July 20: Syrian Red Crescent says first aid convoy enters Sweida city

Abbas announces elections for PLO legislative body for first time since 2006

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas listens to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their talks in the Grand Palace at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, on Saturday, May 10, 2025, as part of celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany during the World War II. (Sergei Bobylev/Photo host agency RIA Novosti via AP)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announces that elections will be held before the end of the year for the Palestinian National Council, for the first time since 2006.

The Palestinian National Council, comprising approximately 300 members, is the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The body was once the sole representative of the Palestinian people internationally, but its power has been diminished with the advent of the PA as a Palestinian proto-government, and today it holds mainly symbolic internal significance.

Like the Palestinian Authority, it is dominated by the Fatah movement.

Haaretz reporter Jack Khoury notes that the announcement of new elections for the body appears to be an attempt to revive public legitimacy for the PA and the PLO, which are facing a deep crisis of popularity in the West Bank.

Priest at West Bank town attacked by settlers: I filed 14 complaints, police did nothing

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, left, is escorted by Father Jack-Noble Abed, priest of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, during a tour in the archeological site of the Church of St. George, the site of a recent Israeli settlers attacks, during his visit to the West Bank town of Taybeh, east of Ramallah Saturday, July 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

A priest at a West Bank town attacked by settlers in recent days has said he filed multiple complaints over settler violence with Israeli police and that nothing was done.

Father Jack-Nobel Abed, of the Greek Melkite Catholic Church, hosted US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on a tour in Taybeh today.

He told Channel 12 news: “There have already been four arson attacks by settlers in our village. The latest was last Friday near the sixth-century Byzantine church — too close to its walls, which were burned, and to the cemetery walls and the surrounding area. Two weeks ago, they also set fire to our chicken coops.

“When I arrived and saw the damage, I almost cried. Nothing like this has happened to us since I’ve been in the village, for 35 years,” he said.

Taybeh is a quiet Palestinian Christian village south of Jerusalem w/ a lot of American citizens that has been vandalized-including fires set at ancient church. I visited there today. Desecrating a church,mosque or synagogue is a crime against humanity & God. pic.twitter.com/fGI6tCLQuC

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 19, 2025

He added: “I personally filed almost 14 complaints at the Sha’ar Binyamin police station, and still nothing happened – we didn’t receive any response. Unfortunately, the police have done nothing, and for almost two years I’ve been filing complaints there, and they haven’t lifted a finger.

“There is fear among the residents because the settlers act with impunity – they beat people and bring weapons. Even so, many settlers from Kokhav HaShahar come to our village to buy bread, eggs, oil – everything – at our stores. We have good relations with everyone in the area. Nothing happened to us until these specific settlers arrived and started causing trouble. I still believe in coexistence.”

Report: 2,000 Israeli Druze warn they’ll join fighting in Syria if attacks persist

Bedouin tribal gunmen walk in a neighborhood in Sweida in Syria's southern province, despite an announcement by the Syrian interim president of an immediate ceasefire on July 19, 2025. (Bakr ALKASEM / AFP)

Kan news reports that some 2,000 Druze in Israel have signed onto a document declaring their intention to join the fighting in Syria if attacks against Druze by Bedouin tribesmen and government-allied forces do not stop.

“We are preparing to volunteer to fight alongside our brothers in Sweida. It is our time to be ready to defend our brothers, our land, and our religion,” the document says, according to Kan.

Signatories include active reservists in the IDF, the network says, and the letter has sparked intense concern in the Israeli security establishment, which is striving to convince Druze leaders to leave it to the IDF to address any further violence.

Ceasefires have repeatedly been declared in the Sweida region in recent days but have been broken time and again.

In recent hours reports have indicated that clashes in the city of Sweida have been halted and the area was cleared of Bedouin tribal fighters following the deployment of Syrian security forces to enforce a ceasefire.

Rubio urges Syrian security forces to prevent ‘jihadists’ from committing ‘massacres’ in country’s south

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls on the Syrian government’s security forces to prevent jihadists from entering and “carrying out massacres” in the conflict-stricken south of the country.

“If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria… they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent ISIS and any other violent jihadists from entering the area and carrying out massacres,” Rubio says in a statement posted to X.

The statement comes after days of violence in the Druze-majority city of Sweida and the wider province, as Druze fighters clashed with Sunni Bedouin tribes, who were later joined by government forces.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Tribal fighters have left Sweida, violent clashes have ceased, says Syrian interior ministry

Tribal fighters have been evacuated from Syria’s southern city of Sweida and violent clashes have ceased, the country’s interior ministry says.

“After intensive efforts by the Ministry of Interior to implement the ceasefire agreement, following the deployment of its forces in the northern and western regions of Sweida Governorate, the city of Sweida was evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city’s neighborhoods were halted,” interior ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba says in a post on Telegram.

Man suspected in Los Angeles car ramming charged with assault with a deadly weapon

A 29-year-old man suspected of driving his car into a crowd outside a Hollywood nightclub in Los Angeles was arrested Saturday and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, police say.

The suspect, identified as Fernando Ramirez, was booked into custody and charged with assault, Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Rosario Cervantes tells AFP.

Trump administration reviewed SpaceX’s contracts after feud between Trump and Musk – WSJ

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on June 05, 2025 shows, L/R, Elon Musk looks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025 and US President Donald Trump in Arlington, Virginia, on Memorial Day, May 26, 2025 (Allison ROBBERT and SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Days after US President Donald Trump touted cutting ties with Elon Musk’s SpaceX amid a falling out between the two moguls, the Trump administration looked into the matter, the Wall Street Journal reports.

A number of people familiar with the matter tell the newspaper that ultimately it was determined that most of the contracts could not be cancelled as they were vital to the US Department of Defense or NASA.

One individual tells the newspaper that some of the contracts could face additional scrutiny.

Trump envoy on Syria: ‘All factions must immediately lay down arms, abandon cycles of tribal vengeance’

Tribal and Bedouin fighters deploy amid clashes in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida in southern Syria on July 19, 2025 (Bakr ALKASEM / AFP)

US pointman on Syria Tom Barrack praises President Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Damascus, and says all factions must immediately lay down their arms after a number of days of bloodshed.

Over 900 people have been killed in Sweida since last Sunday as sectarian clashes between the Druze and Bedouin drew in the Islamist-led government, Israel and armed tribes from other parts of Syria.

“President Trump’s decision to lift sanctions was a principled step, offering the Syrian people a chance to move beyond years of unimaginable suffering and atrocities. The international community has largely rallied behind the nascent Syrian government, watching with cautious optimism as it seeks to transition from a legacy of pain to a future of hope,” writes Barrack, the US envoy to Ankara.

“Yet, this fragile ambition is now overshadowed by profound shock, as brutal acts by warring factions on the ground undermine the government’s authority and disrupt any semblance of order,” he writes on X. “All factions must immediately lay down their arms, cease hostilities, and abandon cycles of tribal vengeance. Syria stands at a critical juncture—peace and dialogue must prevail—and prevail now.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said at least 940 people had been killed in the violence.

They included 326 Druze fighters and 262 Druze civilians, 165 of whom were summarily executed, according to the Observatory.

They also included 312 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin, three of them civilians who were “summarily executed by Druze fighters.” Another 15 government troops were killed in Israeli strikes, the Observatory said.

IDF set to begin ground operations in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza for first time

Palestinians line up for food distribution in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, May 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The IDF issues a new evacuation warning for Palestinians residing in the southwest of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, as it is set to begin ground operations in the city for the first time since the start of the war.

“The IDF continues to operate with great force to destroy the enemy’s capabilities and terror infrastructure in the area, as it expands its activities into an area where it has not operated before,” says the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Col. Avichay Adraee, on X.

Civilians are instructed to head south to the Mawasi area on the coast.

It marks the first time since the beginning of the war that the IDF has issued an evacuation warning for the Deir al-Balah area, one of the few locations in the Strip where the military has not operated with ground troops.

The IDF has avoided ground operations in areas where it believes Hamas to be holding hostages, in order to not endanger them as the terror group has vowed to execute captives if troops near.

An estimated 350,000 Palestinians are residing in all of central Gaza, according to IDF estimates from May. It is unclear how many are in the newly evacuated zone.

