ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 343
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they unfolded.
The first phase of a large-scale polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has concluded successfully, the World Health Organization says, providing nearly 200,000 children in the center of the Palestinian territory with their initial dose.
After the first confirmed polio case in 25 years, a massive vaccination effort began on Sunday, aided by localized “humanitarian pauses” in fighting.
The campaign aims to fully vaccinate more than 640,000 children in the territory, devastated by almost 11 months of war.
During the first phase of the campaign, conducted between September 1 and 3 in central Gaza, more than 187,000 children under the age of 10 were reached, the WHO says in a statement.
Israeli fighter jets struck more than 10 Hezbollah rocket launchers and other infrastructures across southern Lebanon a short while ago, the IDF says.
The military says the targets had “posed a threat to Israeli civilians.”
The strikes were carried out in southern Lebanon’s Jebbayn, Zawtar ash-Sharqiyah, and Ramyeh, according to the IDF.
מטוסי קרב תקפו לפני זמן קצר במרחבים אל ג׳יבין, זותר א-שרקיה ורמיה שבדרום לבנון, יותר מ-10 תשתיות צבאיות ומשגרים של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה שהיוו איום על אזרחי מדינת ישראל pic.twitter.com/yxgg8d21ag
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 4, 2024
The anti-government, pro-hostage deal demonstration on Tel Aviv’s Begin Street ends after a series of clashes between police and protesters.
A group representing people arrested at anti-government demonstrations says at least four protesters were arrested.
The protest eschews speeches for angry chants.
After protesters march toward the southern perimeter of the rally’s allotted area, officers stationed there push them back, yanking a man out of the crowd and tossing him to the ground.
Protesters recede and light a bonfire some 20 meters north of the perimeter.
They chant: “Ben Gvir is a terrorist,” referring to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is in charge of the police, and “Where were you in Sde Teiman?” referring to the police’s failure to arrest members of a far-right mob that stormed the southern IDF detention facility on July 29 after military police officers detained reservists there of suspicion of having sodomized a Palestinian inmate.
Police announce the protest is a public nuisance and drums and megaphones will be confiscated, despite it being an hour before sound pollution laws kick in.
They begin shoving protesters, violently detaining one after snatching his megaphone, even though he wasn’t using it.
One officer shoves this Times of Israel reporter trying to capture the arrest on video, hits him on the side of the neck and knocks the phone out of his hand.
This is the second time in three days that such an incident has taken place after an officer placed his hand on the throat of another Times of Israel reporter and shoved him backward on Monday.
Protesters demanding a hostages-for-ceasefire deal clash with police as they try to push back the southern perimeter of the area allotted for the demonstration on Tel Aviv's Begin Street. Officers yank one man out of the crowd and throw him to the ground. pic.twitter.com/ccms7S2KEe
— Noam Lehmann (@noamlehmann) September 4, 2024
Police violently detain a protester after snatching his megaphone at the Tel Aviv demonstration to demand a hostages-for-ceasefire deal. pic.twitter.com/MNMQzHpQGV
— Noam Lehmann (@noamlehmann) September 4, 2024
After more than 100 rockets and missiles were launched by Hezbollah at northern Israel today, Lebanese media report a series of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon.
According to the reports, at least 14 strikes were carried out in several areas across southern Lebanon.
غارات جوية معادية استهدفت محيط مجرى نهر الليطاني في اطراف بلدة زوطر ومزرعة علمان قرب دير سريان pic.twitter.com/TVgYwIZUFP
— موقع النبطية (@Nabatiehorg) September 4, 2024
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterates his stance in favor of maintaining, an albeit reduced IDF force in the Philadelphi Corridor during the first phase of the hostage deal.
“We’re talking about phase one — 42 days [during which] we stay there in a somewhat reduced presence because we don’t need as large a force [there],” Netanyahu says during a press conference with foreign media.
During that first phase Israel has agreed to begin discussions about a permanent ceasefire, which is phase two of the deal, Netanyahu explains.
“The conditions that we shall have for a permanent ceasefire must include a situation where the Philadelphi Corridor cannot be perforated.”
“Somebody has to be there — bring me anyone who will actually show us — not on paper, not in words, not in a slide — but on the ground, day after day, week after week, month after month, that they can actually prevent the recurrence of what happened there before.”
“We’re open to considering it. But I don’t see that happening. And until that happens, we’re [staying] there,” the prime minister asserts.
He says he has given “leeway” to Israel’s negotiating team “five times.”
Asked what pressure the US is putting on Hamas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to close a ceasefire deal, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby argues that pressure isn’t the only tool that the administration is trying to use.
“It’s not just about twisting arms and putting pressure. It is about having active, constructive conversations about negotiating the final details… That’s where we are right now.”
“I heard a question asked yesterday here about why we’re only pressuring one side [and why] only the prime minister is feeling the heat.”
“I’ll tell ya, if you’re Mr. Sinwar, he’s buried in a tunnel somewhere. He ain’t coming up for air too much. His forces have been decimated, his resources have been dried up. People he claimed to be protecting and defending are living in deplorable conditions because of a war that he started on the 7 of October.”
“I don’t buy this notion that there’s no pressure being put on Hamas or Hamas leaders. The indictments that were unsealed yesterday prove that as well,” Kirby adds.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is asked why he left out any mention of the Philadelphi Corridor from the hostage deal proposal that he authorized on May 27.
“The May 27 Israeli proposal did not contradict in any way our going into the Rafah Crossing. We talked with the Americans and said in a number of conversations that we have to deal with the southern barrier [of Gaza]… I think the Americans know our position quite well.
Netanyahu in July added a series of new demands, including ones that require Israel’s continued presence in the Philadelphi Corridor during phase one of the deal, but he has insisted that these were merely “clarifications” to the May proposal.
He notes at the press conference that Hamas made 29 amendments to the May proposal and has rejected the US bridging proposal submitted last month. The US, however, has said that Hamas has not formally responded to the bridging proposal.
He is asked whether the Philadelphi issue is the only obstacle to a deal, and laughs at the notion. It’s not the only obstacle, he stresses. Others include the ratio of hostages to terrorists and Israel’s demand to veto some terrorists’ releases and to exile others.
“Hamas has rejected everything,” he says. “We’re trying to find some area to begin the negotiations; they’re refusing to do that.”
Asked to unequivocally rule out establishing civilian settlements in Gaza, Netanyahu responds, “As far as resettling, I don’t think it’s a realistic goal. I said it in front of my cabinet. I haven’t changed my view.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushed during a press conference to explain his decision to vote in favor of Israel’s 2005 Gaza Disengagement before eventually resigning from the government.
He explains that he had been finance minister at the time and had wanted to finish carrying out a series of “reforms that revolutionized the Israeli economy.”
“I was caught at a quandary because I wanted to complete those reforms, but I knew that once the government actually votes to tear out the communities and to get out [of Gaza], that’s it — my reforms would be stymied,” he says.
Netanyahu explains that the initial votes that the coalition headed by then-prime minister Ariel Sharon were aimed at testing the waters on the idea because it hadn’t yet been decided.
“What we’re going to do is create the possibility — by the Knesset bills — that if we decide to leave, there’ll be compensation for those who leave. That was the famous vote that people show on television. When the actual vote came in the cabinet to leave, I said, ‘You cannot leave the Philadelphi Corridor.’ And I resigned from the government, and I voted against it.”
A reporter asks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu why his map of Israel doesn’t include the borders of the West Bank, given that the premier earlier blasted Hamas for wanting to wipe off Israel from the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
“I didn’t include the Dead Sea. It’s not shown on the map. I didn’t show the Jordan River. It’s not on this map. I didn’t show the Sea of Galilee,” Netanyahu responds.
