Oct. 30: Mediators order Hamas to pull fighters from IDF-controlled half of Gaza or face Israeli fire
Terror group still holding remains of 11 captives in Gaza after two returned Thursday * Report says PM froze appointment of envoy to US-led ceasefire HQ for having ties with Bennett
The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they happened.
Turkey’s Fenerbahce to play Israeli basketball teams abroad instead of hosting in Istanbul
EuroLeague basketball champions Fenerbahce will host Israeli clubs Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv on November 11 and 13 in Munich because of security measures put in place by Turkish authorities, the Istanbul club announces.
Fenerbahce had already relocated two home fixtures against Maccabi last season to Lithuania.
Since the Hamas terror group started the Gaza war by invading Israel in October 2023, Israeli clubs in the EuroLeague and EuroCup have played their home games abroad.
But following the October 10 ceasefire agreement, EuroLeague clubs met last week and “approved the proposal to return matches to Israel starting December 1, 2025,” the body says.
Maccabi Tel Aviv, six-time winners of the competition, and Hapoel Tel Aviv are playing in the EuroLeague this season, while Hapoel Jerusalem is in the second-tier EuroCup.
Fenerbahce Beko and Anadolu Efes are two top Turkish clubs who protested the EuroLeague decision to once again let Israeli teams host European competition home games in Israel.
Hamas told by mediators to withdraw fighters from IDF-controlled Gaza by tonight or face Israeli fire
Egyptian and Qatari mediators notified Hamas on Wednesday night that the group had 24 hours to evacuate its fighters from the Israeli-controlled eastern half of Gaza or risk being exposed to IDF fire, a US official tells The Times of Israel.
That deadline expired at 8 p.m. local time this evening, at which point Israel has the approval of the US, Egypt and Qatar to engage Hamas targets on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line that divides it from the half of Gaza under the terror group’s de facto rule, the US official says.
The statement notably leaves out Turkey, another mediator of the Gaza ceasefire. Ankara has been one of Israel’s most vocal critics on the global stage and may not have wanted to be tied to a statement giving Jerusalem a green-light to carry out attacks on Hamas.
The US official does not elaborate on how the Hamas fighters wound up on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line.
A source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel that the demarcation has not been fully enforced to date and that it is not always clear to troops on the ground where the line runs in various parts of Gaza, given that it was only drawn up several weeks ago for the deal.
Israel already publicly warned Hamas operatives holed up on the eastern side of the Yellow Line to withdraw last week.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said on October 20 that he instructed the IDF to convey this warning to Hamas via the US-led international monitoring mechanism overseeing the ceasefire in Gaza.
The military has assessed that there are Hamas operatives still in the terror group’s tunnels in areas under IDF control, and that they have been there since before the ceasefire.
Two deadly attacks have been carried out by terror operatives against troops in the Rafah area amid the ceasefire. Hamas has claimed that it was not responsible for the attacks because “communication has been cut off” with its operatives in the zones under Israeli control.
Bodies returned by Hamas identified as slain hostages Amiram Cooper and Sahar Baruch
Military representatives have notified the families of Amiram Cooper, 85, and Sahar Baruch, 25, that their bodies were returned to Israel by Hamas this afternoon.
Cooper was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, and was killed in captivity, the IDF confirmed in June 2024.
Baruch was kidnapped by terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri during the onslaught and was killed during a failed IDF hostage rescue mission in December 2023.
“The Israeli government shares in the deep sorrow of the Cooper and Baruch families and of all the families of the fallen hostages,” the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement.
It says that Israel is “determined, committed, and working tirelessly” to bring back the 11 remaining slain hostages for burial, adding that Hamas is “required to fulfill its commitments to the mediators and return them as part of the implementation of the agreement.”
Head of DC think tank rails at ‘globalist class’ while defending Tucker Carlson’s friendly chat with Holocaust denier
The head of the right-wing Heritage Foundation in Washington defends Tucker Carlson, as it faces calls to cut ties with the former Fox News host for his friendly interview with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.
In a video statement, Kevin Roberts states, “Christians can criticize Israel without being antisemitic” and that Jew hatred should be condemned, before saying that “my loyalty as a Christian and as an American is to Christ first and to America always.”
“When it serves the interests of the United States to cooperate with Israel and other allies, we should do so,” Roberts continues, before saying “conservatives should feel no obligation to support any foreign government, no matter how loud the pressure becomes from the globalist class or from their mouthpieces in Washington.
Roberts asserts that the role of his think tank isn’t “canceling our own people or policing the consciences of Christians, and we won’t start doing that now.”
He then adds that the Heritage Foundation “will always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda,” including Tucker Carlson, who he claims is being attacked by a “venomous coalition… sowing division.”
Roberts also says that though he “disagrees with and even abhors things that Nick Fuentes says,” the avowed antisemite shouldn’t be canceled.
There has been speculation that @Heritage is distancing itself from @TuckerCarlson over the past 24 hours.
I want to put that to rest right now—here are my thoughts: pic.twitter.com/F8bcxBIqKI
— Kevin Roberts (@KevinRobertsTX) October 30, 2025
NYC mayor: ‘Antisemitism spreads like a cancer across our city’
New York City Mayor Eric Adams delivers a speech condemning antisemitism, stating that anti-Jewish discrimination “spreads like a cancer across our city.”
Adams, a staunch supporter of Israel with deep ties to the city’s Jewish communities, says he has “deep concerns over what is playing out across our city and our country, particularly when it comes to antisemitism.”
He highlights an art exhibit on Governor’s Island this week that included images that said “Hamas lover,” “Fuck Israel,” showed a Star of David on a Ku Klux Klan hood, and showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a Hitler mustache alongside the words, “Zionism, Nazism, Fascism.”
“This right here is beyond the pale. As questions about where that art came from started to pour in, a shocking number of people were afraid to call this out for what it is, but I am not one of those people. This was a vile, antisemitic exhibit,” he says, adding that the exhibit was unsanctioned and swiftly removed.
“It is a stark reminder of what happens when ignorance and bigotry combine. This incident disturbs me and it should disturb anyone with a conscience,” Adams says. “Activism is not an excuse for antisemitism or hate.”
“Antisemitism is a virus that mutates. It comes back in different forms and finds new ways to hide in plain sight,” he says. “Disagreeing with the policies of Israel’s government does not make someone antisemitic, but to openly praise Hamas at an exhibit in a government facility sends a message of institutionalizing hatred.”
“History shows us how hatred begins on the fringes. It starts small, with a few artists trying to make a statement,” he says. “Before we know it, hate moves to the mainstream, and once it is in the mainstream, it becomes much harder to mobilize against.”
Adams takes a shot at Zohran Mamdani, a far-left anti-Israel activist and the frontrunner to become the next mayor. Mamdani earlier this year defended the phrase “Globalize the intifada,” then later, after coming under massive pressure, said he would “discourage the slogan.”
“We will never surrender our city to hate or to those who want to say they want to globalize the intifada or to choose and believe and not refuse to condemn it, because it is literally a phrase that means, ‘Death to Jews all over the world.”
He says that Jews are targeted in 57% of all hate crimes in the city.
“If this were a stat for any group, we would respond accordingly,” Adams says.
“We must bring down the temperature. Too many across this country are ready to go to war with one another, to start at a place of disagreement, to believe in only the worst of one another. I know we can change that. I know that we can move forward with love and acceptance,” he says.
Netanyahu said to freeze appointment of envoy to US-led Gaza ceasefire HQ for having ties with Bennett
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has allegedly frozen the appointment of Israeli-American businessman Michael Eisenberg as his representative to the US-led international mechanism overseeing implementation of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement, Channel 12 reports.
According to the report, Eisenberg already met several times with Netanyahu and began preparing for the post, but in recent weeks, communication between the two sides has effectively ceased. The apparent freeze reportedly came following pressure from within the prime minister’s inner circle, particularly his family and wife Sara, over Eisenberg’s tech industry ties to former prime minister Naftali Bennett.