#عاجل ‼️ إلى جميع المتواجدين في المنطقة الجنوبية الغربية من دير البلح، في البلوكات 130، 132-134، 136-139، 2351، بما في ذلك المتواجدين داخل الخيام الموجودة في المنطقة

⭕️يواصل جيش الدفاع العمل بقوة كبيرة لتدمير قدرات العدو والبنى التحتية الإرهابية في المنطقة حيث يوسّع أنشطته في… pic.twitter.com/dcDvPcJLC1

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) July 20, 2025

3 suspects due in court over assault by right-wing protesters on Arab MK Odeh

A policeman escorts a car carrying MK Ayman Odeh as right-wing demonstrators surround the vehicle in Ness Ziona, July 19, 2025. (X screenshot used in accordance with article 27a of the Copyright Law)

Police say the three people arrested over an attack on Arab lawmaker Ayman Odeh and his vehicle yesterday will appear in court today for a hearing on their detention.

The three are being held on suspicion of causing damage and making threats against a public official, police say.

Right-wing demonstrators assaulted Odeh and attacked his car as he traveled to an anti-war protest in Ness Ziona, days after the Knesset failed to approve a motion to expel him from the legislature over controversial comments he made on the conflict with Hamas in Gaza.

Demonstrators could be heard repeatedly cursing Odeh and chanting “Death to Arabs” in a video filmed from inside the vehicle.

Police arrested three Ness Ziona residents on suspicion of damaging Odeh’s vehicle, including cracking the windshield, describing the attack as “rare and severe.”

A police statement added that the force was examining further evidence to identify and arrest additional suspects.

Man arrested for breaking into cellphone store damaged by Iran missile attack

Police say they arrested a man on suspicion of breaking into a store in Tel Aviv that was temporarily closed due to damage from a missile attack from Iran during the recent war.

The 33-year-old resident of Rehovot was detained on suspicion of breaking into a cellphone store on Ben Yehuda Street.

Police say the man was arrested at the scene.

Cases of looting in the aftermath of rocket and missile attacks on Israel have been relatively rare.

Magnitude 6.6 earthquake strikes near east coast of Russia’s Kamchatka region

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck near the coast of the Kamchatka region in the far east of Russia, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) says.

The quake was at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles), GFZ says. It initially reported a magnitude of 6.2 for the earthquake.

IDF says it demolished 2.7 km of tunnels in north Gaza

Troops operating in northern Gaza's Jabalia in a photo released by the military on July 20, 2025 (IDF)

In northern Gaza’s Jabalia, the IDF says, it demolished 2.7 kilometers’ (1.6 miles’) worth of tunnels during recent operations carried out by the 401st Armored Brigade in the area.

The underground passages were some 20 meters (66 feet) deep, according to the military. They were destroyed by combat engineers.

Activist group calls for Belgium to arrest Israelis at Tomorrowland festival for ‘war crimes and genocide’

People listen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, July 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

The Hind Rajab Foundation says it filed complaints with Belgian authorities against what it says are two Israel Defense Forces soldiers who are attending the Tomorrowland festival.

“Two individuals responsible for grave international crimes — including war crimes and genocide committed in the Gaza Strip — are currently on Belgian soil,” the organization says.

The organization says additionally a group of young Israeli men were seen at the festival waving the flag of the IDF’s Givati Brigade, and that in a separate incident, a Palestinian flag was torn down in a nearby town.

Launched in September 2024, the Hind Rajab Foundation has used social media posts by Israeli soldiers, officers and reservists to locate them in an attempt to have them arrested for alleged war crimes when they travel abroad.

Hostage families express concern IDF’s planned expanded ground op may pose risk to loved ones

Israelis attend a rally calling for the release of hostages in Gaza, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, July 19, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum expresses concern over the announcement that the IDF plans to expand ground operations into Deir al-Balah for the first time.

“Can anyone promise us that this decision will not come at the cost of the loss of our loved ones?” the forum says in a statement.

“We expect the prime minister, the defense minister, and senior IDF officials to urgently explain to Israeli citizens and the families what the plan for the fighting is, and how exactly it protects the hostages who are still in Gaza,” the forum says.

“Unfortunately, despite all the spin and false promises, many families have already learned firsthand the meaning of expanding the fighting in the shadow of negotiations and the absence of a clear war plan. One can only recall the horror of the murder of the six hostages in August last year,” the forum says, referring to Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Or Danino and Alex Lubanov, who were murdered by their captors in a tunnel, apparently as Israeli troops neared.

The forum says that the expansion of ground operations should not be used as a “card” in negotiations for a ceasefire deal, as it poses “a tangible and immediate danger to their fate.”

“Enough! The Israeli people overwhelmingly want an end to the fighting and a comprehensive agreement that will return all the hostages,” the statement concludes.

Polls have consistently shown a large majority of the Israeli public is in favor of a deal to bring home all those held in Gaza, even if it means the end of the war.

This morning for the first time the IDF issued an evacuation warning for the Deir al-Balah area, one of the few locations in the Strip where the military has not operated with ground troops.

The IDF has avoided ground operations in areas where it believes Hamas to be holding hostages in order to not endanger them, as the terror group has vowed to execute captives if troops near.

Hamas infrastructure in north Gaza’s Beit Hanoun destroyed by IDF overnight

Overnight, the IDF demolished Hamas infrastructure in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, amid an ongoing offensive against Hamas there.

A video from the Israeli border community of Netiv Ha’asara shows the large explosions that shook the region just after 3 a.m.

Overnight, the IDF demolished Hamas infrastructure in northern Gaza's Beit Hanoun, amid an ongoing offensive against Hamas there.

A video from the Israeli border community of Netiv Haasara shows the large explosions that shook the region just after 3 a.m. pic.twitter.com/EBVgPEqmGD

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) July 20, 2025

Iran, UK, France and Germany may hold nuclear talks next week, says Iranian news agency

This handout photograph taken and released by the German Federal Foreign Office on June 20, 2025 shows Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (2nd-L) during a meeting on Tehran's nuclear program, with Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, the European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas and Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva. (Handout/ German Federal Foreign Office/AFP)

Iran, Britain, France and Germany have agreed to hold talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reports, following warnings by the three European countries that failure to resume negotiations would lead to international sanctions being reimposed on Iran.

“The principle of talks has been agreed upon, but consultations are continuing on the time and place of the talks. The country in which the talks could be held next week has not been finalized,” Tasnim reports, quoting a source informed with the matter.

The US, France, Germany and the UK reportedly agreed last week to set the end of August as the de facto deadline for reaching a nuclear deal with Iran.

If no deal is reached by that deadline, the three European powers plan to trigger the “snapback” mechanism that automatically reimposes all UN Security Council sanctions that were lifted under the 2015 Iran deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an Axios report said.

At least 7 killed in overnight strikes in Gaza, Hamas-run agency says

Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency says that Israeli strikes overnight killed at least seven people in Gaza City and in parts of the Strip’s south.

The toll cannot be verified and figures released by Gazan authorities do not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

There is no comment from the IDF.

Defense Ministry announces deal to procure hundreds of light mobility vehicles for IDF

This undated photo issued by the Defense Ministry on July 20, 2025, shows Humvees being delivered to Israel. (Defense Ministry)

The Defense Ministry announces that it has signed a half-billion shekel ($150 million) deal to procure hundreds of light mobility vehicles for the IDF Ground Forces.

The deal with the American manufacturer AM General included hundreds of Humvees, along with support and maintenance, the ministry says.

The first dozen Humvees are expected to arrive in Israel this year, it says.

The IDF uses Humvees for transporting troops, evacuating wounded, logistics supply, communications, and other purposes amid the war.

Iran claims to have replaced air defenses damaged during war with Israel

Illustrative -- A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidential office shows Iranian-made air defense missile system Bavar 373 during a ceremony in Tehran on August 22, 2019. (HO / Iranian Presidency / AFP)

Iran has replaced air defenses damaged during last month’s conflict with Israel, Iran’s Defah Press news agency reports, quoting Mahmoud Mousavi, the regular army’s deputy for operations.

During the conflict in June, Israel’s air force dominated Iran’s airspace and dealt a heavy blow to the country’s air defenses while Iranian armed forces launched successive barrages of missiles and drones at Israel.

“Some of our air defenses were damaged, this is not something we can hide, but our colleagues have used domestic resources and replaced them with pre-arranged systems that were stored in suitable locations in order to keep the airspace secure,” Mousavi says.

