Rocket barrage intercepted over Tel Aviv * PM seems to reject visiting secretary’s call for humanitarian pause * IDF says it hit ambulance used by Hamas cell * Ground op toll at 24
The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they unfold.
Ben Gvir said to dismiss deadly settler violence as ‘graffiti’
At a cabinet meeting yesterday, the head of the Shin Bet raised his concern regarding the wave of deadly settler violence in the West Bank, Channel 12 reports, revealing that National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir spoke up to try and downplay the phenomenon.
He asked why so much attention need to be given to “graffiti” Israeli youth are daubing on Palestinian property.
Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly shot down Ben Gvir and told him the settler violence is much more serious than that and implored security chiefs in the room to do more to combat it, Channel 12 reports.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier today that Israeli leaders promised him that they would condemn settler violence, though none have spoken up about it since the start of the war.
Blinken discussed efforts to maintain calm in West Bank with Gantz, State Department says
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz discussed efforts to “maintain calm and stability in the West Bank,” the State Department says in its readout of their meeting earlier today.
Blinken later said Israeli officials promised him today they would condemn settler violence, act to stop it and hold those accountable responsible.
Blinken and Gantz also discussed during their meeting efforts to secure the release of the some 240 hostages in Gaza, the US readout says.
“Blinken reaffirmed that the United States supports Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism consistent with international humanitarian law,” the State Department says, using a talking point it employed in its readouts for the secretary’s meetings with President Isaac Herzog and opposition chairman Yair Lapid.
In his meeting with Herzog, Blinken also discussed efforts to “augment the pace and volume of humanitarian assistance entering Gaza for distribution to Palestinian civilians and prevent the conflict from spreading.”
With both Gantz and Lapid, he stressed “that the United States remains committed to the furtherance of a two-state solution as the best way to achieve a just and durable resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the State Department says.
Israeli officials: Oxygen concentrators for Gaza tunnels found hidden in aid shipment
Israeli inspectors earlier this week uncovered several oxygen concentrators meant to aerate the tunnels operated by terror groups in Gaza, two senior Israeli officials tell The Times of Israel.
“These weren’t for use in the hospitals, but below them. That’s why they were smuggled among boxes of cookies,” one of the senior Israeli officials says, adding that the entire truck in which the oxygen concentrators were found was barred from entering Gaza.
Neither official provided a photo of the oxygen concentrators in question and they did not disclose which organization was responsible for sending the truck.
Since Egypt opened its Rafah crossing into Gaza 11 days ago, several hundred trucks filled with humanitarian aid have been able to enter Gaza following inspections by both Egyptian and Israeli authorities.
The trucks first enter Egypt where they undergo an initial round of inspections. They then are driven into Israel through the Nitzana crossing where they are inspected by Israel’s COGAT military liaison before being sent back to Egypt and driven into Gaza through the Rafah crossing, a second Israeli official tells The Times of Israel, saying the format was agreed upon after extensive talks between Israel, Egypt and the United States.
Israel has thus far rejected growing calls to allow in fuel, expressing concerns that Hamas will divert it to power its tunnels. IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said Thursday that Israel would allow fuel to enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing should it determine that hospitals have run out of fuel.
Shortly after Halevi’s comments, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a terse statement noting only that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has not approved the entry of fuel into Gaza.”
Hamas official says time for Hezbollah to walk the talk after fiery Nasrallah speech against Israel
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official in Lebanon, says Hezbollah must now prove the commitment to Hamas’s victory in Gaza as was voiced earlier this evening by the Lebanese terror group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
“His words about the importance of stopping the attack on Gaza and the importance of Hamas’s victory in Gaza are clear and important. Hezbollah’s commitment to these two goals [now] requires action on the ground,” Hamdan says.
Hezbollah, to date, has avoided fully entering the war against Israel in what analysts say has infuriated Hamas.
White House pans Fox News, talk show host Mark Levin for calling Blitzer, Tapper ‘self-hating Jews’
The White House tears into Fox News and conservative talk show host Mark Levin for calling CNN journalists Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper “self-hating Jews.”
Levin, who is also Jewish, recently said on his radio show that Blitzer’s parents, who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp, “weren’t victims in one way or another” of the Holocaust.
Levin acknowledged that “certainly [Blitzer’s] family comes out of that background, but that “you wouldn’t know it” from his coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, adding that CNN is “filled with a lot of self-hating Jews.”
In another show last month, he also referred to Tapper as a self-hating Jew.
Asked for a response on the matter, a Fox News spokesperson pointed the Washington Post to subsequent comments made by Levin yesterday in which he claimed his words regarding Blitzer’s connection to the Holocaust had been twisted.
“I barely remember saying it… They think they’re going to intimidate me. They think they’re going to silence me,” he said then, adding that he would not back down.
Weighing in on the ordeal, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates tells The Times of Israel that “not only is Fox News aligning with those who fan the flames of hate – Fox is paying their salaries.”
