Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Sunday’s events as they happened.
IDF: Drone infiltration sirens in Eilat, Be’er Ora were false alarms
The IDF says the suspected drone infiltration sirens that sounded in Eilat and the nearby town of Be’er Ora, close to Ramon Airport, were apparently false alarms due a “false identification.”
“The incident is over,” the army adds.
Sirens sound in Eilat due to suspected drone infiltration
Sirens warning of a suspected drone infiltration sound in Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat.
The IDF says it is looking into the details.
Earlier today, a drone launched by the Houthis in Yemen was shot down by air defenses near Ramon Airport, north of Eilat.
Former Lebanese PM Najib Mikati faces corruption inquiry in France
French investigators have opened a corruption inquiry into former Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati, lawyers who made the formal complaint says.
Mikati, a 69-year-old billionaire telecoms tycoon, was prime minister until January of this year.
The Collective of Victims of Fraudulent and Criminal Practices in Lebanon and the anti-corruption group, Sherpa, which announced the inquiry, first made a complaint against Mikati in 2024.
The group has accused Mikati and his brother, Taha Mikati, of fraudulently building up their fortune.
The National Financial Prosecutor’s office does not immediately comment on the claim of a formal inquiry. But the Mikati family indirectly confirms the investigation in a statement that rejected the charges.
“The origin of the Mikati family patrimony is clear, legal, and transparent,” says the statement.
“We have full trust in the independence and rigour of French justice and are ready to provide any complementary information requested.”
The lawyers’ groups had already sought action against the former head of the Bank of Lebanon, Riad Salameh. Salameh is now wanted on fraud and corruption charges by French authorities, while his brother, Raja Salameh, has been formally charged in France.
Sa’ar brands Spanish PM a ‘disgrace’ after he praised anti-Israel protesters at Vuelta
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar calls Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his government “a disgrace” after the premier praised pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protesters disrupting the Vuelta a España cycling competition in Madrid.
Earlier today, Sanchez said at a party rally that he admired the protesters: “Our respect and recognition for the athletes and our admiration for the Spanish people who are mobilizing for just causes like Palestine.”
After the protesters caused the event’s finale to be abandoned, Sa’ar hits back at Sanchez in a Hebrew-language post on X, writing: “Today [Sanchez] encouraged protesters to take to the streets. The pro-Palestinian mob heard his incitement — and blew up the ‘La Vuelta’ bicycle race.”
“Thus was canceled a sporting event that had always been a source of pride for Spain. Sanchez and his government are a disgrace to Spain!” the foreign minister writes.
Adding to the increasingly harsh rhetoric between Jerusalem and Madrid in recent days, Sa’ar also notes that “A few days ago, the prime minister of Spain expressed regret that he did not have an atomic bomb ‘to stop Israel.’”
Sa’ar refers to Sanchez’s Spanish-language statement last week announcing nine new measures against Israel in protest of its war in Gaza, including a total arms embargo and a ban on Israeli goods from the West Bank. Sanchez remarked that while Spain does not possess nuclear weapons, Madrid will do what it can to “stop the Israeli offensive” in Gaza through the punitive measures.
Spanish Prime Minister @sanchezcastejon expressed regret that Spain “doesn’t have nuclear bombs” to “stop the Israeli offensive. But that doesn’t mean we won't stop trying.”pic.twitter.com/lgCz2ZYJk7
— Amit Segal (@AmitSegal) September 11, 2025
Despite activists protesting the participation of the Israel—Premier Tech team at the cycling competition, a member of the team, Matthew Riccitello, was named the Best Young Rider of the competition.
Israel’s Doha strike threatens ‘current and future’ normalization, Arab-Islamic summit draft resolution warns
Israel’s attack in Qatar last week and its other actions threaten efforts to normalize ties with Arab nations, an updated draft resolution from the Arab-Islamic summit says.
“Reaffirm that the brutal Israeli attack on Qatar and the continuation of Israel’s hostile acts including genocide, ethnic cleansing, starvation, siege, and colonizing activities and expansion policies threatens prospects of peace and coexistence in the region, and threatens everything that has been achieved on the path of normalizing ties with Israel, including current agreements and future ones,” the draft resolution seen by Reuters says.
IDF strikes 4th Gaza City high-rise today, says it was used by Hamas to track troops
The IDF confirms striking a tall building in Gaza City a short while ago, saying it was used by Hamas.
According to the military, Hamas placed surveillance equipment and set up observation posts at the Unknown Soldier Tower, in order to track troop movements and advance attacks.
It is the fourth high-rise in Gaza City struck by the IDF today. The military issued evacuation warnings ahead of each of the strikes.
لحظة قصف طيران الاحتلال لبرج "الجندي المجهول" في غزة. pic.twitter.com/ZAVfTFAGc3
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) September 14, 2025
Mother of hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal says Hamas using him as human shield in Gaza City
Hamas-held hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal speaks in a video released by the terror group on September 5, 2025.
The mother of Hamas hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal says she has been informed that her son is being held above ground in Gaza City, after the terror group published a video of him last week in which he was in the backseat of a car above ground.
Speaking to Army Radio, Meirav Gilboa-Dalal says that she received confirmation that he is being held alone, and is being used as a “human shield” by his Hamas captors ahead of an impending IDF operation to capture the city.
She does not say who she received the information from.
“I have reached rock bottom,” she says, recalling that she had thought things could not get any worse after Hamas published a video back in February of Gilboa-Dalal and fellow hostage Evyatar David being forced to watch a group of hostages get released. “And today I know that my son is a human shield. And to find out that your son is a human shield — that is rock bottom.”
“We can’t breathe,” she despairs, pleading for the IDF to call off its planned offensive.
Report: Mossad chief told spy agency he believed Hamas would have restarted hostage talks if not for Doha strike
Mossad chief David Barnea attends a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem on April 23, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
In the aftermath of Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Doha last week, Mossad director David Barnea sent an agency-wide letter explaining why he had been opposed to the attack, and had been unwilling for the spy agency to take part in it, Channel 12 reports.
According to the report, Barnea explained that he had not wanted Israel to move forward with the strike at that time, because the targeted Hamas officials had been gathered to discuss a new US-sponsored proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the remaining hostages.
That meeting, he had reportedly explained, may not have ended with Hamas fully accepting the US proposal, but would have almost certainly led to progress and paved the way for both sides to return to the negotiating table.
The Mossad declined to comment on the report, Channel 12 stated.
The report adds that in the run-up to the attack, the heads of Israel’s security establishments disagreed over what they believed Hamas’s response to the ceasefire proposal would be.
The Shin Bet, which is currently being led in an interim capacity by “Shin,” the agency’s former deputy, assessed that Hamas was likely to reject the proposal entirely, while Barnea believed that it could go either way.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi both agreed with Barnea’s assessment, and the three recommended that Israel hold fire until a clearer picture emerged, the report stated.
The Shin Bet’s position that Hamas was unlikely to issue a positive response and that there was a limited window to carry out the attack was reportedly shared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.
Israeli film on Oct. 7 wins People’s Choice Award for best documentary at Toronto film festival
Noam Tibon (right) and his wife Gali Mir-Tibon attend the premiere of 'The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,' at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, at Roy Thomson Hall on September 10, 2025, in Toronto, Ontario. (Shawn Goldberg / Getty Images via AFP)
A documentary about a retired Israeli general’s efforts to rescue his family from the October 7 Hamas attacks has won the People’s Choice Award for best documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The documentary, “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” charts how retired Israeli general Noam Tibon saved his family and others during the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel.
It was shown in a single screening on September 10.
The Canadian-produced film drew significant attention ahead of TIFF, after it was briefly withdrawn from the festival due to what organizers said was a lack of “legal clearance” for certain footage used.
TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey denied reports that director Barry Avrich was asked to secure rights to use actual Hamas bodycam footage of the atrocities, during which Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages, starting the ongoing war in Gaza.
The film was eventually reinstated, and Bailey conceded that TIFF mishandled its submission process.