Prior to the war, Iran had its own domestically made long-range air defense system Bavar-373 in addition to the Russian-made S-300 system. The report by Defah Press does mention any import of foreign-made air defense systems to Iran in past weeks.

A number of aerial defense systems were destroyed by Israel prior to the war. It is unclear if Tehran is claiming that those too have been replaced.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

AG asks High Court to block cabinet vote on her firing: ‘Doing immediate damage to the rule of law in Israel’

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, April 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara requests that the High Court of Justice block the cabinet from voting on firing her, arguing that the dismissal process has been fundamentally flawed and that allowing it to proceed is “doing immediate damage to the rule of law in Israel.”

On Friday, Judge Noam Sohlberg ruled that any decision to fire Baharav-Miara would not take effect immediately in order to allow time for judicial review of the issue.

The attorney general argues that the court should intervene regarding what she describes as the unlawful nature of the new dismissal process, regardless of its ruling that implementation of any vote to fire her should be delayed.

“The situation in which for five weeks the government has been advancing, step by step, a manifestly unlawful process for firing the attorney general is leading to ever-growing institutional damage to the Attorney General’s Office and the entire civil service,” argues the attorney general.

“The very fact of the advancement of an unlawful process, as far as a debate in cabinet on the basis of a tainted decision, even if at the end the process and its results will be invalidated, gives weight to arguments for the legitimacy of the process,” she continues.

Baharav-Miara requests that the case be reviewed by the court as soon as possible, “and in parallel not to allow the government to continue to advance an unlawful process to a debate in cabinet, before the court has issued a ruling on the fundamental question of the legality of changing the principles for firing the attorney general.”

In March, the government set in motion the process of firing the attorney general through the recommendation of the public, professional committee used to appoint her in 2022, under the terms of a cabinet resolution from 2000.

But in June, after failing to staff that committee, the cabinet passed a resolution establishing a new five-member ministerial committee that could make the recommendation instead.

The committee was chaired by Diaspora Affairs Minister Amihai Chikli, and also includes Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel, and Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli.

Dozens of youths riot at Jerusalem movie theater, chanting ‘Death to Arabs’; no arrests

Police say they have not arrested anyone in connection to an anti-Arab riot last night in which dozens of Jewish youths were filmed trashing a Jerusalem movie theater while chanting “Death to Arabs” and throwing objects at the employees behind the concession stand counter.

Footage shows masses of young men throwing floor signs, disposable cups and what appears to be a motorcycle helmet at Arab employees at Jerusalem’s Cinema City theater. The workers respond, throwing objects back over the counter while giving the middle finger to the crowd.

Police tell The Times of Israel that the crowd of rioters had fled the scene by the time officers arrived.

“No suspects were detained because they had already left, and the employees were unable to identify the suspects when police were there. We are therefore working off the footage to identify [the suspects],” says a Jerusalem District spokesman.

סינמה סיטי ירושלים אתמול: נערים מתפרעים, משליכים חפצים לעבר עובדים במקום, מתקהלים ושרים ״מוות לערבים״@GLZRadio pic.twitter.com/267PbK6Gm8

— נועם נקש || Noam Nakash (@nakash_noam) July 20, 2025

IDF says lone soldier from Norway succumbed to apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound

Cpl. Dan Phillipson, who apparently died by suicide (Courtesy)

An IDF paratrooper in training who apparently attempted suicide last week has succumbed to his wounds.

Cpl. Dan Phillipson was a so-called “lone soldier” from Norway, moving to Israel a year ago alone to serve in the military.

On Tuesday, the IDF said the soldier was found with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound at a training base in southern Israel.

He was taken to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

The IDF says a Military Police investigation has been opened into the incident, the findings of which will be sent to the Military Advocate General for review.

In the past two weeks, four soldiers, including an off-duty reservist, have died by suspected suicide, bringing the total to 19 such cases since the beginning of the year.

During the ongoing war, the military has seen a rise in suicides among soldiers.

South Syria death toll passes 1,000, including 194 ‘summarily executed’ Druze, says watchdog

Tribal and Bedouin fighters cross Walga town as they mobilize amid clashes near the predominantly Druze city of Sweida in southern Syria on July 19, 2025 (Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)

A Syria monitor says that the death toll from violence in the country’s south involving Bedouin and Druze fighters, as well as government forces, armed tribes and Israel, has topped 1,000.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says those killed since last Sunday include 336 Druze fighters and 298 civilians from the religious minority group, 194 of whom were “summarily executed by defense and interior ministry personnel.”

The dead also include 342 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin, three of them civilians “summarily executed by Druze fighters.” Another 15 government forces were killed in Israeli strikes, the Observatory says.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

IDF says Hamas weapons production commander killed in recent central Gaza strike

A commander in Hamas’s “weapons production headquarters” was killed in a recent airstrike in central Gaza’s Nuseirat, the IDF announces.

Bashar Thabat headed a section in the development and projects department of the weapons production headquarters, according to the IDF, and was responsible for Hamas’s “research and development processes in the weapons production headquarters, which works to restore and build up the arsenal of weapons for terror groups in the Strip.”

He was killed in a strike on July 10, the military says.

Meanwhile, the IDF says it has expanded its offensive against Hamas in Gaza City, with the 98th Division launching “targeted attacks” on terror infrastructure and cells of operatives in the past day.

In the Strip’s far north, the military says the 99th and 162nd divisions continue to uncover and destroy Hamas infrastructure, including tunnels.

In the Beit Hanoun area, troops of the Givati Brigade killed several operatives during an exchange of fire, the army says.

In southern Gaza’s Rafah, the IDF says the Gaza Division destroyed dozens of terror infrastructures and located tunnel shafts.

Also in the past day, the Israeli Air Force hit over 75 targets in the Gaza Strip, including cells of operatives, buildings used by terror groups, and other infrastructure, the IDF says.

The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip reported yesterday that 98 Palestinians were killed and 511 were wounded in the previous 48 hours. The tolls cannot be verified and do not distinguish between civilians and fighters.

Palestinian media: Some 30 killed while waiting for aid trucks in Gaza City

Palestinian media outlets report that some 30 people were killed and 60 wounded by gunfire while they were waiting for the arrival of aid trucks in Gaza City.

According to the reports, the casualties were brought to Shifa Hospital.

Al Jazeera reports that Israeli forces opened fire on those waiting as the trucks arrived in the northwestern part of the city.

The IDF says it is looking into the reports.

Pope Leo calls for end to ‘barbarity of war’ after IDF shelling of Gaza’s sole Catholic church

Pope Leo XIV greets the crowd after the Angelus prayer in Piazza della Liberta in front of Palazzo Apostolico on July 20, 2025 (Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

Pope Leo calls for an end to the “barbarity of war” as he speaks of his profound pain over the Israeli shelling on the sole Catholic church in Gaza, an incident Israel has said was “mistaken.”

Three people died and several were injured, including the parish priest, in the shelling on the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City on Thursday. Photos show its roof has been hit close to the main cross, scorching the stone facade, and shattering windows.

Speaking after his Angelus prayer, Leo reads out the names of those killed in the incident.

“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, of indiscriminate use of force and forced displacement of the population,” he says.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement Thursday expressing its regret over the incident, heeding a demand from US President Donald Trump, who angrily phoned the Israeli premier.

“Israel deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza’s Holy Family Church,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. “Every innocent life lost is a tragedy. We share the grief of the families and the faithful.”

Releasing suspects to house arrest, judge criticizes police for lack of arrests after mob attack on MK Odeh

A policeman escorts a car carrying MK Ayman Odeh as right-wing demonstrators surround the vehicle in Ness Ziona, July 19, 2025. (X screenshot used in accordance with article 27a of the Copyright Law)

Three individuals who were arrested yesterday on suspicion of attacking the car of MK Ayman Odeh are released from custody by the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court. Two are sent to house arrest, and the other, a minor, is set free without restrictions.

Judge Guy Maimon criticizes the police in his decision, saying the video evidence presented by the police does not show the two adults who were arrested committing the actions the police accused them of in their written reports.

The judge also states that numerous other members of the mob who surrounded and attacked Odeh’s car can be seen committing the crimes the two arrested men are accused of, but were not arrested.

