The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they happened.
In light of ongoing Hamas violations of the current ceasefire and Israel’s brief response yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stresses that Israel’s “security responsibility for our forces and our freedom of action” in the Strip is accepted by Israel’s partners.
Visiting the Kiryat Gat US-Israeli headquarters of the multinational force overseeing the Gaza ceasefire, Netanyahu explains that Israel “wants to ensure that the goal agreed upon by President Trump and myself, with the consent of others — the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of Gaza — will be achieved.”
“We are working toward this in stages, together with other components of the plan,” he says, standing alongside visiting US CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper.
“There is a real joint effort here, maintaining our security in our own hands, to achieve results that perhaps no one believed we could reach — but we are determined to try,” Netanyahu says. “President Trump said it simply: We will either achieve this the easy way — as we hope — or the hard way. But we will achieve what we are determined to achieve.”
Netanyahu is joined by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s liaison to the Civil-Military Coordination Center Commander Maj. Gen. Yaki Dolf, Shin Bet director David Zini and senior IDF officers.
Firebrand Likud MK Tally Gotliv is set to replace MK Yuli Edelstein as a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, after he was ousted earlier today as part of an internal party spat.
Gotliv, who is best known for her outbursts and controversial statements, is set to join the powerful committee, according to Hebrew media reports.
In addition to receiving classified briefings, the committee is also at the center of the highly contentious efforts to advance legislation that would regulate the conscription of the ultra-Orthodox community in the IDF.
Eli Feldstein, the former spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office who is a key figure in the Qatargate scandal, reportedly described in testimony to police a secret late-night meeting with a senior official “apparently from the Prime Minister’s Office,” just days before his arrest.
Feldstein was arrested in late 2024, on suspicion of leaking stolen classified intelligence information to the foreign press.
According to the Channel 12 news report, Feldstein told investigators that, during the meeting, the official hinted he could “suppress the whole matter” — referring to a covert IDF investigation into a leaked Hamas document. Feldstein said the official showed him “a list of names” of suspected leakers and that he later realized it included senior figures in the Prime Minister’s Office.
In his testimony, Feldstein allegedly refused to name names, warning investigators, “You know what it means when they talk about the poison machine working at those levels up there. They’ll understand that I’ve spoken in the investigation, and that’s a burden I won’t be able to bear.”
Feldstein also reportedly claimed that the prime minister’s circle knows what it is doing, and that “they gather information in the office about people, just as they gathered it on Defense Minister Gallant.”
Netanyahu fired Gallant as defense minister first in March 2023, before rescinding the move after mass protests, and then again in November 2024.
Channel 12 reports that Feldstein gave this testimony while being held in solitary confinement for 10 days.
The Jerusalem District Court rejects a second request by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyers to hold just three hearings a week, and not four, saying that the premier’s defense team did not raise any substantively new arguments from the first time the court decided to add an extra hearing every week, back in September.
The court also points out that one of the judges on the three-member panel hearing the case will need to retire in the not-too-distant future, necessitating an increase in pace to the trial which is already in its sixth year.
The court also rejects the defense team’s claims that it cannot represent Netanyahu four times a week due to the needs of other clients and their court schedules, telling the prime minister’s lawyers that they had two months to prepare for the increased number of hearings.
The judges emphasize that they will continue to consider individual requests to delay or cancel hearings should the need arise due to Netanyahu’s various needs, as they have done regularly throughout his testimony.
And the court rejects the possibility that the defense team could quit as Netanyahu’s lawyers, saying that doing so would “do fundamental harm” to the ability to conduct the trial properly.
All the requests are therefore rejected, and the schedule for Netanyahu’s trial will be four hearings a week, beginning next week, with the prime minister testifying at three hearings, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.
New York leaders mourn the death of the NYPD’s chief Jewish chaplain, Rabbi Alvin Kass, at the age of 89.
Kass joined the police in 1966 at age 30, becoming the youngest chaplain in the NYPD’s history, says NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who is Jewish.
Kass was a US Air Force veteran and Columbia University graduate, and provided counseling to the families of the 23 police officers who were killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack, Tisch says.
“We know he will still be watching over the city and the department he loved. His loss is immeasurable,” Tisch says. “May his memory be a blessing.”
I am deeply saddened to share the passing of Rabbi Alvin Kass, our Chief Chaplain, and one of the longest-serving members of the New York City Police Department.
Rabbi Kass joined the NYPD in 1966, at the age of 30, becoming the youngest chaplain in the Department’s history.… pic.twitter.com/IrjluT42tl
— Jessica S. Tisch (@NYPDPC) October 29, 2025
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who had a police career before entering politics, says Kass “was a pillar of strength and comfort for the NYPD.”
“He consoled us through the monumental tragedies and personal hardships. Whenever you needed solace or help, he was there for you,” Adams says.
Jewish state Assemblyman Kalman Yeger says that Kass led a congregation in his Brooklyn neighborhood.
“One of the kindest people you could ever meet, he gave his entire life to serving God, community and the city he loved,” Yeger says.
Condolences also pour in from the city’s fire department, former governor and mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo, New York City Speaker Adrienne Adams, state attorney general Letitia James, and national and local lawmakers.
Israeli tech founders ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange less than a week before the city’s mayoral election, in which Zohran Mamdani, who supports the boycott movement against Israel, is leading the polls.
The stock exchange invited the Israeli tech leaders to open the day’s trading, highlighting Israeli businesses’ integration into the city’s economy, organizers say.
The ceremony marks the launch of a new database tracking Israeli startups in New York City by Israeli Mapped in NY, a group that has tracked Israeli business activity in the city since 2013.
The database counts about 450 Israeli-founded startups that are operating in New York City. There are around 80 cybersecurity companies, 50 financial tech firms, and other businesses operating in fields such as digital health and real estate tech, the group says.
Some of the tech leaders at the stock exchange opening included Guy Franklin, head of Israeli Mapped in NY, Noam Schwartz of the cybersecurity firm ActiveFence, Roi Ravhon from Finout, and Gil Geron from Orca.
Mamdani, a harsh critic of Israel, is the heavy favorite to win the November 4 election. His far-left policies and anti-Israel rhetoric have alarmed both Jewish leaders and business communities in the city.
Mamdani is a longtime supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign targeting Israel. He has attacked his leading opponent in the race, the pro-Israel centrist Andrew Cuomo, for passing legislation against BDS while serving as governor.
A report released this week found that Israeli-founded companies have created more than 27,000 jobs in the city, adding an estimated $12.4 billion in value to the city’s economy.
Edan Alexander, an IDF soldier who was released in May after 584 days in Hamas captivity, was promoted today by the chief of the Personnel Directorate, the military says.
After being freed, Alexander said he wished to resume his service in the IDF.
During a military conference today, Personnel Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa awarded Alexander the rank of sergeant first class.
Alexander, 21, came to Israel from the United States to serve as a lone soldier in the Golani Brigade. He was abducted from an army post near the border community of Nirim on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel.
Edan Alexander, an IDF soldier who was released in May after 584 days in Hamas captivity, was promoted today by the chief of the Personnel Directorate, the military says.
After being freed, Alexander said he wished to resume his service in the IDF.
During a military conference… pic.twitter.com/Wg2O0O5ffs
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 29, 2025
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes his first visit to the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat, the headquarters of the multinational force overseeing the Gaza ceasefire.
Images from Hebrew-language outlets show Netanyahu shaking hands with US Centcom Commander Adm. Brad Cooper and Gen. Patrick Frank, commander of US Army Central.
ביקור ראשון של רה"מ נתניהו במפקדה האמריקנית שמנהלת את עזה ממקום מושבה הזמני בקרית גת. pic.twitter.com/ZrYUSwuCGd
— זירת החדשות (@ZiratNews) October 29, 2025
The Energy Ministry launches a new interactive dashboard to enable the public to follow trends in Israel’s energy economy.
