The Times of Israel liveblogged Sunday’s events as they unfolded.
IDF says around 90 Hezbollah rockets fired at Israel from Lebanon today
Some 90 rockets were launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon at northern Israel today, according to an IDF tally.
One of the rocket attacks left three wounded in Tamra. A separate drone attack wounded two in an industrial zone in the Galilee.
Lebanese health ministry says at least 21 killed in Israeli airstrikes today

The Lebanese health ministry says that at least 21 people were killed today in Israeli airstrikes on three different areas in southern Lebanon.
Nine people were killed and 38 wounded in a strike on Haret Saida, near the port city of Sidon, the ministry says, with at least seven others including a nurse and three rescuers killed in the southern village of Ain Baal and five in Burj al-Shemali.
The IDF has not commented on any individual airstrikes today.
Sa’ar says Israel should seek alliances with Kurds and Druze in the region

Israel should take steps to strengthen ties with Kurds and Druze abroad in order to create a “minority alliance” against Iran, alongside efforts to sign agreements with additional Arab countries, “first and foremost with Saudi Arabia,” Minister-without-portfolio Gideon Sa’ar tells a right-wing gathering in Jerusalem.
“In international relations in general and in the Middle East in particular, we must detach ourselves from the thought that the reality as it is known to us now will survive forever,” the New Hope chairman says, explaining that Turkey and Iran used to be allies, while Egypt and Jordan were adversaries and it is impossible to know how things will shake out in the future.
And while common wisdom states that “an alliance with the moderate Sunni Arab countries will ensure Israel’s security against the Iranian axis,” many of these nations have been critical of Israel for its actions against Iran and its proxies, he tells attendees at the Middle East Summit, a conference in Jerusalem organized by Israel 365, an Israeli media outlet aimed at American evangelicals.
“Make no mistake: I support the cultivation of relations with the Arab countries that have signed agreements with us. I also believe that agreements should be signed with additional Arab countries, and first and foremost with Saudi Arabia. At the same time — I would like to argue that our set of expectations from our relationships with them must be realistic and grounded in reality,” he continues.
According to Sa’ar, as a national and religious minority in the region, Israel ought to work “to establish its ties with other minorities in the region” such as the Kurds and Druze.
Regarding Syria, the country must not be allowed be used as a supply route for Iranian weapons being sent to Hezbollah, and “Israel must make it clear to Assad that if he chooses to harm Israel’s security… he is putting his regime in danger,” Sa’ar states.
Turning to the Palestinians, the hawkish minister states that faced with international pressure to agree to a two-state solution, “we must put up a political iron wall.”
“There is and will never be any substitute for full operational Israeli military control of the territory from the sea to the Jordan,” he states.
Family of Nepalese hostage in Gaza begs for his safe return home

The family of Bipin Joshi, a Nepalese student who was taken captive by Hamas from Kibbutz Alumim on October 7, 2023, appeals for his return before the Hindu festival of Tihar, which begins later this week.
“I am waiting for my brother, even at this festival. Please return him safely,” says Pushpa Joshi, in a video released by the Nepali Embassy in Israel, according to a local news outlet.
“I will be watching the road during this festival, hoping to see him come home,” she adds.
Shas boycotts Knesset committee votes in protest over lack of draft exemption bill

The ultra-Orthodox Shas party boycotts a vote on several bills in the Ministerial Committee on Legislation to protest the government’s failure to advance a bill exempting yeshiva students from enlistment in the IDF.
“We are abstaining from voting because of the government’s failure to pass laws that are important to Shas in particular and the ultra-Orthodox public in general,” Labor Minister Yoav Ben-Tzur of Shas is quoted as saying in Hebrew media reports.
“We cannot continue as if everything is as usual, when we receive nothing from the government,” he declares, adding that his party has not ruled out voting against the coalition in the future.
While the Hebrew press reports that both Shas and United Torah Judaism are involved in the boycott, a source tells The Times of Israel that only Shas is declining to vote with the rest of the committee.
According to the ultra-Orthodox Behadrei Haredim news site, the Haredi parties may boycott voting in the Knesset plenum tomorrow.
Earlier this month, UTJ chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf threatened to bolt the coalition, stating that his ultra-Orthodox party would not be able to remain part of the government if a bill exempting Haredi yeshiva students from military service is not passed before the 2025 state budget comes up for approval.
Man killed in suspected truck ramming named as Bezalel Carmi, 72

The man killed in a suspected truck ramming earlier today near Glilot has been named as Bezalel Carmi, 72, from Rishon Lezion.

Police have yet to officially determine if the incident, in which an Arab-Israeli truck driver from Qalansawe plowed into a crowd at a bus stop, wounding more than 30 people, was a terror attack.
The driver’s family claims that he had no intentions of carrying out an attack, and asked for an autopsy to be undertaken to determine whether a medical incident caused the crash.
‘Mourning without a grave’: Families of dead hostages call for them to be in deal

Family members of four people who were killed on October 7 and whose bodies were taken by Hamas terrorists to Gaza gather at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square for “Mourning without a Grave,” a gathering to mark Israel’s Hebrew date of mourning and to represent the 36 bodies held in captivity in Gaza.
“We have to stop the war in order to bring the hostages home,” says Yael Adar, whose son, Tamir Adar, was taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 after battling the terrorists, and then died from his injuries in Gaza. His body is still held in the Strip. “The dead aren’t less important. We can’t miss any opportunities; the time has come to do it.”
The bereaved family members, participating in a panel with journalist Ben Shani, include Bar Godard, the daughter of Meni and Ayelet Godard who were killed in Kibbutz Be’eri, with Meni’s body kidnapped to Gaza. Godard says she thinks about what her father would say, believing that he would want the living to be brought back first.
Meni Godard was a lifeguard, first in Tel Aviv, and then was in charge of the pool at the kibbutz.
“I can hear his voice clearly all the time, and he would say that no one should die to get my body,” says Godard, who was seven months pregnant and with her husband and toddler in their sealed room in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7. “He would say the women and kids first, and in a deal.”
A deal cannot be done in steps, said Michel Ilouz, the father of Guy Ilouz, a Nova partygoer who was taken hostage and then died of his wounds in Gaza. His body is still being held there.
“It’s either all or nothing,” said Ilouz. “We’ll never recover as a society if this wound will remain open; we’ll keep bleeding.”
Roy Baruch, whose brother Uriel Baruch was at Nova and only declared dead in March, though his body had been taken to Gaza by the Hamas terrorists in October, says that at this point, after 386 days, it is time to bring them all home at once.
“It should have happened at the beginning of the war,” says Baruch.
Drone alert sirens sound in and near Ma’alot-Tarshiha; IDF: False alarm
Drone alert sirens sound in the city of Ma’alot-Tarshiha and a number of surrounding towns.
The IDF later says that the sirens were a false alarm.
Report: Security upgrades to PM’s Caesarea home after drone attack to cost millions