Shas interior minister Arbel set to submit resignation

File: Interior Minister Moshe Arbel attends a Knesset committee in Jerusalem on April 1, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party is expected to submit his resignation from the government today, following his party’s decision last week to quit over the failure to pass a law exempting Haredi yeshiva students from military service.

Last week, Arbel, along with other Shas ministers, Social Affairs Minister Yaakov Margi and Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli, submitted resignation letters to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Arbel retracted his resignation temporarily to allow for the appointment of Shas ally Israel Uzan to replace Interior Ministry Director General Ronen Peretz, who also submitted a request to resign from his position today.

Arbel’s move is seen as an effort to secure Shas’s influence over the ministry during the coalition crisis. However, Arbel has indicated it was so he could hold a meeting today regarding a development plan for the city of Nazareth.

Shas is not joining the opposition, but the party has said its members will be resigning all their positions in the government.

Arbel is widely seen as one of the more effective ministers in the government.

Ministerial panel votes unanimously to recommend the government fires AG Baharav-Miara

Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara attends a hearing of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee at the Knesset in Jerusalem, April 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

A five-member ministerial committee votes unanimously to recommend to the government that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara be dismissed from office.

The committee approved the text of its resolution on Thursday night, and formally voted to adopt it in a meeting today.

The decision to fire the attorney general now passes to the cabinet, which can schedule a vote on the matter at its next meeting.

In a Friday ruling from the High Court, Judge Noam Sohlberg said that any decision by the government to fire Baharav-Miara would not come into effect immediately, in order to give the court time to review petitions against the new process for firing the attorney general which the government instituted in June.

Earlier today, Baharav-Miara filed a response to that ruling, asking the court to instead stop the process itself from continuing.

The contentious committee was chaired by Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, and also includes Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel, and Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli.

At least 44 said killed when IDF troops opened fire on Gazans waiting for aid; no comment from IDF

Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency says the death toll has reached at least 44 after Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians waiting to collect humanitarian aid near Gaza City.

The death toll cannot be verified.

There is no comment from the Israeli military on the reported incident.

“As of this moment, 44 people have been killed and dozens injured after Israeli forces opened fire on civilians waiting for aid” near Gaza City, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal tells AFP. Israel has said Bassal is an active Hamas terrorist.

18-year-old dies of wounds sustained in Kafr Qara stabbing

An 18-year-old died of his wounds after being stabbed yesterday in the city of Kafr Qara.

Paramedics took Muhammad Abu Salem, a resident of ‘Ara in northern Israel, to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in nearby Hadera with serious injuries as a result of the stabbing.

He was pronounced dead this morning by medical staff, says a spokeswoman for the hospital.

Police opened an investigation into the incident and have not arrested any suspects.

Earlier today, the victim of a fatal shooting in Jaffa last night was named as Sami Wahsh, a 60-year-old resident of the city. He was reportedly shot in the head at close range while sitting on a bench.

Since the start of 2025, 141 Arab Israelis have been killed in violent criminal incidents, says the Abraham Initiatives coexistence organization.

Palestinian filmmaker backs out of festival panel after threats; right-wing activist thrown out for interrupting

Right-wing activist Shai Glick is escorted out of a panel at the Jerusalem Film Festival on July 20, 2025. (Amy Spiro/Times of Israel)

After Palestinian filmmaker Rami Younis backed out of participating in a conference panel on freedom of speech due to threats, the man leading the charge against him is thrown out of the proceedings for interrupting.

Shai Glick, the head of the right-wing Betsalmo activist group, is ejected from the panel on the sidelines of the Jerusalem Film Festival for interrupting proceedings with shouting and yelling at the panelists.

The panel, titled “Freedom of Expression and Creativity in Israel Today,” was originally meant to include Younis, who organizers say dropped out due to fears following threats against him from right-wing figures, including demands from far-right Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Arieh King that he not be allowed to participate.

“Rami Younis called you a murderer,” Glick shouts as he is escorted out of the room at the Jerusalem Cinematheque by security.

King, who also shows up at the start of the panel, celebrates the fact that Younis did not ultimately participate, before also leaving the room.

Younis’s film, “Lyd”, about the expulsion of Palestinians in 1948 from the city in Israel today known as Lod, has been the subject of significant censorship efforts by Culture Minister Miki Zohar and other officials. Younis has said that Zionism is racism and previously called IDF soldiers “Nazis.”

Gafni attends Knesset panel on compensation for businesses harmed by war, week after resigning as chair

MK Moshe Gafni of United Torah Judaism's Degel HaTorah faction leads a Finance Committee meeting at the Knesset, on July 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Former Knesset Finance Committee chair MK Moshe Gafni of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party attends the panel’s meeting to discuss the government’s compensation plan for businesses and workers harmed economically by last month’s war with Iran.

Gafni resigned from his post as panel chair last week after UTJ left the government over its failure to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military conscription — a key demand for the ultra-Orthodox parties.

The lawmaker says that he is attending today’s meeting in order to see the economic relief legislation passed — his absence at an earlier scheduled meeting stalled progress on the bill, raising concerns about the committee’s ability to pass the critical legislation before the summer session ends on July 27.

The senior Haredi MK at one stage takes the seat reserved for the panel’s chair, while telling those present that he is present simply in his capacity as a member of the committee.

Following Gafni’s resignation Monday evening, the Knesset Finance Committee approved a recommendation from the House Committee to appoint Likud MK Ofir Katz as the new chair of the influential panel.

The committee then scheduled today’s meeting to discuss the compensation plan, which was to be led by interim chair MK Yinon Azoulay of Haredi party Shas. Gafni says he was temporarily filling the seat at Azoulay’s request, but not for the entire meeting

Netanyahu suffering from food poisoning, his office says, after he skipped cabinet meeting

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the Muni Expo 2025 conference in Tel Aviv, on July 15, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

After reports emerged that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu missed this morning’s weekly cabinet meeting, his office releases a statement that he is ill and will be working from home for the next three days.

Netanyahu began feeling sick overnight, says the Prime Minister’s Office, and was examined at his home by Dr. Alon Hershko, director of internal medicine department at Hadassah University Hospital — Ein Kerem.

Hershko diagnosed the prime minister with intestinal inflammation resulting from eating spoiled food.

Netanyahu’s condition was declared good after further testing, says his office, adding that he is receiving intravenous fluids following dehydration that resulted from the illness.

“In accordance with his doctors’ instructions, the prime minister will rest at home for the next three days and will conduct state affairs from there,” says the PMO.

Netanyahu, 75, has battled health issues in recent years. He had his prostate removed in late December, and in March 2024, he was had hernia surgery. That same month, he missed several days of work after contracting the flu.

In 2023, he underwent surgery to have a pacemaker installed after suffering a transient heart block. A week earlier he he had been hospitalized for what he said at the time was dehydration. Doctors subsequently revealed that the prime minister has had a heart conduction problem for years.

A medical report released in January 2023, the last shared with the public, said Netanyahu was in a “completely normal state of health,” that his pacemaker was working correctly and that there was no evidence of heart arrhythmia or any other problematic conditions.

World Central Kitchen says it is halting hot meal services in Gaza as it’s out of food

Palestinians receive hot meals from volunteers in Gaza City, on July 9, 2025. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)

The World Central Kitchen organization says that it has depleted all supplies in its Gaza warehouses and that its aid trucks are currently stuck at the Gaza border.

As a result, the organization says it has been forced to halt operations in kitchens that were serving hot meals. However, it says, its teams in Gaza are continuing to bake bread and distribute water to residents.

It adds that yesterday, it served 80,000 meals to residents of Gaza.

The entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza has been a point of conflict between Israel and aid organizations since the start of the war.

Aid groups accuse Israel of obstructing deliveries, while Israel claims the organizations fail to meet necessary conditions for safe food distribution, such as compliance with specific aid routes in the Strip.

Last week, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation announced that UN-affiliated organizations had not delivered food to Gaza for over a week, and that the GHF was currently the only group bringing humanitarian aid into the territory.

IDF says troops fired ‘warning shots’ near Gaza City aid site, claims reported death tolls are inaccurate

After Hamas authorities reported that 67 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire while waiting to collect humanitarian aid near Gaza City earlier today, the IDF confirms troops fired warning shots but claims that the provided tolls are inaccurate.

In response to a query, the IDF says thousands of Palestinians were identified gathering in northern Gaza, and troops in the area “fired warning shots to remove an immediate threat posed to the troops.”