The network says US President Donald Trump’s Jared Kushner, who played a key role in brokering the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, also knows Eisenberg and is disappointed by Netanyahu’s decision to back off the appointment.
Eisenberg, a prominent venture capitalist, was previously involved in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — a joint US-Israeli initiative that distributed food aid in the Strip before suspending operations per the ceasefire’s terms.
Under the original plan, Eisenberg was to serve as Netanyahu’s envoy in the US command center, alongside Maj. Gen. Yaki Dolf, who represents the IDF and Israel’s defense establishment in the same forum.
Channel 12 says Eisenberg didn’t respond to requests for comment on the report, while the Prime Minister’s Office denies freezing the appointment.
Probe into leak of Sde Teiman footage triggered by failed polygraph test — report
New details revealed by Channel 13 news indicate that the decision to open a criminal investigation into the leak of footage purporting to show IDF guards abusing a Gazan prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention facility stemmed from a failed polygraph test by a senior figure in the IDF military prosecution.
According to the report, the official underwent a routine Shin Bet-administered polygraph unrelated to the Sde Teiman affair. When the individual failed the test, questions were raised, and new Shin Bet chief David Zini was alerted.
Zini relayed the findings to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, per protocol, with the latter then transferring the material to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who convened a meeting with her senior staff.
Following that discussion, the attorney general reportedly decided to open the criminal investigation into the suspected leak.
IDF investigating after troops adorn heavy machinery in Gaza with Third Temple flags
The IDF says it is investigating after troops in the 36th Division adorned their heavy machinery with flags calling to build the Third Temple in Jerusalem.
Army Radio reports that a reservist in the division handed out the flags, which were placed on bulldozers and other engineering vehicles in Gaza, against army protocol.
“This is an incident that is not consistent with the IDF’s values. The incident will be investigated and handled accordingly,” the military says in response to a query.
Non-military patches and flags, especially those associated with messianic fundamentalist beliefs, were widespread in the IDF during the war. The IDF attempted to put an end to the phenomenon with a new list of guidelines published in April.
היום בעזה. כוח של צבאות ה' בפעולה pic.twitter.com/jQHgzQP429
— ארנון סגל (@arnonsegal1) October 29, 2025
UK to provide $5M for clearance of unexploded munitions in Gaza
LONDON — Britain will provide £4 million ($5 million) toward international efforts to clear an estimated 7,500 tons of unexploded munitions in Gaza that is preventing aid reaching Palestinians, the UK government announces
The funding for the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) will help “surge in” experts to clear land mines, cluster bombs and munitions dropped during the war.
Removing the unexploded ordinance to allow more aid into Gaza is “a vital component” of the recently US-brokered ceasefire agreement, the UK foreign ministry says.
“The situation in Gaza is desperate without the vital humanitarian support they need,” says UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who is due to visit the Middle East this week. “We must do everything we can to flood Gaza with aid.”
The NGO Handicap International warned earlier this month that an estimated 70,000 tons of explosives had been dropped on Gaza since Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel sparked the war there.
Based on the UK foreign ministry unexploded munitions estimates, it would mean around 10 percent failed to detonate.
Cooper on Thursday visited HALO, the world’s largest humanitarian landmine clearance organization, at its southwest England site, where she also met representatives from the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and UNMAS.
British NGOs HALO and MAG deliver 69 percent of all civilian mine clearance globally, with the help of UNMAS, according to her ministry.
During the visit, the foreign secretary talked to “British operators who are positioned in the region ready to make Gaza safer,” it says.
Court okays Netanyahu’s request to cancel testimony scheduled for Sunday
A scheduled hearing for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trial on Sunday has been canceled, and Netanyahu will now testify on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Netanyahu’s lawyers requested Sunday’s testimony be canceled so he can attend a sub-committee hearing of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and a memorial service marking the death of his father-in-law, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
On Wednesday, the Jerusalem District Court, trying the case, rejected a second request by Netanyahu’s lawyers to hold just three hearings a week in his ongoing corruption trial, and not four as the court has determined.
The court said that although it was insisting on holding four hearings, during three of which Netanyahu will testify, it will continue to consider individual requests to cancel hearings if circumstances warrant it.
Caskets arrive at forensic center to determine if they’re carrying remains of slain captives
The caskets containing the apparent remains of two dead hostages have arrived at the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification, the Health Ministry says.
The identification process may take up to two days.
IDF said to detain Bedouin men near Jericho, leave them in their underwear after Israelis entered encampment
Younus Jahalin, a resident of a Bedouin encampment near Jericho, tells The Times of Israel that IDF forces who entered the community yesterday detained 11 men and stripped them, leaving them in their underwear for hours.
According to Jahalin, the incident came after two Israelis entered the encampment yesterday afternoon, after they allegedly chased a Bedouin child. He adds that the Israelis claimed they were attacked by the Bedouins, prompting the IDF to arrive and detain the men.
Footage from the scene shows the detainees in their underwear.
According to Jahalin, the 11 men remained in their underwear for hours before being taken into custody, apparently to the Coordination and Liaison Administration in the area, and were eventually released six hours after their detention.
The IDF has not yet issued a response.
UN says Gaza humanitarian deliveries have surged amid ceasefire, calls for NGOs to be allowed to help distribute aid
More than 24,000 tons of UN aid has reached Gaza since the start of a ceasefire earlier this month, a UN official says while calling for NGOs to be allowed to assist in its distribution.
While aid volumes are significantly up compared to the period before the ceasefire, humanitarians still face funding shortfalls, the UN says, as well as issues coordinating with Israeli authorities.
“Starting from the ceasefire, we brought over 24,000 metric tonnes of aid through all the crossings, and we have restarted both community- and household-based (aid) distributions,” says the UN Resident Coordinator Office’s deputy special coordinator for Palestinian territories, Ramiz Alakbarov.
The World Food Program’s Middle East regional director Samer AbdelJaber says in 20 days of scale-up following the ceasefire they “have collected about 20,000 metric tons of food inside Gaza.”
Police said probing potential suicide after young man falls to death in Jerusalem
Police are probing whether the death of a young man who fell from a building under construction in Jerusalem was a suicide, Ynet reports.
The victim, who media outlets identified as 20-year-old Menachem Mendel Litzman, fell from the 20th floor of the building during a rally against the conscription of Haredi yeshiva students into the IDF.
He was one of several demonstrators who ascended the high-rise during the protest, which drew hundreds of thousands of rallygoers to the entrance to Jerusalem. His death brought the rally to an abrupt end, as the emcee called on participants to calmly disperse.
Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox men clash with cops as anti-enlistment protest ends
A mass Haredi prayer rally in Jerusalem against IDF conscription has officially ended, though hundreds of young men are now clashing with Border Police.
Despite the emcee’s urging demonstrators to disperse calmly, large crowds remain near the entrance to Jerusalem.
The officers charge the protesters after a group tried to enter the construction site where a teenager fell to his death.
Yosef Goffman, a yeshiva student from Jerusalem who attended the rally today, tells The Times of Israel that he is saddened by the event’s tragic conclusion and the subsequent scuffles with police.
He typically refrains from partaking in anti-draft demonstrations, but came to today’s rally because it was endorsed by the ultra-Orthodox parties in the Knesset, as opposed to the more radical Jerusalem Faction.
IDF says caskets apparently containing bodies of hostages have been brought out of Gaza
The caskets containing the apparent remains of two hostages have been brought out of the Gaza Strip by troops, the military says.
The bodies are now escorted by the police to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification, a process that officials have said may take up to two days.
If the bodies are confirmed to belong to hostages, it would mean that the remains of 11 dead hostages are still held in Gaza.
Haaretz journalist fired following disclosure he received NIS 200,000 from Qatargate suspect
Prominent Haaretz journalist and commentator Chaim Levinson has been dismissed from his position at the newspaper after it emerged that he had done work for the political consultancy company owned by Yisrael Einhorn, a key suspect in the Qatargate affair.