“Those are geographical features. This is a population of [Palestinians] who live there,” the reporter interjects.
“I didn’t get into that. I was talking about Gaza. There is a whole issue of how to achieve peace between us and the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria. I didn’t get into that. That’s another press conference,” Netanyahu explains.
The prime minister regularly gives presentations using maps that don’t mark the West Bank, though.
“I’ll be happy to wipe out some of the misconceptions and the slanders and lies that are directed at us. We don’t intend to drive these people away. They want to drive us away,” Netanyahu adds.
Another map Netanyahu uses at the press conference does not recognize the Western Sahara as part of Morocco.
במסיבת עיתונאים לתקשורת הזרה הציג נתניהו מפה שבה ישראל לא מכירה בריבונות מרוקו על הסהרה המערבית. זאת למרות התנצלות ישראלית על כך שגם בעבר, אחרי ההכרה הישראלית בריבונות מרוקו, הוצגה מפה שכזו@gilicohen10 pic.twitter.com/otBFVOyZpY
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 4, 2024
Israel recognized Rabat’s sovereignty over the disputed territory last year.
Netanyahu’s office rushed to clarify that it stood by that decision after Netanyahu used a similar map during a May video statement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is asked to explain his April 6 claim that Israel was a “step from victory” when Israel still does not seem that close, and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi has said the war would continue into 2025.
“What I meant to say was that we were a step away from the critical thing that will pave our way to victory,” Netanyahu says, referring to the Rafah offensive that Israel launched a month later.
“I didn’t think that we could have this victory if we didn’t go into Rafah, and I withstood quite a bit of international pressure and American pressure to go into Rafah and to Philadelphi [Corridor],” he says.
“Now, we’re in a position to destroy Hamas militarily. There’s still work to be done to destroy its governance capability,” he continues. “I don’t want to administer Gaza, but I want to take this away from them.”
Israel is “well ahead” in its program for victory, he says.
The premier is also pressed as to whether he is healthy enough to continue managing the war, given that he was fitted with a pacemaker last year and has faced some complications.
Netanyahu says he will continue serving for as long as necessary and as long as he receives a mandate from the people.
“As far as my health is concerned, it’s fine,” he adds.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pressed during the press conference on the Gaza civilian death toll, which the premier says is roughly the same as the combatant death toll.
Fighting in the densely populated Strip, riddled with vast tunnel networks, the IDF has achieved the “lowest ratio of civilian to combatant deaths in the history of modern urban warfare — it’s 1 to 1,” he says.
Netanyahu says 17,000-18,000 Hamas operatives have been killed.
The Hamas-run health ministry places the total figure at nearly 41,000, though it doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Netanyahu reiterates that Israel takes precautions to limit civilian casualties and has recently enabled a massive vaccination campaign against polio. His office had been quick to deny Hebrew reports that Israel had agreed to temporary ceasefires to allow for children to be vaccinated.
“We think that every civilian death is a tragedy. For Hamas, every civilian death is a strategy,” he asserts.
He says Israel has worked to ensure that Palestinians are moved out of harm’s way before it launches attacks and points to international warnings against the mass evacuation of over one million Palestinians from Rafah, which he says were proven to have been wrong.
He argues that forecasts of mass civilian casualties as a result of Israel’s Rafah operation also proved wrong and that barely any innocents ended up being killed.
The ratio of civilian to combatant deaths has fallen “precipitously” since Israel entered Rafah, he says, saying a key IDF commander there said the total was “probably two dozen” — most of them caused when an IDF bomb hit a Hamas ammunition depot in a civilian area.
“Report honestly because you accused us of something that is outrageous, and in fact, the accusations against us [turned out to be] outrageously false,” he demands.
“The Israeli army is doing something that no other army has done in history, and will continue to do that. I’m not going to change my humanitarian policies, vaccination policies and combat policies to minimize civilian casualties,” Netanyahu says.
Aid groups still argue that the repeated orders of Palestinians to move en masse from one part of Gaza to another have created catastrophic humanitarian conditions, including poor water and sewage quality that has led to the resurgence of diseases.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pressed again during his English-language press conference on the Philadelphi Corridor why he waited seven months to enter the Egypt-Gaza border stretch if it is as existentially important as he presents it today.
He says it was also critical to destroy Hamas, which it is in the midst of doing via a strategy that began with focusing on northern Gaza.
Netanyahu says the strategy that the political and military echelons approved, which had the IDF start in northern Gaza before making its way down, has led the IDF to killing 20,000 Hamas operatives and its senior commanders and to taking over Gaza City and the Shifa Hospital, which the terror group had used as a central command center.
He says his plan all along was to still enter Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor.
“It took a while to do, but it was a progression of military advancement that produced the result. We’re there now,” the premier declares.
“[IF] we leave, we won’t come back. You know it. Everybody here knows it,” he claims, explaining his stance against withdrawing from the corridor. “Everybody in here knows what pressure will be brought on us so that we don’t come back.”
A reporter at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s English press conference shares the message of Almog Sarusi’s mother, who accused the premier of sacrificing her son on the “alter of the Philadelphi Corridor.”
Seroussi was one of the six hostages whose bodies were returned to Israel after they were murdered by Hamas last week. The hostage families have accused Netanyahu of dragging out negotiations with his new demand for Israel to remain in the Philadelphi Corridor.
Netanyahu is asked by the reporter whether the deaths of more hostages is a price he is willing to pay in order to maintain his stance regarding the corridor.
The premier responds by acknowledging the pain of Sarusi’s mother and says he doesn’t judge her amid the agony she’s undergoing.
He says he’s committed to getting all of the hostages out and that doing so requires maintaining the right amount of pressure on Hamas. This was proven in the first deal that he secured in November that released over 100 hostages.
“The responsibility of leaders is not merely to share the sentiment, the emotion, but also to exercise the correct judgment to make sure that these horrors do not happen again.
“I believe that our strategy is the best way to achieve both goals — both freeing the hostages and ensuring that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again.”
He is asked why he waited seven months into the war before sending the IDF to Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor, and says, “I was never going to leave Rafah alone; or the Philadelphi… We were going to be there, no matter the pressure.”
Another reporter uses his platform to pass along a question from former hostage Aviva Seigel, whose husband Keith is still in captivity. She asks whether her husband will be brought back alive or dead.
“I’ll do everything to make sure that Keith and all the other hostages come back,” Netanyahu responds, without specifying whether they will do so alive or dead.
If Israel were to leave the Gaza-Egypt border, he says, “We can get a few out — they’ll give us that. But they’ll leave a lot with them.” And Israel would then have lost the “pressure point” it holds over Hamas.
Netanyahu claims few of the hostage families believed he would be able to secure the release of their loved ones before he did so with the November deal.
“None of them believed that we’ll get the hostages in the first batch either — few of them, quite a few of them didn’t believe it,” he says.
“They came and said… ‘You have to make this concession or that concession.’ I didn’t make those concessions and we got them out,” Netanyahu says.
Asked about US President Biden’s claim on Sunday that he’s not doing enough to secure a hostage deal, Netanyahu says, “I would direct the pressure and the rage where it belongs: on those who took these hostages, those who keep them in dark dungeons and those who massacre them in cold blood — Hamas.”
A barrage of some 30 rockets was fired from Lebanon at the Galilee Panhandle earlier this evening, according to the IDF.
The military says that some of the rockets were intercepted while others impacted open areas, sparking fires near Kfar Blum.
Earlier, an anti-tank guided missile was fired from Lebanon at the Kiryat Shmona area, the IDF adds.
There are no injuries in the attacks.
The IDF also says that it struck a building in southern Lebanon’s Houla today where several Hezbollah operatives were identified.