The People’s Choice awards are voted on by those who attend the film screenings, with a cross-checking process in place to ensure that the vote is not swayed by people who were not in attendance.
Agencies contributed to this report.
Anti-Israel protesters clash with police, interrupt final stage of Spanish Vuelta
Anti-Israel protesters hold banners reading 'Israel = terrorism,' prior to the 21st and last stage of the Vuelta a Espana 2025, a 101 kilometer (nearly 63 miles) race between Alalpardo and Madrid, in Madrid on September 14, 2025. (Thomas Coex/AFP)
The final stage of the Vuelta a España has been abandoned because of huge pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests in Madrid.
Thousands of protesters gather in the Spanish capital, invading the course where the race was due to pass in the center of Madrid, AFP journalists witness.
On Gran Via, where cyclists are due to pass multiple times, protesters knock down barriers and march into the road, some chanting for a boycott of Israel, as green and red smoke fill the air.
Near Atocha, Madrid’s central train station, police charge demonstrators and fire tear gas, before letting them walk into the road.
Riders, around 56 kilometers (some 35 miles) from the finish of the race, come to a halt before the Vuelta is abandoned.
The race resumes briefly after riders are first told by race organizers to stop because of the protests, but they eventually stop again as authorities and organizers discuss the situation.
Protesters carrying Palestine flags jeer when the teams’ support cars pass by them along the route.
More than 1,500 police officers were deployed ahead of the last stage of the three-week long cycling race, which has been interrupted at multiple points by protesters opposed to the participation of the Israeli-owned Premier Tech team.
Israel must not burn bridges with its regional allies, Herzog warns
As Israel’s Arab partners gather with other Middle Eastern states in Doha to call for measures against Israel, President Isaac Herzog calls on Israel not to neglect its relationships with its regional allies.
There are many countries, he says at the national memorial ceremony for deceased Israeli presidents and prime ministers, “with whom, alongside disagreements — sometimes very deep disagreements, and even positions I strongly reject — Israel has extensive and significant ties with these countries, including important economic ties.”
“They are part of the Western-facing world in which we seek to remain, and in these countries there is also a large and important public supportive of Israel, who yearn to hear our voice,” he says. “Therefore, we must act diplomatically and with public diplomacy, with purpose and determination, not neglecting any arena, speaking with everyone, and being proactive. We must not forsake our ties. We must not burn our bridges.”
Israel must not “accept the isolation our enemies seek to impose upon us,” he says.
Though Herzog does not mention it by name, a source in his office says that he is referring first and foremost to the UAE.
At the same time, he acknowledges that “Israel has never experienced such hostility. Certainly not in the most strategic and influential arenas. The hatred of Israel is rearing its ugly head with full force, obliging us to stand and fight it – with all tools, on all fronts.”
IDF issues evacuation warning ahead of strike on another Gaza City building
Flames erupt from a building following an Israeli military strike in Gaza City, September 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Yousef Al Zanoun)
The IDF issues an evacuation warning for Palestinians residing in the vicinity of yet another building in Gaza City ahead of an airstrike, the fourth today.
“The IDF will strike the building soon due to the presence of Hamas terror infrastructure inside or nearby,” the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, says.
Earlier, the IDF struck three high-rise towers in Gaza City that it said were being used by Hamas.
#عاجل ‼️ انذار عاجل إلى كل من لم يخل بعد منطقة ميناء غزة وحي الرمال في البلوكات 702, 703, 704, 705 وتحديدًا في برج الجندي المجهول المحدد باللون الأحمر وفي الخيام القريبة منه والواقع في شارع عمر المختار
⭕️سيهاجم جيش الدفاع المبنى في الوقت القريب نظرًا لوجود بنى تحتية إرهابية… pic.twitter.com/RprGsNoeHm
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) September 14, 2025
Hamas officials making ‘hypocritical attempts’ to evacuate their families from Gaza, COGAT chief fumes
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories reveals that several Hamas officials in Gaza submitted requests for their family members to leave the Strip, and in some cases even requested to leave themselves, all while the terror group has been encouraging Palestinians not to evacuate Gaza City ahead of the IDF’s upcoming offensive.
The “hypocritical attempts of senior officials in Gaza City and the Hamas terror organization to evacuate their family members to a third country through the Israeli mechanism for evacuating Gaza residents” is published by COGAT chief Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian on his Arabic-language Facebook page.
“In recent weeks, several requests have been submitted by senior officials for their families to leave the Gaza Strip, some of whom even requested to leave themselves, but their requests were denied by Israel,” COGAT says.
They include Muhammad Madhoun, a minister in the Hamas government, together with his family members; the family of Isma’il al-Ashqar, head of Hamas’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee; and the family of Alaa a-Din Bata, head of a Hamas government committee.
In addition, COGAT says that Gaza City Council member Anwar Atallah left the Gaza Strip two weeks ago with his family to an unnamed country via Jordan, “with the approval of the defense establishment.”
While Hamas calls the residents of Gaza City NOT to move south, its operatives fear for their own lives and are seeking to leave the Gaza Strip. They are using residents of northern Gaza as human shields while looking out for their own interests.
Two weeks ago, a member of the… pic.twitter.com/VD2WuD7J23
— COGAT (@cogatonline) September 14, 2025
“While the Hamas terrorist organization calls on you, the residents of Gaza City, not to move south, its operatives fear for their own lives and are seeking to leave the Gaza Strip,” says Alian on Facebook. “They are using you as human shields while looking out for their own interests.”
“Hamas’s hypocrisy is blatant. While its operatives try to flee the Strip with their families, the murderous organization abandons you, the residents of Gaza, and exerts psychological terror on you to remain in Gaza City as human shields,” he says.
Alian adds that “the despicable Hamas is orchestrating a vile campaign against you to serve its murderous goals. It endangers you, harms your families, and sacrifices the entire Strip on the altar of terror, dragging it toward ruin. Do not let the organization’s lies harm you.”
In recent days, the IDF has called on Palestinians in all areas of Gaza City to leave. Out of the estimated one million Palestinians there, some 300,000 have since left for other areas of the Strip. The military has said that Hamas has made efforts to prevent civilians from leaving.
First group of Gazan children headed to UK for medical treatment in coming weeks
Palestinian children with serious illnesses wait with family members at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 24, 2024, after they reportedly were given permission by the Israeli army to leave for treatment through the Kerem Shalom Border Crossing for the first time since the outbreak of war. (Bashar Taleb/AFP)
A first group of sick and wounded children from Gaza are headed to Britain under a program allowing them to receive medical treatment, the UK’s health ministry confirms.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced in July that Britain will evacuate Gazan children for treatment, noting most hospitals in the Palestinian territory are no longer functioning.
The government has said the project is essential due to the lack of vital medicines and supplies in Gaza and medical workers being unable to do their jobs safely.
“We expect the children and their immediate family members to arrive in the UK in the coming weeks,” says a health ministry statement, noting that no flight details would be released “for operational security reasons.”
In an interview with the Daily Mirror newspaper on Friday, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the first group of children “have left Gaza and are on the way… to the UK.”
The paper reported that the children are being cared for by medics in another country in the region, before coming to Britain for treatment.
A small number of injured Gazan children have already been brought to Britain under a private program, Project Pure Hope.
Ministers have not said how many children will arrive under the new program, with reports that the first cohort could comprise 30 to 50.
Authorities are also working to evacuate students with places to study at British universities.
“It’s a lot of diplomatic work in order to help them actually leave Gaza and then also travel through other countries in order to be able to get to the UK,” Cooper told The Mirror.
“But that work is underway and I’m determined to make sure that we can do our bit to help those injured families and also to help students get into their courses this autumn.”
IDF demolishes West Bank home of terrorist who killed Tzeela Gez
IDF troops demolished the home of a Palestinian terrorist who carried out a deadly shooting attack in the West Bank in May, during which a pregnant woman was killed. Doctors were forced to perform an emergency C-section to deliver her son, who died two weeks later.