As reported by Haaretz itself, Levinson, who has long acknowledged being good friends with Einhorn, worked as a ghostwriter for Einhorn’s Perception company from 2019 to 2024, earning some NIS 200,000 ($61,000) for articles he ghostwrote for election campaigns in the Balkan.
In the Qatargate scandal, Einhorn and Perception are believed to have conducted campaigns in Israel and abroad to boost Qatar’s image, in particular in connection to its role as an impartial mediator in hostage negotiations.
Perception was allegedly contracted by Qatar through intermediaries, while two suspects — Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein — worked for Perception on public relations campaigns while at the same time serving as senior aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Responding to the report and his dismissal, Levinson acknowledges that he worked for Perception, but says he had no idea that Einhorn and his company were doing work for Qatar.
“I made a serious mistake for which I want to apologize. I erred in that, although I ended the connection, I did not include a full disclosure,” says Levinson regarding the end of his work for Perception in 2024.
“I have never done any work for Qatar, nor did I know about any connection between Einhorn and them.”
The Haaretz report notes, however, that Levinson has frequently criticized the Qatargate investigations.
And the Kan public broadcaster reports that Levinson helped get an opinion article praising Qatar and criticizing Egypt published in Haaretz, which was published anonymously in the name of “a former senior defense establishment official” who is also reportedly a suspect in the Qatargate affair.
Levinson confirms he passed on the article to Haaretz but says his doing so was not in any way related to Einhorn.
IDF receives two caskets from Red Cross, will send bodies for identification
IDF troops in the Gaza Strip have received two caskets, apparently containing the bodies of two hostages, from the Red Cross a short while ago.
The caskets had been picked up by the Red Cross from Hamas in central Gaza.
The IDF will inspect the caskets, then drape them in Israeli flags and hold a short ceremony led by a military rabbi.
The remains will then be taken to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification.
Dozens of Haredi demonstrators told to come down from high-rise after teen falls to death
The emcee for a Haredi anti-draft rally urges young men who ascended a high-rise building under construction to come down, after a 15-year-old fell to his death.
There are still over a dozen demonstrators on the upper floors of the building, and authorities are attempting to bring them down safely from the construction site.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, the teenage boy fell from the 20th floor of the building.
Netanyahu: Israel will disarm Hamas and demilitarize Gaza if foreign troops don’t
Israel “has more work” to do in Gaza, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a cadets’ graduation ceremony at the Bahad 1 officers’ school in southern Israel.
“If Hamas continues to explicitly violate the ceasefire, it will suffer powerful attacks like it did two days ago and yesterday,” he threatens. “We decide, and we are acting whenever necessary to remove immediate threats from our forces.”
“We decide, and we act,” he stresses, amid criticism that the US restrictions have led to underwhelming responses to deadly Hamas attacks on IDF troops.
“At the end of the day, Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarized,” he promises. “If foreign troops do it, great. If they don’t do it, we will.”
Zamir says IDF ready to resume fighting on any front, will use ‘much greater force’
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warns that the military is ready to return to fight on any front, and will use “much greater force” than it had in the past two years of war.
“We will show no patience toward any threat that emerges. We will believe an enemy that declares its intention to harm us, and we will destroy it,” says Zamir at an IDF cadets graduation ceremony.
“There will be no tolerance when the safety of Israeli citizens is threatened. This is a principle I intend to uphold. We are operating in all arenas even now, with high readiness for as broad a campaign as required. In some arenas, we will again act with much greater force than we have during the past two years,” he says.
IDF says Red Cross bringing 2 caskets to troops in Gaza after receiving them from Hamas
The IDF says the Red Cross has notified the military that it has collected two caskets, with the apparent bodies of two slain hostages, from Hamas in central Gaza a short while ago.
The Red Cross is now bringing the caskets to IDF troops inside the Strip, where a small ceremony, led by a military rabbi, will be held.
Teen dies after falling from unfinished high-rise amid Haredi protest in Jerusalem
A 15-year-old boy has fallen from a building and died during a massive Haredi prayer rally against IDF conscription in Jerusalem.
He was one of several Haredi demonstrators who ascended a high-rise building under construction.
Magen David Adom paramedics and police are at the construction site and are escorting the body from the area.
Likud’s Edelstein joins reservists at Jerusalem counterprotest
As hundreds of thousands of Haredim pack Jerusalem’s streets for an anti-conscription rally, a small group of counterprotesters gather outside the International Convention Center.
Likud MK Yuli Edelstein mingles with the dozens of demonstrators, most of them reservists and soldiers, saying that he came “to embrace them.”
Edelstein was removed this week from the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee after being stripped of the panel’s chairmanship for supporting legislation to levy sanctions on draft evaders.
The counterprotesters are fenced into the area and guarded by a phalanx of Border Police officers as some Haredi demonstrators gather on the other side of the gate to hassle them.
Israel Ben Shitrit, a combat soldier who was badly injured in Gaza’s Khan Younis during the war, is interrupted by the blowing of a shofar as he tries to speak to the crowd.
“We hear now the shofar, but hear our cry as well: ‘How are you able to stand to the side for two whole years as families, people are giving their lives?'” he says, addressing Haredi anti-draft protesters.
Addressing politicians, he asks, “How can you look us in the eyes, and for two full years refrain from legislating a real draft law?”
Katz says ‘many challenges still lie ahead’ after end of intensive fighting in Gaza
Speaking at an IDF cadets graduation ceremony, Defense Minister Israel Katz says “many challenges still lie ahead” as the intensive fighting in Gaza has ended with the ongoing ceasefire.
“The intensive fighting in the Gaza Strip is expected, indeed, to end, but many challenges still lie ahead of us on several fronts, and we will not cease to act until we achieve them,” he says at the officers’ school in southern Israel, known as Bahad 1.
“We will not stop until we realize the overarching goals we set before us: the demilitarization of Gaza and the dismantling of Hamas’s weapons, along with the complete destruction of the terror tunnels,” Katz says.
Katz says Israel will “insist on full implementation of the agreement, and will not stop until we return home, for burial in Israel, all the remaining fallen hostages, including commanders and soldiers.”
On the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, Katz warns that Israel has not had “the final word.”
“The Houthis will pay a heavy price for their attempts to strike the Israeli home front over the past two years. We have not said the last word.”
Erdogan lobs fresh ‘genocide’ broadside at Israel as US pushes for Turkish troops in Gaza peacekeeping force
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan slams Germany over what he says is its ignorance of Israel’s “genocide,” famine and attacks in Hamas-ruled Gaza, at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Ankara.
Erdogan says Israel has nuclear and other weapons which it was using and threatening Gaza with, adding that Palestinian terrorist group Hamas — which he is a longtime supporter of — has none of those. He says Israel had once again attacked Gaza in recent days despite a ceasefire in the enclave, without mentioning that the strikes followed an attack by terror operatives that killed an IDF soldier.
“Does Germany not see these?” Erdogan says, adding it’s Turkey, Germany and other countries’ humanitarian duty to end what he claims are famine and massacres in Gaza.
The comments come as the Trump administration is pushing for Turkey’s inclusion in a multinational security force to be deployed in postwar Gaza despite Israeli objections, with a US official telling the Axios news site, “The Turks were very helpful in getting the Gaza deal and [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s bashing Turkey has been very counterproductive.”
“We are aware of the Israeli concerns and are working to create something that can achieve stability and that both sides can find acceptable,” the official adds.
Reservists in IDF’s new Haredi brigade mark end of training with Western Wall ceremony, held hours before mass anti-IDF draft rally
This morning, just hours before the mass ultra-Orthodox protest against military conscription in Jerusalem, reservists of the IDF’s new Haredi brigade, known as the Hasmonean Brigade, stood for a ceremony at the Western Wall after completing their training.
The reservists completed a march to the holy site, where they received the Hasmonean Brigade’s signature dark blue beret.
"אני חייל חשמונאים, עם גאווה של יהודי. ובלילות אני לא ישן, את התורה אני נושם".