The sections deal with electricity, natural gas, fuels and transportation, and allow for international comparisons. An additional section contains details about the ministry’s investments.
The dashboard, in Hebrew, shows that the use of coal decreased to 14.3 percent of the energy mix in 2024, with natural gas accounting for 71.4% and renewable energy, mainly solar, for 13.8%. It demonstrates how competition between electricity producers has risen, with 59% of energy being produced last year coming from private power facilities, and the rest by the Israel Electric Company.
Last year, 10% of all vehicles on the roads were hybrid, and 3.9% were fully electric, according to the platform. However, 22.9% of all new cars last year were electric, with hybrids taking a similar share. Diesel vehicles have seen a steady decline as a percentage of new cars; they accounted for 46.4% last year.
A ministry official tells a media briefing that the ministry has been working over the past few years to become more data driven and to provide as much information as possible to the public. The amount of data will steadily increase, the official says, with the figures being regularly updated.
Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad wins applause in a New York City federal courtroom as two purported Russian mobsters were each sentenced to 25 years behind bars for hiring a hitman to kill her at her Brooklyn home three years ago, on behalf of the Iranian government.
“I crossed an ocean to come to America and have a normal life and I don’t have a normal life,” she says just before Judge Colleen McMahon announces the sentences in Manhattan federal court for Rafat Amirov, 46, and Polad Omarov, 41.
“I’m a brave woman. I’m a strong woman. They couldn’t break me. But they brought fear to my life. These criminals turned my life upside down,” she says as she spoke at a lectern near the men, who sat in prison uniforms with their hands folded before them.
McMahon says the men had committed a “terrible, terrible crime.”
Assistant US Attorney Michael D. Lockard had urged McMahon to dispense 55-year prison terms to the men. He said they were willing to carry out the desires of Iran to silence Alinejad, who has an online following of millions of people, more than the supreme leader of Iran.
He said the intended target of the assassination plot was not just Alinejad, “but those millions of people who look to Masih Alinejad to be their voice, to promote their cause and to shine a light on the corrupt and deadly tactics of the government of Iran.”
Mahmoud Dramin, a resident of the South Hebron Hills living between the villages of Susya and Samu, tells The Times of Israel that seven or eight settlers broke into his property on Monday, smashed the windows of his house and a car parked outside, and sprayed tear gas into the house.
Dramin and other family members were inside at the time but locked themselves in the house.
Security camera footage from his property shows several individuals breaking the car windows.
According to Dramin, four family members suffered mild injuries from gas inhalation, and they were evacuated to the hospital and released shortly afterward.
In addition, he says the settlers killed six of his lambs and severely wounded four others — which are unlikely to survive. Footage taken after the incident shows the dead lambs, some of which had their eyes gouged out.
Dramin tells The Times of Israel that he is currently filing a police complaint.
טרור ציוני בפאתי העיירה סמוע: שמונה מתנחלים פלשו אתמול למתחם ביתה של משפחה, ריססו גז פלפל לתוך הבית, שברו חלונות, רצחו 6 טלאים, פצעו 4 נוספים – לחלקם עקרו עיניים עם סכין, וגרמו נזקים חמורים לרכוש.
כרגיל, התוקפים חופשיים, מוכנים לבצע את התקיפה הבאה בביטחון שהרשויות תמיד שם לצידם pic.twitter.com/WmjtBtfhJ6— מחוץ לעדר (@masafering) October 28, 2025
In response to The Times of Israel’s inquiry, police said that one of the vehicles used by the attackers has been seized and the investigation is ongoing.
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene blasts Israel’s response to the killing of an IDF soldier yesterday in Gaza by Palestinian gunmen.
“Israel’s military said Wednesday that the ceasefire was back on in Gaza after it killed 104 people, including 46 children, according to local health officials,” Taylor Greene tweets, citing the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry’s figures, which haven’t been independently verified and don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
“46 CHILDREN!!! Are these not war crimes?” she adds.
Taylor Greene has become one of the most vocal critics of Israel in the entire Congress, let alone the Republican Party, where such comments against Israel are highly unusual.
Mark Foigel, one of the anti-government activists suspected in the torching of dumpsters near the prime minister’s residence last month, has been released to supervised house arrest.
Judge Daphne Barak-Erez rejects state prosecutors’ appeal against his release, upholding a district court’s decision from earlier this week ordering him and three others free after weeks in jail.
Foigel, 57, is accused of organizing a plot to light a “ring of fire” around Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence during a day of mass protest in Jerusalem. One of the dumpster fires spread, destroying a car and forcing locals to evacuate, but caused no injuries.
His three alleged accomplices were released Monday night from Hadarim Prison, but Foigel remained as state prosecutors filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.
Though Foigel did not light any of the fires the day of the incident, prosecutors characterize him as the “dominant actor” in the alleged plot and sought to keep him in custody for longer.
Defendants’ lawyers have denounced prosecutors’ efforts to keep their clients in custody as a politically motivated step, and their prolonged detention sparked several demonstrations outside the prison where they were being held.
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Abdulrahman Al-Thani calls out Israel’s treatment of Palestinian prisoners, taking particular issue with videos posted by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir in which he is seen mocking inmates.
Al-Thani is asked during an onstage interview at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City why Israel hasn’t released prominent security prisoner Marwan Barghouti, who is seen as a unifying figure among Palestinians. Barghouti is currently serving five cumulative life terms for planning attacks during the Second Intifada that killed five civilians. He has denied the charges and rejected the Israeli court’s jurisdiction.
The Qatari premier says this is a question for Israel, but that “there are tens or hundreds of Marwan Barghoutis in Israeli prisons who have been prosecuted and tortured and mistreated, and no one is talking about it.”
He notes that many of the Palestinians currently in Israeli jails are being held without trial and he calls for their release, apparently referring to the several thousand under administrative detention. Without detailing what they have been accused of, Al-Thani claims that Israel has refused to release certain prisoners who are very ill “because of the symbolism of their names.”
“This is something that needs to be addressed. Israel should be held accountable for what’s happening on their prisons with the Palestinians,” the Qatari premier continues.
“I don’t know if any of you here watch the videos that Minister Ben Gvir is doing [of] the prisoners over there. It is very inhumane, and I think that this should never be acceptable for anyone in today’s world,” he adds.
Negotiations at the World Zionist Congress reach a compromise over positions at key Zionist institutions, according to a source at the World Zionist Organization.
According to the agreement, which has not yet been signed, Rabbi Doron Perez, chairman of the religious Zionist World Mizrachi movement — and father of Cpt. Daniel Perez, who was killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and whose body was held captive in Gaza for two years — will serve as the next chair of the World Zionist Organization.
Halfway through his five-year term, he will be replaced by a representative of the Yesh Atid party.
Meanwhile, Yesh Atid MK Meir Cohen will serve as the next chairman of the Jewish National Fund-KKL. He will be replaced in the middle of his term by a representative of Likud.
The agreement is seen as a balanced compromise between the liberal and conservative blocs, based on the relative size of each bloc, the WZO source says. During the previous term, both positions were held by Likud figures, Yaakov Hagoel and Ifat Ovadia-Luski.
The WZO source adds that an attempt by right-wing factions to take over both positions was thwarted by a united stance between pluralist parties.
Cohen, 69, will leave the Knesset after 12 years. In an announcement, Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid calls Cohen “a lifelong member of the Yesh Atid family” who will help the party prepare for upcoming elections.
Cohen is one of Yesh Atid’s founders and has served as both minister and senior party organizer. He will assume his new position in the coming weeks, replacing Ovadia-Luski.
Cohen says he is “grateful for the trust” placed in him and pledges to continue supporting Yesh Atid “in leading the next government that will bring change to the people of Israel.”
