Oct. 26: Top Hamas official says group will disarm ‘if the occupation ends’

Bennett: Likud pursuing ‘personal legislation’ against me because it thinks it can’t win election

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett speaks during the Israel Information Technology Conference in Ness Ziona, May 5, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

After ministers voted today to advance a bill aimed at hampering former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s next election run, the politician hits back, claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party is afraid of facing him in a free and fair election.

In a post on social media, Bennett says that the “harder the poison machine against me is working, the more it’s a sign that they understand change is coming.”

“Instead of running against me in a free election, the Likud party is trying to prevent me from running,” he writes. “If they thought they would win, they wouldn’t need to go after personal, retroactive legislation.”

The legislation in question would require any new party established by a chairman whose previous party dissolved within the past seven years to assume responsibility for paying off that party’s outstanding debts before being able to use campaign funds raised for his new party to finance its electoral campaign.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, Yamina has NIS 17 million ($5 million) in debts, while another former Bennett party, Jewish Home, owes NIS 3 million ($913,000).

Bennett asserts that Likud has a far greater current campaign finance debt, and that he was not the most recent party leader of either Jewish Home or Yamina, which were headed by Rafi Peretz and Ayelet Shaked, respectively, after his departure. Therefore, he claims, he is not subject to any such debts.

Chancellor of Austria, host of Eurovision 2026: Would be ‘fatal mistake’ to exclude Israel

Austria's Chancellor Christian Stocker arrives for a European Council meeting in Brussels on October 23, 2025. (NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP)

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker firmly rejects any suggestion of banning Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest as his country prepares to host the next edition of the competition in 2026.

“I would consider it a fatal mistake to exclude Israel,” Stocker is quoted as saying in an interview with German news agency dpa published today, Austria’s National Day. “Based on our history alone, I would never be in favor of that,” he adds, in reference to Austria’s shared responsibility for crimes committed during the Holocaust.

The public broadcasters of some European countries, including Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands have pledged to withdraw if Israel takes part in the contest to be held in Vienna next May, citing its actions during the two-year war against Hamas in Gaza, sparked by the terror group’s massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Eurovision Song Contest organizers scrapped a planned November meeting to vote on Israel’s participation in the wake of the ceasefire announced earlier this month, and are now set to consider the issue in December.

Ultra-Orthodox plan massive anti-draft rally at entrance to Jerusalem on Thursday

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)

Members of the ultra-Orthodox community will hold a massive prayer rally against conscription at the entrance to Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon, announces a spokesman for Rabbi Dov Lando, the spiritual leader of the Degel HaTorah party.

The protest was originally slated to be held on Sunday but was delayed, reportedly due to disagreements between the various ultra-Orthodox factions involved. The rally will bring together representatives from United Torah Judaism’s Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael factions as well as the Sephardic Shas party and other groups.

In a separate statement, Shas says that the event will be held at 2:30 p.m., with additional details to be announced later.

The protest comes as ultra-Orthodox activists and lawmakers rage against what they describe as a “wave of arrests” of yeshiva students who ignored enlistment orders and are evading military service.

Last week, Shas gave up its chairmanships of parliamentary committees to protest the lack of a law regulating the conscription of yeshiva students. The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is expected to present an updated draft of a bill regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment on Thursday.

Report: International force to stabilize Gaza could include troops from Pakistan

This aerial picture shows destroyed buildings in Gaza City's Al-Rimal neighborhood on October 23, 2025. (AFP)

Defense officials reportedly told Israeli lawmakers that an international force that will help stabilize Gaza following the two-year war is likely to include troops from Pakistan.

According to a report in the Ynet news site, members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee were told during a closed-door briefing last week that the International Stabilization Force will be made up of soldiers from Indonesia, Azerbaijan and Pakistan.

Indonesia has publicly offered to send troops for the effort, and officials have told The Times of Israel that Azerbaijan had also agreed to contribute soldiers.

The potential presence of Pakistani soldiers had not yet been publicized.

United Hatzalah volunteers escorted Evyatar David home at father’s request

United Hatzalah volunteers accompany released hostage Evyatar David home to Kfar Saba on October 26, 2025. (Courtesy United Hatzalah)

As released hostage Evyatar David came home to Kfar Saba earlier today, he was escorted by a group of United Hatzalah volunteer medics in their signature orange emergency vehicles.

David’s father, Avishai David, is a longtime volunteer paramedic with United Hatzalah, and continued with his volunteer work throughout the two years that his son was held captive in Gaza.

“To see my son free, home, and embraced by my brothers and sisters in orange, the very people who have stood by me for the past two years, is a source of strength and light for our family,” says David, who asked that his volunteer colleagues take part in his son’s escort from Rabin Medical Center. “Am Yisrael Chai!”

Hamas official claims that group will give up weapons ‘if the occupation ends’

Hamas senior member Khalil al-Hayya interviewed on October 4, 2025 on Al Araby TV. (Screenshot)

Hamas lead negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya claims that the terror group’s weapons are “linked to the presence of the occupation and aggression.”

Israel has demanded that Hamas disarm as part of the end of the two-year war, and the US has also insisted that the group will have to give up its weapons to move forward with its 20-point plan.

Al-Hayya asserts that “if the occupation ends, these weapons will be transferred to the state.”

It is not immediately clear what state the Hamas official is referring to, or if he was referencing the Palestinian administrative body that has yet to be formed.

It was also not clear how Al-Hayya was defining “the occupation,” and if he was referring to the existence of the State of Israel as a whole, which Palestinians and some Arab nations often simply refer to as an occupying power.

Freed hostage Bar Kuperstein: Captors beat us and ‘said it was because of Ben Gvir’

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

Freed hostage Bar Kuperstein, who was released from two years of Hamas captivity two weeks ago, says he was beaten and abused by his captors when National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir boasted of his treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

In an interview with the Kan public broadcaster, Kuperstein, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, says he remembers “days where there was no food. You don’t get. They didn’t bring anything,” he says, saying that his captors were intentionally withholding food and had enough to keep themselves satiated.

One of his captors, he says, would tell them that his job was “to ensure that they don’t treat you too well.”

"כעסתי על הדברים של בן גביר. הוא ידע שאנחנו אצלם בשבי, איך הוא נתן להם להתעלל בנו?": העדות של שורד השבי בר קופרשטיין | הריאיון המלא ביום שלישי בזמן אמת#מהדורתכאןחדשות עם @TaliMoreno_ pic.twitter.com/gxfJQu1GRh

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 26, 2025

Kuperstein says that “around day 270, there was some issue with Ben Gvir and [Palestinian] prisoners… I remember they came to us, and they beat us. They stood us against the wall and gave us a serious beating… they said it was because of Ben Gvir — what he does to our prisoners, you’ll get in return.”

“An eye for an eye — they did it a few more times, came and beat us, and after around a week, I remember they took me to their room, blindfolded, and as I entered there I got two hits to the face, like cymbals,” he recounts. “I fell to the ground from the intensity. They dragged me by the legs around the room, stomped on me, degraded me as much as they could. Then they took my legs and tied them up.”

One of his captors, Kuperstein says, then told him: “Until now we haven’t done anything. Now you’ll feel on your flesh what our prisoners feel [in Israel].”

Kuperstein says in that moment, his life flashed before his eyes, thinking he was about to die. His captors beat him on the legs and feet, as he tried to protect himself, he recounts.

“They broke several bones in my feet, and I couldn’t walk on them for a month or something,” he says.

Asked if he was angry at Ben Gvir, Kuperstein says that he was angry that any actions against Palestinian prisoners were publicized in the media: “You know that we’re being held in their hands, how could you let them abuse us. You’re a minister in the government, you’re supposed to be concerned about us, why aren’t you concerned about us?”

UNIFIL says Israel dropped grenade, fired tank toward Lebanon peacekeepers

French UN peacekeepers patrol the Lebanese-Israeli border in the village of Houla, southern Lebanon, August 20, 2025. (AP/Hussein Malla)

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) claims that an Israeli drone dropped a grenade near one of its patrols earlier today, and an Israeli tank fired toward the observers.

“This afternoon, at about 5:45 p.m., an Israeli drone came close to a UNIFIL patrol operating near Kfar Kila and dropped a grenade. Moments later, an Israeli tank fired a shot towards the peacekeepers,” UNIFIL says.

The observer force says that no damage or injuries were caused in the incident.

UNIFIL says that earlier, another Israeli drone flew over its patrol “in an aggressive manner.” It adds that “the peacekeepers applied necessary defensive countermeasures to neutralize the drone.”

“These actions by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are in violation of Security Council resolution 1701 and Lebanon’s sovereignty, and show disregard for the safety and security of the peacekeepers implementing Security Council-mandated tasks in southern Lebanon,” UNIFIL says.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the UNIFIL claims.

Earlier this month, UNIFIL twice accused the IDF of dropping grenades near its observers, including one incident in which an observer was lightly hurt.

In both of those incidents, the IDF said it had attempted to disperse Hezbollah activity, with no intention to harm the UNIFIL observers.

Israel has long argued that the observer force had failed in its mission, doing little to block Hezbollah from building up its forces near the Israeli border over decades.

Report: Israel does not know location of 4 out of 13 slain hostages in Gaza

Palestinians watch machinery and some workers from Egypt searching for the bodies of hostages at Hamad City, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 26, 2025. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israel does not know the location of four of the remaining 13 bodies of hostages being held in Gaza, according to a report from the Kan public broadcaster.

