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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Wednesday, February 19, 2025

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Shiri Bibas (center) and her sons Ariel, 4, (left) and baby Kfir, who were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)

Live updates (closed)

Feb. 19: IDF, PMO apologetic as Bibas family says it didn’t okay naming Shiri and kids as slain

Netanyahu’s office says army made ‘grave mistake’ after relatives say they never approved names being published ahead of expected return of bodies * Handover expected in the morning

9:56 pm

IDF takes responsibility for error in announcing Bibas names
9:01 pm

PM's office blames IDF for 'grave mistake' after Bibas family named as slain hostages
8:28 pm

Family of Oded Lifshitz: Until we get absolute certainty, our journey will not be over

Top row, from left: Omer Shem Tov, Tal Shoham, Eliya Cohen. Bottom row, from left: Avera Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed, Omer Wenkert (Courtesy)

These are the six living hostages released Saturday

Roster includes two men who wandered into Gaza a decade ago, a father kidnapped while visiting his in-laws on Kibbutz Be’eri, and three young men abducted from the Nova rave

Palestinian Hamas terrorist fighters in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on February 15, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing Feb. 19: Day 502 – Hamas fights for survival with ‘grand gestures’

By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Jacob Magid

Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas (Courtesy)

6 hostages to be freed Sat.; Hamas says bodies of Bibas mom, kids set for Thurs. return

By Lazar Berman

Op-ed: Day 502 of the war

The worst news of all

Fear for Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas turns to dread

Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas are abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023. (Video screenshot)

Jews praying at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, early on October 11, 2024, on the eve Yom Kippur (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)

Promoted ArticleUniversity of Haifa International

UHaifa innovates a new approach to Judaism, the Holocaust and the State of Israel

The University of Haifa’s interlinking master’s programs confer a multi-level understanding of Judaism and the Jewish people, from the Ancient Israelite kingdoms to the Startup Nation

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meets with Mossad chief David Barnea, April 18, 2024. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Lapid: 'Cowardly' statement is 'utter lie' from PM's office

Netanyahu panned after ‘senior source’ claims security chiefs botched hostage talks

By ToI Staff and Lazar Berman

As PM puts confidant Dermer at head of negotiating team, moves Barnea and Bar aside, ‘senior source’ lauds him for expedited hostage releases, ‘negotiations instead of concessions’

Demonstrators protest for the release of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip, outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, February 18, 2025.(Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

PM said to condition deal’s 2nd phase on end of Hamas presence in Gaza, no PA rule

By ToI Staff and Emanuel Fabian

A truck driver waits with others carrying mobile homes on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing in preparation for entering Gaza, at the Rafah border crossing, Egypt, February 18, 2025. (Mayar Mokhtar/AP)

Heavy construction equipment said to begin rolling into Gaza

By ToI Staff and Agencies

US President Donald Trump, right, speaks during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, in the Oval Office of the White House, as Ambassador Ron Dermer looks on, Monday, January 27, 2020, in Washington. (AP/ Evan Vucci)

Top Netanyahu adviser Ron Dermer to lead talks on phase two of hostage deal

By Lazar Berman

Heads of Mossad, Shin Bet reportedly not invited to security meeting as prime minister shakes up negotiating team ahead of crucial discussions

Demonstrators protest for the release of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip, outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, February 18, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Some hold on to slim hope that Hamas statement is 'fake news'

News of Bibas family’s tragic fate met with confusion, mourning and rage

By Deborah Danan

‘We’ve prepared ourselves for this. Still, it doesn’t make it hurt any less,’ says woman at Jaffa community center as Hamas announces it will return remains of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas

IDF reserve soldiers suspected of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility attend a hearing at the Beit Lid military court, August 6, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

5 IDF reservists indicted for severe abuse of Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman

By Emanuel Fabian and Jeremy Sharon

Indictment says soldiers broke prisoner’s ribs, caused internal tear in his rectum during assault at detention facility in July

Illustrative: Palestinian flags flutter in the wind on Dam Square with the Royal Palace of Amsterdam in the background (Paleis op de Dam), in Amsterdam, on November 15, 2024. (Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP)

2 IDF soldiers vacationing in Amsterdam rushed back to Israel amid arrest concerns

Reporter's notebook

Shalom Yerushalmi

In Kiryat Shmona, a city with no residents holds elections with no voters

Mayoral race, delayed for 15 months due to the war, takes place with almost 80% of northern border city’s uprooted residents scattered across Israel. Many of them won’t return

Kiryat Shmona mayoral candidate Eli Zafrani (left) speaks with two residents of the city outside his campaign HQ on election day, February 18, 2025 (Shalom Yerushalmi/Times of Israel)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center, walks with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as they meet at ADNEC Centre Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, February 19, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)

UAE tells Rubio it rejects displacement of Palestinians from Gaza

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Emirati president meets US secretary of state in Abu Dhabi, links two-state solution for Israeli-Palestinian conflict to rebuilding of war-ravaged enclave

An aerial photograph taken by a drone shows tents amidst the destruction caused by the war in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, February 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Abu Samra)

Arab plan for Gaza could involve up to $20 billion regional contribution

By Reuters and ToI Staff

Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll

Who is righteous? The kind, brave women who came out of Gaza, that’s who

If biblical Israel was redeemed from Egypt thanks to the women of the day, I have no doubt who will provide the merit for modern Israel’s redemption

Sammy Geldzahler

Soldier’s notes: Assessing the ceasefire and what’s ahead

I await orders, clarity, and the new, broad, evolving strategy that will follow the ’intermission’ that is this ceasefire – for Israel must define its real endgame, and soon

