Oct. 5: Hostage families gather to pray for a deal that will bring their loved ones home

Two moderately injured in violent incident in Rahat, as unrest rocks the southern Bedouin city

Two young men have been moderately injured in a violent incident tonight in Rahat, says the Magen David Adom emergency service.

The two wounded men, ages 21 and 24, were taken to Soroka Medical Center by paramedics.

The incident is the latest in a wave of violence that has rocked the southern Bedouin city in recent days, seemingly related to two blood feuds that were rekindled over the weekend.

On Saturday night, 21-year-old pharmacology student Adam al-Ubra was shot to death while visiting his parents in Rahat, in a revenge killing that left one other man seriously injured. Police arrested three suspects in the deadly shooting.

Earlier the same day a doctor was shot and badly wounded in his car by several assailants. Police say the attack was related to another conflict between rival families in the city. Five were arrested on suspicion of involvement.

Effort to reach agreement on Gaza ceasefire ‘looks like it’s working,’ Trump says

US President Donald Trump says the effort to secure an agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza “looks like it’s working.”

“We’ll wait for a little while, [and] see how it all turns out,” Trump tells reporters outside the White House.

He reiterates what he wrote in a Truth Social post less than an hour ago, that Arab, Muslim and other countries have had “very good meetings” with Hamas.

“I think it’s going to go very quickly. We’ll let you know soon,” he says.

Trump touts ‘very positive’ talks between Hamas and Arab, Muslim countries; says ‘1st phase’ should be done this week

US President Donald Trump speaks during a celebration for the 250th anniversary of the US Navy aboard the USS Harry S. Truman at Naval Station Norfolk, October 5, 2025 in Norfolk, Virginia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

US President Donald Trump reports that “very positive discussions” have been taking place between Hamas and Arab and Muslim interlocutors over the weekend aimed at securing the release of the hostages, ending the war in Gaza and achieving “PEACE in the Middle East.”

“These talks have been very successful, and proceeding rapidly,” Trump writes on Truth Social, adding that “technical teams” will meet again on Monday in Egypt to “work through and clarify the final details.”

“I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST,” Trump says.

It is not immediately clear what he means by “first phase” and whether he is suggesting that hostages will begin being released this week.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said over the weekend that he was hopeful that hostages could be released during the Sukkot holiday, which begins on Monday evening and extends for one week, followed immediately by the Simhat Torah holiday, which marks the Hebrew calendar anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.

“I will continue to monitor this Centuries old “conflict.” TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE OR, MASSIVE BLOODSHED WILL FOLLOW — SOMETHING THAT NOBODY WANTS TO SEE!” Trump signs off in his post.

Report: Greta Thunberg to be deported from Israel Tuesday on Greek-funded flight

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg (R) is seen on board of a vessel of a civilian flotilla, carrying pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel activists, and humanitarian aid and aiming to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip, moored at Barcelona port on September 1, 2025 (Lluis GENE / AFP)

Greta Thunberg is set to be deported from Israel tomorrow on a Greek-funded flight, Ynet reports, after she and hundreds of other activists were detained trying to break Israel’s maritime blockade on Gaza.

The plane will take off from southern Israel’s Ramon Airport and land in Athens. Thunberg will be joined by 27 other deported activists, all Greek citizens whose return home was arranged by their government, according to the outlet.

More than 470 activists were detained from 42 vessels partaking in the Global Sumud Flotilla, after they were intercepted by the Israeli Navy.

In total, 170 flotilla activists had been deported so far. Those who remain are being held in Ketziot prison, in what their legal representation describes as substandard conditions.

According to testimony given to the Adalah legal aid group, the detained activists have been denied essential medical treatment and are being given “grossly inadequate” amounts of food and water.

Reports have indicated that Thunberg has been treated particularly harshly.

The Swedish activist has not been able to meet with a lawyer while in prison as of Sunday afternoon.

Police probing death of Palestinian man found in northern Jerusalem

cap Police investigate the death of a Palestinian man after his body was found in northern Jerusalem, near the West Bank security barrier on October 5, 2025. (Israel Police)

Police are probing the death of a Palestinian man in his 20s after his body was found in northern Jerusalem, next to the West Bank security barrier.

The circumstances surrounding his death are still unclear and the investigation is ongoing, police say, as officers collect evidence at the scene.

Haredi lawmaker draws criticism after appearing to compare detained draft dodgers to Gaza hostages

MK Yitzhak Goldknopf, the chairman of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, appears to draw a comparison between the Gaza hostages and detained Haredi draft dodgers in a letter welcoming US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza.

Expressing his wish for the hostages to be speedily returned to Israel over the upcoming Sukkot holiday, starting on Monday night, Goldknopf writes in a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the government is responsible for ensuring that any Palestinian terrorists released as part of the deal “never pose a threat to the State of Israel at any stage or in any way.”

Juxtaposing the issue of the hostages with that of IDF conscription, Goldknopf urges the premier to work to “immediately” free draft dodgers arrested “for the crime of studying Torah” so that they can also celebrate the upcoming holiday with their families.

Goldknopf quit the cabinet in protest this June over the government’s failure to pass legislation exempting yeshiva students from mandatory military service. His party left the government the following month.

Secular and national religious politicians are quick to condemn Goldknopf for his apparent comparison of the hostages and draft dodgers, with former prime minister Naftali Bennett tweeting that his rhetoric was “simply shameful.”

“My problem is with parties that call themselves ‘Zionist’ yet provide backing for the disgrace of draft evasion only out of political and personal interests,” Bennett writes.

Yesh Atid MK Debbie Biton calls Goldknopf’s comparison a “moral disgrace,” while The Democrats MK Efrat Rayten declares that she is “praying that he be forgiven for all his sins.”

The Israel National News news website cites the National Religious Reservists Forum, which complains that while Goldknopf is asking to allow draft dodgers to celebrate at home, tens of thousands of reservists will be spending the holiday in the army.

Last week, the IDF approved the early release of a number of ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers, including several who had been detained after returning from Uman, in order to allow them to mark the Yom Kippur fast at home.

It was the second such early release over a period of two weeks, with another group having been sent home ahead of Rosh Hashanah.

Iran says it supports ‘any initiative’ for Palestinian self-determination, on eve of Gaza talks

Iran says it supports “any initiative” aiming to secure “self-determination” for the Palestinian people, on the eve of negotiations in Egypt on ending the war in Gaza and returning those held hostage by the Hamas terror group.

Tehran, which backs Hamas, “has always supported any initiative aimed at ending ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, and paving the way for the realization of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,” says the Iranian foreign ministry in a statement.

It adds that the Islamic Republic is ready to help deliver aid to the Strip.

Spanish flotilla detainee bit one of prison’s medical staff, officials say

Flotilla activists, including Greta Thunberg, are seen being transported to Israel after their vessels were intercepted by the IDF on October 2, 2025. (Foreign Ministry)

A Spanish activist who was arrested after partaking in the Gaza flotilla bites a medical staff member while detained at Ketziot Prison this evening, prison officials say.

She bites the staff member while being escorted from a routine medical examination, as part of her preparations for her deportation scheduled for tomorrow morning.

The medical staff member was treated in the prison for minor injuries and police were called to the scene to handle the activist.

Hamas delegation arrives in Egypt for talks on Gaza truce, hostage-prisoner exchange

This handout picture released by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 8, 2025, shows L-R) member of the Hamas political bureau Nizar Awadallah, deputy chairman of the Hamas political bureau Khalil al-Hayya and the head of the political council of Hamas Mohammad Ismail Darwish, in a meeting in Tehran, Iran. (KHAMENEI.IR / AFP)

A delegation of Hamas officials, led by Khalil al-Hayya, has arrived in Egypt “to begin negotiations on mechanisms for a ceasefire, withdrawal of occupation forces, and prisoner exchange,” the terror group announces.

Hamas refers to the hostages it abducted during its October 7, 2023, terror onslaught, which started the ongoing war, as “prisoners.”

As part of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war, Israel is set to release 250 Palestinian security prisoners currently serving life sentences, as well as more than 1,700 people from Gaza who were arrested over the course of the two-year war in the Strip.

UK Tory leader: Anti-Israel marches are ‘carnivals of hatred,’ incite against Jews

Britain's main opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch delivers a welcome speech on the first day of the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester, north-west England, on October 5, 2025. (Paul ELLIS / AFP)

Kemi Badenoch, leader of the UK’s Conservative party, says pro-Palestinian marches in the country have become “carnivals of hatred directed at the Jewish homeland.”

Speaking in Manchester days after a deadly terror attack on a synagogue, Badenoch says that attack “was not just an attack on British Jews, it was an attack on all of us.”

Then, she says that, in the spirit of the Day of Atonement, Britain should consider where it has gone wrong, and that one mistake was tolerating rhetoric at anti-Israel demonstrations that are most plausibly understood as calls for violence against Jews.

“You hear it in the asinine slogans; you hear it in ‘from the river to the sea,’ as if the homes and the lives of millions of Jewish people should be erased,” she says.

“You hear it in ‘globalize the intifada,’ which means nothing at all if it doesn’t mean targeting Jewish people for violence,” she continues to applause.

“We have tolerated this in our country for too long, and we have tolerated the radical Islamist ideology that seeks to threaten not only Jews, but all of us, of all faiths and none, who want to live in peace.”

“We must now draw a line and say that in Britain you can think what you like, and within the bounds of the law you can say what you like, but you have no right to turn our streets into the theaters of intimidation, and we will not let you do so anymore!” she says.

International Fellowship of Christians and Jews plants 1.5 million Israeli flags around US to mark Oct. 7

Flags planted as part of the Flags of Fellowship campaign in honor of the second anniversary of the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023. (IFCJ)

More than 1.5 million Israeli flags are being planted around the United States to mark the second anniversary of the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023.

Under the second annual Flags of Fellowship campaign by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), more than 1,300 churches, synagogues and universities across all 50 states are each displaying 1,200 flags in honor of the 1,200 people killed that day.

The campaign, which runs October 2-8, kicked off with a ceremony at Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the most affected communities in the Gaza envelope, where nearly a quarter of the community’s residents were killed or taken captive by Hamas. The ceremony saw the placement of the first 1,200 flags in commemoration of the 1,200 people murdered during the October 7th massacre.

The international campaign launched with a gathering on October 5th at the World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, with its congregation of 10,000 pro-Israel activists.

“Every one of these flags carries a simple and sacred truth: Am Yisrael is not alone,” said IFCJ President Yael Eckstein, using a Hebrew term for the Jewish people.

Flags planted as part of the Flags of Fellowship campaign in honor of the second anniversary of the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023. (IFCJ)

‘Dirty Jews, may you all burn’ graffiti sprayed on kosher bakery in Rome

Antisemitic graffiti was sprayed across the rolled-down shutter of a kosher bakery in Rome, Italian media report.

“Dirty Jews, may you all burn,” reads the graffiti, which, according to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, was uncovered by the bakery’s workers this morning.

The bakery is located in Via Avicenna, in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Viale Marconi.

«Ebrei di me**a bruciate tutti», spunta scritta antisemita su un panificio kosher: il caso a Roma https://t.co/ND7keYmjVf

— Open (@Open_gol) October 5, 2025

Antisemitic incidents have skyrocketed in Italy since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.

The most recent report by the Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea (CDEC), a Milan-based think tank that monitors antisemitism in Italy, revealed that in 2024, its antisemitism watchdog received 877 complaints about antisemitic incidents in the country, compared to 454 in 2023 and 241 in 2022.

Several prominent incidents have also been registered in 2025. Among others, two Jewish teens were attacked and beaten in Milan in June, and another attack was reported against several Jewish tourists in Venice.

Many Italian Jews in recent weeks have reported, and denounced, an even more tense atmosphere, as a wave of anti-Israel rallies have taken place across Italy.

Hundreds of thousands of people joined the protests, some of which, including the main one in Rome, featured banners praising Hamas’s October 7 onslaught as “Palestinian resistance.”

The Hamas attack saw thousands of terrorists invade southern Israel from Gaza, kill some 1,200 people, and take 251 hostages, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.

IDF publishes footage of weapons Hamas left behind in Gaza City kindergarten

The IDF publishes footage showing weapons left behind by Hamas operatives in a kindergarten and a school in Gaza City.

“Last week, IDF troops identified Hamas terrorists fleeing a kindergarten in al-Shati, Gaza City. The troops later found an explosive device and an AK-47 rifle inside the kindergarten,” the military says on its English-language X account.

In a separate post, the IDF’s international media spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, posts a picture of uniforms, military equipment, and a Hamas flag in a classroom, saying: “These weapons were discovered in a school in Gaza a few days ago, a place meant for learning, not terror.”

❗️These weapons were discovered in a school in Gaza a few days ago ; a place meant for learning, not terror.

Once again, Hamas weaponizes civilian infrastructure, turning schools meant to protect children into tools of terror. pic.twitter.com/7L8Q5SBAqJ

— LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) October 5, 2025

????WATCH: Explosive Device and AK-47 Rifle Discovered Inside a Kindergarten in Gaza City

Last week, IDF troops identified Hamas terrorists fleeing a kindergarten in al-Shati, Gaza City. The troops later found an explosive device and an AK-47 rifle inside the kindergarten.