The Prime Minister’s Office and the Shin Bet are reportedly in discussions to undertake security upgrades at Benjamin Netanyahu’s private Caesarea home after it was hit by a Hezbollah drone last weekend, in what Israel has called an assassination attempt.
According to Ynet, the price tag for such upgrades is expected to cost between NIS 3 to 8 million. Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, were not in Caesarea during the attack and there were no reports of injuries.
Days after the attack, the IDF cleared for publication the fact that the blast cracked glass in a bedroom window, but did not penetrate the home, apparently because of reinforced glass and other protections.
UK FM says he spoke to Israeli, Iranian counterparts to ward off ‘catastrophic’ regional war

UK Foreign Minister David Lammy says he has spoken to his Israeli and Iranian counterparts in separate calls today, seeking to avoid escalation into a “catastrophic” regional war, after Israel struck Iranian military sites.
“Today, I held important calls with Israeli FM [Israel Katz] and Iranian FM [Abbas Araghchi]. The UK continues to press for de-escalation and an end to the conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza,” Lammy says in a statement.
“A regional war would be catastrophic and is in no one’s interests,” he adds.
Khamenei tweets in Hebrew: ‘The Zionist regime has erred’

Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweets in Hebrew that Israel has erred in its reprisal strikes yesterday morning on Iran, and will soon understand Tehran’s strength.
“The Zionist regime made a mistake. It erred in its calculations on Iran,” reads the tweet posted to Khamenei’s new Hebrew-language account on X.
“We will cause it to understand what kind of strength, ability, initiative, and will the Iranian nation has.”
https://twitter.com/Khamenei_Heb/status/1850596556661248131
Smotrich calls to extend Israeli sovereignty across West Bank and Gaza, expand settlements

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that in the wake of October 7, Israel “can and must apply Israeli sovereignty in [the West Bank] and in Gaza.”
Addressing the Middle East Summit, a conference in Jerusalem organized by Israel 365, an Israeli media outlet aimed at American evangelicals, Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionism party, says that after repeated attempts to reach a two-state solution, Israel must free itself “from wrong concepts” and make an “unequivocal Israeli statement to the Arabs and the entire world that a Palestinian state will not be established,” through “the establishment of new cities and settlements deep in the [West Bank] and bringing hundreds of thousands of additional settlers to live in them.”
In addition, he says, Israel must also extend its control to Gaza, explaining that “where there is no civilian presence, there is no long-term military presence, and unfortunately, we have seen and in the past year we have received very painful evidence that when there is no military presence for a long time, there is no security and there is an existential threat to the State of Israel and its citizens, and we must not allow this.”
“Those who do not want or are unable to put aside their national ambitions will receive assistance from us to emigrate to one of the many Arab countries where the Arabs can realize their national ambitions, or to any other destination in the world,” he continues, adding that Palestinians living in the West Bank will enjoy self-rule on the local level and that they will “manage their day-to-day lives by themselves through regional municipal administrations devoid of national characteristics.”
Addressing the ongoing conflict in Gaza, Smotrich states that Israel has very little strategic depth and cannot allow a Palestinian state “become an Iranian base.” He claims that “the absolute majority of the residents of Gaza supported Hamas and the massacre” on October 7.
Despite the conflict, he insists, Israel stands at “an historical crossroads” and says that “the expansion of the Abraham Accords is an inevitable result of the emerging Israeli victory.” The region, he says, can become “a beacon of cooperation, of strategic alliances… where former enemies become partners for a better future.”
However, to reach that future, the United States, together with other Western countries, must “overthrow the ayatollah regime in Iran and eliminate its nuclear project that threatens the State of Israel and the entire Western world.”
IDF chief says Israel ‘hit strategic systems in Iran’ in yesterday’s airstrikes

Speaking after Israel’s reprisal strikes on Iran early yesterday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says the military used “only some” of its abilities.
“Our message is a very clear message, and it is connected to the things that have happened across the Middle East in recent months. We know how to reach and hit any threat, in any place, at any time,” Halevi says during an assessment yesterday, in a video just released by the IDF.
“We drew upon only some of our abilities. We have the ability to do much more. We hit strategic systems in Iran… and we will see how things develop now. We are ready for all scenarios on all fronts,” he adds.
State attorney appeals ‘lenient’ sentence for man who killed immigrant teen
The State Attorney’s Office files an appeal to the Supreme Court against what it says is an overly lenient sentence for Liad Edri over the killing of Yoel Lhanghal, 18, during a fight in Kiryat Shmona in 2022, and calls for the maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison to be imposed instead.
Edri, who was 21 at the time of the incident, was sentenced in September by the Nazareth District Court to five and a half years in jail for the death of Lhanghal on charges of aggravated assault with intent, as well as obstruction of justice, after signing a plea bargain in which a murder charge was dropped.
Edri was also ordered to pay compensation of NIS 50,000 (approximately $13,200) to Lhanghal’s family.
The State Attorney’s Office describes the incident in which Lhanghal was killed as “very violent and cruel,” and which was deliberately initiated by Edri at the head of a gang of youths armed with various offensive weapons in order to harm Lhanghal, who was stabbed by an unknown member of the gang and was then kicked by Edri in the area of the stab wound. He died of his wounds.
The punishment “is not commensurate with the clear and unambiguous message that has come out of the Supreme Court of the need for strict punishments that [serve as] a deterrent from the violence prevalent on Israeli streets and the despicable phenomenon of quarreling, taking the law into ones own hands, and the use of severe violence in trivial disputes,” which the State Attorney’s Office noted has led to the loss of life on several occasions in recent years.
“This punishment creates a misleading message of leniency to the public, which does nothing to deter Edri and others from resolving conflicts through taking the law into their own hands through the use of severe violence,” the State Attorney’s Office writes in filing its appeal.
Lhanghal’s family strongly criticized the original sentence, saying the truth regarding his murder had emerged from the trial and that they had lost faith in the justice system.
IDF releases fresh footage of reservists operating in south Lebanon

The IDF releases new footage from the operations of the 226th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade in southern Lebanon.
The videos show the demolition of a staging ground belonging to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force; a Spike anti-tank missile being launched by the troops at a Hezbollah command center; Hezbollah weapon depots being demolished; and a Hezbollah tunnel being blown up.
The IDF says the brigade has battled Hezbollah operatives and seized numerous weapons during operations in southern Lebanon in recent days.
The IDF releases new footage from the operations of the 226th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade in southern Lebanon.
The videos show the demolition of a staging ground belonging to Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force; a Spike anti-tank missile being launched by the troops at a Hezbollah… pic.twitter.com/GTQlRWEurB
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 27, 2024
Iranian president: We do not seek war with Israel, but will ‘give an appropriate response’

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says Tehran does not seek war with Israel, but is ready to deliver “an appropriate response” to Israeli strikes this week on Iranian military sites.
“We do not seek war but we will defend the rights of our nation and country,” Pezeshkian tells a cabinet meeting, adding: “We will give an appropriate response to the aggression of the Zionist regime.”
Kamala Harris says administration not worried by Trump-Netanyahu phone calls