Speaking at an English press conference regarding the importance of Israel remaining in the Philadelphi Corridor, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu falsely claims that Hamas began giving back Israeli hostages after the IDF entered Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor in May.
“You know when they started giving us hostages? When we went into Philadelphi, when we went into Rafah, when we controlled the Rafah crossing. That’s when they felt the pressure.”
There has been no hostage deal since November, well before Israel invaded Rafah.
Netanyahu then appears to soften his claim.
“The first deal that we got was a result of our invasion [of Gaza], the military pressure we put in. [Hamas] gave us the hostages. After that, they thought we’ll have international pressure turn on Israel, so we won’t have to make any concessions.”
“But after [the invasion of] Rafah, they began to change,” he says, apparently referring to Hamas’s July caving of its main demand for an upfront commitment to a permanent ceasefire.
“If we leave Rafah, if we leave the Philadelphi Corridor, there won’t be any pressure. We won’t get the hostages,” Netanyahu asserts.
He fumes at the fresh pressure on Israel for compromise to achieve a deal in the wake of Hamas murdering six Israeli hostages last week. That pressure on Israel sends the message to Hamas of “murder more hostages; you’ll get more concessions,” which Netanyahu calls immoral and insane.
A 16-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in the West Bank city of Jenin this week was shot dead by an Israeli sniper as she looked out of the window of her home, her father says.
The Israeli military has said it is looking into reports of the death of Lujain Osama Musleh on Tuesday, during a major counter-terror operation in different areas of the West Bank involving hundreds of soldiers and armored vehicles.
Osama Musleh says troops had surrounded the house next door to his when his daughter was shot through the forehead after opening the curtain to look outside.
“She didn’t go to the roof, she didn’t hurl a stone, and she wasn’t carrying a weapon,” he says. “She is 16 years old. The only thing she did was look from the window and the soldier saw her and shot her. One bullet that targeted her forehead.”
The fourth consecutive day of protests for a hostage deal begins on Tel Aviv’s Begin Street, outside the IDF headquarters.
Organizers urge those present to rally anyone they can. Within an hour, the 200-odd crowd grows tenfold.
“The hostages are in Gaza for way too many days. The blood is on the hands of the government of blood,” they chant.
On Sunday, the IDF said it recovered six recently slain hostages from Gaza.
Some protesters carry printed signs with Netanyahu’s face over those of the six hostages, captioned: “They were murdered because of you.”
Iftach Brill, a protest regular, proudly wears a weathered yellow shirt indicating he is from the Gaza Border communities.
A native of Kibbutz Be’eri — among the hardest hit in Hamas’s October 7 onslaught — Brill says his parent’s home in Be’eri was destroyed on October 7, and they remain displaced.
The IDF releases footage from the entrance to a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah, where hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat and Almog Sarusi were murdered by Hamas terrorists and later found by troops.
The tunnel entrance was located in a “children’s yard,” the IDF says. The walls next to the tunnel shaft are seen decorated with Disney characters, and there are also teddy bears in the vicinity.
According to the military, many Hamas terrorists were in the surrounding area, along with many booby traps that they had set up.
“This is another example of Hamas’s cynical use of civilian areas for terror activity,” the IDF adds.
As he did with Israeli reporters earlier in the week, Netanyahu uses a map.
He shows Israel’s size in the Middle East, again not distinguishing between the West Bank and the rest of Israeli-controlled territory. Gaza is not included in the Israeli territory.
He shows the short distances from Gaza to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Beersheva, and from border communities.
He stresses “the centrality of the Philadelphi Corridor” to the arming of Hamas, which, he argues, led to the October 7 massacre.
On Monday, Netanyahu presented four war goals; tonight, he presents three, leaving out returning residents to the northern border.
Netanyahu argues that holding the Gaza-Egypt border is necessary not only to keep Hamas from terrorizing Israel, but also to keep them “from terrorizing the people of Gaza.”
“Gaza cannot have a future if Gaza remains porous and you can enable the rearmament of Gaza through the Philadelphi Corridor.”
Netanyahu argues that Hamas could smuggle hostages out of Gaza to Iran or Yemen if Israel doesn’t hold the Philadelphi Corridor.
He also says that – because of the pressure it puts on Hamas – “if you want to release the hostages, you’ve got to hold on to the Philadelphi Corridor.
If Israel leaves the corridor, it won’t be able to come back, he says. “We’re not going to leave for 42 days [of the first phase of any hostage deal]. We’re there.”
Regarding critics of his position, he states, “They say, If you stay, this will kill the deal. And I say, such a deal will kill us.”
Leaving the Philadelphi Corridor, he insists, will not save the hostages.
Netanyahu says that Gaza can only remain demilitarized if the Philadelphi Corridor “remains under firm control and is not a supply line for armaments and terror equipment.” Notably, he does not say it has to be under Israel’s firm control.
He then goes back to show images of tunnels built by Hamas under the Philadelphi Corridor, pointing out the size of the tunnels. “This is a huge, huge problem.”
Speaking at a press conference for foreign press, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu starts with a visibly emotional mien, recounting haltingly his apology to the family of slain Alex Lobanov for failing to get him and five other hostages out of Gaza.
He says he knows what it is like to turn into a grieving family. “It is a horror.”
“On October 7, we experienced the worst savagery in this century,” he says.
He recounts the murder, rape, and kidnapping that Hamas carried out on October 7.
“These are the savages, these are the terrorists that Iran implanted next to our border, as elsewhere, and we are committed to defeating them,” he says. “To extirpating this evil from our midst.”
He then reiterates much of the presentation regarding the Philadelphi Corridor that he gave on Monday in Hebrew.
Former hostage Liat Atzili calls on President Isaac Herzog to publicly call out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for abandoning the hostages still in Gaza.
“Your silence will haunt you,” Atzili says in an address at a ceremony memorializing former president Shimon Peres.
She accuses Netanyahu of blocking the one thing that can save the hostages — a ceasefire deal.
“We’re a people without a state, citizens without a leader,” Atzili laments.
A “suspicious object” was thrown at Israel’s embassy in Washington, DC, the Foreign Ministry says. There were no injuries or damage to the building.
Local police and the embassy security team are handling the incident, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Meta Platforms’ META.O Oversight Board says the Facebook parent should not automatically remove a phrase seen by some as displaying solidarity with Palestinians and by others as an endorsement of Israel’s destruction.
The board, which operates independently but is funded by the US social media firm, says the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” has several meanings, and as such its use cannot in itself be deemed to be harmful, violent or discriminatory.
The phrase refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, between which lie Israel and the Palestinian territories. It is often chanted at pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Critics of the phrase say it is antisemitic and a call for Israel’s eradication. Other groups dispute that interpretation.
“Context is crucial,” says Oversight Board co-chair Pamela San Martin. “Simply removing political speech is not a solution. There needs to be room for debate, especially during times of crisis and conflict.”
The Oversight Board says it came to the conclusion after it had reviewed three cases involving content posted on Facebook by different users containing the phrase.
“We welcome the board’s review of our guidance on this matter,” Meta says in a statement. “While all of our policies are developed with safety in mind, we know they come with global challenges and we regularly seek input from experts outside Meta, including the Oversight Board.”
Alex Abdo, litigation director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University that promotes free speech, called the decision by the board “thoughtful (and in my opinion, correct).”
The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group, said the decision was “short-sighted.”
“Usage of this phrase has the effect of making members of the Jewish and pro-Israel community feel unsafe and ostracized,” it said.
The board also called on Meta to improve access to data for journalists and researchers, less than a month after Meta discontinued CrowdTangle, a tool widely used to check misinformation and conduct research on content on Meta’s platforms, including Instagram.
The Swiss government has approved a draft law to ban Hamas, which it considers to be a “terrorist organization” and says anyone who violates the ban will be punished with a prison sentence or fine.