טקס הענקת הכומתה לחיילי חטיבת חשמונאים החרדיים הבוקר בכותל. pic.twitter.com/Bfyl09IWXq
— חרדים אקספרס (@haredimex) October 30, 2025
ועוד אירוע ביום הזה: טקס סיום מסע כומתה של לוחמים חרדים מפלוגת המילואים של חשמונאים שנערך בכותל pic.twitter.com/BrwFrb0tCW
— ישי כהן (@ishaycoen) October 30, 2025
The IDF has said that it carried out a “wide-ranging preparation process” to integrate the Haredi soldiers into the new brigade.
Soldiers serving in the Hasmonean Brigade are permitted to wear “Sabbath clothes” on Saturdays when not on duty, instead of military uniforms, and are required to attend prayers and a mandatory hour of Torah study daily. The troops are also required to have phones that are “kosher” — devices on which social media and most other apps are blocked.
Many ultra-Orthodox Jews believe that military service is incompatible with their way of life, and fear that those who enlist will be secularized.
IDF says Red Cross heading to pick up remains of 2 hostages from Hamas
Red Cross vehicles are now heading to a handover site in the central Gaza Strip to pick up the bodies of two hostages from Hamas, the IDF says.
Hamas claimed on Tuesday to have “retrieved” the bodies of two hostages, whom it named at the time. The terror group, however, did not specify the identities of the hostages it says it will hand over today.
Families of remaining slain hostages say PM rebuffing their requests to meet
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum demands Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet immediately with the relatives of slain hostages still held by Hamas to give them an update on the efforts to return their loved ones’ remains from Gaza, saying their requests for a sit-down the past two weeks have been rebuffed.
“The time has come for the prime minister to look into the whites of our eyes and directly update us without mediators on the contacts and prospect for the release of all the hostages,” the group says in a statement. “The prime minister of Israel is ignoring the requests of the families to meet and sends his emissaries to reject and delay any attempt to schedule a meeting.”
“The return of all the hostages is the duty of the State of Israel, not the US, not Qatar or any other caring leader. The time has come for actions, not promises,” the forum adds.
Yair Lapid tells Haredim: If you can travel to a protest, you can go to an IDF induction center
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, in a video statement, condemns the mass protest in Jerusalem against efforts to conscript ultra-Orthodox men to the Israel Defense Forces.
“I want to say to all these young people, who went to this disgraceful ‘We’ll die rather than enlist’ demonstration in Jerusalem, and are marching in the streets — if you’re able to travel to a protest, you’re able to travel to an induction center; if you’re able to march in the street, you’re able to march in basic training and defend the State of Israel,” he says.
“What has been, won’t be any longer — everyone will enlist, everyone will work, everyone will go to the induction center, everyone will defend the state.”
‘Frequency of Fear’: Israel’s exploding Hezbollah pager operation being made into movie
The exploding pager operation that successfully targeted Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon in September 2024 is being made into a movie titled “Frequency of Fear.”
The cast includes “Fauda” stars Doron Ben-David and Itzik Cohen, singer Marina Maximilian, and Quentin Tarantino’s wife, Daniella Pick Tarantino, according to a Deadline report.
Israeli-born, US-based director/producer Danny Abeckaser is directing and producing from a script by Kosta Kondilopoulos.
“I, like everyone else who heard about the beeper operation, was in awe,” Abeckaser commented to Deadline. “To be able to tell the story of how they pulled it off was a dream come true.”
On September 17, 2024, thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah operatives across Lebanon suddenly began to explode, injuring those holding them and killing over two dozen. A day later, hundreds of walkie-talkies also blew up, injuring or killing scores more.
Israel did not confirm its involvement until November 2024, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet he had greenlighted the operation.
The pager explosions occurred after almost a year of incessant rocket and drone attacks on Israel by the Hezbollah terror group, which began a day after Hamas’s October 7 massacre and led to the evacuation of some 60,000 residents from northern Israel towns on the border with Lebanon.
In the aftermath of the operation, various media outlets reported that the attack was a highly sophisticated Israeli intelligence operation years in the making in which Hezbollah was fooled into purchasing the compromised devices.
Journalists’ union responding to reports of violence at Haredi anti-draft protest
The Union of Journalists in Israel says it is “handling reports of violence against correspondents and camera crews at the Haredi protest at the entrance to Jerusalem.”
“The union is in contact with journalists in the field, and with senior police officials in the area and is providing responses to the incidents,” the group writes on X.
“We ask journalists who are hurt to reach out to us immediately, and to send documentation of the violence,” it adds, providing a link.
The post comes shortly after Channel 12 reporter Inbar Twizer is pelted with plastic bottles on air as she tries to broadcast from the mass demonstration, which her network says has tens of thousands in attendance.
Haredi anti-draft protesters pelt reporter with plastic bottles
Young ultra-Orthodox men throw plastic bottles at Channel 12 reporter Inbar Twizer, as she tries to broadcast from the scene of a mass rally in Jerusalem against the conscription of Haredi men to the military.
Revolting scenes in Jerusalem as Haredi youth protesting in favor of draft-dodging throw bottles at a reporter. pic.twitter.com/WYt6dwL9M5
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) October 30, 2025
Later, Twizer broadcasts from behind police lines. She says sticks and other objects were also thrown at her and other reporters. She says she is not the only reporter who has been forced to seek protection from police in order to report on the event.
צוותי חדשות 12 הותקפו באלימות בקרשים ובקבוקים בהפגנת החרדים נגד הגיוס בירושליםhttps://t.co/PhHdO71XvI | @inbartvizer pic.twitter.com/sn5Q7dPwhx
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) October 30, 2025
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid shares the footage on X, writing: “Disgraceful images. Where is the Israel Police?”
Twizer says later that she got several “heart-warming” phone calls from ultra-Orthodox callers denouncing the attacks on her.
Hundreds of thousands of Haredi men block entrance to Jerusalem, rallying against IDF draft
Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Israelis have gathered at the entrance to Jerusalem for a massive prayer rally against efforts to conscript Haredi men to the IDF. Protesters are blocking the entrance to the city.
Rallygoers throng the streets of the capital carrying blue and yellow signs that read: “Russia is here” and “Stalin is here.”
Several young men marching past the train station carry a Hostages and Missing Families Forum banner, presumably pinched from a nearby home, emblazoned with the slogan: “Bringing back the hostages, bringing back hope.”
Anti-conscription protesters have regularly appropriated the slogans and symbols of the movement for a hostage deal to call for the release of draft-dodgers from prison, drawing outcry from the Hostages Families Forum.
One participant approaches The Times of Israel with a poster labeling secular Israelis as “parasites,” imploring them to “follow the commandments.”
Security guards have locked the doors to the central bus station after Haredim began arguing with people exiting the building, throwing water bottles and calling women shiksas.
Rallygoers tell The Times of Israel that the bystanders provoked them.
Hamas: We will hand over two hostages’ bodies at 4 p.m.
Hamas’s military wing announces that at 4 p.m. it will transfer two hostages’ bodies of hostages.
The identities of the hostages are not specified.
Israel preparing for potential return of two hostages’ bodies in coming hours
Israel is preparing for the possibility that Hamas may return the bodies of two hostages in the next few hours, The Times of Israel has learned.
Earlier this week, Hamas claimed to have “retrieved” the bodies of two hostages, but it did not immediately hand them over, citing Israeli “violations” of the ceasefire.
Currently, the bodies of 13 hostages remain held in Gaza.
Video shows Haredi anti-draft protesters passing IDF soldiers at train station
A clip circulating online shows ultra-Orthodox men, on their way to a mass demonstration against conscription to the military, passing soldiers at the Yitzhak Navon train station in Jerusalem.
The footage is taken by Yehonatan Cohen, an Israel Defense Forces reservist who finished a round of duty today.
Jerusalem, this morning. IDF soldiers pass ultra-Orthodox men on their way to protest against the conscription law — a protest that forced Jerusalem’s central train station to shut for most of the day.