The IDF says it is “aware of the claims of casualties in the area,” but adds that “a preliminary examination shows that the reported number of casualties does not align with the existing information.”

The incident is under further investigation, the army says.

In its response, the IDF says that it “places utmost importance on the transfer of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and works to enable and facilitate the delivery of aid in coordination with the international community. It certainly does not intentionally act against humanitarian aid trucks.”

“The IDF operates in a complex environment against the Hamas terror organization, which seeks to create friction on the ground that endangers Gaza’s civilians and IDF forces and hinders the entry of aid,” the military adds.

Egypt says it foiled terrorist plot, kills two suspected Muslim Brotherhood-linked militants

Egypt says two suspected militants were shot dead and a civilian killed in a shootout with security forces during a raid in Cairo that authorities say thwarted a “terrorist” plot.

The raid followed recent intelligence that the Hasm movement, said to be linked with the Muslim Brotherhood, was “preparing to revive its activities and commit hostile operations targeting security and economic facilities” inside Egypt.

Police raided a “militant hideout” in Cairo’s densely populated neighborhood of Bulaq al-Dakrour, the ministry says in its statement, without disclosing when it occurred.

During the raid, two suspects “began firing randomly at the forces and the surrounding area,” resulting in their deaths and that of a passerby, it adds.

The statement adds that authorities had identified five leaders of the plot besides those killed, all of whom had received life sentences in absentia for a series of attacks that rocked Egypt in the aftermath of the 2013 overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Following Morsi’s ouster, the Muslim Brotherhood group was outlawed in Egypt and many of its members were imprisoned, while others moved to different countries including Turkey and Qatar.

Hasm, once blamed for a series of assassination attempts and bombings between 2016 and 2019, had largely faded from public view.

Since toppling Morsi, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi’s administration has often projected itself as a guarantor of “peace and security.” But the more than decade-long crackdown has curtailed nearly all space for dissent, according to rights groups.

The ministry says one of the suspects killed in the shootout had received advanced military training “in a neighboring country,” before entering Egypt through an illegal border crossing, allegedly to carry out attacks.

The ministry’s statement comes after a video circulated on social media platforms this month appeared to show Hasm members conducting live-fire drills in a desert setting.

IDF reiterates warning to evacuate large swaths of northern Gaza

The IDF reiterates that all of northern Gaza and parts of Gaza City are to be evacuated, as the military continues its offensive against Hamas in the area.

In a statement, Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, warns “all those who have returned or intend to return to the areas of Beit Lahia, Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, Shejaiya, Daraj, the Old City, Tuffah, [and] Zeitoun” that those areas are “dangerous combat zones.”

“The Israel Defense Forces are operating in these areas with very great force,” he says.

Three IDF divisions are operating in the northern Gaza Strip area, mostly in Beit Hanoun, Jabalia, and Gaza City’s eastern neighborhoods.

#عاجل ‼️تحذير عاجل إلى كل من عاد أو ينوي العودة إلى مناطق بيت لاهيا، جباليا، بيت حانون، الشجاعية، الدرج، المدينة القديمة، التفاح، الزيتون وأحيائها
⭕️المناطق المذكورة هي مناطق قتال خطيرة!
⭕️يعمل جيش الدفاع الإسرائيلي في هذه المناطق بقوة شديدة جدًا.
⭕️من أجل سلامتكم، يُمنع التحرك… pic.twitter.com/hySoBlfEMw

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) July 20, 2025

Two senior Mujahideen Brigades operatives killed in southern Gaza strike, terror group says

Two senior members of the Mujahideen Brigades were killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis yesterday, the terror group announces.

The Mujahideen Brigades is a relatively small Hamas-allied terror group in the Strip. According to the IDF, the group was responsible for the abduction and murder of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir; Gadi Haggai and Judih Weinstein; and Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta.

The terror group says the strike in Khan Younis killed Azmi Mohammed Qdeih, a commander responsible for the Gaza City area; and Raed al-Saqa, a commander responsible for the southern part of the Strip.

The strike also killed several members of their families, the terror group says.

The IDF has not yet commented on the strike.

The leader of the Mujahideen Brigades was killed in a strike last month, along with another senior member of the terror group. Another Mujahideen Brigades operative involved in burying the bodies of slain hostages was killed in a separate strike last month.

White House concerned by ‘madman’ Netanyahu’s behavior, US officials say in wake of Syria strikes

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a meeting with US President Donald Trump (not in picture) in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The White House is alarmed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decisions in Syria, multiple Trump administration officials tell Axios, calling the premier a “madman” and “child who just won’t behave.”

“Bibi acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time,” a White House official tells the US outlet. “This could undermine what Trump is trying to do.”

Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops and key buildings in Damascus on Wednesday, after government forces were accused of killing scores of people in the Druze city of Sweida.

“The feeling is that every day there is something new. What the f***?” says a second senior US official after an Israeli tank shell hit a church in Gaza, killing three.

While Trump did not publicly address the strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church, he held an angry phone call with Netanyahu and demanded that he release a statement expressing regret over the incident.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt separately told reporters that Trump’s reaction to the incident “was not a positive reaction.”

There is growing skepticism in the US administration about Netanyahu and his policies, says a third official, adding that “Netanyahu is sometimes like a child who just won’t behave.”

It is not clear whether the officials’ frustrations reflect the feelings of US President Donald Trump.

According the report, US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack asked Israel on Tuesday to halt its attacks on Syria to make room for diplomacy, and Israel agreed. However, on Wednesday, Israel carried out extensive attacks in Syria, including on its military headquarters and close to the presidential palace.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey complained to the White House, as did Barrack and US special envoy Steve Witkoff.

“The bombing in Syria caught the president and the White House by surprise,” says an official. “The president doesn’t like turning on the television and seeing bombs dropped in a country he is seeking peace in and made a monumental announcement to help rebuild.”

“Bibi’s political agenda is driving his senses. It will turn out to be a big mistake for him long-term,” says one official.

A senior Israeli official tells Axios that Trump urged Netanyahu to hold onto Syrian territory early in his term, and hasn’t complained about Israeli military operations there.

“The US wants to keep the new Syrian government stable and doesn’t understand why we attack in Syria, because of attacks on the Druze community there,” says the official. “We tried to explain to them that this is our commitment to the Druze community in Israel.”

Hundreds of US, Israeli Jewish community leaders condemn deadly West Bank settler violence

Illustrative: Masked Israeli settlers hurl rocks at Palestinians from a hilltop in the village of Sinjil, in the West Bank on July 4, 2025. (John Wessels/AFP)

Some 700 Jewish community leaders, rabbis, and academics in the US and Israel have signed a statement condemning deadly settler violence in the West Bank, after two Palestinians were killed last week, one of whom was a US citizen.

The statement is published by Smol Emuni US, a left-wing Jewish organization that describes itself as being “committed to the foundational religious principle that all people are created in the image of God.”

The letter is endorsed by Jewish leaders from across all streams of Judaism, from Orthodox to Reconstructionist and non-denominational.

“In response to settler violence targeted against the West Bank village of Sinjil last Friday, and which led to the deaths of two Palestinians, Orthodox rabbis, educators and community leaders in the United States and Israel have led a charge to condemn this incident as well as the alarming increase in settler violence against civilian, nonviolent Palestinians,” the statement reads.

“These escalating incidents of settler violence have included the burning of inhabited homes and expulsion of men, women, and children from their land. Some of the perpetrators believe they are fulfilling God’s commandment to conquer the land.”

“Led by Orthodox rabbis and organized by Smol Emuni US over 700 leaders in the Jewish community have signed a letter of condemnation, declaring these actions contrary to the morality of the Torah and calling upon all spiritual and communal leaders to denounce these actions, and not remain silent in their presence,” it adds.

Among the signees are several well-known Orthodox rabbis, including Rabbi Yosef Blau, the former president of Religious Zionists of America; Israel Prize winner and Talmudic expert Rabbi Daniel Sperber; Rabbi Tully Harcsztark, principal of New York’s modern-Orthodox SAR High School; and the founder of Beit Midrash Har’el in Jerusalem, Rabbi Herzl Hefter.

Others who signed the statement include Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah, The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights; Rabbi Amy Eilberg, the first woman to be ordained by the Conservative movement; and Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann, the rabbi of SAJ, the first Reconstructionist synagogue in the US.