Ultra-Orthodox men make their way to Rav Ashi's tomb, which straddles the Israel-Lebanon border. (Yaakov Naumi/Flash90, undated)

Israelis illegally cross into Lebanon, throw rocks at IDF soldiers; 4 arrested

Several people — reportedly Hasidim searching for tomb of 4th century rabbi — cross the border, some attack troops who arrive at scene

A protester hoists a framed portrait of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in front of Lebanese troops during a riot organized by the terror group outside the airport in Beirut, Lebanon, February 15, 2025. (Ibrahim Amro / AFP)

Hezbollah prepares for Nasrallah funeral after IDF’s withdrawal from most of Lebanon

Ali Fadavi, deputy chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, delivers a speech during an anti-Israel protest, Tehran, August 9, 2022. (Atta Kenare/AFP)

Top Iranian general warns Tehran will strike Israel again at ‘appropriate time’

Fiji’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sitiveni Rabuka meets Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in Munich, February 15, 2025 (Foreign Ministry)

Fiji to open embassy in Jerusalem, becoming 7th country to do so

By Lazar Berman

FM Sa’ar hails Pacific nation ‘for its historic decision,’ after Fijian premier told him last week of plan to move diplomatic mission

Master Sgt. (res.) Raz Abulafia, 27, from Rishpon, of the 12th Brigade's 6863rd Battalion. (IDF)

Researcher names potent lifesaving virus after soldier boyfriend killed in Gaza War

By Diana Bletter

As antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose growing health risk, Hebrew University scientists search for ‘good’ viruses and name them after heroes killed on or after Oct. 7

Clashes break out at anti-Israel protest in Brooklyn Jewish neighborhood

Pro-Palestinian activists shout ‘settlers go back home’ and ‘we don’t want no Zionists here’ at Boro Park rally that is widely condemned as antisemitic by political leaders

Anti-Israel protesters led by Pal-Awda in the Jewish neighborhood of Boro Park, Brooklyn, February 18, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

NYPD police arrest a protester during a rally demanding the abolition of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and against the immigration policies of US President Donald Trump, in New York on February 13, 2025. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP)

Over 50 NY rabbis implore mayor and governor to oppose mass deportations

Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, left, chairs a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, February 18, 2025. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset Spokesman's Office)

Edelstein: Haredi enlistment bill will include individual sanctions on draft dodgers

‘The effectiveness of the sanctions are what will make this law real or not,’ deputy AG tells key Knesset committee deliberating law

Rabbi Dov Landau, head of the Slabodka yeshiva in Bnei Brak arrives to deliver a lesson at the Mir Yeshiva, in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim, Jerusalem, September 19, 2023 (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90).

Top ultra-Orthodox rabbi urges Haredi parties to shun Zionist institutions

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu attends Lag Ba'omer celebrations in the northern city Safed, May 26, 2024 (David Cohen/Flash90)

Ultra-Orthodox rabbis secure majority in Israel’s top Jewish legal body

By Rossella Tercatin and Sam Sokol

Children gather outside the gate of the Kalandia Training Centre, run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, which was raided by Israeli forces earlier in the day on February 18, 2025. (Zain Jaafar / AFP)

Israel raids UNRWA job center, shuts schools in East Jerusalem after agency banned

By ToI Staff and Agencies

UN refugee body says police, Jerusalem officials storm Qalandiya vocational training facility with tear gas and sound grenades; two schools said to defy order to shutter

More Headlines

Chairman of the Knesset Constitution Law and Justice Committee MK Simcha Rothman (left) leads a hearing for legislation to change the appointment process for the ombudsman for judges, February 18, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90); The Democrats MK Gilad Kariv attends a Knesset committee meeting on January 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Opposition MK: Coalition bill seeks ‘complete takeover’ of judicial complaints system

By Jeremy Sharon

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left), in Moscow, February 17, 2025, and US President Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, February 18, 2025. (Composite image: Pool via AP)

Trump and Putin could meet this month, Kremlin says, as US envoy lands in Ukraine

Mugshot of Mordechai Brafman, who is accused of opening fire on two people he thought were Palestinians in February 2025 (Miami-Dade County Corrections)

Jewish Florida man indicted for shooting 2 Israelis he thought were ‘Palestinians’

By AP

Rabbi Yona Metzger arrives to enter the Maasiyahu Prison in Ramla, to serve his 3.5 year sentence over corruption issues on May 1, 2017. (Roy Alima/Flash90)

Police investigate former chief rabbi Metzger on suspicion he molested teenage boy

Solar panels on a single family home. (Smileus at iStock, Getty Images)

Energy Ministry: Invest in solar panels, enjoy 15% annual return for 25 years

The village of Hamaam, in northern Israel, November 29, 2010. (Ori~, Wikimedia Commons)

Teenager shot dead in Hamaam, as violent crime continues to surge

A dedication from former US Ambassador to Israel Samuel Lewis to former PM Menachem Begin in a copy of Henry Kissinger's "Years of Upheaval," found at Jerusalem's Park Hamesila book station on Tuesday. (Shuki Ben Naim/Facebook)

Needle in a stackBook with dedication from US ambassador to PM Begin found at Jerusalem book swap station

Holocaust survivor Marian Turski addresses guests at the Auschwitz-Birkenau former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp, during a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of its liberation, in Oswiecim, Poland, Monday, Jan. 27. 2025. (AP/Czarek Sokolowski)

Marian Turski, Holocaust survivor who warned against creeping hate, dies at 98

By Vanessa Gera

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