“Lying to insult the pain that families suffered in the Holocaust has absolutely no place in America,” Bates says, calling out other Fox News hosts for recent comments targeting Arab and Muslim Americans.
“Fox News continues to promote the cynical, dangerous lie that fighting against Islamophobia is somehow at odds with fighting antisemitism, even as they permit hosts to hurt their viewers with foul antisemitic comments like yesterday’s,” he adds.
Gaza rockets intercepted over Tel Aviv; no reports of injuries
Four rockets from Gaza have been intercepted over Tel Aviv and central Israel by the Iron Dome missile defense system, authorities say.
There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
Honduras recalls envoy for consultations over Israel’s war against Hamas
The Honduran foreign ministry says it has recalled its ambassador to Israel for consultations due to what it calls Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law in the war it is waging against Hamas in Gaza.
Jordan confirms it’ll host Arab ministerial summit with Blinken on Israel-Hamas war
Jordan Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi’s office announces that it will be hosting a summit for Arab foreign ministers tomorrow in Amman with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, as first reported yesterday by The Times of Israel.
Participating in the summit will also be the foreign ministers from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt along with the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee Hussein al-Sheikh.
Jordan says the goal of the summit is to “stop the Israeli war on Gaza and the humanitarian disaster that it is causing.”
The Arab ministers will meet first on their own and then hold a meeting with Blinken during which they will reiterate their call for an immediate ceasefire and for the urgent delivery of aid into the Gaza Strip, the Jordanian statement says.
The ministers will also “discuss the repercussions [of the war] and ways to end this dangerous deterioration that threatens the security of the entire region,” says Jordan’s foreign ministry.
IDF says it has killed 10 Hamas brigade, battalion commanders since beginning of war
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says the military continues its efforts to kill Hamas field commanders.
“We are pursuing and eliminating the field commanders of Hamas,” Hagari says in a press conference.
He says that since the beginning of the war, the IDF has killed 10 Hamas brigade and battalion commanders — and those with equivalent ranks — in airstrikes.
“They are also the ones who planned the terrible massacre on October 7,” Hagari says.
He says the military remains focused on the Gaza Strip despite tensions in the north amid repeated attacks by Hezbollah.
“The goal is to dismantle Hamas and return the hostages,” he adds.
IDF says it carried out airstrike on ambulance being used by Hamas cell in northern Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces says it carried out an airstrike on an ambulance in the northern Gaza Strip, which it identified as being used by a Hamas cell, close to a battle zone.
“A number of Hamas terrorist operatives were killed in the strike,” the IDF says, adding that it will release further information soon.
It says that “more detailed information” on the strike was shared with allies.
“We have information which demonstrates that Hamas’s method of operation is to transfer terror operatives and weapons in ambulances,” the IDF says.
“We emphasize that this area is a battle zone. Civilians in the area are repeatedly called upon to evacuate southwards for their own safety,” it adds in a statement.
Israeli spokesperson wonders whether Nasrallah’s speechwriter was killed in IDF strike after Hezbollah chief’s ‘boring’ speech
Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy responds to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s speech earlier today during which the terror leader threatened Israel but left the question open regarding whether his group will fully open another front against Israel.
“We listened to Hassan Nasrallah’s long and rambling speech. I admit it was so boring that I don’t know whether his speechwriter was killed in recent IDF strikes on Hezbollah up in the north.
“I would note that despite the large crowds, Mr. Nasrallah himself was not on stage. He was hiding in a bunker like a coward, and if I were giving an hour-long speech defending the pedophile rapists of Hamas I would be afraid to show my face in public as well.”
IDF: We uncovered operational plans, comms devices, personal details of Hamas operatives in raid of Jabaliya stronghold
The Israel Defense Forces reveals the intelligence information it obtained from a Hamas stronghold captured by troops of the Givati Infantry Brigade on Tuesday, in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip.
The large military compound served Hamas’s elite Nukhba forces and the terror group’s Jabaliya area intelligence unit, according to the IDF. The military said around 50 Hamas terrorists were killed during the assault on the stronghold. Two Israeli soldiers were also killed amid the fighting.
The IDF reveals that it recovered Hamas operational plans, maps, command and control charts, communication devices, and the personal details of commanders and operatives of the terror group.
The materials are being researched now by the 162nd Division’s intelligence unit and other officials, and will “be used by the IDF in the future fighting,” the military says.
The commander of the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, Lt. Col. “Zayin” — who can only be identified by his rank and first initial in Hebrew — warns Hamas in a video statement that his unit will capture more strongholds.
“The unit went into the stronghold itself, fought tough battles with terrorists, we killed quite a few, destroyed tunnel shafts, and brought important intelligence materials,” the officer says.
“We will continue to raid your strongholds and kill you inside the shafts, underground, and wherever you wait for us,” he adds.
Convicted sex offender Leifer’s son said to confess to committing indecent acts to a minor
The 18-year-old son of convicted Israeli sex offender Malka Leifer has reportedly confessed to committing indecent acts to a minor.