In the attack on May 14, near the Palestinian village of Bruqin and the settlement of Bruchin, a Palestinian terrorist opened fire from the side of a road on Israeli motorists, killing Tzeela Gez, 30, and wounding her husband. Gez had been heading to a hospital to give birth. Her baby, named Ravid Haim, was delivered by emergency C-section at Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, but died 15 days later.
The terrorist, Naael Samarah, a member of Hamas, was shot and killed by IDF troops in the area four days later.
The military says troops operated in the West Bank town of Bruqin earlier today to raze Samarah’s home.
As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly terror attacks.
כוחות צה״ל מחטיבת אפרים הרסו את בית המחבל נאאל סמארה שביצע את פיגוע הירי סמוך לברוכין
מוקדם יותר היום, כוחות צה״ל מחטיבת אפרים פעלו בכפר ׳ברוקין׳ להריסת ביתו של המחבל נאאל סמארה שחוסל לאחר היתקלות עם כוחותינו בעת מעצרו.
המחבל, יחד עם מחבלים נוספים, ביצע את פיגוע הירי ב-14 במאי… pic.twitter.com/axSZEr5V2J
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 14, 2025
Herzog, Rubio to meet in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon
President Isaac Herzog will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem tomorrow at 1:10 p.m., the President’s Residence says.
Israeli ‘state terrorism’ won’t halt mediation efforts, Qatari PM says after strike on Hamas in Doha
Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends the 163rd GCC Ministerial Council meeting with Egypt in Mecca on March 6, 2025. (Amer HILABI / AFP)
Speaking at the preparatory session for the emergency Arab-Islamic summit in Doha, Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Thani says Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders last week will not stop his country from continuing its mediating efforts alongside the US and Egypt.
He also calls Israel’s attack “state terrorism” and says that Israel has “no red lines” at all.
Al-Thani calls the Israeli strike “an attack on the principle of mediation itself,” and says Israel is encouraged by the lack of any consequences for its actions.
The summit begins tomorrow, and is expected to produce harsh criticism of Israel, and possibly tangible steps by countries with which Israel enjoys diplomatic relations.
Netanyahu to convene meeting on Gaza hostages this evening
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is convening a meeting this evening on the hostages in Gaza, the office of one of the ministers attending tells The Times of Israel.
The meeting takes place after Netanyahu visited the Western Wall with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio is meeting with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar tomorrow in Jerusalem.
At least 11 Hamas operatives killed in tunnels under northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, IDF says
In a recent operation in Beit Hanoun in the far north of the Gaza Strip, the IDF and Shin Bet say at least 11 Hamas operatives were killed inside the terror group’s tunnels.
According to a joint statement, in recent weeks, the military and Shin Bet have continued to operate in Beit Hanoun to demolish remaining Hamas infrastructure, including tunnels, and to eliminate “remnants of the [Beit Hanoun] battalion’s terrorists.”
In August, the IDF declared that Hamas’s Beit Hanoun Battalion had been defeated after the final remaining gunmen there were either killed or surrendered to troops. From today’s announcement, it appears that several operatives either returned to the area or were previously undiscovered.
The IDF says troops of the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, alongside Shin Bet forces, set out for an operation last week to locate the Hamas operatives who were still in Beit Hanoun. The operation focused on the kasbah, or fortified quarter of Beit Hanoun, following indications that the operatives were holed up there, the army says.
As part of the operation, the IDF says the ground troops directed an Israeli Air Force drone to strike several sites in Beit Hanoun, including tunnel shafts and a “significant” underground route.
The IDF says that so far, the bodies of 11 Hamas operatives have been discovered inside the tunnels, including field commanders.
Palestinian contractor charged with armed assault for attacking Israeli during evacuation of illegal outpost
Police prosecutors file charges against a Palestinian contractor who attacked an Israeli with a metal rod earlier this month, during brawls that broke out during the eviction of an illegal outpost.
According to law enforcement, the defendant is employed by a company hired by the Civil Administration, a Defense Ministry body that governs civilian affairs in the West Bank.
The defendant and other employees had been helping security forces evacuate a fledgling outpost, dubbed Ma’ale Tidhar, in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank.
As employees helped remove equipment and dismantle a tent erected at the site, a group of Israeli settlers gathered to protest the outpost’s demolition, leading to clashes between the protesters and Palestinian contractors.
According to the indictment, the defendant picked up a metal rod and struck one of the protesters, a 24-year-old man, in the back of his skull during the protests. The young man was taken to the hospital and required 20 staples in his head to close the wound, police say.
The defendant was arrested at the scene by security forces and is charged today with armed assault.
ישמעאל מרים את הראש.
מחבלים ערבים שככל הנראה מועסקים על ידי המנהל האזרחי, תקפו יהודים במוטות ברזל באיזור מיצד שבגוש עציון – פצוע מטופל במקום.
תמשיכו להעסיק אותם… pic.twitter.com/W8zLwyb1dv— Igal Malka – ???????????????????????? (@igal_malka) September 5, 2025
Spanish PM says anti-Israel protests that rocked Vuelta are ‘source of pride’ for the country
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announcing several measures including an arms embargo on Israel, September 8, 2025. (Borja Puig de la Bellacasa / LA MONCLOA / AFP)
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests that have rocked the Vuelta a España filled him with “pride” as large demonstrations await the race’s final stage in Madrid.
The protests, which have targeted the Israel-Premier Tech team, have disrupted several stages of one of cycling’s three grand tours and cast doubt on whether the 21-day race could be completed.
The activism has forced some stages to be shortened and occasionally caused crashes as demonstrators burst onto the course, prompting criticism for threatening rider safety and harming Spain’s image.
In his first public comments on the debate, Sanchez expresses his “recognition and full respect for the athletes, but also our admiration for a people like Spain’s which mobilizes for just causes, like Palestine.”
“Spain today shines as an example and as a source of pride, an example to an international community where it sees Spain taking a step forward in the defense of human rights,” he tells a Socialist party gathering in Malaga.
The authorities have ramped up security for Sunday’s final stage in Madrid, which was slightly shortened and will see 1,100 police officers deploy in the Spanish capital.
Protesters briefly breached reinforced security and attempted to block the road during the penultimate stage in the Guadarrama mountains outside Madrid on Saturday, forcing cyclists to swerve around them.
The leader of the conservative opposition Popular Party, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, lashes out on X at the protest, which he said “gave such a shameful image.”
“Instead of ministers encouraging it, the government should condemn, denounce and prevent it,” he adds.
IDF strikes two more towers in Gaza City that it says were used by Hamas
The IDF confirms striking two more high-rise towers in Gaza City a short while ago, after issuing evacuation warnings for Palestinian civilians in the vicinity.
According to the military, Hamas had placed surveillance equipment and set up observation posts in the Mahna Tower and a building on the Islamic University campus, in order to track troop movements and advance attacks.
The military says Hamas operatives “prepared to carry out attacks against IDF troops in the area of one of the buildings that was struck.”
Bereaved families assail Finance Minister Smotrich after he skips panel on their financial needs
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich faces intense criticism from bereaved families at a Knesset Finance Committee session as he insists that his ministry isn’t responsible for seeing to their financial needs. “We aren’t the address,” he tells the panel, maintaining that the Defense Ministry is responsible.
The confrontation takes place during a discussion that is supposed to be focused on the budget deficit and expenditure, immediately following an earlier panel focused on the financial needs of families who lost loved ones during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, assault, primarily parents who lost children. The panel was not attended by Smotrich nor any other representatives from the Finance Ministry.
Upon entering the chamber for the latter session, the finance minister is immediately assailed by bereaved family members demanding to know where he had been.
Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky, chair of the committee, addresses Smotrich directly: “Part of the anger expressed is not just that these families need to come here and ask for [financial support], but that nobody from your office attended the previous session.”
Smotrich responds that the Finance Ministry is not responsible for the financial needs of the family members of those killed during war or terror attacks, and that they are instead under the jurisdiction of the Defense Ministry.