Under the new law, which must go to parliament, Hamas and successor groups as well as organizations and groups that act on behalf of or in the name of Hamas will be banned.
President Tayyip Erdogan says that Turkey wants to deepen its ties with Egypt on natural gas and nuclear energy, after talks with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Ankara.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Sissi, Erdogan says the two countries reaffirmed their will to improve relations in every area, including trade, defense, health, energy and environmental matters. Ministers from both countries signed a series of agreements ahead of the leaders’ statements, as the sides sought to thaw relations after years of bubbling tensions.
Anxious parents lining up with their children for a polio vaccine in central Gaza are counting down the hours until a pause in fighting ends in the area.
As health officials administer the doses, Gazan mother Huda Sheikh Ali wonders what good the polio vaccination campaign could do when her children would soon face more Israeli air strikes and shelling.
“There is no protection for them, in just a short few hours the ceasefire will end and we will return to seeing children bombed and killed. There is no protection from these things,” she says.
“We managed to take a breather for a few hours, for our child…imagine what it would be like with a permanent ceasefire. The children are dying every single day and they are giving us some vaccines for polio?”
The campaign was prompted by the discovery of a case of polio in a baby boy last month, the first in the Gaza Strip for 25 years. Israel and Hamas agreed to daily pauses of eight hours in the fighting in pre-specified areas to allow the vaccination program. No violations have been reported.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says it is making good progress in rolling out a polio vaccine but calls for a permanent ceasefire to ease humanitarian suffering.
UNRWA says that three days into the campaign in areas of central Gaza, around 187,000 children had received the vaccine. The campaign will move to other areas of the territory in the second stage.
Palestinians say a key reason for the return of polio is the collapse of Gaza’s health system and the destruction of most of its hospitals during the war. Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes.
Hadeel Darbiyeh, who brought her infant daughter for the polio vaccination, says she shared the pessimism of other parents in Gaza.
“Instead of bringing the vaccines, bring us a solution to stop the war,” she says. “Bring us a solution for the oppressed people who have all been forced to flee their homes and into tents.”
The Hostages Family Forum calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remove his yellow ribbon pin, accusing the premier of faking his support for their cause while shunning his commitment to secure the release of their loved ones.
“The yellow ribbon pin is worn by anyone who wants to express unreserved support for the return of the hostages and sympathy for the families of the hostages whose loved ones have been abandoned to Hamas in Gaza for 334 days,” the forum says in a statement.
“The forum reminds the prime minister that leaders, public figures and citizens from all over the world wear the pin with the great hope that it will be removed as soon as possible, in anticipation of the return of the 101 hostages who were abandoned on his watch — the living for rehabilitation and the murdered and the dead for burial — and that wearing it indicates an uncompromising moral commitment to their return and not to abandon them.”
“Therefore, the forum demands that the prime minister remove it from the lapel of his suit and stop using the pin as an illusion of support when in practice he is not doing enough to return them.”
Israel’s shekel drops as Wall Street’s main indexes fell and dozens of rockets from Lebanon were fired by the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah at northern Israel.
The local currency fell 1.4 percent against the dollar to 3.72 and by 1.5% against the euro to 4.11. The S&P 500 Index was down more than 2% and the Nasdaq Composite Index slid over 3% on Tuesday.
“We are seeing a lot of volatility in the shekel exchange rate in recent weeks going up or down in response to local current events related to the military actions or the hostage deal,” says Ronen Menachem, chief markets strategist at Mizrahi Tefahot Bank.
“Today, the shekel depreciated following yesterday’s sharp stock declines on Wall Street and also in reaction to local military developments as rockets were fired from Lebanon to the north of Israel and there is more uncertainty about a hostage deal,” Menachem says.
“Local financial institutions have exposure to foreign currency so when US markets are down they sell shekels and buy dollars to make up for it, which puts pressure on the local currency,” he explains.
Haaretz cites an unnamed coalition source close to the government who says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided several weeks ago that he did not want to strike a hostage release deal amid pressure from his far-right coalition partners.
He saw in the Philadelphi Corridor an issue that he would be able to use in order to torpedo the negotiations, the source tells Haaretz, explaining that Netanyahu understood that arguments in favor of maintaining Israeli presence there would convince moderate, right-wing voters.
Netanyahu’s ploy worked and the media has become heavily focused on the question of whether Israel should remain in the Philadelphi Corridor when the real question is whether the premier wants to free the hostages or maintain his coalition, the source tells Haaretz.
The news site reveals that the source is not Yoav Gallant, indicating that displeasure with Netanyahu within the coalition does not just lie with the defense minister.
“None of the ministers, even those who know that Netanyahu is scuttling a deal, will do anything. Their political survival depends on the life of the government, so this situation will continue. Netanyahu will lead to a never-ending war because that’s what’s best for him,” the source says.
After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Egypt of failing to keep Hamas from smuggling weapons through the Gaza-Egypt border on Monday night, the United Arab Emirates puts out a statement expressing “its full solidarity with the Arab Republic of Egypt in the face of Israeli allegations and claims regarding the Philadelphi crossing, and strongly condemns and denounces the offensive Israeli statements in this regard, which threaten stability and exacerbate the situation in the region.”
The UAE’s foreign ministry calls on Israel to “stop the escalation and not take steps that exacerbate tension and instability in the region, stressing its rejection of all practices that violate international legitimacy resolutions and threaten further escalation.”
Top Netanyahu aide and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer also panned Egypt, mentioning Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi by name in a Wednesday interview, and saying that Cairo failed in practice to secure the border, regardless of its intentions.
Egypt protested to Israel on Tuesday the map that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used during his press conference the night before, saying that he showed the Philadelphi Corridor as a military zone, in violation of the Camp David accords, reports the Qatari Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
The outlet also reports that before the press conference, Netanyahu told Cairo that Israel was willing to discuss the future of the Gaza-Egypt border in negotiations on the second phase of a prisoner deal, but Egypt said they would only accept a pledge to withdraw, even if it didn’t happen in the first phase.
Netanyahu is scheduled to discuss the corridor in an English-language press conference tonight at 7 p.m. Israel time.
During a visit to the central Gaza Strip yesterday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi hints his support for a hostage deal with Hamas in remarks provided by the military.
“We must not give up on any of the war goals. The IDF is continuing to defeat the military wing of Hamas and is doing everything possible to bring the hostages back alive. Every hostage we return alive now will have many more years of life, and every terrorist will ultimately be eliminated,” he says.
Israel’s women’s goalball team beats China 2-1 in the semifinal at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, guaranteeing them a medal.
The six-woman team will face either Brazil or Turkey in the final tomorrow, and emerge with either gold or silver.
Either way, it will be the best-ever Paralympic finish for the team, which also competed in Rio and Tokyo but never before qualified for a medal match.
Goalball is a team sport played by those with visual impairments, in which athletes throw and attempt to block a ball with bells embedded inside.
Earlier today, swimmer Mark Malyar finished 12th overall in the heats of the men’s 400m freestyle S8 disability category, and didn’t advance to the final. Malyar, who has already won a bronze in Paris, has one race left to go on Friday.
And handcyclist Amit Hasdai finished fourth in the men’s H2 individual time trial event, missing out on the podium. Hasdai, who was seriously wounded during his IDF service in 2002, will also compete in tomorrow’s men’s road race.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says the military is “mowing the lawn” during an ongoing major operation against terror groups in the West Bank, but will need eventually to “pull out the roots.”
“The rise of terror in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) is an issue that we need to be focused on at every moment. The process is an attack to prevent terror. We are mowing the lawn, [but] the moment will also come when we will pull out the roots, that must be done,” he says following an assessment in the West Bank with senior IDF officers.