The Yisrael Hayom daily reports that Mr. Leifer — who lives in the ultra-Orthodox Emmanuel settlement where his mother resided for years as she evaded extradition to Australia where she faced dozens of charges for sex offenses — was arrested earlier this week and his remand was extended earlier today for the second time.
Police tell Yisrael Hayom that they have photographic evidence of the alleged abuse, which took place earlier this month.
Mr. Leifer studies at a yeshiva in the ultra-Orthodox Tel aviv suburb of Elad. While in the town, he appeared several times on the doorstep of a family to ask for food. When he did so a fourth time, the mother of the family inside was not present and the suspect decided to enter the home.
A 10-year-old boy was alone inside and Mr. Leifer proceeded to sexually abuse him, police allege, adding that some of the crime had been filmed and that the suspect confessed after being arrested.
Malka Leifer’s father-in-law Baruch was also arrested last year on suspicion of committing sexual offenses. Baruch Leifer is a former leader of the Khust Hasidic sect.
Erdan set to screen Hamas atrocity footage in LA; defends wearing yellow star at UN
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, defends his decision to don a yellow Star of David, bearing the words “Never Again,” when addressing the UN Security Council on Monday.
The move was criticized by the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum as dishonoring “both the victims of the Holocaust and the State of Israel.”
“I am aware of the criticism and I respect it,” he says in an interview on Channel 12.
“But I ask people in Israel to understand where I am and what I am dealing with. I am facing the Security Council to build and preserve legitimacy for what the IDF is doing today in the Strip. These are people who have not even condemned Hamas for the terrible slaughter [of 1,400 people in Israel on October 7]. The international front has to be shaken up. They have to be shown that the ideology of Hamas is identical to that of Islamic State and the Nazis. I too am from a family of Holocaust survivors,” he says.
Erdan says he just screened, to ambassadors and other diplomats at the UN, the Israeli government’s compilation of footage from Hamas terrorists’ bodycams and other cameras of the atrocities the terrorists perpetrated.
He says Israel is making a concerted effort to screen the footage to influencers in the US. “The campaign [against Hamas] is being waged mainly in Gaza. But the pictures that Hamas sends out from there to the world, and the lies it disseminates, are starting to turn [public opinion against the war], with calls for ceasefires and pauses… things that would harm our capacity to destroy Hamas.”
Hence, the diplomatic imperative to show “that we are dealing with people… whose only goal is to destroy Israel, with nothing to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Next week, he says, he is set to screen the footage for 150 influencers in Los Angeles, hopefully in Hollywood. “We have to work bottom-up in the US — so that the decision-makers in Congress and the White House are influenced by public opinion, by the understanding that this is not an organization that wants dialogue… and that the operation won’t stop until [Hamas] is never again capable of carrying out such atrocities.”
Gallant: IDF operations in Gaza advancing ‘according to plan’
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Israeli troops operating in the Gaza Strip are advancing “according to the plan” and attacks on Hamas terrorists will only increase.
“The forces continue and advance according to the plan, and are hitting the enemy hard,” says Gallant during a meeting at the IDF Southern Command in Beersheba.
“The systematic attack on Hamas terrorists [expands] the achievements, it will continue and increase,” he says, according to remarks provided by his office.
Projectile flying horizontally hits French news agency’s Gaza bureau, causes damage; IDF: Not us
Agence France-Presse’s Gaza City bureau was significantly damaged by a strike on the building, according to a staff member who visited as the Israeli military relentlessly pounds the territory.
AFP is the only one of the world’s three major international news agencies currently operating a live video feed from Gaza City, which has not been interrupted despite the damage.
The unmanned AFP camera broadcasting live 24/7 captured the moment of the strike, a few minutes before midday (1000 GMT) on Thursday.
An AFP employee who visited the office says an explosive projectile appeared to have entered the technician’s office in the bureau horizontally from east to west.
None of AFP’s eight staff usually based in Gaza City were in the bureau at the moment of the strike.
The team was evacuated to southern Gaza on October 13, following an Israeli military order directed at residents in the north of the Hamas-run territory.
Asking a question at Secretary of State Blinken’s press conference earlier today, AFP’s Leon Bruneau described the incident as “apparently a missile strike.”
The strike destroyed the wall opposite the window and caused significant damage to the adjacent room and other doors. It also punctured water tanks on the roof.
An Israeli military spokesman said the force had “checked (the report) multiple times.”
“There was no IDF (Israeli military) strike on the building” in Gaza, he told AFP.
Images published by AFP on Friday show a gaping hole in the wall of the 11-story building in the west of Gaza’s Rimal neighborhood, near the port.
“AFP condemns in the strongest possible terms this strike on its Gaza City bureau,” says Fabrice Fries, AFP chairman and chief executive.
“The location of this bureau is known to everyone and has been pointed out several times over the past few days, precisely to prevent such an attack and to allow us to continue to provide images on the ground.
“The consequences of such an attack would have been devastating if the AFP team on the ground had not evacuated the city,” says Fries.
