and other top generals before departing Israel.

High Court to hear Foreign Press Association’s petition for media access to Gaza

Illustrative: A High Court of Justice hearing on petitions against the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, April 8, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The High Court of Justice is set to hear this morning a petition by the Foreign Press Association requesting the court order the defense minister and the IDF to revoke the blanket ban on independent press access to the Gaza Strip, which has been in place since the beginning of the war with Hamas following the terror group’s invasion and massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

The petition was filed a year ago, but the state requested nine deferrals for submitting its response which were all granted by the court, while Israel’s strikes against Iran led to the postponement of a hearing which had been scheduled for June.

The FPA argues in its petition that the blanket ban on independent access to Gaza for journalists “contravenes the foundational principles of the state as a democratic country, and represents a severe, unreasonable and disproportionate injury to the freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and freedom of employment for journalists and the right to information.”

The association has requested from the court that it order the respondents to draw up “clear policies and organized procedures” for press access to the war-torn territory, and to issue an interim order either to enable independent press access to Gaza until a final ruling or to “significantly increase” the access granted to journalists as embedded reporters with IDF forces, which it has facilitated during the war.

The FPA says that the IDF has granted limited opportunities for embeds to foreign reporters compared to access granted to Israeli reporters, has chosen which reporters can enter itself mostly without consulting the FPA, and that the embeds are tightly controlled and restrict full coverage of the war.

The state has argued in response to the petition that the High Court already rejected an FPA petition on the same issue in January 2024, determining that there was “no vested right” for anyone, including journalists, to receive a permit to enter the Gaza Strip.

The court ruled at the time that the restrictions were justified on security grounds, asserting that allowing journalists inside Gaza could give away operational details, including troop locations, in a way that could “put them in real danger.”

The state’s response was filed in June this year, before the current ceasefire came into effect.

Father of slain hostage who met Vance: Americans are ‘monitoring ceasefire very closely’

Ruby Chen, father of slain Israeli hostage Itay Chen, attends a protest calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, outside the US Embassy Branch Office in Tel Aviv, July 4, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Ruby Chen, the father of Staff Sgt. Itay Chen, a slain Israeli-American soldier whose body is being held in Gaza, says the White House is very closely monitoring the Gaza ceasefire to ensure it holds.

“The Americans don’t want anything to happen to the deal and they’re monitoring it very closely,” he tells the Kan public broadcaster’s Reshet Bet radio station.

Chen tells Kan that “[Steve] Witkoff knows my son’s name,” a criticism aimed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he accidentally referred to “Eitan Chen” as one of the hostages whose body is still in Gaza, during a speech to the Knesset this week.

In addition to the visit earlier this week by Witkoff and Jared Kushner, senior advisers to Trump, US Vice President JD Vance is now in Israel and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on the way as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shore up the deal.

Chen was among those who met with Vance yesterday and has repeatedly met with Witkoff as well.

US VP Vance to meet defense chief, top IDF brass before departing Israel

US Vice President JD Vance speaks to the media as US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner stand next to him, in Kiryat Gat, October 21, 2025. (AP/Francisco Seco)

US Vice President JD Vance will meet at noon with Defense Minister Israel Katz, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, and the IDF’s top brass at the military’s Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv, Katz’s office says.

The meeting is expected to largely focus on the Gaza Strip.

Report: Israel told US it will not allow UNRWA to operate in Gaza despite ICJ ruling

Tents sheltering people displaced by conflict are pitched in the yard of a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on September 30, 2025. (Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP)

An Israeli official is quoted as saying that UNRWA will “not step foot in Gaza” again despite an International Court of Justice ruling yesterday calling on Israel to work with the UN agency.

The Kan public broadcaster cites the official saying that every UN agency which operated in the Strip either failed in its mission or allowed itself to be controlled by Hamas. This message was also passed on to the US, the official is quoted as saying, “in the hope that the Americans will agree with Israel on this issue.”