US Vice President Kamala Harris says she is not concerned about talks between former president Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and reiterates her positions on the conflict in the Middle East.
Democratic presidential candidate Harris faces Republican Trump in what polls show to be a tight race for the Nov. 5 US elections.
“No,” Harris says, when asked if she felt that talks between Trump and Netanyahu could undermine what the current US government is trying to achieve in the region.
Sissi: Egypt proposed 2-day ceasefire in exchange for 4 hostages

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says Egypt has proposed a two-day ceasefire in Gaza to exchange four Israeli hostages for some Palestinian prisoners.
Speaking at a press conference in Cairo alongside Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Sissi’s comments come the day that Israeli, US, Egyptian and Qatari officials are slated to meet in Doha to restart dormant truce talks.
Report: Hamas to submit comprehensive ceasefire-hostage exchange proposal in Doha

A Hamas source tells the Saudi channel Asharq News that the terror group will present negotiators with a comprehensive deal for an immediate end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, and the exchange of a certain number of Palestinian detainees in return for the release of all Israeli hostages at once.
The offer is expected to be submitted following the meeting that US, Qatari and Israeli negotiators are holding in Doha today to prepare for new talks for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Israeli officials have been evaluating different options for a deal, including a proposal that was presented in a security cabinet meeting last week to offer Hamas a two-week ceasefire in exchange for the release of five hostages, but the terror group reportedly appears to prefer an immediate end to the conflict.
The unnamed Hamas source tells Asharq that “we will listen to the offer [of the negotiators] but for our part, we prefer a comprehensive deal that takes place in one stage and ends the war once and for all, in return for a prisoner exchange under which all Israeli captives are released in exchange for an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.”
Shin Bet chief says agency ‘will leave no stone unturned’ in its probe of October 7 failures

Speaking at a state ceremony marking one year since the October 7 Hamas attack, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar says the agency is still in the midst of an in-depth investigation into how it failed so badly to protect the citizens of Israel.
“We are in the middle of a deep, penetrating investigation that will leave no stone unturned,” Bar says at the Mount Herzl ceremony. “We are learning already now, amidst the probe, changing and fixing. We are learning the reasons for the failure and dealing with its deepest layers to allow us to minimize the chances for such failures in the future.”
Bar says that a year ago Israel failed “in its most basic responsibility — protecting its citizens… we failed to provide sufficient warning.” But the attack “did not harm our determination to protect the country, its citizens and its values — on the contrary, it only increased it.”
The Shin Bet chief says that the agency is, on a daily basis, “bringing to justice all those who carried out that horrible massacre, one by one, until we reach everyone.” The Shin Bet, Bar says, pledges that ” the lights will stay on until the very last hostage returns home.”
On Pittsburgh synagogue shooting anniversary, VP Harris pledges to protect Jews

US Vice President Kamala Harris pledges to always work to ensure the safety of Jews in the United States and around the world in a statement marking the six-year anniversary of the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
“As we know, today’s remembrance also comes amid a rise of antisemitism, here and around the world. Earlier this month, we marked one year since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack against Israel in which 1,200 innocent people were massacred, 250 people taken hostage, and where Hamas committed unspeakable sexual violence,” Harris says, echoing a statement from US President Joe Biden.
“We also continue our work to ensure that every person in our nation can live free from gun violence — in their places of worship, schools, and communities,” Harris adds.
IDF announces deaths of 2 more soldiers in Lebanon, Gaza
A fifth reservist was killed during fighting in southern Lebanon yesterday, and another soldier succumbed to wounds sustained in the Gaza Strip earlier this month, the IDF announces.
Sgt. Maj. (res.) Shaul Moyal, 47, of the Alon Brigade’s 8207th Battalion, from Karnei Shomron was killed yesterday alongside four other reservists whose deaths were announced earlier.
Staff Sgt. Malachi Yehuda Harari, 22, of the Givati Brigade’s Rotem Battalion, from Even Shmuel, died today from wounds sustained during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on October 18.
UN Security Council expected to discuss Israeli strikes on Iran tomorrow

The United Nations Security Council is expected to meet tomorrow to discuss Israel’s attack on Iran, diplomats say.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called on the Security Council to meet over the “criminal attacks,” saying that they were a “grave threat” to peace, and diplomats said the council was likely to discuss the situation tomorrow.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon rejects Iran’s complaint at the United Nations, saying in a statement that Iran is “trying to act against us in the diplomatic arena with the ridiculous claim that Israel has violated international law.”
“As we have stated time and time again, we have the right and duty to defend ourselves and will use all the means at our disposal to protect the citizens of Israel,” Danon says.
Report: US Treasury chief warns Netanyahu against allowing Smotrich to cut off Palestinian banks

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and seven of her global counterparts have reportedly warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against allowing far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to let a banking deal expire that could torpedo the already fragile Palestinian Authority economy.
According to a report in Axios, Yellen — along with the treasury chiefs of Japan, Canada, the EU, the UK, the Netherlands, Australia and France — sent a letter to Netanyahu seeking to ensure that Smotrich extends a key banking deal that will allow Israeli and Palestinian banks to continue conducting transactions.
As the October 31 deadline approaches, the US has grown increasingly worried that Smotrich won’t agree to extend it further as he has issued a list of demands for PA banks to adhere to.
The letter reportedly expresses the treasury chiefs’ “fear that actions taken by some members of your government to deny the West Bank access to financial resources endangers Israel’s security and threatens to further destabilize the entire region in an already perilous moment.”
In wake of suspected ramming, coalition MKs demand attackers’ families be stripped of citizenship and deported

Members of the coalition, including senior Likud politicians, are calling for the passage of legislation that would strip relatives of terrorists of their citizenship and deport them from the country, following a suspected truck-ramming attack at a bus stop near the Glilot Base this morning.
More than 30 people were injured in the suspected ramming, which police have said they are still investigating and which was reportedly carried out by an Arab Israeli driver from Qalansawe in central Israel.
Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar and coalition whip Ofir Katz call on lawmakers to vote in favor of the bill in the wake of the attack, with Zohar writing and Katz retweeting a post on X declaring that the legislation “must be supported by both the opposition and coalition.”
Speaking at the scene of the attack, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir states that he will raise the bill in the Knesset on Tuesday and that he “expects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with all Likud lawmakers, to support this law in order to pass it.”
The bill in question is currently being prepared for its second and third readings in the Knesset House Committee. It would grant the interior minister the authority, following a hearing, to order the deportation of a relative of a terrorist who knew of their family member’s plans in advance and either failed to report them or expressed sympathy and encouragement for such a course of action.
Both the Justice Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office have raised concerns about the legislation, which could render people stateless. According to the bill, those being expelled would be sent either to the Gaza Strip or other destinations depending on circumstances.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev has also recently endorsed expelling relatives of citizens who carry out attacks, stating earlier this month in the wake of a shooting in Beersheba that “the time has come for a deterrent punishment that prevents attacks on Israeli territory.”
Security cabinet to meet in Tel Aviv this evening