Israel refuses to renew visa for senior UN humanitarian official over alleged anti-Israel bias

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has ordered that the visa of the head of the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jonathan Whittall, not be renewed, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.

“As a result of biased behavior against Israel,” Sa’ar “ordered the termination of Whittall’s activity, and his residency permit will not be renewed,” according to the official.

Whittall, who resides in Jerusalem and divides his time between Jerusalem and Gaza, will conclude his position and leave Israel “in the near future,” the official says.

The official points to statements made by Whittall to reporters last month, when he said the conditions near aid distribution sites in Gaza are “created to kill,” and that “what we are seeing [in Gaza] is carnage. It is weaponized hunger. It is forced displacement. And it’s a death sentence for people just trying to survive.”

Visas for three leaders of UN agencies working in Gaza — OCHA, the human rights agency OHCHR, and UNRWA – have not been renewed in recent months, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed last week.

“Visas are not renewed or reduced in duration by Israel, explicitly in response to our work on protection of civilians,” Tom Fletcher, UN head of humanitarian affairs, told the UN last week at a meeting of the Security Council. Fletcher described conditions in Gaza as “beyond vocabulary,” and said Palestinians are being shot while trying to get food.

Israel’s UN mission responded that it is “looking into the issue” and criticized UN agencies like OCHA and UNRWA for abandoning neutrality, citing alleged bias and ties to Hamas.

Head of anti-Hamas militia in Gaza denies being backed by Israel, says support comes from vast tribal network

Yasser Abu Shabab (right) and members of his group in Gaza are seen in an undated video posted by the group. (screen capture: Facebook, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a Gazan militia operating in an area under Israeli military control, says in an interview with the UK’s Sunday Times that his group is not funded or armed by Israel, and insists that he is “just an ordinary Palestinian person who cares about his own people.”

Hamas has accused Abu Shabab of being a criminal, looter, and a traitor, and earlier this month demanded that he turn himself in to the terror group for prosecution.

“Hamas either accuses their [opponents] of being traitors working with Israel or being criminals. I am neither of these,” Shabab says. “I was an ordinary construction worker before the war. I have no military training. I am just an ordinary Palestinian person who cares about his own people.”

He adds that if a ceasefire is reached between Israel and Hamas, he and his group will need “international protection” from the terror group that rules Gaza, which he says will likely use the pause to crack down on internal dissent.

According to Abu Shabab, Hamas has killed 52 members of his family, including his brother.

He denies that he had direct involvement with Israel, and says his group was funded and armed by supporters within his tribal network. funding and arms came from support from his tribal network.

“I’m from the Tarabin family. We are a big tribe that extends not only to Gaza but also to Egypt, to Jordan, and even into some Gulf countries. Notable members of our family contributed money, and we used this money to buy products from the markets in Gaza and give it to needy people from our community,” he says.

“When I saw our people were suffering from the fact Hamas was stealing aid and was bringing this war with Israel upon the Gazans, leaving our people struggling and displaced, the idea sparked to create a safe zone for our people where we don’t fight,” he adds. “So my tribe and my family started to distribute aid to people who were in need.”

According to the Sunday Times report, the “most prominent wealthy member” of the Tarabins is Ibrahim al-Arjani, a Sinai-based Egyptian businessman who made millions from charging Palestinians fees for using the Rafah crossing to flee the war in Gaza.

When asked if his militia could manage the Rafah crossing after the war, Abu Shabab says, “of course.”

But “first we need to defeat terrorism,” he says, adding that his “ideal” for postwar Gaza is “one open to the world, to Egypt, Arab countries and Israel.”

“Many of my family members live in Israel in a good situation without any discrimination,” he says.

Putin meets Khamenei’s top adviser in Moscow for nuclear talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin today held a surprise meeting in the Kremlin with Ali Larijani, top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader on nuclear issues, to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program.

Moscow has a cordial relationship with Iran’s clerical leadership and provides crucial backing for Tehran, but did not swing forcefully behind its partner even after the United States joined Israel’s massive bombing campaign on Iran in June.

Larijani “conveyed assessments of the escalating situation in the Middle East and around the Iranian nuclear program,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says of the unannounced meeting.

Putin had expressed Russia’s “well-known positions on how to stabilize the situation in the region and on the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear program,” he adds.

Separately, a German diplomatic source tells AFP that Britain, France and Germany are planning to hold fresh talks with Iran on its nuclear program in the coming days.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency also reports that Tehran had agreed to hold talks with the three European countries, citing an unnamed source.

Iran denies seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel said Iran had recently taken significant steps toward nuclear weaponization.

Performer raises Palestinian flag onstage at London’s Royal Opera House, prompting brief scuffle

A performer holding a Palestinian flag touched off a brief scuffle on stage at the Royal Opera House in London last night as cast members were taking their bows following the season’s final performance of “Il Trovatore.”

Images posted on social media show what appears to be a member of the chorus holding the unfurled flag in front of his chest while the lead singers bask in the audience’s applause. After a few moments, someone backstage attempts to grab the flag, but the performer holds onto the banner and snaps back into place.

???? Performer unfurls Palestinian flag in Royal Opera House protest

(Credit: sydcas/X) pic.twitter.com/gAifyUBnsp

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) July 20, 2025

Singers were taking their bows after the end of the opera by Giuseppe Verdi. Director Adele Thomas’s production reinterprets the story of desire and an all-consuming curse, the opera says.

“The display of the flag was spontaneous and unauthorized action by the artist,” the opera company says in a statement. “It was not approved by the Royal Ballet & Opera and is not in line with our commitment to political impartiality.”

Syria’s Sharaa receives report on sectarian violence against Alawites, doesn’t publish findings

Members of the Alawite minority gather outside the Russian air base in Hmeimim, near Latakia in Syria's coastal region, March 11, 2025, as they seek refuge there after recent violence and retaliatory killings in the area. (Omar Albam/AP)

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has received a report on sectarian violence that took place in Syria’s Alawite heartland earlier this year and pledged measures to prevent its recurrence, the presidency says, without disclosing the findings.

Sharaa received the full report on the bloodshed from the fact-finding committee on July 13, the statement from the presidency says — the same day sectarian violence erupted in the heavily Druze province of Sweida.

In early March, Syria’s Mediterranean coast, home to the Alawite religious minority to which ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad belongs, saw several days of intercommunal violence.

The new Islamist authorities accused Assad loyalists of sparking the violence by launching attacks on security forces, and sent military reinforcements to the area.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor reported at the time that the government forces and allied groups committed massacres, killing more than 1,700 civilians, mostly Alawites.

Sharaa will “carefully examine the findings… to ensure steps are taken to advance the principles of truth, justice and accountability, and prevent the recurrence of violations” as part of building a new Syria, the statement says.

He asked the committee to hold a press conference to present its findings as soon as possible “if it seems appropriate,” the presidency adds, without releasing any details of the report.

The presidency’s announcement comes after Sharaa renewed his pledge yesterday to protect minorities amid violence in Sweida, which has killed over 1,000 people since last Sunday, according to the Observatory.

In March, on Syria’s Alawite coast, gunmen stormed homes and asked residents whether they were Alawite or Sunni before killing or sparing them, according to testimonies documented by survivors, rights groups and international organizations.

Entire families — including women, children and the elderly — were killed, with some of the violence recorded on video as victims in civilian clothing were executed.

On March 9, Sharaa announced the formation of an independent fact-finding committee to investigate the violence, initially pledging to release the findings within a month, but later pushed it off until mid-July.

It is unclear when, or if, the findings will be released.

Amnesty International has urged Syria to publish the full results of the investigation and ensure those responsible are held accountable.

US envoy says ceasefire between Israel, Syria took effect at 5 p.m.

US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack announces that the ceasefire between Israel and Syria came into effect at 5 p.m., officially drawing a line under the strikes carried out by Israel in recent days on Syrian military personnel and structures amid deadly violence in the Druze-majority Sweida province.

“Escalating hostilities can only be contained with an agreement to pause violence, protect the innocent, allow humanitarian access, and step back from danger,” writes Barrack, who also serves as special envoy for Syria. “As of 17:00 Damascus time, all parties have navigated to a pause and cessation of hostilities.”

He says that the next step in de-escalating the situation is “a complete exchange of hostages and detainees” — likely referring to the release of Syrian Druze captured by government forces and tribal militias, and vice versa.