Jerusalem has been trying to impress upon Washington the utmost importance of the return of the remaining bodies from the Strip, as the US has sent a series of high-level officials in the past week to the region to shore up the shaky ceasefire.

According to the report, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir tried to explain to visiting US Vice President JD Vance last week that Israel has spent years trying to locate the remains of Hadar Goldin, a soldier killed in 2014 whose body is one of the 13 that Israel is still waiting to recover.

Israeli officials have insisted that Hamas could easily return a number of the bodies it is currently holding, even as the terror group has claimed that it needs assistance in locating and recovering them.

Teams from the Red Cross and Egypt joined efforts today to dig and search for such remains.

Ex-chief rabbi calls father of slain soldier a ‘heretic’ for pushing to draft yeshiva students

Former chief Sephardic rabbi and current Shas party spiritual leader Yitzhak Yosef addresses a gathering in Bnei Brak, August 21, 2025. (Sam Sokol/The Times of Israel)

Former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who is also the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, calls a fellow rabbi and bereaved father a heretic for advocating conscription for yeshiva students.

“Who is an apikores?” Yosef is heard saying in recordings first leaked by Kol Chai radio and published by Ynet, referring to the traditional Jewish term for a heretic. “He says, ‘Everyone should go to the army.’ What do you mean by everyone [should go] to the army? They study Torah. Just as there is an air force, there is the ‘God force’ of those who sit and study Torah and protect the entire people of Israel.”

In the recording, Yosef explicitly criticizes Rabbi Tamir Granot, who serves as the head of the hesder yeshiva Orot Shaul in Tel Aviv — which combines Torah study and military service — and whose son, Cpt. Amitay Granot, was killed by an anti-tank missile on the Lebanon border in October 2023.

“Several heads of yeshivot attacked me,” Yosef says. “There was one rabbi — I don’t know if he’s a rabbi — Granot, the head of a hesder yeshiva. The way he spoke against us on television. Aren’t you afraid of the humiliation of the Torah scholars?”

“I think there are some of them who, if they were to come to join a minyan (prayer quorum), we would not include them in the minyan,” Yosef continues. “They fall under the category of apikores. Not all of them.”

It is not immediately clear when Yosef made the remarks published on Kol Chai.

In March 2024, Granot publicly criticized Yosef over his threat that the ultra-Orthodox community would abandon Israel if they were compelled to serve in the army.

“You need to… go up to Mount Herzl and apologize to my son, a yeshiva student and soldier,” said Granot in an interview with Ynet, referring to the Jerusalem military cemetery.

Red Cross and Egyptian teams allowed to search for hostage bodies in Israeli-held Gaza territory; official says Hamas allowed there too

Palestinians watch machinery and some workers from Egypt searching for the bodies of hostages at Hamad City, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 26, 2025. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi)

Red Cross and Egyptian teams have been permitted by Israel to search for the bodies of deceased hostages inside Israeli-held territory beyond the “Yellow Line” demarcating the military’s pullback in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli government spokesperson says.

She says that the Egyptian technical team and the Red Cross will use excavators and trucks for the search for the bodies in territory under IDF control.

Another unnamed Israeli official told Hebrew-language media earlier today that Hamas representatives had been permitted to enter the IDF-controlled areas in Gaza to search for the bodies alongside the Egyptian and Red Cross teams.

Footage earlier showed Hamas members — reportedly from the “Shadow Unit” of the group’s military wing responsible for guarding hostages — together with a Red Cross vehicle in the al-Mawasi area near Rafah, which is not an Israeli-controlled area.

The spokesperson also says that Hamas knows where some hostages are being held: “Israel is aware that Hamas knows where our deceased hostages are, in fact, located. If Hamas made more of an effort, they would be able to retrieve the remains of our hostages,” she says.

Russia tests new nuclear-capable missile, claims Putin

In this image made from video provided by the Russian Presidential Press Office on Oct. 26, 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin, arrives to visit one of the command posts of the Joint Group of Forces. (Russian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Russia tested a new nuclear-capable and powered cruise missile fit to confound existing defenses, inching closer to deploying it to its military, President Vladimir Putin says in remarks released today.

The announcement, which follows years of tests of the Burevestnik missile, comes as part of nuclear messaging from the Kremlin, which has resisted Western pressure for a ceasefire in Ukraine and strongly warned the US and other NATO allies against sanctioning strikes deep inside Russia with longer-range Western weapons.

A video released by the Kremlin shows Putin, dressed in camouflage fatigues, receiving a report from Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of general staff, who tells the Russian leader that the Burevestnik covered 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) in a key test on Tuesday.

Gerasimov says the Burevestnik, or storm petrel in Russian, spent 15 hours in the air on nuclear power, adding “that’s not the limit.”

IDF publishes new footage of October 2024 retaliatory strikes in Iran

A general view of Tehran after several explosions marked the start of Israeli airstrikes on military targets in the area, early on October 26, 2024. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Marking a year since its retaliatory strikes against Iran, the IDF publishes new footage showing attacks on Iranian air defense batteries.

The strikes on October 26, 2024, came four weeks after Iran launched a massive ballistic missile barrage on Israel.

The IDF says the strikes, dubbed “Operation Days of Repentance,” widened the Israeli Air Force’s freedom of action ahead of the 12-day war in June 2025, which saw large portions of Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities destroyed, along with attacks on several nuclear sites.

שנה למבצע "ימי תשובה": תיעודים מהמבצע שפגע ביכולות הטילים האיראנים והרחיב את חופש הפעולה לקראת מבצע "עם כלביא"

לכל הפרטים:https://t.co/YMbcoTwF5c pic.twitter.com/8e1spWzqQq

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 26, 2025

Slain hostage Yossi Sharabi to be buried tomorrow in Be’eri after funeral procession

Yossi Sharabi (Courtesy)

Two weeks after his body was returned to Israel, and close to two years after he was killed in Hamas captivity, Yossi Sharabi is slated to be laid to rest in Kibbutz Be’eri tomorrow.

The funeral procession for Sharabi, who was 53 when he was killed in an IDF airstrike in Gaza in January 2024, will set off at 10:45 a.m. from Rishon Lezion, passing through Yavne and Yad Mordechai before the Sha’ar Hanegev Junction and then the Sa’ad Junction, ending up in Be’eri around 12:45 p.m.

The Sharabi family invites members of the public to stand along the funeral route with Israeli flags. President Isaac Herzog is slated to attend the ceremony and eulogize Sharabi.

Yossi was kidnapped from his home on October 7 along with his daughter’s boyfriend, Ofir Engel and a neighbor, Amit Shani, who were both freed in November 2023. His brother, Eli Sharabi, was kidnapped separately and was released in February 2025. Eli’s wife and two daughters were murdered in the Hamas attack, as was Yossi’s nephew on his wife’s side, Idan Herman.

Yossi’s body was finally returned to Israel on October 13.

IDF says it killed 2 Hezbollah operatives in separate drone strikes on Lebanon

The IDF confirms killing two Hezbollah operatives in separate drone strikes in Lebanon earlier today.

The first strike, near the southern Lebanon town of Naqoura, killed Abd a-Sayed, who the military says served as Hezbollah’s local representative in the nearby village of Ras al-Bayada, and as part of his role, he was responsible for liaising between the terror group and the residents “on economic and military matters.”

The IDF says a-Sayed was also involved in efforts to restore Hezbollah military capabilities in the village.

The second strike near the village of Nabi Chit in the eastern Beqaa Valley killed Ali Hussein al-Mousawi, who the IDF says was a weapons smuggler for the terror group.

The IDF says that as part of his role, “he handled the purchasing and transfer of weapons from Syria to Lebanon,” and he also “played a significant role in the reestablishment and strengthening of Hezbollah.”

“Throughout the past year, the terrorist has continuously smuggled weapons for Hezbollah,” the military adds.

בתוך שעה: צה"ל חיסל סוחר אמצעי לחימה ואת הנציג המקומי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב אל ביאצ׳ה

צה״ל תקף בהכוונת אמ״ן ובאמצעות חיל האוויר מוקדם יותר היום, וחיסל את המחבל עלי חסין אלמוסוי, מבריח אמצעי לחימה בארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב הבקאע שבלבנון.

אלמוסוי פעל כסוחר ומבריח אמצעי… pic.twitter.com/JguTxWpHna

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 26, 2025

Ministers delay vote on bill that would allow halt to PM’s corruption trial

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the Tel Aviv District Court to testify in the ongoing corruption trial against him, October 15, 2025. (Reuven Kastro/POOL)

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation delays approving a bill that would enable lawmakers to halt Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing criminal trial, pushing off a decision by another week — despite media reports that it enjoyed the support of Justice Minister Yariv Levin.

That bill, sponsored by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, which consists of just one operative sentence, would enable lawmakers to delay the trial of a prime minister or cabinet minister at any time after an indictment and before a final ruling.

It allows the Knesset House Committee to “stay the legal proceedings against the prime minister or a government minister” following an indictment “if it deems it necessary” without specifying what, if any, criteria would be used to judge such a necessity.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, the committee’s vote on the bill was postponed due to Netanyahu’s insistence that it not apply to him personally.

Netanyahu is currently on trial on several charges of corruption in a case that has been ongoing since 2020.