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog tells The Associated Press that Iran does not appear to be actively enriching uranium, but that the agency has recently detected renewed movement at the country’s nuclear sites.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says that despite being unable to access Iranian nuclear sites, inspectors have not seen any activity via satellite to indicate that the Islamic Republic has accelerated its production of uranium enriched beyond what it had compiled before the 12-day war with Israel in June.
“However, the nuclear material enriched at 60% is still in Iran. And this is one of the points we are discussing because we need to go back there and to confirm that the material is there and it’s not being diverted to any other use,” Grossi says in an interview at the United Nations headquarters in New York. “This is very, very important.”
Grossi says, however, that inspectors have seen movement around the sites where the stockpiles are stored. Without additional access, the IAEA has had to rely on satellite imagery, which can only show so much, he says.
That stockpile could allow Iran to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program, Grossi warns.
Police are probing a far-right rabbi on suspicion of inciting settler attacks against Palestinians in the northern West Bank, law enforcement announces.
Rabbi Menachem Ben Shachar, a prominent settler activist from the Givat Ronen outpost, is suspected of disseminating “incendiary and extremist messages encouraging serious violence against Palestinians,” police say.
He and another suspect were detained earlier today for interrogation, but have since been released under restrictive conditions. Police came this morning to his home and seized several computers in his possession.
Police launched the investigation following a spate of revenge attacks in May on the Palestinian village of Bruqin, which saw settlers torch homes, cars and injure around a dozen residents.
Settlers descended on Bruqin after a Palestinian attacker from the northern West Bank town murdered Tzeela Gez as she was en route with her husband to give birth in the hospital. Her infant son was delivered by emergency C-section, but died two weeks later.
The joint probe into Ben Shachar and his associate is ongoing, under the direction of the West Bank district police’s investigations and intelligence unit alongside the Shin Bet.
Moshe Polsky, from the right-wing legal aid group Honenu, is representing both Ben Shachar and the additional suspect.
Honenu condemns the arrest, and claims that “someone in the police is undermining the policy of the political leadership” overseeing law enforcement.
The remark appears to be a veiled appeal to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, an ardent supporter of the settler movement who has vocally discouraged police action against Jewish extremist violence while in office.
The IDF says it carried out a strike on a site in the northern Gaza Strip that was being used by terror operatives to store weapons and “aerial means.”
The “terror infrastructure site” in the Beit Lahiya area was intended to be used for an “imminent” attack on Israeli soldiers and against Israel, the military says. The IDF does not elaborate further on the weapons and the “aerial means.”
The IDF publishes footage of the site and of the strike.
צה"ל תקף תשתית טרור בה אוחסנו אמצעי לחימה ואמצעי מוטס אשר היוו איום מיידי בצפון רצועת עזה
לפני זמן קצר, צה"ל תקף באופן ממוקד במרחב בית לאהיא שבצפון רצועת עזה, בהובלת פיקוד הדרום ובאמצעות חיל האוויר, תשתית טרור בה אוחסנו אמצעי לחימה ואמצעי מוטס שנועדו לשמש לביצוע מתווה טרור בטווח… pic.twitter.com/0jNvIPDido
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 29, 2025
The IDF says it remains deployed in Gaza “in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat.”
Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa says his country has managed to secure $28 billion worth of investments in the past 10 months following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s government last year.
The president cites the figure while speaking at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, where he is touted as a special guest during the ninth edition of the forum.
“The opportunity in Syria is enormous, and there’s room for everyone in Syria,” Sharaa adds as he seeks to assure potential investors at the conference.
Sharaa says in a session attended by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that Syrian laws have been amended to allow foreign investors to transfer funds out of the country.
“We want to rebuild Syria via investments,” Sharaa says, adding the world can benefit from it as a “trade corridor.”
As the IDF announces a criminal investigation into the leaking of surveillance video from the Sde Teiman detention facility, the International Committee of the Red Cross stresses that it has “repeatedly called to receive information about Palestinians held in Israeli detention facilities and to be allowed to visit those detainees.”
The leaked video purported to show soldiers severely abusing a Palestinian detainee last year.
“The purpose of visits to people who have been deprived of their liberty, and to detention facilities in general, is purely humanitarian,” says the ICRC in a Hebrew-language statement.
In response to Hamas’s refusal to allow ICRC visits to hostages for two years, Israel blocked the agency’s visits to Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
“The goal is to assess the treatment of the detainees and the conditions in which they are being held,” explains the Red Cross, “and to work together with the detaining authorities to ensure that these conditions comply with international standards, as well as to restore contact between the detainees and their families.”
Palestinian media outlets report an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip a short while ago.
The IDF has not yet commented.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich accuses both the Shin Bet and the Attorney General’s Office of acting against Israel’s interests.
The Religious Zionism party chair joins claims by the far-right Otzma Yehudit party that the Shin Bet interfered with the appointment of the agency’s new chief, Maj. Gen. (res.) David Zini, while also accusing Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara of acting against “our fighters.”
“We will do everything to protect our fighters, our Judaism, our existence and security, and our democracy against those who undermine it under the guise of being ‘gatekeepers,'” Smotrich asserts in a statement.
“There are elements within the Shin Bet operating through spyware to thwart the appointment of a Shin Bet chief,” he claims, after Otzma Yehudit submitted a proposal to the Knesset on Monday to probe alleged Shin Bet interference in Zini’s appointment.
The party claims the security agency was attempting to “thwart” his appointment when it reported that Zini met with a Shin Bet officer whom it was surveilling on suspicion of leaking classified information to the Grunis Committee, which vets senior government appointments, according to a Haaretz expose.
Smotrich further accuses Baharav Miara of “acting against our fighters and commanders” while also engaging in “leaks tied to antisemitic blood libels against the State of Israel.”
Earlier today, the Attorney General’s Office opened a criminal investigation into the leaking of a video from the Sde Teiman detention facility, which apparently shows guards severely abusing a Palestinian security detainee.
“Does anyone need further proof of the critical need to clean out the stables and enact the necessary reforms in our judicial system and law enforcement?!” asks the lawmaker, who has long been a proponent of the government’s proposed overhaul of the nation’s judiciary.
One of the two men killed in a Manchester synagogue attack earlier this month died from a gunshot fired by a police officer, a UK inquest is told.
Adrian Daulby, 53, died from the single gunshot wound to the chest, while the other victim, Melvin Cravitz, 66, died from multiple knife wounds inflicted by the attacker, police tell the Manchester Coroner’s Court.
Daulby is described at the hearing as a “quiet hero” who leaped from his seat to block the doors of Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue when the attacker, Syrian-born UK citizen Jihad al-Shamie, tried to storm the building on October 2.
Greater Manchester Police Chief Superintendent Lewis Hughes tells the court Daulby was hit in the chest while behind the door when the armed officer responding to the situation fired several rounds.
Shamie had started his attack by driving his Kia Picanto at security staff and the external gates of the synagogue, where worshipers were gathering for Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Wearing a fake suicide belt, he then stabbed Cravitz, a father of three, and tried to storm the synagogue before being shot dead by police, Hughes recounts.
“The offender exited the vehicle armed with a knife and immediately made stabbing motions to Mr. Cravitz’s upper torso, head and neck area,” he tells the court.
Hughes says interior ministry post-mortems had determined the preliminary causes of death for both Cravitz and Daulby following the attack.
Rocket sirens sound in the Gaza border community of Kerem Shalom.
The IDF later says that the siren was a false alarm.
Defense Minister Israel Katz says Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi will not return to her role until the end of the criminal probe into the leaked surveillance video from the Sde Teiman detention facility.
According to the IDF, the possible involvement of individuals at the Military Advocate General’s office in the distribution of the video aired by Channel 12 news in August 2024 is being examined in the police investigation.