“I’ve been crying for the last two years. You don’t cry for her,” says one father, whose daughter was a surveillance soldier at the Nahal Oz military base and was murdered on October 7.
Another accuses him of “send[ing] your aide, who just finished the army, to meet me in the cafeteria, so you don’t have to deal with me. Where are you? You’re nowhere to be found.”
Also in attendance are veterans of the Gaza war, who say that not enough is being done to support them, including those suffering from PTSD.
“Do f**ing something,” one demands.
“You sent us there to fight,” another says, yelling at the finance minister. “My soul is destroyed. Why do I need to come here again and again?”
One veteran breaks down in tears, and the pair get up and leave the room as Smotrich and the rest of the panel sit in silence.
US-Israel alliance is as ‘durable as the stones’ of the Western Wall, Netanyahu tells Rubio
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu tour the tunnels underneath the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his wife Jeanette Rubio, and US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and his wife Janet Huckabee, on September 14, 2025. (Nava Freiberg/Times of Israel)
After praying together at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio tour the nearby underground tunnels, with Netanyahu hailing the US-Israel alliance as “durable as the stones” of the holy site.
The pair, joined by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and the three officials’ wives, were guided by Suli Eliav, CEO of the Western Wall Heritage Center.
“I think [Rubio’s] visit here is a testimony to the durability, the strength of the Israeli-American alliance, that is as strong and durable as the stones of the Western Wall that we just touched,” Netanyahu tells reporters at the site after the tour.
“Under [US] President [Donald] Trump, and Secretary Rubio, this alliance has never been stronger, and we deeply appreciate it,” the premier continues, before the two shake hands and leave the site together.
Rubio does not address the press, and neither official takes questions from the media.
Despite protests, Israeli cyclist wins Best Young Rider at Vuelta a España
Team Israel Premier Tech's US rider Matthew Riccitello competes during the 18th stage of the Vuelta a Espana, a 26 km race against the clock between Valladolid and Valladolid, on September 11, 2025. (Miguel Riopa/AFP)
Despite ongoing protests by anti-Israel activists at the Vuelta a España cycling competition, a member of the Israel—Premier Tech team has been named the Best Young Rider of the competition.
Matthew Riccitello won the title after his impressive performance on the final summit of Stage 20 of the race, placing sixth for the day. The 23-year-old will be awarded a white jersey on the podium later Sunday, the first in the Israeli team’s history, with a fifth-place showing overall.
Saturday’s stage of the prestigious race was once again disrupted by protesters, as a large group entered and blocked the road with 18 kilometers remaining.
At least six of the last 10 stages of racing have been interrupted by anti-Israel demonstrators, with over 20 people detained by police. The international competition included over 180 cyclists biking 3,100 kilometers (1,900 miles) over three weeks.
Last week, the Israeli team changed its jersey to a monogrammed kit with only the team’s logo, in the hope of being less conspicuous.
The race comes to an end Sunday in Madrid. Police are preparing for further demonstrations in the Spanish capital.
IDF estimates over 300,000 Palestinians have evacuated Gaza City ahead of ground offensive
Displaced Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza carry their belongings along the coastal road toward southern Gaza, Sept. 13, 2025, after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders from Gaza City. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
More than 300,000 Palestinians have so far evacuated Gaza City to other areas of the Strip, according to fresh IDF estimates.
Tens of thousands left the area in the past day.
Around one million Palestinians were estimated to be residing in Gaza City before the IDF began to prepare for a major offensive against the Hamas terror group there.
Last week, the IDF ordered all of Gaza City to evacuate immediately ahead of the planned offensive.
Civilians have been instructed to head for an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the Strip’s south.
New research institute to focus on 3D printing of organs, AI data analysis, medical robotics
Architectural simulation of the planned Bar-Ilan University and Sheba Medical Center joint biotech research institute, designed by architect Dagan Mushli. (Dagan Mushli/Courtesy)
Bar-Ilan University and Sheba Medical Center announce the establishment of a joint $120 million (NIS 400 million) research institute, focusing on 3D printing of organs and tissues, AI for medical data analysis, medical robotics, and genetic engineering, to pave the way for more personalized medical treatments.
“The establishment of this institute fits into the broader picture of Israel’s biotechnology boom, which in recent years has become a magnet for public and private investments worth billions of shekels,” says Prof. Arie Zaban, Bar-Ilan University president, who has signed the agreement with Prof. Yitshak Kreiss, Sheba Medical Center director general.
The institute, Health Tech Valley, will be Israel’s most advanced health tech ecosystem, situated adjacent to Sheba and just under a kilometer (0.6 miles) from Bar-Ilan.
The campus will host research hubs, advanced labs, and partnerships with global health and tech giants.
In first stop of Israel visit, Rubio visits Western Wall with Netanyahu and Huckabee
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Ambassador Mike Huckabee at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, September 14, 2025 (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, on the top US envoy’s first official stop during his trip to Israel.
The three men insert notes, as is traditional, into the cracks of the wall.
They then appear to join a prayer led by Mordechai Suli Eliav, the CEO of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.
Female reporters are unable to fully cover the visit due to gender segregation at the holy site.
On the side of the Western Wall designated for female worshipers, the wives of the three officials pray and sign the guestbook of official visitors to the Jewish holy site.
The group continues with Eliav for a tour of the Western Wall tunnels, which are located underneath the Old City’s Muslim Quarter.
ביקור רוביו בישראל: ראש הממשלה נתניהו ושר החוץ האמריקני הגיעו לכותל המערבי בירושלים @HGoldich pic.twitter.com/0b5grTWoj3
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 14, 2025
Displaced Gazans say they were prevented from setting up tents in southern Strip; Gaza City resident claims Hamas members involved
In at least two instances, displaced Gazans say they have been prevented from setting up tents in an area of the southern Strip.
A video circulating on social media shows a man in an area north of Khan Younis who claims he was prevented from setting up a tent at the site, saying he was shot at when he tried to do so.
From the footage, it is not clear who the man believes attacked him.
Abdallah, a Gaza City resident who asked not to be named, tells The Times of Israel that his neighbor left Gaza City after the Israeli military issued an evacuation order amid a widening offensive, and set up a tent in the same area of the south shown in the video.
He says that it was Hamas members who blocked displaced residents from setting up the tents, arguing the land was “government property.”
It should be noted that some accounts on social media claimed that it was private individuals who were preventing evacuated Gazans from setting up the tents.
בימים האחרונים מסתובב ברשת הסרטון הזה – בו עזתי מספר שאנשים מנעו ממנו להקים אוהל בדרום הרצועה ואף ירו בו. האזור – צפונית לחאן יונס סביב מתחם "חמד". זה פורסם גם בעמודים שמתנגדים לחמאס וגם כאלה שמזוהים עימו בערך באותו הזמן, ונטען כי מדובר במשפחות עקורים אחרות (לא חמאס). עם זאת –> pic.twitter.com/vayk0fi2Wl
— Nurit Yohanan (@nurityohanan) September 14, 2025
IDF strike destroys building at Gaza City university after evacuation order; military says it was used by Hamas
An Israeli Air Force strike destroyed a building at the Islamic University in Gaza City that was used to house displaced Palestinians, according to media reports in Gaza.
The IDF had issued an evacuation warning for the al-Munawwarah City building ahead of the strike, saying it was being used by Hamas.
It is the third high-rise tower in Gaza City struck by the IDF today.
Israeli warplanes bombed a building within the Islamic University in Gaza City earlier today, causing massive destruction and displacing hundreds of families who had sought refuge there. pic.twitter.com/KhDfGVmEmz
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) September 14, 2025
Beit Shemesh yeshiva student convicted of spying for Iran
Elimelech Stern, convicted for contact with a foreign agent over alleged spying for Iran, at the Jerusalem District Court, September 14, 2025 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The Jerusalem District Court convicts Elimelech Stern, a 22-year-old yeshiva student from Beit Shemesh, of espionage for Iran.