Ministerial committee advances bill aimed at complicating Bennett’s plans to run in election

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett visits the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, May 26, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approves a bill aimed at hampering or preventing former prime minister Naftali Bennett from running in the next election.

The legislation, sponsored by Likud MK Avichai Boaron, would require any new party established by a chairman whose previous party dissolved within the past seven years to assume responsibility for paying off that party’s outstanding debts before being able to use campaign funds raised for his new party to pay for its electoral campaign.

The legislation is widely believed to target former Bennett, whose new party, currently known as Bennett 2026, is seen as the primary contender against Netanyahu in the next election.

Bennett, who led the now-defunct right-wing Yamina party, has been out of office since the 2022 collapse of his diverse governing coalition, which in 2021 ousted Netanyahu from the premiership following a period of political turmoil that saw four national elections in three years.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, Yamina has NIS 17 million ($5 million) in debts while another former Bennett party, Jewish Home, owes NIS 3 million ($913,000).

Approval by the committee means the government officially supports a bill and will back it in the Knesset, where it needs to pass an initial vote and three additional readings before being passed into law.

Responding to the committee’s approval, Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz insists that while “it is right to amend the… law in a way that prevents a party leader from running under a different name, leaving millions in debts at the public’s expense, as in the case of Naftali Bennett and as others have done before him… it is not right to enact such a law retroactively and in a personal manner.”

12 IDF soldiers wounded in military-related car crash near Gaza border

Twelve IDF soldiers were wounded, two moderately and 10 lightly, in a military-related car crash on the border with the Gaza Strip today, the army says.

The crash involved two Humvees.

The IDF says the troops were taken to hospitals for treatment.

Israel pressed US to give Hamas a firm deadline to comply with deal, says Israeli source

US President Donald Trump speaks during the 13th ASEAN - United States Summit as part of the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2025. (Vincent Thian / POOL / AFP)

Israel was concerned about US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s refusal to put a deadline on Hamas compliance with the Gaza ceasefire deal last week, an Israeli source tells The Times of Israel.

In an October 21 Truth Social post, Trump wrote that regional actors and Israel were threatening to punish Hamas but he told them, “‘NOT YET!’ There is still hope that Hamas will do what is right.” Vance said in Israel the same day that “I’m not going to do what the president of the United States has thus far refused to do, which is put an explicit deadline on it because a lot of this stuff is difficult.”

Israel expressed its concerns to senior US officials in recent days, says the source, and found sympathy from its American interlocutors. On Saturday, Trump set a firm deadline, warning that he would be watching Hamas’s actions “very closely” over the next 48 hours.

Israel is trying to ensure that it and Washington are on the same page as much as possible, says the source, including on foreign involvement in Gaza.

“Israel doesn’t like the fact that Qatar and Turkey are involved,” says the source, “but they very much like the fact that Egypt is involved and they want to expand the Egyptian involvement.”

Judge orders anti-government activists jailed for dumpster fires freed to house arrest after 7 weeks

Activists who were arrested for setting fire to recycling bins and a car near the Prime Minister’s residence attend a court hearing at the Jerusalem District Court, October 26, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Four anti-government activists detained for setting fire to dumpsters near the prime minister’s residence have been ordered freed to house arrest.

The decision is handed down by Judge Mordechai Borstein in the Jerusalem District Court, rejecting state prosecutors’ argument that the defendants pose a danger to the public.

The defendants — Lt. Col. (res.) Amos Doron, 60, Shmuel Reuveni, 57, Eyal Giller, 54 and Mark Foigel, 57 — were charged last month in court with arson, causing property damage and obstructing justice.

They underwent an examination by the probation service, which found that there is no danger in releasing them to supervised house arrest.

The judge further reasons that the return of the 20 living hostages back to Israel two weeks ago has created different political conditions, lessening the chance they will repeat the offense at future protests.

State prosecutors asked for and were granted a request for a 48-hour stay of execution, so they can appeal the court’s decision.

Two of the suspects were arrested on September 3, the day of the incident, while the others were arrested two weeks later, and they have all remained behind bars since then. The extended detentions of the defendants has sparked protests among fellow anti-government activists.

Environment minister reportedly admits to blocking funds from environmental groups

Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman attends a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem, February 10, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman reportedly admits to having blocked funds for environmental organizations, remarking at the weekly ministerial meeting that the organizations “fight the state,” the Ynet news site reports.

The organizations are fighting for NIS 11 million ($3.6 million) approved for distribution by the statutory Cleanup Fund. That fund was established in 1984 and is financed from sources including landfill fees and plastic bag levies. Cash left over at the end of the year is distributed wholly or in part to help fund environmental organizations the following year.

The Environmental Protection Ministry has maintained that it could not issue a call for grant proposals this year for the funds “due to budget constraints.”

On the issue of waste burning in the West Bank, which causes smoke and pollution for hundreds of thousands of Israelis every year, Silman reportedly quipped in the meeting that “because the Palestinian people don’t exist, they can’t protect the earth.”

The not-for-profit Citizens for Clean Air organization writes to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pressing him to chair an emergency discussion, with Silman and Defense Minister Bezalel Smotrich present, to determine immediate steps to curb the phenomenon and protect public health.

The group reports that complaints about pollution emanating from the illegal burning of waste have increased by 80% this month compared with last month and are nearly quadruple the complaints submitted in August.

While the complaints have come for years from Israeli communities close to the West Bank, they are now being voiced from as far as Kiryat Ono, Petah Tikva and even Tel Aviv, the organization says.

US officials warned Israel that the next 30 days of ceasefire ‘are crucial’

Palestinians carry water amid the ruins of Gaza City, Oct. 26, 2025. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi)

Senior US officials told Israel last week that “the next 30 days of the ceasefire agreement are crucial,” an Israeli source tells The Times of Israel.

“That’s why they want Israel to respond in a proportionate manner,” says the source, referring to any Hamas violations of the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire agreement.

A string of top White House officials, including Vice President JD Vance, were in Israel last week to make sure the ceasefire in Gaza holds, even after a deadly Hamas attack on IDF troops and its failures to hand over all the bodies of slain hostages.

“Do not act in a way that would endanger the ceasefire. We want to do everything to reach the second phase,” senior US advisers Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff also reportedly told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week.

Katz tours Lebanon border with US envoy, briefs her on Hezbollah activities

Defense Minister Israel Katz (left), US Deputy Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus (center), and Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, near the Lebanon border, October 26, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Israel Katz visited the Lebanon border earlier today with US envoy Morgan Ortagus, his office says.

Also joining the tour were US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, and other IDF and US Central Command officers.

Katz and Ortagus were briefed on Hezbollah’s activities in Lebanon, including efforts to rebuild its infrastructure, and the pair later toured the border and visited the border community of Misgav Am.

The tour took place as the IDF killed two Hezbollah operatives in strikes in Lebanon earlier today. Katz’s office says IDF commanders briefed the defense minister and the Mideast envoy on the strikes.

Activists accused of torching dumpsters near PM’s residence request release to house arrest

Activists who were arrested for setting fire to recycling bins and a car near the Prime Minister’s residence attend a court hearing at the Jerusalem District Court, October 26, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Four anti-government activists suspected of torching dumpsters near the Prime Minister’s Residence arrive in court, where they are expected to be released to house arrest after nearly two months in jail.

The defendants — Lt. Col. (res.) Amos Doron, 60, Shmuel Reuveni, 57, Eyal Giller, 54 and Mark Foigel, 57 — were charged last month in court with arson, causing property damage and obstructing justice.

Three of the suspects are accused of setting fires in Jerusalem’s Rehavia neighborhood, during a day of mass protest for the return of the Hamas-held hostages. The fourth defendant, Foigel, is accused of organizing the arson plot and is characterized by the prosecution as the “dominant actor” in the incident despite not setting the fires himself.

The suspects’ defense attorneys are requesting in the Jerusalem District Court that they be released to supervised house arrest.

Four anti-government activists, in detention now nearly two months for setting fire to dumpsters outside Netanyahu's house, arrive in Jerusalem District Court where judge will rule on their release pic.twitter.com/ALlnwHS5Le

— charlie summers (@cbsu03) October 26, 2025

Representing Foigel, Gaby Lasky questions police in deciding to push for their extended arrest “specifically in this instance.” She references the frequent dumpster fires lit by Haredi protesters during demonstrations against the draft.

“Not far from here in the Geula neighborhood, people burn dumpsters night after night for an ideological reason: in order to dodge military service, exactly the inverse of the people sitting here,” Lasky says, gesturing to the defendants.

Family members present are currently going one-by-one up to the podium and vowing to supervise the defendants and call the police if they violate the terms of their house arrest.

‘Thank you to everyone’: Freed hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal arrives home from hospital

Released hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal arrives home in Alfei Menashe on October 26, 2025. (Courtesy Guy is Back Home/Instagram)

As released hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal arrives home to the West Bank settlement of Alfei Menashe, residents and friends line the road, waving flags, cheering and holding up their phones to capture the moment.

Gilboa-Dalal arrives in a van, and leans out the window wrapped in an Israeli flag, smiling and hugging people.

“Thank you to everyone, it’s incredible,” he tells the crowd. “I’m going to be with my family now.”

“It’s so good you’re home!” yell those on the street, as Gilboa-Dalal throws kisses to the crowd.