Once… pic.twitter.com/JJGAcwW3cQ

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 5, 2025

Both educational facilities likely have not been active during the war.

The IDF has repeatedly accused Hamas of using civilian sites — including schools, mosques, and hospitals — for terror, and has published extensive footage showing how the terror group dug tunnels and set up weapon depots in such facilities.

The IDF has also made use of schools in Gaza as temporary encampments for troops during the war.

Doctors Without Borders ‘outraged’ after 15th staffer killed in Gaza; IDF says strike targeted Hamas operative

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) voices “sorrow and outrage” following the death of a colleague in Gaza.

Abed El Hameed Qaradaya, 43, succumbed to shrapnel injuries sustained on Thursday, amid an attack that killed MSF colleague Omar Hayek and injured several others, the organization says.

MSF says the attack was carried out by Israeli forces. It says its staff were waiting for a bus to the charity’s field hospital at the time, and were all were wearing MSF vests.

In response to a query by the Times of Israel, the IDF says the strike on October 2 targeted a Hamas operative in central Gaza.

“Reports were received of a local Palestinian employee of an international organization who was killed, along with several local employees who were injured,” the military says, adding that “the details of the incident are under investigation.”

The IDF says that it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, while stressing that Hamas “embeds itself in the civilian population and exploits it as a human shield for terror purposes.”

It is with profound sorrow and outrage that we confirm the death of our colleague Abed El Hameed Qaradaya. https://t.co/XxUOPKHr3I

— MSF International (@MSF) October 5, 2025

El Hameed is the 15th MSF staff member killed in the near two-year conflict, and the third in less than 20 days.

“His loss is immense and has a tragic impact on his loved ones, MSF and the health system in Gaza,” the Geneva-based NGO said in a statement.

“For 18 years, Abed El Hameed was a cornerstone of MSF’s physiotherapy department in Gaza. He was a unique and invaluable specialist in both physiotherapy and occupational therapy.”

MSF said he innovated and adapted tools, and was the driving force behind opening a 3D physiotherapy department.

In June 2024, after another MSF staffer, Fadi al-Wadiya, was killed in an IDF strike, the military said he was an Islamic Jihad operative involved in developing the terror group’s missiles. MSF denied the accusation, then the IDF published a photograph of Wadiya in a PIJ uniform.

Left: Fadi al-Wadiya, a Doctors Without Borders member who the IDF says was a PIJ rocket expert, who was killed in a strike in Gaza City, June 25, 2024. (Courtesy of Doctors Without Borders on X); Right: An image released by the IDF on June 26, 2024, showing al-Wadiya in the uniform of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group. (Israel Defense Forces)

‘Enough, God Almighty, have mercy’: Hostage families pray for an imminent deal

Released hostage Agam Berger plays the violin at Hostages Square on October 5, 2025. (Vered Kalifa Caspi)

Hostages’ family members, released hostages and several bereaved relatives speak at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square in an event full of prayer and song, given the headlines about a possible imminent hostage deal.

Julie Kuperstein, mother of hostage Bar Kuperstein, says she “can’t get excited yet,” saying she learned this from freed hostage Elena Trufanov, as she waited to see if her son, Sasha Trufanov, would himself be released in February 2025.

Sasha Trufanov, the released hostage, speaks about the power of the high holidays, and is joined by fellow captivity survivor Agam Berger, who performs the liturgical prayer “Ana b’Koach,” on her violin.

Elhanan Danino, the father of Ori Danino, killed at the end of August 2024, in the tunnels of Gaza by his captors, speaks about Yom Kippur, and the liturgy that reflects the great losses and trauma suffered by Israel on October 7.

“Enough, God Almighty, have mercy on your nation who are calling to you,” says Danino.

He notes that while those marking the Yom Kippur fast went home to full refrigerators to sate themselves after the 24-hour fast, the hostages have been fasting for more than 15,000 hours.

“They don’t know what date it is. They don’t know the hour. Every day is Yom Kippur for them,” says Danino. “If we can’t bring them home with ammunition, let’s use our prayers so that the living will sit in the sukkah with their families and the others will be brought to a proper burial.”

Sigi Cohen, mother of released hostage Eliya Cohen, says she feels in her heart that by next week, the stage at Hostages Square will no longer be needed.

Egyptian foreign minister: Hamas’s disarmament is a Palestinian matter

Hamas operatives take part in the funeral ceremony of Marwan Issa, a top Hamas commander killed in March 2024, in the war-devastated Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip on February 7, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aaty tells the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat that “the handing over of Hamas’s weapons is an issue that must be addressed within a Palestinian framework.”

In the interview, he expresses hope that the Palestinian Authority’s security apparatus would assume the task of controlling Gaza after a transitional period, framing this as a political horizon toward the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Abdel Aaty also says that Egypt seeks to define the limits of authority for the international force expected to enter the Strip under the Trump plan, adding that eventually the same force would also need to enter the West Bank to link the two areas — Gaza and the West Bank — and to support the Palestinian Authority’s security mechanisms.

Trump shares article on how fury over Doha strike led him to pressure PM to end war

US President Donald Trump (R) hosts a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani (not pictured), in the Oval Office, Washington, DC, September 29, 2025. (White House)

US President Donald Trump shares a New York Times article on Truth Social that details how fury over Israel’s botched strike against Hamas leaders in Doha led him to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza.

Trump does not offer any commentary when sharing the story on Truth Social, but the decision to do so further bolsters the narrative about how the US president has lost patience with Netanyahu.

The Prime Minister’s Office has sought to downplay the notion, insisting that the two are on the same page regarding Trump’s Gaza plan, but mounting reports indicate that the Israeli premier had to be squeezed by Washington in order to accept it.

( @realDonaldTrump – Truth Social Post )
( Donald J. Trump – Oct 05, 2025, 11:07 AM ET )

"How Fury Over Israel’s Qatar Attack Pushed Netanyahu on Gaza"

Hamas has agreed to some elements of the proposal by President Trump to end the war in Gaza, but it’s not clear if its… pic.twitter.com/yrTr7OLthc

— Fan Donald J. Trump ???????? TRUTH POSTS (@TruthTrumpPosts) October 5, 2025

Ben Gvir, Smotrich said demanding guarantee that war can resume if Hamas won’t disarm

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, center, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at a 'Victory Conference' at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem on January 28, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leeway to facilitate the implementation of the first phase of Washington’s proposal for ending the war in Gaza, while demanding assurances that Israel can continue to fight Hamas, if the terror group does not disarm in the second phase, Channel 12 reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.

In the first stage of US President Donald Trump’s proposal, set to be negotiated over in Egypt tomorrow, all the hostages would be released and the IDF would redeploy to positions that allow it to continue to oversee Gaza, while the second phase would see Hamas disarm and Gaza demilitarized.

In a meeting with the premier yesterday, the far-right ministers focused on the second phase of the deal, seeking “explicit guarantees” from Netanyahu that Israel would be able to resume fighting Hamas if the terror group does not disarm, according to the Hebrew network.

Netanyahu reportedly gave the ministers the impression that if Hamas does not disarm, Israel will be able to act —- though such a guarantee does not appear anywhere in the US proposal’s current 20 points.

According to anonymous sources, Ben Gvir and Smotrich left the meeting feeling Netanyahu had not provided sufficient assurances on the issue, but decided that, for the time being, they would give the premier more time to carry out the arrangement while warning that they would not tolerate Hamas restoring its capabilities in Gaza.

Ahead of yesterday’s meeting, Ben Gvir, who leads the Otzma Yehudit party, said that his faction will leave the government if Hamas “continues to exist” after the return of the hostages held in Gaza.

Hamas-linked outlets deny report that group started gathering slain hostages’ bodies

Media outlets affiliated with Hamas are denying the earlier report on Saudi-owned Al Arabiya that Hamas had begun collecting the bodies of hostages and agreed to hand over its weapons to a body under international supervision.

In statements circulated by outlets such as Hamas’s Al-Aqsa Radio, it says that these are false reports with no basis in fact.

UK police probing mosque fire as hate crime, ask public for help identifying suspects

Stills from surveillance footage show the suspects in a potential arson attack on a mosque in southern England. (Sussex Police)

Police in southern England say they are investigating a suspected arson at a mosque as a hate crime, just days after a fatal attack on a synagogue.

Officers were called to the incident at the mosque in the southern coast town of Peacehaven late on Saturday.

While no one was injured, the blaze caused damage to the mosque’s front entrance and a vehicle parked outside.

In the wake of the attack, Sussex Police shared images of two masked men dressed in dark clothing, and appealed for help from the public to identify them.

“One wore a distinctive black jacket with a Pre London logo in white on the chest. The second wore bright red gloves,” they note.

A mosque in East Sussex was set on fire last night while two worshipers were inside.

Thugs in balaclavas poured liquid at the mosque entrance and near a parked car before setting it alight.

One of many mosques to have been attacked since July this year.pic.twitter.com/EgRMWZ1bNG

— Dilly Hussain (@DillyHussain88) October 5, 2025

Detective Inspector Gavin Patch branded the fire an “appalling and reckless attack which we know will have left many people feeling less safe.”

“We are treating this as an arson [attack] with intent to endanger life and are continuing to pursue a number of lines of enquiry to identify those responsible,” said Patch.

Interior minister Shabana Mahmood calls the fire “deeply concerning.”

“Attacks against Britain’s Muslims are attacks against all Britons and this country itself,” adds Mahmood on social media.

Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, also condemns the mosque fire, appealing for greater solidarity.

“Every faith community has the right to worship free from fear. Our country is better than this,” Rosenberg says.

“Over recent weeks there has been a lot of focus on how we have become a divided kingdom. But we are the United Kingdom. And we need to move forward against hate together.”

Hamas said to demand numerous key terror chiefs, Oct. 7 participants be freed in exchange for hostages

Palestinian women take a picture in front of a big poster of Marwan Barghouti, the highest-profile Palestinian prisoner held by Israel, during a rally in solidarity with Gaza and prisoners held by Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, August 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Citing Hamas sources, Channel 12 news sets out what it says are a series of Hamas demands that the terror group is going to make in the talks in Egypt, aimed at finalizing the release of all Israeli hostages in the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza.

Among these is a Hamas demand for the release of several of the most notorious Palestinian terrorists in exchange for the hostages, the report says.

These include Marwan Barghouti, the Fatah Tanzim chief jailed for multiple murders in the Second Intifada; Ahmad Sa’adat, secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Ibrahim Hamed, serving 45 life terms for orchestrating the killings of numerous Israelis as Hamas’s West Bank commander during the second intifada; Abbas al-Sayed, who orchestrated the 2002 bombing at the Park Hotel in Netanya in which 39 Israelis were killed, and Hamas’s Hassan Salameh, who is serving 48 life terms for multiple suicide bombings.

Channel 12 cites a Hamas source saying it “won’t give up” on securing the release of these and other life-term terrorists, whose release Israel has vetoed in previous deals, “even at the cost of dooming the deal.”

There are currently 303 security prisoners serving life sentences in Israel.

Channel 12 further reports that the Hamas delegation under Khalil al-Hayya will also be negotiating simultaneously with a Palestinian Authority team, as it seeks to ensure that the initial mechanism for “day after” Gaza includes the PA.

The TV report says PA President Mahmoud Abbas is promising PA reforms, including the formulation of a temporary constitution within three months and elections within a year, in which Hamas could participate only if it accepts Israel’s right to exist.

Channel 12 cites the Hamas sources as saying the group is also demanding a larger initial IDF withdrawal than is shown on the map that Trump issued yesterday — to what it says are the lines where the IDF was deployed in January.

It also wants guarantees that there will ultimately be a full IDF withdrawal from Gaza, with a timetable.

A separate, unsourced Channel 12 report says Hamas is demanding that Hamas Nukhba terrorists who took part in the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre be freed — a demand Israel has consistently rejected.

Cousin of slain hostage: PM has finally decided to prioritize returning hostages

Udi Goren, cousin of slain hostage Tal Haimi, speaks to a protest outside the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem, on October 5, 2025. (Charlie Summers/ Times of Israel)

At a protest outside the Prime Minister’s Residence, a cousin of slain hostage Tal Haimi voices optimism about the US-backed hostage release and ceasefire deal proposal now on the table.

“We are in the place we wanted to be, there is a negotiating team and a deal on the table,” Udi Goren says to dozens of protesters in Jerusalem.

The demonstration is held as an Israeli delegation led by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer heads to Egypt for hostage talks.

For the first time since October 7, “the prime minister agrees that in order to achieve the two goals of this war that he determined, we must prioritize,” Goren says, striking a hopeful note.

After the hostages return, “we won’t again neglect Israel’s security, we won’t allow the situation to deteriorate again to October 7, we won’t return to the strategy that brought disaster upon us,” he continues.

Ceremony begins in Tel Aviv marking two years since Oct. 7 massacre at Nova Festival

The crowd stands for a moment of silence at the Nova Tribe Community Association’s memorial ceremony in Tel Aviv, commemorating two years since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre at the Nova music festival, October 5, 2025. (Stav Levaton/ Times of Israel)

A ceremony marking two years since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre at the Nova music festival in southern Israel — where 378 people lost their lives — has begun in Tel Aviv, organized by the Nova Tribe Community Association.

