Join our Community

Support ToI and remove all ads

Learn more

English
Français
עברית

Get The Daily Edition
Account
Sign In
- Sign in
- Join our Community

Open Search form

Israel & the Region
Jewish Times
Israel Inside
Tech Israel
Real Estate Israel
The Blogs
Podcasts
Video
Newsletters
Partners

Input search

English
Français
עברית

Latest Articles
Latest Alerts
Israel & the Region
Jewish Times
Israel Inside
Tech Israel
Real Estate Israel
The Blogs
Podcasts
Video
Newsletters
Partners
Community
- Join our community
- Sign in
- About The Times of Israel
- Advertise on The Times of Israel
- Contact us
- Download our App
  - For IOS users
  - For Android users
- Get the Daily Edition
- Follow us
- © 2026 The Times of Israel , All Rights Reserved
  
  Terms and conditions Privacy policy

Input search

The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Facebook
Twitter

View previous edition

View next edition

Hamas gunmen flee during an attack on an army encampment in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, and dead Hamas operatives following the incident, August 20, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF searching for operatives who fled back into tunnel

IDF says troops repelled rare large-scale attack in south Gaza; 10 gunmen killed

By Emanuel Fabian

At least 18 Hamas fighters try to raid army encampment in Khan Younis; 3 soldiers hurt; military thinks the gunmen sought to kidnap troops

Live updates (closed)

Aug. 20: Netanyahu, in UK podcast interview, says Israel has ‘work’ to do to win over Gen Z

By Michael Bachner, Ben Sales and ToI Staff

IDF says it’s killed 2,100 Gaza terrorists since March * Haredi anti-draft protesters block major highways * US sanctions 4 more ICC officials * Comptroller: IDF not cooperating with Oct. 7 probe

8:29 pm

IDF strikes Hezbollah arms depot, rocket launcher in southern Lebanon
8:29 pm

Likud MK Gotliv stands by calling court guard an 'animal' and a 'Judenrat'
8:24 pm

Texas can't put Ten Commandments in certain school districts' classrooms, judge says

IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip, in an image published on August 18, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Medical facilities to be expanded in south Gaza

60,000 IDF reservists to be called up in coming days ahead of Gaza City takeover

By Emanuel Fabian

Reserve troops will get at least 2 weeks’ notice before reporting for duty, with some sent to replace standing army elsewhere; Katz meets top defense officials to approve IDF’s plans

Haredi men attend a rally against the jailing of Jewish seminary students who failed to comply with an army recruitment order, outside the military prison in Beit Lid, near Netanya, August 14, 2025. (Tal Gal/Flash90)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing Aug. 20: Day 684 – As 60,000 reservists called up, Haredim step up war on draft

By Amanda Borschel-Dan, Emanuel Fabian and Sam Sokol

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in the Knesset, February 7, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90/File)

Government votes to add billions to state budget, including $473 million in Gaza aid

Promoted VideoSheba Global

When a Hospital Is More Than a Hospital

What is the DNA of Sheba’s ‘Global Impact’? For the past 7 years, Sheba Medical Center has been ranked as one of the “World’s Best Hospitals” by Newsweek magazine.

Left to right: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the opening ceremony of the Knesset Museum in Jerusalem, August 11, 2025. (Maayan Toaf/GPO); Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during a press conference in Canberra on August 11, 2025. (Hilary Wardhaugh / AFP)

Australia pans Netanyahu: ‘Strength not measured by how many people you can blow up’

By Agencies and ToI Staff

After PM calls Australian premier ‘weak,’ Albanese says he doesn’t take it personally; senior Canberra minister characterizes Netanyahu as a frustrated leader ‘lashing out’

This combination image created April 15, 2025, shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, as he arrives at the Tel Aviv District Court before the start of a hearing in his corruption trial, April 9, 2025 (Miriam Alster/Flash90); and French President Emmanuel Macron, right, as he waits to welcome Nechirvan Barzani, the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region (not in picture) for a working lunch at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France April 14, 2025. (Ludovic Marin / AFP)

Issuing ultimatum, Netanyahu tells Macron Palestine recognition fuels antisemitism

By AFP and ToI Staff

Palestinians carry humanitarian aid that they gathered after an aid drop, as they walk in the al-Mawasi area of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on August 18, 2025. (AFP)

80 Modern Orthodox rabbis urge ‘moral clarity’ in face of Gaza humanitarian crisis

By PHILISSA CRAMER

Op-ed: Day 684 of the war

Trump’s moment: How the US president can help Netanyahu make the wise choice on Gaza

Israel’s threat of expanded war has yielded the opportunity for precisely the kind of deal the PM had been demanding. The US can make sure he takes it by brokering the terms for a post-Hamas era

Illustrative: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu answers a question, as US President Donald Trump looks on, during a dinner in the Blue Room of the White House on July 7, 2025. (Andrew Harnik / Getty Images via AFP)

Bringing the IDF to the yeshiva: A path to unity

Imagine uniforms and black hats under one roof, gemaras and laptops at the same table, protecting the community and the state, all within the current budget

The unsung heroes of this war

When war hits home, leaving many in need of shelter, medical care, and other support, it’s time to stop neglecting those who help: Israel’s public servants