Gilboa-Dalal was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, and held captive in Gaza for two years before being released two weeks ago. He was discharged from Rabin Medical Center earlier today.

Freed hostage Evyatar David greeted by cheering crowds in Kfar Saba

Released hostage Evyatar David returns home to Kfar Saba on October 26, 2025, after being discharged from the hospital. (Danor Aharon/Israeli Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

Wrapped in an Israeli flag, released hostage Evyatar David arrives from the hospital to his home in Kfar Saba, where the street is crowded with neighbors and friends cheering his arrival.

Residents dance in the street, sing “Am Yisrael Chai,” and hold their cellphones up to capture the moment.

David and his family arrive in a van, accompanied by local police who try to clear the street so that the convoy can move forward.

David waves from inside the van, blowing kisses to the residents who attach balloons to the slow-moving van, and throw bouquets of flowers through the open windows.

David is escorted by police through the crowd to his family’s apartment building.

Minutes later, former prime minister Naftali Bennett arrives to greet David. The crowds remain outside, dancing and waving Israeli flags in the joyous block party.

Guy Gilboa-Dalal, Evyatar David and Eitan Mor discharged from hospital 2 weeks after they were freed from captivity

From left: nurse Avivit Ztelman, freed hostage Eitan Mor, Prof. Noa Eliakim Raz, released hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, Prof. Gil Salzman and freed hostage Evyatar David, at Rabin Medical Center on October 26, 2025. (Guy Yechieli/Rabin Medical Center)

Freed hostages Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Eitan Mor, who were admitted to Rabin Medical Center (Beilinson) upon their release from Hamas captivity on October 13, were discharged today, the hospital says.

The three were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from the Nova desert rave on October 7, 2023, and were sometimes held together during their two years in captivity in Gaza.

They will begin outpatient rehabilitation in the hospital’s returned hostages unit, the medical center says.

The hospital says it will continue to accompany them and their families, giving them all the support they need.

Well-wishers gather in Kfar Saba to celebrate return of freed hostage Evyatar David

Residents of Kfar Saba are lining the street leading to the home of released hostage Evyatar David ahead of his expected arrival home from the hospital.

Neighbors are dancing in the streets, waving Israeli flags and holding blue and white balloons as celebratory music plays.

התרגשות בכפר סבא לקראת חזרתו של שורד השבי אביתר דוד. pic.twitter.com/rSq0dXU0vF

— זירת החדשות (@ZiratNews) October 26, 2025

Eitan Mor released from hospital as supporters sing ‘Am Yisrael Chai’

Released hostage Eitan Mor heads home on October 26, 2025 (Eitan Mor Is Home Instagram story)

As former hostage Eitan Mor is released from the hospital, supporters surround the van taking him home, singing “Am Yisrael Chai,” waving Israeli flags and banners and shouting in joy at the sight of his face in the van window.

Mossad reveals details of Iranian terror network behind attacks on Jewish sites worldwide

Iranian Quds Force commander Sardar Ammar, in an undated photo released by Mossad (Courtesy)

The Mossad intelligence agency releases new information about a transnational terror network run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force that it says was behind a string of recent attacks on Jewish sites in Western countries.

According to Israel’s foreign spy agency, senior IRGC-Quds Force commander Sardar Ammar heads the network, which intensified its efforts to attack Jewish and Israeli sites around the world since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.

Ammar commands some 11,000 operatives in carrying out covert operations, Mossad alleges.

The network carried out vandalism and arson attacks against Jewish businesses and communal institutions, Mossad says, “aiming to intimidate communities and create conditions that could lead to more serious attacks.”

Sardar’s network also planned attacks against senior Jewish communal figures, it says.

Mossad points to three particular incidents tied to the network, among several more it uncovered in cooperation with foreign intelligence agencies.

In July 2024, Greece’s anti-terrorism police arrested seven people — including two Iranians — over separate arson attacks against an Israeli-owned hotel and a synagogue in central Athens earlier that year.

In July of this year, German prosecutors said that Danish police arrested a man suspected of gathering information on Jewish locations and individuals in Berlin for Iranian intelligence.

The next month, Australia blamed Iran for involvement in two 2024 arson attacks, at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne and a kosher restaurant in Sydney, using criminals and members of organized crime gangs. Canberra also expelled Iran’s ambassador.

In order to hide Iran’s involvement, Mossad says, the network recruited non-Iranians, used criminal gangs, and insisted on a high degree of compartmentalization.

The attacks were generally seen by intelligence agencies as amateurish and bumbling, The Times of Israel has been told.

‘So good you’ve come home’: Dimona awaits ex-hostage Segev Kalfon as he leaves hospital

Released hostage Segev Kalfon leaves Kfar Maccabiah Hotel in Ramat Gan, on his way home to Dimona, on October 26, 2025 (Paulina Patimer/Hostages Forum)

Released hostage Segev Kalfon has left the Kfar Maccabiah Hotel in Ramat Gan to go to his home in the southern city of Dimona.

שגב כלפון הגיבור יוצא הביתה ????????????

קרדיט: פאולינה פטימר pic.twitter.com/UwBLDMSSmg

— הדר סגל Hadar Segal ???????? (@hadarse) October 26, 2025

Many of the hostages’ families have stayed at Kfar Maccabiah while their loved ones recuperate at nearby hospitals, and the released hostages have often joined them at Kfar Maccabiah before their final release.

Dimona is draped in Israeli and American flags and decorated with blue and white balloons to welcome Kalfon to his city and home.

“Segev, it’s so good that you’ve come home,” reads one of the banners hung around the city.

Kalfon’s grandmother is also awaiting him at a retirement home in Dimona.

שגב חוזר הביתה: בבית האבות שבו נמצאת סבתא של שורד השבי שגב כלפון מתרגשים לקראת הגעתו לדימונה – בפעם הראשונה מאז שוחרר משבי חמאס@yaronavraham pic.twitter.com/Yl5rkLUMD5

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) October 26, 2025

Fellow released hostages Bar Kuperstein, Eitan Mor, Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal are all expected to return to their homes today.

Another Israeli strike reported in Lebanon, targeting car in Beqaa Valley

Lebanese media reports another Israeli strike in Lebanon, this time on a car near the village of Nabi Chit in the eastern Beqaa Valley.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

أولي.. غارة من مسيرة على سيارة على طريق النبي شيت#ملحق pic.twitter.com/EgmQaVGycX

— Mulhak – ملحق (@Mulhak) October 26, 2025

The Saudi channel Al-Arabiya reports that the target of the strike was a Hezbollah operative

Ben Gvir says bill that could halt PM’s trial ‘protects elected officials from persecution’

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is seen at the entrance to the Temple Mount, before entering, in Jerusalem's Old City. October 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir criticizes the Attorney General’s Office after it attacked a proposed bill that would allow politicians to halt legal proceedings against cabinet members.

“There is no limit to the irony,” he says. “The attorney general, who has completely politicized the law enforcement system, who fabricates cases against elected officials time and again and routinely cripples the work of the government, states that the bill submitted by MK Son-Har Melech is a political proposal, when it is a proposal intended to protect elected officials from political persecution,” the far-right minister says in a statement.

The bill, proposed by MK Limor Son Har Melech of Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party, is set to be considered today by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which decides if the government will support a draft law in the Knesset.

“I hope that my colleagues on the Ministerial Committee for Legislation will not be intimidated by yet another attempt by the attorney general to thwart the government’s work, and that they will vote unanimously in favor of advancing the bill,” Ben Gvir says.

Abbas names Hussein al-Sheikh as temporary replacement if he is unable to serve

Secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hussein al-Sheikh, attends the 32nd PLO Central Council session in Ramallah on April 23, 2025. (Zain Jaafar/AFP)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has issued a presidential decree stating that if he can no longer fulfill his role, and in the absence of a Palestinian Legislative Council, the position will be filled temporarily by the deputy chairman of the PLO Executive Committee, Hussein al-Sheikh.

The Palestinian Legislative Council has not been active since the Hamas terror group seized power by force in Gaza  in 2007.

According to the Palestinian Basic Law, in the event of incapacity due to illness or death, the PA president is supposed to be replaced by the speaker of the Legislative Council. In November 2024, Abbas issued a decree amending the law, appointing Rawhi Fattouh, a senior Fatah official with little popular backing, as his temporary successor. At the time, the move was seen as intended to prevent the chairmanship from passing to Aziz Dweik, the Hamas-affiliated speaker of the defunct Legislative Council.

The 89-year-old Abbas’s new decree cancels Fattouh’s appointment and stipulates that al-Sheikh will replace him in the event of incapacity.

Al-Sheikh was appointed as Abbas’s deputy in the PLO last April — the first such appointment in nearly 50 years.

AG’s office blasts ‘unconstitutional’ bill to give coalition power to delay PM’s trial

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a ceremony for outgoing Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, September 18, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Attorney General’s Office savages draft legislation that would allow the coalition to delay without limit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial, calling it “unconstitutional” and asserting that it would severely harm the principle of equality before the law and the independence of the legal and law enforcement systems.

The bill has been proposed by far-right MK Limor Son Har-Melech of the Otzma Yehudit party and is set to be considered today by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, which decides if the government will support a draft law in the Knesset.

The legislation, which consists of just one operative sentence, would enable the Knesset House Committee to delay the trial of a prime minister or cabinet minister at any time after an indictment and before a final ruling.