He is found guilty of contact with a foreign agent and conspiring to make threats after he carried out several missions for an Iranian intelligence agent in exchange for money last year.
Stern is one of dozens of Israeli citizens who have been arrested and charged with spying on behalf of the Islamic Republic, but is one of the first to be convicted since most espionage cases are still working their way through the legal system.
Stern confessed to being in contact with his operator, who went by the alias “Anna Elena,” over Telegram during a series of Shin Bet interrogations following his arrest. Later in court, he insisted that he was unaware he had been communicating with a foreign actor.
According to the conviction handed down by Judge Hannah Miriam Lump, Stern recruited two additional Israeli citizens to help him carry out the tasks assigned to him by his handler.
At the request of the agent, Stern enlisted one of his accomplices in printing and hanging fliers of bloodied palm prints with the English phrase: “It will be written in history that children were killed, let’s stand on the right side of history.” The assistant took pictures of himself hanging the fliers in Tel Aviv in early June 2024 and sent the photo evidence to Stern, who then forwarded it to the agent.
Stern also planned in June 2024 to leave a threatening package on the doorstep of Ronen Shaul, Israel’s representative in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but never followed through.
The Iranian agent requested he send a severed animal’s head alongside a flower bouquet to the official. When he was unable to find an animal’s head, the agent changed course and asked him to send a severed doll’s head alongside a knife. Fearing legal repercussions, Stern eventually declined to send the package entirely.
That month, after a period of debate, he also refused to ignite a brushfire in Jerusalem at the agent’s behest.
Stern’s case is one of dozens to come to light over the past two years in which Iranian agents have successfully recruited Israelis into espionage schemes via social media, specifically the Telegram messaging app. Most of the accused spies start out with innocuous tasks that gradually grow into more serious offenses, like intelligence gathering and assassination plots.
Given Stern’s relatively young age when committing the offenses, he will be reviewed for probation before sentencing at the request of his attorney.
Water supplied from Israel to south Gaza resumes after international organizations repair pipeline
Water supply to the southern Gaza Strip via a pipeline from Israel has resumed following repairs carried out by international organizations, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories says.
The Bani Suheila pipeline, near Khan Younis, is one of three water lines from Israel to Gaza.
COGAT does not specify how the pipeline was damaged. The water lines to Gaza have been repaired several times during the war.
COGAT states that with the line operational again, approximately 14,000 cubic meters of water are being delivered daily to Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, and the Mawasi area on the coast.
Water supply in the Gaza Strip: Update
➡️Following repair works on the 'Bani Suheila' water pipeline by international organizations and teams, water supply to Gaza through the line has resumed.
➡️ The 'Bani Suhila' line is one of the 3 water lines from Israel, 2 of which are to… pic.twitter.com/FmhcTBOzjF
— COGAT (@cogatonline) September 14, 2025
Read more: How Israel worked to renew Gaza’s water supply amid the war, with help from locals
Footage shows IDF strike on Gaza City high-rise after evacuation order
Footage posted by Palestinian media shows an Israeli airstrike against a high-rise building in Gaza City a short while ago, after the IDF issued an evacuation warning.
Since this morning, the IDF has issued warnings to Palestinians in the vicinity of three tall buildings in Gaza City. Two have so far been targeted.
لحظة تدمير طائرات الاحتلال برج مهنا في حي تل الهوا جنوب غرب مدينة غزة pic.twitter.com/at4qOnjtTH
— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) September 14, 2025
Likud’s Haim Katz okayed as housing minister to replace UTJ’s Goldknopf
Tourism Minister Haim Katz attends a Knesset Finance Committee meeting, December 9, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
In a potential sign that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not believe the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party will return to his ruling coalition, the government approves the appointment of Likud’s Haim Katz as permanent housing minister.
“I thank the prime minister for his trust, and the members of the government for their support,” says Katz in a statement announcing his appointment. “I will do my best to continue the momentum of construction and increase the supply of housing, while removing bureaucratic barriers and improving service to the citizens of Israel.”
Katz, who is also the tourism minister, was initially appointed to the position on an interim basis for a period of three months following the resignation of UTJ chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf from the post in June as part of an ongoing fight over military exemptions for yeshiva students. The rest of Goldknopf’s party followed him out of the government and left the coalition completely in July due to its failure to pass legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service.
UTJ was quickly followed by Shas, which, while quitting the government, remained part of the coalition.
Katz, alongside Justice Minister Yariv Levin, also took over Shas’s ministerial portfolios on an interim basis, highlighting the government’s hope that it will return once the conscription issue is resolved.
The Haredi parties have demanded the passage of legislation reestablishing yeshiva students’ military exemptions by the end of the current Knesset recess in October. Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth is currently working on drafting a bill regulating Haredi enlistment and exemptions.
Katz’s permanent appointment may signal that the prospect of a solution to the current political impasse, and UTJ’s return to government, is seen as increasingly unlikely by the coalition.
Housing and Construction Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 27, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Over 20,000 wounded IDF soldiers treated since Oct. 7, half for mental health
IDF troops evacuate soldiers wounded by a Hezbollah missile attack against the the Ramim Ridge area, near the border with Lebanon, September 19, 2024. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
The Defense Ministry’s Rehabilitation Department says it has treated some 20,000 wounded soldiers since the beginning of the war, which began on October 7, 2023, more than half of whom are suffering from mental health conditions.
According to the Defense Ministry, some 56 percent of those treated by the rehab centers amid the war are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health conditions.
Some 9% of the wounded are defined as having moderate-to-severe injuries; 56 wounded are classified as having over 100% disability — the most severe level of injury; 24 wounded have 100% disability; 16 wounded are paralyzed; and 99 are amputees who received prosthetics, the ministry says.
The ministry says some 45% of the 20,000 are physically wounded; some 35% are suffering PTSD and other mental health conditions; and around 20% are suffering both physical injuries and mental health conditions.
Among the 20,000 soldiers, around 64% are reservists.
Each month, around 1,000 wounded soldiers from the war are treated by the rehab department, in addition to around 600 requests from previous wars.
Including previous wars, the ministry says the rehab department is caring for a total of 81,700 wounded veterans, including 31,000, or 38%, suffering from mental health conditions. It forecasts that by 2028, the center will be treating some 100,000, with at least half of them suffering from PTSD and other mental health conditions.
The rehab department’s budget stands at NIS 8.3 billion, NIS 4.1 billion of which is dedicated to treating those with mental health conditions, the ministry says.
Officials at the rehab department say they have identified that “in the coming years, alongside the national challenges of the increase in the number of wounded, the continuation of the war, the treatment of those dealing with mental health conditions, the concern about suicidality, and the shortage of therapists, there are challenges that require immediate response.” The challenges include “a shortage of staff, with a ratio of 1:750 patients per rehabilitation worker; the need to simplify bureaucracy; new and unique needs required for the newly wounded,” it says.
In light of the challenges, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich recently announced the establishment of a public committee headed by Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, chairman of Leumit Health Services, to formulate recommendations to expand Israel’s national response for treating and rehabilitating wounded IDF soldiers.
London police charge man suspected of smearing feces on synagogues, other Jewish sites
A screenshot from security camera footage of the suspect in attacks on Jewish institutions in London. (Shomrim/Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
British police charge a 37-year old man with religiously-motivated criminal damage after a number of attacks on synagogues and Jewish premises in northwest London.
Police say they charged Ionut-Cristian Bold of no fixed address with six counts of racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage, three counts of damaging property plus other offenses and he is due to appear at Willesden Magistrates Court tomorrow where he will enter his plea.
“We will always treat allegations of this nature extremely seriously and these charges follow an investigation by a team of local officers,” Superintendent Zubin Writer says in a statement.
Bold was arrested in the Hendon area of north London on Friday.
The synagogues and a private residence in Golders Green had feces smeared on them, while urine was thrown toward a school and over a car in two other instances.