Escalating hostilities can only be contained with an agreement to pause violence, protect the innocent, allow humanitarian access, and step back from danger. As of 17:00 Damascus time, all parties have navigated to a pause and cessation of hostilities. The next foundation stone…

— Ambassador Tom Barrack (@USAMBTurkiye) July 20, 2025

State won’t appeal decision to ease conditions of house arrest for Qatargate suspect Eli Feldstein

Eli Feldstein arrives for a court hearing at the Tel Aviv District Court on March 11, 2025. (Yehoshua Yosef/Flash90)

The State Attorney’s Office declines to appeal a decision to ease the house arrest conditions for Eli Feldstein, the former military spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is a defendant in the classified documents affair and a suspect in the Qatargate investigation.

Judge Ala Masarwa of the Tel Aviv District Court ruled last week that the conditions of Feldstein’s house arrest could be eased, but delayed the implementation of the ruling to allow time for the State Attorney’s Office to appeal to the Supreme Court if it wished to do so.

Prosecution agrees with Netanyahu’s request to postpone trial testimony due to food poisoning

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming hearings in his graft trial have been postponed after the premier came down with food poisoning over the weekend.

Netanyahu had been scheduled to give testimony in court tomorrow and Tuesday but asked to postpone the hearings.

The request filed with the Jerusalem District Court on his behalf says that the premier will “make an effort” to testify on Wednesday instead.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu fell ill last night after eating spoiled food and will be working from home for the next three days.

The State Attorney’s Office agrees to postpone the two scheduled hearings after reviewing Netanyahu’s medical records, but says that they must be made up by the end of the week.

“Under the circumstances, and considering what is written in the medical record, we cannot object,” it says in response. “However, in light of the many hearings that have been canceled recently, we will request that the defendant testify on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.”

Syrian Red Crescent says first aid convoy enters Druze-majority Sweida city

An aerial picture shows a Syrian Red Crescent convoy carrying humanitarian aid driving across the southern town of Busra Al-Sham on July 20, 2025, heading to the predominantly Druze city of Sweida. (OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

The first humanitarian aid convoy entered the southern Syrian city of Sweida today, a Red Crescent official says, a week after deadly sectarian violence erupted in the Druze heartland.

A fragile ceasefire appeared to be holding after Druze fighters retook control of Sweida city and government security forces deployed to the province, following violence that has killed more than 1,000 people since last Sunday, according to a monitor.

An AFP correspondent near Sweida city saw a convoy including trucks and ambulances bearing the Red Crescent symbol heading towards the city.

“It’s the first convoy to enter after the recent events, and it has arrived and is now inside Sweida,” says Syrian Red Crescent media and communications official Omar al-Malki.

He tells AFP the convoy would be followed by others and said it came “in coordination with the government bodies and the local authorities in Sweida,” which are controlled by the Druze.

The convoy of 32 vehicles was carrying basics including food, medical and fuel supplies as well as body bags, Malki says.

Residents of Sweida have been holed up in their homes without electricity and water, and food supplies have been scarce.

An AFP photographer says the morgue at Sweida’s main hospital was full and bodies were lying on the ground outside the building.

The government, meanwhile, says its own convoy of more than 40 aid trucks, accompanied by three ministers, was unable to enter Sweida and that “outlawed armed militias loyal to Hikmat al-Hijri denied the entry of the convoy,” referring to one of Sweida’s most influential Druze religious leaders.

The authorities have strongly criticized Hijri after he called for international protection for the Druze and launched an appeal for assistance to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a statement earlier today, Hijri welcomed “all humanitarian aid coming to the stricken province of Sweida through international organizations and bodies.”

He called for “an immediate end to the brutal attack on Sweida province and a halt to disinformation campaigns… that aim to stoke violence and hatred.”

IDF chief says army presented politicians with options for continued Gaza offensive

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (unblurred) speaks with his son in Gaza City's Shejaiya neighborhood, July 20, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says the military has presented the political leadership with several courses of action for the continued offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“Your operational achievements here — eliminating terrorists, destroying infrastructure above and below ground, capturing and clearing vast areas — will enable us to bring about a shift in our operational patterns,” Zamir says to troops during a visit to Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood today, according to remarks provided by the IDF.

Zamir says the IDF will “implement new operational formations that will enhance our strengths, reduce our vulnerabilities, and deepen operational gains. These will increasingly pressure Hamas and reduce the erosion of our forces.”

“We have presented the options to the political leadership, and we will stabilize the situation according to our interests,” he says.

Zamir tells troops that their recent “achievements on the ground” are “advancing the defeat of Hamas and creating the potential for a hostage deal.”

“This is a time for perseverance and patience; only in this way will we reach the point where we break our enemies. If in the coming days we reach a deal to return the hostages, it will be a tremendous achievement of yours. Every hostage who is freed is thanks to your fighting,” he adds.

Tens of thousands demonstrate in Morocco against Israel, calling to reverse normalization

Moroccans wave Palestinian flags during a protest in solidarity with Gaza and against Israel, in Rabat on July 19, 2025. (Abdel Majid Bziouat/AFP)

Tens of thousands of Moroccans demonstrate in the capital Rabat against the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, calling for the reversal of the kingdom’s normalization deal with Israel.

Protesters gather in the city center, brandishing Palestinian flags and placards that call for the free flow of aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

Chants of “It’s a disgrace, Gaza is under fire,” are heard, as well as “Morocco, Palestine, one people,” and “No to normalization.”

The protesters gather at the call of various organizations, including a coalition bringing together the Islamist movement Al-Adl Wal-Ihssane and left-wing parties.

“Palestinians are being starved and killed before the eyes of the whole world,” says Jamal Behar, one of the demonstrators in Rabat.

“It is our duty to denounce this dramatic, unbearable situation.”

Morocco and Israel in 2020 signed a US-brokered normalization deal, which has increasingly come under attack in the North African kingdom as the war in Gaza rages into its 22nd month.

‘I’m always hungry’: Locals, officials says malnutrition in Gaza is worse than ever

A boy stands holding an intravenous line for an injured man lying on the floor at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 20, 2025. (AFP)

Malnutrition in Gaza has reached new heights, local sources say, with the UN’s World Food Programme director describing the situation as “the worst I’ve ever seen.”

Ziad Musleh, a 45-year-old father displaced from Gaza’s north to the central city of Nuseirat, tells AFP: “We are dying, our children are dying and we can’t do anything to stop it.”

“Our children cry and scream for food. They go to sleep in pain, in hunger, with empty stomachs,” he says. “There is absolutely no food. And if by chance a small amount appears in the market, the prices are outrageous — no one can afford it.”

Umm Sameh Abu Zeina, whose cheekbones protruded from her thin face as she waited for food in Nuseirat, says she has lost 35 kilograms (77 pounds).

“We do not eat enough. I don’t eat, I leave the food I receive for my daughter,” she says, adding that she has a range of health conditions, including high blood pressure and diabetes.

WFP director Carl Skau, who visited Gaza City in early July, describes the situation as “the worst I’ve ever seen.”

“A father I met had lost 25 kilograms (some 55 pounds) in the past two months. People are starving, while we have food just across the border,” he says in a statement.

“Our kitchens are empty; they are now serving hot water with a bit of pasta floating in it,” says Skau.

Amina Wafi, a 10-year-old girl from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, says she thinks of food constantly.

“I’m always hungry. I always tell my father, ‘I want food’, and he promises he’ll bring me something but there is none, and he simply can’t,” she tells AFP.

Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency says it has noted a rising number of infant deaths caused by “severe hunger and malnutrition,” reporting at least three such deaths in the past week.

“These heartbreaking cases were not caused by direct bombing, but by starvation, the lack of baby formula and the absence of basic healthcare,” civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal tells AFP.

Figures from Hamas agencies cannot be verified and do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

UTJ’s Goldknopf says Netanyahu had promised Haredi military exemptions as part of judicial overhaul

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, right, arriving for a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on September 27, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)

Former housing minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, chairman of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Yariv Levin explicitly promised ultra-Orthodox leaders that the coalition’s judicial overhaul would include a Basic Law enshrining draft exemptions for yeshiva students.

In an interview with the Haredi news site Kikar HaShabbat, Goldknopf says he was told by the prime minister and justice minister that the judicial overhaul would “solve the problem of the Haredi draft.”