“The bill allows political considerations to gain a foothold in the criminal process, while seriously harming the integrity of the criminal process, the principle of equality before the law, the independence of the judicial system and the law enforcement system, and the principle of separation of powers,” write two of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s deputies in a legal position paper.

The deputies assert that it appears the bill was drafted to help the prime minister “evade justice,” and that it was designed with his personal needs in mind.

“In view of the profound and fundamental violation of the fundamental principles of a democratic regime, as well as the direct impact of the bill on the personal interests of the prime minister, the proposal is unconstitutional, must be opposed, and must not be advanced,” the position paper states.

Since the legislation is a private members bill and not a government bill, the opposition of the Attorney General’s Office will not prevent it from being advanced should the government so decide.

Hezbollah commander reported killed in Israeli drone strike in south Lebanon

Lebanese media reports one dead in an Israeli drone strike near the southern Lebanon town of Naqoura a short while ago.

The Saudi al-Hadath channel reports that the target was Abd a-Sayed, the commander of forces in the area.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

غار.ة من مسيّر.ة صهيو.نية استهدفت سيارة في بلدة الناقورة جنوبي لبنان pic.twitter.com/yCxtFtXU1O

— مصدر مسؤول (@fouadkhreiss) October 26, 2025

17 people currently hospitalized with measles, 5 in intensive care

The Health Ministry says there are currently 17 people hospitalized with measles in the country, of whom five are in intensive care units. An unvaccinated child, 6, from the south of the country, is on a ventilator.

A two-and-a-half-year-old toddler who was not vaccinated against measles has died from the disease, the Health Ministry says, confirming earlier reports. This is the eighth child to die from measles since the beginning of the outbreak in May. All were healthy individuals with no underlying diseases who had not received the measles vaccine.

The areas currently defined as having an outbreak are Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Bnei Brak, Harish, Modiin Illit, Nof Hagalil, Kiryat Gat, Ashdod, Safed, Netivot and the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council.

Since the outbreak, there have been 1,644 recorded cases of the measles and 577 hospitalizations. Following the ministry’s efforts to increase vaccination coverage, there has been a 500% increase in vaccinations in Jerusalem and an even higher increase of 630% in Beit Shemesh since September, compared to the same period last year, according to the ministry.

Beit Shemesh man accused of beating wife and young daughter in the street

Police prosecutors indict a man from Beit Shemesh on suspicion of beating his wife and young daughter in the street near their house, law enforcement announces.

The defendant, a man in his 40s, had a history of violent behavior toward his female family members, prosecutors say. Two weeks ago, an argument broke out between him and his daughter, during which he grabbed her phone, slapped her and then broke the device.

Later that evening, the defendant allegedly fought with his wife, assaulting her in the street in front of their children. He threw a glass of water at her, hit her and one of the daughters with a sandal, and chased them down as they fled to a nearby first aid station.

A man from Beit Shemesh is charged with beating his wife and daughter in an incident around two weeks ago. The husband chased them down as they fled to an MDA station, then attacked a paramedic while trying to force his way into the building. Footage shared by police: pic.twitter.com/ZjZiMPksP7

— charlie summers (@cbsu03) October 26, 2025

The man allegedly tried to force his way into the building, cursing the staff and attacking a paramedic who tried to keep him from entering. Police were called, and soon came to the scene and arrested him.

During his interrogation, police found that the defendant had been under a court order confining him to his residence at night, and had violated it by leaving the residence. It was not immediately made clear why that order was issued.

Police add that about six months earlier, the defendant assaulted his wife in front of their children, grabbing her by the neck and threatening her.

He is charged with assaulting his wife, assaulting a minor and causing property damage.

Gantz: Coalition doesn’t want to fix judicial system, it wants to tame it

The coalition’s proposed bill to give the Knesset the authority to halt the prime minister’s ongoing corruption trial would create a two-tiered justice system, argues Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation is slated today to advance legislation sponsored by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech allowing the Knesset House Committee to “stay the legal proceedings against the prime minister or a government minister” following an indictment, “if it deems it necessary.”

Gantz says in a video statement: “Giving a political body the license to stop a trial is the path to a country with one law for the ‘masters’ and another for the ‘subjects.’

“Do you think our citizens don’t understand what you’re doing? You don’t want to fix the judicial system; you want to tame it for your own needs. That will not happen.”

Red Cross says acting ‘as neutral intermediary’ to enable return of hostages’ remains

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says in response to various reports claiming its teams are searching for hostages in the Gaza Strip: “The International Committee of the Red Cross is currently operating in Gaza as a neutral intermediary, at the request of the parties, to facilitate the return of the remains of hostages who are no longer alive, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement.

“To ensure the safety of those involved, we will not comment further on the different reports at this stage.”

New medical school opens at University of Haifa

The new Herta and Paul Amir School of Medicine opens its first academic year today with 74 students, the University of Haifa says.

The new medical students will receive full exemption from tuition fees for the first year, the university says.

The initiative comes amid a severe shortage of physicians in northern Israel, it says. It will also offer incentives to encourage graduates to remain and work in the region, which will help reduce healthcare disparities.

The six-year program is operating in partnership with Clalit Health Services, Carmel Medical Center and Clalit’s Haifa and Western Galilee district, combining academic training with clinical practice.

Report: Government delegation to attend professional conference in Saudi Arabia soon

A view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June 23, 2018. (AP/Nariman El-Mofty)

An Israeli government delegation is likely to fly to Saudi Arabia in the near future to participate in an upcoming professional conference taking place in the kingdom, Army Radio reports.

Saudi Arabia is hosting the 26th United Nations Tourism General Assembly on November 7 to 11.

Final approval has yet to be granted for the coming trip, per the report.

In September 2023, Tourism Minister Haim Katz became the first Israeli minister to lead a delegation to the kingdom during a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia as part of a United Nations World Tourism Organization event, less than two weeks before the October 7 Hamas attack.

News of the trip comes days after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich 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 apologized, saying, “My comment about Saudi Arabia was absolutely inappropriate, and I apologize for the insult it caused.”

Court tells PM’s attorney there will be four hearings a week for Netanyahu’s trial

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the Tel Aviv District Court to testify in the ongoing corruption trial against him, October 15, 2025. (Reuven Kastro/POOL)

The Jerusalem District Court tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyer Amit Hadad that starting next week, four hearings will be held a week for the the prime minister’s criminal trial, with Netanyahu testifying in three of them.

Hadad told the court last week he would not be able to attend hearings on Sundays since he had court hearings in other cases set for Sundays, but the court insists that the extra day of hearings it has added must take place.

Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman writes that Netanyahu can testify on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and that the defense can have other witnesses testify on Sundays, if that would be more convenient for Hadad.

Footage purports to show Hamas, Red Cross searching for body of hostage in south Gaza

The Qatari Al-Araby channel publishes footage of Hamas members — reportedly from the “Shadow Unit” of the group’s military wing, which is responsible for guarding hostages — together with a Red Cross vehicle in the al-Mawasi area, west of Rafah. This area is not under IDF control.

According to the report, Hamas and the Red Cross are there in search of the body of a hostage.

תיעוד חריג של הצלב האדום ואנשי יחידת הצל של חמאס (השומרת על חטופים) באזור מוואסי רפיח (מערבית לעיר רפיח) לא באזור השליטה של צה"ל. פורסם באל-ערבי הקטרי בנוהל. לכאורה נמצאים באזור כדי לחפש אחר שרידי חלל חטוף pic.twitter.com/sJyLhfuAIs

— Nurit Yohanan (@nurityohanan) October 26, 2025

Three Turkish citizens charged with weapons smuggling in Israel

State prosecutors file charges against three Turkish citizens accused of smuggling guns into Israel and entering the country illegally. One of the defendants, Oktay Aschi, is also charged with providing the means to commit a terrorist act.

The three were part of a larger arms trafficking network run by a Turkish national residing outside of the country, who in 2023 helped smuggle Aschi into Israel to work in construction, prosecutors say.

The other two defendants, Younes Ozel and Rahman Gokyer, were recruited by Aschi earlier this year.

Members of the network purchased firearms from an Iranian arms dealer and smuggled them into Jordan, from where they were then spirited into Israel by workers entering the country.

Aschi was initially deported from Israel in July this year, but tried in September to return alongside the second defendant, Gokyer, to operate the guns trafficking network from within the country.

Gokyer was to receive and then sell the guns within Israel, and was promised by Aschi $1 million as compensation. The pair tried to hop the security fence with Jordan near Kibbutz Shaar Hagolan near the Golan Heights, but were arrested by IDF forces.

Ozel was also working illegally in Israel, and was enlisted by Aschi as a middleman. He went to the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station twice to carry out arms deals. He was to collect money from a shop at the station, then exchange it with an unknown person in return for the weapons.

The dealer failed to arrive on both occasions. Ozel pocketed the NIS 5,000 ($1,500) for himself.

The three were indicted today at the Nazareth District Court, and prosecutors are requesting they remain in custody until the end of legal proceedings.

Netanyahu denies Washington dictating actions in Gaza: ‘Israel is a sovereign state,’ will determine which foreign forces act in Gaza

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a cabinet meeting on September 30, 2025. (Screenshot/GPO)

In the wake of growing rumblings that key decisions about the future of the Gaza Strip are being made in Washington, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that Israel is a sovereign state that makes its own decisions on national security matters.