“The rise [in terror] that comes in the form of car bombs and shooting everywhere, these are things that need to be put to an end,” Gallant says.
“These terror organizations that call themselves by all kinds of names, in Nur Shams, or in Tulkarm, or in Far’a, or in Jenin, they (the terror groups) should be wiped out. Every such terrorist should be eliminated, [or] if they surrender, arrest them,” he adds.
President Isaac Herzog will fly to Serbia and Albania on September 11, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel. He is slated to meet with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Albanian President Bajram Begaj and Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama on the 24-hour trip.
CIA director Bill Burns was in Serbia last month and met with his Serbian counterpart, and the two discussed Israel’s security situation, among other issues.
The IDF releases footage of it demolishing a bomb-making lab in the West Bank city of Tulkarem amid an ongoing operation there.
Another clip released by the military shows an explosive device planted under a road in Tulkarem being neutralized by troops.
The IDF says it also located a bomb hidden in a baby carriage in the area.
Speaking to Bloomberg Television, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer stresses that Israel is not going to leave the Philadelphi Corridor in the first phase of a deal with Hamas, but leaves the door open for a full withdrawal in a negotiated second phase.
“In phase one, Israel is going to stay on that line until we have a practical solution on the ground that can convince the people of Israel… that what happened on October 7 will not happen again,” says Dermer. “That Hamas will not rearm.”
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the case for a permanent Israeli presence on the Gaza-Egypt border.
However, Dermer, his close adviser, indicates that there could be alternative arrangements in the context of a long-term ceasefire.
“Phase one of this deal, what it calls for… is to have negotiations over the conditions over a permanent ceasefire,” says Dermer. “And once you’ve concluded those negotiations, while you’re in a ceasefire for phase one, in order to get to phase two and a permanent ceasefire, that’s when you can discuss long-term security arrangements on the Philadelphi Corridor.”
Dermer was asked repeatedly about a Times of Israel report revealing that Netanyahu had dispatched his Mossad chief David Barnea to Doha to inform Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani that the IDF is prepared to fully withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor in the second phase of the deal. This came hours before Netanyahu’s press conference in which he indicated that the IDF would remain there indefinitely.
Dermer calls the report “misleading” but does not elaborate.
“I can’t talk about the arrangements in a second phase because we haven’t even negotiated about who is going to be there? How long is it going to take?”
At the same time, Dermer stresses that “until we have an actual practical solution on the ground for the Philadelphi Corridor, Israeli forces cannot leave.”
Dermer also says that Israel is not going to make any concessions in the wake of Hamas’s murder of six hostages last week.
“If Hamas doesn’t pay a heavy price for killing the six hostages, they’re going to start killing hostages, thinking that if you kill hostages you get concessions,” says Dermer, after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly urged Netanyahu to change his stance on the Philadelphi Corridor after the murders.
Dermer continues the line Netanyahu took earlier this week on directly criticizing Egypt for its failure to prevent Hamas from smuggling in weapons from the Sinai Peninsula. Unlike Netanyahu, however, Dermer mentions Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi by name.
He says that he is “not questioning the intentions of the Egyptians” but rather is “questioning the results.”
Dermer criticizes the other regional mediator as well, panning Qatar for “harboring and financing Hamas for a long time and frankly financing the Muslim Brotherhood all over the world, and also promoting a lot of Hamas propaganda which is antisemitic and anti-American through their state-controlled television station al-Jazeera.”
The minister says that despite recent criticism from US President Joe Biden, the two countries are closely coordinating on hostage talks: “We’re trying to get as much as we can on the same page as the Americans. I think we’ve been there for the last couple months.”
“When the US and Israel show no daylight between them and when all the pressure is directed where it should be, on Hamas, I think the chances of getting to a deal go way, way up,” he says.
“I hope we can get there in the next couple of weeks.”
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
At least five rockets were launched from Lebanon at the border community of Zar’it an hour ago, according to the IDF.
There are no reports of injuries.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is giving an English-language press conference tonight to foreign press in Israel.
He will be speaking at 7:00 p.m. local time in Jerusalem. A source in his office tells The Times of Israel that the prime minister will address hostage talks and will explain in English his insistence on an IDF presence on the Philadelphi Corridor.
Israeli troops have killed more than 200 terror operatives during operations led by the 162nd Division in the Tel Sultan neighborhood of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in recent weeks, the IDF says.
The military says dozens of weapons hidden inside homes in the neighborhood have also been located.
In one incident, troops searching a building battled a gunman. In the basement, the IDF says, the soldiers located a cache of weapons and supplies used by the terror operatives.
More than 10 long-range rocket launchers were also located in the Tel Sultan area, the military adds.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says the Palestinian death toll since the terror group launched the October 7 attack on Israel now stands at 40,861.
The figure cannot be independently verified and includes more than 17,000 Hamas gunmen Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
The IDF Home Front Command is rolling out a visual overhaul to its alerts displayed on live television, which it says will be “faster, more accessible and clearer” than before.
From tomorrow, the alerts will be displayed on the side of the content, rather than being drawn on top of it.
The update also allows for more alert locations to be displayed at once.
The colors of the alerts have also changed, from bright orange with white text to a white background with black text. The Home Front Command says this will make it easier on those with visual impairment.
The Home Front Command sends out alerts for rockets, missiles, or drone attacks, as well as terrorist infiltrations, earthquakes, tsunamis, and hazardous material leaks.
Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon’s Kounine and Qabrikha that were used in previous attacks on Israel, the IDF says.
The military releases footage of the strikes.
דובר צה"ל:
במהלך היום, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו משגרים של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחבים כונין וקבריח'א שבדרום לבנון, אשר ביצעו ירי לעבר שטח מדינת ישראל.
בהמשך להתרעות שהופעלו בשעה 13:40 במרחב שתולה, זוהה שיגור בודד שחצה משטח לבנון ונפל בשטח פתוח, אין נפגעים pic.twitter.com/hDnc0eTI95
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 4, 2024
Meanwhile, the IDF says that one projectile launched from Lebanon at the border community of Shtula an hour ago struck an open area. No injuries were caused in the attack.
Israelis seem to have largely despaired that the government will be able to reach a hostage release deal with Hamas anytime soon, with nearly three-quarters of respondents expressing pessimism regarding the possibility in a survey released on Wednesday.
According to the Israel Democracy Institute’s August 2024 Israeli Voice Index, which polled 600 people across the country last week, 78.5 percent of Jewish respondents and 49% of Arabs expressed doubts regarding the likelihood of an agreement in the near future. Overall, 73.5% of respondents were pessimistic while only 21% were optimistic.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under immense criticism domestically for allegedly blocking a deal with his insistence since July on continued Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor.
During a press conference on Monday evening, he made clear he would not agree to Israel leaving the Philadelphi Corridor, even for the first 42-day phase of a hostage-ceasefire agreement. His remarks drew a furious response from members of the opposition, with National Unity chairman Benny Gantz arguing that Israel can and “will return to Philadelphi if and when required” and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid accusing the Netanyahu of embroiling Israel in “a forever war.”
Asked if Netanyahu’s demand to retain the Philadelphi Corridor is “largely based on military and strategic considerations,” 51% agreed that it was, while 39% indicated that they believe his position is “largely intended to prevent a deal from being reached, for Netanyahu’s own political reasons.”
Breaking it down, 58.5% of Jewish respondents agreed that Netanyahu’s reasons stem from military reasons while the majority of Arabs (66.5%) believe he is trying to prevent an agreement.
Among those opposed to Netanyahu’s position on the Philadelphi Corridor is Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who has called for the security cabinet to walk back its recent decision that any potential ceasefire and hostage release deal must include an Israeli military presence along the route.