The video was taken by @Yehonchi, who finished today another around of IDF… pic.twitter.com/2Pj6kdkzp4
— Amit Segal (@AmitSegal) October 30, 2025
The Democrats leader Yair Golan shares the video on X. He comments that many of those protesting are of conscription age, and he suggests that military police deploy to the area, to “let them choose: Be part of the nation of Israel, or pay the price.”
Polish jets intercepted Russian aircraft over Baltic Sea, minister says
Polish MiG-29 fighter aircraft intercepted a Russian reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea on Thursday in the second such incident this week, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz says.
Poland’s army said on Wednesday that Polish jets had intercepted a Russian aircraft flying a reconnaissance mission in international airspace over the Baltic Sea on Tuesday without a filed flight plan and with its transponder turned off.
“Today MiG-29s intercepted a Russian reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea,” Kosiniak-Kamysz says, describing it as just like the incident on Tuesday.
He gives no further details.
Countries on NATO’s eastern flank have been on high alert for potential airspace incursions since September when three Russian military jets violated Estonia’s airspace for 12 minutes, days after more than 20 Russian drones had entered Polish airspace.
Palestinian man who stabbed two soldiers in 2023 sentenced to 36 years in prison
The Lod District Court sentences Muhammad Awadeh, from the West Bank town of Dura near Hebron, to 36 years in prison, for stabbing two soldiers in April 2023, attempting to kill them.
Awadeh confessed to the crime, the court says, without going through a criminal trial. He did not have a previous criminal record.
He entered Israel on March 31, 2023, without an entry permit, armed with a 30-centimeter (12-inch) knife. After staying at his father’s house in Jaffa for a few days, Awadeh, then 22, boarded a bus on April 4 and got off at the Nir Tzvi junction after spotting soldiers.
“He removed the knife from his jacket and stabbed one of the soldiers in the neck. Immediately thereafter, he stabbed the other soldier in the back. After that, he returned to the first soldier and, as [the soldier] was lying on the ground, he stabbed him many times, in all parts of his body, including his head and chest, until the knife broke,” according to the court.
It adds that Awadeh tried, but failed, to take a soldier’s weapon, and that civilians then subdued the assailant.
“The soldier who testified at the sentencing hearing was an outstanding athlete prior to the attack, and today he has trouble moving, and is dealing with emotional difficulties and suffers from a disability,” the court noted.
“The other soldier, too, testified that he suffers today from pains and physical limitations, in addition to coping with post-traumatic stress disorder, and despite this he continues to serve in reserve duty,” it said.
Bill to split AG role will pass in this Knesset session, coalition said to assess
The coalition believes it will be possible to pass its proposed legislation splitting the role of the attorney general within the next two to three months, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
The Knesset yesterday passed, in preliminary readings, 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 of the prime minister, cabinet minister or lawmaker.
The coalition has been trying unsuccessfully for months to fire Attorney General Baharav-Miara, accusing her of working against the government.
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.
Rocket siren on Gaza border was false alarm, IDF says
The IDF says the siren that sounded in the Gaza border community of Kerem Shalom a short while ago was a false alarm.
Rocket sirens sound near Gaza border; IDF investigating
Rocket sirens sound in the Gaza border community of Kerem Shalom.
The IDF says it is investigating the cause.
Trains in and out of Jerusalem will run until at least 1:30 p.m., police say
Trains in and out of Jerusalem will operate at least until 1:30 p.m in light of a massive Haredi prayer rally set to take place in the capital, police say.
Israel Railways previously announced that it would shut down Jerusalem’s only train station for the afternoon, infuriating ultra-Orthodox lawmakers, who argued such a decision would prevent participants from reaching the event.
Police reached the decision to keep trains operating for another hour, after a situational assessment was held by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Chief Commissioner Dany Levy.
The Israel Railways website still currently says that trains will only run until 12:30 p.m.
United Torah Judaism MK Israel Eichler says he has been holding talks with Ben Gvir in an attempt to convince him to allow the trains to keep running.
If Israel Railways and the rally organizers place stewards in the station to manage congestion and overcrowding, police may allow trains to continue to operate even after 1:30 p.m., law enforcement adds.
Hezbollah welcomes Lebanese president’s call on army to confront IDF incursions
Hezbollah welcomes Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s orders for the country’s army to confront Israeli incursions after a cross-border raid that killed one person this morning.
The terror group says it urges full support for the army.
Turkey says its rescue team awaiting Israeli approval to enter Gaza
A Turkish disaster response team is waiting by the Gaza border for Israeli approval to enter the Palestinian territory to help with search and rescue operations, a defense ministry source said Thursday.
“AFAD is still waiting at the border. Israel still did not issue any authorization” for the team to enter, the source said, referring to Turkey’s disaster relief agency, which is said to be waiting on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with a team of 81 specialists.
Turkey still in talks to procure Eurofighters from Qatar, Oman, after inking UK deal
Turkey says talks are continuing with Qatar and Oman on procuring Eurofighter Typhoon fighters, after a deal it inked with Britain on Monday to buy 20 of the jets.
The deal between NATO allies Turkey and Britain aims to deepen their ties and bolster Turkish air defenses. Ankara has said it was also seeking to procure 24 more jets, albeit lightly used, from Qatar and Oman, for its more immediate needs.
At a briefing in Ankara, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said the value of the UK deal, which included the jets, equipment for the aircraft and various ammunition, was 5.4 billion pounds ($7.1 billion).
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that the deal included a weapons package that includes the MBDA Meteor air-to-air missiles and Brimstone ground attack missiles. The first batch of the 20 jets is expected in 2030.
World Zionist Organization vice chairman slams surprise Yair Netanyahu appointment
The proposed appointment of Yair Netanyahu for a board position at the World Zionist Organization is “unacceptable,” WZO vice chairman Yizhar Hess says in statement.
The appointment of the prime minister’s son to a cushy position was presented late last night after an agreement about a broad compromise over other key appointments had already been reached.
“Yesterday we at the national institutions were on the cusp of an historic, balanced agreement that would have united the Jewish people and positioned us to meet the challenges facing Israel and the Jewish world,” says Hess, who also serves as a senior representative of the Mercaz slate for the the Conservative/Masorti Movement.
“As we saw in the reactions of dismay and shock on the Congress floor, representatives of the liberal/pluralistic camp raised their voices and made clear we will only sign an agreement that is balanced and unites Israel and the Jewish people.”
Hess says a deal that hands Yair Netanyahu any position in the national institutions “is clearly not that and is not an option.”
He adds that Mercaz will continue to work with its partners to shape a balanced final agreement.
Construction to start soon on upgraded security barrier on Jordan border
Initial construction work is set to begin in the coming weeks on the first two sections of an upgraded security barrier along the border with Jordan, the Defense Ministry announces.
The first section will be built between the Hamat Gader hot springs at the southern edge of the Golan Heights and the community of Yardena. The second section will be between the Jordan Valley checkpoint and the settlement of Yafit.
The two sections are some 40 kilometers (25 miles) total in length.
In all, the project to upgrade Israel’s fence along the entire 425 kilometers (264 miles) of the border with Jordan — from the Samar Sands north of Eilat, through the West Bank, to the southern Golan Heights — will cost an estimated NIS 5.5 billion ($1.7 billion), the ministry says.
The ministry says it has completed tenders for the work on the first two sections, which will include “earthworks and drainage, road and highway rehabilitation, establishment of water and sewage infrastructure, electrical and communications systems, and more.”
Alongside the construction work, the ministry says it will continue work with the IDF in planning the next sections, “formulating the defensive concept for the border and the means required for it.”
Weapons smuggling is a constant challenge for Israel along its long, porous eastern border with Jordan. Unlike Israel’s other frontiers — with Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria — the border with Jordan is largely open, often without significant fencing, and guarding is limited, making it an easy channel for large-scale smuggling.
On the Jordan border, the IDF recently established a new regional unit, known as the 96th “Gilad” Division, which is set to operate from the Israel-Jordan-Syria tri-border area in the north down to the Ramon Airport in southern Israel. Currently, it is tasked with the northern half of the border, in the Jordan Valley.