In the latest such report, Ynet claimed this morning that a strike in central Gaza yesterday targeting a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative planning an “imminent attack” against troops was carried out only after authorization was received from American officials.

Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu blasts “ridiculous claims about the relationship between the United States and Israel.”

“When I was in Washington [people] said I control the American government, that I dictate its security policy,” he says. “Now they claim the opposite — that the American administration controls me and dictates Israel’s security policy.”

“Neither is true,” Netanyahu declares.

A series of senior US officials came to Israel last week to oversee the implementation of phase one of the Gaza ceasefire.

“Israel is a sovereign state,” the prime minister stresses. “The United States is a sovereign state. Our relationship is a partnership.”

Much of the criticism surrounding Israel’s freedom to act in Gaza emerged after a deadly Hamas attack on IDF soldiers in Rafah last week, which was followed by strikes by Israel but a quick return to the ceasefire, after the US allegedly pressured Jerusalem to rein in its reaction.

“I want to make one thing clear — our security policy is in our own hands,” Netanyahu continues. “We will not tolerate attacks against us; we respond at our discretion to attacks, as we have done in Lebanon and most recently in Gaza. We dropped 150 tons on Hamas and on terror elements after the attack on our two soldiers. And of course we also thwart dangers while they are forming before they are carried out, as we did only yesterday in the Gaza Strip.”

Netanyahu says that Israel “does not seek anyone’s approval for that. We control our own security and we have also made clear regarding international forces that Israel will determine which forces are unacceptable to us — that is how we act and will continue to act.

“This, of course, is accepted by the United States, as its most senior representatives have said in recent days,” he says, adding that “we will continue to control our fate.”

IDF files indictment against Palestinian suspect in botched bombing of Bat Yam bus

Border Police officers pose with Abed al-Karim Snober, a Palestinian terrorist accused of carrying out a botched bus bombing attack in February, following his arrest on July 22, 2025. (Israel Police)

Military prosecutors have filed an indictment against a Palestinian accused of being behind a botched bus bombing attack in central Israel in February.

In the attack on February 20, three empty buses exploded in quick succession in parking lots in the Tel Aviv suburbs of Bat Yam and Holon, and two more unexploded devices were discovered on additional buses in Holon. No casualties were caused.

Abed al-Karim Snober, who is charged with carrying out the attack, was detained in July.

According to the indictment, Snober planned an attack in the Tel Aviv area with other accomplices in January. “Their aim was to harm a large number of civilians by placing several shrapnel explosive devices in crowded locations,” the military says, citing the charge sheet.

Snober manufactured several makeshift bombs packed with nails and screws, the IDF says.

On February 20, Snober entered Israel and planted the five bombs on four buses in the Tel Aviv area, and timed their detonation for different hours, according to the indictment.

Some of the bombs exploded that evening, while the buses were empty, and the others were located and neutralized before causing any harm.

The indictment says that Snober then fled back to the West Bank and hid out at several locations until he was captured in July.

The military says that while he was in hiding, and after his original attack plan failed, Snober planned to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. Snober contacted other suspects to assist him with this new attack, and he manufactured additional bombs, according to the indictment. “Due to his arrest, the defendant did not manage to carry out this attack,” the IDF says.

Snober will be held until the end of legal proceedings.

Indictments have also been filed against other suspects involved in the attack, including a resident of Holon who transported the bomb-planting terrorist to Bat Yam.

Yemen’s Houthis arrest three UN staffers over Israel spying accusation

Supporters of Yemen's Houthis brandish weapons during a rally condemning Israel, in Sanaa on October 17, 2025. (Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP)

Yemen’s Houthis arrested three local United Nations staff, accusing them of spying for Israel, a security source from the rebel group tells AFP.

“Two women working for the World Food Programme were taken from their homes on Saturday” in the rebel-held capital Sanaa, the source says, adding that a Yemeni man also working for the WFP was arrested that night.

“Security and intelligence services in Sanaa still have a list of people wanted for collaborating with the Israeli and American enemy,” the source adds.

They are the latest in a wave of arrests targeting UN and other nonprofit organization workers, with seven other local UN staffers arrested earlier this week on accusations of colluding with Israel. Last week, the rebels raided the UN compound in Sanaa, holding 20 staffers, including 15 foreigners, inside before they were released shortly afterwards.

The United Nations on Friday said that the Houthis had arrested 55 of its personnel since 2021.

Rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi has claimed that UN agencies, including the WFP and UNICEF, have participated in “aggressive espionage.” He accused some of them of playing a role in Israeli strikes that targeted a cabinet meeting in August, killing the rebel prime minister.

Since the war against Hamas in Gaza began in October 2023, Yemen’s Houthis have repeatedly targeted both Israel and Red Sea shipping routes in a campaign they say is in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Suspects in Louvre jewel heist case arrested near Paris, prosecutor says

Suspects in the brazen daylight heist of some of France’s crown jewels from the Louvre were arrested near Paris on Saturday, just as one of them was about to fly out of the country from Charles de Gaulle airport, the Paris prosecutor says.

According to Le Parisien newspaper, which first broke the story, two men in their 30s originally from the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb of the French capital were arrested on Saturday evening.

They were known to French police, and one of the suspects was about to depart for Algeria, the newspaper says. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau does not say how many people were arrested or give any more detail on their profile.

Jerusalem’s Waldorf, American Colony named Israel’s best hotels at Dubai awards

Atrium at the Waldorf Astoria in Jerusalem. (Courtesy)

Jerusalem’s Waldorf Astoria has been named Israel’s best hotel for 2025 at the World Travel Awards ceremony in Dubai today, considered by many to be the “Oscars of the tourism world.”

The Waldorf, located near the Mamilla neighborhood and built on the site of the former Palace Hotel, also won the prestigious title in 2022 and 2024. One of the country’s most ambitious hotel projects ever, it cost $150 million to build, and features 226 rooms, a grand ballroom, gourmet restaurants, a spa and more.

Elsewhere in the capital, the American Colony Hotel, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, was named Israel’s top boutique hotel for 2025. The hotel, a longtime favorite of journalists and diplomats, is set in a 160-year-old mansion with arabesque arches, hand-painted ceilings and rich carpets.

Winners of the World Travel Awards are selected by more than 650,000 travel professionals and consumers in over 160 countries. The organization was established in 1993 to acknowledge excellence across the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.

Judge denies police request to hold onto Qatargate suspect’s phones

Jonatan Urich, who was arrested in the so-called Qatargate investigation, arrives for a court hearing in Lod, August 19, 2025. (Jonathan Shaul/ Flash90)

The Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court denies a police request for more time to keep hold of three electronic devices belonging to Jonatan Urich, the key suspect in the so-called Qatargate investigation. Police have 48 hours to appeal the decision.

Urich, along with Netanyahu’s former spokesman Eli Feldstein, is accused of working for Qatar in the period after October 7, 2023, in order to cast the Gulf state in a positive light for over a year after the Hamas attack, despite its strong ties to the terror group.

A police representative told the court that police have yet to gain access to the content of the three devices, stating that attempts to unlock two of them were unsuccessful and that no attempt has been made to unlock the third. The representative said in response to a question by Judge Menahem Mizrahi that he could not estimate when it would be possible to gain access to the content of the devices, but that police were requesting to continue to hold on to them in order to unlock them at some point in the future.

Mizrahi says that police have not accede to his request for a “classified document” detailing the evidence accumulated against Urich so far, as well as the investigative actions that must still be taken. He says he is therefore rejecting the request.

Mizrahi has frequently denied police requests in the case, including requests to extend detention and release conditions. His decisions have frequently been overturned by the Central District Court, and Mizrahi’s conduct has at times been questioned.

Reports: Red Cross assisting in search for hostages’ bodies in Gaza

Qatari Al-Arabi channel reports that Red Cross teams are expected to enter the Rafah area to assist in locating bodies of dead hostages, as Hamas claims it has not yet been able to locate the bodies of the remaining 13 hostages.

In addition, Qatar’s Al-Jazeera channel reports that Red Cross teams will enter the Yellow Line region in Gaza City — demarcating the area in which Israeli forces are still operating — to help in the search for hostages’ bodies.

Einav Zangauker says she and other hostages’ relatives under attack by ‘poison machine’

Einav Zangauker, mother of released hostage Matan Zangauker, speaks at a protest at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv calling for the release of captives' bodies held by Hamas, October 18, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Einav Zangauker, the firebrand mother of freed hostage Matan Zangauker, says that since her son’s return, she and her family have been under attack by the “poison machine” — a term often used by critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to describe what they say is a network of propagandists for the premier in the media and social media devoted to spreading incitement and personal attacks to manipulate public opinion.

Zangauker has continued to criticize the government’s conduct since her son’s release from Gaza, demanding fully independent and wide-ranging investigations into the failures of Oct. 7 — which Netanyahu and his allies are resisting. This has made her a target for supporters of the Israeli leader.

“The poison machine, with its mouthpieces in the media and on social networks, is trying to intimidate the families of captivity survivors — and me in particular,” she writes on X.

“Their goal is clear: They want to rewrite history by smearing the heroic struggle we led together with millions of Israelis. That same struggle that prompted President Trump to act and force Netanyahu and Hamas into the agreement to end the war and bring the hostages home,” she says. “The method is always the same — campaigns full of lies, slander, and defamation against us, the families.”