Dennis Ross (Courtesy)/ Demonstrators march during a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas and calling for the Israeli government to reverse its decision to take over Gaza City and other areas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, August 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

ToI podcast

What Matters Now to Dennis Ross: There is a deal to be made to end the Gaza war

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Former US negotiator and point man for the peace process — for Democrats and Republicans — analyzes the current stalemate and recalls similar situations at Camp David 25 years ago

Peace Now: Its purpose is to sabotage a political solution

Smotrich rejoices as settlement plan that ‘erases 2-state delusion’ gets final greenlight

By Jeremy Sharon and Agencies

Minister fetes ‘historic’ approval of controversial construction scheme in West Bank’s E1 area, upending a decades-long freeze; PA says move divides West Bank into ‘prisons’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at a press conference announcing his plans to approve more than 3,000 housing units in the E1 settlement project between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim on August 14, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

Demonstrators protest for the release of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip, outside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, on August 19, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Dermer said to have secretly visited UAE to discuss Gaza

Israel said reviewing truce deal okayed by Hamas despite PM’s seeming dismissal of offer

By Jacob Magid, Nava Freiberg, Agencies and ToI Staff

Sources say Netanyahu expected to convene meeting soon, respond within coming days; Hostage Families Forum calls for comprehensive deal, as plans for Gaza City takeover move ahead

Retired and reserve Israeli Air Force pilots rally outside of the Kirya military headquarters in protest of the security cabinet decision to conquer Gaza City, August 12, 2025. (Danor Aharon/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)

As Gaza war drags on, some reservists increasingly lose faith in Netanyahu’s motives

By Reuters and ToI Staff

Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators block a road in Jerusalem during a protest against the detention of yeshiva students who ignored IDF conscription orders, August 07, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Haredi leaders call for global day of prayer, fasting to protest arrest of draft dodgers

Jews in Antwerp, London, Paris and New York set to protest ‘religious persecution’ of yeshiva students Thursday, with domestic prayer rallies to be held in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem

Likud MK Tally Gotliv (back to camera) resists a court security guard (left) who has been ordered to ask her to leave the Lod District courtroom, August 19, 2025 (X screenshot; used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)

Mother urges Netanyahu to condemn remarks by his party's MK

Likud MK calls court guard ‘Judenrat’ after being ejected from Qatargate hearing

By Jeremy Sharon

Security guard has served some 400 days in IDF reserve duty in current war, says his mother; is grandson of Holocaust survivor; Levin calls MK Gotliv’s comments ‘a great disgrace’

Traffic flows past a huge billboard bearing a painting of a missile falling on Israel with the slogan in Farsi: "The missile has fallen amidst the demons," on a main road in central Tehran on July 16, 2025.(Atta Kenare/AFP)

Iran says it has developed new, better missiles; will use them if Israel attacks again

By ToI Staff and AFP

Tehran’s defense minister claims Israel was unprepared for strength of counterattack during 12-day war in June, falsely says regime only targeted military sites, not civilian areas

US President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he leaves the West Wing of the White House, April 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Mark Schiefelbein)

Trump calls Netanyahu and himself ‘war heroes’ for striking Iran

In this photo, released by Belarusian Presidential Press Service, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, right, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian talk to each other during their meeting in Minsk, Belarus, August 20, 2025. (Belarusian Presidential Press Service via AP)

Belarus and Iran, both friends of Putin, plan to strengthen military and broader ties

By Mark Trevelyan

Jonatan Urich, who was arrested in the so-called Qatargate investigation, arrives for a court hearing in Lod, August 19, 2025. (Jonathan Shaul/ Flash90)

Accepting police’s appeal, court extends restrictions on Qatargate suspect Urich

By Jeremy Sharon and ToI Staff

District court appears to criticize lower court judge as it overturns decision to end conditions barring senior Netanyahu aide from meeting other suspects, including PM

The family and friends of Hersh Goldberg-Polin attend a memorial service for the slain 23-year-old in the Valley of the Cross, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, marking one year since he was murdered by his Hamas captors in Gaza, on August 19, 2025.(Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

'We are born; we live; and we leave'

Families of six hostages murdered together by Hamas honor their memories, one year on

Jon Polin talks of son’s far-reaching legacy, Alex Lubanov’s widow vows to keep fighting for remaining captives; Eden Yerushalmi’s sister mourns ‘ray of light’ with ‘endless energy’

Jihad Kamal Salem Najjar (left) and other Hamas terrorists abduct Yarden Bibas to Gaza after kidnapping him from his home in Nir Oz, near the Gaza border, on October 7, 2023. (AP Photo)

IDF says it killed Hamas terrorist who took part in kidnapping of Yarden Bibas

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

IDF troops walk through Kibbutz Nahal Oz, near the Gaza border, on October 20, 2023, following the October 7 Hamas onslaught. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Court rejects Nahal Oz residents’ petition against government push to send them home

AI reconstruction of a mixed Neanderthal-Homo sapiens family.