The event, hosted by Chen Zander, whose sister Noa was murdered while fleeing the Nova festival, brings together hundreds of bereaved families, friends, and survivors to honor the victims of the music festival.

Performances include the Heart of Nova band, made up of survivors and bereaved relatives.

During the ceremony, participants reiterate calls for the return of the remaining 48 hostages still held in Gaza, 14 of whom are members of the Nova community.

The Nova Tribe Community Association, which supports survivors and bereaved families through counseling, rehabilitation, and advocacy, says the evening is meant to offer “a shoulder and a place to get through these difficult days together.”

Netanyahu says it’s ‘possible’ Hamas won’t agree to free hostages, but then Israel will act

Speaking to the pan-European Euronews network, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strikes a careful tone about a possible hostage deal, saying only that “it is possible” that Hamas will agree to release the hostages it is holding in Gaza.

“If it doesn’t happen, what President Trump has said is that he will back Israel completely in acting forcefully against Hamas,” warns Netanyahu, adding, “Let’s hope that we can finish it the easy way and not the hard way.”

“Now the onus is on Hamas,” says Netanyahu.

After the release of hostages, the demilitarization of Gaza and disarming of Hamas “will be negotiated,” Netanyahu says.

Europe has “essentially become irrelevant” to the effort to free the hostages and end the war in Gaza, says Netanyahu.

“Europe has been absent because Europe has basically caved to Palestinian terrorism, to radical Islamist minorities in their midst,” he says of the countries that recognized a Palestinian state last month.

Greece says 27 activists detained in Israel returning home tomorrow ‘in good health’

Activists ride aboard a vessel departing from Tunisia's northern port of Bizerte on September 14, 2025, to join the last boats taking part in the Global Sumud Flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip. (Mohamed FLISS / AFP)

Greece’s foreign ministry says 27 citizens detained in Israel after participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla will return tomorrow.

The foreign ministry in a statement says a Greek embassy delegation had visited the 27 activists in detention, and “all of them are in good health and are receiving all necessary support.”

“A special flight will depart from the nearby Eilat-Ramon International Airport to safely return the Greek citizens to Athens (on Monday),” it says.

A few dozen people gathered earlier on Sunday outside the Israeli embassy in Athens to mark two years since the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack in Israel. A few hundred anti-Israel protesters were kept a safe distance away by riot police.

A separate pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protest is held at central Syntagma Square, drawing a few thousand demonstrators.

The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail last month, ferrying politicians and activists, including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, towards Gaza. They were carrying a symbolic quantity of humanitarian aid. The flotilla aimed to break the blockade Israel imposed on Gaza in 2007 to prevent arms imports to Hamas. The Israeli navy intercepted all of the ships.

Netanyahu officially sends negotiators to Egypt for hostage talks

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially instructs his negotiating team to head to Egypt for hostage talks, his office says.

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer will be leading the delegation, says the PMO, but he is not set to fly out with the rest of the team.

The negotiators, except for Dermer, will take off tomorrow, and talks will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, not Cairo, which was the original location.

Ten portable bomb shelters placed in Eilat, as Houthi drone attacks continue

Ten portable bomb shelters have been placed in Eilat, the city announces, a week and a half after a drone launched by the Houthi group in Yemen smashed into a hotel in the resort city, wounding 20 people.

The shelters were put in open spaces, including beaches, sports fields, and parks, to provide citizens with a protected area to run to in the case of further drone or missile attacks, the city says.

Earlier this evening, sirens warned of another drone infiltration. Shortly thereafter, air defenses appeared to successfully shoot down the drone. No one was hurt.

Jerusalem construction work to cease during Sukkot holiday

Construction seen on King George Street in Jerusalem on September 18, 2025. (Amy Spiro/Times of Israel)

Construction work on Jerusalem’s light rail lines and other infrastructure projects will be paused from Monday, October 6, through Tuesday, October 14, in order to accommodate visitors and residents during the Sukkot holiday, the municipality says.

All work will be stopped except at several sites where work is being carried out in closed areas without disrupting traffic, the municipality says.

Many of the most popular areas of the city, including King George Street and Emek Refaim, are currently undergoing significant roadwork, much of it related to the development of the Blue Line of the city’s light rail network, which is expected to ease traffic in the city significantly when it opens in 4-5 years.

The city hopes that putting these projects on hold will ease travel for hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the country who visit Jerusalem for the holiday, says Director General of the Jerusalem Municipality Ariella Rajwan.

Thousands of UK Jews gather in London to mark 2nd anniversary of Oct. 7 Hamas attack

People gather for a commemorative event organized by the Jewish community to honor the lives lost in the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, Trafalgar Square, London, October 5, 2025. (HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)

Around 3,000 people gather in central London’s Trafalgar Square to mark two years since the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

The rally comes after nearly 500 people were arrested Saturday at a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protest, also held in Trafalgar Square, and three days after a deadly terror attack on a synagogue in northern Manchester on Yom Kippur in which two congregants were killed.

People waving Israeli and Union Jack flags and holding posters of hostages converge on the square for the commemorative event organized by the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BDBJ).

Participants sing songs, as photographs of the victims are shown on a giant screen.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis leads a prayer for the release of the remaining hostages.

UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis speaks to people gathering for a commemorative event organized by the Jewish community to honor the lives lost in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, in Trafalgar Square, London on October 5, 2025. (HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)

There is silence as the names of British citizens killed in the attack are read out.

Keith Black, chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council, tells the crowd the Manchester attack had shown “how deadly this virulent antisemitism has become.”

“Our streets have been filled with protesters screaming Jew hatred, our students had faced relentless waves of abuse on campus,” he says.

“A new concept called ‘ambient antisemitism’ has entered our vocabulary, a prevailing undercurrent across society, across a society that has turned against Israel, in consequence, against us as Jews,” he adds.

People gather for a commemorative event organized by the Jewish community to honor the lives lost in the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, Trafalgar Square, London, October 5, 2025. (HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)

In a video message, British-Israeli Emily Damari, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and held hostage in Gaza for 471 days, urges the crowd “to use your voice” to secure the hostages’ release, adding: “We can never give up on them.”

Another survivor, Shaun Lemel, who had been at the Nova Festival, recalls the day “everything changed” when, within minutes, things went from “an epic music festival to the most horrific battlefield.”

Security is especially tight in the wake of Thursday’s deadly terror attack in Manchester.

IDF chief, in Gaza, tells commanders to be prepared to resume fighting at any time

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (center) is seen on Gaza's coast in the Netzarim Corridor area south of Gaza City, October 5, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir tells commanders in Gaza today that they must be prepared to resume fighting at any time, as the military has paused offensive activity because of a push by US President Donald Trump to reach an end to the war.

“There is no ceasefire, but there is a change in the operational situation, the political echelon is taking the tools and achievements you have brought through military action and translating them into a political achievement,” Zamir says during a tour of the westernmost point of the Netzarim Corridor, south of Gaza City, which was recently recaptured by the army.

“If the political effort does not succeed, we will return to fight,” he says, according to remarks provided by the IDF.

Zamir says that “the campaign is not over; we must continue to be alert and prepared for combat at all times.”

“We must not forget, we have more war objectives; we will not allow Hamas to remain undefeated as a governing and military system in Gaza. If required, we will fight to achieve that. If an agreement is reached, we will prepare and hold forward controlling areas that will allow full operational flexibility and the return to any place [in Gaza] that is required,” he adds.

Speaking separately to reservists of the Harel and Yiftah brigades, Zamir says, “If the hostages are released, it will be a significant achievement and the fulfillment of a principal war objective, and it is thanks to you.”

“We hope to see all 48 hostages home soon; this is an ethical, moral, and national imperative,” he adds.

During his visit to the Netzarim Corridor, Zamir also carried out a snap drill with forces of the 99th Division, who are stationed in the area, simulating a Hamas attack on an army post, the military adds.

Report: Hamas begins collecting bodies of hostages; is prepared to give its weapons to Palestinian-Egypt body

A Hamas source tells the Saudi channel Al-Arabiya that Hamas operatives in Gaza have begun collecting the bodies of the dead hostages across the Strip, and that the organization demands that Israel halt its aerial strikes so that they are able to complete the task.

According to the source, the transfer of the bodies will take some time, and there is American flexibility on this matter.

The report also says that Hamas has received American guarantees stipulating that Israel will not resume the war and will permanently withdraw IDF forces from the strip if the deal proceeds to its conclusion.

The sources claim that Hamas has agreed to hand over its weapons to a Palestinian–Egyptian body under international supervision.

The report also says it has been agreed that Hamas leaders can choose to leave Gaza if they so wish and will not be targeted by Israel.

The report has not been confirmed by any other source.

Air defenses likely shot down Houthi drone over Eilat, military says; no one hurt

A drone launched by the Houthis in Yemen was likely shot down by air defenses over Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat, the military says.

Sirens had sounded in the city due to the drone attack and over fears of falling fragments following the interception.

Footage showed that at least two interceptor missiles were launched to take down the drone.

There are no reports of injuries or damage.

The attack comes after the Houthis launched a ballistic missile at Israel this morning, which was also intercepted.

חשד לחדירת כלי טיס עוין באילת | תיעוד ניסיון היירוט @ItayBlumental
(צילום: שימוש לפי סעיף 27 א' לזכויות היוצרים) pic.twitter.com/k4WP1R2iCy

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 5, 2025

Report: Hamas demands Israel withdraw to previous ceasefire lines even during negotiations

IDF troops operate in Gaza City, in a handout photo issued on September 17, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Saudi channel Asharq reports that Hamas is presenting a series of demands ahead of talks that are set to begin tomorrow in Egypt.

These include a complete ceasefire, the withdrawal of the IDF to the positions it held during the implementation of the previous deal in January – meaning outside populated areas in the Strip – as well as the suspension of fighter jet and drone activity for 10 hours a day, and for 12 hours on days when hostages are released.

According to the sources, Hamas is demanding that these measures be applied throughout the entire period of negotiations, which may last a week or longer.

A Palestinian source close to Hamas told AFP: “During communications with mediators, Hamas insisted that it is essential for Israel to halt military operations across all areas of the Gaza Strip, cease all air, reconnaissance, and drone activity, and withdraw from inside Gaza City,” adding that the group would “also halt their military operations” in parallel.

It was also reported that in the previous deal, Israel objected to the release of 50 Palestinian prisoners, including senior figures from Fatah, Hamas, and other groups – among them Marwan Barghouti, Ahmad Sa’adat, Ibrahim Hamed, Hassan Salameh, and Abbas Sayyed.

According to the report, Hamas now demands that Israel drop its objections and release them, stressing that this is “the only remaining opportunity for their freedom.”

PA transportation minister dismissed over corruption suspicions

Sources tell the Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that Palestinian Authority Transportation Minister Tareq Zou’rob, who was dismissed yesterday, was ousted due to corruption suspicions.

According to the report, the Palestinian prosecution is investigating Zou’rob.

PA Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa announced Zou’rob’s dismissal yesterday. A statement noted that Minister of Housing and Public Works A’ed Bseiso will manage the ex-minister’s affairs in addition to his current duties.

The Palestinian news site Sama reports that the corruption suspicions have several components, among them “granting licenses and approvals in violation of official procedures.”

In a related case, Nazmi Muhanna, head of the Palestinian Crossings Authority, was also dismissed from his post after becoming wanted on corruption suspicions.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree yesterday appointing Amin Kandil as head of the crossings authority in Muhanna’s place.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports that Muhanna is suspected of antiquities smuggling and has failed to appear for questioning in the past two weeks, apparently staying outside Israel’s borders.

Pressure has been mounting on the PA recently from US and European officials to carry out structural reforms and fight corruption.

‘Unlawful orders are void’: Karhi calls to ignore High Court on how to fire AG

L: Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on December 18, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90); R: Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on November 18, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi calls on the government to ignore the High Court of Justice’s position on the dismissal of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, averring that “unlawful orders are void.”

Karhi, a radical Likud minister, is referring to the High Court’s unanimous decision earlier today rejecting the government’s proposal for it to consult the advisory committee for hiring and firing the attorney general, in order to dismiss Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, if the court allows it to convene without a key member.

“There is not a single one among the disconnected [judges] in the ivory tower who thinks that the government should be allowed to work and the mandate we received from the people to be realized,” says Karhi in reference to nine judges who are signatory to the decision, three of whom are staunch, hardline conservatives who have frequently ruled in favor of government positions.

“It is time to stop this farce dance. Say to the High Court of Justice, simply no! The dismissal of the attorney general was carried out legally by a unanimous government decision. End of story,” insists Karhi.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, one of the petitioners against the government’s decision to fire Baharav-Miara, says, however, that the ruling demonstrates a willingness of the judges to “halt the government’s attempts for a regime coup.”

The organization accuses the government of trying to revive its judicial overhaul agenda “via the backdoor,” and to change the institution of the Attorney General’s Office from a professional outfit into a “corrupt, politicized institution.”