The security cabinet will meet at 7 p.m. at the Kirya in Tel Aviv, one of the ministers’ offices tells The Times of Israel.
The forum is convening for the first time since Israel struck Iran early yesterday morning.
Iran demands UN Security Council meet to condemn Israeli airstrikes

Iran calls for an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting to condemn Israel’s airstrikes on the Islamic Republic yesterday.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sends a letter to the UN chief and the head of the Council “demanding an urgent meeting of the Security Council to take a decisive position in condemning this aggression,” a ministry statement says.
In his letter, Araghchi claims that “most of the projectiles fired were intercepted by Iran’s defense systems,” but the attack led to damage at “the target points,” as well as the death of four soldiers.
He says the Israeli attack was a “clear violation of the sovereignty” of Iran, which “reserves the inherent right… to respond to this criminal aggression.”
Marking Pittsburgh synagogue shooting anniversary, Biden laments ‘appalling surge’ of antisemitism

US President Joe Biden marks six years since a deadly synagogue attack in Pittsburgh by lamenting an “appalling surge” of antisemitism over the past year.
In 2018, a right-wing extremist killed 11 Jewish worshipers at a synagogue in the former Pennsylvania steel hub in America’s deadliest antisemitic attack. This year’s commemoration falls on the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year that sparked the war in Gaza.
“One year later, the trauma and losses from that day and its aftermath are not only raw, but exacerbated by the appalling surge of antisemitism against Jews in America and around the world,” says Biden in a statement.
Biden says he had launched, before October 7, the country’s first National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.
“We are aggressively implementing it,” he says, adding that his administration had secured $1.2 billion to provide physical security of synagogues, Jewish schools and other nonprofit organizations. The Department of Justice is also probing and prosecuting antisemitic hate crimes, he adds.
Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, UK express ‘grave concern’ over planned law to restrict UNRWA

The foreign ministers of a number of key Israeli allies — Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and the UK — release a joint statement expressing “grave concern” over draft legislation in the Knesset meant to prohibit the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East from operating in Israel or working with Israeli officials.
“UNRWA provides essential and life-saving humanitarian aid and basic services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, East Jerusalem, the West Bank and throughout the region,” they say. “Without its work, the provision of such assistance and services, including education, health care, and fuel distribution in Gaza and the West Bank would be severely hampered if not impossible, with devastating consequences on an already critical and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation, particularly in northern Gaza.”
The diplomats “urge the Israeli Government to abide by its international obligations, keep the reserve privileges and immunities of UNRWA untouched and live up to its responsibility to facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance in all its forms as well as the provision of sorely needed basic services to the civilian population.”
Israel alleges that more than 10 percent of UNRWA’s staff in Gaza have ties to terror, and that educational facilities under the organization’s auspices consistently incite hatred of Israel and glorify terror. In February, the IDF revealed the existence of a subterranean Hamas data center directly beneath UNRWA’s Gaza Strip headquarters. The IDF has also repeatedly targeted Hamas command centers and gunmen hiding out in UNRWA schools.
The foreign ministers also say that UNRWA “has taken steps to address allegations regarding individual employees’ support for terrorist organizations and demonstrated its willingness to pursue and implement reform of internal processes.”
The foreign ministers call on UNRWA to demonstrate its commitment to neutrality and live up to its mandate, and say they will monitor it.
IDF says barrage of some 15 rockets fired at Galilee
A barrage of some 15 rockets was fired from Lebanon at the Upper and Western Galilee a short while ago, the IDF says.
According to the military, most of the rockets were intercepted, while others struck open areas.
Netanyahu heckled by bereaved relatives at Oct. 7 memorial ceremony: ‘Shame on you!’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is heckled by bereaved families as he speaks at a ceremony in memory of the civilian victims of the October 7 massacre and subsequent war.
Netanyahu pauses as relatives of those killed shout that their family members were murdered, while others cry out “Shame on you!”
The premier restarts his speech after the hecklers are removed from the event.
נאלץ להפסיק את הנאום: משפחות שכולות צעקו לעבר נתניהו בטקס לזכר הנרצחים בטבח
@dikla_aharon pic.twitter.com/TalQHVy6fE— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 27, 2024
Today’s second day of memorial events has, like its predecessor on October 7 this year, run into controversy amid anger by some families of victims or hostages over government responsibility for failures that enabled Hamas to carry out the onslaught, and over efforts to secure the release of the hostages.
When the second memorial day was first announced, it initially was not to feature speeches from families bereaved on October 7, reportedly due to concern the platform could be used to criticize the government. Amid outcry, it was adjusted to include a representative from a bereaved family.
Man dies of wounds sustained in suspected terror ramming near Tel Aviv

A man has succumbed to wounds sustained when a truck hit a bus stop near Glilot Junction this morning, Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center announces.
Police have said they are investigating the incident as a potential terror attack, but that the probe into a potential motive is ongoing.
Medics said 33 people were wounded when the truck hit the bus stop north of Tel Aviv this morning. A number of people were trapped under the vehicle.
Rocket sirens sound in northern towns; reports of 5 dead in IDF strike in south Lebanon
Sirens sound in multiple communities in the north, including Nahariya and Shlomi, as Hezbollah apparently targets the area with rocket fire from Lebanon.
Meanwhile, at least five people were killed and 13 wounded in an Israeli strike on Sidon in southern Lebanon, the country’s health ministry says.
Anti-Israel protesters rally outside Jewish community center in London
A number of protesters chant anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian slogans outside a Jewish community center in London that is hosting a conference organized by the left-wing Haaretz newspaper.
“We will occupy these streets until Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen are free, and Zionism no longer exists,” a man says through a megaphone outside the JW3 center in northwest London. The protesters repeat each of his sentences.
JW3 is one of the main centers of Jewish cultural life in London.
Aggressive anti-Israel mob outside Jewish community centre in London #israel #jw3 pic.twitter.com/eyhpZYggK8
— BX123 (@BenTheTweeter10) October 27, 2024
The most disgusting, aggressive scenes and levels of intimidation from “pro Palestinian” activists outside JW3, a Jewish cultural centre in London attended by children, young families. Very little police presence. pic.twitter.com/NfAlVlMCVI
— Sandy Rashty (@SandyRashty) October 27, 2024
IDF says drone launched from Lebanon shot down over Western Galilee
A drone launched from Lebanon was shot down by air defenses over the Western Galilee a short while ago, the IDF says.
Sirens had sounded in Ya’ara and Matzuva amid the incident.
Rocket sirens sound in northern border towns
Rocket sirens sound in multiple communities in the north.
Hezbollah has already fired dozens of rockets this morning, with three people injured from an impact in Tamra. Additionally, two men were injured in a drone strike near Acre.
Gallant discusses ‘strategic opportunities’ with Austin in wake of IDF’s Iran strikes