Israel deporting 2 US Jews who entered closed IDF zone to aid Palestinian farmers
Two Jewish-American women who were participating in an initiative to help Palestinian olive growers harvest their crop in the northern West Bank were detained on Wednesday and are being processed for deportation from Israel.
The two women, along with nine other activists, were detained by the IDF in the Palestinian village of Burin — which was recently declared a closed military zone — and were taken first for a deportation hearing and then to Ramle immigration prison.
This is the second incident in two weeks in which activists supporting Palestinian olive growers have been detained for entering the closed military zone that was imposed on Burin on October 16.
The two women, one just out of high school and the other in her 50s, are in Israel on a four-month educational program with the Solidarity of Nations – Achvat Amim organization, and were volunteering for the harvest work with the Rabbis for Human Rights group.
According to Becca Strober, a spokesperson for Solidarity of Nations, the 11 activists traveled to Burin on Wednesday morning, but before reaching the village were told at an IDF checkpoint that the direction they were traveling in would take them to a closed military zone.
“After consulting with Rabbis for Human Rights leadership” the activists decided to try to reach their destination via a different route. Strober maintains they were not aware that the destination itself was in the closed military zone.
After the activists arrived at their destination they were intercepted again by the IDF and detained. All the volunteers were first taken to the Ariel Police Station in the West Bank, where the Israeli citizens were released with an order banning them from the West Bank for 15 days.
The two American women were told they were to be deported, taken for a deportation hearing at Ben Gurion Airport, and then taken to Ramle immigration prison for the night.
It is unclear when they will be deported.
“The police are arresting solidarity activists coming to support Palestinian farmers due to the settler violence against them during the olive harvest, instead of arresting the violent settlers who are making the presence of the solidarity activists necessary,” says Strober.
“This couldn’t be farther away from justice and legal logic, that the police are focusing their efforts on arresting those picking olives rather than those carrying out the extreme violence happening right now [against Palestinian olive growers].”
Director of Rabbis for Human Rights Avi Dabush described the detentions and deportations as “selective enforcement,” accusing the IDF and police of failing to arrest any settlers connected to the massive spate of violent incidents against Palestinians and their property in the two weeks since the olive harvest started.
By comparison, nine closed military zones have been declared around olive harvest areas preventing activists from entering to help the olive growers with their harvest, Dabush said.
“We operate legally and without violence, and it is a shame that the police and the army wasted an entire day removing people who came to stand by the side of people under attack.”
The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Police arrest 12th grader in Tamra who fired handgun at school; no injuries reported
Police say they arrested a 12th grader after he fired a handgun near his school in Tamra, following an argument with other students. No injuries were reported.
After receiving a report of gunshots yesterday in the northern Arab city, officers seized the handgun and detained the 17-year-old. They plan to bring him this morning before a court to extend his detention.
Police say they have seized over 930 lethal weapons in the Northern District so far this year.
Earlier this week, a 17-year-old was stabbed to death by his classmate at school in Kafr Qara, shocking residents and raising concerns about the presence of weapons in educational institutions.
Tamra also saw a deadly shooting last week. Muhammad Hejazi, a 53-year-old bus driver, was killed by assailants who opened fire on him as he sat on his balcony Thursday night.
Lebanon’s president orders army to ‘confront any Israeli incursion’
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun orders the country’s armed forces to oppose any Israeli incursions in the country’s south following an IDF raid that reportedly killed a municipal worker.
Aoun ordered the army to “confront any Israeli incursion into liberated southern territory, in defense of Lebanese territory and the safety of citizens,” during a meeting with the army chief, according to a statement from the presidency.
The Israel Defense Forces earlier confirmed the overnight raid in the town of Blida, saying it was part of an operation to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure. An Israeli military source also confirmed that Lebanese army troops arrived at the area after the IDF withdrew, and stressed that there was no confrontation between the sides.
Israel this morning also struck a rocket launcher and a tunnel shaft belonging to Hezbollah in the Mahmoudiyeh area, next to the town of Jarmaq, according to the IDF.
Jerusalem 83-year-old charged with murdering his caregiver
Prosecutors file charges against an 83-year-old man suspected of murdering his caregiver.
Jerusalem resident Shimon Gutman, the suspected killer, had served time in jail over four decades ago for a deadly mail bombing.
The victim, Haviva Vashdi, had been caring for Gutman for four years. He allegedly became suspicious that Vashdi was stealing money and jewelry from him, and therefore decided to kill her.
During one of Vashdi’s visits to Gutman around the time of Rosh Hashanah, the elderly man took a knife to Vashdi’s throat, then stabbed her in the back and chest, prosecutors say.
The suspect then allegedly attempted to hide her body in a bathtub, filling it with water in order to hasten the corpse’s decomposition. He cleaned the bloodstains from the scene of the murder and lied about Vashdi’s whereabouts to her family, according to the indictment.
Gutman is charged with aggravated murder and obstruction of justice, for his attempts to hide the body. Prosecutors request that the court extend his detention until the end of legal proceedings.
Gutman was previously convicted of mailing an explosive to his mother-in-law in 1980 in revenge for what he claimed was his ruined marriage. The mother-in-law and two others were killed when she opened the package at a Givatayim post office. He served 18 years in prison for the killings.
Shas will decide on Haredi draft regulation once it’s ‘on the table,’ chairman’s office says
Speaking with the Ynet news site, a spokesman for Shas chairman Aryeh Deri says the ultra-Orthodox party will only decide whether to support a controversial government-backed law regulating Haredi enlistment after referring the legislation to its rabbinic leadership.
“We saw leaks, not a law. When it is placed on the table, we will bring it to the rabbis and they will decide,” says Asher Medina, referring to this week’s media reports regarding the content of the bill, which is set to be presented to members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday.
Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth’s proposal reportedly features reduced penalties for draft evasion and lowered requirements for draft exemption for yeshiva students, drawing criticism from former committee chief and fellow Likud lawmaker Yuli Edelstein, who dismissed it as a “draft-dodging scheme.”
Speaking with Ynet, Medina says that Edelstein, who was booted from the committee on Wednesday, “deceived us.”
Edelstein was ousted as chairman of the powerful committee in July, after Shas and United Torah Judaism quit the government over his proposed enlistment bill, which would have levied harsh sanctions on draft evaders.
Shas last week quit all of its coalition posts to protest the failure to legislate a draft exemption for yeshiva students and is one of the backers of a mass prayer rally against conscription in Jerusalem this afternoon.
The party’s top rabbis have been highly critical of Deri’s handling of the conscription issue. In leaked recordings aired by Channel 12 last week, several members of the party’s ruling Council of Torah Sages were heard advocating for fresh elections and for boycotting a future governing coalition if their demands on draft exemptions for Haredi yeshiva students weren’t met.
“If my father were alive, none of this would be happening,” Shas spiritual leader and ex-Sephardic chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who succeeded his father Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, said, blaming Deri for the lack of progress in regulating Haredi draft exemptions and for remaining in the coalition despite failure to procure the desired legislation. “If my father were alive, he would yell at him.”
Haredi MKs blast Israel Railways for stopping service ahead of anti-conscription rally
Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers slam Israel Railways for shutting down the Jerusalem Navon train station during this afternoon’s mass anti-conscription prayer rally in the nation’s capital, turning to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Transportation Minister Miri Regev in an effort to reverse the decision.
In a statement, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party says that chairman Aryeh Deri contacted the railroad company regarding its “scandalous” decision, only to be told that it had been a directive from the Israel Police, leading him to appeal directly to Ben Gvir, whose ministry oversees law enforcement.
“Such a decision will cause tens of thousands to be stuck across the country and block intersections. It is an illegitimate decision that will prevent a huge public from coming and praying. Ben Gvir has pledged to act immediately to find a solution,” Deri says.
