Live updates (closed)
The Times of Israel liveblogged Sunday’s events as they unfolded.
Trump says he has ‘verbal guarantees’ that Gaza deal won’t fall through
US President Donald Trump tells reporters aboard Air Force One that he has “guarantees” from both Israel and Hamas, as well as from other key regional players about the initial phase of the ceasefire and hostage release deal, and the future stages.
“We have a lot of verbal guarantees, and I don’t think they’re going to want to disappoint me,” Trump said.
The Republican leader says that his relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “very good,” adding: “I had some disputes with him and they were quickly settled.”
Trump says he would eventually like to visit Gaza itself, without saying when such a difficult security challenge would be possible.
“I would be proud to,” Trump said. “I’d like to put my feet on it at least.”
A new governing body for devastated Gaza — which Trump himself will head under his own plan — would be established “very quickly,” he adds.
But he appears to take a step back over his plans to involve former British prime minister Tony Blair, a controversial choice in the Middle East because of his role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“I’ve always liked Tony, but I want to find out that he’s an acceptable choice to everybody,” Trump says.
Report: Criminal who raped, murdered teen boy in 1989 due to be released as part of Gaza deal
A Palestinian prisoner convicted of the 1989 rape and murder of an Israeli teenager is set to be released from prison as part of the ceasefire and hostage release deal, the Haaretz daily reports, despite the court ruling at the time that the crime was not an act of terrorism.
In April 1989, 13-year-old Oren Baharami, from Bat Yam in central Israel, was lured to an abandoned room in the Armenian Monastery in Jaffa by Gaza resident Ahmed Mahmed Jameel Shahada.
Shahada and an accomplice then raped and murdered the teen and left his body in the monastery, where it was found days later.
The murder was deemed to have been criminally motivated, meaning that it was not an act of terror carried out for nationalistic reasons, and Shahada was sentenced to life in prison.
Despite not being charged with terrorism, Haaretz reports that Shahada was deemed eligible for release under the ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, which will see 250 Palestinian security prisoners walk free in exchange for the 48 hostages held by terror groups in Gaza.
The report notes that on the list of prisoners to be freed, Shahada is the only prisoner without any known link to a terror organization.
Speaking to the news outlet, Baharami’s mother says she is struggling to understand the decision to release her son’s murderer.
“The murder wasn’t recognized as terrorism, and over the years, no one ever updated us,” she tells Haaretz. “It takes my breath away.”
Government holds late-night telephone vote to approve last-minute changes to list of Palestinian prisoners due for release
The government held an “urgent” telephone vote a short while ago, Hebrew media reports, to approve last-minute changes to the list of Palestinian prisoners due to be released in exchange for the hostages in just a few hours.
According to Channel 12, two prisoners on the list were found to be ineligible for release — due to one of them already having been released and the other having ties to Fatah rather than Hamas. Instead, the ministers were asked to approve adding two Hamas-affiliated prisoners in their place, neither of whom is serving a life sentence.
Other minor changes were also made to the list of Gazans arrested since October 7 who are eligible for release, the report says, including removing seven minors from the list and replacing them with seven other Gazans, including two women.
World Central Kitchen prepares dinner for families of hostages as they await loved ones’ return
Volunteers with the World Central Kitchen organization prepared dinner for the families of the hostages on Sunday night as they anxiously awaited the return of their loved ones, who are due to be released from Gaza in the morning, after more than two years in captivity.
The organization’s founder, chef José Andrés, shares images on X of the preparations for the dinner, along with his hopes for peace in the region.
“The people in Gaza and Israel want peace, respecting each other…is the only way!” he writes. “Lets hope this is a new beginning for all!”
The @WCKitchen team were busy prepping dinner for the hostage families waiting for the loved ones to return home….#ChefsForIsrael people in Gaza and Israel wants peace, respecting each other….is the only way! lets hope this is a new beginning for all! What is good for me must… pic.twitter.com/lVfT0FqENd
— Chef José Andrés ????️???????? (@chefjoseandres) October 12, 2025
The WCK, which operates in crisis areas worldwide, has been active in both Israel and Gaza since the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault and the outbreak of war in the Palestinian enclave.
It briefly suspended operations in Gaza for a month last year, when the IDF struck a WCK convoy by mistake, killing seven aid workers.
Trump, aboard Air Force One, declares twice that the Gaza war ‘is over,’ adds: ‘You understand that?’
US President Donald Trump walks over to speak with reporters before boarding Air Force One, October 12, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, as he heads to the Middle East. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
US President Donald Trump says that the war in Gaza is “over,” soon after boarding Air Force One en route to Israel to celebrate the ceasefire and hostage release deal, and later to Egypt for a summit on Gaza.
It is put to him by a reporter on the plane that “Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, has not gone so far as to say the war is over. In your view, is the war between Israel and Hamas over?”
Trump responds instantly and firmly: “The war is over,” he says. “The war is over. Ok. You understand that?”
???????????????? — Trump on Air Force One Now: "The war is OVER! Yiu understand that?" pic.twitter.com/A8qdVlGM0V
— Belaaz News (@TheBelaaz) October 12, 2025
Trump is accompanied on his visit to the region by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, along with a host of other high-ranking administration officials.
Netanyahu said in a video address earlier this evening that the “campaign is not over.” The Israeli government, approving the “first phase” of Trump’s Gaza peace plan overnight Thursday-Friday, did not vote to end the war.
Red Cross denies reports that it met with hostages in Gaza, has information about their wellbeing
The Red Cross denies reports that its representatives had already met with hostages in the Gaza Strip this evening and reported back that some were in serious condition.
“We are in continuous contact with all parties in preparation for the hostage return operation,” the Red Cross says in statement. “Contrary to reports, we have not received or transmitted information regarding the medical condition of the hostages.”
The 20 living hostages are set to be handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross early Monday morning, and will then be brought to IDF troops in Gaza to be escorted out of the Strip.
Trump takes off from US, says, ‘Everybody’s cheering at one time – that’s never happened before’
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One, October 12, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, as he heads to the Middle East. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, taking off for Israel ahead of the hostage releases tomorrow and a multinational summit in Egypt on ending the war in Gaza, attended by many Western, Muslim and Arab countries, but not Israel.
“Everybody’s very excited about this moment in time. This is a very special event,” he tells reporters before entering the plane.
“There are 500,000 people yesterday and today in Israel,” he says, presumably referring to a mass rally for the hostages last night in Tel Aviv at which US Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff spoke and was applauded. The organizers of the rally claimed half a million attended.
“And also, the Muslim and Arab countries are all cheering. Everybody’s cheering at one time. That’s never happened before,” Trump says. “Usually, if you have one cheering, the other isn’t. This is the first time everybody is amazed, and they’re thrilled, and it’s an honor to be involved, and we’re gonna have an amazing time, and it’s gonna be something that’s never happened before.”
Canadian PM Carney to head to Egypt for summit on ending war in Gaza
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will visit Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt for the world leaders’ summit on ending the war in Gaza, his office says.
Israel warns West Bank Palestinians against celebrating prisoners’ releases
Israel has warned Palestinians in the West Bank against celebrating after security prisoners are released on Monday, according to a Palestinian prisoner’s family and a Palestinian official familiar with the plans.
In neighborhoods where prisoners’ families live, Israeli forces have distributed fliers warning that “anyone who participates in such activities exposes himself to punishment and arrest,” the official says. The Associated Press has reviewed a copy of the flier.
Families have also told Palestinian Authority officials that Israeli security personally warned them not to hold celebrations, the official and members of one of the families say, speaking anonymously because they are not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.
The IDF and Civil Administration confirmed earlier today that they had begun making warning calls to the families of the security prisoners set to be released, warning them against celebrations, and that they left notices in their villages.
Similar actions were taken in previous deals.
Iran declines invitation to attend summit in Egypt
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency says the country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has told a cabinet meeting that Egypt has formally invited Iran’s president to attend the gathering of world leaders in the Arab country tomorrow.
Araghchi says the Islamic Republic declined the invitation, which Egypt then renewed. It is not immediately clear whether Iran, an ally and backer of Hamas, responded to that second invitation.
Sources say Gaza food sites run by US-Israeli-backed GHF are being shut down; group says it’s temporary
Members of a private US security company, contracted by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) direct displaced Palestinians as they gather to receive relief supplies at a distribution center in the central Gaza Strip on June 8, 2025. (Eyad Baba/AFP)
Food distribution sites run by the controversial US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation are being shut down under the terms of the current ceasefire deal, an Egyptian official and another official in the region tell The Associated Press.
A source familiar with the details confirms the development to The Times of Israel.
Multiple Palestinian witnesses tell the AP that three of GHF’s distribution sites have been abandoned, in the southern area of Rafah and in the Netzarim area of central Gaza. Palestinians, aid workers, and health officials have said the system forced aid-seekers to risk their lives to reach the sites by passing Israeli troops who opened fire to control crowds, killing hundreds. The Israeli military says it only fired warning shots.