Adds the watchdog group: “All lovers of democracy in Israel stand by her [the attorney general]. We will continue to stand guard to physically thwart any attempt to harm Israeli democracy.”

Sirens blare in Eilat, warning of suspected drone infiltration

Sirens warning of a suspected drone infiltration sound in Eilat.

The IDF says it is looking into the details.

The Houthis in Yemen have targeted Eilat with drones numerous times. Last month, a Houthi drone hit the resort city, wounding over 20 people.

Netanyahu meets with new Shin Bet chief David Zini, who started this morning

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds his first meeting with new Shin Bet chief David Zini on October 5, 2025.(Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds his first meeting with new Shin Bet chief David Zini, telling him, “There is a lot of work, and I wish you great luck. Your success is the security of the country.”

Zini officially began his tenure this morning.

Trump: All ‘pretty much agreed’ on Gaza, talks will ‘probably take a couple of days’

US President Donald Trump walks to speak with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, on September 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

US President Donald Trump, asked whether he is “open to flexibility” on the terms of his plan for ending the war in Gaza.

“We don’t need flexibility, because everyone has pretty much agreed to it.”

“But there’ll always be some changes,” he adds.

“But the Hamas plan, it’s amazing,” he says, presumably referring to his own proposal, which Israel has agreed to already.

“You get the hostages back almost immediately. Negotiations are going on right now, will probably take a couple of days,” he adds.

טראמפ לשאלת כאן חדשות: אין צורך בהרבה גמישות, שיחות המו"מ יימשכו כמה ימים@nathanguttman pic.twitter.com/YZLPwzqJ2P

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 5, 2025

After Yom Kippur attack, Manchester Jews defiant at October 7 memorial

Rabbi Amir Elituv blows a shofar at an October 5, 2025 memorial for those killed in a terror attack on a synagogue on Yom Kippur the previous week, in Manchester, England. (@SAs115thDream on X)

“We are not Jews with trembling knees” is the slogan emblazoned on banners at the memorial ceremony in Manchester three days after the community was rocked by a terror attack that left two dead and four seriously injured.

Thousands attend the ceremony outside the Manchester Cathedral on a chilly, rainy day, which was planned to mark two years since Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023, but which took on new relevance following the attack.

“Jews standing proud in the face of terrorism,” the banner displayed on the front stage reads. “Adrian and Melvin’s bravery will never be forgotten,” referring to the two victims of the attack, Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz.

Raphi Bloom, a prominent community member who attends Heaton Park Synagogue, blames Prime Minister Keir Starmer for emboldening Hamas by recognizing Palestinian statehood last month.

For two years, our community has faced unprecedented Jew hatred,” including assault, vandalism, and marches that made city centers effectively off-limits for Jews, Bloom says. “Never have Jews in the UK been under such attack.”

Other Speakers include Marc Levy, CEO of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester & Region, Israeli Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sharren Haskel-Harpaz, MP Christian Wakeford, and Carmel Berke, chairman of the United Jewish Israel Appeal in Manchester.

Rabbi Amir Elituv leads prayers and a moment of silence for the victims of both the October 7 and the Heaton Park attack before blowing the shofar.

Rabbi Elituv blows the shofar in honour of the victims of Oct 7 and #HeatonPark, the remaining hostages and as a sign of faith and hope that they will soon be returned. pic.twitter.com/rtC7034YLf

— Stuart (@SAs115thDream) October 5, 2025

In Netanyahu call, German chancellor throws weight behind Trump’s Gaza plan

In a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz urges that talks in Egypt lead to a swift agreement on ending the conflict in Gaza.

“The Chancellor expressly supports President Trump’s peace plan,” a government statement reads. “Almost two years after the October 7, 2023, terror attack, this is the best chance for peace for the hostages and peace for Gaza.”

The spokesperson adds, “The announced withdrawal of Israeli forces in Gaza is the right step. Talks in Egypt must now lead to a swift end to hostilities, a comprehensive release of hostages, full humanitarian access, and Hamas’ disarmament.”

According to a readout from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, the two leaders “agreed to continue pressuring Hamas to secure the release of all hostages, with Netanyahu thanking Merz for Germany’s support.”

“We will continue to act decisively until all the objectives of the war are achieved, including the return of all the hostages and the assurance of Israel’s security,” Netanyahu says in the readout.

Israeli source downplays acrimony of Trump-Netanyahu call, after vulgar quote leaked

Illustrative: In this October 23, 2020 photo, then-US president Donald Trump talks on a phone during a call with the leaders of Sudan and Israel in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

After an Axios report about a tense phone call Friday between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli source tells The Times of Israel that there was a disagreement, but that it wasn’t acrimonious.

“Bibi wasn’t happy with the Hamas response” to Trump’s plan, says the source. “That’s all. He didn’t think it was a yes.”

“There was a push [from Trump] to accept it and move forward.”

The sources add that calls between the two leaders are usually arranged at the last minute and with very little preparation ahead of time.

Axios reported earlier that, on the call, Trump told Netanyahu: “I don’t know why you’re always so fucking negative,” responded Trump, per the official. “This is a win. Take it.”

IDF briefly arrests 19 Palestinians, after settler shoots one in the leg – reports

A picture of the Palestinian village of A-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills region of the West Bank, March 31, 2024. (Jeremy Sharon/The Times of Israel)

Palestinian media reports that yesterday, the IDF arrested 19 Palestinians from the village of Zuweidin in the South Hebron Hills in the southern West Bank.

According to the reports, the arrests followed a clash that broke out between settlers and Palestinians in the area, during which a settler shot a Palestinian in the leg, lightly wounding him.

The wounded Palestinian was later admitted to a Palestinian hospital. According to the Palestinian reports, all those arrested were released overnight.

No settlers are reported to have been arrested in the incident.

The IDF has not yet issued a response.

لحظة اعتقال قوات الاحتلال 19 فلسطينيًا بينهم أطفال، من قرية الزويدين في مسافر يطا جنوب الخليل بالضفة الغربية pic.twitter.com/VUhAx9yU0f

— القسطل الإخباري (@AlQastalps) October 5, 2025

Turkey bans concert by Robbie Williams on Oct. 7, amid outrage that he’s performed in Israel

British singer Robbie Williams performs ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 final football match between England's Chelsea and France's Paris Saint-Germain at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 13, 2025. (JUAN MABROMATA / AFP)

Turkish authorities have banned a Robbie Williams concert scheduled for October 7 in Istanbul, citing “safety concerns,” a source from the city governor’s office tells AFP, amid outrage that the singer has not boycotted Israel.

The concert would have occurred on the anniversary of the devastating Hamas-led attack in Israel two years ago, in which thousands of terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, triggering the ongoing war in Gaza.

The organizing company announced the concert’s cancellation “in line with a decision made by the Istanbul governor’s office,” adding that ticket refunds would be processed shortly through the platform where they were purchased.

Speaking to AFP, the source from the governor’s office cited “safety concerns” without elaborating further.

The British singer Williams, whose wife is Jewish, performed in Israel in 2015 and 2023 despite calls from activists to boycott the country.

Several NGOs urged Turkish authorities to cancel the October 7 concert, and others, including the Islamic Solidarity Platform, had planned protests under the slogan “Zionist Robbie Williams, get out of Turkey!”

Hostage families hail ‘historic opportunity,’ urge Trump to put ‘maximum pressure’ on Hamas

Hostage family members Udi Goren (left), Michel Illouz (center) and Einav Zangauker (right) hold a press conference outside the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling on him to push forward with a US-backed hostage-ceasefire proposal on October 5, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)

Amid mounting hope for a deal, hostage families outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem call on the premier to follow through with a US-proposed plan to end the war and return the hostages.

“We won’t be satisfied by statements alone; this is the time for action,” says Udi Goren, cousin of slain hostage Tal Haimi. “The responsibility is yours and yours only, prime minister.”

“Now that it is almost here, we cannot let this opportunity fade away; we cannot let this historic deal once again be sacrificed on the altar of politics,” he warns.

Addressing US President Donald Trump, Goren urges the American leader to see the deal through to its end.

“From the moment you took office, hostages began to come back home. Now is the most crucial moment of all… you’ve put forth a great plan and now we need your continued leadership to see it through to completion,” he says.

Goren also calls on the world to “apply maximum pressure on Hamas to commit to this historic opportunity for peace.” Under the plan, the terror group will have a 72-hour window to release all remaining hostages; however Hamas officials earlier today called the provision “unrealistic.”

Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, in a sukkah outside the PM’s residence in Jerusalem, with photographs of the hostages, on October 05, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)

The families have erected a sukkah, a makeshift outdoor hut used by Jews during the upcoming Sukkot holiday, and vow to stay there until their loved ones are returned in the proposal now on the table.

“We will stay here, here we will struggle and stand together until the moment that the agreements are signed and the hostages return home,” says Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker. “My biggest dream, to hug Matan back, can come true — and it depends only on Netanyahu.”

“We have learned from and were hurt by the sabotage of deals in the past; ministers have even boasted about it, but this time we will not let the deal fall through,” she vows.

Later this evening, hostage families are expected to hold a demonstration outside Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem in support of the US-backed proposal, exhorting the prime minister to see it through to completion.

Rubio: Hamas ‘agreed’ to hostage release framework, details being hammered out now

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press as he departs Tel Aviv for Qatar following an official visit, at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Lod, Israel, September 16, 2025. (Nathan Howard / POOL / AFP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Hamas has “agreed to the president’s hostage release framework.”

Speaking to NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rubio says, “I’m not telling you here that these are people I trust 100% nor should we. But they have said basically that they agree to his proposal and the framework for releasing the hostages. That’s an enormous achievement. They’ve also agreed, in principle, in generality, to enter into this idea about what’s going to happen afterwards, the Palestinian technocrats, et cetera.”

“We will know very quickly whether Hamas is serious or not by how these technical talks go in terms of the logistics” of a potential hostage release, says Rubio.

Rubio says work to hammer out the details is already underway.

He says the US expects the hostage release to take place “as soon as possible.”

“But priority number one, the one that we think we can achieve something very quickly on hopefully, is the release of all of the hostages in exchange for Israel moving back to that yellow line, which is basically where they stood at the middle part of last month, or of August,” Rubio explains. “And that’s the one we’re focused on.”

The next phase of a potential agreement, hammering out the future governance of Gaza, is “even harder,” he says.

“What happens after Israel pulls back to the yellow line and potentially beyond that as this thing develops? How do you create this Palestinian, technocratic leadership that’s not Hamas, that’s not terrorists, and with the help of the international community? How do you disarm any sort of terrorist groups that are going to be building tunnels and conducting attacks against Israel? How do you get them to demobilize?”

Rubio refuses to say that the Palestinian Authority will eventually run Gaza, saying only that it “will be governed by a Palestinian, technocratic group that’s not Hamas, that are not terrorists, with the help and the assistance and the guidance of an international consortium like the Board of Peace.”

He also doesn’t commit to a Palestinian state.

“If there’s going to be a two-state solution, it has to be negotiated with Israel,” he says. “It has to make sure that Israel’s security is taken into account.”

“Israel has no interest in governing Gaza,” Rubio continues. “They want to turn it over to somebody, some organization that will govern it, that will not build tunnels and sponsor terrorism and come across the line and kidnap, rape, and murder Israelis. That’s who they want to turn it over to.”

Dermer won’t join delegation to Cairo tonight; PM huddling with team before they go

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer attends a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, on January 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is convening a meeting with the hostage negotiating team and his key security advisers at 5 p.m. before the negotiators fly to Cairo tonight, an Israeli source tells The Times of Israel.

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, officially in charge of the team, will not be flying tonight and will join based on progress in the talks.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, US envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s close adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, won’t be joining the talks right away, either.

Report: Egypt building new displacement camps in Gaza

Palestinians at sunset amid ongoing Israeli attacks, in Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, July 22, 2025. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)

Saudi-owned Al Arabiya reports that dozens of heavy Egyptian vehicles entered the Gaza Strip starting yesterday and began establishing temporary displacement camps in the center of the Strip.

According to the report, the camps are being set up in an area near the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

The move is intended, the report says, “to ease the suffering of displaced Palestinians and prevent their expulsion [outside the Strip].”

The channel further reports that other Egyptian vehicles also entered from Egypt to clear rubble and facilitate movement along roads in the Strip after the extensive destruction caused by the war.

Tens of thousands of Gazans are currently living in tents after their homes were destroyed during the conflict.

It should be noted that as part of Egypt’s plan to end the war, which was presented in early 2025, Egypt sought to establish temporary housing for Gazans inside the Strip itself in order to prevent the displacement of the population outside of Gaza.

Lapid again pledges ‘safety net’ for Gaza plan, says PM ‘stealing credit’ for breakthrough

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid speaks at a press conference in Tel Aviv, October 5, 2025. (Yesh Atid, courtesy)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid again reiterates his pledge to provide Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a political “safety net” to advance US President Donald Trump’s plan for ending the war in Gaza and returning the hostages, declaring that “we will do everything to ensure that the deal goes through as planned.”

Addressing a press conference in Tel Aviv marking the impending end of the current parliamentary recess, the Yesh Atid party chairman insists that Netanyahu “has no political impediment to finishing the process that President Trump began this week.”