Zangauker adds: “I will not accept this violence — and I will not be intimidated by the organized smear campaign. The public is not foolish and sees that this is a coordinated, funded political campaign meant to deter me from continuing the fight for the hostages and the fallen, and to deter all the families of October 7 from demanding the truth about the failures through a state commission of inquiry.”

Government reevaluating ban on independent press access to Gaza, court says

The government is reevaluating its ban on independent press access to Gaza, the High Court of Justice notes, in a decision ordering the state to inform the court if it will change its policy by the end of November.

The court held a brief hearing last week on a petition by the Foreign Press Association demanding free access to the war-torn territory, but since the state’s response on the matter was filed nearly four months before the current ceasefire, the court requested that the state provide an update on its position given the change in circumstances.

It now says the state is reexamining the matter.

Today’s decision formalizes the order to the government, giving it until November 23 to update the court on the matter. The court also notes that the state representatives said during the hearing that the practice of embedding reporters with IDF forces in Gaza would be renewed in the coming days, after such visits were halted following the approval of the ceasefire deal with Hamas earlier this month.

Report: US blocked Israel from halting aid to Gaza over failure to return hostages’ bodies

US President Donald Trump speaks during the 13th ASEAN - United States Summit as part of the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2025. (Vincent Thian / POOL / AFP)

Channel 12 reports that after several days of Hamas failing to hand over hostages’ bodies, Israel over the weekend considered halting aid deliveries to Gaza in order to pressure the terror group into fulfilling the terms of the ceasefire deal.

The network says the Trump administration blocked the move, fearing it would lead to the collapse of the truce.

“As far as he’s concerned, harming humanitarian aid is a red line,” the report quotes US officials as saying of US President Donald Trump.

Trump yesterday warned he expected Hamas to release hostages’ bodies in the next 48 hours in line with the terms of the deal.

Released hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal to head home from hospital

Guy Gilboa Dalal, left, and Evyatar David, right, on October 18, 2025. (Courtesy)

With released hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal leaving Rabin Medical Center today after a stay of nearly two weeks, their families post on social media the routes they will take this afternoon on their way home.

“Don’t miss the chance to be part of this emotional moment!” says David’s family.

They invite the public to join the convoy of cars and onlookers that will welcome David home to the city of Kfar Saba, gathering on Weizmann Street at the corner of Tel Hai Street, leading to the parking lot of the family’s apartment building.

Gilboa-Dalal’s family invites the public to welcome him home with Israeli flags at several intersections along Route 40, heading toward their home in Alfei Menashe.

The pair of friends, kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from the Nova desert rave on October 2, 2023, were sometimes held together in captivity in Gaza.

Yad Vashem workers strike for second day over wage dispute

Employees at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum are striking and protesting in front of the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem against what they describe as the Treasury’s withdrawal from a negotiated wage agreement.

It’s the second day of the first-ever strike in the institution’s history, the union has said. 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 ($2,720) a month.

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.”

IDF says it killed elite Hezbollah commander in south Lebanon strike

The IDF confirms carrying out a drone strike last night in the southern Lebanon town of Qlaileh, saying it killed a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.

Muhammad Akram Arabiya was a commander in the Radwan Force’s special forces unit, and recently “advanced efforts to restore combat capabilities and assisted in attempts to rebuild” Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure in the area, according to the military.

The IDF says Arabiya’s activity “constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”

Lebanon’s health ministry also confirmed one dead in the strike on a car in Qlaileh.

غارة اسرائيلية تستهدف بلدة القليلة قضاء #صور pic.twitter.com/GHKziUAurw

— AL Jadeed Tv (@AlJadeed_TV) October 25, 2025

Liberman says Netanyahu was livid over Smotrich’s comments on Saudi ‘camels’

Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on July 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Yisrael Beytenu party chief Avigdor Liberman says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was apoplectic after his far-right coalition ally Bezalel Smotrich said Saudi Arabi could “keep riding camels” if its precondition for normalizing ties with Israel is the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Smotrich was roundly denounced for the comment, made last week during an onstage interview, and later apologized for his “inappropriate” words.

“A guy who was in the room told me that after Smotrich’s remark about the camels, the screams in the Prime Minister’s Office could be heard in Kedumim and in all the settlements in Samaria,” Liberman tells Walla news, referring to the settlement in which Smotrich, the finance minister, resides.

“Bibi was yelling. They even wanted to call a doctor because they were afraid he might faint in the end. Screams like that haven’t been heard since the Prime Minister’s Office was established,” Liberman asserts. “It’s no wonder Smotrich rushed to apologize. Netanyahu is counting on a deal with Saudi Arabia.”

Russia targets Kyiv with drones, killing 3 and wounding 29

A worker stands inside a damaged apartment building following a Russian attack, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Russia targeted Ukraine’s capital with drones, killing three people in their homes, local authorities say.

At least 29 people were wounded, seven of them children, in what was the second consecutive nighttime attack on Kyiv to claim civilian lives. Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko says a 19-year-old woman and her 46-year-old mother were among the killed.

Russian drones caused fires in two residential buildings in the capital’s Desnianskyi district. Emergency crews evacuated civilians from a nine-story building and a 16-storey building.

Russia attacked Ukraine with 101 drones overnight, according to Ukraine’s Air Force, of which 90 were shot down and neutralized by Ukrainian forces. However, five strike drones hit four locations. Debris from shot-down drones fell on five locations, the statement said without elaborating where.

The attack comes a day after a mass Russian missile and drone attack killed four people, including two in the capital, prompting fresh pleas from Ukraine’s president for Western air defense systems.

Ireland’s chief rabbi calls on new president to cooperate with local Jewish community

Ireland’s Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder speaks at a memorial ceremony in Dublin marking one year since the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, October 7, 2024. (Collins Photos)

Following the election of the far-left’s Catherine Connolly as president of Ireland on Saturday, the country’s Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder expresses hope that her administration will work together with the country’s Jewish community of about 2,000.

Connolly is widely seen as adversarial toward Israel, and has drawn criticism for her views on the Hamas terror group, which she said in September was “part of the fabric of the Palestinian people.”

“My hope is that President Connolly will use the office to unite rather than divide, and to promote dialogue, respect and understanding across Irish society,” Wieder says in a statement. “I would hope that President Connolly will take the opportunity in due course to engage directly with Ireland’s Jewish community, to hear our concerns and to better understand how the conflict continues to affect our small community here.”

Wieder says Connolly’s views do not reflect the outlook of someone committed to a secure and peaceful future.

“It’s also telling how central Israel-Palestine has been to this election, despite polls showing that people are far more concerned with issues such as housing, immigration, and the cost of living,” he adds.

Kurdish rebels say withdrawing fighters from Turkey to Iraq as part of peace effort

A fighter with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) puts his weapon into a pit during a ceremony in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, on July 11, 2025. (Shwan MOHAMMED / AFP)

A militant Kurdish group announces that it is withdrawing its fighters from Turkey to Iraq as part of a peace effort with Turkey.

The statement issued in northern Iraq by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, comes months after a group of its fighters began laying down their weapons in a symbolic ceremony, as part of the peace process.

The group has been waging a decades-long insurgency in Turkey that has led to tens of thousands of deaths since the 1980s.

“To prevent any risk of clashes or provocations, we are currently withdrawing all our forces within Turkey to the Medya Defense Area with Abdullah Ocalan’s approval,” read the statement from KCK executive board member Sabri Ok, referring to the group’s imprisoned leader.

Ministerial panel to weigh bills that could halt Netanyahu’s trial, hinder Bennett’s run

Left: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, October 22, 2025; right: Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, October 15, 2025 (Marc Israel Sellem/POOL; Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation is expected to give a nod today to bills that would enable lawmakers to halt Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial and make it harder for his leading opponent to run in the next election.

Approval by the committee means the government officially supports a bill and will back it in the Knesset. Both bills are likely to face significant pushback, due to concerns over their potential damage to the rule of law and the democratic process.

The first bill would allow the Knesset House Committee to “stay the legal proceedings against the prime minister or a government minister” following an indictment “if it deems it necessary.” According to the Walla news site, the legislation sponsored by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech — which is widely interpreted as intended to allow coalition lawmakers to pause Netanyahu’s trial — enjoys the support of Justice Minister Yariv Levin and will gain the ministerial panel’s approval.

A second bill being considered by the committee has been criticized for raising the bar for their political opponents.

The legislation, sponsored by Likud MK Avichai Boaron, would require any new party established by a chairman whose previous party dissolved within the past seven years to assume responsibility for that party’s outstanding debts.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, whose new Bennett 2026 party is seen as the primary contender against Netanyahu in the next election, slammed the bill in a tweet, writing that “only a failed regime that is preoccupied with personal and political survival would be afraid to confront me. Therefore, it is trying to pass an anti-democratic and personal law designed to stop me from running.”

“The law is unconstitutional and will be invalidated immediately,” Bennett writes.

Boaron retorts: “First, pay off your financial debts to the public. After that, you can start a new campaign. There’s absolutely no reason in the world that while you owe NIS 17 million to the public and to suppliers, you should be launching another multimillion campaign — at the public’s expense.”

Trump co-signs Thailand-Cambodia ceasefire agreement

US President Donald Trump co-signs a ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia in Malaysia, the first stop on his Asia tour which will culminate in talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The deal was signed by Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet together with Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, following a bloody border dispute this year.