Hoda Goda, a Palestinian woman, says the site she often went to in Rafah is vacant and Palestinians tore down structures, taking wood and metal fences. Video circulating online shows people walking away with scrap metal from the site in the Netzarim area of central Gaza. Israeli troops pulled out of part of Netzarim on Friday, under the terms of the ceasefire deal, and are due to withdraw from parts of Rafah later.
A third official, with knowledge of the situation, says the current plan is to rely on other aid agencies to supply Gaza. All three officials speak on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the deal’s provisions.
A GHF spokesperson says there will be “tactical changes” to its operations and “temporary closures” of some sites over the next few days, during the transfer of the hostages to Israel.
“There is no change to our long-term plan,” the official says, on condition of anonymity, in accordance with the organization’s rules.
Otzma Yehudit MK to skip Trump’s speech, assailing his ‘shameful agreement’ on Gaza
MK Limor Son Har-Melech attends a Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on July 18, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son-Har Melech joins at least two other lawmakers in announcing she will boycott US President Donald Trump’s speech at the Knesset tomorrow.
“President Trump presented the current deal as a peace agreement,” she writes on X. “It is not. It is a shameful agreement. The thing missing from it the most is peace and security. Israel’s security suffered a hard blow when it was signed. We are already seeing Hamas reorganizing in Gaza, planning to regain control of the Strip the moment our forces withdraw.”
Arguing that the next round of fighting “is only a matter of time,” Son-Har Melech says she is “unable and not interested in joining the applause — not for the US president who is selling the people of Israel an illusion of peace and security, and not for the right wing which is idealizing this agreement as if it’s an achievement.”
She argues that the deal is “full of holes,” since it does not say what happens if Hamas violates its terms, gives Hamas allies Qatar and Turkey a role in postwar Gaza, and does not rule out involvement by the Palestinian Authirity. She says she understands those who say the deal is a lesser evil, but not those who refer to it as a good deal.
She explains, however, that her party will stay in the government for now, and will stay if it is demonstrated that Hamas disarms and Israel is given freedom to act against threats and violations.
Earlier, Likud MK Amit Halevi and Noam Party head Avi Maoz similarly said they would skip Trump’s speech, for similar reasons.
Palestinian Authority president to attend Egypt summit, source confirms
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, center, smiles as he leaves after his meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A Palestinian official confirms to The Times of Israel that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will attend tomorrow’s Egyptian-American summit about postwar Gaza in Sharm el-Sheikh, despite Israel ruling out any postwar role for the PA in Gaza.
Initial reports had said that the Palestinian Authority would not be represented at the event, which is expected to include officials from some 30 nations, but not Israel.
Four years after it was removed, London neighborhood restores antisemitism to list of hate crimes
Four years after a borough of London removed antisemitism from an online list of forbidden hate crimes, mention of Jew-hatred has been restored to the controversial image, The Telegraph reports.
Since 2022, a poster for National Hate Crime Awareness Week in Tower Hamlets has been cropped to remove antisemitism from a list of prejudices that includes transphobia, Islamophobia, disablism, and other forms of prejudice.
Last week, after a councillor raised the issue, the image was altered to make the word antisemitism visible, The Telegraph says. Tower Hamlets admitted that the word had been cropped out, but denied it was intentional, the report says.
The controversy follows a terror attack in Manchester two weeks ago, in which two Jewish men were killed outside a synagogue on the Yom Kippur holiday.
“In the wake of the murderous terrorist attack on a Manchester synagogue, and frequent hate marches on the streets of London, it is doubly unforgivable that Tower Hamlets’s Jewish community has been treated in this way,” says MP James Cleverly, the shadow secretary for housing, communities, and local government.
Tower Hamlets is home to some of Great Britain’s oldest Jewish communities, such as Whitechapel and Spitalfields, The Telegraph notes.
Hamas said to arrest 60 members of rival clan after gunfights in Gaza City
Media outlets in Gaza report that Hamas has arrested 60 members of the rival Dormush family clan in Gaza City, following gun battles between the terror organization and the clan. According to the reports, they have been transferred to security facilities for interrogation.
Earlier, an exchange of fire between the clan and Hamas operatives was documented in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza.
IDF expects hostages to be released from 3 sites — in Gaza City, central Gaza, and Khan Younis
The Israeli military says it does not know when in the coming day Hamas will free the 20 living hostages it is holding, but expects the release to take place sometime in the morning hours tomorrow, possibly 8 a.m.
The IDF says it has been ready since yesterday to receive the hostages, and will remain on alert all night, in case Hamas decides to free the captives overnight.
The IDF says it is also preparing for possible Hamas “provocations” overnight, including the possibility that the terror group will call the families of the hostages to let them speak to their loved ones for the first time in over two years.
The release of the living hostages is expected from at least three locations in Gaza — Gaza City, central Gaza, and Khan Younis. They will be handed over to Red Cross representatives by Hamas, without a release ceremony, and will then be brought to IDF troops waiting inside Gaza.
The hostages will then be escorted outside of Gaza to the military’s Re’im base near the border for an initial physical and mental health checkup. Some family members of the hostages are expected to wait at the Re’im facility for their loved ones.
Hamas is also set to begin returning the remains of dead hostages tomorrow, after the release of the living captives, although the IDF says it does not know how many bodies Hamas will hand over initially.
The terror group has told mediators it does not know where some of the bodies of slain hostages are located, which may delay the release of the bodies.
The military expects bodies of slain hostages to be returned over several days, likely two.
The bodies of slain hostages are set to be received by troops in Gaza, where a small ceremony, led by a military rabbi, will be held in their memory.
Hostage Eli Sharabi sends Trump a copy of his book about captivity
Former hostage Eli Sharabi has sent US President Donald Trump a copy of his book, “Hostage,” which was released in English last week after becoming a bestseller in Israel, according to Alex Witkoff, the son of Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Trump has received the book, Witkoff says, along with a note from Sharabi reading: “Dear President Trump, Thank you for securing my release. I am forever and eternally grateful. Your actions have given me back my freedom, my life.”
Former hostage Eli Sharabi, who spent 491 days in captivity, sent President Trump a copy of his new book Hostage along with a note:
“Dear President Trump, Thank you for securing my release. I am forever and eternally grateful. Your actions have given me back my freedom, my life” pic.twitter.com/3b9gc79vqG
— Alex Witkoff (@Alex_Witkoff) October 12, 2025
Hamas reportedly may free the living hostages in 2 batches tomorrow, at 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.
Hamas is expected to release the 20 living hostages in two batches tomorrow morning, one at 8 a.m. and one at 9 a.m., Channel 12 reports, claiming that Israeli and Gazan officials have been updated with that information.
The releases may happen earlier, the report says. Earlier reports said the releases would begin between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m.
According to Ynet, the release of the dead hostages is expected to begin in the late afternoon.
130-year-old Algerian synagogue demolished due to safety risk
The Algerian synagogue, “Chaloum Lebhar,” has been demolished by local authorities due to the risk of collapse, local media reports.
The historic synagogue in the Bab El Oued neighborhood of Algiers was destroyed as part of a project to remove old, dilapidated buildings. The synagogue’s roof and walls had collapsed, posing a danger to people nearby, the reports claim. Previous efforts to destroy the synagogue had been prevented by the local Jewish community.
The Chaloum Lebhar synagogue was built in 1894 on a 180-square-meter (1,938-square-foot) plot of land donated to the Jewish community by Chaloum Lebhar.
One of the world’s oldest Jewish communities, Algeria once had as many as 130,000 Jews, but most left for France and Israel when the country gained independence in 1962. Just several dozen Jews are believed to live there today.
Official: 30 countries to attend Egypt summit; Gaza stabilization, reconstruction on agenda
Some 30 countries and several international organizations will be represented at the Sharm El-Sheikh summit tomorrow, according to a French diplomatic official.
The agenda of the summit will focus on three main areas, says the official: security, governance, and humanitarian issues.
The security element will focus on creating a stabilization force and establishing a US-Qatari-Egyptian-Turkish task force to locate bodies of hostages.
The second topic will center on the creation of a “Palestinian committee to end the state of permanent war and aim for a complete withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from the Gaza Strip,” says the French diplomat.
On the humanitarian front, French President Emmanuel Macron will push for immediate reconstruction in Gaza and increased aid delivery.
IDF finds pit with explosives in Lebanese side of village straddling Israel border
The military says that during engineering clearance operations in the northern village of Ghajar, which straddles the Israel-Lebanon border, a pit containing explosive material was found.
IDF sappers were dispatched to the scene — on the Lebanese side of the UN-recognized Blue Line — and removed the explosives from the hole.
According to the military, the hole is connected to another pit found some two weeks ago, which the IDF said was constructed before the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
The IDF is investigating whether the explosives belong to Hezbollah.
Ghajar is the only Alawite-majority settlement in the country. It was originally part of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981. In 2000, when Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon following a 15-year military occupation and the United Nations demarcated the so-called Blue Line, Ghajar was split in two, with the northern half coming under Lebanese control.