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant briefed US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on the success of Israel’s strikes on Iran and discussed “strategic opportunities” that may have arisen, Gallant’s office says.
“Gallant discussed initial assessments regarding the success of the strikes against missile manufacturing facilities, surface-to-air missile arrays and Iranian aerial capabilities,” it says.
“Minister Gallant also discussed the strategic opportunities that have risen as a result of operational achievements, in both the northern and southern arenas,” the statement says, referring to fighting in Lebanon and Gaza.
IDF issues fresh evacuation warnings for several south Lebanon villages

The Israeli military tells residents of several villages in south Lebanon to leave immediately, warning that it would strike Hezbollah targets there.
“For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move to the north of the Awali River,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee says in a post on X that included names of more than a dozen villages in south Lebanon.
IDF says it killed Hezbollah’s Bint Jbeil regional commander, and his replacement, within 24 hours
Within 24 hours, the IDF says it killed the commander of Hezbollah’s Bint Jbeil region and his replacement.
On Friday, the Hezbollah commander in charge of the Lebanese border village of Bint Jbeil, Ahmad Jaafar Matouq, was killed in a strike carried out by fighter jets, according to the IDF.
A day later, the IDF says Matouq’s replacement, along with the commander of Hezbollah’s artillery forces in the area, were killed in a separate airstrike.
IDF: Some 75 rockets fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon in recent barrage
The IDF says that some 75 rockets were fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon in the attack a short while ago on the Galilee.
Several rockets were intercepted by air defenses, and impacts were also identified, the army says.
One of the impacts wounded three in the northern Arab town of Tamra, including one woman in serious condition.
Medics: 3 wounded in Tamra rocket strike include teen girl suffering from smoke inhalation
Magen David Adom says it is taking three victims who were wounded in the Hezbollah rocket barrage on Tamra to Rambam Hospital in Haifa.
The victims include a 57-year-old woman hit by shrapnel in serious condition, and a 21-year-old woman and 13-year-old girl who were lightly hurt by smoke inhalation, MDA says.
Gallant: Not all war goals can be achieved with military force, ‘painful compromises’ needed to bring hostages home

With its “precise, lethal and surprising” attack on Iran, Israel sent a clear message, says Defense Minister Yoav Gallant — “Israel’s long arm will reach anyone who tries to harm us.”
“There is no place too far away for us,” says Gallant at the state ceremony for troops who fell in battle since October 7 of last year.
Gallant says that Hamas “has ceased to operate as a military framework,” and that Hezbollah “continues to absorb a series of blows. Its chain of command was eliminated, most of its rocket and missile force was destroyed, and its forces were struck and retreated from the border.”
The terrorist groups no longer represent “an effective tool in Iran’s hands,” he argues.
Still, he stresses that not every goal can be achieved through military force.
“Returning the hostages to their homes demands painful compromises,” says Gallant. “We must do this for the hostages, for their families, for the soldiers who fell for this goal, for the IDF’s legacy, and in the name of the Jewish and national ethos.”
Gallant says that “this is our responsibility.”
Medics say woman in serious condition with chest injuries after Tamra rocket strike
Magen David Adom says it is taking a 57-year-old woman in serious condition to a hospital after she was wounded in a rocket impact in Tamra.
She was hit by shrapnel in the chest and extremities, MDA says.
Another person was moderately wounded in Tamra amid the Hezbollah rocket barrage, according to first responders.
ראשוני: פגיעה ישירה בבית בטמרה, ישנו פצוע אחד קשה מהרקטה pic.twitter.com/J9Tp7lo3Gi
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) October 27, 2024
At least 2 wounded, one of them seriously, as rocket fired from Lebanon hits Tamra

At least two people are wounded, including one seriously, as a result of rocket impacts in the northern Arab city of Tamra, first responders say.
The Fire and Rescue service says it is working to extinguish a blaze sparked by one of the impacts, which also caused damage to several cars and nearby buildings.
IDF: Palestinian tried to ram and stab troops in West Bank, was shot dead
A Palestinian assailant who tried to carry out a ramming and stabbing attack against IDF troops in the West Bank was shot dead, the military says.
According to the IDF, the Palestinian accelerated his car toward troops of the Binyamin Regional Brigade’s 43rd Battalion, as they were operating near the town of Hizma.
“The terrorist drew a knife…and tried to carry out a stabbing attack,” the IDF says.
The IDF says the soldiers opened fire at the assailant, killing him.
There are no other injuries in the incident.
Reports of Hezbollah rocket strike in northern town Tamra
Medics are responding to reports of a direct rocket impact in the northern Arab city of Tamra, following Hezbollah’s latest barrage from Lebanon.
Initial images from the scene show a fire burning in the city.
Additional footage posted to social media shows numerous Iron Dome interceptor missiles being launched to counter the Hezbollah attack.
There are reports of a rocket impact in the northern Arab city of Tamra pic.twitter.com/4FVG1eW6S6
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 27, 2024
Mossad chief heads to Doha to meet CIA head, Qatari PM for hostage deal talks

Mossad chief David Barnea heads to Doha to meet with CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the officials will discuss “the various possibilities to restart negotiations for the release of hostages from Hamas captivity, based on recent developments.”
Medics say 33 wounded in suspected terror ramming near Tel Aviv, some were trapped under truck

The Magen David Adom emergency service says 33 people were wounded in this morning’s suspected terror ramming at a bus stop north of Tel Aviv, with eight of them trapped under the truck when medics arrived on the scene.
“A truck hit dozens of people who had disembarked at a bus stop. Eight of the wounded were trapped under the truck and others were lying and walking near it,” a medic says.
The injured include six in serious condition, seven who were moderately wounded and 20 people who were lightly hurt when a truck drove into the bus stop near the Glilot Junction.
Many of the injured are senior citizens who had disembarked from a bus ahead of a visit to a nearby museum to mark the national memorial day for those killed in the October 7 massacre and subsequent war.
Palestinian motorist who tried to ram soldiers in West Bank was shot, police say
A Palestinian motorist who tried to ram his car into soldiers near the West Bank town of Hizma was shot, police say.
There are no other injuries in the incident.
Police say the Route 437 highway in the area has been blocked for traffic following the incident.
PM: Israel hit Iran’s air defense, missile production capabilities in ‘precise and powerful’ strike

Israel hit hard Iran’s air defense capabilities and its ability to produce missiles that threaten the country, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says at the official memorial ceremony for Israeli soldiers who fell on October 7 and in the subsequent war.
Saturday’s strikes followed a systematic, months-long campaign to “cut the arms of the Iranian octopus, Hezbollah and Hamas,” he says. “Two days ago, we struck the head of the octopus, the Iranian regime.”
Addressing the Iranian people, Netanyahu says “our fight is not against you,” but rather against the regime that oppresses them and threatens the region.
“The regime must understand one simple thing,” he continues, “whoever harms us, we will harm them.”
The strike in Iran was “precise and powerful, and achieved all of its goals,” he says.
Netanyahu thanks the IDF chief of staff, Mossad chief, head of IDF military intelligence and the IAF commander, but not his frequent political rival Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
He also thanks the US “for the close coordination and support.”
Netanyahu says the return of living and dead hostages is a “holy mission.”
Rocket sirens sound in Galilee region
Rocket sirens sound in a number of towns in the Galilee region.
The Bar Lev Industrial Zone, where a drone strike earlier this morning injured two, is among the multiple localities where alerts sound.
Satellite images show damage from Israeli attack at secretive Iranian military bases Parchin, Khojir