The investigation is also looking into a suspicion that Tomer-Yerushalmi was aware that the video was leaked to Channel 12.
“This is one of the most severe blood libels ever directed against IDF soldiers, exposing them to persecution and lawsuits around the world,” Katz says in a statement.
“The military advocate general will not return to her position as long as the affair is under investigation, and once it concludes, we will act in accordance with the findings,” he adds.
Tomer-Yerushalmi had requested leave “until further details on the matter are clarified,” the IDF said in a statement, adding that Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir approved her request.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani suggests that Hamas committed a violation of the ceasefire yesterday in attacking IDF soldiers, calling it “very disappointing and frustrating for us.”
“What happened yesterday was a violation,” he says during an onstage interview at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, adding that the mediators expected Israel to respond to the killing of one of its soldiers, while noting that both sides subsequently expressed their desire for the ceasefire to hold.
Pressed on who specifically was responsible for the Tuesday “violation,” Al-Thani responds, “What happened yesterday — the attack on the Israeli soldiers — that’s basically a violation by the Palestinian party.”
“Hamas has put a statement that those they are not in communication with this group [that carried out the attack]. We don’t know yet [if that’s true],” he adds.
The Qatari premier later says that Hamas has offered “conflicting statements” regarding the attack on Israeli troops, with one claim being that the gunmen responsible “lost communication” with the Hamas leadership and “didn’t know what they were doing.” Another claim voiced by Hamas was that those responsible for the violation were a different “group that is not related to them.”
“It doesn’t matter for us who did what, what matters to us… is making sure that this event doesn’t… make this agreement collapse,” Al-Thani says.
Asked about Hamas’s reluctance to disarm, the Qatari premier acknowledges that this will be “complex” to implement.
“It will be a complicated process… to go through the disarmament and the decommissioning, but it’s part of the agreement,” Al Thani says, referring to US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for ending the Gaza war.
However, the agreement signed by Israel and Hamas in Egypt on October 9 only focused on the first half of that plan pertaining to the initial ceasefire, IDF pullback, hostage-prisoner swap and humanitarian provisions.
Nonetheless, Al-Thani says that the mediators are pushing Hamas and all Palestinian factions in Gaza to “to get to a point where they acknowledge that they need to disarm.
The purpose of the disarmament goal is ensuring that both Palestinians and Israelis feel safe, Al-Thani says, arguing that the way to ensure that is by “creating a political horizon for the Palestinian people.”
Lawyers for two reservists accused of severely abusing a Palestinian in the Sde Teiman detention facility demand military prosecutors drop charges against their clients, after the Attorney General’s Office launched a probe into the leaking of a video depicting the alleged abuse.
Moshe Polsky, on behalf of the right-wing legal aid organization Honenu, condemns the alleged leaking of surveillance footage to Israeli media, calling it a “vile leak that endangered the hostages and caused severe damage to Israel’s international reputation.”
He further calls on IDF chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to suspend everyone under his command connected to the Sde Teiman investigation.
The initial IDF probe, which dealt with the alleged abuse, saw charges filed against five soldiers suspected of sodomizing the detainee, leaving him with severe injuries. Polsky, alongside Adi Keidar and Nati Rom, are representing two of the indicted soldiers.
Police will investigate the possible involvement of individuals at the Military Advocate General’s office in distributing the video to Channel 12. Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi is taking a leave of absence from her position to avoid any conflict of interest.
Right-wing lawmakers welcome the decision to open a criminal investigation into the leaking of surveillance video from the Sde Teiman detention facility, which purported to show soldiers severely abusing a Palestinian detainee last year.
According to the IDF, the possible involvement of individuals at the Military Advocate General’s office in the distribution of the video aired by Channel 12 news is being examined as part of the probe.
Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot asserts that “in the midst of the most difficult war in Israel’s history, the Military Advocate General chose to slander IDF soldiers, claiming they were involved in the rape of terrorists.”
Directly accusing MAG Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi of leaking the video, Sukkot claims she is responsible for spreading “insane anti-Israel propaganda around the world in the middle of the war,” adding that she should go “to prison.”
Sukkot was part of a mob that rioted outside the Sde Teiman IDF base after several soldiers were arrested in connection with the video, and was filmed pushing through the gates of the base despite IDF efforts to block his entrance. He was summoned for questioning by the Southern District police on Monday.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir welcomes the probe and Tomer-Yerushalmi’s leave from the IDF, stating that they constitute “a dramatic development in the defense of democracy against criminal conduct disguised as legal action.”
“All those involved in the affair must be held accountable, including the attorney general herself, who initially tried to thwart the investigation with a false statement to the High Court of Justice,” Ben Gvir alleges, without providing evidence.
Coalition whip Ofir Katz (Likud) welcomes the decision to open the investigation, stating that the video “severely harmed IDF soldiers, led to blood libels against them worldwide, and someone must pay!”
Fellow Likud MK Avichai Boaron alleges that the “fabricated video” is just “the tip of the iceberg of a system that has done everything, including tarnishing Israel’s reputation in the world, to advance its own agenda in opposition to decision-makers and the elected leadership.”
Justice Minister Yariv Levin lauds the announcement of a criminal investigation into the leaking of the video at the center of one of the Sde Teiman abuse scandals as evidence that his judicial overhaul agenda is bearing fruit.
“It is no coincidence that immediately after the bills regarding the attorney general were approved in the preliminary reading in the Knesset, we were informed of the decision of the attorney general to approve the opening of a criminal investigation into the Sde Teiman affair,” alleges Levin, in reference to legislation advanced today.
Levin says the appointment by the government of a new Shin Bet chief and a new ombudsman for judges “together with the advancement of judicial [overhaul] legislation and the determined struggle to uncover the truth and enforce justice equally, are creating a historic change before our eyes.”
He further contends that “the beginning of the end of decades of cover-up and immunity for those who belong to the ‘correct [political] camp’ are becoming apparent.”
Levin and other government members were sharply critical of the video leak and the manner in which IDF reservist soldiers who were suspected of severe abuse against a Palestinian security detainee were arrested, in July 2024.
He has not commented on the indictment of five soldiers over the incident.
The Attorney General’s Office says a criminal investigation into the leaking of a video from the Sde Teiman detention facility — which apparently shows guards severely abusing a Palestinian security detainee — was opened after new information was recently received regarding the leak.
The investigation is being conducted by the investigations and intelligence branch of the Israel Police, supported by the State Attorney’s Office.
Channel 12 News obtained and published security camera footage of the incident, prompting calls for an investigation into how the video was leaked to the outlet.
An indictment was filed against five IDF reserve soldiers in February this year for beating and assaulting the prisoner after he was brought to the detention facility in July 2024, leaving him with severe injuries, including broken ribs and an internal tear in his rectum.
The Knesset passes in a preliminary reading the main government-backed bill intended to effectively deprive the attorney general’s position of all authority. It passes with the support of the coalition’s far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.
Lawmakers vote 59-44 in favor of a preliminary reading of a bill by Religious Zionism MKs Simcha Rothman, Ohad Tal and Michal Woldiger which, if passed into law, would split the position into three separate jobs.
Earlier MKs gave an initial nod to various other versions of the bill.
“The attorney general concentrates powers that are unparalleled in any democratic country. The fact that this injustice has not been corrected for years only intensifies the damage to democracy,” declares Rothman.
“Today we are correcting the distortion. The essential need to separate the roles of the attorney general stems from the institutional and inherent conflicts of interest between the roles and from the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a person who is not an elected official and who is not accountable to the public,” he says.
Addressing the Knesset ahead of the vote, Justice Minister Yariv Levin argued that “the institution of the attorney general has been corrupted to its core.”
The bill will now be referred to the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee chaired by Rothman to be prepared for the next three readings it needs to pass in order to become law.