The force said Thursday that seven Jewish premises, including four synagogues, had been targeted in separate incidents over recent weeks.
The UK has seen an increased number of antisemitic incidents in recent years, with a spike since the October 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas in Israel, and the resulting war in Gaza.
The Community Security Trust (CST), a Jewish charity, recorded 1,521 antisemitic incidents in the first six months of the year, down from a record high of 2,019 incidents in the first half of 2024.
But this year’s number was the second-highest on record, according to the charity, which has monitored antisemitism in Britain since 1984.
IDF issues evacuation order for area near 3rd Gaza City building ‘due to presence of Hamas terror infrastructure’
The IDF issues an evacuation warning for Palestinians residing in the vicinity of yet another building in Gaza City ahead of an airstrike.
“The IDF will strike the building soon due to the presence of Hamas terror infrastructure inside or nearby,” the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, says.
It is the third warning for a building in Gaza City issued by the IDF today.
#عاجل ‼️ انذار عاجل إلى كل من لم يخل بعد منطقة ميناء غزة وحي الرمال في البلوكات 783, 784, 785, 786, 727 وخاصة في البرج المحدد باللون الأحمر وفي الخيام القريبة منه والواقع في شارع مصطفى حافظ
⭕️سيهاجم جيش الدفاع المبنى في الوقت القريب نظرًا لوجود بنى تحتية إرهابية لحماس داخله أو… pic.twitter.com/HZoge9u7o6
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) September 14, 2025
Dozens of terror operatives killed in Gaza Strip over past day, IDF says
Dozens of terror operatives were killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, mostly in the north, over the past day, according to the IDF.
Hamas authorities reported yesterday that at least 47 people were killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza over the previous 24 hours.
In Jabalia and on the outskirts of Gaza City, the military says troops of the Givati Infantry Brigade killed more than 10 operatives and destroyed Hamas infrastructure; and the 215th Artillery Regiment killed additional operatives and destroyed weapon depots.
On the outskirts of Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, the IDF says troops of the 401st Armored Brigade led a strike that killed a group of at least 10 Hamas operatives who were identified in the area.
Also over the weekend, in northern Gaza, the military says the 990th Reserve Artillery Regiment killed additional operatives and destroyed a Hamas anti-tank missile launch post used in a previous attack; and the Yiftah Reserve Infantry Brigade and Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade destroyed several buildings being used by Hamas for surveillance.
In southern Gaza, reservists of the Etzioni Reserve Infantry Brigade destroyed Hamas surveillance equipment and killed several operatives, the IDF adds.
IDF issues evacuation order for area near another Gaza City building ahead of strike, the 2nd within hours
The IDF issues an evacuation warning for Palestinians residing in the vicinity of another building in Gaza City ahead of an airstrike.
“The IDF will strike the building soon due to the presence of Hamas terror infrastructure inside or nearby,” the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, says.
Earlier, another building the IDF says was used by Hamas was leveled in a strike, following a similar warning.
Civilians in all areas of Gaza City have been instructed to leave for the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” in the Strip’s south.
#عاجل ‼️ إلى كل من لم يخل بعد من منطقة ميناء غزة وحي الرمال وبشكل خاص قرب البرج المحدد باللون الأحمر وفي الخيام القريبة منه والواقع في شارع الرباط
⭕️سيهاجم جيش الدفاع المبنى في الوقت القريب نظرًا لوجود بنى تحتية إرهابية لحماس داخله أو بجواره
⭕️من أجل سلامتكم أنتم مضطرون لاخلاء… pic.twitter.com/Yq55zvx2ST
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) September 14, 2025
IDF: Drone launched by Yemen’s Houthis intercepted near Ramon Airport in southern Israel
A drone launched by the Houthis in Yemen was intercepted by Israeli air defenses near Ramon Airport in southern Israel, the military says.
Sirens had sounded in the adjacent town of Be’er Ora as a result of the drone and due to fears of falling fragments after Iron Dome interceptor missiles shot down the drone.
Last week, a drone launched by Yemen’s Houthis evaded air defenses and smashed into the Ramon Airport terminal.
Footage posted to social media shows the moment a Houthi drone from Yemen was shot down by Israeli air defenses near Ramon Airport in southern Israel. https://t.co/ZN9y7hVSnH pic.twitter.com/YmHqgcKtz5
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 14, 2025
Sirens sound near Ramon Airport in southern Israel, warning of suspected drone attack
Sirens warning of a suspected drone infiltration are sounding in Be’er Ora, close to Ramon Airport in southern Israel.
The IDF says it is looking into the details.
Last week, a drone launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels evaded Israeli air defenses and smashed into the Ramon Airport terminal.
Ahead of holiday season, Israel warns of Iran-backed terror threats to Israelis and Jews abroad
Illustrative: Travelers at Ben Gurion International Airport on July 21, 2025. (Nati Shohat/FLASH90)
The National Security Council warns of potential threats to Israelis and Jews abroad ahead of the Jewish holiday season, highlighting the risk of attacks by Iran-backed terror groups, particularly around the anniversary of October 7.
The updated assessment outlines “key trends in global terrorist activity,” but does not issue new travel warnings to any locations.
According to the NSC, Iran and its proxies Hamas and Hezbollah, and global jihadi groups Islamic State, al-Qaeda and al-Shabab, all remain motivated to target Israelis and Jews worldwide.
“Hamas is also expanding its own activities beyond the war in Gaza to establish terrorist infrastructure and carry out terrorist attacks against Jews and Israelis abroad,” the report says.
The assessment also warns of the wider threat posed by Tehran, noting that “Iran is increasingly motivated by retaliation” after the recent war with Israel.
The council warns that October 7 — the second anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel — could “again this year serve as a significant date for terror organizations, particularly Hamas and global jihadi elements to carry out attacks against Israeli/Jewish targets abroad—whether through planned operations or local initiatives/lone attackers.”
The NSC notes a rise in violent antisemitic incidents alongside incitement on social media, fueled by what it describes as anti-Israel campaigns since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
It urges Israelis to continue to exercise extreme caution abroad by avoiding displaying Israeli or Jewish symbols, speaking Hebrew in public, joining large unsecured gatherings, or sharing any content about military service or locations on social media.
The council advises against travel to high-risk countries including Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen — which is in any case forbidden by law — as well as Egypt (including Sinai), Turkey, Jordan, and others.
In case of suspected threats abroad, Israelis should first contact local security services and then the NSC’s hotline at +972-2-6667444.
IDF strike levels Gaza City high-rise after evacuation order; military says it was used by Hamas
Following an evacuation warning, the IDF says it struck a high-rise tower in Gaza City that was being used by Hamas.
According to the military, Hamas placed surveillance equipment in the building to track troop movements in the area, in order to advance attacks.
مشاهد جديدة..
لحظة تدمير الاحتلال لبرج الكوثر بحي تل الهوى جنوب غرب مدينة غزة pic.twitter.com/5TPD8EadDM
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) September 14, 2025
IDF: Hamas terrorists, including October 7 attackers, killed in recent strikes
Troops of the 282nd Artillery Regiment carry out shelling in the Gaza Strip, in a handout photo issued by the IDF on September 14, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
More than 20 Hamas terrorists, including several who participated in the October 7 onslaught, were killed in strikes carried out by the 282nd Artillery Regiment in the past month, the military says.
Among the terrorists who invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, was Yousef Jumaa, the commander of a terror cell that raided Kibbutz Alumim, the IDF says.
Jumaa also carried out attacks against Israel and IDF troops in Gaza during the war.
Other operatives killed in the recent strikes are named by the IDF as Samir Laqta, the commander of a Nukhba force cell; Issa Abbas, a company commander in Hamas’s Zeitoun Battalion; and Ismail Adwan, Ahmed Adwan, and Mohammed Adwan, all members of Hamas’s Beit Hanoun Battalion.