Israel regained control over the entire village during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, after Hezbollah used the Ghajar area to stage attacks.
Netanyahu talks to parents of dead hostage ahead of expected release
Col. Asaf Hamami. (IDF)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the parents of Col. Asaf Hamami, whose body is being held in Gaza, says the Prime Minister’s Office.
According to the PMO, Clara and Ilan Hamami expressed their support for Netanyahu for bringing about a hostage deal and standing up to pressures throughout the war.
Hamami, the commander of the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade, was killed fighting Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Nirim on the morning of October 7, 2023, during the Palestinian terror group’s onslaught in southern Israel.
After eight weeks, the IDF confirmed his death in December 2023, officially listing his status as a “fallen IDF soldier held captive by a terror group” and his date of death as October 7.
Hamami’s death was declared by the chief rabbi, based on findings obtained by the military in the Gaza Strip. The findings allowed Hamami to have a funeral according to halacha, or Jewish law, but his body remains in Gaza.
Hamami is survived by his wife, Saphir, their three children, and his parents.
Government’s hostage pointman: Israel doesn’t know which dead hostages to return tomorrow
Israel does not know how many dead hostages will be returned tomorrow, nor who exactly will be handed over, government hostage pointman Gal Hirsch tells Channel 12.
“We will continue in our efforts to locate them and to bring them back. The mission will not be completed tomorrow,” he says.
A senior security official tells the outlet that Hamas must share information, and act on the ground in order to ensure that the bodies are located and returned to Israel.
Reports: Prominent Gaza influencer killed in clashes between Hamas and Gaza militias
Gazan influencer Saleh al-Jafarawi in a video posted on July 27, 2025. (Screenshot: X)
Media outlets in Gaza report that Saleh al-Jafarawi, a well-known influencer in Gaza, has been killed during armed clashes between Hamas and militias in Gaza City.
Footage circulating online shows his body.
According to the reports, he was killed by the militias while covering the incident.
Al-Jafarawi rose to prominence during the war through viral videos he filmed, amassing hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. He first gained wide attention with a video he recorded on October 7, 2023, in which he praised Hamas’s rocket attacks. Later in the war, he filmed himself crying and reacting in terror to Israel’s airstrikes. Pro-Israel activists juxtaposed the two videos to give him the nickname “Mr. FAFO.”
During the war, Jafarawi was accused in social media reports of pocketing millions of dollars he had raised as donations for Gaza residents.
Families of living hostages prepare to welcome their loved ones home
The daughters of hostage Omri Miran, Roni (4), and Alma (2), prepare for his anticipated return, October 12, 2025. (Lishay Miran-Lavi/X)
Some of the families of the living hostages have been sharing clips as they prepare to welcome their loved ones in the next few hours.
Among them is Segev Kalfon’s family:
ממתינים לשובו: משפחתו של שגב כלפון בהכנות אחרונות וקיפול בגדים לקראת שחרורו@AnnaPines_ @YCiechanover
(צילום: באדיבות המשפחה) pic.twitter.com/S8DmHfuTPo— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 12, 2025
And Rivka Bohbot, wife of hostage Elkana Bohbot:
רבקה, אשתו של אלקנה בוחבוט, פרסמה תיעוד מההכנות לשובו@YCiechanover
(צילום: באדיבות המשפחה) pic.twitter.com/68z6JheCiE— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) October 12, 2025
The wife of Omri Miran, Lishay Miran-Lavi, posts a photo of their two daughters, Roni (4) and Alma (2), with baggage ready.
A Channel 12 report says the families of living hostages are expected to be told in the next hour or so about the likely timing of their loved ones’ release, so that their closest relatives will know when they are likely to be taken to the IDF’s Re’im facility, near the Gaza border, to meet them after the IDF escorts them into Israel from the Strip.
The release of the 20 living hostages is expected to begin before dawn tomorrow, but the timing has not been finalized.
Qatari PM claims Hamas is open to discussing how it won’t pose a threat to Israel
Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani addresses a press conference following Israeli strikes in Doha on September 9, 2025. (Karim JAAFAR / AFP)
Hamas is willing to talk about changing its stance toward Israel, according to Qatar’s prime minister.
“Hamas are actually open to have a discussion about how they won’t pose a threat for Israel,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani tells The New York Times.
However, no Hamas official is willing to confirm the comment to the US newspaper, and the Palestinian terror group, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, has not agreed to full disarmament.
Mediators chose to avoid negotiations on the most complex issue in talks between Israel and Hamas last week, Thani continues: “If we went for full-package negotiations, we wouldn’t have reached these results.”
Netanyahu hails war’s ‘victories,’ warns military campaign not over, urges unity
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers an address to the public, after a ceasefire and hostage release deal was signed between Israel and Hamas, on October 10, 2025. (Screenshot/GPO)
It is “an evening of tears; an evening of happiness,” says a hoarse but smiling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a recorded video statement stressing national unity.
“It is a historic event, which some did not believe would ever happen,” he claims, ahead of the imminent start of the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
“I know that there are many debates among us,” he says. “But on this day, and I hope also in the period that is almost upon us, we have all the reasons to put them aside, because with joint strength, we achieved spectacular victories, victories that stunned the entire world.”
The military campaign is not over, Netanyahu warns. “There are still major security challenges ahead of us. Some of our enemies are trying to recover in order to attack us again.”
“We are ‘on this’,” he promises.
There are also major opportunities as a result of the victories, he insists. Working together, “we will overcome the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities,” Netanyahu says.
The premier recalls promises he made when visiting the families of the hostages, and thanks the IDF soldiers and the families of the fallen.
“Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new road,” he says. “A road of building, a road of healing, and, I hope, a road of unity.”
Member of Netanyahu’s party to boycott Trump’s Knesset speech, arguing his deal is an ‘illusion’
Likud MK Amit Halevi attends a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting in Jerusalem on July 18, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Likud MK Amit Halevi says he will not attend US President Donald Trump’s speech at the Knesset tomorrow, which is intended to coincide with the release of hostages from Hamas captivity in Gaza under the ceasefire deal he helped broker.
He says that Trump’s speech is an “illusion of victory” and a “false spectacle,” and that he “will not be able to participate in the parliamentary gathering with US President Donald Trump and his team.”
“This agreement is the opposite of victory,” Halevi says. “We must tell the public the truth, bow our heads in pain and humility in the face of the military failure, learn lessons, and plan our steps to win in the future.”
Halevi criticizes Israel’s concessions, saying it has agreed to “the establishment of a Palestinian state on ancestral land in Gaza… to allow its antisemitic enemies Turkey and Qatar a foothold here, to leave Hamas and its neo‑Nazi infrastructure intact at the height of their power, and to add thousands of arch‑murderers who will return to its ranks to continue its plan to annihilate Israel.”
Separately, Noam Party chairman MK Avi Maoz says that he also will not attend Trump’s speech.
“You have to be completely blind to believe that Trump’s initiative turned out well,” says Maoz, the sole MK representing the ultraconservative party, who quit the coalition in July.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet voted Friday for all hostages to be freed in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners, despite vocal objections from the premier’s far-right coalition partners, in accordance with the first phase of Trump’s broader Gaza peace plan.
Halevi has long expressed skepticism about Israel’s wartime achievements, claiming last year that the IDF overstated the damage it inflicted on Hamas. He was removed from the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in May after voting against extending the government’s authority to issue emergency call-up orders for IDF reservists.
Report: After initially being refused, Palestinian Authority leader to attend Egypt summit tomorrow
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas outside the Government Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, May 22, 2025. (AP/Hassan Ammar)
The Qatari channel Al-Araby reports that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will attend tomorrow’s Egyptian-American summit in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Earlier, the newspaper, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, reported that the Palestinian Authority was not invited to the summit, which includes representatives from 20 countries, and that Egypt had rejected its request to participate due to the fact that the Palestinian Authority does not appear in the White House’s “day after” plan for Gaza.
Some of the hostages have undergone torture, Israel reportedly believes
Israel is assessing that some of the living hostages to be freed tomorrow have undergone torture, Channel 12 news reports, without citing sources.
The network cites an unnamed senior defense official as saying that “with the return of the hostages, the war that began on October 7, [2023] will for all intents and purposes be over. This is the end of the campaign as we knew it.”
The IDF General Staff is already discussing the “day after,” and how to shape the post-war reality in Gaza, according to the report.
UN says more aid is entering Gaza, including cooking gas for 1st time since March
Egyptian Red Crecent members monitor trucks carrying humanitarian aid as they enter the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, following an agreement between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire, October 12, 2025. (AP/Mohamed Arafat)
UN officials say real progress is being made today with humanitarian aid being allowed into Gaza.
Eri Kaneko, a spokesperson for the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, says cooking gas supplies have entered Gaza for the first time since March. Other aid moving through includes flour, fruit, and meat.
She adds that officials have also been given additional access to move in medical equipment and help move Palestinians from flood-prone areas to safer locations, ahead of the winter.