The agreement will see the release of 18 Cambodian prisoners of war on humanitarian grounds, a press release from Cambodia’s foreign ministry said.

The two neighbors agreed to an initial ceasefire in late July — brokered in part by Trump — both sides have since traded accusations of violations.

Heading to Malaysia, Trump called it a “Great Peace Deal… which I proudly brokered between Cambodia and Thailand.” Speaking at the signing, Trump calls it a “monumental step” and congratulates both Anutin and Hun for the move.

Hamas official says forces to enter new Gaza areas today to search for hostages’ bodies

Top Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya told Qatar’s Al Jazeera overnight that “there will be an entry into new areas in the Strip today to search for the bodies of hostages.”

Last night Egyptian forces and heavy equipment entered the Gaza Strip to help search for the bodies of hostages.

Al-Hayya also said that Hamas will hand over “all administrative control of the Gaza Strip to the temporary committee, including security.”

Hamas had previously announced that it is prepared to transfer control of Gaza to a temporary committee composed of independent Palestinians without political affiliation. No such committee has yet been formed.

Two-year-old dies of measles, hospital says

A two-year-old toddler has died from measles, Hadassah Medical Center Ein Kerem says.

The child was hospitalized in serious condition due to complications from measles and was put on a life-support system 10 days ago.

The child is the eighth to die from measles since the outbreak began in May.

Lebanon says two killed in Israeli strikes on south

Lebanon’s health ministry says two people were killed and another wounded in two previously reported Israeli strikes on the country’s south yesterday.

In a statement, the ministry attributes one death to an “Israeli enemy strike on a car in Harouf, Nabatiyeh district.”

Earlier yesterday, the IDF confirmed carrying out a drone strike in southern Lebanon near Harouf, saying it killed a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, Zayn al-Abidin Hussein Fatouni. The IDF said he was involved in restoring Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese ministry also reports another Israeli strike on a motorcycle in Qlaileh, Tyre district, which killed one person. That strike had also been reported by Lebanese media.

Rubio says truce mediators sharing info on threats; floats UN backing for Gaza peacekeeping force

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the media at the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Israel, October 24, 2025. (Fadel Senna/Pool Photo via AP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that Israel, the US and the other mediators of the Gaza ceasefire deal are sharing information to disrupt any threats, which allowed them to identify a possible impending attack last weekend.

The US State Department said a week ago that it had “credible reports” Hamas could violate the ceasefire with an attack on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

“We put out a message through [the] State Department, sent it to our mediators as well, about an impending attack, and it didn’t happen,” Rubio tells reporters en route from Israel to Qatar, where he met up with US President Donald Trump for a multistop tour in Asia. “So that’s the goal here, is ultimately to identify a threat before it happens.”

Rubio says multiple countries are interested in joining an International Stabilization Force that aims to deploy to Gaza, but that they need more details about the mission and rules of engagement.

The US could call for a UN resolution supporting the force so more nations can take part, he says, adding that the US has been talking with Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, and noting interest from Indonesia and Azerbaijan.

“Many of the countries who want to be a part of it can’t do it without that,” he says of an international mandate.

He also notes that next week, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, is expected to be the latest in a parade of US officials to travel to Israel.

Rubio says he does not envision a permanent division of Gaza

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the media at the Civil-Military Coordination Center for Gaza in southern Israel, October 24, 2025. (Fadel Senna/Pool Photo via AP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he does not envision a permanent division of Gaza, despite Israeli troops remaining in an area prioritized for reconstruction.

Under a US-brokered ceasefire, Israeli forces have withdrawn to a “Yellow Line,” leaving them in control of around half of Gaza. The United States has said that reconstruction aid would be focused on the area under Israeli control.

Rubio says that an international force, which US and regional mediators are trying to build, would move to enforce security across the Palestinian territory.

Hamas, the terror group that governed the Strip before the war, could have no role in the future, he adds.

“I think, ultimately, the point of the stabilization force is to move that line until it covers hopefully all of Gaza, meaning all of Gaza will be demilitarized,” Rubio tells reporters on Saturday on his plane trip between Israel and Qatar.

“Ultimately, the more of Gaza is demilitarized, the more of Gaza terrorism is removed from, the more of it is going to look like that green zone — and that line will move as a result of it,” he adds.

“That’s the long-term plan,” he says. “The Israelis have made it abundantly clear they have no interest in occupying Gaza.”

The main Palestinian factions, including Hamas, have agreed to the formation of a committee of technocrats to administer Gaza alongside the international ceasefire and reconstruction effort.

But Hamas has resisted calls for its disarmament, launching a crackdown on rival Palestinian gangs and armed groups in Gaza since the two-week-old ceasefire began.

On Saturday, Moussa abu Marzouk, Hamas’s head of international relations and legal affairs, warned: “Excluding Hamas from maintaining stability in the Gaza Strip could lead to chaos and a security vacuum.”

Rubio was the latest top US official to come to Israel to push forward the ceasefire, arriving on the heels of US Vice President JD Vance.

Rubio said he expected General Dan Caine, the top US military officer, to visit Israel next week.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report. 

Far-left candidate who said Israel behaving like ‘terrorist state,’ called Hamas ‘part of fabric of Palestinian people,’ elected Irish president

Irish presidential candidate Catherine Connolly speaking to the media during a visit to the offices of Alone in Dublin, October 8, 2025. (PA Images via Reuters Connect)

Catherine Connolly, a far-left independent and harsh critic of Israel, has won Ireland’s presidential election in a landslide victory against her center-right rival.

Official results showed strong voter support for Connolly as president, a largely ceremonial role in Ireland. She won 63 percent of first-preference votes once ineligible votes were excluded, compared to 29% for her rival Heather Humphreys, of the center-right party Fine Gael.

She has drawn criticism for her views on the Hamas terror group, which she said in September was “part of the fabric of the Palestinian people.”

She later maintained that she “utterly condemned” Hamas’s actions and that its October 7, 2023, onslaught against Israel was “absolutely unacceptable.” But she also criticized Israel for carrying out what she said was a “genocide” in Gaza. Israel adamantly rejects the genocide accusation.

She has also accused Israel of acting like a “terrorist state.”

Connolly, 68, said Saturday evening at Dublin Castle that she would champion diversity and be a voice for peace and one that “builds on our policy of neutrality.”

“I would be an inclusive president for all of you, and I regard it as an absolute honor,” she said.

Humphreys conceded she had lost earlier Saturday, before vote counting had finished.

Connolly, a former barrister who has served as a lawmaker since 2016, has also warned against the European Union’s growing “militarization” following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ireland has a tradition of military neutrality, but Connolly’s critics have said she risks alienating the country’s allies.

Connolly will succeed Michael D. Higgins, who has been president since 2011, having served the maximum two seven-year terms. She will be Ireland’s 10th president and the third woman to hold the post.

The politician has garnered the backing of a range of left-leaning parties, including Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats.

Prime Minister Micheál Martin on Saturday congratulated Connolly on her “very comprehensive election victory.” He said he was looking forward to working with the new president as “Ireland continues to play a significant role on the global stage, and as we look forward to hosting the EU presidency in the second half of 2026.”

Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says ready to resume role in Gaza aid operations as soon as it is asked

A man walks with a cardboard box bearing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) logo and loaded with pieces of wood as he walks near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on October 10, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israel-backed non-profit tasked with providing aid for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, told AFP on Saturday it stands ready to resume shipments under a US-brokered ceasefire.

The organization was given the task of feeding starving Gazans in May after Israel placed tight restrictions on international agencies, but UN experts and traditional aid agencies criticized its work due to the near-daily reports of mass casualty incidents around its aid distribution sites.

GHF spokesman Chapin Fay says the foundation had paused operations during the first phase of Gaza’s ceasefire but was now awaiting orders to get back to work.

“While the situation remains fluid on the ground, GHF has been instructed to remain ready to re-engage and specifically not to take any actions that would preclude us from resuming operations immediately,” Fay says.

“GHF has trucks of aid loaded up and ready to resume delivering aid directly to the Palestinian people, including women, children and the elderly,” he says.

“Our mission will evolve to meet the needs on the ground.”

Despite Fay’s comments, The Times of Israel reported earlier this month that a yet-to-be-publicized humanitarian annex in the Gaza deal does not stipulate a role for the GHF, and officials familiar with the matter said that the organization was not slated to take part in the Strip’s postwar humanitarian operations.

GHF was only able to distribute less than two dozen trucks of aid on average in the month leading up to the ceasefire, as its funding has dried up.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.

Footage shows Egyptian teams entering Gaza to assist in locating bodies of hostages

Arab media outlets are publishing footage of heavy machinery and Egyptian teams that entered the Strip this evening from Egypt, to help in the search for the bodies of hostages.

The Prime Minister’s Office said earlier today that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had personally authorized the entry of Egyptian teams into Egypt to search for bodies.

وصول معدات ثقيلة ترفع العلم المصري إلى خان يونس جنوبي قطاع #غزة#الجزيرة_مباشر pic.twitter.com/yuFBPnz5i8

— الجزيرة مباشر (@ajmubasher) October 25, 2025

مشاهد خاصة.. "الحدث" ترصد دخول آليات وطواقم مصرية إلى غزة للبحث عن جثث الرهائن الإسرائيليين #غزة#مصر#الحدث#قناة_الحدث pic.twitter.com/NIt19gYSBu

— ا لـحـدث (@AlHadath) October 25, 2025