An Israeli attack on Iran damaged facilities at a secretive military base southeast of the Iranian capital that experts in the past have linked to Tehran’s nuclear weapons program and at another base tied to its ballistic missile program, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show.
Some of the buildings damaged are in Iran’s Parchin military base, where the International Atomic Energy Agency suspects Iran in the past conducted tests of high explosives that could trigger a nuclear weapon. Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, though the IAEA, Western intelligence agencies and others say Tehran had an active weapons program at least up until 2003.
The other damage can be seen at the nearby Khojir military base, which analysts believe hides an underground tunnel system and missile production sites.
Iran’s military has not acknowledged damage at either Khojir or Parchin from Israel’s attack early Saturday, though it has said the assault killed four Iranian soldiers working in the country’s air defense systems.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the Israeli military.
Israel’s widespread airstrikes in Iran yesterday crippled Tehran’s ability to produce long-range ballistic missiles, and rendered crucial energy facilities vulnerable to future attacks by destroying air defense batteries protecting them, according to multiple reports.
At Oct. 7 memorial, Herzog says Israel must exploit Sinwar’s killing to bring hostages home

Israel must take advantage of the opportunity to bring hostages home from Gaza created by the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, says President Isaac Herzog at the official memorial ceremony for IDF soldiers who fell during the Hamas-led October 7 massacre and subsequent war.
“The critical, supreme task still lies ahead of us — to urgently bring back the hostages from the hands of the murderers,” says Herzog at the Mount Herzl Memorial Park in Jerusalem. “The elimination of the arch-terrorist Sinwar and other enemies, and the impressive fighting by the IDF and security forces, have created an opportunity that we must not miss.”
The president says that Israel works “with all our might, and in every way — with determination, creativity, and boldness, to secure the return home of the hostages.”
Herzog says the return of the hostages is the supreme goal of many of those killed in the war.
“The blood of our brothers cries out to us. Their rescue is a supreme and binding duty, without which we cannot be whole as a people and as a state.”
Herzog adds that Israel also has a duty to rebuild destroyed communities and make it safe for Israelis to return to their homes, to stand by the injured, and to support those fighting and their families.
Herzog reflects on the ramming attack earlier today near Glilot: “At this moment, our hearts are with the dozens wounded and affected in the severe terror attack near the Glilot base. We pray and hope for their full and swift recovery and send strength to them and their families.”
Rocket sirens sound in Metula near northern border
Sirens sound in Metula near the northern border with Lebanon, warning of incoming rocket fire.
Hospital says victim from truck ramming suffered life-threatening injuries

Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital says one of the victims from the suspected terror attack at Glilot Junction is in very serious condition.
“His life is in danger and he is currently being treated in an operating room,” the hospital says in a statement.
35 wounded, 6 seriously, in truck-ramming at bus stop near Tel Aviv; many victims said to be retirees

Magen David Adom says it has taken 35 victims to hospitals following the truck-ramming at a bus stop near the Glilot Base.
They include six in serious condition, five in moderate condition, 20 who are lightly hurt, and another four suffering acute anxiety, MDA says.
According to Hebrew-language media reports, many of the injured were senior citizens who had disembarked from a bus ahead of a visit to a nearby museum.
Truck driver who hit bus stop, injuring 24, was shot and ‘neutralized’ — police

Police say that the truck driver who rammed into people at a bus stop outside the IDF’s Glilot Base in central Israel was shot and “neutralized” by armed civilians in the area.
According to the police’s initial probe, a bus had stopped at the station outside the base to drop off passengers. At the same time, a truck rammed into the stop and the people there.
Police say that they are aware of 24 injuries in the incident.
It says further details, including the motive, are under investigation.
4 reservists killed in battle with Hezbollah in south Lebanon, IDF announces

Four Israeli reserve soldiers were killed and 14 were wounded during a battle with Hezbollah operatives in a southern Lebanon village yesterday evening, the military announces.
The slain troops are named as:
- Cpt. (res.) Rabbi Avraham Yosef Goldberg, 43, from Jerusalem
- Master Sgt. (res.) Gilad Elmaliach, 30, from Jerusalem.
- Cpt. (res.) Amit Chayut, 29, from Haifa.
- Maj. (res.) Eliav Amram Abitbol, 36, from Eitan.
The troops all served with the Alon Brigade’s 8207th Battalion. Goldberg was the battalion’s rabbi, Chayut was a platoon commander, and Abitbol was a deputy company commander.
Among the 14 wounded soldiers, five are listed in serious condition.
Three Hezbollah operatives were also killed in the exchange of fire.
Further details of the battle are still under investigation.
Police suspect truck-ramming near Tel Aviv was terror attack; 16 injured, 4 of them seriously

Police suspect that the truck-ramming in the Glilot area was a terror attack.
Magen David Adom says it is taking 16 victims to hospitals, including four in serious condition.
Dozens wounded as truck rams bus stop at Glilot Junction near Tel Aviv

Magen David Adom says it is treating dozens of people wounded in the truck-ramming incident at the Glilot Junction.
Police say that numerous officers are heading to the scene after a truck rammed into people waiting at a bus stop.
The incident is still under investigation.
The Glilot area near Herzliya is home to the Mossad headquarters along with several IDF intelligence units, including the high-profile signals intelligence group Unit 8200.
Multiple injured as truck hits bus stop near Tel Aviv
Medics are responding to reports of multiple injuries at the Glilot Junction, north of Tel Aviv in central Israel, after a truck apparently rammed into a bus stop.
The details are under investigation.
IDF troops find weapons bunker in south Lebanon

The IDF releases footage of a Hezbollah weapons bunker located by troops of the Golani Brigade in southern Lebanon.
The military says the underground facility, hidden in a forested area, was used to store anti-tank missiles, machine guns, assault rifles and mortars.
Iran’s Khamenei: Impact of Israeli strikes ‘should neither be downplayed nor exaggerated’