Zamir appoints general to head new liaison unit for US-led Gaza monitoring mechanism
Yaki Dolf (center) is awarded the rank of major general by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir (left), Defense Minister Israel Katz (right) and Dolf's wife Efrat, September 11, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
Maj. Gen. Yaki Dolf has been appointed by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to head a new military headquarters that will liaise between the IDF and the US-led international monitoring mechanism overseeing the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Dolf is the incoming commander of the Northern Corps, a relatively dormant unit.
The new headquarters will be subordinate to Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai, according to the military.
Netanyahu to issue video statement at 8:15 p.m.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will give a video statement at 8:15 p.m.
His address comes ahead of the scheduled release of hostages from Gaza and of US President Donald Trump’s visit tomorrow.
Member of Smotrich’s party: We’ll stay in coalition if Hamas doesn’t control Gaza or have arms
Religious Zionism MK Moshe Solomon chairs a meeting of the Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee, February 15, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Religious Zionism MK Moshe Solomon says his party will remain in Israel’s governing coalition as long as the US-brokered ceasefire agreement with Hamas moves to its second stage and Hamas is prevented from rearming or controlling Gaza, amid speculation that the far-right party may bolt the coalition.
“The agreement that we signed has stages,” Solomon tells The Times of Israel. “Stage one is the release of the hostages and the terrorists. Stage two is the complete disarmament of Gaza and of Hamas, so that Hamas does not control the Gaza Strip in any way. And that way we achieve our war aims, we win this difficult war, and destroy Hamas.”
“If the situation is such that Hamas remains armed and in control of Gaza, of course, we cannot stay in this government,” he adds.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet voted Friday for all hostages to be freed in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners, in accord with the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s broader Gaza peace plan, and despite vocal objections from the premier’s far-right coalition partners.
Of the three Religious Zionism cabinet ministers, two voted against the deal — party leader and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock — while Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer voted in favor of it.
All 48 hostages held in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive, are meant to be released tomorrow in exchange for 250 Palestinian security prisoners serving life sentences, plus another 1,700 Gazans imprisoned since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that launched the war. However, it may take longer to return some of the dead hostages.
“We are [experiencing] dissonance between great joy, pain, and fear for the future,” says Solomon.
“I am happy and excited,” he adds. “But alongside this great joy, there is also concern and pain that the price is not simple — to release terrorists with blood on their hands, who we know with certainty will return to committing acts of terror.”
Citing slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught who was freed in the 2011 Gilad Shalit exchange deal, Solomon warns that releasing convicted murderers “opens a wound for families who lost someone dear to them, for whom their small consolation was that at least the murderer was caught and sentenced to life in prison. And now he is being released.”
Footage allegedly shows Hamas and militias clashing in Gaza City
Media outlets in Gaza publish footage showing armed men engaged in firefights in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, asserting that Hamas security forces are battling militias that receive support from Israel.
According to some reports, the clashes took place near the homes of members of the Dormush clan, a large and long-established family in Gaza.
Pro-Hamas media reported yesterday that Hamas executed several members of the clan on suspicion of collaborating with Israel, but a statement later released by the Dormush family on social media denied the claim.
A senior source in Hamas’s interior ministry tells Al Jazeera that Hamas security forces have encircled a militia inside Gaza City and are working against it to detain its members. He adds that there are fatalities among Hamas’s security forces in the incident and claims that the militia has killed displaced persons who returned to Gaza City from the southern part of the Strip.
مشاهد حصرية لشبكة Gaza24Live تظهر اشتباكات عنيفة تخوضها عناصر الأجهزة الأمنية ضد ميليشيات تابعة للاحتلال في حيّ الصبرة وسط مدينة غزة pic.twitter.com/j6B0Ded1UH
— غزة 24 | التغطية مستمرة (@Gaza24Live) October 12, 2025
IDF chief declares ‘victory’ over Hamas, vows to keep working so Gaza doesn’t pose a threat
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir speaks in a video statement on October 12, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, in a video statement, says that the military pressure exerted on Hamas in the past two years, alongside a “complementary diplomatic move,” has brought about “victory” over the Palestinian terror group.
“We will continue to act to shape a security reality that will ensure that no threat to the State of Israel and its citizens will loom from the Gaza Strip,” he says.
“With the return of the hostages, we are fulfilling one of the important goals for which we went to war, an objective that is a national, moral, and Jewish commitment,” Zamir says.
He says that “the safety of our troops in battle and the safety of the hostages in captivity were foremost in our minds as a central consideration in every course of the fighting.”
“We acted with precision and professionalism, systematically and responsibly. We made complex decisions in order not to endanger the hostages’ safety and to significantly reduce casualties among our forces,” Zamir says.
He also says Israel is still “in the midst of a multifront war” and that the IDF’s actions are “reshaping the Middle East and our security strategy for the coming years.”
“More challenges await us; we will continue to stand alert for our existence and our security,” Zamir adds.
Haifa municipality removes support from holiday youth event set to feature homophobic rabbi
Rabbi Yigal Levinstein speaking at the 'Zion and Jerusalem' convention in July 2016. (Screen capture: YouTube)
The Haifa municipality has removed its backing from a youth event tonight at a synagogue in the city that was set to feature Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, who has sparked controversy for his past comments against female soldiers and the LGBTQ community.
The event at the Kiryat Shmuel neighborhood’s central synagogue marks Hoshana Rabbah, the week-long Sukkot holiday’s final day, the eve of which is customarily devoted to all-night Torah study.
An announcement of the event, which listed five speakers including Levinstein, co-leader of the Eli pre-military religious academy in the West Bank, sported the logo of Haifa’s municipal Torah Culture Committee, though the extent of the committee’s involvement was unclear.
After a public pressure campaign by anti-government activists, including members of Rov Ha’Ir (“the city majority”), a Jewish-Arab municipal party, the Haifa municipality has announced that it is pulling its support from the event, which is going ahead regardless.
In a statement, the municipality says it was uninvolved in selecting the speakers and content of the event, and that those were determined by the Kiryat Shmuel religious community.
“Following the controversy that developed around Rabbi Levinstein’s participation and statements, the Haifa municipality has removed its support and all manner of involvement from the event,” says the statement.
The Aguda umbrella organization of Israel’s LGBTQ community lauds the decision, saying “homophobes, chauvinists, and unenlightened people don’t need to be platformed in public institutions.”
Haifa local councilman Yossi Hoenig, head of the city’s Torah Culture Committee, whose inbox was bombarded by Rov Ha’Ir members, tells a local radio station that Levinstein’s participation is worthy, “particularly as the alumni of the Eli pre-military academy have sacrificed their lives so that we can continue living here.”
“There is no reason to scrap his participation on the basis of this or that statement,” he says. “It’s important that we refrain from mutual accusations, and encourage listening and respectful discourse.”
Levinstein sparked controversy in 2017 for saying that gays are “deviants” devoid of “the normalcy of life,” and that military service makes women insane and that “they enter as Jews, but they’re not Jews by the time they leave.”
Hostage’s dad readies to embrace him, but says ‘I don’t know what kind of son I’m going to get back’
Hamas-held hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal speaks in a video released by the terror group on September 5, 2025.
Ilan Dalal, the father of hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, says that the first thing he will do when he meets his son after he is released from captivity is “hug him, smell him and tell him that the nightmare is over.”
Gilboa-Dalal was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists from the Nova rave on October 7, 2023. He is set to be freed tomorrow as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas. In the past few months, his family received information that he was starved and kept chained.
“We know Guy as he was two years ago, but after he went through two years of suffering, of starvation, of humiliation, both physical and mental abuse, we don’t know how these things are going to affect him,” Dalal tells reporters in a virtual press conference. “I don’t know what kind of son I’m going to get back, and I hope that he won’t be so harmed that he can’t rebuild his life.”
The father says that in the last video of Guy released by Hamas, he saw “despair in his eyes.”
“We saw him not the way we knew him,” he notes. “It was a different Guy, so we fear that he has suffered from mental problems or physical problems, but this will all be checked by the medical staff of the hospital that will receive them. And I hope it will be okay.”
The press conference is organized by Amplify, an organization that describes its mission as “strengthening Israel in the global fight against extremism.”
Ex-hostage says captors bragged about stealing humanitarian aid, starved the hostages
Former hostage Tal Shoham says that he was starved for most of his time in captivity, while his captors stole aid and bragged about it.
“Most of my time in captivity, I was starved with Guy and Evyatar to the extent of [receiving only] 200 or 300 calories a day,” Shoham tells journalists over a Zoom press conference, referring to hostages Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David, who are set to be freed tomorrow as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas.
“There were times that I saw with my own eyes that they stole boxes and boxes and boxes of humanitarian aid from Egypt, from Turkey, from the Emirates, but they didn’t agree to give us any of this food in the tunnels,” Shoham says.
The former hostage says that the captors also bragged about stealing aid and having supplies for months, while saying they wanted the Israeli hostages to suffer like the Palestinians in Gaza.
“They used to brag that they stole the humanitarian aid and they have supplies for months ahead,” he notes. “They actually confessed one time that they are starving us first, so we will suffer as their people are suffering, although they stole the humanitarian aid. It’s kind of a logical fallacy.”