Lapid says that he is willing to agree on a date for the next elections and to provide the premier with “insurance against his extremist and irresponsible partners,” a reference to far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Last week, Smotrich set out his Religious Zionism party’s “red lines” for the deal, including “ending the war only with the full and genuine dismantling and demilitarization of Hamas and the Gaza Strip,” which he said cannot be controlled by the Palestinian Authority in any way, shape, or form.

In a statement on Saturday evening, Ben Gvir threatened that his far-right Otzma Yehudit party would leave the government if Hamas “continues to exist” after the release of the hostages under the Trump plan.

Left: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, January 16, 2025; Right: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, January 13, 2025. (Both photos by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Speaking with the Israel Hayom daily, officials from Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism said that their parties would not vote in favor of freeing security prisoners as part of the deal.

Lapid tells reporters that both before and after Trump presented his proposed outline, he assured the White House that his promise of a safety net for Netanyahu “was real” and that was his “commitment to the American administration as well.”

“For the first time in two years, the citizens of Israel have a glimmer of hope,” Lapid asserts, arguing that the possibility of ending “he longest war in Israel’s history…must not be allowed to slip away.”

“I have had a series of conversations with President Trump’s team over the past two days. They are convinced that it is possible. They are convinced that it should happen. They also know exactly how this deal really came about,” he continues — arguing that the deal “was made thanks to President Trump, and in spite of Benjamin Netanyahu.”

“Yesterday I saw Netanyahu trying, as usual, to steal credit for it. That is excellent. Because it will obligate him and the government to the White House to implement the deal,” he says.

Lapid has been promising to provide Netanyahu with a safety net in exchange for agreeing to a hostage deal for nearly two years.

High Court rejects another government proposal to stray from process in firing AG

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

The High Court of Justice unanimously rejects the government’s proposal for it to consult the advisory committee for hiring and firing the attorney general in order to dismiss Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, if the court allows it to convene without a key member.

The court issued a unanimous decision on September 1 recommending that the government cancel its decision to fire Baharav-Miara, which it made on the basis of a recommendation by a politicized advisory committee that it established specifically to fire the serving attorney general.

The court recommended that the government should instead revert to the public, professional advisory committee established in the year 2000, which Justice Minister Yariv Levin said could not be convened since all former justice ministers or attorneys general had either refused to join the committee or, according to Levin, were opposed to the government.

Levin told the court on September 15 that it would agree to revert to the original committee if the court allowed it to convene without a former justice minister or attorney general, if the government once again failed to find such a person to serve on the panel.

But in its decision today, the High Court says its original recommendation “speaks for itself” and that it is not the practice of the court to agree to demands of litigants “about future actions and hypothetical scenarios.”

The decision by the court once again puts the judiciary and the government on the road to a direct clash over the legality of the latter’s efforts to remove Baharav-Miara from office.

Trump: Hamas faces ‘complete obliteration!’ if it tries to cling to power in Gaza

US President Donald Trump gives a video statement from the Oval Office on October 3, 2025. (Screen capture/Truth Social)

Hamas faces “complete obliteration!” if it tries to cling to power in Gaza, US President Donald Trump tells CNN by text message.

Asked about those who say Hamas effectively rejected Trump’s proposal by refusing to accept disarmament and setting conditions for a hostage release, Trump writes, “We will find out. Only time will tell!!!”

The terror group has said repeatedly it does not want to remain, itself, the government of Gaza, but it has not assented to its total disarmament and has demanded to play some role in a future Palestinian state.

Trump also responds “yes” when asked if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on board with doing whatever is needed to make peace a reality.

Ultra-Orthodox IDF troops operating in Gaza Strip as battalion for first time

Ultra-Orthodox soldiers from the IDF's new Haredi Hasmonean Brigade take part in a beret march after completing seven months of basic and advanced training, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, on August 6, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

For the first time, the IDF’s new Hasmonean Brigade for ultra-Orthodox troops is operating in the Gaza Strip as a battalion-level combat team, the military says.

The team is made up of the Haredi brigade’s first standing army company and its first reserve company. It will operate under the 98th Division in Gaza City.

In the past, the Hasmonean Brigade’s reserve company operated in Gaza as a company-level team.

Legal aid group: Ben Gvir endorsing ‘abuse’ of detained flotilla activists in prison

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir seen after a visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem Old City, August 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Adalah legal aid organization, representing activists from the recently intercepted Gaza flotilla, says National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s comments about being proud of the harsh treatment of the participants are an “endorsement of inhumane treatment, abuse, and intimidation” of the activists.

The organization says its lawyers have so far met with and taken testimony from 80 flotilla participants at the Ketziot prison where they are being held.

Adalah’s lawyers also met with dozens of flotilla activists when they were first processed by Israeli authorities after being brought ashore at Ashdod port, but the organizations says some 87 activists have not met with a lawyer at any stage since they were intercepted at sea, the organization adds.

The various Israeli authorities involved are yet to provide Adalah with a full list of detainees from the flotilla.

Climate and pro-Palestinian activist Greta Thunberg, a flotilla participant, met with one of Adalah’s lawyers at the port, but has not been able to meet with a lawyer since then.

According to the Global Sumud Flotilla organization, 328 activists are still being held in Israel.

Italian Democratic party leader Elly Schlein, right, welcomes members of Italian Parliament Arturo Scotto, left, and Annalisa Corrado upon their landing at the Rome Leonardo da Vinci airport after being released by Israeli authorities following their detention for being aboard boats of the Global Sumud flotilla, which declared its intent to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, but was intercepted. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that 137 flotilla activists have been deported so far.

Adalah says that activists in their testimonies have said they have been denied essential medical treatment and medicine; that the provision of food and water is “grossly inadequate;” and that the detainees are being held in overcrowded and sometimes insanitary cells.

Other flotilla activists have told the lawyers that they were subjected to physical violence, while others said they were blindfolded and handcuffed for prolonged periods.

The Israeli authorities only permitted two of Adalah’s lawyers to enter Ketziot today to deal with the more than 300 activists who were detained from the flotilla.

A spokesperson for the organization says that at the current pace, she doubts the lawyers will be able to finish meeting with all detainees even before the end of Monday, especially given that Monday is the eve of the Sukkot holiday.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry, the Israel Prison Service, and the Immigration and Population Authority of the Interior Ministry are yet to respond to requests for comment from The Times of Israel on the number and status of the detainees still in Israel.

Trump said to tell PM in tense phone call after Hamas responded to Gaza deal: ‘You’re always so f*cking negative. This is a win.’

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu(L) participate in a press conference in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on September 29, 2025. (Jim WATSON / AFP)

US President Donald Trump told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to be “so fucking negative” in a tense phone call on Friday, Axios reports.

The conversation took place shortly after Hamas announced that it had submitted its response, in which it welcomed parts of the US proposal, while hinting at resistance regarding other sections and insisting that additional negotiations were needed to finalize the terms.

According to a US official, Netanyahu told Trump the ambivalent Hamas response was “nothing to celebrate.”

“I don’t know why you’re always so fucking negative,” responded Trump, per the official. “This is a win. Take it.”

Trump expected Hamas to reject the plan, and was pleasantly surprised by the terror group’s response, says Axios.

A US official says it was a somewhat combative conversation and that Trump was irked, but that they finally reached an agreement. “Ultimately, President Trump wants peace, and that’s what matters most. The administration is already working closely with Israel to accomplish that,” says a US official.

An Israeli official tells the outlet that Netanyahu said in private meetings on Friday that he sees Hamas’s response as a rejection of the Trump plan, and that he wanted to fight the idea that Hamas had accepted the proposal.

Pope notes ‘significant steps’ toward ending Gaza war, urges ‘just and lasting peace’

Pope Leo XIV gestures during his weekly audience at the Paul VI hall in the Vatican on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

VATICAN CITY – Pope Leo hopes that a plan to end the war in Gaza will soon reach the “desired results,” he says, after acknowledging the significant steps made in negotiations to end the conflict between Israel and the Hamas terror group.

Speaking during his weekly Angelus prayer, the pontiff asks all relevant parties to commit to the peace process, emphasizing the urgent need to end the conflict and establish a “just and lasting peace.”

“In recent hours, amid the dramatic situation in the Middle East, some significant steps forward have been taken in the peace negotiations, which I hope will soon achieve the desired results,” the pope tells faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

He also renews calls for a permanent ceasefire in the nearly two-year conflict — which began when Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 and taking 251 hostages — and the release of the hostages still held by terror groups in Gaza.

Egypt talks will tell if Hamas is serious about Gaza deal, Rubio says

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the war in Gaza has not yet ended and work remains to be done before Israel and Hamas both finalize an agreement based on US President Donald Trump’s plan to end fighting and free the hostages.

“We will know very quickly whether Hamas is serious or not by how these technical talks go in terms of the logistics,” Rubio tells NBC News’ “Meet the Press” about talks set to be held tomorrow aimed at hashing out the logistics of a planned immediate hostages-for-prisoners swap.

Detained French lawmakers from flotilla declare hunger strike as their party urges Paris to free them

Four hard-left French lawmakers who were detained by Israel after taking part in a Gaza-bound flotilla have declared a hunger strike, their party says.

“We have no news from them,” apart from “brief exchanges with their lawyers and with the French consul who was able to visit them,” France Unbowed member of European Parliament Manon Aubry tells French radio station Franceinfo.

“Their detention conditions are difficult,” she adds, describing that more than 10 people are in each cell and have difficulty accessing water.

France Unbowed says two of its national deputies, Francois Piquemal and Marie Mesmeur, and two of its MEPs, Rima Hassan and Emma Fourreau, declared a hunger strike “in solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

Aubry calls on French authorities to repatriate their nationals.

“It is time for France to finally take action,” Aubry says, echoing her party’s national coordinator Manuel Bompard’s calls for “France to finally say something” on French television channel LCI.

France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon on Saturday slammed “the cowards of the French government,” pointing out that detained nationals from several other countries have already been returned home from Israel.

Meanwhile, “(French) deputies are ignored by their assemblies. Let us all remember this,” he wrote on X.

Former Macron minister and current MEP Nathalie Louiseau says France is providing consular protection and calls France Unbowed’s involvement in the flotilla “troubling.”

“Is it really to shed light on the Palestinians and their suffering in Gaza, or is it a self-promotion effort? I’m afraid the latter is the case,” she tells French channel France 3.

NYU reinstates Oct. 7 Federalist Society event after backlash

New York University has reinstated an event scheduled for Tuesday, the second anniversary of the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, after facing backlash for canceling the talk.

NYU’s law school canceled the event, featuring speakers from the conservative Federalist Society, last week, citing “security concerns” related to expected protests.

The cancellation, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, drew criticism, including from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a prominent free speech group.

FIRE condemned the cancellation as “a textbook heckler’s veto.”

The Federalist Society says the event is back on schedule.

The live-streamed talk will focus on campus free speech, campus antisemitism, and the significance of the October 7 anniversary to Jews, the Federalist Society says.

VENUE UPDATE: NYU has now agreed to host the NYU FedSoc student event featuring @ishapiro on campus on October 7th. The event will focus on campus free speech. It will still be livestreamed.

Find the full details of the event below.

Following the October 7th attack in Israel… pic.twitter.com/JhRakN51ar

— Federalist Society (@FedSoc) October 4, 2025

Anti-Israel groups in New York City have announced widespread protests on Tuesday to mark the anniversary of the Hamas attack.

Netanyahu says Israel won’t budge on rest of Gaza deal until all hostages return

Meeting with members of the right-wing Gvura Forum, which represents families of soldiers killed in action in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says no other element of US President Donald Trump’s plan for a Gaza ceasefire will move ahead until every single hostage is released.

“Until the first clause — the release of all the hostages, living and dead — until the last of the hostages, all of them, is transferred to Israeli territory, we will not move on to any other clause,” Netanyahu pledges, according to Hebrew language media.

If Hamas doesn’t release the hostages “by the end of the time set by President Trump,” he says, Israel will go back on the offensive in Gaza “with the full backing of all the countries involved.”

“Trump’s pressure is increasing,” he tells the group in the 40-minute meeting in Jerusalem. “Trump will not hesitate to wait longer than he has allotted. This time, he is determined.”

Netanyahu also pledges that the Palestinian Authority will not run the Gaza Strip after the war.

“No representative of Hamas or any representative of the PA will be involved in controlling the Strip,” he says, according to the reports.

There is no official comment from his office on the reported remarks.

The terms laid out in Trump’s 20-point plan require the PA to carry out difficult reforms before it can run Gaza again, where it faces opposition from its longtime rival Hamas.

Netanyahu also insists that Israel will be responsible for the demilitarization of Gaza.

Truck hits bridge in Tel Aviv, creating traffic headache

Heavy traffic is building up in north Tel Aviv after a truck crashed into a bridge over Rokah Street, shutting down three of four lanes on the busy throughway near the Ayalon freeway.

No injuries are reported in the incident.

According to police, a truck carrying metal poles westbound slammed into the bridge, dropping its goods all over the road and creating the jam.