If the legislation — which has the backing of Justice Minister Yariv Levin — passes, all three of the newly created roles would become politically appointed positions. However, it is likely to face serious legal challenges, since the attorney general today acts as one of the few checks on executive power in Israel’s system of government.
The coalition has been trying unsuccessfully for months to fire the sitting attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, accusing her of working against the government and undermining its interests. Baharav-Miara has opposed several of the government’s signature legislative initiatives, including its controversial proposed judicial overhaul, and has also refused to defend the government in proceedings in the High Court against some of its policies and legislation.
The Attorney General’s Office has said of the legislative effort that there was “a heavy suspicion that it is designed to advance personal interests… which are tied to ongoing criminal proceedings and investigations.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on trial on corruption charges, which he and supporters deride as a “witch hunt.”
The IDF says a criminal investigation has been launched into the leaking of surveillance video from the Sde Teiman detention facility, which purported to show soldiers severely abusing a Palestinian detainee last year.
According to the IDF, the possible involvement of individuals at the Military Advocate General’s office in the distribution of the video aired by Channel 12 news is being examined as part of the investigation.
Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi has requested leave “until further details on the matter are clarified,” the IDF says, adding that Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has approved her request.
The leaked footage showed soldiers at Sde Teiman taking aside one of the detainees, who had been lying face down on the floor, then surrounding him with riot shields while they allegedly committed the abuse. The detainee was subsequently taken away for medical treatment for severe injuries.
חשיפה של כתב המשפט של חדשות 12, גיא פלג, הערב ב"מהדורה המרכזית": כך תועדו החשודים בפרשת שדה תימן | במצ"ח ממשיכים לחקור את החיילים שנעצרו בחשד להתעללות במחבל חמאס, והערב פורסם התיעוד שעומד במרכז החקירה • כפי שניתן לראות בתיעוד ממצלמות האבטחה במקום, המחבל נלקח הצידה בידי לוחמי כוח… pic.twitter.com/iwgSnq8VHm
— שאולי🎗️🏳️🌈 ShAuLi (@Shaulirena) August 6, 2024
Earlier this year, military prosecutors filed an indictment against five reserve soldiers for the abuse.
The European Union calls on “all parties” to respect the Gaza ceasefire.
“We reiterate our call to all parties to continue to respect the ceasefire,” European Commission spokesman Anouar El Anouni says. “We urge all parties to fully commit to implementing all phases of the plan to end the conflict in Gaza and to refrain from any action that could jeopardize the agreement. There is no military solution to this conflict.”
Israel carried out intense airstrikes in Gaza overnight and this morning in response to an attack by terror operatives yesterday that killed a soldier, as well as Hamas’s failure to return 13 bodies of hostages still in Gaza, as stipulated by the ceasefire deal.
European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera, a critic of Israel, says in a social media post: “We need a chance for peace, not excuses for new strikes.”
Ribera, whose EU portfolio does not include foreign policy, is a former member of Spain’s socialist government — one of Europe’s most critical voices of Israel’s actions in Gaza. Last month, she broke ranks with the commission, calling the war against Hamas in Gaza a “genocide.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar welcomes the Knesset’s approval, in preliminary readings, of a series of nearly identical bills aimed at splitting the role of attorney general and removing the attorney general’s authority to initiate an investigation or prosecution against the prime minister, cabinet minister or lawmaker.
“Splitting the role of the attorney general is an essential and necessary reform in the judicial system. The time has come to put an end to the inherent conflict of interest and the excessive concentration of power embodied in this role,” tweets Sa’ar.
Splitting the attorney general’s role was included in his New Hope party’s coalition agreement in the previous government and New Hope MK Michel Buskila’s bill “is based on my plan,” he says. “It is good that an absolute majority of Knesset members voted in favor of the move, and it must be persisted with until its completion.”
The IDF specifies the Hamas commanders it targeted during its strikes in the Gaza Strip in the past day, in response to the terror group’s violations of the ceasefire deal.
Among those confirmed killed in the strikes are several terrorists who participated in the October 7, 2023, onslaught, according to the military.
The military says its strikes targeted dozens of terror operatives, including two battalion-level commanders, two deputy battalion commanders, and 16 company commanders in Hamas and other terror groups.
לאחר הפרות ההסכם על ידי חמאס וטרם כניסת האכיפה המחודשת: צה״ל ושב״כ תקפו עשרות מחבלים ברצועה, בהם שני מחבלים בדרג מג"ד, שני מחבלים בדרג סמג"ד ו-16 מחבלים בדרג מפקדי פלוגה
במהלך הלילה, צה״ל ושב״כ תקפו בהובלת פיקוד הדרום, בהכוונת אמ״ן ושב"כ ובאמצעות חיל האוויר, מטרות של ארגוני… pic.twitter.com/UEr3ONcN52
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 29, 2025
The strikes also targeted observation posts, weapon manufacturing sites, rocket launching sites, and tunnels, according to the IDF.
The military says it is not able to confirm yet that the Hamas commanders it targeted were killed in the strikes.
The IDF does, however, name several terrorists who it says infiltrated Israel on October 7 and were killed in the strikes in the past day.
They include: Muhammad Issa, a platoon commander in Hamas’s Nukhba Force; Fawaz Uwayda, a Nukhba Force cell commander; Muhammad Abu Shari’a and Nidal Abu Shari’a, both members of the Mujahideen Brigade’s terror group; and Hatem Maher Mousa Qudra, a Nukhba Force company commander who led the attack on Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha on October 7.
The Knesset passes in a preliminary reading two of a number of bills intended to break up the position of attorney general into several, more limited, positions, essentially emptying it of all authority it holds today.
Votes on other similar bills are ongoing.
Lawmakers vote 61-41 in favor of a preliminary reading of a bill by New Hope MK Michel Buskila. A similar law sponsored by Likud MK Eli Dallal also passes 61-46.
The coalition’s main legislation would split the position into three separate jobs. It would preserve the role of an attorney general as the legal adviser to the government, while also creating a position of prosecutor general and of government representative to the court.
Under the new legislation, the government would not be required to act in accordance with the attorney general’s positions. The management of the Attorney General’s Office would also no longer be under the sole control of the attorney general; rather, it would be subject to the government and the justice minister.
Buskila’s bill says the decision to open an investigation against top officials would require the approval of a senior committee composed of a High Court justice, a former attorney general and a private-sector attorney.
The bills that pass their preliminary reading will now be referred to committee and need to pass three more readings to become law.
The legislation is likely to face serious legal challenges, since the attorney general today acts as one of the few checks on executive power in Israel’s system of government.
The bills come as the coalition has been trying unsuccessfully for months to fire the sitting attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, accusing her of working against the government and undermining its interests. Baharav-Miara has opposed several of the government’s signature legislative initiatives, including its controversial proposed judicial overhaul, and has also refused to defend the government in proceedings in the High Court against some of its policies and legislation.
The bills pass with the support of the coalition’s far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties. In a statement, the Otzma Yehudit party says that the bills are intended to “separate the unified role of the attorney general into two separate roles: an attorney general whose role will be reduced to providing legal advice to the government and representing it in the courts in civil and administrative matters, and a prosecutor general who will head the general prosecution and handle all criminal matters.”
“This is an important day for Israeli democracy. It is time to put an end to a situation in which one person holds enormous power — both attorney general and prosecutor general. The split is a necessary step that restores balance and transparency to the government in Israel. This is not a revolution against the legal system, but a necessary amendment for the benefit of the people of Israel and the State of Israel,” says National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
More than 100 cyclists from all over the world start the Israel Ride for the first time since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.
Aged from 27 to 83, the riders set off from Jerusalem on a weeklong journey for peace and the environment, which will end in Eilat, on Israel’s southernmost tip.
They hope to raise $1 million for the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, located in Kibbutz Ketura in the south.
The ride is being organized by the institute’s graduates.