According to Shoham, the terrorists also wanted to put pressure on Israel’s society so they would see pictures of them starving.
“It was part of their sadistic psychological warfare,” he said.
After severely emaciated hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami were released in February this year, Shoham says their captors gave him, Gilboa-Dalal and David much more food.
“It backfired on Hamas and the day after, they started to give us much, much more food,” he tells reporters. “It actually was dangerous to us; it could have killed us, but we were lucky that it didn’t do so, and we are here.”
IDF arrests armed Palestinian near southern West Bank national park
Weapons belonging to a Palestinian suspect who was detained by Israeli troops near the Herodion National Park in the southern West Bank, October 12, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
An armed Palestinian suspect is seen in a surveillance camera image near the Herodion National Park in the southern West Bank, October 12, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
A Palestinian suspect armed with a makeshift “Carlo” submachine gun and a pistol has been detained by Israeli troops near the Herodion National Park in the southern West Bank, the military says.
According to the IDF, the weapons were found in a building that the suspect had been in.
The suspect has been handed over to the Israel Police for further questioning, along with the firearms.
The IDF does not say if the suspect was planning a terror attack.
Forensic Institute readies to identify deceased hostages, says process may take days
A victim of the murderous Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023 undergoes a CT scan at the National Center of Forensic Medicine (Abu Kabir) in Jaffa, October 16, 2023. (Renee Ghert-Zand/Times of Israel)
The National Institute of Forensic Medicine (Abu Kabir) says in a statement cited by Hebrew media that it is preparing to identify the bodies of the dead hostages using advanced technologies, fingerprints, dental matching and DNA extraction.
The process could take several hours and possibly several days, the Institute says.
“We want to understand what happened” to the fallen hostages before their death, says Dr. Chen Kugel, director of the center, “to bring the family full information, closure and knowledge.”
After the identification is complete and absolute certainty is reached, the findings will be transferred to official bodies in the Health Ministry and the defense establishment, and the families will be informed personally.
Since the outbreak of the war, the center has identified the remains of 55 hostages who were held captive and brought to Israel for burial.
Up to 28 more will be returned in the current deal, though officials have said it isn’t certain how many will be quickly found and returned tomorrow.
Some families of dead hostages told their loved ones’ remains may not return tomorrow
Some families of dead hostages have been told by authorities that the bodies of their loved ones may not be returned tomorrow, or in the first stage of the current Gaza deal, several Hebrew media outlets report, without citing sources.
Officials have estimated that not all the remains will be easy to find in Gaza, and that locating all of them may take time.
The families have reportedly been told that every effort will continue to be made to find and retrieve the bodies.
The reports indicate that Hamas has provided information on the specific bodies the terror group has lost track of.
Ex-hostage Tal Shoham thanks Trump ‘for making the impossible possible’
Former hostage Tal Shoham, left, and Ilan Dalal, father of hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, address journalists over Zoom on October 12, 2025. (Screenshot/Amplify)
Former hostage Tal Shoham expresses his gratitude to US President Donald Trump for brokering the deal between Israel and Hamas to release all the hostages held in Gaza by Palestinian terror groups.
“Thanks to President Trump for making the impossible possible,” Shoham says over Zoom, sitting next to Ilan Dalal, the father of hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, who is set to be released tomorrow.
Shoham was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri with his wife, Adi Shoham, their daughter, Yahel, 3, and son, Naveh, 8, as well as his mother-in-law, Shoshan Haran, his wife’s aunt Sharon Avigdori, and the latter’s daughter Noam, 12. The women and children were released in November 2023.
Afterward, Shoham spent most of his captivity with Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David, who is also set to be released tomorrow.
“I feel hope and excitement, but I also try to block them within me, so I won’t break if it does not happen,” Shoham says.
The press conference is organized by Amplify, an organization that describes its mission as “strengthening Israel in the global fight against extremism.”
Herzog tours hospital, leaves note for returning hostages; Health Ministry chief touts readiness
President Isaac Herzog, left, talks to Lishay Lavi, wife of Hamas hostage Omri Miran, at Ichilov Hospital on October 12, 2025. (Courtesy/Avi Kanner)
President Isaac Herzog tours Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, meeting families of hostages expected to arrive tomorrow, and leaving notes addressed to the returning captives, according to his office.
“So good that you have come home!” reads the note.
Herzog, visiting with his wife Michal, says: “The hospital is preparing to receive five abductees who will return from Gaza tomorrow. The most important thing is that we see everyone home, that everyone returns safely, and that the people of Israel know good news, that we know how to unite at this important moment.”
Also at Ichilov, Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov says that the hospital, along with other Tel Aviv-area hospitals Beilinson and Sheba Medical Center, “are ready to receive the hostages from Gaza.”
“After months of waiting, we’re excited,” he says. “But alongside the happiness, we have to approach the situation with caution. After months of worrying, now starts the process of slow rehabilitation.”
“We don’t know what condition the hostages will be in, but are prepared to treat them physically, emotionally and nutritionally,” he says. “We’ve learned from the protocol from the last releases.”
He stresses the need to honor the privacy and honor of the hostages and their families.
18 Swiss cops injured in clashes with anti-Israel rioters who damaged 50 properties
Eighteen police officers and several people were injured yesterday after thousands of anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of Bern, police say, adding the demonstration was unauthorized.
The protest in the Swiss capital against the war against Hamas in Gaza turned violent when police tried to restrict the movement of the protesters, who were throwing objects and bricks, police said at a press conference.
Swiss national broadcaster SRF reported that police used tear gas and water cannon against the crowd of up to 5,000 people who attended the march.
“This behavior… forced the police to use coercive measures,” Michael Bettschen, deputy regional head of the Bern cantonal police, says. One person was arrested.
Such confrontations are rare for Switzerland, although an anti-Israel protest on October 2 in Geneva also led to clashes between police and protesters.
More than 50 properties in Bern were damaged, with windows smashed and graffiti sprayed on buildings, police say. The damage is likely to run into millions of Swiss francs, SRF reports, adding that the rally was organized by pro-Palestinian groups from across Switzerland.
The police said in a statement on X during the protest yesterday that the mood was “heated,” with some people wearing masks and chanting slogans.
Sources: Hamas insisting 7 high-profile Palestinian terror convicts, including Barghouti, be freed in deal
Hamas insists that the list of security prisoners Israel is set to release under a Gaza ceasefire deal includes seven terror convicts regarded by Palestinians as senior leaders, sources close to negotiators tell AFP.
“Hamas insists that the final list include seven senior leaders, most notably Marwan Barghouti, Ahmad Saadat, Ibrahim Hamed and Abbas Al-Sayyed,” a source says. Similar details are provided by a second source.
The first source also says Hamas and its allied terror groups have “completed all preparations” for handing over to Israel all the living hostages and some of the deceased ones held in Gaza.
Israel has ruled out releasing Barghouti or other high-profile inmates.
PA chief’s deputy meets Tony Blair to discuss truce and Gaza’s reconstruction
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s deputy says he has met with former UK leader Tony Blair, who is expected to lead a transitional postwar Gaza body, to discuss “the ceasefire and start of recovery and reconstruction” in the Strip.
Hussein Al-Sheikh says on X that the pair discussed “the day after the war and efforts aimed at making [US] President [Donald] Trump’s plan, which aims at stopping the war and establishing lasting peace in the region, a success.
“We have confirmed our readiness to work with President Trump, Mr. Blair and the partners to consolidate the ceasefire, the entry of aid, the release of hostages and prisoners, and then start with the recovery and reconstruction,” he adds, asserting that “the undermining of the Palestinian Authority” must stop, giving as an example Israel opposing the two-state solution and withholding tax revenues from the PA over its monthly stipends to prisoners, including terrorists, and to families of dead attackers.
Today I met with Mr. Tony Blair to discuss the day after the war and efforts aimed at making President Trump's plan which aims at stopping the war and establishing lasting peace in the region a success. We have confirmed our readiness to work with President Trump, Mr. Blair and…
— حسين الشيخ Hussein Al Sheikh (@HusseinSheikhpl) October 12, 2025
Hostage Omri Miran’s dad says family hasn’t told his kids yet of his expected return
Dani Miran, father of hostage Omri Miran, speaks at a rally outside the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem on September 19, 2025. (Ran Melamed/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
Dani Miran, father of 48-year-old hostage Omri Miran, says that while he is confident that his son is coming home, Omri’s young daughters have not been informed yet.
“We don’t need to tell them at this stage,” he tells Radio 103FM, referring to Alma, 2, and Roni, 4. “We don’t know what could be derailed and when. [Their mother] also didn’t send the girls to kindergarten, so that the children wouldn’t talk [to them about it], and they wouldn’t hear any rumors.”