In a separate statement on Wednesday evening, United Torah Judaism MK Yisrael Eichler says he appealed to both Ben Gvir and Regev, asking them “not to cooperate with the persecutors of the Haredi public who seek to prevent the right to demonstrate tomorrow.”
“It should be remembered that during the mass demonstrations near the Knesset, the trains operated as usual and did not prevent any protester from coming and going whenever they wanted,” Eichler’s office says.
Netanyahu to address graduation ceremony for IDF officers’ course
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the ceremony for cadets completing the IDF officers training course at the Bahad 1 school near Mizpe Ramon at 3 p.m. today, his office says.
He was in the south yesterday as well, visiting the Kiryat Gat headquarters of the multinational force overseeing the Gaza ceasefire.
54-year-old shopkeeper shot dead in northern Arab town, no arrests yet reported
A 54-year-old man was shot dead outside his shop this morning in Kaukab Abu al-Hija, a small Arab town in northern Israel.
The victim, Rasem Naamneh, was opening his shop at around dawn when he was killed. Paramedics dispatched to the scene declared him dead on the spot.
Police say they have opened an investigation, and no arrests have yet been reported.
Naamneh lived in Arraba, a neighboring village that saw another deadly shooting earlier this week, which left 18-year-old Qassem Asleh dead. He was killed in the car while accompanying his father to work. Residents claimed assailants had been targeting Asleh’s father.
Since the start of the year, 212 Arab Israelis have been killed violently, mostly in gang-related shootings as crime runs rampant in Arab locales.
Residents and community leaders have lamented police’s inability to solve most homicide cases in the Arab sector, saying there is little to deter violent crime.
Later this morning, two men in their 50s were taken to the hospital after being injured in an apparent shootout near Ahituv, linked to what police characterize as a “local dispute.”
One of the men suffered serious injuries, while the other is in moderate condition.
Police rearrest terror detainee freed in January hostage deal, suspecting new plot
Police last night rearrested a Palestinian terror suspect who had been released earlier this year in a hostage-prisoner exchange during Israel’s January truce with Hamas, law enforcement announces.
The Bethlehem resident was initially detained around a year ago after police found 25 explosives in his possession, police say.
He is suspected of having supplied homemade explosives to terror groups.
West Bank District police raided his home last night and arrested him for interrogation on suspicion of renewing his involvement in terrorist activity.
Hebrew outlets report that he was planning an attack near Rachel’s Tomb.
The suspect is 16 years old, according to the Israel Hayom daily.
IDF confirms strikes in Lebanon, says it hit Hezbollah rocket launcher and tunnel shaft
The IDF confirms carrying out strikes in southern Lebanon a short while ago, saying it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure.
The targets included a rocket launcher and a tunnel shaft belonging to Hezbollah in the Mahmoudiyeh area, next to the town of Jarmaq, according to the military.
The IDF says the presence of the Hezbollah infrastructure in the area “constitutes a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
צה״ל תקף מטרות טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בלבנון
לפני זמן קצר, צה״ל בהובלת פיקוד הצפון ובאמצעות חיל האוויר, תקף תשתיות טרור, משגר ופיר של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב אל מחמודיה שבדרום לבנון.
הימצאותן של התשתיות במרחב מהוות הפרה של ההבנות בין ישראל ללבנון.
צה״ל ימשיך לפעול על… pic.twitter.com/hGyjQtAJto
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 30, 2025
German FM to make first visit to Syria, meet with Ahmed al-Sharaa
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul will make his first visit to Syria today and is due to meet representatives of the new government, including President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
“With the overthrow of the Assad dictatorship, the people of Syria have entered a new era,” Wadephul said referring to ousted president Bashar al-Assad, in a statement shared by the foreign ministry.
Israeli strikes reported in southern Lebanon
Lebanese media reports Israeli strikes in the southern Lebanon town of Jarmaq.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
بالفيديو: غارات جوية اسرائيلية تستهدف منطقة الجرمق العيشية pic.twitter.com/106paoEyWu
— Lebanon Debate (@lebanondebate) October 30, 2025
Hostages forum demands Haredi anti-draft protesters quit ‘cynical’ use of movement’s symbols
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum demands an ultra-Orthodox yeshiva apologize and pay NIS 400,000 ($123,000) in damages for appropriating symbols of the pro-hostage deal movement in its campaign against the jailing of Haredi draft-dodgers.
In a statement, the forum says it sent the Ateret Shlomo yeshiva in Beit Shemesh a warning letter last night, “following cynical, forbidden, and derogatory use of symbols, designs, messages and materials belonging to the families’ struggle for the return of their loved ones.”
Haredi organizations have in recent months spoofed the iconic “kidnapped” posters representing the plight of the hostages in order to call for the release of ultra-Orthodox men arrested for avoiding mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces.
A mass demonstration is planned today against conscripting Haredi men, who have long enjoyed a de facto exemption from military service on the basis of full-time Torah study.
IDF demolishes ‘terror infrastructure’ in Gaza overnight in area under its control
The IDF says it demolished “terror infrastructure” in the southern Gaza Strip overnight in an area that is under Israeli control under the ceasefire.
The military says the infrastructure had posed a threat to the troops stationed in the area, on the eastern side of the “Yellow Line” demarcating the IDF’s pullback in Gaza.
Palestinian media reported a series of explosions in the Khan Younis area overnight, as a result of the IDF’s activity.
The IDF says it remains deployed in Gaza “in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat.”
IDF confirms raid in southern Lebanon, says it was to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure
The IDF confirms operating in the southern Lebanon town of Blida overnight, saying it was part of an operation to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure.
During the raid, the military says troops identified a suspect in a building — which, according to Lebanese media, was Blida’s municipality building — and began a “suspect arrest procedure.”
“Once an immediate threat to the soldiers was identified, [the troops] opened fire to remove the threat, and a hit was identified,” the IDF says
According to Lebanese media, a municipal worker was killed by the gunfire..
The IDF says the shooting is under further investigation.
The municipal building, according to the IDF, was recently exploited by Hezbollah for “terror activity under the guise of civilian infrastructure.”
“This is another example of a pattern of behavior that endangers the residents of Lebanon and reflects Hezbollah’s cynical exploitation of civilian infrastructure for terror purposes,” the army says.
An Israeli military source confirms that Lebanese army troops arrived at the area after the IDF withdrew, and stresses that there was no confrontation between the sides.
Israel has erected nearly 1,000 new barriers across West Bank in last 2 years – PA
Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, Israel has erected nearly 1,000 barriers in cities and towns in the West Bank, a Palestinian Authority body reports.
According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, 916 gates, barriers and walls have been installed since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.
Among the new barriers are metal gates stationed at many village and town entrances and between cities, blocking access in and out. Sometimes the military is stationed at them.
Palestinians say the gates have erratic opening hours, with some staying shut for days. Some people sleep at friends’ or relatives’ homes or go around the gates on foot.
Israel’s military says the gates are not meant to restrict people but rather to “manage and monitor.”
Other barriers include concrete blocks placed along sidewalks to prevent car-ramming attacks, frequently launched against Israeli soldiers and civilians.
A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Israeli forces operate under a “complex security reality” in the West Bank, where terrorists embed themselves within the population and “accordingly, there are dynamic checkpoints and ongoing efforts to monitor movement in various areas.”
Netanyahu said to consider amendment to weaken state commissions of inquiry
The Yedioth Ahronoth daily reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is looking into an amendment to the law on state commissions of inquiry that would remove a commission’s power to issue recommendations to specific officeholders.
According to the report, which cites several unnamed individuals close to the premier, the amendment would change the law so that a probe can only issue recommendations to institutions, not people.
Netanyahu has resisted broad pressure to establish a state commission of inquiry, Israel’s most powerful investigative mechanism, into the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
Blue and White – National Unity chief Benny Gantz responds to the report. In a statement, Gantz calls the reported proposal a “transparent” effort to “escape responsibility,” and, addressing Netanyahu, says a state commission of inquiry “will be established, with or without you, now or after you.”