He says they were promised both a Basic Law enshrining the rights of yeshiva students and an override clause to shield Haredi military exemptions from court intervention. “What did we get? Nothing. We were wrong. We failed,” he says.

The party leader also warns that enforcing the recent 54,000 draft orders sent to yeshiva students will lead to mass unrest. “This is a law they won’t be able to carry out,” he says. “The country won’t rest, won’t be quiet… there will be no peace here, one way or another.”

“If they want to shake the country, let them. You cannot harm yeshiva students. You cannot harm Torah learners. You cannot harm the yeshivas. You cannot carry out arrests,” he continues.

His remarks come days after UTJ quit Netanyahu’s coalition over the government’s failure to pass new legislation exempting Haredi men from military service — a move the High Court now says is legally required in the absence of a specific law.

“Goldknopf is saying out loud what we all knew — from day one, the deal was a blanket exemption from the draft for tens of thousands of healthy young men in exchange for dismantling the judicial system,” says Opposition Leader Yair Lapid in response to the interview. “Bibi sold out the serving, fighting, working public to draft dodgers and the corrupt.”

Syrian Druze woman tells reporter she is being kidnapped by Bedouins, Qatari channel cuts off interview

A clip shared widely on social media shows the Qatari Al-Araby news channel cutting off an interview with a Druze woman in southern Syria after she tells a reporter that she and her family are being abducted by Bedouins.

In the clip, which was filmed yesterday, a reporter interviews a group of Bedouins in a car as they leave the Sweida area, where clashes between Druze and Bedouins have raged in recent days, leaving hundreds dead.

In the interview, one of the men in the car points to several Druze women and children in the back seat, and explains that he kidnapped them in retaliation against the Druze people.

The reporter then turns to one of the women, who says she had been besieged in her home for seven days by Bedouin forces until they forced her out and took her captive.

Just seconds into the interview, the studio anchor interrupts the reporter, and the broadcast is cut.

???? تلفزيون العربي يوثق #خطف نساء #دروز من #السويداء على الهواء مباشرة والمذيع بدل الاهتمام بجربمة الخطف وتسليط الضوء على القضية يطلب من المراسل ايقاف المقابلة.

إيفان حسيب – Ivan Hassib pic.twitter.com/tp5woaTkei

— Ivan Hassib (@Ivan_Hassib) July 19, 2025

PM’s graft trial testimony canceled this week due to his food poisoning; he won’t testify again until September

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Tel Aviv District Court before the start of his testimony in his trial, June 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Jerusalem District Court cancels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled testimony in his criminal trial on Monday and Tuesday since he is currently suffering from a bout of food poisoning, meaning that he will not testify again until September, as the courts head into summer recess.

Netanyahu’s lawyer Amit Hadad requested to postpone the hearings this week after the premier fell ill last night after eating spoiled food, and the State Attorney’s Office agreed, but asked that he testify on Wednesday and Thursday instead.

The court says, however, that it will cancel, rather than postpone the hearings, as they cannot be held later in the week due to scheduling conflicts.

This means that Netanyahu will not be called to testify again until September at the earliest, as the court recess begins this week and lasts until September 5.

Netanyahu’s testimony has been repeatedly delayed since it started in December last year, due to the prime minister’s medical issues, the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza, the attack on Iran, as well as diplomatic trips abroad, and Netanyahu’s general duties as prime minister.

During the recess, courts will operate in a reduced capacity.

Report: Israel delivered medical aid to Sweida last night in coordination with US

Israel delivered humanitarian aid and medical equipment to the Druze-majority Sweida province overnight in coordination with the US, the Kan public broadcaster reports, after the Health Ministry announced yesterday evening that it was preparing to do so.

According to the report, Israel coordinated the delivery with the US, which in turn coordinated with the Syrian government. Kan says that it is unable to provide any further information on how the operation was carried out at this time.

The Health Ministry said on Saturday evening that Israel’s security forces would deliver medical equipment and medicine to a hospital in Sweida that had been heavily damaged during deadly sectarian violence, as soon as it had received clearance to do so from all relevant authorities.

“Our brotherhood with the Druze community is well known, but beyond that, we are committed to a ‘covenant of life.’ We cannot stand idly by when members of the community — inside or outside Israel — are in danger,” Health Minister Uriel Buso said of the decision.

Syrian war monitor says death toll in Sweida province has risen to 1,120

Unidentified bodies of people killed during sectarian violence the previous week lie in bags outside Sweida National Hospital in southern Syria's predominantly Druze city of Sweida on July 20, 2025. (Shadi Al-Dubaisi/AFP)

The death toll from violence in Sweida province, the heartland of Syria’s Druze minority, has risen to 1,120 since last weekend, a war monitor says, even as a ceasefire appears to be holding.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the dead include 427 Druze fighters and 298 Druze civilians, 194 of whom were “summarily executed by defense and interior ministry personnel.”

They also include 354 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin, three of them civilians who were “summarily executed by Druze fighters.” Another 15 government troops were killed in Israeli strikes, the Observatory says.

Sa’ar confirms he ordered not to extend visa of senior UN humanitarian official

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar confirms that he has ordered the Foreign Ministry not to extend the visa of the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jonathan Whittall, following earlier reports on the matter.

“There’s a limit to every scheme,” writes Sa’ar in a Hebrew-language post on X.

“Following a biased and hostile conduct against Israel — which distorted reality, presented falsified reports, slandered Israel, and even violated the UN’s own rules of neutrality — and in accordance with the recommendation of professional bodies, I instructed not to extend the visa of the head of OCHA’s office in Israel, Jonathan Whittall,” the foreign minister says.

Earlier today, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel that Whittall, who resides in Jerusalem and divides his time between there and Gaza, will conclude his position and leave Israel “in the near future.”

The official pointed to recent statements made by Whittall that the conditions near aid distribution sites in Gaza are “created to kill,” and that “what we are seeing [in Gaza] is carnage. It is weaponized hunger. It is forced displacement. And it’s a death sentence for people just trying to survive”.

Visas for three leaders of UN agencies working in Gaza — including those of the OCHA, the human rights agency OHCHR, and the agency supporting Palestinians in Gaza, UNRWA – have not been renewed in recent months, a UN spokesman confirmed last week.

The UN head of humanitarian affairs, Tom Fletcher, told the UN Security Council last week that “Visas are not renewed or reduced in duration by Israel, explicitly in response to our work on protection of civilians.” He described conditions in Gaza as “beyond vocabulary,” and said Palestinians are being shot while trying to get food.

Israel’s UN mission responded that it is “looking into the issue” and criticized UN agencies like OCHA and UNRWA for abandoning neutrality, citing alleged bias and ties to Hamas.

Report: Former Netanyahu aide to be questioned by Israeli police in Serbia over Qatargate, leaked documents case

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's former aide Yisrael Einhorn. (KAN screenshot).

Investigators from Israel Police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit will fly to Serbia this week to question Yisrael Einhorn, a former senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Hebrew media reports.

Einhorn will be questioned in relation to his role in the so-called Qatargate affair and the leaked documents case that have marred the Prime Minister’s Office for the past several months.

Einhorn has been living in Belgrade over the past year, while working as an adviser to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, and has not returned to Israel since a probe was opened last year into an intelligence leak.

Einhorn, along with the prime minister’s former aide, Jonatan Urich, and ex-spokesman Eli Feldstein, is a key suspect in the intelligence leak case, which involves the theft of classified IDF documents and the leaking of one of them to the German daily, Bild.

The three are also all suspects in the ongoing Qatargate probe, and investigators have sought to question Einhorn over his PR work for Qatar through his public relations firm, Perception, which he ran alongside Urich.

The two spearheaded a pro-Qatari campaign to cast the Gulf state in a positive light, ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, hosted in Doha, according to Hebrew media reports at the time, which corresponds with the start of the probe’s time frame.

Einhorn had previously tried to negotiate a deal with the State Attorney’s Office that would see him return to Israel to testify without being arrested, the Kan public broadcaster reports, but the talks fell through.

According to Hebrew media, he then requested to be interrogated in Serbia, but that was initially rejected by the prosecutor’s office, which preferred to either wait for him to return to Israel under his own steam and then arrest him, or, alternatively, to initiate extradition proceedings.

But after an apparent reversal in the prosecutor’s position, investigators are going to be questioning Einhorn in Serbia.