On October 7, 2023, Omri and his wife, Lishay Lavi, were in their home at Kibbutz Nahal Oz with their daughters, who at the time were just two years and six months old. The terrorists forced the family to open the door by threatening to shoot a neighbor in the head. Shortly before Omri was taken away, Lishay told him “not to be a hero, adding: “I love you, and I’ll take care of the girls. I’ll wait for you.” When the terrorist loaded the father into his own car to take him to Gaza, Roni tried to run after him.
Since then, Omri’s family, including his father, has become among the most vocal voices in the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Omri is set to be released early tomorrow morning, together with the other 19 hostages presumed alive in the first deal of the agreement reached between Israel and Hamas.
Asked whether it is difficult to wait one last day, Miran says it is easy.
“During this year, there have been things that were much harder,” he notes. “I know it’s going to happen, so why make it difficult? They said that by Monday, it will be 72 hours since the agreement was signed, so they are committed, we are committed, and it will happen.”
Miran also expresses his eagerness to hug his son.
“A pregnancy is nine months, and I have been waiting for my son for more than two years, like three pregnancies,” he says.
German minister: We want to help rebuild Gaza, this will require private sector
Germany wants to provide rapid support for the reconstruction of Gaza in the event of a lasting peace agreement, Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan says.
“Germany is ready to assist with the reconstruction,” Alabali Radovan tells the Handelsblatt newspaper.
She says Germany wants to initially help with mobile temporary housing and is in favor of bringing in the private sector for the reconstruction.
“It won’t work without private capital. The reconstruction of Gaza, Syria or Ukraine requires sums of money that we could never raise from public budgets alone,” she says.
Report: Hamas is done moving the hostages ahead of their release from 3 Gaza locations
A senior Hamas official is cited by Al Jazeera as saying that the hostages will be released from three different locations in the Gaza Strip, apparently referring to the living hostages.
The unnamed official does not say when the release will take place, but notes that Hamas representatives will meet tonight with representatives of the Red Cross to agree on a mechanism for the hostages’ release. The official adds that Hamas has finished counting the hostages and moving them to various sites across the Strip in preparation for their release.
Netanyahu asks court to nix his Wednesday hearing due to unspecified ‘urgent diplomatic visit’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asks the Jerusalem District Court to cancel his Wednesday hearing in his corruption trial due to expected visits by foreign dignitaries that day, including an “exceptionally urgent and important diplomatic visit.”
According to a letter by Netanyahu’s defense team cited by Hebrew media, the premier’s testimony in his cross-examination should be nixed “due to the historic regional and international developments,” as a ceasefire-hostage deal in Gaza takes shape and US President Donald Trump visits on Monday.
No high-profile visit has been announced for Wednesday, but according to some reports, one of them, planned for 11 a.m., is by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides. The other visit, set for 6 p.m., isn’t elaborated on and Netanyahu’s lawyers ask to expand on the request behind closed doors.
Gazan detainee who attacked prison guard yesterday won’t be freed in deal — reports
A Gazan detainee who attacked a female prison guard yesterday will not be released as part of the forthcoming hostage-prisoner exchange, Hebrew media reports.
His detention in police custody has reportedly been extended by three days, after he attacked the guard while being processed for deportation in southern Israel’s Ketziot Prison.
The detainee was one of the 1,722 Gazan prisoners slated for release in the US-backed hostage and ceasefire deal, after being arrested as unlawful combatants over the course of the war.
The guard was lightly injured and treated on the spot. The prisoner was subdued by other guards and detained for interrogation by police, the Israel Prison Service said yesterday.
Hamas official says living hostages to be freed tomorrow; report: They’ll be released in several points
Senior Hamas official Hussam Badran tells the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper that the release of the living hostages from Gaza will take place tomorrow.
The Qatari Al-Araby channel reports that Hamas will release the living hostages tomorrow morning at several points across the Gaza Strip.
The network also reports that tomorrow evening, the Palestinian terror group will transfer to Israel the bodies of several hostages who were killed.
According to the ceasefire agreement, Hamas is obligated to hand over to Israel all the living hostages, as well as the bodies of hostages whose whereabouts it knows, by 12 p.m. tomorrow.
Officials: Egypt summit to see 4 guarantors endorse ‘broad principles’ of Trump’s Gaza plan; Israel, PA not invited
At tomorrow’s summit of world leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh, co-chaired by US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey are expected to sign off on the “broad principles” of Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, a Trump administration official tells The Times of Israel.
The event, which will host more than 20 international leaders, aims for the four guarantors of Trump’s plan to “agree to the very broad principles” of the current 20-point framework. The focus of the event, according to the official, is to solidify the backing from guarantors of the deal — “not the parties” — noting that otherwise, representatives from Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority would need to be present.
Israel was not invited to the event, a separate source tells The Times of Israel.
A request from the Palestinian Authority to Sissi to get an invitation went unanswered, the US official adds. Iran does not appear on a formal list of invitees seen by the official, though Axios reported that Tehran was also invited to the summit.
The summit also “could tee up a wider movement toward normalization” with Israel in the region, a shared goal of Israel and the Trump administration, the official adds.
An Egyptian presidential spokesperson said yesterday that the summit aims “to end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and usher in a new era of regional security and stability.”
Perpetrator of 2000 lynching of 2 Israelis to go free in deal; victim’s brother: ‘Inconceivable’
A Palestinian celebrating on top of the burned car of the two Israeli soldiers who were taken from it and lynched next to Ramallah, October 12, 2000. (Flash 90)
As Israelis mark 25 years since a Palestinian mob lynched two IDF reservists in Ramallah, one of its perpetrators is set to go free in the hostage deal’s first phase.
Raed Sheikh, the prisoner slated for release, was a Palestinian police officer who took part in the October 12, 2000, lynching of reservists Vadim Norzhich and Yossi Avrahami after they accidentally entered the West Bank city and were taken into police custody.
A frenzied crowd quickly formed around the station as rioters called for their death. The rioters eventually stormed the building and murdered the two Israelis, mutilating their bodies and later parading them around Ramallah’s city center.
During the break-in, Sheikh took an iron rod to Norzhich, beating his head in until he bled profusely, according to an indictment quoted by Yedioth Ahronoth at the time. Sheikh was arrested months after the lynching and convicted by a military court in 2003, which sentenced him to two life terms.
Sheikh will be deported abroad following his release, according to the Justice Ministry.
Norzhich’s brother, Michael, calls the terror convict’s pending release “inconceivable” so close to the 25th anniversary of his sibling’s murder.
The bereaved brother says the victim left behind his pregnant wife, Irena, and his son David, who never knew his father before his death.
“If we are freeing the murderer, it should be clear — aside from the great pain of me and my family — the terrorist will return to terror,” Norzhich told Ynet. “They will go back to killing the Jews; this is their real goal.”
However, he adds that he is happy for the hostages expected to return home to their families, calling their release “very important and moving.”
Mother of Nova victim dies by suicide 2 years after Oct. 7 onslaught
Left: Slava Giler, who was murdered at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023; right: His mother Yelena Giler, who died by suicide on October 9, 2025. (Courtesy)
Yelena Giler, 56, mother of Slava Giler, who was murdered at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, died by suicide on Thursday, two days after the second anniversary of the massacre, Hebrew media reports.
“From that dark day, she was never the same,” wrote Slava’s brother, Alex “Sasha” Giler, in a social media post.
Slava was laid to rest in Karmiel two years ago. Yelena is set to be buried beside him today at the Karmiel Cemetery, according to Israel Hayom. The public is invited to attend, pay their respects, and offer support to the family.
Her death came one day before Roei Shalev, a Nova survivor, also died by suicide on Friday night.
Unverified report: Remains of legendary spy Eli Cohen expected to be transferred to Israel soon
Mossad spy Eli Cohen, executed in Syria in 1965. (Israel GPO)
The Saudi channel Al-Hadath reports that the remains of Israeli spy Eli Cohen, who operated in Syria during the 1960s, are expected to soon be transferred to Israel.
Eli Cohen was captured and executed by the Syrian regime in 1965 and buried in Damascus. Over the years, Bashar al-Assad’s regime rejected Jerusalem’s requests to receive his body or exchange it for Syrian prisoners held in Israel.
The report isn’t verified and doesn’t offer more details.
PM’s office says hostages expected to return tomorrow early morning
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pictured next to a placard showing the 48 hostages held in Gaza, prior to a cabinet meeting on October 9, 2025, to approve a deal formulated by US President Donald Trump for their release, the freeing of large numbers of Palestinian security prisoners, a partial IDF withdrawal and a Gaza ceasefire (Maayan Toaf / GPO)
The Prime Minister’s Office says that the hostage release is expected to take place in the early morning tomorrow.
Israel is ready to receive hostages if they are released earlier, says PMO spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian.
Once Israel confirms it has received all the hostages it is expecting to receive tomorrow — a likely indication that it knows which slain hostages Hamas is not able to hand over tomorrow — it will begin to free Palestinian security prisoners, says Bedrosian.
Hamas denies report that it deployed 7,000 operatives, tapped military governors to reassert Gaza control
Hamas’s government media office claims that a BBC report about the deployment of 7,000 new Hamas operatives to reassert its dominance in Gaza and the appointment of governors with military backgrounds is false.