It has been held annually for three decades and is considered the oldest and most challenging sporting fundraising event in Israel.
En route to Eilat, the riders will pass through Beit Guvrin, Sderot, communities near Gaza, Sde Boker and the northern Negev, Mitzpe Ramon, and the Timna National Park. After reaching a viewpoint from which they will see Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, they will finish in Eilat.
During the journey, the cyclers will meet with residents for discussions about the past two years under the shadow of war.
The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, operating since 1996 in Kibbutz Ketura, is an academic institution where Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian students study alongside students from around the world.
The institute engages in academic programs and research on various environmental issues, with special emphasis on cross-border cooperation between Israel and its neighbors and the promotion of peace.
An Israeli Air Force drone crashed in an open area near the Gaza border a short while ago, the military says.
According to the IDF, the drone suffered a technical malfunction, and troops are heading to the site to retrieve it.
“There is no fear of information leaking,” the IDF says, adding that the incident is under further investigation.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul expresses “deep concern” after the deadliest night of bombing in Gaza since a US-brokered truce went into effect earlier this month, as Israel responded to Hamas violations of the ceasefire including the death of an IDF reservist by sniper fire in southern Gaza.
“We appeal to Israel to exercise military restraint in order to prevent further suffering,” Wadephul says in a ministry statement released ahead of a planned trip to the region.
Hadash-Ta’al chairman Ayman Odeh is removed from the Knesset plenum after interrupting Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf during a heated debate over a bill requiring Israel to take responsibility for and commemorate the victims of a 1956 massacre of Arab citizens of Israel in Kafr Qasim by Border Police officers.
The bill fails 9-38 in its preliminary reading.
Israel has not taken formal responsibility for the massacre and a bill proposing to have the state do so was overwhelmingly voted down in 2021. Arab Israeli parliamentarians regularly propose the bill near the event’s October 29 anniversary, but the Knesset has repeatedly them.
Ex-army chief Gadi Eisenkot does not entirely rule out cooperation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the next election, although he believes the premier needs to be replaced.
Speaking with Radio 103FM, the former deputy head of the Blue and White party, who recently formed a new political platform, says that “anyone who was in office on October 7 must leave their position.” Asked what he would do if Netanyahu is reelected, he says, “If the public elects him, we’ll talk again. He needs to be replaced, we need to create a governing alternative. I’m not boycotting him, but I think he must resign.”
Eisenkot is part of the opposition “change bloc,” an alliance of right-wing, centrist and left-wing parties that seek to oust Netanyahu and his hard-right coalition, and have been working on creating a mechanism for coordinating their efforts.
After quitting Blue and White this summer, Eisenkot dismissed media reports about deep ideological differences with party chairman Benny Gantz, including over whether to boycott Netanyahu or eventually sit with him in a government.
Gantz hasn’t expressly stated that he won’t sit in a government led by Netanyahu, and in August he proposed forming what he termed a “government of hostage redemption and equality in the [military] burden” with a clear six-month mandate to free the Gaza hostages and pass a Haredi military conscription bill, after which the country would head to elections. Netanyahu did not publicly respond.
Pope Leo XIV says that the Catholic Church has a special connection with the Jewish people, rejects any form of antisemitism, and acknowledges “conflicts” in dialogue in recent times.
The pope devotes his general audience in St. Peter’s Square to the 60th anniversary of the landmark Nostra Aetate document, which rejected the concept of collective Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus, revolutionizing Catholic relations with Jews after centuries of persecution and mistrust.
“Nostra Aetate invites us to view every religion as a quest for truth, and to see every sincere seeker of God as one who reflects his divine mystery,” Leo says in the English part of his speech. “Because our Christian faith has its roots in God’s plan of salvation, which began with his chosen people, the Church has a special love and reverence for the Jewish people.”
Speaking in Italian, the pope also insists on rejecting any form of antisemitism and acknowledges that the recent period has been difficult for the dialogue between Catholics and Jews.
“The people of the New Testament are spiritually tied to Abraham’s line,” he says. “The Church, remembering the spiritual heritage that it shares with Jews and motivated not by political considerations but by evangelical religious love, condemns hatred, persecution and any form of antisemitism against Jews at any time and coming from anyone.”
“We cannot deny that in this period there have also been misunderstandings, difficulties and conflicts, but they never prevented the continuation of dialogue, and also today we cannot allow political circumstances and the injustices of some to distract us from our friendship,” the pope adds.
Since the Hamas October 7, 2023, atrocities, the Church’s relations with Israel and many Jewish leaders have become increasingly tense. Leo’s predecessor, Francis, who died in April, harshly criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Coalition whip Ofir Katz informs fellow Likud MK Yuli Edelstein that he is being removed from his position on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee effective immediately.
Katz says that the decision was made after Edelstein violated faction discipline to vote in favor of a West Bank settlement annexation bill that was boycotted by the party last week, as well due to as “his repeated violations of faction discipline.”
In addition to being removed from his post, Edelstein “will not be able to introduce private legislation and speak on behalf of the Likud faction in the plenum for two months,” Katz’s office says in a statement.
Both Edelstein’s spokesperson and a coalition insider had independently confirmed Edelstein’s pending ouster to The Times of Israel last week.
Edelstein was ousted as chairman of the powerful committee in July, after the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties quit the government over his proposed enlistment bill, which which would have seen harsh sanctions levied on draft evaders. He was replaced as chairman by fellow Likud MK Boaz Bismuth, who is currently working on a new draft of the legislation.
According to the Ynet news site, Likud was concerned that Edelstein would vote against Bismuth’s bill in the committee.
On Tuesday evening, following the publication of details of Bismuth’s plan, Edelstein posted on X that after seeing the draft law he understood “that those who ousted me were right to do so: I don’t have the skills to come up with a draft-dodging scheme in place of a conscription law — and in the midst of an existential war, when reservists are collapsing.”
Responding to Edelstein’s removal from the committee, Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz announces that he has instructed his party to make its parliamentary resources, both in the committee and in the Knesset more generally, available to the Likud lawmaker “to the extent he desires.”
“The coalition’s shameful decision only emphasizes how important MK Edelstein’s presence on the committee is. Neither he nor the voices that represent our children who serve can be silenced,” says Gantz.
Asked who would replace Edelstein on the committee, a spokeswoman for Katz said it has not yet been decided.
Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency and hospitals says that a series of Israeli strikes overnight and this morning killed more than 100 people across the Palestinian territory.
“At least 101 fatalities were brought to hospitals, including 35 children and a number of women and elderly, as a result of Israeli airstrikes in less than 12 hours,” says Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority. The toll is confirmed by an AFP tally of reports from medical officials at five Gaza hospitals that received the dead and wounded.
Israel says it hit dozens of terror targets and terror operatives in response to ceasefire violations by Hamas. It says the ceasefire is now back in effect.
If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “decides to give up on the goal of dismantling Hamas,” his government “will have no right to exist,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir declares in the wake of the terror group’s violations of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
“Once again Hamas murders a soldier during the ‘ceasefire’ and once again the prime minister chooses to end the incident with the concept of a ‘measured response’ and an immediate return to the ceasefire, while continuing to introduce ‘humanitarian’ aid — instead of returning to full-scale war and striving to quickly achieve its main goal: the destruction of Hamas,” the far-right minister says in a statement.
“I remind the prime minister of his commitment to meet all the goals of the war. If he decides to give up on the goal of dismantling Hamas and is content with lip service to ‘victory’ and dismantlement in name only, while continuing to preserve the [pre-October 7] policy and in practice maintaining Hamas — the government will have no right to exist,” he insists.
This is the second time Ben Gvir has made this demand in as many days. Both Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday called on Netanyahu to act to ensure Hamas is destroyed over its failure to hand over the remaining 13 bodies of hostages, and the repeated deadly attacks on IDF soldiers in Gaza.