Footage released by the IDF on September 14, 2025, shows strikes carried out by the 282nd Artillery Regiment in the Gaza Strip against Hamas operatives. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF issues evacuation order for area around Gaza City building ahead of strike
The IDF issues an evacuation warning for Palestinians residing in the vicinity of a high-rise building in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood ahead of an airstrike.
“The IDF will strike the building soon due to the presence of Hamas terror infrastructure inside or nearby,” the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, says.
Civilians are instructed to leave Gaza City for the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” in the Strip’s south.
The IDF has called in recent days on civilians in all of Gaza City to head for the humanitarian zone, ahead of a major offensive against Hamas.
Out of the one million Palestinians who were in Gaza City, more than 280,000 have evacuated, according to IDF estimates.
#عاجل ‼️ انذار عاجل إلى كل من لم يخل بعد من منطقة ميناء غزة وحي الرمال الجنوبي في البلوكات 727، 786، 787، 788، وبشكل خاص برج الكوثر المحدد باللون الأحمر وفي الخيام القريبة منه والواقع في شارع دمشق
⭕️سيهاجم جيش الدفاع المبنى في الوقت القريب نظرًا لوجود بنى تحتية إرهابية لحماس… pic.twitter.com/AHN3vvcHZf
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) September 14, 2025
Rubio lands in Israel for expected discussions on Gaza, Doha strike targeting Hamas leaders
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his wife Jeanette disembark at Ben Gurion International Airport, September 15, 2025 (David Azagury, US Embassy Jerusalem)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives in Israel for an official visit, less than a week after the Israel Defense Forces attacked Hamas leaders inside the US ally Qatar’s capital city Doha.
He is greeted on the tarmac by officials including US Ambassador Mike Huckabee.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and wife Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio have arrived at Ben Gurion Airport in #Israel.
Rubio on this visit, his second since taking office in January, plans to reaffirm US commitment to Israel’s security and bringing Hamas-held hostages home from Gaza pic.twitter.com/24gw3j5oVd
— Eric Martin (@EMPosts) September 14, 2025
According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, he and Rubio will visit the Western Wall together in Jerusalem today.
On the tarmac in Washington ahead of his flight, Rubio told reporters that the US was “not happy” about the Israeli strike targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, but the attack will not change Washington’s allied status with Israel.
“It’s not going to change the nature of our relationship with the Israelis, but we are going to have to talk about it — primarily, what impact does this have” on the truce efforts, Rubio added.
Rubio added that he will be seeking answers from Israeli officials about how they see the way forward in Gaza.
US President Donald Trump “wants Hamas defeated, he wants the war to end, he wants all 48 hostages home, including those that are deceased, and he wants it all at once,” Rubio continued. “And we’ll have to discuss about how the events last week had an impact on the ability to achieve that in short order.”
Israel targeted leaders from the Hamas terror group gathering in Qatar apparently to discuss a new ceasefire proposal put forward by Trump’s administration. Yesterday, Netanyahu appeared to acknowledge that the missile strike had failed to kill the targeted leaders.
Driver arrested on suspicion of hitting, killing ‘Big Brother’ contestant’s grandma on her way to watch final
Police say they have arrested a suspect after an elderly woman was hit by a vehicle in Or Akiva last night, saying it was suspected that the 19-year-old driver was under the influence of drugs while driving.
Yesterday, 77-year-old Sara Cherkasov was killed while crossing a sidewalk on her way to watch her grandson take part in the final of reality show “Big Brother.”
Cherkasov was en route to a public screening in the city.
The immediate family of “Big Brother” contestant Erez Isakov was already at the television studio when they heard about the deadly collision, the Ynet news site reports.
Israeli man injured in ‘clash’ with 3 Palestinian men in Athens – Greek media reports
An Israeli man is injured during what was described by Greek media as a “clash” with a group of Palestinian men in Athens.
Greek media reports that the incident took place yesterday afternoon in Syntagma Square, near the Monument to the Unknown Soldier.
According to CNN Greece, the incident involved two Israelis — a 30-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man — and three Palestinian men aged 27, 26 and 25.
The report says that six plastic poles, two of them bearing flags, were confiscated from the Palestinian men.
The Israeli man was the only person reported to have been injured.
The report says that all five of those involved were taken to a police station, although it is unclear if any arrests were made.
Israeli official: Israel’s standing in Gulf lower than after 2010 killing of Hamas official in Dubai
CCTV footage allegedly showing a Mossad operative during the 2010 assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, as released by the Dubai police. (Screenshot via YouTube)
An anonymous Israeli official tells the Kan public broadcaster that Israel’s standing in the Gulf is now at a lower point than it was after the 2010 killing of a Hamas official in the United Arab Emirates, an operation widely blamed on the Mossad.
“Israel’s regional situation is worse than after the elimination of Mabhouh,” the unnamed official says in the wake of the Doha strike last week.
Israel attempted to kill the leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar last week, a strike that risked derailing efforts to broker a truce in Gaza to end the nearly two-year-old conflict and secure the release of the hostages. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond.
In 2010, Hamas’s Mahmoud Mabhouh — a co-founder of Hamas’s military wing and a procurer of arms for use by the terror group against Israel — was found dead in a Dubai hotel room. The killing led to a crisis in the then-secret, but growing, ties between Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi.
Agencies contributed to this report.
IDF, police set to hold exercise in Eilat this afternoon
In a joint statement, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police say they will be carrying out an exercise in the southern city of Eilat this afternoon.
The public is told not to be concerned by the movement of security forces, boats and aircraft in the area.
Hostage Families Forum: Netanyahu is the ‘one obstacle’ to deal to freeing the captives
Demonstrators protest near the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem, calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, September 13, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
In response to a social media post by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinting that Israel’s strike in Qatar failed to kill Hamas’s leadership, and asserting that the Hamas terror chiefs in Qatar are the “main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum calls him the “one obstacle” to a ceasefire and hostage-release deal.
“The targeted operation in Qatar proved beyond any doubt that there is one obstacle to returning the 48 hostages and ending the war: Prime Minister Netanyahu. Every time a deal approaches, Netanyahu sabotages it,” the statement says.
“The time has come to end the excuses designed to buy time so he can cling to power,” it adds. “This stalling has already cost us the lives of 42 hostages and threatens the lives of additional hostages who are barely surviving after nearly two years in captivity, as well as the recovery of those who have died.”
The statement by the organization, which represents relatives of most of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, follows a post on X by Netanyahu on Saturday night in which the premier wrote, “The Hamas terrorists chiefs living in Qatar don’t care about the people in Gaza. They blocked all ceasefire attempts in order to endlessly drag out the war. Getting rid of them would rid the main obstacle to releasing all our hostages and ending the war.”
The reaction by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum came as thousands rallied across the country for a ceasefire and hostage-release deal. Hamas is holding 48 Israeli hostages in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are thought to be alive.
Palestinian reports: 32 killed in Gaza City airstrikes yesterday
Smoke and flames rise after an IDF strike on a building in Gaza City on September 13, 2025. (AP/Yousef Al Zanoun)
Medical staff in Gaza say a barrage of airstrikes killed at least 32 people across Gaza City yesterday, as Israel ramps up its offensive there and urges Palestinians to evacuate.
The dead reportedly included 12 children, according to the morgue in Shifa Hospital, where the bodies were brought. The figures could not be verified.
The IDF in recent days has intensified strikes across Gaza City, destroying multiple high-rise buildings it says were used by Hamas.
On Saturday, the army said it struck another high-rise used by Hamas in the area of Gaza City. It has ordered residents to leave ahead of its offensive aimed at taking over Gaza’s largest city, which it says is Hamas’s last stronghold. Hundreds of thousands of people remain there, though the IDF says some 280,000 have left.
Hamas-affiliated health officials say one of the strikes overnight and into early morning Saturday hit a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, killing a family of 10, including a mother and her three children. The Palestinian Football Association says a player for the Al-Helal Sporting Club, Mohammed Ramez Sultan, was killed in the strikes with 14 members of his family. Images show the strikes hitting, followed by plumes of smoke.