The Hamas statement says: “This information has no basis in truth.” It describes the claims as deliberate fabrications intended to mislead the public.
According to the BBC, Hamas mobilized its security forces via phone calls and texts, informing its operatives that they were required to “cleanse Gaza of outlaws and collaborators with Israel” and to report for duty within 24 hours.
The report said the terror group also appointed five new governors across Gaza, all of them with experience in the terror group’s armed wing, including brigade commanders, rather than its political wing.
Trump may visit a hospital receiving freed hostages during his brief Israel stay
There are contingency plans for US President Donald Trump to add a quick visit to one of the hospitals receiving freed hostages tomorrow, if conditions permit, The Times of Israel has learned.
The stop is not on the schedule of the lightning visit, which will include a welcome at the airport by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, a speech in the Knesset and a meeting with hostage families.
Israel expects hostage releases to begin between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. tomorrow
Israel has told hostage families that they expect the releases to begin between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. tomorrow, but that the timing still can change, The Times of Israel has learned.
Israel will be informed by the Red Cross two hours before the hostages are to be released.
IDF says it was targeting Hezbollah with grenade that injured Blue Helmet
Responding to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which said earlier that one of its observers was lightly wounded by a grenade dropped from an IDF drone, the Israeli military says it had intended to disperse suspects from a Hezbollah site.
“Yesterday, IDF troops operated to distance suspects who attempted to reestablish a military structure belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization” in the Kafr Kila area, “by means of a grenade,” says the IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani on X.
“A report was received from UNIFIL, through the military liaison channel, that a UNIFIL soldier was injured as a result of the grenade explosion. The incident was reviewed, and safety distance procedures for strikes near UNIFIL positions were reinforced,” Shoshani says.
He says that the IDF “will act against Hezbollah’s entrenchment and terrorist activity, which pose a threat to the State of Israel.”
“The IDF emphasizes that it operates against attempts to restore Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, which violates the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, while maintaining a clear distinction from UNIFIL’s activities,” Shoshani adds.
US Vice President Vance says hostage release imminent
Hostages should be released from captivity Gaza “any moment now,” US Vice President JD Vance says on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Vance says that he sees the ceasefire as the end to the war in Gaza, but “we’re going to have to do work to make sure it stays ended.”
The US won’t put boots on the ground in either Israel or Gaza, says Vance, but forces from US Central Command will “monitor the terms of the ceasefire.”
Police to shut Route 1 for duration of Trump visit
Route 1, the major highway connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, will be closed to traffic in both directions starting at 7 a.m. tomorrow, two hours before US President Donald Trump is expected to arrive in Israel.
Police say that Route 1 will only reopen after Trump leaves, expected around 2 p.m.
The closure of the route may complicate travel plans ahead of the Simhat Torah holiday, which begins a few hours later.
Meanwhile, law enforcement is boosting its presence in and around Ben Gurion Airport, the Jerusalem District and along routes leading to the capital.
Thousands of officers are expected to partake in the operation, aimed at securing the American president and his entourage during his visit to mark the first phase of a US-backed hostage and ceasefire deal.
Police add that the public will be barred from flying drones over Jerusalem during Trump’s visit.
Israel deports last five Spaniards from flotilla
Spain says Israel has released the last five Spanish detainees who had tried to break a blockade on Gaza as part of activist flotillas earlier this month, sources at Spain’s foreign ministry say.
“The last five members of the flotilla held by Israel are now on their way to Spain,” a ministry source says.
Among them is an activist who was not included in a first wave of releases after allegedly biting an Israeli prison officer.
“There are no more Spaniards from the flotilla detained in Israel,” a ministry source adds.
Almost 50 other Spanish flotilla members had returned home during the past week.
Troops seen redeployed in Strip after pulling out from parts of Gaza
The IDF publishes footage showing its redeployment in Gaza but outside the Strip’s main cities amid the ceasefire.
“Southern Command forces continue to be stationed along the updated lines of deployment, in accordance with the ceasefire and hostage return agreement framework,” the military says.
As part of the deal, the IDF remains in control of over half of the Strip’s territory, or 53% — most of which is outside of urban areas. In reality, the IDF is not holding all of that territory with ground troops, with many of its posts positioned closer to the Israeli border.
The IDF says it is operating in the area “to eliminate any immediate threat to the troops and to the residents of the State of Israel, and to the residents of the western Negev in particular.”
IDF troops are seen along new lines of deployment in the Gaza Strip amid a ceasefire, in videos issued by the army on October 12, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
Herzog calls Gaza deal ‘historic moment’ that could reshape region, despite costs
Isaac Herzog, second right, with families of hostages addressing a crowd in Tel Aviv on October 12, 2025. (Yossi Zamir/GPO)
Hours ahead of the expected release of the hostages from Gaza under a US-brokered ceasefire deal, President Isaac Herzog delivers a hopeful Hebrew-language address to crowds gathered at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square calling the agreement “a historic moment” that could reshape the Middle East, despite some drawbacks.
“It’s important to say – this agreement is not simple. It will include some very painful elements, and they already are painful,” Herzog says, without specifying which elements he is referring to. “But we understand that this is a historic moment that can also provide a genuine horizon of hope and change for the Middle East.”
Israel is “eagerly awaiting” the arrival of US President Donald Trump tomorrow, Herzog states.
“We want to welcome him among us, to thank him from the bottom of our hearts – him and his team – for their tremendous effort, as well as the mediators and everyone who took part,” the president says.
Israel wants the US “to build the next stages [of the deal] so that we will see real change in Israel and the Middle East – in Gaza and everywhere – that will bring us true change and hope,” he adds.
IDF chief hails troops ahead of hostage release
In a missive to troops ahead of the release of the hostages held by Hamas, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says he is “proud to lead the IDF at this fateful hour.”
“IDF soldiers and commanders, I met you, again and again, in all the days of combat. I saw the burning flame in you, the eyes shining beyond the veil of fatigue, the unceasing belief in the righteousness of the path, the deep desire to protect the home and to bring the hostages back to their homes,” Zamir writes.
“I salute you, generation of the war. I salute each and every one of you. I am proud of the privilege to lead the IDF at this fateful hour. In my salute, I offer you the deep thanks and appreciation of an entire nation,” he adds.
Families of prisoners set for release said raided by troops amid bid to squelch celebrations
Palestinian media report that the IDF has begun raiding the West Bank homes of Palestinian security prisoners set to be released in exchange for hostages as part of the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal.
Troops reportedly carried out searches and arrests across the West Bank, warning families against hosting receptions celebrating the release of their relatives, outwardly praising terror, or hoisting Palestinian flags upon their return.
The army raided the homes of eight prisoners slated for release in and around Nablus, along with the homes of three prisoners in Hebron and its surrounding area, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office says.
Israel is expected to release 250 prisoners, all serving life sentences for terror offenses, in exchange for the 48 hostages still held captive in Gaza.
Of these terror convicts, 115 will return to their homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, while another 135 will be sent to Gaza or deported abroad. Another 1,722 Gazan detainees arrested over the course of the war are also to be released.
The prisoners have already been transferred to two detention facilities pending their release, Hebrew outlets report.
Similar to the waves of prisoner releases under February’s hostage deal, West Bank-bound prisoners were taken to Ofer Prison north of Jerusalem while Gaza-bound prisoners and deportees were gathered at Ketziot Prison in the Negev.
Shark spotted near Herzliya, but beaches stay open
A shark has been spotted off the coast of Herzliya near the city’s marina, the latest of a rash of sightings near Israeli beaches over the last several days.
According to reports, lifeguards in the suburb north of Tel Aviv opted to leave a nearby beach open to bathers, instead following the shark as it returned to deeper waters.
תיעוד: כריש נצפה באזור המרינה בהרצליה, שירותי ההצלה במקום ליוו אותו לעומק הים והחופים נותרו פתוחים@eli_zil pic.twitter.com/xjwJ9GE0cm
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) October 12, 2025
Shark sightings, usually a rarity on Israel’s coast, have shuttered beaches in Ashkelon, Bat Yam, Tel Aviv and elsewhere in recent days.
Ben Gvir backs father of hostage calling for resumption of war
Tzvika Mor in an undated photo with his son Eitan, who is being held captive by Hamas in Gaza. (Courtesy)
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir appears to endorse a call to resume the war following the release of the hostages, retweeting a post by the right-wing Tikva Forum demanding the complete conquest of the Gaza Strip.
The Tikva Forum, a hawkish group comprised of relatives of hostages in Hamas captivity, shared a video of co-founder Tzvika Mor saying that while he is happy to see his son Eitan freed in the coming day, he is not satisfied with an agreement which entails the release of “250 vile murderers,” referring to terror convicts set to be released from Israeli prison as part of the deal.
“We are now building with our own hands the next Hamas leadership that will try to massacre and murder our children and grandchildren. We repeatedly bring disasters upon ourselves and then we send our children to clean up after us,” Mor states in the video.