Cops collar skateboard-towing driver over viral Yom Kippur stunt

A man accused of pulling a group of skateboarders down an empty street during Yom Kippur is having a bummer day after police arrested him and seized his ride over the stunt.

In a clip posted to TikTok, eight skateboarders are seen holding onto cords attached to a red car, which pulls them along a Haifa road that is left nearly empty due to the holiday, when most cars stay off the road.

Police say they arrested a 22-year-old from Kfar Saba on suspicion of reckless driving and endangering human life, after the rad clip went viral.

They also seized his car, which was deemed unfit for road use after a traffic inspector examined the vehicle and found serious defects.

The driver has been released to a five-day house arrest. Police are coordinating with state prosecutors on whether or not to indict him.

Police detain, confiscate car of young man over viral TikTok that shows his vehicle pulling skaters along an empty road during Yom Kippur pic.twitter.com/qsJkNh57ks

— charlie summers (@cbsu03) October 5, 2025

Hostage czar meets local Red Cross chief to ready for possible return of captives

Government hostage pointman Gal Hirsch says on X that he met the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Israel Julien Lerisson this morning for a “preparatory meeting.”

פגישת היערכות הבוקר עם מר ג׳וליאן לריסון, ראש משלחת הצלב האדום. pic.twitter.com/q80AIWUDSO

— גל הירש-Gal Hirsch (@galhirsch2015) October 5, 2025

Hirsch is set to head to Cairo as part of Israel’s hostage negotiating team as it conducts indirect talks on ending the Gaza war and freeing the remaining hostages under a US plan.

The Red Cross has transferred hostages out of Gaza during previous rounds of hostage releases and will likely be called upon to do so again if the current US proposal is implemented.

Iran says cooperation with nuke watchdog ‘irrelevant’

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses foreign ambassadors to Iran, in Tehran on October 5, 2025. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran’s top diplomat says cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog is “no longer relevant” and European powers that backed the reimposition of international sanctions on the Islamic Republic will have a diminished role in future talks.

“The Cairo agreement is no longer relevant for our cooperation” with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says, referring to a September deal with the UN agency.

Araghchi says Tehran’s “decision regarding cooperation with the agency will be announced,” without elaborating, while adding there is still room for diplomacy.

The Cairo deal had set up a framework to resume cooperation and allow the watchdog to inspect Iranian sites, after Tehran suspended cooperation following Israeli and US strikes on its key nuclear sites in June.

But Iran said it would stop cooperating once Britain, France, and Germany — signatories to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal — triggered the return of the UN sanctions over Tehran’s non-compliance.

“The three European countries thought they had a leverage in their hands, threatening to implement a snapback,” Araghchi says during a meeting with foreign diplomats in Tehran.

“Now they have used this lever and seen the results… the three European countries have definitely diminished their role and almost eliminated the justification for negotiations with them.”

He adds that the European trio “will have a much smaller role than in the past” in any upcoming diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear dossier.

Security bulked up as large crowd expected at Manchester October 7 vigil

Manchester’s Jews are holding a ceremony under heavy security marking two years since Hamas launched its assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, days after the community suffered its own deadly attack.

The Manchester Stands with Israel rally is taking place outside the Manchester Cathedral, with security provided by police and the Community Security Trust, a security and advocacy group for British Jews, organizers say.

The event honoring fallen IDF soldiers and those who were murdered during the October 7 attacks, as well as calling for the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, had been planned before Thursday’s attack at the Heaton Park Synagogue, in which a knifeman assaulted congregants attending Yom Kippur services, killing two.

Organizers expect the ceremony to draw a larger crowd following the attack.

“We all stand together in Manchester,” reads a post on X promoting the event.

ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 5th WE ALL STAND TOGETHER IN MANCHESTER

FOR ISRAEL, OUR HOSTAGES & OUR MANCHESTER JEWISH COMMUNITY

Rally only at 11.30am outside Manchester Cathedral alongside the River Irwell

Please note that there are NO trams from Bury to Crumpsell.@JewishMCR… pic.twitter.com/6YEMsep6bv

— NW Friends of Israel (@NorthWestFOI) October 4, 2025

A larger rally marking the two-year anniversary of October 7 is planned in Trafalgar Square in London later today.

Knesset Diaspora committee to hold hearing on minister’s rift with British Jewry

The Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs will hold a hearing to discuss Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli’s “harmful conduct” following a high-profile public spat between the Likud politician and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, committee chairman MK Gilad Kariv (The Democrats) announces.

Kariv’s announcement comes after Chikli announced that he would be welcoming far-right anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson to Israel later this month and praised him as a “courageous leader.” The invitation, which came in response to a deadly terror attack at a synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur, was denounced by the board and the Jewish Leadership Council, two main organizations representing British Jews.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is founder of the far-right English Defense League, an anti-immigrant group whose members have been accused of racism, xenophobia and terror offenses.

Responding to the board’s statement that he had “proven himself to be a Diaspora Minister in name only,” Chikli responded that the group had become a “political organization — openly aligned with left-wing, woke, pro-Palestinian parties.”

Slamming Chikli, Kariv says that he was “acting in complete contradiction to the positions of Jewish communities around the world, who oppose the normalization of extreme and violent right-wing individuals, organizations, and political parties” — adding that the minister’s actions constituted “a disgraceful exploitation of the role of Minister of Diaspora Affairs.”

“Tommy Robinson is a racist and violent criminal. His support for Israel does not erase his antisemitic past or his extreme-nationalist positions. Cooperating with him is a slap in the face of British Jewry and a direct blow to Israel’s standing in this important European country,” Kariv states, referencing Yaxley-Lennon’s multiple criminal convictions.

Chikli’s behavior “demonstrates how his extremist government not only acts to tear apart and sows discord within Israeli society, but also deeply harms relations with Jewish communities worldwide,” Kariv continues, stating that his committee would “reconvene to discuss this harmful conduct, with the participation of representatives of British Jewry and its umbrella organizations.”

Hamas ‘very keen’ for immediate hostage release deal, ready to cease fighting if Israel does — sources

A senior Hamas official says the Palestinian terror group is eager to reach an agreement to end the war in Gaza and implement a hostages-for-prisoner swap with Israel.

“Hamas is very keen to reach an agreement to end the war and immediately begin the prisoner exchange process in accordance with the field conditions,” the official says on condition of anonymity. “The occupation must not obstruct the implementation of President Trump’s plan. If the occupation has genuine intentions to reach an agreement, Hamas is ready.”

A Palestinian source close to Hamas tells AFP that the two delegations will be in the same building when they convene for talks in Sharm el-Sheikh Monday but away from media coverage.

“The negotiations aim to discuss the timeline for preparing field conditions for the transfer of captives held in Gaza, as a prelude to launching the prisoner exchange process,” he adds.

“During communications with mediators, Hamas insisted that it is essential for Israel to halt military operations across all areas of the Gaza Strip, cease all air, reconnaissance, and drone activity, and withdraw from inside Gaza City,” the source says.

“In parallel with the cessation of Israeli military activity, Hamas and the resistance factions will also halt their military operations and actions,” he added.

The talks are expected to include discussions of maps to be provided by Israel showing withdrawal routes and timelines, which will coincide with the prisoner exchange process, the source says.

The Hamas delegation will also present lists of Palestinian prisoners who must be released by Israel in return for the Israeli captives, he says.

According to Trump’s plan, Israel is expected to release 250 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences and more than 1,700 detainees from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after October 7, 2023.

Barcelona police say 20 officers injured during anti-Israel march Saturday; 8 arrested

Protesters vandalize a Carrefour store during a pro-Palestinian rally in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP/Emilio Morenatti)

Eight people were arrested and 20 police officers were injured in clashes between pro-Palestinian protesters and police in Barcelona yesterday, police say.

Demonstrators also vandalized shops that they claimed had links to Israel during a mainly peaceful march of 70,000 protesters, police say.

Tens of thousands took part in protests in Madrid and scores of other Spanish cities as well as demonstrations in Rome and Lisbon amid anger after the Israeli interception of an activist flotilla that had set sail from Barcelona and tried to break the blockade of the Palestinian territory.

Out of the 49 Spaniards who were detained by Israeli forces on the flotilla, 21 will fly back to Spain from Tel Aviv today, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares tells local television station RTVE.

Israel rejects abuse claims by Thunberg, other flotilla activists; Ben Gvir touts harsh prison conditions

Greta Thunberg, detained by Israel after trying to breach the blockade on the Gaza Strip, is seen in a photo released October 3, 2025, by the Foreign Ministry. (Foreign Ministry)

Israel says claims of mistreatment of Greta Thunberg and other members of the Global Sumud flotilla are “brazen lies,” but a government minister in charge of prisons says he is proud they are being treated like terrorists.

“All the detainees’ legal rights are fully upheld,” writes the Foreign Ministry on X.

The legal aid organization Adalah claimed on Saturday that numerous activists have reported being mistreated, with some saying that they were denied food and water and others reporting that they have been manhandled by Israeli law enforcement. Thunberg, a well-known climate activist, has reportedly suffered from bed bugs during her detention.

The Foreign Ministry notes that Thunberg and others have refused deportation, despite the claims.

“Interestingly enough, Greta herself and other detainees refused to expedite their deportation and insisted on prolonging their stay in custody,” it writes. “Greta also did not complain to the Israeli authorities about any of these ludicrous and baseless allegations — because they never occurred.”

However, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says he is “proud” of the harsh conditions the activists are subjected to in the prison where they are being held.

“I went to visit Ketziot prison and I was proud that we are treating the ‘flotilla activists’ as terror supporters, whoever supports terrorism is a terrorist, and deserves the conditions of terrorists… It is worthwhile for them to experience the conditions in Ketziot prison, and think twice before they come close to Israel again. That’s how it works,” he says.

Thunberg has reportedly met with Swedish embassy officials although she has yet to meet with a lawyer, according to Adalah, which is representing the flotilla activists in legal proceedings to facilitate their deportation from Israel.

Ben Gvir, a far-right minister, insists that the flotilla had no aid for Gaza despite its claims.

“I was there, on their boats, I didn’t see aid and I didn’t see humanitarian. I saw one Materna [baby formula] and an entire wild party of people who were dressing up as human rights activists, but who in practice came to support terrorism and to celebrate [at our expense],” says Ben Gvir.

New Shin Bet leader Zini tells president he will rise above politics

President Isaac Herzog, left, meeting new Shin Bet head David Zini at the President's Residence on October 5, 2025. (Avi Hayun/ President's Residence)

President Isaac Herzog hosts new Shin Bet chief David Zini and his family at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, telling the former general that Israel expects him to safeguard the nation’s values.

“We want security, we want peace, we want tranquility in Israeli society, and we want to preserve both the functioning of Israeli society and the values of the state,” says Herzog, according to a statement from his spokesperson.

Zini, appointed by Benjamin Netanyahu to replace Ronen Bar after the Shin Bet opened a probe into the Prime Minister’s Office, is a controversial figure with self-described “messianic” views. He has also reportedly said during private discussions with former senior security officials that “the judicial system is a dictatorship that rules Israel.”

“You begin your tenure with an important national mission, at a complex time with numerous challenges and tasks,” Herzog tells him. “You come with immense experience in the field of security and in other areas connected to it. I know your good character and your skills, and I am certain you will succeed in your mission.”

Zini stresses national unity and non-partisan dedication to the state in his response.

“I explained to my children the symbol we are standing in front of, and I explained to them what statesmanship means — what the institution of the presidency represents and fulfills in its apolitical role, which rises above all divisions,” says Zini.

“By virtue of what we discovered here 2,000 years ago — we returned only through unity, through our deep roots and our great future. We will act with statesmanship, with loyalty to this people, to this state, to its values, to all its shades and facets, with complete faithfulness and in great unity, and with deep comradeship for the security of the state and its citizens.”

Tel Aviv stocks bound to new high as Gaza deal hopes amp investors

Israel’s main stock indexes are hitting fresh all-time highs as investors continue to bet on a US-led plan that would see the return of all the hostages held in Gaza and an end to the war in the Strip.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s benchmark TA-125 index jumps 2.3% in late morning trading in Tel Aviv. The index has soared 34% from the start of the year, with much of the gains coming in the last several days alone. This morning marks the 37th time this year it hit a new record high, according to Tel Aviv bourse data.

“The stock market is in the midst of a rally reflecting the optimism surrounding the deal to end the war in Gaza and return the hostages to Israel,” says Yaniv Pagot, vice president of trading at the TASE. “There is considerable scope for reducing the interest rate, and there is no doubt that the end of the war may accelerate the process.”

The TA-35 index of blue-chip companies rises 1.7%, also hitting a new high. The TA-90 index, which tracks the shares with the highest capitalization not included in the TA-35 index, increases 2.6%. The TA-Construction index soars 4.4% and the TA-Insurance index is up 3.6%.

Since President Donald Trump’s plan for ending the Gaza war was announced on September 29, the TA-35 Index has risen by 5.2%, while the TA-125 Index increased by 5.8%, and the TA-90 Index by 7.7%, according to TASE data.

“A possible interest rate reduction and the expansion of the Abraham Accords may create good conditions for continued upside in the local market,” Pagot adds.