According to the poll, 66% of Israelis believe the ongoing public spat between Netanyahu and his defense minister has had a “negative impact on the management of the war.”
A suspect who approached the Israeli border from Syria in the Golan Heights earlier today was shot by troops, the military says.
The IDF says soldiers carrying out routine activity along the border spotted the suspect near Israel’s fence and fired warning shots so that he would return to Syria.
The suspect did not manage to breach the fence, according to the IDF.
A military source says the suspect was hit by the gunfire and taken to a hospital in Israel for treatment.
The incident is under further investigation by the IDF.
Health Minister Uriel Buso says that the country is in the midst of its worst-ever mental health crisis amid the ongoing war.
“We are experiencing the largest mental health event the state has known since its establishment. A crisis that requires us, as a state and a society, to change perceptions and upgrade the public mental health system once and for all to meet the challenges posed by the war and the future,” he says at the Enosh Mental Health 2024 Conference in Tel Aviv.
Buso says that ministry assistance to the HMOs to treat mental health issues will double to about 600 million shekels in 2025.
“It is very important to focus on actions that create resilience,” he says. The ministry has taken “several significant steps to make the system less deficit-ridden and more stable, with financial certainty and the ability to invest wherever needed,” he says.
“Since October 7, we have increased the capacity of resilience centers at a cost of tens of millions of shekels,” he says. “Thousands of Israelis have been treated to date.”
He says the ministry has integrated new technologies, expanded mental health crisis teams, and trained mental health support professionals.
“Today, mental health is the most important issue in the healthcare system,” adds Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, Health Ministry director general.
Some 65 rockets were fired from Lebanon at the Galilee Panhandle in the past hour, according to the IDF.
Several rockets impacted the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, causing damage to at least one home, local authorities say.
The IDF says some rockets were also intercepted and others hit open areas. Hezbollah takes responsibility for the barrage, claiming to have targeted Israeli military positions.
פגיעות ישירות בקריית שמונה, תיעוד: כך נראה המטח האחרון לגליל העליון@guyvaron
צילום: טופ ליין תקשורת https://t.co/cWHGqyZgfh pic.twitter.com/xrm6YELdKb
— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) September 4, 2024
Damage was caused to property in the latest rocket barrage from Lebanon on Kiryat Shmona, authorities say.
The Fire and Rescue service says it is responding to reports of impacts that sparked fires in buildings and in open areas in Kiryat Shmona.
Police say they is also handling several rocket impact sites that caused damage but no injuries.
Several Fires both in and around the City of Kiryat Shmona in the Upper Galilee Region of Northeastern Israel, resulting from Rocket Impacts and Debris from Interceptions. pic.twitter.com/NPJfA2Kcss
— Alex Kennedy (@therealmindman) September 4, 2024
Asked about National Unity party leader Benny Gantz’s recent handshake with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at a wedding this week, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid tells reporters in the Knesset that he personally “does not shake hands with supporters of terror.”
In response, Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party releases a statement accusing Lapid of political collaboration with terror supporters, a reference to the inclusion of the Islamist Ra’am party in his short-lived unity coalition.
“Yair Lapid, who formed a government with the help of supporters of terrorism from the Islamic movement who refuse to condemn the murder of soldiers and support terrorism, has no right to preach to [National Security] Minister [Itamar] Ben Gvir and members of Otzma Yehudit,” the party states.
“Yair, continue to shake hands with the supporters of terrorism Tibi, Abbas and the other friends you love so much,” the statement adds.
לחיצת יד בין בן גביר לגנץ הערב בחתונת בבציק pic.twitter.com/FIxGZqrsml
— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) September 2, 2024
Gantz attracted criticism after he was photographed shaking hands and posing with Ben Gvir — who has a past conviction for incitement to violence and supporting a terror group — at the wedding of a prominent ultra-Orthodox political figure’s daughter earlier this week.
Responding to criticism, Gantz on Tuesday said that he would not embarrass a fellow Jew, even one with whom he strongly disagrees, by refusing to shake his hand.
The high school teachers’ strike that began on Sunday could continue until after the Jewish holidays, chairman of the Secondary Schools Teachers Association Ran Erez tells Ynet — meaning the strike, in its fourth day Wednesday, could continue for another two months.
For the moment, “as far as we’re concerned, summer vacation is extended for a few days, it’s not the end of the world,” Erez says of the strike, which was officially announced last Thursday.
There were no new meetings scheduled today between the Secondary Schools Teachers Association, the Education Ministry and the Finance Ministry, who have been engaged in deadlocked negotiations over long-simmering salary, benefit and contract issues.
Yesterday, after a morning meeting ended with no results and anticipating a lengthy strike, Education Minister Yoav Kisch said that the ministry would work with local authorities and youth groups to open “alternative frameworks” to hold non-academic activities for high school students.
The main sticking point in the negotiations is the government’s push to allow individual contracts for teachers, which they say will allow for more hiring flexibility and provide wages based on results or ability, instead of seniority.
The union has remained steadfast against this move, saying that individual agreements would turn teachers into “contract workers” without the benefits or job security that teachers enjoy, allow for the hiring of unqualified teachers, and lead to lower wages, increased staff turnover and reduced quality of education.
The instructors are also demanding retroactive wage increases and other bonuses that were agreed upon before the last school year began, but which were deferred due to Hamas’s October 7 attack and the outbreak of war.
According to reports, the Education Ministry has offered to provide at least some of the wage increases and bonuses the teachers are seeking.
The Jerusalem District Court issues a temporary seizure order for NIS 160 million ($43 million) against Palestinian Authority funds frozen by the government, in response to a lawsuit by the families of Palestinian terror victims demanding compensation from the Palestinian governing body for supporting and encouraging such violence.
A new law passed in March this year allows victims of Palestinian terrorism and their families to sue the Palestinian Authority for compensation, since the body pays monthly stipends to Palestinians terrorists and their family members.
Under a law from 2018, the Israeli government deducts the sum of money distributed by the Palestinian Authority in terrorist stipends from the tax funds Israel collects and transfers to the PA.
Some NIS 2 billion has been accumulated in frozen funds from the PA’s terrorist stipend program.
The original compensation suit, filed by the Arbus, Kedem, Tzur law firm, was submitted on behalf of 78 victims of Palestinian terrorism and the NIS 160 million addresses their claims.
But some 200 more victims and the family members have since joined the suit, meaning that a further seizure order covering their claims could be issued by the court in the coming days.
Among those party to the lawsuit are family members of victims of the October 7 massacres committed by Hamas and other terror groups.
Attorney Barak Kedem says it will take several more months before the case comes before the court in a hearing.
“The court’s decision to seize huge sums of money from the Palestinian Authority is an important first step on the way to the transfer of terrorist financing funds for the benefit of the victims of terrorism and an important contribution to the fight against terrorism,” say Kedem and Arye Arbus in response to the decision.
The Palestinian Authority filed a petition to the High Court of Justice in July against the legislation allowing Israeli citizens to sue it for compensation, but the attorney general rejected its standing to file such a petition, while the justices of the court expressed skepticism as to the validity of the petition during a hearing in August.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “prefers the war” and as long as it exists the war will continue, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid tells members of his Yesh Atid party during a faction meeting in the Knesset.
Netanyahu spoke so much about the Philadelphi Corridor during his Monday evening press conference that “that everyone missed that he said one more thing, even though he said it three times,” Lapid says. “He said: ‘The war must not end.'”
“What Netanyahu is saying, what his cabinet is telling us, is that we are in a new version of Lebanon. It took us 18 years to leave Lebanon [and] they are offering us the same thing: years of war, years of economic crisis, years of destruction and fear and violence. This is what the government is offering us. A war that will go on and on. A forever war that has and will never have an end date,” Lapid declares.