The ICJ ruled yesterday that Israel is legally obligated to allow the UN’s controversial Palestinian relief agency to provide humanitarian aid in Gaza, saying that Israel did not provide enough evidence that UNRWA had been infiltrated by Hamas and was no longer neutral.

The court’s advisory opinion is not legally binding.

Indonesia defends move to bar Israeli athletes, says it ‘understands the consequences’

Japan's Shinnosuke Oka competes on the rings during the men's all-around final at the 53rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, October 22, 2025. (BAY ISMOYO / AFP)

Indonesia says it understands the consequences of its decision to block Israeli athletes from entering the country, but defends the move as part of its pledge to “maintain international order.”

In a post on Instagram, Indonesian Sports Minister Erick Thohir says that his country barred Israeli competitors from the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in order to maintain “security, public interest and public order.”

Thohir adds that Indonesia “understands that this decision has consequences.”

Yesterday, the International Olympic Committee said that due to the Indonesian move, the IOC would suspend any dialogue with Jakarta over hosting any Olympic or Youth Olympic events until the country promises to allow “all participants, regardless of nationality, to attend.”

The IOC also said it would call on all international sporting federations to follow suit in boycotting Indonesia as a host country for competitions and conferences.

Vance set to visit Kirya in Tel Aviv, causing road closures and train station to shut

US Vice President JD Vance arrives at Ben Gurion Airport on October 21, 2025 in Tel Aviv. (POOL / Getty Images via AFP)

A number of major roadways in and leading to Tel Aviv will be shut for US Vice President JD Vance’s visit to the Kirya, the Defense Ministry headquarters this morning, and the adjacent train station, Tel Aviv-Hashalom, will be closed for three hours.

Before departing Israel, Vance is set to hold an unusual meeting with IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz and other senior IDF generals to receive an overview on activity in Gaza.

The train station will be shut from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. according to police, and the surrounding Kaplan and Begin roads will also be closed for a similar period, as will Route 1 from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv beginning at 9:30 a.m. as the vice president makes his way to the city.

Before departing Jerusalem, Vance is slated to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City.

Palestinian man illegally in Israel shot dead in Umm al-Fahm; police suspect crime link

A 28-year-old Palestinian man who entered Israel illegally was shot dead overnight in the northern city of Umm al-Fahm, with police investigating the shooting as a suspected gangland killing.

Rubio: Knesset’s advancement of West Bank annexation threatens Trump’s Gaza peace plan

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, hosting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem on September 15, 2025. (Haim Zach/GPO)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that the Knesset’s move toward the annexation of West Bank would threaten President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

“They passed a vote in the Knesset, but the president has made clear that’s not something we’d be supportive of right now,” Rubio tells reporters before taking off for Israel. “We think there’s potential for [it to be even] threatening to the peace deal.”

Last month, Trump broke his silence on potential Israeli annexation of the West Bank amid mounting Arab opposition, vowing that he wouldn’t allow the move.

“They’re a democracy, people are going to have their votes, people are going to take these positions, but at this time we think… it might be counterproductive,” Rubio adds.

Mamdani says looking forward to being mayor of ‘Jewish NYers who may have concerns’; Cuomo mocks him as ‘savior of the Jewish people’

(L-R) Independent candidate and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa participate in the second New York City mayoral debate at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens, New York, on October 22, 2025. (Hiroko Masuike/Pool/AFP)

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is asked about Jews who are alarmed by his harsh rhetoric against Israel and fear for their safety, in the final debate for the mayoral candidates ahead of the November 4 election.

Warnings about Mamdani poured in ahead of the debate, including a letter signed by more than 650 rabbis, some of whom are prominent leaders in the city.

“I look forward to being mayor for every single person that calls this city home, not just those who voted for me in the democratic primary, not just those that vote for me in the general election, but all 8.5 million New Yorkers, and that includes Jewish New Yorkers who may have concerns or opposition to the positions I shared about Israel and Palestine,” Mamdani says.