Nearly two years on, grenade used in October 7 attack found on Kibbutz Be’eri

A grenade left by Hamas attackers on Kibbutz Be'eri and found on October 5, 2025. (Israel Police)

Police say a grenade was found on Kibbutz Be’eri nearly two years after it was left by invading Hamas terrorists during the October 7 onslaught.

The fragmentation grenade had apparently remained in the area since Hamas terrorists destroyed part of the kibbutz, killing over 100 people there and kidnapping another 32 hostages into Gaza.

Workers rebuilding the community stumbled upon the explosive earlier this morning, according to Hebrew outlets. Police sappers called to the scene safely disarmed the device and no injuries were reported.

Katz says he expects Gaza deal to be implemented soon, ready to ramp up Gaza City fight if not

Defense Minister Israel Katz speaks at a memorial ceremony for the fallen Israeli soldiers of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, at the National Hall of Remembrance, Mount Herzl, Jerusalem, October 5, 2025. (Screen capture: YouTube/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Israel Katz says he expects the implementation of the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in the Gaza Strip “in the near future and the immediate release of all the hostages,” crediting military pressure created by an invasion of Gaza City.

Speaking at a memorial ceremony for the fallen Israeli soldiers of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Katz says that nearly two years since the October 7 onslaught, “we may soon be informed of the return home of all our hostages, the living and the fallen alike, in accordance with the initiative of US President Donald Trump, at the end of which Hamas will be disarmed and the Gaza Strip will be demilitarized, and the IDF will remain in controlling areas to protect the communities and will act against any threat.”

“The reason for the possible turnaround in Hamas’s position is the intensity of the pressure Israel is exerting on Gaza City,” Katz claims.

“We now expect the implementation of the first phase in the near future and the immediate release of all the hostages,” he says.

“The IDF is in the heart of Gaza City and ready for any possibility. If Hamas refuses to release the hostages, the IDF will again increase the intensity of fire until Hamas is defeated and all the hostages are released,” Katz adds.

Muslim state backers of Trump plan praise Hamas response to Gaza proposal

The foreign ministers of Qatar, Jordan, UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt put out a joint statement praising Hamas’s “readiness” to meet key demands in US President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the war in Gaza, and expressing their support for an eventual full IDF withdrawal from Gaza and the return of the Palestinian Authority.

The diplomats welcome “the steps taken by Hamas regarding US President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the war on Gaza, release all hostages, alive or deceased, and the immediate launch of negotiations on implementation mechanisms.”

Hamas announced over the weekend that it had submitted its response accepting parts of the US proposal, while hinting at resistance regarding other sections and insisting that additional negotiations were needed to finalize the terms.

The foreign ministers also express their support for Trump’s call on Israel to stop bombing Gaza.

“The Foreign Ministers also welcomed the announcement by Hamas of its readiness to hand over the administration of Gaza to a transitional Palestinian Administrative Committee of independent technocrats,” says the statement.

They say they are ready to work for a comprehensive agreement that “ensures unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, no displacement of the Palestinian people, and that no measures are taken that threaten the security and safety of civilians, the release of hostages, the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza, unifying Gaza and the West Bank, and reaching a security mechanism that guarantees the security of all sides, in a manner that leads to the full Israeli withdrawal, and to the rebuilding of Gaza, and that creates a path for a just peace on the basis of the two-state solution.”

IDF says it dropped grenades from drone in Lebanon, is probing UNIFIL claim observers were nearby

The Israeli military says it is investigating after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon reported that the IDF dropped grenades near its forces and Lebanese soldiers who were operating in southern Lebanon on Thursday.

UNIFIL said that its observers and Lebanese troops were providing security for “civilian workers” in the village of Maroun al-Ras who were trying to clear the ruins of homes destroyed during the war when they heard a grenade explode some 500 meters away. Observer forces subsequently saw a drone followed by an explosion just a few dozen meters away, and later another group witnessed a grenade dropped from a drone which exploded a few meters above their heads, UNIFIL said.

No injuries were caused in the incident.

In response to a query by The Times of Israel, the IDF says it had “acted to distance an engineering vehicle that was working to restore Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in the Maroun al-Ras area” by dropping grenades from a drone on Thursday.

The army says it is operating against attempts by Hezbollah to rebuild military infrastructure, “which constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” while also “clearly distinguishing” Hezbollah’s actions from those of UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces.

“A report was received from UNIFIL, through the military liaison channel, claiming that the grenades were dropped at a distance smaller than the accepted safety range from a joint UNIFIL and Lebanese army activity in the area,” the military says.

“An initial examination indicates that this claim is not known [to the IDF], but the incident is under investigation,” it adds.

Gazans report several killed in ‘intensified’ Israeli attacks

Smoke billows over the Gaza Strip following an Israeli bombardment, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP/Ariel Schalit)

Gaza’s Hamas-controlled civil defense agency says Israeli strikes have killed at least five people in the Strip so far today, with some Gazans claiming that IDF attacks have intensified rather than slackened as promised. Medics and health authorities report four dead. Neither figure, which does not specify if the casualties are civilians or combatants, can be confirmed.

The civil defense agency rescue force says there were several attacks through the night. It claims that nearly 60 people were killed in Israeli strikes yesterday, including 40 in Gaza City alone.

Witnesses say Israeli planes have ramped up attacks against targets across the city today, after a tense night in which drones allegedly dropped grenades on the rooftops of residential buildings and troops blew up explosive-laden vehicles, demolishing dozens of houses in two Gaza City neighborhoods, Sabra and Sheikh Radwan.

“Israel has actually escalated its attacks” since US President Donald Trump’s call for a pause, says Mahmud al-Ghazi, 39, a resident of the al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City.

“Who will stop Israel now? We need the negotiations to move faster to stop this genocide and the ongoing bloodshed,” he adds.

The military says it is still operating in Gaza City, warning residents not to return there, which would be “extremely dangerous.”

“The explosions don’t stop, the drones drop bombs everywhere, as if nothing has happened. Where is the truce Trump told us about?” asks Rami Mohammad-Ali, 37, from Gaza City.

A displaced Palestinian girl eats bread as she walks barefoot along a street in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on October 5, 2025. (Bashar TALEB / AFP)

Amjad Al-Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGOs Network, which liaises with the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations, says Gaza City has begun experiencing acute shortages of food and fuel, days after Israel blocked the route from the south to the north.

“We are speaking about tens of thousands of children who suffer malnutrition, elderly who need extra care, those are in danger now because of the Israeli occupation blockade of Gaza City and the escalation of the attacks,” Shawa tells Reuters.

Hamas may seek strict timeline for IDF retreat, Palestinian official says

Israeli soldiers drive tanks inside the Gaza Strip toward southern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP/Ariel Schalit)

A Palestinian official says Hamas may seek to get Israel to agree on pulling back its forces according to a rigid schedule, as the sides prepare for talks based on a US proposal that would see all hostages released and a gradual military retreat from much of the Strip.

“Progress would depend on whether Hamas would agree to the map, which shows the Israeli army would remain in control of most of the Gaza Strip,” says the official, who is close to the talks.

A map published by US President Donald Trump Saturday showed an initial line running through the center of the Strip that Israel would pull back to, after which it would gradually retreat to the perimeter of the enclave.

“Hamas may also ask for a strict timetable for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The first phase of talks will determine how things are going to proceed,” the official adds.

Sources close to Hamas also tell Reuters that while handing over living hostages could prove relatively straightforward, retrieving bodies of dead ones amid the huge devastation and rubble of Gaza may take longer than a few days to achieve.

Houthis claim early morning attack, say they are watching Gaza ‘developments’

Yemen’s Houthi rebels are taking responsibility for this morning’s ballistic missile attack on Israel, claiming to have targeted “several sensitive targets” in the Jerusalem area using a projectile with a cluster bomb warhead.

According to the military, the missile was successfully intercepted during the pre-dawn attack. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

The Iran-backed Houthis have fired several missiles with cluster bomb warheads at Israel in recent weeks. The sub-munitions deployed by such missiles do not have their own propulsion or guidance and simply fall to the ground, where they are designed to explode on impact.

The Houthis also say they are “monitoring developments in Gaza” amid US President Donald Trump’s push to end the war.

“The results of these developments on the ground will be dealt with in a manner conducive to achieving the demands of our oppressed Palestinian people,” the Houthis say, adding that they will continue their attacks on Israel “until the aggression against Gaza stops and the siege is lifted.”

The group has halted attacks during past ceasefires.

Iran okays plan to drop zeroes from wilting rial

People withdraw money from an ATM in the Iranian capital Tehran on September 28, 2025. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran’s parliament has approved a plan to remove four zeros from the national currency, the rial, which has sharply depreciated as the country grapples with renewed sanctions.

Lawmakers passed the bill two months after a parliamentary commission revived the long-stalled proposal aimed at simplifying transactions, the legislature’s website says.

Under the plan, 10,000 current rials will be replaced by one new rial.

Both versions will circulate for up to three years, with the central bank given two years to launch the transition.

The move still requires approval by the Guardian Council and the signature of President Masoud Pezeshkian to take effect.

The rial has hit repeated record lows in recent days, according to black market trackers, amid the reimposition of United Nations sanctions on Iran. It is currently trading at about 1,115,000 to the US dollar.

In daily life, Iranians drop a zero from the rial and use the resulting figure, called the toman, for most transactions.

Report: Khalil al-Hayya, targeted by Israel in failed Qatar strike, to lead Hamas delegation in Egypt talks

Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya is seen outside the VIP hall at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on March 15, 2021. (Said Khatib/AFP)

Saudi channel Asharq reports that Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya will lead the Hamas delegation in negotiations on ending the Gaza war set to begin in Egypt tomorrow.

Al-Hayya, who has remained outside Gaza for the duration of the war, was targeted in a botched Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Doha on September 9. He appeared in public for the first time since the attack yesterday.

According to the report, the delegation will arrive in Cairo today before heading to Sharm el-Sheikh for talks tomorrow.

Discussions will start with creating conditions for the hostages to be released within days, with the aid of the Red Cross, as has been done in the past, according to the report.

Syria holding limited vote for parliament, seen as litmus test of minority rights

A Syrian policeman checks women at the entrance of Latakia's Governor building where the voting for a parliamentary election is taking place, in the costal city of Latakia, Syria, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP/Hussein Malla)

Polls are opening in Syria, which is holding its first parliamentary elections since the fall of the country’s longtime autocratic leader, Bashar al-Assad, who was unseated in a rebel offensive in December.

Among those running for one of the 120 seats up for grabs in the People’s Assembly is Henry Hamra, a Syrian Jew who fled to the US in 1992 and who is now seeking to represent the Damascus district.

The vote is not open to the general public. Rather, some 6,000 members of an electoral college will vote on behalf of those in their district, while about a third of the Assembly’s 210 seats will be appointed directly by interim President Ahmed al-Shara’a.

Still, the election results will likely be taken as a barometer of how serious the interim authorities are about inclusivity, particularly of women and minorities.

If elected, Hamra would be the first Jewish representative to enter parliament since 1947, according to Syrian historian Sami Moubayed.

In the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Damascus on Friday, an AFP photographer saw posters on walls bearing Hamra’s image alongside the Syrian flag and reading: “Candidate for Damascus for the Syrian People’s Assembly.”

Elections in the Druze-majority Sweida province and in areas of the northeast controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have been indefinitely postponed due to tensions between the local authorities in those areas and the central government in Damascus, meaning that those seats will remain empty. Their exclusion has raised questions about representation of communities that are not part of the Sunni Arab national majority.

A ballot box is set at Latakia’s Governor building where the voting for a parliamentary election will take place, in the coastal city of Latakia, Syria, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP/Hussein Malla)

However, Benjamin Feve, a senior research analyst at the Syria-focused Karam Shaar Advisory consulting firm, notes that electoral districts have been drawn in such a way as to create minority-majority districts.

“What the government could have done if it wanted to limit the number of minorities, it could have merged these districts or these localities with majority Sunni Muslim districts,” he says. “They could have basically drowned the minorities, which is what they didn’t do.”

State-run news agency SANA, citing the head of the national elections committee, Mohammed Taha al-Ahmad, reports that women make up 14% of the 1,578 candidates. In some districts, women make up 30 or 40% of all candidates, while in others, there are no female candidates.

AFP contributed to this story.

Three arrested over Rahat revenge killing

Police arrested three suspects in connection with a fatal shooting in Rahat last night, law enforcement announces.

The shooting was apparently a retaliatory killing, following a knife fight between two men that reignited a blood feud between rival families in the southern Bedouin city.

Police say that the detained suspects arrived at the home of the rival family last night and opened fire, seriously injuring two men.

Paramedics who arrived at the scene took both to the hospital, and one of the victims, 21-year-old Adam al-Oubarah, succumbed to his wounds that night.

Officers also raided the families’ residences and seized military-grade weaponry, including assault rifles and handguns they believe were likely stolen from IDF bases in the area.