“The State of Israel needs to end this war, on its own terms. Make a hostage deal and close the deal. Ending the war is in Israel’s interest, [our] interest, economic interest, political interest,” he continues.
“We have big tasks ahead of us. Establish a regional coalition with the Saudis and the Americans against the Iranian threat. Get the economy back on track before it crashes. To rebuild the army in the face of the threats we face,” Lapid says.
“The current government does not know how to do any of these things. That’s why it prefers the war. Because it frees it from the need to face the challenges. We do know how to face these challenges. We’ve done it before, we’ll do it again, better. It’s time to change the government and end the war.”
Israel’s new “Air Force One” — dubbed Wing of Zion — has been grounded for the second time in two months, the Ynet news site reports.
The aircraft sustained some damage to a wing while it was being towed to a hangar, the report says.
Ynet says the plane will likely be fixed in time for two scheduled flights this month, a visit of President Isaac Herzog to Serbia and Albania next week, and Netanyahu’s trip to the UN General Assembly in New York on September 23.
The refurbished Boeing 767 was briefly grounded after its inaugural flight to the US in July after a small crack was discovered on the cockpit windshield.
For the first time in nearly two decades, Hamas has started using the term “suicide attacks” with regard to its latest terror bombings.
In its latest claim of responsibility following a dual car bombing in the Gush Etzion area on Friday, Hamas praised the two perpetrators, Hebron residents Muhammad Ihsan Marqa and Zuhdi Abu Afifa, and announced “the first martyrdom operations in the Hebron governorate,” employing the term commonly used in Arabic for suicide attacks.
In its statement, the terror group vowed to deliver further “painful surprises” throughout the West Bank.
The twin car bombing came two days after top Hamas official Khaled Mashaal called for a resumption of suicide bombings in the West Bank, as the terror group comes under heavy military pressure in Gaza.
On August 18, a few days before Mashaal’s speech, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad had claimed an intended suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. The attacker died when his backpack exploded, and a passerby was injured. The joint statement by the two terror groups referred to the operation as a suicide bombing.
Hamas championed this type of attacks for years, and conducted them throughout the 1990s and through the end of the Second Intifada in the early 2000s, but they have been rare in the years since.
According to government sources, the latest suicide bomb attack claimed by Hamas inside Israel was in a shopping center in the southern city of Dimona in February 2008, in which a woman was killed and 38 were wounded.
Another suicide attack was carried out by a member of Hamas’s military wing on a bus in Jerusalem in April 2016, in which 21 were injured. The group did not officially claim the operation at the time.
Experts indicate that multiple attempts to carry out suicide bombings were foiled in recent years.
Police say they have arrested 11 more people after clashes Sunday at a soccer match when fans of Israeli premier league team Hapoel Beersheba charged across the field to fight fans of Arab Israeli team Bnei Sakhnin after some of them turned their backs during the national anthem ahead of the kickoff.
The arrests bring to 23 the number of people detained.
Although officials tried to restart the match, Bnei Sakhnin players refused to play and the game against Beersheba was canceled.
Both teams were expected to face punishments over the incident, with Bnei Sakhnin suffering a technical loss. They are likely to appeal.
Danish police apprehend activist Greta Thunberg at a demonstration at the University of Copenhagen against the war in Gaza, daily Ekstra Bladet reports.
Greta Thunberg anholdt i København https://t.co/E5WYOvtiZJ
— knud_brix (@Knud_brix) September 4, 2024
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba resigned today, following an announcement last week from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that a Cabinet reshuffle was imminent.
Kuleba’s resignation request will be discussed by lawmakers at the next plenary meeting, Speaker of parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk says on his Facebook page.
The foreign minister’s resignation came as at least seven people were killed and 35 injured in an overnight strike on Lviv, Mayor Andrii Sadovyi said Wednesday morning.
A child and a medical worker were among the dead and others are in critical condition, he said.
The attack happened a day after two ballistic missiles blasted a military academy and nearby hospital in Poltava in Ukraine, killing more than 50 people and wounding more than 200 others, Ukrainian officials said, in one of the deadliest Russian strikes since the war began.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi will hold talks with President Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey today in the first presidential-level visit in 12 years amid a warming of long-frozen relations between the regional powers.
The visit comes after Erdogan traveled to Cairo in February, his first trip to Egypt since 2012, taking a major step toward rebuilding ties that were severely strained for a decade.
“Turkey-Egypt relations will be reviewed in all their aspects and possible joint steps in the coming period to further develop cooperation will be discussed,” the Turkish presidency’s communications office says in a statement.
“In addition to bilateral relations, there will be an exchange of views on current regional and global issues, especially the Israeli attacks on Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories,” it adds.
Relations between Ankara and Cairo collapsed in 2013 after Egypt’s then-army chief Sissi led the ouster of the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi, an ally of Turkey who had become Egypt’s first democratically elected president the year before.
Dozens of hostage family members and their supporters are protesting outside the Likud party headquarters in Tel Aviv, calling for the government to reach a deal to bring their loved ones home alive.
The demonstrators hold a large banner reading: “The cabinet of death is killing the hostages. The people demand they return alive.”
They also hold up large posters of the faces of the six hostages who were executed by Hamas last week and blame government delays in reaching a deal for their deaths.
כעת מול מצודת זאב – משפחות חטופים ומפגינות ממחאת הנשים קוראים לעסקה: ״קבינט המוות הורג את החטופים. הציבור דורש חיים״ pic.twitter.com/DE3gk3cWwE
— אורי סלע Uri Sela (@uri_sela) September 4, 2024
Overnight, a drone heading toward Israel from the eastern direction was shot down by air defenses, the IDF says.
The military says the drone did not enter Israeli airspace.
The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for launching a drone at Haifa.
Meanwhile, Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon’s Zibqin, used in a previous attack on Israel, the IDF says.
Buildings used by Hezbollah in Khiam and Ayta ash-Shab were also struck, the military adds.
It publishes footage of the strikes.
במהלך הלילה, מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו משגר של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב זבקין שבדרום לבנון, ממנו בוצעו שיגורים לעבר שטח הארץ. בנוסף, הותקפו מבנים צבאיים של הארגון במרחבים אל-חיאם ועייתא א-שעב שבדרום לבנון>> pic.twitter.com/OU925ygeqy
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 4, 2024
Far-right National Security Minister says he is working to end Israel’s involvement in talks for a hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza.
“Working to end the negotiations with Hamas,” he posts on X. “A country where they murder six hostages in cold blood does not conduct negotiations with the killers, but ends the talks, stops the transfer of fuel and electricity and crushes them until they collapse.”
“Continuous talks just spur them to create more and more terror, including in Judea and Samaria,” he says, referring to the West Bank by its biblical names.
Norway’s $1.7 trillion wealth fund may have to divest shares of companies that violate the fund watchdog’s new, tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses that aid Israel’s operations in Gaza and the West Bank.
The Council on Ethics for the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund sent an Aug. 30 letter to the finance ministry, seen by Reuters, that summarizes the recently expanded definition of unethical corporate behavior. The change has not previously been reported.
The letter does not specify how many nor name companies whose stocks might be sold but suggests it would be a small number, should the board of the central bank, which has the final say, follow recommendations that the council makes.
One company has already been identified for disinvestment under the new definition, it says.
“The Council on Ethics believes the ethical guidelines provide a basis for excluding a few more companies from the Government Pension Fund Global in addition to those already excluded,” the watchdog writes, giving the formal name for Norway’s sovereign wealth fund.
The fund has been an international leader in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment field. It owns 1.5% of the world’s listed shares across 8,800 companies, and its size carries influence.