“I will be the mayor who doesn’t just protect Jewish New Yorkers but also celebrates and cherishes them, who doesn’t just increase funding to hate crime prevention programs by 800%, who doesn’t just ensure that the NYPD are outside of synagogue and temples on the High Holy Days, but also actually delivers on the implementation of the Hidden Voices curriculum in our school system, so that children in this city learn about the beauty and the breadth of the Jewish experience right here in the five boroughs,” he says.

Hidden Voices is a city educational project that teaches students about underrepresented groups.

Cuomo, a pro-Israel centrist, mocks Mamdani for his response.

“Not everything is a TikTok video. You’re the savior of the Jewish people? You won’t denounce ‘Globalize the intifada,’ which means ‘kill Jews.’ There’s unprecedented fear in New York,” Cuomo says.

Cuomo is asked about his policies toward anti-Israel protests in the city.

“That’s your right. Protest, demonstrate, disagree, God bless America, God bless New York City, and there’s no doubt that there’s two sides about what’s going on and the passions are very high. That doesn’t justify antisemitic behavior in New York, it doesn’t justify having a Jewish population that feels unprotected in New York, it doesn’t justify leaders who stoke the flames of hatred against Jewish people, which is what Zohran does,” he says.

“I’ve heard form Jewish New Yorkers about their fears about antisemitism in this city and what they deserve is a leader who takes it seriously, who roots it out of these five boroughs, not one who weaponizes it as a means to score political points on a debate stage,” Mamdani says in response.

US says Rubio’s multiday trip to Israel aimed at advancing Trump’s plan to end Gaza war

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens as President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House, October 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Israel on Wednesday, the State Department says, with the announcement coming amid a fragile ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian Islamist terror group Hamas.

According to a statement from the State Department, Rubio will be in Israel until Saturday, before then visiting Malaysia, Japan and South Korea.

The statement adds that Rubio will be traveling to Israel “to support the successful implementation of President Trump’s Comprehensive Plan to End the Conflict in Gaza, which has garnered unprecedented international support.”

“During his visit, the secretary will reaffirm America’s unwavering commitment to Israel’s security and engage with partners to build on the historic momentum towards durable peace and integration in the Middle East,” it adds.

Rubio’s departure to Israel comes as US Vice President JD Vance is currently visiting the country and after Trump’s top envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were also there this week, with Vance saying the visits are aimed at monitoring the ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas.

US slams International Court of Justice’s ‘nakedly politicized’ ruling against Israel on UNWRA

The International Court of Justice opens hearings on a United Nations request for an advisory opinion on Israel's obligations to allow humanitarian assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, in The Hague, Netherlands, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration blasts “another corrupt ruling” by the International Court of Justice, after the top international tribunal issued an advisory opinion on Wednesday asserting that Israel is legally obligated to allow the UN’s controversial Palestinian refugee agency to provide humanitarian assistance in Gaza and that the provision of aid to the Strip during the war was inadequate.

“As President Trump and Secretary Rubio work tirelessly to bring peace to the region, this so-called ‘court’ issues a nakedly politicized non-binding ‘advisory opinion’ unfairly bashes Israel and gives UNRWA a free pass for its deep entanglement with and material support for Hamas terrorism,” says a statement from the State Department.

“This ICJ’s ongoing abuse of its advisory opinion discretion suggests that it is nothing more than a partisan political tool, which can be weaponized against Americans,” the US statement adds.

Saudi Arabia denounces Knesset’s advancement of West Bank annexation bills

Saudi Arabia denounces the Knesset’s initial votes in favor of two bills on West Bank annexation, saying they are aimed at “legitimizing Israeli sovereignty over illegal colonial settlement.”

“The kingdom stresses its complete rejection of all settlements and expansionist violations perpetrated by the Israeli occupation authorities,” the Saudi foreign ministry says in a statement. “The kingdom reiterates its support for the inherent and historical right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with relevant international resolutions.”

The statement also calls to “put an end to all blatant Israeli attacks on the Palestinian territories and and the Palestinian people, and advance the peace process based on the implementation of the two-state solution, thus achieving security and stability in the region.”