Israel reportedly girding for Hamas to seek changes to Gaza pullback

A map, posted online by US President Donald Trump on October 4, 2025, shows an initial withdrawal line that Trump says Israel has agreed to, and which has been sent to Hamas, for a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange deal in Gaza. (Truth Social)

The Kan broadcaster reports that Israeli officials believe Hamas is not ready to accept a US proposal delineating an Israeli military pullback detailed in Washington’s 20-point plan to end the Gaza war and will seek to negotiate changes in talks set to take place in Egypt tomorrow.

The station says Hamas’s reservations are one of three expected points of contention Israel is expecting to need to overcome, along with the group’s opposition to disarming and releasing all hostages in one go.

According to Kan, Israel expects US President Donald Trump to hold firm on insisting that all hostages be released in a single handover.

On Saturday, Trump published a map showing the line that he said Israel had agreed to withdraw to in order to kick off a deal freeing the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Channel 12 news reports that Israeli negotiators will enter the talks with no intention of showing flexibility on the issue of disarming Hamas and demilitarizing the Strip, citing a source with knowledge of the talks.

Man killed in northern town as record murder rate accelerates

A 50-year-old man was shot to death in the northern town of Deir al-Assad early this morning, authorities say, marking the second killing in Arab communities within hours.

Wissam Dabah was found shot to death in a car in the lower Galilee town, according to reports. Hours earlier, a 21-year-old man named as Adam al-Oubarah, was gunned down in Rahat, in what police believe was a blood feud between rival clans in the southern Bedouin city.

The deaths are the 193rd and 194th to strike Arab society so far this year, according to the Abraham Initiatives advocacy group, marking a 9 percent increase over last year’s record-breaking murder rate. There have been six such killings in the first five days of October alone.

Hostage relatives cautiously optimistic for loved ones’ release

Families of hostages are expressing cautious hopes that their loved ones could be returned in the coming days after Israel and Hamas seemed to move closer to a deal, though details must still be hashed out.

Yael Adar, the mother of slain captive Tamir Adar, tells 103FM that she believes US President Donald Trump will succeed in pushing a deal over the finish line, but is still anxious.

“These passing hours are filled with turmoil and anxiety,” she says. “This is now the real test of whether this is real.”

Sylvia Cunio, mother of hostages Ariel and David Cunio, says she is already envisioning their reunion.

“I really hope I’ll see them this week, I’m dreaming of the moment I hug them and we can be together, eating together, laughing,” she says.

Former hostage Keith Siegel, who was freed in February, says he learned the hard way not to rely on predictions of hostages being released, recounting that when his wife Aviva was let go in a ceasefire in November 2023, he was told he would be freed the next day.

“I’m optimistic, but together with that, the optimism is cautious. There were times in my captivity when there were talks and it seemed that I would soon be released,” he tells Channel 12 news. “I’ve learned until they are all home, it’s not over.”

Talks are set to take place in Cairo Monday aimed at nailing down the release of the remaining 48 hostages, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

IDF says 900,000 estimated to have left Gaza City

Gaza City has nearly completely emptied of Palestinians, according to fresh IDF estimates.

Per the military’s assessments, some 900,000 of the estimated 1 million Palestinians who were residing in Gaza City ahead of the IDF’s major offensive have evacuated to the Strip’s south.

Civilians were instructed last month to evacuate all areas of Gaza City and head to an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in southern Gaza.

The rate of Palestinians leaving the area has risen in the past weeks, as the IDF advanced deeper into Gaza City, according to Israeli figures.

However, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported on October 2 that it was “estimated that hundreds of thousands of people remain in Gaza city and North Gaza governorate.”

Gazans report Israeli shelling around Gaza City

Hamas-linked news sources in the Gaza Strip claim that Israeli forces have shelled several sites around Gaza City over the early morning hours.

The Quds News outlet also claims an airstrike targeted an area of the eastern neighborhood of al-Tuffah.

No casualties are reported.

There is no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces.

Israeli strikes in Gaza City were reported to have “significantly subsided” on Saturday, after the IDF was ordered to halt offensive operations there and move to purely defensive action amid a push by US President Donald Trump to bring about an end to the war.

Zini takes reins of Shin Bet; Netanyahu wishes him luck on ‘enormous mission’

As David Zini takes his post as the new Shin Bet chief, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wishes him luck “in the enormous mission facing him.”

He also thanks the officer who served as the acting head until Zini’s appointment was approved, whose name cannot be published.

Zini was first nominated by Netanyahu as head of the agency in May, following the controversial ouster of former chief Ronen Bar.

Bar was dismissed by cabinet vote on March 21 based on Netanyahu’s assertion that he had lost confidence in the security agency head’s ability to do the job in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught.

IDF says missile from Yemen intercepted

The IDF says it has intercepted a single missile fired by the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

There are no immediate reports of impacts, injuries or damage after sirens sounded in parts of central Israel and the southern West Bank.

It is the 91st ballistic missile fired toward Israel by the Houthis since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. At least 41 Houthi drones have been launched at Israel during that time.

Over 40 ballistic missiles and more than 100 drones and cruise missiles were launched during the current war by the Yemeni rebels at Israel before the January 2025 Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

Air raid sirens sound in parts of central Israel, West Bank due to missile from Yemen

Air raid sirens are triggered in some parts of central Israel, as well as the southern West Bank, due to what the IDF says is a missile fired from Yemen.

The army is working to intercept the projectile.

???? Rocket Alert [04:58:00] – 153 Alerts ????:

• Lakhish — Hafetz Haim, Beit Hilkia, Givat Brenner, Beit Elazari, Agrigada Factory, Yad Binyamin, Revadim, Kidron, Revadim Industrial Zone
• Yarkon — Hashmonaim, Modi'in Illit, Modi'in Maccabim Re'ut, Modi'in – Ishpro Center,… pic.twitter.com/7e1yAPSBDj

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) October 5, 2025

IDF says missile fired from Yemen, alerts may sound in Jerusalem, central Israel

The IDF says it has identified a missile being launched from Yemen, issuing an early warning alert for Jerusalem and parts of central Israel.

‘It’s now or never’: Trump shares photo of crowd at Hostages Square rally for Gaza deal

US President Donald Trump posts a photo from the rally earlier tonight at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv urging the government to close the deal he proposed for ending the Gaza war and returning all the hostages.

The photo shows the crowd from above, holding a banner that reads: “It’s now or never.”

Trump has taken note of the protests before, including at the September 29 White House unveiling of his proposal to end the war in Gaza.

Trump noted the widespread support in Israel for a hostage deal that ends the war, demonstrating a level of familiarity with domestic Israeli politics that has led him to squeeze Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into accepting his proposal, even though it places the premier at odds with his far-right coalition partners who want to continue the war and permanently occupy Gaza.

New media post from Donald J. Trump

(TS: 04 Oct 18:35 ET)​​​‍​​‌‍​​‌‍​​​​​​‌‍​​​​‌‍​​‌‍​​​​​​​​​‌‍​​​‌‍​​​​​​​​​‌‍​‌‍​‌‍​​​​​​​‌‍​​​​​​​​​​‌‍​​​​​​​​‌‍​​​‌‍​​​​​‌‍​​‌‍​​​​​​​​​‌‍ pic.twitter.com/NTsR1ZF2Us

— Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) October 4, 2025

Diaspora minister trashes UK’s main Jewish group, amid row over far-right activist

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli attends a conference organized by his ministry, March 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli, on X, lashes out at the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which together with the UK’s Jewish Leadership Council, condemned him for inviting far-right, anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson to Israel.

The two organizations are the main representative groups for Jews in the UK.

“The Board of Deputies has, regrettably, become first and foremost a political organization – openly aligned with left-wing, woke, pro-Palestinian parties,” Chikli writes.

“Just hours after Jews were murdered in Manchester, instead of demanding protection or holding the government accountable, the Board rushed for a photo-op” with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer,  he alleges, referring to the deadly terror attack Thursday on a synagogue, as congregants were gathered for the Yom Kippur holy day.

Chikli continues: “Once proudly Zionist, now politically adrift, If only they showed the same energy attacking Britain’s recognition of a Palestinian terror state as they do attacking me and [Tommy Robinson].”

The Board of Deputies — together with the Jewish Leadership Council — issued a statement after the attack Thursday, in which they “call[ed] on all those in positions of power and influence to take the required action to combat hatred against Jewish people.”

The groups said they would “be working with the authorities on a series of additional measures to protect our community over the coming days.”

Both groups are vocally pro-Israel, campaigning for the release of the hostages and condemning much of the rhetoric employed against Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Both groups also condemned Starmer’s recent decision to recognize a Palestinian state.

‘Tommy Robinson is a thug’: Leading UK Jewish groups slam Chikli for hosting far-right firebrand

Metropolitan Police officers arrest British far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, during a demonstration in central London on November 26, 2023 to protest against antisemitism. (JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the UK’s Jewish Leadership Council slam Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli for praising anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson as a “courageous leader” and announcing he will host Robinson later this month.

“Tommy Robinson is a thug who represents the very worst of Britain,” the two leading UK Jewish groups say in a joint statement. “His presence undermines those genuinely working to tackle Islamist extremism and foster community cohesion.”

“Minister Chikli has proven himself to be a Diaspora Minister in name only. In our darkest hour, he has ignored the views of the vast majority of British Jews, who utterly and consistently reject Robinson and everything he stands for,” the groups add.

In a post on Friday, Chikli called Robinson “a courageous leader on the front line against radical Islam,” and “a true friend of Israel and the Jewish people.”

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli attends a conference organized by his ministry, March 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The 42-year-old Robinson — whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon — has long been a familiar sight at far-right rallies in England, but his influence was thought to be waning after various legal and other woes. In mid-September, however, an anti-immigration protest in central London that he organized drew some 100,000 participants.

He has been vocal in his support for Israel amid the ongoing war against Hamas, and has described himself as a Zionist.

“Tommy Robinson is a thug who represents the very worst of Britain. His presence undermines those genuinely working to tackle Islamist extremism and foster community cohesion. Minister Chikli has proven himself to be a Diaspora Minister in name only. In our darkest hour, he has… https://t.co/BswfB4mXZ6 pic.twitter.com/LZ1rkPFzOe

— Board of Deputies of British Jews (@BoardofDeputies) October 4, 2025

Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya makes first appearance since being targeted in Doha strike

The Qatari Al Araby channel shows video of top Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, who was among the senior leaders in the terror group whom Israel targeted in an airstrike on September 9 in Doha.

Several lower-level Hamas members were killed in the strike, as was one Qatari guard, but Israel failed to kill the senior officials it was targeting.

خاص – الظهور الأول لرئيس وفد حماس المفاوض خليل الحية منذ محاولة إسرائيل الفاشلة لاغتياله#التلفزيون_العربي pic.twitter.com/BhlscRxxz3

— التلفزيون العربي (@AlarabyTV) October 4, 2025

PM said to hold 2-hour meeting with Ben Gvir and Smotrich, as government holding together

Left: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, January 16, 2025; Right: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, January 13, 2025. (Both photos by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concludes a meeting with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir after about two hours, the Walla news site reports.

Ben Gvir, who leads the Otzma Yehudit party, said earlier tonight that his faction will leave the government if Hamas “continues to exist” after the return of the hostages held in Gaza.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was also present for some of the meeting, according to Walla.

Smotrich, who like Ben Gvir has opposed previous hostage-ceasefire deals, said earlier that Netanyahu made a “serious mistake” by agreeing to halt offensive military operations in Gaza at the request of US President Donald Trump.

However, neither has actually pulled out of the government at this stage.

The two far-right ministers have been among the fiercest voices against ending the war as part of previous deals, even in exchange for all the hostages, and both have advocated annexing the Strip and settling it, a proposition that Trump’s Gaza plan explicitly rejects.

Opposition figures have said that they will make sure there is a majority in the Knesset to approve the Trump deal, even if the ministers pull out of the government in opposition.

The Haaretz daily reports that in recent days, Netanyahu and the two ministers have been in closer contact than was outwardly visible. The premier has been updating them regularly, it says, and spoke to them throughout Shabbat.

Sources close to the prime minister tell Haaretz that Netanyahu would rather see the hostages released, even if his government falls, than keep his government together at the expense of freeing the hostages — though other statements to this effect have been met with skepticism in the past.

20-year-old man shot and killed in Rahat, in suspected blood feud incident

A 20-year-old man was shot and killed in Rahat this evening, police and paramedics say. Police suspect the incident is part of an ongoing blood feud between rival families in the southern Bedouin city.

The shooting also moderately wounded a 29-year-old man. After reaching the scene, paramedics transported both to the hospital where the younger victim was pronounced dead.

Large police forces are currently deployed in the area and actively searching for the perpetrators, law enforcement says.

Israeli delegation, led by Dermer, to include hostage point-man, senior security officials

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer speaks at the Jewish News Syndicate conference in Jerusalem, on April 28, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Israeli negotiating team in Egypt will be made up of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, government hostage point-man Gal Hirsch, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk, senior Shin Bet official “Mem,” and senior Mossad official “Dalet,” a member of the team tells The Times of Israel.

The latter two figures are identified publicly only by their first Hebrew initials.

They will be joined by staff from the Mossad, IDF, and Shin Bet.

Talks are set to be held in Egypt on Monday on the release of all hostages held by Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza and the release of terrorists and other Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel, in accordance with US President Donald Trump’s plan for ending the war.