Since the start of the war in Gaza in October, the fund’s ethics watchdog has been investigating whether more companies fall outside its permitted investment guidelines. The letter says that the scope of exclusions was “expected to increase somewhat” under the new policy.
Among the companies that the watchdog could be looking at are RTX Corp, General Electric and General Dynamics. According to nongovernmental organizations, they make weapons used by Israel in Gaza.
The fund held investments worth 16 billion crowns ($1.41 billion) in Israel as of June 30, across 77 companies, according to fund data, including companies involved in real estate, banks, energy and telecommunications. They represented 0.1% of the fund’s overall investments.
Former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and Likud minister Gilad Erdan has been tapped as the next global president of the Magen David Adom Israeli emergency service.
“In this role, he will promote the emergency medical and blood services activities of the organization and represent it on the international stage, as well as advocate on behalf of MDA at international forums and other global events,” MDA says in a statement.
Erdan completed his role as ambassador to the UN last month.
He branded MDA as “the backbone of Israel’s resilience” in a statement issued by the group announcing his appointment. “The IDF is charged with protecting the borders. Magen David Adom is charged with protecting the people inside those borders, including wounded soldiers.”
“Magen David Adom plays a key role in strengthening the national resilience in the face of attacks by Hezbollah and Iran, as well as the threat of a regional war. The immediate result of a better prepared Magen David Adom is even greater protection for the citizens of Israel,” he adds.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry issues a statement rejecting Prime Minister’s comments regarding the Philadelphi Corridor and the need for Israel to indefinitely maintain control over the Egypt-Gaza border stretch.
“Cairo rejects the statements of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and deems him responsible for increasing tensions in the region,” the statement says.
The statement rejects Netanyahu’s claims that Cairo has allowed Hamas to smuggle weapons from the Sinai Peninsula to Gaza and accuses the premier of attacking Egypt in order to distract the Israeli public from the mounting criticism of his handling of the war.
The IDF has issued a warning to Israel’s political leadership that any expansion of the military operation in Gaza risks the lives of the hostages, Channel 13 reports.
The network cites a senior military official who asserts that a hostage deal, on the other hand, would allow the IDF to operate more freely in Gaza, including in places where it has not yet operated.
Earlier this week, IDF chief Herzi Halevi visited the tunnel in Rafah where the bodies of six hostages were found over the weekend after they were executed by their Hamas captors who apparently got wind that the IDF was approaching.
The IDF’s policy has been not to enter areas when they have intelligence that hostages may be held there. The intelligence apparently wasn’t strong enough regarding the Rafah tunnel in question in what led the soldiers to approach the area, tipping off the Hamas lookouts, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
A preliminary investigation conducted by the IDF into the murder of the six hostages has found that Hamas lookout fighters positioned outside the Rafah tunnel spotted Israeli troops approaching and tipped off the guards who executed the captives before fleeing the scene.
US Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff hails the strength of former American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s parents at a Washington vigil memorializing him and the five other hostages who were killed by Hamas last week.
He recalls the conversation he and Vice President Kamala Harris had with Jon and Rachel Goldberg-Polin after “their souls were torn apart, just like the garments we tear in mourning.”
“They were comforting us. They were asking about the latest in the negotiations,” he shares. “They were asking how we can use this terrible moment to make progress. They told the vice president that they don’t want Hersh’s death to be in vain.”
“At Hersh’s funeral yesterday, they still wore the tape marking the number of days the hostages have been in captivity: 332,” Emhoff continues. “I saw that and thought, ‘The count was never about their son alone.'”
“Jon and Rachel’s hearts have room to hold everyone. They are not giving up, and neither can we,” Harris’s husband adds, asserting that the administration is committed to securing a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Addressing the pain of the global Jewish community, Emhoff says, “How you feel right now is how I feel. And how we all feel is something the Kamala hears directly from me.”
“I share what I’m feeling with the vice president – as my partner, as my wife. She knows. She gets it. She cares. She’s committed.”
Israeli negotiators told mediators in recent days that they still support a complete withdrawal of the IDF from the Philadelphi Corridor in the second phase of the hostage deal, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments on Monday that Jerusalem must maintain a military presence there indefinitely, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
Confirming a Haaretz report, an Arab diplomat tells The Times of Israel that hours before Netanyahu’s press conference, Mossad chief David Barnea flew urgently to Doha yesterday in order to inform Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani of Jerusalem’s position.
Notably, Netanyahu’s office does not deny the reports.
It instead argues that the security cabinet has not yet discussed the second phase of the deal.
The US said earlier today that Israel has agreed to the latest proposal, which requires the IDF to withdraw from heavily populated areas along the Philadelphi Corridor during the first, six-week phase of the deal. The statements from Biden administration spokespeople left open the possibility for Israeli troops remaining in other parts of the corridor that are not adjacent to heavily populated areas of the Egypt-Gaza border-stretch.
After US President Joe Biden said Sunday that he was close to presenting a final proposal to the sides by the end of the week, the Kan report says the Washington plans to do so by Friday.
The US had privately warned Britain against suspending arms sales, amid concerns it could damage attempts to broker a ceasefire, a senior government source tell The Times.
The Justice Department announces criminal charges against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and five other leaders of the terror group in connection with its October 7 onslaught against Israel.
The criminal complaint filed in federal court in New York City includes charges of conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, resulting in death.
“The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas’s operations,” Attorney General Merrick Garland says in a video statement. “These actions will not be our last.”
“As outlined in our complaint, those defendants — armed with weapons, political support, and funding from the Government of Iran, and support from Hezbollah — have led Hamas’s efforts to destroy the State of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim,” Garland adds.
The other Hamas leaders charged are Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed by Israel on July 31; Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of Hamas’s armed wing in Gaza, who helped plan last year’s attack and was killed by Israel in March; Khaled Mashaal, another Haniyeh deputy based in Doha and a former leader of the group; Muhammad Deif, the longtime Hamas military wing chief, who Israel killed in July; and Ali Baraka, a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon.
The impact of the case may be mostly symbolic given that Sinwar is believed to be hiding out in tunnels underneath Gaza and at least three of the other defendants named by the Justice Department are thought to have been killed. But US officials say at least one person, whom they did not name, is expected to be brought to New York for prosecution.
In a statement, Saudi Arabia condemns Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims that the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border represents a security threat, backing Egypt’s insistence that Israeli troops withdraw from the area.
Riyadh “strongly condemns and denounces” Israel’s comments on the corridor, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry says, accusing Israel of making “futile attempts to justify continued violations of international laws and norms.”
Israel says the area is a major smuggling artery and Netanyahu claimed Monday that pulling troops out of the area would allow Hamas to both re-arm and spirit hostages out of the Strip.
Egypt, which razed thousands of homes on its side of the border nine years ago to create a buffer zone with Gaza, has said that the smuggling is no longer an issue and rejects an Israeli presence on the Gazan side of the frontier.
Saudi Arabia “affirms its solidarity and support for Egypt,” the statement reads.
Patience is running out among United Nations Security Council members and the 15-member body will likely consider taking action if a ceasefire cannot soon be brokered between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, says Slovenia’s UN envoy, who heads the council for September.
“There is a rising anxiousness in the council that it has to move one way or the other – either there is a ceasefire or that the council then reflects on what else we can do to bring the ceasefire,” says Samuel Zbogar. “I’m pretty sure that in September it will have to go… one way or the other, not because we want [it to], but because I think the patience is out,” he says.
The Security Council in June adopted resolution 2735, which backed a three-phase plan, laid out by US President Joe Biden, for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas. But Zbogar says the council may trash the resolution and seek another path, noting that “there are many tools that council has at [its] disposal.”
“But to start, I think one would be to establish that we have to move on from 2735 because for the past three months, the council was waiting [for] implementation of that resolution,” he says.