Ben Gvir recently announced he had given Netanyahu a deadline to dismantle Hamas or he would bolt the coalition, but declined to publicly state a specific timeline.
Several ultra-Orthodox men twice interrupt proceedings at the High Court of Justice dealing with military conscription enforcement for their community, shouting in the courtroom against the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox yeshivas students.
צעקות "נמות ולא נתגייס" הגיעו גם לבג"ץ | תיעוד המהומה באולם בית המשפטhttps://t.co/iqGfQnbBjL | @inbartvizer pic.twitter.com/hR2uvLgdhe
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) October 29, 2025
At least two of the protesters shout “We’d rather die than enlist,” a common ultra-Orthodox anti-enlistment slogan, before being ejected from the courtroom by court security guards who handcuff at least one of the men.
The IDF announces that a Hezbollah logistics officer was killed in an airstrike in southern Lebanon earlier this month.
Hussein Ali Tohmeh, responsible for Hezbollah’s logistical support in the Qana area, was killed in a strike on October 14, the military says.
The military says Tohmeh “worked to transfer weapons to restore Hezbollah’s military capabilities in the area.”
“The activities of the terrorist constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the IDF adds.
The IDF says it foiled an attempt to smuggle weapons into Israel from Egypt using a drone last night.
Troops located the drone after it crossed the border and was shot down. It was found to be ferrying three assault rifles, the military says.
In the past year, there have been frequent attempts to bring weapons and drugs over the Egyptian border using drones.
Defense Minister Israel Katz threatens Hamas leaders abroad following yesterday’s deadly attack on troops in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
“Dozens of Hamas commanders were eliminated in a powerful IDF operation since yesterday in response to the attack on IDF soldiers and the blatant violation of the agreement to return the fallen hostages, in addition to strikes on dozens of infrastructure targets,” Katz says in a statement as the ceasefire takes effect again.
“There is and will be no immunity for anyone in the leadership of the Hamas terror organization, neither for those wearing suits nor for those hiding in tunnels. Anyone who raises a hand against IDF soldiers, his hand will be severed,” he says.
Katz adds that “anyone who attacks IDF soldiers and breaches agreements will pay the full price.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offers his condolences on the death of Master Sgt. (res.) Yona Efraim Feldbaum yesterday in a Hamas attack in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“My wife and I send our heartfelt condolences to his family and embrace them in their time of grief,” says Netanyahu in a statement.
“Efi, of blessed memory, fought bravely against the Hamas murderers and gave his life for the security of Israel,” he adds.
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen says brand owner Unilever prevented the company from making a flavor in support of Palestine.
In a video post on Instagram, Cohen says that for this reason, “I’m doing it myself.”
He asks the public to contribute ideas for ingredients — beyond watermelon, which due to its colors has become a symbol of Palestinians on social media in recent years.
Cohen tells The Guardian that Unilever is engaged in a “corporate attack on free speech” and “corporate butt kissing” of US President Donald Trump.
Cohen and fellow co-founder Jerry Greenfield have long espoused various progressive causes and have been highly critical of Israel throughout the war against Hamas in Gaza. However, they have no leadership role at the company and have been unable to influence its conduct toward Israel despite repeated efforts.
Likud MKs have come out against the current Haredi draft bill being discussed by the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
MK Moshe Saada tells Army Radio: “I don’t think this bill will pass.”
He cites a lack of quotas in the legislation for combat and combat support roles. “Without quotas for combat soldiers what good are we doing? We’ll enlist more kosher supervisors?”
He says the bill’s proposed sanctions for draft evaders are also toothless.
“The sanctions of not giving yeshiva students a driver’s license until age 23, not allowing them to go abroad — it’s a blessing for the yeshiva world. The yeshiva world will want to give awards to this bill. It’s in the interest of the yeshiva world that people not leave the yeshiva,” he says.
The equation, he says, should be that those who do not serve do not receive state benefits, including in the fields of housing and education.
Last night MK Dan Illouz expressed similar sentiments.
“This isn’t a Likud law – it’s a Shas law,” he tweeted. “It’s a law that won’t draft Haredim, will harm the serving public who vote for us, and will hurt Likud ahead of the upcoming elections.”
He too says the principle should be that those who do not serve are denied state benefits.
“I still hope that [committee chair Boaz] Bismuth will choose to present on Monday a true Likud law, not a law that surrenders to the Haredi politicians.”
Bismuth’s proposal features reduced penalties for draft evasion and lowered requirements for draft exemption for yeshiva students, according to reports by Channel 12 news and other Hebrew media outlets on Tuesday evening. Participation in national service programs will be counted toward military service, mandatory appearances at draft offices will be canceled and restrictions on overseas travel for draft evaders will apply only until age 26.
Critics say the revisions make the law more of a symbolic effort than a serious enforcement tool, offering incentives and loopholes that may allow many ultra-Orthodox students to avoid service entirely.
Bismuth has said his goal is to have the controversial bill passed into law in December.
Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz, an opposition representative on Bismuth’s committee, also slammed the bill in a tweet yesterday evening, writing that it was a “disgrace” that “removes most of the immediate sanctions and the effective oversight of the yeshivas.”
“It reduces the recruitment targets and nullifies what was imposed on yeshiva boys who are already dodging. Recruiting Haredim to the IDF won’t come out of this. As for Haredim returning to the coalition? Maybe,” he added.
Due to internal opposition to the bill within the coalition, including within Likud, it remains unclear whether the bill would pass the final two readings needed to become law. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party has still not made up its mind on the legislation.
On the other hand, it is also not clear that the bill goes far enough to satisfy the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties.
Judges on the High Court panel hearing petitions demanding the enforcement of military conscription for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students express dissatisfaction with the state’s enforcement efforts.
The state’s lawyer says that of 24,000 young Haredi men issued preliminary enlistment orders in the 2024 enlistment year, 5,700 have been declared to be draft evaders.
Judge Yael Wilner asks whether all 5,700 are in military detention, and questions the attorney’s response that there is not enough space in military prisons for so many people.
“The answer that there is not enough space is very problematic,” retorts Wilner. “Space can be made.”
Judge Daphne Barak Erez asks how many of the draft evaders have been brought to military trial, and the judges scold the state’s representative when she says she doesn’t have the numbers to hand.
“The problem with all the great things you’re saying about the things you’ve been doing is that there are no results, there are not enough soldiers,” says Barak Erez.
“The army needs these people now — yesterday,” adds Judge Noam Sohlberg.
The IDF announces that the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is now once again in effect, following “a series of significant strikes” targeting dozens of Hamas targets and operatives.
“In accordance with the directive of the political echelon, and following a series of strikes, in which dozens of terror targets and terrorists were struck, the IDF has begun the renewed enforcement of the ceasefire after Hamas violated it,” the military says in a statement.
The army says that it targeted over 30 commanders in Hamas and other terror groups in the Strip during the strikes overnight and this morning.
“The IDF will continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement and will respond firmly to any violation of it,” the military adds.
After a wave of Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip overnight and this morning, the ceasefire will resume at 10 a.m., military sources say.
The strikes came in response to Hamas’s violations of the ceasefire, including a deadly attack on troops in southern Gaza’s Rafah yesterday, and the terror group’s failure to return the 13 remaining bodies of hostages
The High Court of Justice begins a hearing on petitions demanding that the government enforce the law for national conscription and draft tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who are eligible for military service but have failed to enlist.
In June 2023, the clauses in the Law for Security Service allowing for blanket military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students expired, and in June 2024 the High Court ruled that the government was therefore obligated to begin drafting them.
Only few students have enlisted since that time, however, and government watchdog groups filed petitions asking the court to order the government to enforce the law by drafting those who have not enlisted and issuing sanctions against those who refuse.