MK Vladimir Bialik, of Yesh Atid, says: “Netanyahu is running from a state commission of inquiry, and he knows why. We won’t allow him to soften the investigation into the failure of October 7.”
Reports: IDF troops raid southern Lebanon town before dawn, kill municipal employee
Lebanese media reports that Israeli soldiers raided the southern Lebanon town of Blida before dawn and killed a municipal employee.
According to the official National News Agency, IDF troops entered Blida at around 1:30 a.m. with several military vehicles, and stormed the town’s municipal building.
At the municipality, the troops killed Ibrahim Salameh, an employee who had been staying there, the report says.
The Israeli soldiers withdrew at around 4 a.m., and the Lebanese army later entered the building and recovered the body of the municipal worker, NNA adds.
The IDF has not commented on the incident.
من مكان تصفية موظف بلدية بليدا الشهيد ابراهيم سلامة على ايدي قوة من الإحتلال التي توغلت فجر اليوم الى مركز البلدية بعمق اكثر من الف متر داخل الأراضي اللبنانية. pic.twitter.com/z5BZzjKcGl
— Ahmad Hamieh???????????????? (@Ahmadhamieh313) October 30, 2025
Vance tells anti-Israel student Trump secured truce by using ‘leverage’ over Jerusalem
US Vice President JD Vance says President Donald Trump was able to secure a ceasefire in Gaza because he used “leverage” over Israel.
“The most recent Gaza peace plan that all of us have been working on very hard for the past few weeks — the president of the United States could only get that peace deal done by actually being willing to apply leverage to the State of Israel,” Vance tells students at the University of Mississippi where he was participating in a campus tour organized by the recently killed, right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point organization.
Vance’s comments were in response to a question by a Christian-identifying member of the audience who asked about the “notion that we might owe Israel something, or that they’re our greatest ally.”
The student incorrectly quoted Charlie Kirk as having accused Israel of “ethnically cleansing Gaza” and said he didn’t understand why the US should be providing foreign aid to Israel, “considering the fact that not only does their religion not agree with ours, but also openly supports the prosecution of ours.”
The question was met with applause from the packed student hall at the University of Mississippi.
JD Vance gets asked about j*wish control in America and disagreements with Christians ????
“J*ws do not believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah” pic.twitter.com/7g1WiG8HVv
— Charging… (@RedPillSayian) October 30, 2025
Calmly responding to the question, Vance began by saying, “First of all, when the president United States says ‘America first,’ that means that he pursues the interest of Americans first, That is our entire foreign policy.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re not going to have alliances, that you’re not going to work with other countries from time to time,” the vice president said. “That is what the president believes — that Israel, sometimes they have similar interests to the United States, and we’re going to work with them in that case. Sometimes they don’t have similar interests to the United States.”
He then used the example of Trump’s plan for ending the Gaza war and suggested that Israel needed to be leveraged in order to get on board with the plan. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly endorsed Trump’s 20-point plan during a White House visit in September, which also featured a US-orchestrated apology call to his Qatari counterpart for Israel’s botched strike targeting Hamas’s leaders in Doha.
“When people say that Israel is somehow manipulating or controlling the President of the United States — they’re not controlling this president in the United States, which is one of the reasons why we’ve been able to have some of the success that we’ve had in the Middle East,” Vance says, notably trying to hit back at a similar accusation that has been lobbed at Netanyahu in recent weeks.
The Israeli premier has repeatedly insisted that Israel is not a client state of the US as Washington has taken increasing control over how the ceasefire is maintained in Gaza.
Vance went on to respond to the student’s claims regarding Judaism, acknowledging that members of the faith don’t view Jesus as the Messiah as Christians do, calling this “one of the realities.”
“My attitude is, let’s have those conversations. Let’s have those disagreements when we have them. But if there are shared areas of interest, we ought to be willing to do that too,” he said.
“One thing I really, really care about is the preservation of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Christians believe that that is the site where Jesus Christ was crucified and also that his tomb is right there as well. My attitude is, if we can work with our friends in Israel to make sure that Christians have safe access to that site, that’s an obvious area of common interest,” said Vance, who paid a visit to that church when he was in Israel last week.
At the end of the visit to Israel, he lashed out over the Knesset’s advancement of legislation aimed at annexing parts of the West Bank, calling it a personal insult, after Trump had said last month that he would not allow the move.
Vance has long presented himself as an ally of Israel but is seen as part of the more isolationist, MAGA wing of the Republican party.
“What I am not okay with is any country coming before the interest of American citizens,” Vance told the students, who applauded his answer.
Cuomo far ahead of Mamdani among Jewish voters — poll
New York Jews favor former governor Andrew Cuomo over the far-left Israel critic Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race, a new poll says, days before the election.
The Quinnipiac University poll finds that, if elections were held today, 60 percent of Jews would vote for Cuomo, and 16% for Mamdani. The survey has a relatively small sample size of 170 Jews, with a ±9.2% margin of error for Jewish respondents.
Twelve percent of Jews would vote for Republican Curtis Sliwa, while the remainder are undecided, favor another candidate, or refused to answer.
The poll says that 75% of Jews have an unfavorable view of Mamdani and 15% are in favor, while 39% have a favorable view of Cuomo, and 50% have an unfavorable view.
The top issue for Jewish voters, by a wide margin, is crime, followed by affordable housing and schools. The survey does not ask about Israel or Jewish issues.
For all voters, Mamdani leads Cuomo 43% to 33%, and Sliwa trails both at 14%.
Early voting is underway and the general election is on November 4.
Likud’s Zohar defends tapping Yair Netanyahu for senior WZO role
Likud Culture Minister Miki Zohar defends tapping Yair Netanyahu, the controversial older son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for a cushy gig in the World Zionist Organization.
In a post on X, Zohar claims that, for many years, figures on the left have “worked to appoint relatives and associates to positions in national institutions.”
Zohar says that “suddenly, when it comes to Likud and Netanyahu, it turns into a storm.”
The minister denounces the “disgusting display of malicious hypocrisy” against the younger Netanyahu, who, he asserts “merely wanted to promote Zionist advocacy in the Diaspora for the sake of the Jewish people.”
According to Hebrew media reports, the compromise deal that was reached between Likud and Yesh Atid earlier today over roles in WZO and KKL has now been put on hold over Yesh Atid’s outrage at the job offer to Netanyahu, the vote on which is being delayed two weeks.
Freed captive Alon Ohel plays piano on ‘Eretz Nehederet’
Released hostage Alon Ohel appears at the end of satirical comedy show ,”Eretz Nehederet,” playing the piano as the cast sings David Broza’s “Under the Sky.”
Host Eyal Kitzis notes that having Ohel with them closes the circle from eight months earlier, when singer and performer Hanan Ben Ari joined the “Eretz Nehederet” cast to sing a song for Ohel, a budding pianist who was held hostage for two years and finally freed earlier this month.
Ohel, wearing a patch on his right eye due to untreated injuries he sustained on October 7, 2023, grins from time to time, as he accompanies the cast, and particularly when his parents and sister join him and the cast onstage.
Members of the “Eretz Nehederet” cast hug the Ohels and embrace the freed hostage as he plays.
Report: Yair Netanyahu tapped for cushy gig at World Zionist Organization
Yair Netanyahu, the elder son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has reportedly been appointed to a senior role in the World Zionist Organization.
According to Hebrew media outlets, Likud Culture Minister Miki Zohar has put forth the younger Netanyahu for a position in the WZO, as part of a larger compromise agreement on dividing up roles in key Zionist organizations between Likud and Yesh Atid.
According to the Ynet news site, the job comes with an office, a car, and a salary commensurate with that of a minister.
Yesh Atid responds that it is a “despicable decision” to appoint Yair Netanyahu to such a role and that the party “will not sign any such deal.”
Party chief Yair Lapid then chimes in: “Won’t happen. Period.”
The younger Netanyahu, who has spent much of the past two years living in Miami, Florida, is best known for his firebrand social media presence and association with a number of far-right European and American politicians and figures.