Study: Homo Sapiens procreated with Neanderthals 100,000 years earlier than thought

Israeli-French research applies new techniques to a fossilized child’s skull found in northern Israeli cave, and finds physical characteristics of both types of humans

Archaeologist Yiftah Shalev of the Israel Antiquities Authority holding a recently unearthed Ptolemaic coin in Jerusalem's City of David on August 20, 2025. (Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority)

Rare gold coin depicting Hellenic queen unearthed in Jerusalem dig

Jerusalem protesters Rom Leor (left) and Matanel Ciechanowski (right) with their lawyer Yoni Nussbaum (center) after being released from police custody in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on August 18, 2025. (Courtesy)

Protesters who were detained, held overnight claim police used arrests as punishment

By Charlie Summers

‘We’re protesters, not suspected criminals,’ says activist freed by court; Tel Aviv court releases 3 on restrictive conditions

This combination of pictures created on July 25, 2025, shows Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (L) and Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. (AFP)

Syria issues rare confirmation of talks with Israel as US pushes to stabilize ties

By Agencies and ToI Staff

No comment from Israel on Paris talks between PM’s top aide Dermer, Syrian FM; US official says Trump administration backs ‘any efforts that will bring lasting stability and peace’

Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, August 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Leo to visit Lebanon, cardinal says, in pontiff’s likely first trip abroad

By Joshua McElwee

Footage shared to social media shows Charlotte Korchak, a guide of a youth group from Miami, being confronted for carrying an Israeli flag near the grounds of the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp, Poland, in August 2025. (X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Jewish educator fights back when confronted at Auschwitz for waving Israeli flag

‘You are killing children,’ woman tells Charlotte Korchak on train tracks outside death camp with group of US teens; she retorts: ‘I will never be ashamed to wear this flag’

Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark, the House Minority Whip, speaks during a news conference on the Equality Act at the Capitol on April 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

US House minority whip walks back reference to ‘genocide’ in Gaza

By JTA and ToI Staff

Bessel van der Kolk in a screenshot from a YouTube video, June 2025. (YouTube/ Big Think/ Unlikely Collaborators)

Renowned trauma expert banned from NY healing center over ‘antisemitic comments’

By Asaf Elia-Shalev

More Headlines

Outside view of the Israeli Embassy in Berlin, May 9, 2001 (AP Photo/Jockel Finck)

Germany charges Russian national with plan to attack Israel embassy in Berlin

By Reuters and ToI Staff

Jalal Uddin, electrical and technology officer aboard a Panamanian-flagged ship watches as containers filled with humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza are being loaded aboard the vessel at Cyprus' main port in Limassol, on August 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Ship ferrying 1,200 tons of food aid for Gaza nears Israel after departing from Cyprus

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Illustrative image: Money laundering (iStock)

Israeli-founded AI startup raises $60m to help governments fight financial fraud

By Sharon Wrobel

Irish rap group Kneecap band member, Naoise O Caireallain (center L), smiles as he arrives with band mate Liam O'Hanna at Westminster Magistrates' Courts in London on August 20, 2025, where O'Hanna is set to be charged with a terror offense for supporting Hezbollah. (JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

Irish rapper appears in UK court to face terror charges over Hezbollah flag

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Alisher Tursunov, widely known as Mubashshir Ahmad, on October 1, 2023. (Javlonbek Ilhomovich, Public Domain)

Uzbek cleric on trial for inciting hate, after backing call for jihad against Israel

By Reuters and ToI Staff

A Bedouin village in the area of Sadeh Barir. (Gil Sofer)

Divisive plan to mine phosphates in populated Negev area back on government agenda

View Edition by Date

July	August 2025					September
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

The Times of Israel

Daily Edition

Free to Your Inbox

The email is either missing or invalid.

By signing up, you agree to our terms You hereby accept The Times of Israel Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, and you agree to receive the latest news & offers from The Times of Israel and its partners or ad sponsors.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Israel & the Region
Jewish Times
Israel Inside
Tech Israel
Real Estate Israel
The Blogs
podcasts
video

terms and conditions
privacy policy
about us
advertise with us
Jobs at The Times of Israel
contact us

Community

Join our community
Sign in

Get the Daily Edition

Enter your email address

Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Whatsapp Follow us on X Follow us on Youtube Follow us on Telegram Follow us on Threads Follow us on Bluesky

© 2026 The Times of Israel, all rights reserved

Concept, design & development by

Developed by

Powered by

Never miss breaking news on Israel

Get notifications to stay updated

You're subscribed

Register for free
and continue reading

Registering allows you to manage your newsletters and alerts and helps us improve your experience. It takes just a few seconds.
Already registered? Enter your email to sign in.

Email address

Please use the following structure: example@domain.com

Or Continue with

By registering you agree to the terms and conditions. Once registered, you’ll receive our Daily Edition email for free.

Send me The Times of Israel Daily Edition

Register to continue

Email address

Or Continue with

Log in to continue

Email address

Something went wrong.
Please try again in a few minutes..

Sign in or Register

Email address * Password *

Incorrect password. Please try again or choose an option below.

I forgot my password / Send me a sign in link

Or Continue with

check your email

Check your email

We sent an email to you at .

It has a link that will sign you in.

Click the link in that email to complete your registration.