The hearing takes place as the government is drafting a new military conscription law designed to regulate exemptions for yeshiva students and, according to the coalition, increase ultra-Orthodox enlistment. The opposition has asserted that the new draft bill will allow mass draft evasion by Haredi young men to continue.
“We expect the court to ignore this illegal background noise, to enforce its previous ruling unanimously, and to order the state unequivocally to work towards equal and immediate conscription, and to take sanctions against all draft evaders,” says the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, one of the petitioners.
Media outlets in Gaza report that the IDF is carrying out a series of strikes in Khan Younis and Rafah.
It is not yet known whether there are casualties.
The IDF have continued their air strikes in Gaza this morning after Hamas violated the ceasefire agreement again. pic.twitter.com/hnAdEdcNy0
— James J. Marlow (@James_J_Marlow) October 29, 2025
Hospitals in Gaza report more than 60 killed in strikes since last evening, after Israel accused Hamas of repeated violations of the truce, including a deadly attack on soldiers.
Polls open across the Netherlands in a close-run snap election called after hard-right lawmaker Geert Wilders brought down the last four-party coalition in a dispute over a crackdown on immigration.
The campaign focused on migration, a housing crisis and whether parties will work with Wilders in a new coalition if his Party for Freedom repeats its stunning victory from two years ago.
The vote comes against a backdrop of deep polarization in this nation of 18 million and violence at a recent anti-immigration rally in The Hague and at protests across the country against new asylum-seeker centers.
Polls suggest that Wilders’s party, which is calling for a total halt to asylum-seekers entering the Netherlands, remains on track to win the largest number of seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, but other more moderate parties are closing the gap and pollsters caution that many people wait until the very last minute to decide who to vote for.
“It hasn’t been this tense for a long time,” Wilders said late Tuesday on Dutch news show Nieuwsuur after leaders held a final debate.
Polls close at 9 p.m. and broadcasters publish an initial exit poll immediately followed by an update a half hour later.
Palestinian media reports that settlers set fire overnight to two vehicles in the village of Atara, near Ramallah.
No injuries were reported.
#شاهد| مستوطنون يحرقون مركبتين خلال هجوم على بلدة عطارة شمال رام الله. pic.twitter.com/6VJWK8Bl4k
— شبكة فلسطين للحوار (@paldf) October 29, 2025
Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency says dozens of Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territory killed at least 50 people, including 22 children, and wounded around 200.
“At least 50 killed, including 22 children and a number of women and children, as a result of the ongoing Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since last night,” says Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the agency.
Around 200 people were wounded “in a clear and flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement,” he says, calling the situation in Gaza “catastrophic and terrifying.”
Israel says it launched the strikes due to repeated violations by Hamas, including an attack that killed a soldier in Rafah yesterday, and the terror group’s failure to return the 13 remaining bodies of hostages as agreed in the ceasefire deal. Israeli officials are adamant that the terror group knows the location of most of the bodies and is falsely claiming otherwise in order to drag out their return.
Two days ago Hamas handed over partial remains it claimed belonged to one of the 13 hostages, but were later discovered by Israel to belong to a hostage who was recovered by Israeli troops in December 2023. In addition, the military released footage showing Hamas staging the fake recovery of those remains, bringing them out of a building and placing them in a large hole operatives had dug in the ground in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City. They then covered the body bag in dirt and pretended to uncover it for the first time in front of the Red Cross.
A plot to assassinate Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad at her Brooklyn home came “chillingly near success,” prosecutors have told a judge who will sentence two purported Russian mobsters.
Prosecutors are seeking 55-year prison terms for Rafat Amirov, 46, and Polad Omarov, 41, at their sentencing today in Manhattan federal court. Prosecutors say Amirov, of Iran, and Omarov, of Georgia, were crime bosses in the Russian mob.
Lawyers for Amirov say he should not spend more than 13 years behind bars. Omarov’s attorneys called for a 10-year prison sentence.
The men were convicted in a two-week March trial that featured dramatic testimony from a hired gunman and Alinejad, an author, activist and contributor to Voice of America.
Alinejad, 49, led online campaigns encouraging women in Iran to record videos of themselves exposing their hair to protest edicts for head coverings in public. Iran offered $500,000 in a July 2022 attempt to kill Alinejad after efforts to harass, smear and intimidate her failed, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said in court documents that Alinejad was targeted by the Iranian government after she “dedicated her life to exposing the cruelty, corruption, and tyranny of the Islamic Republic.”
An IDF reservist was killed in an attack carried out by Palestinian terror operatives against troops stationed in the Rafah area of the southern Gaza Strip yesterday afternoon, the military announces.
The slain soldier is named as Master Sgt. (res.) Yona Efraim Feldbaum, 37, a heavy machinery operator in the Gaza Division, from Neria.
According to an initial IDF probe, terror operatives carried out gunfire toward an army excavator operating in Rafah’s Jenina neighborhood, killing Feldbaum.
A short while later, RPGs were fired by the operatives toward the forces, which hit an armored vehicle, with no additional injuries caused.
The area is located on the eastern side of the Yellow Line, an area under Israeli control as part of the ceasefire.
Despite the area being under Israeli control, the IDF has assessed that there are terror operatives holed up in a “pocket” in the area. As troops work to clear the neighborhood of Hamas infrastructure, operatives emerge from tunnels and attempt attacks.
Last week, two soldiers were killed in a similar attack in the same neighborhood.
Israel has blamed Hamas for both attacks, which has denied any involvement.
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — US President Donald Trump says “nothing” will jeopardize the ceasefire in Gaza, but adds Israel “should hit back” if its soldiers were killed.
Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency says Israel carried out airstrikes Tuesday despite the ongoing ceasefire, after the Israeli military accused Hamas of attacking its troops and violating the US-brokered truce.
“They killed an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back. And they should hit back,” Trump tells reporters on Air Force One.
Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency tells AFP that Israeli attacks in the territory have killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens.
“At least 30 killed and dozens of wounded as a result of the Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, and our crews are still working to recover the dead and wounded from under the rubble,” Mahmud Basal, spokesman for the agency, tells AFP.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The military wing of the Hamas terror group announces that it managed to “retrieve” the bodies of two hostages in the Gaza Strip today, although it does not say it intends to hand them over to Israel tonight.
The Al-Qassam Brigades names the two hostages it claims to have found today. Israeli media outlets generally refrain from publishing the names until the families of the hostages have been notified.
Earlier, Hamas said it had located the body of a hostage in a tunnel in southern Gaza, and planned to hand it over to Israel at 8 p.m. Hamas later said it was postponing the handover due to Israel’s “violations” of the ceasefire.
Israel has accused Hamas of multiple violations of the current ceasefire deal, charging that the terror group knows where the vast majority or even all the remaining bodies of hostages are, and is purposely stalling and staging fake discoveries of bodies.
Those who seek to destroy Israel will never be able to defeat us, President Isaac Herzog tells the opening event of the 39th World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem.
“Those who once called us ‘zhids‘ now call us ‘zios,'” Herzog says, referring to derogatory slang terms for Jews and Zionists, respectively. “Well, these zios have now returned to their land.”
This year’s conference is the largest on record, with hundreds of participants from Israel, the United States and around the world gathered to discuss and vote on a variety of issues of importance to Jewish communities, including a number of controversial measures.
WZO chairman Yaakov Hagoel tells the congress that they are standing at a critical point in the nation’s history.
“128 years ago in Basel, Herzl dreamed of a nation,” he says. “Now, we are bringing soul to this nation.”
This year’s congress follows record-breaking participation in the US World Zionist Congress election earlier this year, in which more than 224,000 American Jews voted, out of some 265,000 ballots cast worldwide.
Herzog offers hope that the congress will help promote Israel’s rebuilding after two years of war in Gaza.
“Without any doubt, this conference is not a normal one,” Herzog says. “It is one of self-introspection for the nation.”