The IDF does not immediately respond to questions about the strikes.
Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry also says Saturday that seven people, including children, died from malnutrition-related causes over the previous 24 hours, raising the toll to 420, including 145 children, since the war began.
Drone breaches airspace of NATO member Romania during Russian attack on Ukraine
Romania scrambled fighter jets on Saturday when a drone breached the country’s airspace during a Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure near the border, the defense ministry says.
Defense Minister Ionut Mosteanu says the F-16 pilots came close to taking down the drone as it was flying very low before it left national airspace toward Ukraine.
A threat of drone strikes also prompted Poland to deploy aircraft and close an airport in the eastern city of Lublin on Saturday, three days after it shot down Russian drones in its airspace with the backing of aircraft from its NATO allies.
Romania, a European Union and NATO state which shares a 650-kilometer (400-mile) border with Ukraine, has had Russian drone fragments fall onto its territory repeatedly since Russia began waging war on Ukraine in 2022.
On Saturday, it scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and later two Eurofighters – part of German air policing missions in Romania – and warned citizens in the southeastern county of Tulcea near the Danube and its Ukrainian border to take cover, the defense ministry says in a statement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says on X that data showed the drone breached about 10 kilometers (six miles) into Romanian territory and operated in NATO airspace for around 50 minutes.
“It is an obvious expansion of the war by Russia – and this is exactly how they act,” he says. “Sanctions against Russia are needed. Tariffs against Russian trade are needed. Collective defense is needed.”
NATO announced plans to beef up the defense of Europe’s eastern flank on Friday, after Poland shot down drones that had violated its airspace, the first known shots fired by a member of the Western alliance during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Belgium PM attends concert of Israeli conductor disinvited by festival
Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever attends a concert by a German orchestra that was disinvited from a Belgian festival, in order to show support for its future Israeli conductor.
The cancellation of a planned performance at the Flanders Festival Ghent by the Munich Philharmonic over concerns about its Israeli future chief conductor, Lahav Shani, has triggered a storm of criticism and accusations of antisemitism.
De Wever, who had already criticized the move, said he travelled to the German city of Essen yesterday to “strongly condemn” the decision, and express his appreciation for Shani in person.
“There will never, ever be any room for racism and antisemitism in this country,” he writes on X, alongside a photo of himself shaking hands with Shani in a concert hall.
“I insisted on conveying this message to him personally and expressing my appreciation for his contribution to the power of music.”
Just attended a wonderful performance in Essen by the Münchner Philharmoniker conducted by Lahav Shani.
Immediately after the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas, I expressed my fear that the Israeli government would allow itself to be drawn into an endless violent conflict in… pic.twitter.com/UqbAvJtzaV
— Bart De Wever (@Bart_DeWever) September 13, 2025
The Ghent festival organisers said this week they had decided to scrap the performance because Shani had not “unequivocally” distanced himself from Israel’s government, whose ongoing war in Gaza has triggered international uproar.
The move has drawn criticism, including from Germany and Israel.
On Friday, the Berlin Philharmonic said it had extended a short-notice invite to the Israeli conductor to perform at a festival in the German capital next week, in what the German government described as “a wonderful sign” of support.
Shani, 36, who officially takes over as conductor of the Munich orchestra for the 2026/27 season, is currently music director of the Israel Philharmonic.
Hundreds protest Likud event, minister files police complaint, photographer shoved to ground
Protesters at a pre-Rosh Hashanah event for the Likud Party on September 13, 2025. (Screenshot/X used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Scuffles with police erupt as hundreds of demonstrators mass outside a pre-Rosh Hashanah event for the ruling Likud Party, protesting a series of government ministers as they enter the venue in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikvah.
The event, a “toast” held a little over a week before the Jewish New Year, takes place as weekly rallies across the country call for a ceasefire agreement to release the 48 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Protesters at the Likud event at first attempt to block the entrance, according to Hebrew media, and are then moved behind a barricade by police. Footage on social media shows them chanting “Shame” at those entering the event.
A video circulating on social media shows veteran photographer Reuven Castro being shoved to the ground as Transportation Minister Miri Regev enters the venue under heavy security. The Kan public broadcaster reports that a police officer shoved Castro, who received treatment on site.
אלימות משטרתית בהפגנה בפתח תקווה מחוץ לאירוע הרמת כוסית של הליכוד; שוטר יס"מ הטיח לקרקע את צלם העיתונות ראובן קסטרו, שנפגע וטופל במקום@hadasgrinberg ואורלי אלקלעי
(צילום: אורית לטנר, "בונות אלטרנטיבה") pic.twitter.com/4y7LSRn8CR
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 13, 2025
May Golan, minister for social equality and women’s empowerment, enters the event accompanied by security and, in a post on X, says she is accosted by protesters who use epithets including sexual harassment. She says she has filed a police complaint.
She makes a heart sign with her hands as she walks by the protesters, according to footage.
“I just arrived under heavy security at the Likud’s toast event in Petah Tikva and was attacked by protesters who cursed me, threw objects toward me, and yelled things at me that included sexual harassment,” Golan posts on X, vowing to continue “sounding my voice of truth, and that of the great community I represent.”
הגעתי כעת תחת אבטחה כבדה לאירוע הרמת כוסית של הליכוד בפ״ת והותקפתי על ידי מפגינים שקיללו אותי, זרקו לעברי חפצים וקראו לעברי הערות הכוללות הטרדות מיניות –
אם פעילי ימין היו מתנהגים כך המהדורות היו נפתחות, אבל הם לא בוחלים בכלום, לא בהסתה לרצח ולא בפציעה עד זוב דם של צלם תמים!… pic.twitter.com/6GLhLgdZai
— May Golan מאי גולן (@GolanMay) September 13, 2025
One person is arrested in the area, according to a legal aid group for protesters.
West Bank home of Basel Adra, activist and Oscar-winning director, raided by IDF
Basel Adra, from left, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, and Yuval Abraham accept the award for best documentary feature film for 'No Other Land,' during the Oscars on March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP/Chris Pizzello)
Israeli soldiers raided the home of Palestinian activist and Oscar-winning director Basel Adra in the southern West Bank this evening, after two Israelis were injured by stone throwing in the area, according to the military.
Adra told The Associated Press that before the army raid, Israeli settlers had attacked his village of at-Tuwani, injuring two of his brothers and one cousin.
He accompanied them to a hospital, and while there, Adra said that he heard from family in the village that nine Israeli soldiers had entered his home, were searching for him, and were going through his wife’s phone.
The military says that it had received reports that “a number of terrorists hurled stones at Israeli civilians near at-Tuwani.” As a result of the stone throwing, two Israelis were injured, the IDF says in response to an inquiry.
Following the reports, the IDF says it dispatched troops to the scene, “and they are currently scanning the area and questioning suspects.”
Among those questioned was Adra, a military source confirms to The Times of Israel.
Adra won an Academy Award earlier this year for his work as a co-director of “No Other Land,” a documentary that chronicles Israeli demolitions in Masafer Yatta, a Palestinian West Bank village in a designated IDF live-fire training zone.
Man arrested on suspicion of smashing windshield of car during protest
A windshield allegedly smashed by a man at a protest on September 13, 2025. (Israel Police)
A man has been arrested at a protest tonight on suspicion of smashing the windshield of a car, police say in a statement.
The suspect, 53, was allegedly at a protest for a ceasefire and hostage-release deal at Karkur Junction in north-central Israel when he smashed the windshield of a passing car that had small children riding inside, police say.
He lives nearby and was taken to a police station in Zichron Yaakov for questioning, which will determine the police’s next steps.
“Vandalism is not legitimate protest,” the police statement says. It adds that police see protest as a “cornerstone of a democratic state” and make efforts to allow lawful demonstrations, but “will not allow disturbance of order of any kind.”
The man is one of three people arrested at protests on Saturday night, according to a group of lawyers who offer pro bono representation to people detained at anti-government demonstrations.
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