In his first public comments since Israel’s airstrikes on military targets in the early hours of yesterday morning, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says Tehran officials should determine how best to respond.
According to the state IRNA news outlet, Khamenei says Israel has “made an error of calculation” and the strikes “should neither be downplayed nor exaggerated.”
Israel “should understand the strength, will and initiative of the Iranian nation,” Khamenei says in the statement.
Israel’s widespread airstrikes in Iran yesterday crippled Tehran’s ability to produce long-range ballistic missiles in a blow that will be hard and time-consuming to recover from, and rendered crucial energy facilities vulnerable to future attacks by destroying air defense batteries protecting them, according to multiple reports citing Israeli, American and Iranian officials, as well as satellite images analyzed by experts.
Sirens in Kiryat Shmona, nearby towns warn of suspected drone attack
Sirens in Kiryat Shmona and nearby towns warn of a suspected drone attack.
The alerts come after two men were injured in a drone strike on an aviation components factory near Acre.
Father of reservist killed in Lebanon blasts government over Haredi IDF draft exemptions
The father of a 51-year-old reservist killed in Lebanon last week blasts the government over its policy to exempt Haredi men from military service, saying it is placing an unbearable burden on other sectors of society.
Warrant Officer (res.) Guy Idan, from Shomrat, was killed alongside four other soldiers in a Hezbollah rocket attack in south Lebanon.
He was the cousin of Tsahi Idan, who was taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, from his home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, after his oldest daughter, Maayan, 18, was shot and killed through the door of their safe room.
“Every human being has a pain threshold that he is able to sustain, and apparently there is someone who thinks that we have not yet reached the edge of that threshold,” Guy’s father Yigal tells the Kan public broadcaster.
“I have a lot of anger, especially about the system,” he says. “At the age of 51, my son went out to fight for the second or third time, in Gaza and in Lebanon. At that age! So yes, I have a lot of anger, especially toward the decision-makers”
“If we were run by people who had the best interests of the country at heart, we would have a completely different army,” he says.
“We know that if the Israeli government conducted itself differently, it would have been possible to bring in tens of thousands of people who are sitting on the fence under the guise of observance or Torah study and do not enlist,” Yigal says.
He says his son did not hesitate to enlist, explaining to his family that if he went to fight, then reservists who had served for longer periods of time could be released home.
Guy is survived by his wife and two daughters aged 17 and 13.
“It is very difficult to see the sadness in their eyes,” Yigal says.
Rocket sirens sound in towns close to Lebanon border
Sirens sound in communities close to the northern border with Lebanon, warning of incoming rocket fire.
Hezbollah drone hit aviation plant near Acre that manufactures defense and civilian components

The Hezbollah drone that injured two people at the Bar Lev industrial zone in northern Israel hit a factory belonging to the BAZ aviation components firm.
The factory manufactures aerospace metal components for both civilian and military clients, according to the company’s LinkedIn page.
The IDF confirms that a drone launched from Lebanon struck the industrial zone, and further details are being investigated.
Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the hardest hit on October 7, blasts Netanyahu for not visiting

On today’s national day of mourning for the massacre on October 7, Kibbutz Nir Oz blasts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not having visited the community since that day a year ago.
Nir Oz was one of the hardest-hit communities in the Hamas-led onslaught, with 117 of its 400 members either murdered or kidnapped and taken hostage.
The community puts out a video of the death notices of members killed, along with photos of their graves.
“06:29, 7.10.23: Since then, every day is a day of mourning for us. In Kibbutz Nir Oz there is no need for a day of mourning, because they live the mourning every day anew for over a year,” the statement reads. “And in general — days of mourning are commemorated only at the end of the event and not in the middle of it.
“Still, if it was decided to hold such a day, we expect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to come and stand by our side, in a kibbutz where a quarter of the population was kidnapped or murdered,” the statement continues.
“Twenty-nine of us are still in Gaza. Only when they and the other hostages return, will 7.10.23 come to an end, a day that has lasted for 387 days.”
Last week, residents of the kibbutz said they would not participate in today’s state ceremony.
The kibbutz says Netanyahu has not responded to its invitation to visit the community.
איזה בוקס בבטן, אלוהים. קיבוץ ניר עוז קיבץ את מודעות האבל של הנרצחים בקיבוץ, ותמונות הקברים.
זו לשון ההודעה של הקיבוץ בבוקר זה:
06:29, 7.10.23: מאז כל יום הוא יום אבל עבורינו.
בקיבוץ ניר עוז לא זקוקים ליום אבל, כי חיים את האבל בכל יום מחדש כבר מעל שנה. ובכלל – ימי אבל מציינים רק… pic.twitter.com/0JhfOtyu9K— Michal Peylan • מיכל פעילן (@michalpeylan) October 27, 2024
Medics say men injured in drone strike near Acre in moderate and light condition

Magen David Adom says its medics are treating a 61-year-old man in moderate condition and a 31-year-old man who was lightly hurt by the drone impact at the Bar Lev industrial zone.
Footage from the scene shows damage to a building.
The industrial zone is located between Acre and Karmiel.
Footage from the scene of the drone impact at the Bar Lev industrial zone. pic.twitter.com/GutynIq3R1
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 27, 2024
At least 2 injured in drone strike near Acre
Medics are responding to reports of at least two injured as a result of a drone impact at the Bar Lev industrial zone, east of Acre.
Sirens had sounded in the Western Galilee warning of an incoming drone, although not in the industrial zone itself.
Sirens in Nahariya, surrounding communities warn of suspected drone attack
Sirens in Nahariya and nearby towns warn of a suspected drone attack.
Overnight, the IDF said it downed two drones launched from Lebanon and one “from the east.”
IDF says some 40 terror operatives killed in north Gaza’s Jabaliya over past day

Some 40 terror operatives were killed by troops during operations in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya in the past day, the IDF says.
Several sites belonging to Hamas were destroyed and weapons were also seized in the area, the army adds.
Meanwhile, in the Netzarim Corridor area of central Gaza, the IDF says troops killed a cell of gunmen in an exchange of fire.
IDF: Jets hit Hezbollah weapons manufacturing sites, arms depot in Beirut overnight strikes

Overnight, Israeli fighter jets struck several Hezbollah weapon manufacturing and maintenance sites, along with an arms depot, in Beirut, the IDF says.
The IDF has issued evacuation orders for three buildings in Beirut ahead of the strikes.
Additionally, in the past day, the military says the Israeli Air Force killed some 70 Hezbollah operatives and hit around 120 sites belonging to the terror group in Lebanon.
Among the targets was a site used by Hezbollah’s drone unit, and a cell of operatives from the unit, the IDF says.
As Israel starts day of mourning for Oct. 7, IDF chief honors those who gave their lives

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says Israel’s existence is thanks to those who have been killed and wounded while defending the country.
He makes the comments at the start of a national day of mourning for those killed in the Hamas-led October 7 massacres last year and subsequent war, after earlier ceremonies were held on the anniversary of the terror onslaught.
“The price of war is heavy for a nation that seeks to be free in its land,” he says in a statement, paraphrasing the national anthem. “It is the acts of heroism of the fallen and the wounded, in body and soul, that ensure our continued existence. We have a duty to complete the task for them.”
The official day of mourning began at 6:29 a.m., when Hamas began its attack on southern Israel last October, slaughtering some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into the Gaza Strip.
At 11:00 a.m., the first of two state memorial ceremonies will held in memory of fallen soldiers and members of the Israeli security forces. At 2:00 p.m., the second ceremony will be held in memory of the civilian victims of the Hamas attack.
Most bereaved relatives have declined to sign up for the ceremony. At least two of the communities attacked on October 7 have said they will not mark the second day of mourning.
IDF says it downed drone launched ‘from the east’
The IDF says it successfully intercepted a drone making its way “from the east” a short while ago, using terminology usually reserved for UAVs launched from Iraq by Iran-backed militias.
The drone did not cross into Israeli territory, the military says.
Harris, Trump address Israel’s airstrikes in Iran during US presidential campaigns

On the campaign trail this weekend, US Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump briefly addressed Israel’s airstrikes on Iran military sites.
“Israel is attacking — we’ve got a war going on and she’s out partying,” Trump said at a rally in Michigan on Friday as Harris was holding an event with Beyoncé in Texas.
Meanwhile, Harris on Saturday called for “de-escalation and not an escalation of activities in that region.”
“I feel very strongly, we as the United States feel very strongly that Iran must stop what it is doing in terms of the threat that it presents to the region and we will always defend Israel against any attacks by Iran in that way,” she told reporters in Michigan.
Iran’s president mourns 4 killed in Israeli strikes, warns against future attacks

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a statement posted to X, gives his condolences to the families of the four people, all with the military air defense, killed in Israel’s first-ever open attack on Iran.
The president also warns against future attacks.
“Enemies of Iran should know these brave people are standing fearlessly in defense of their land and will respond to any stupidity with tact and intelligence,” Pezeshkian writes.
After IDF warning, Lebanese media reports Israeli raid on southern Beirut
Lebanon’s state news agency reports an Israeli raid on southern Beirut, after the IDF issued a fresh evacuation call.
The official National News Agency says shortly after midnight that Israel “targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut.”
The Israeli army earlier urged residents of two neighborhoods in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital to evacuate their homes.
“You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests, against which the IDF will operate in the near future,” military spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee said in a post on social media platform X.
The evacuation call included maps showing buildings that would be targeted in Burj al-Barajneh and Hadath.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
US defense chief: Iran ‘should not make the mistake of responding to Israel’s strikes’
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warns Tehran against responding to Israel’s strikes on military sites in Iran and says he has stressed in a call to his Israeli counterpart the opportunities to de-escalate tensions in the region.
“Iran should not make the mistake of responding to Israel’s strikes, which should mark the end of this exchange,” Austin says in a statement.
IDF says 2 drones crossed from Lebanon, were downed over open areas
Sirens warning of a suspected drone infiltration sounded earlier in the coastal city of Nahariya and in several towns near the Lebanon border.
The IDF says the incident is “over,” with the military having identified two drones that crossed from Lebanon into Israel, and intercepting both over open areas.
Reservist eulogized for desire to take revenge against Gazans, setting home on fire to ‘boost morale’

During the recent funeral of an IDF reservist who was killed fighting in Lebanon, his loved ones eulogized him as someone who was determined to take revenge against Gazans, even women and children, and who allegedly set a home in the Strip on fire without authorization from his superiors in order to cheer up his fellow soldiers.
“You entered Gaza (after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught) to take revenge — as much as possible. [Against] women, children — everyone you saw. As much as possible. That’s what you wanted,” said Uriah Ben-Natan, the brother of 22-year-old Sgt. First Class (res.) Shuvael Ben-Natan, from the northern West Bank settlement of Rehelim.
Clips from the controversial eulogies have been picked up by left-wing media watchdog The Seventh Eye, which criticizes Israeli media outlets for mostly not including them in their coverage of Ben-Natan’s funeral in what it claims is an extension of an effort to hide or downplay alleged IDF war crimes in Gaza.
Ben-Natan was killed along with three others during a clash with Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon on Wednesday. Earlier in the war, though, he fought in Gaza as well.
“You were the happiest and biggest goofball in the platoon. We realized this for the first time when you set a house on fire without approval in order to boost morale,” said one of his fellow soldiers in a subsequent eulogy at the funeral.
Ben-Natan’s father David referenced his son’s arrest last year for shooting dead a 40-year-old Palestinian man in front of his wife and children while they were harvesting olives in the West Bank.
Ben-Natan claimed he was acting in self-defense after Palestinians from the area attacked him. The local Palestinians from the northern West Bank village of As-Sawiya, in turn, claimed that settlers had been trying to prevent them from harvesting their olives and that Ben-Natan had shot Bilal Salah in cold blood.
Ben-Natan was indicted, but his father said at the funeral that the case against him was closed. However, The Seventh Eye reports that the IDF says the investigation hasn’t been completed or handed to the Military Advocate General, meaning it can’t have been closed.
Despite having been severely wronged, Ben-Natan put what happened behind him and decided that he was still going to enlist after October 7, his father claimed at the funeral.
“I want to be with the Jews in their war,” his father recalled him having said.
התקשורת הישראלית סיקרה את ההספדים בהלוויתו של חייל צה"ל שובאל בן-נתן, אולם השמיטה את דברי אחיו על הכוונה להשמדת עם והקריאה לרצח נשים וילדים:
"אתה נכנסת לעזה בשביל לנקום, כמה שיותר, נשים, ילדים, כל מי שראית, כמה שיותר, זה מה שרצית".
"בעזרת השם, שכל עם ישראל יזכה לנקום את הנקמה… pic.twitter.com/3a574A7hRV
— העין השביעית (@the7i) October 26, 2024
IDF says it hit Hamas command center placed in former school in Gaza City
Air Force jets conducted a targeted strike a short while ago on a Hamas command center placed at the site of a former school in Gaza City, the IDF says.
The military says the airstrike on the former Saleh a-Din School compound was “precise” and intelligence-based, targeting a site used by the Palestinian terror group to “plan and carry out terror actions against IDF forces and the State of Israel.”
It adds that it took many steps to mitigate harm to civilians, including using precise munitions, aerial observation and more.
The army once again accuses Hamas of violating international law by placing its assets in civilian areas and compounds.
IDF warns of imminent strikes on 2 Hezbollah-linked buildings in southern Beirut
The IDF urges Lebanese residents to evacuate the area of two Hezbollah-linked buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs of Burj al-Barajneh and Hadath, indicating imminent airstrikes on them.
The military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Col. Avichay Adraee, says civilians should stay at least 500 meters away from the sites.
#عاجل إلى جميع السكان المتواجدين في منطقة الضاحية الجنوبية وتحديدًا في المباني المحددة في الخرائط المرفقة والمباني المجاورة لها في المناطق التالية:
🔸برج البراجنة
🔸حدث⭕️أنتم تتواجدون بالقرب من منشآت ومصالح تابعة لحزب الله حيث سيعمل ضدها جيش الدفاع على المدى الزمني القريب… pic.twitter.com/rMTLeU7Kd2
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) October 26, 2024
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