The forum represents the small minority of hostage relatives who believe that Israel should not make significant concessions to free their captive loved ones.
Mor argues that following the release of the last hostage, Israel needs to “say we do not make agreements with such enemies, we are destroying Hamas,” and that “every tiny violation will be a pretext for us to enter Gaza and wipe them out.”
He also calls for Gazans to be evacuated from the Strip and for Israel to reoccupy the enclave, both of which are supported by Ben Gvir.
“Only when the Gaza Strip is in our hands will there be peace here,” says Mor.
Hamas wants high-profile terror convicts in exchange for earlier hostage release — report
Hamas has told mediators it will move up the release of hostages in Gaza to today — earlier than the planned Monday deadline — if Israel agrees to free at least two of seven high-profile Palestinian prisoners it is seeking, the BBC reports.
A new round of talks began this morning between Israel and Hamas to resolve outstanding issues related to the list of prisoners to be released under the first phase of Washington’s Gaza ceasefire deal, the report says, citing a Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations.
Hamas is still pressing for the release of seven high-profile prisoners serving multiple life sentences for involvement in mass casualty terror attacks, including Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat, according to the official.
According to sources cited by the BBC, Israel has consistently rejected their release since the outset of the negotiations, but Hamas is now hoping to secure as few as two of the seven by dangling the possibility of freeing the hostages today rather than tomorrow morning.
It is unclear what will happen if the terror group’s demands are not met, the report continues, adding that the talks today are also focusing on the timing and logistics for the release of the 20 living Israeli hostages and the return of the bodies of the deceased hostages that Hamas is able to locate.
Return of hostages still expected tomorrow morning, defense source says
Following reports that Hamas may free the hostages this evening, instead of tomorrow morning, an Israeli defense official says “at this stage, there is no change in the intelligence assessment.”
“The IDF is prepared for any developments regarding receiving the hostages,” the official adds.
Israeli officials had previously said they were expecting the hostages to be freed on Monday morning.
Israel ready for hostages’ immediate release, Netanyahu says as reports indicate they could be freed today
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says “Israel is ready and prepared for the immediate reception of all our hostages,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, as reports indicate that the release of hostages from Gaza could take place as early as this evening.
Meanwhile, an Israeli official tells the Kan public broadcaster that the army thinks the hostages will be back in Israel by the time US President Donald Trump lands in Israel on Monday at 9:20 a.m.
“The IDF has completed its preparations for the release of the hostages and assesses that all of them will be released before Trump’s arrival,” the source is quoted as saying.
Ben Gvir holding up prisoner roster over plans to release some to West Bank
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is pressing the prime minister to make last-minute changes to the list of Palestinian prisoners slated for release as part of a hostage deal, his spokesman confirms.
The far-right leader, a resident of a West Bank settlement, is urging the Prime Minister’s Office to deport several prisoners convicted of murder or attempted murder, rather than releasing them to the West Bank, the spokesman says.
The PMO is assessing the request, according to Hebrew outlets.
As part of the first phase of a hostage and ceasefire deal, 250 Palestinian security prisoners serving life sentences will be freed. Of these prisoners, 115 will return to their homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, while another 135 will be deported to locations abroad, which could include Gaza.
According to the Walla news site, Ben Gvir believes allowing terror convicts into the West Bank will “spread fear” among Israeli residents of the territory, though defense officials reportedly prefer they stay close by to keep a close eye on them.
Israeli officials said to confirm Hamas offering earlier hostage release
Hebrew media are citing unnamed Israeli officials confirming a Wall Street Journal report that Jerusalem has received indications that Hamas is seeking to move up the release of the hostages in Gaza to tonight.
According to the reports, the terror group has signaled it wants to complete the process before US President Donald Trump’s arrival to Israel tomorrow morning.
There is no official confirmation of the possibly accelerated timetable. Israeli officials had previously said they were expecting the hostages to be freed Monday morning.
Report says Egypt refused to invite PA’s Abbas to peace confab
A senior official in the Palestinian Authority tells the Qatari daily Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the PA has not been invited to a peace summit of world leaders set to take place in Sharm el-Sheikh under the auspices of the US and Egypt.
According to the source, the Palestinian leadership asked Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to invite PA President Mahmoud Abbas for Monday’s conference, and also sought a meeting with him, to convey the message that the Palestinian leadership is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians.
However, the request was not granted. According to the source, the rejection stemmed from the fact that the PA is not officially part of the White House’s postwar plan, which calls for reforms in Ramallah before it can take on governing responsibilities.
Man gunned down in Galilee, marking 199th slaying in Arab community this year
A man was shot and killed in his car in the Galilee city of Arraba today, police and paramedics say, marking the second homicide victim in Arab society over the past 24 hours.
Magen David Adom paramedics found the man unconscious and suffering from several bullet wounds. They pronounced him dead on the spot.
Police have opened an investigation and are searching for suspects in the killing, law enforcement says.
The victim is killed hours after 37-year-old Nazareth resident Alaa Saadi was fatally shot in Nof Hagalil last night, amid a persisting crime wave that has been plaguing Arab society for several years. Saadi was found in critical condition and taken to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds.
The two victims are the 198th and 199th Arab Israelis to be killed in criminal incidents since the start of 2025, which puts this year on track to be one of the most violent ever recorded for Israel’s Arab community.
Report: Hamas says it could free hostages later today, confirms 20 alive
Israelis attend a protest in Jerusalem, calling for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, on October 11, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Hamas has confirmed to Israel that 20 hostages are alive, and says they could be released as early as today, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources familiar with the issue.
The message was sent through Arab mediators, according to the report.
An Israeli official tells the paper that Israel is ready to receive the hostages tonight, though a Monday release is still considered more likely.
Israel has said it believes 20 hostages are alive, and that there are grave concerns for the fates of two others, while confirming that 26 others are dead.
Club-wielding guards seen securing aid trucks entering Gaza
A humanitarian aid truck enters the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on October 12, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)
Media outlets in Gaza publish footage of trucks of aid entering the Strip being guarded by people armed with clubs.
كاميرا التلفزيون العربي ترصد دخول عدد من "شاحنات البضائع التجارية" إلى داخل قطاع #غزة pic.twitter.com/gnMXny5le8
— التلفزيون العربي (@AlarabyTV) October 12, 2025
The trucks are seen going into the southern Strip and making their way north through Khan Younis and the central Strip on the way to Gaza City.
The identity of the guards is unknown, as is whether they are affiliated with Hamas.
قافلة شاحنات محملة بالمساعدات تمر عبر خان يونس في #غزة #العربية pic.twitter.com/rfUCFnRTuW
— العربية (@AlArabiya) October 12, 2025
Some 400 trucks of aid per day are set to go into Gaza as part of the ceasefire agreement.
Netanyahu, Herzog to greet Trump at airport
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog will greet US President Donald Trump at Ben Gurion Airport at 9:20 a.m. tomorrow, according to Netanyahu’s office.
Trump is scheduled to spend less than four hours on the ground in Israel.
At 10:15 a.m., Netanyahu and Trump will hold a meeting in the prime minister’s office in the Knesset.
They will then meet hostage families in the Knesset at 10:45 a.m.
At 11 a.m., Trump, Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid will speak in the plenum.
Herzog and Netanyahu will see Trump off from the airport at 1 p.m.
Hamas source says group relinquishing control of Gaza, calling long-term truce
A Hamas source close to the group’s negotiating team tells AFP that it will not participate in post-war Gaza governance, days after an Israel-Hamas ceasefire came into effect.
“For Hamas, the governance of the Gaza Strip is a closed issue. Hamas will not participate at all in the transitional phase, which means it has relinquished control of the Strip, but it remains a fundamental part of the Palestinian fabric,” the source tells AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
It is not clear to what extent the source speaks for the rest of the organization.
On Friday, hours after a ceasefire in Gaza came into effect, the terror group published pictures showing armed operatives belonging to its internal security apparatus tasked with maintaining order within the Strip appearing in public for the first time since the previous ceasefire, in what appeared to be a limited show of force.
The source also says the group is ready to pause armed operations, contradicting another Hamas official who said earlier that disarmament was “out of the question.”
“Hamas agrees to a long-term truce, and for its weapons not to be used at all during this period, except in the event of an Israeli attack on Gaza,” the source says.
The source says Hamas has asked for mediator Egypt to call a meeting before the end of next week to agree on the composition of a temporary technocratic and apolitical Palestinian committee charged with the day-to-day running of public services, adding that “the names are almost ready.”
“Hamas, along with the other factions, has submitted 40 names. There is absolutely no veto over them, and none of them belong to Hamas,” he adds.
Nurit Yohanan contributed to this report.
‘Horrifying images, heart-wrenching scenes’: Alleged Sinwar plan to broadcast October 7 atrocities published
Israel is publishing the full text of a memo found in Gaza this year and believed to have been written by Hamas’s now-slain leader in the Strip, Yahya Sinwar, detailing the Palestinian terror group’s plans to target civilians during the October 7 massacre and broadcast the atrocities live.
A day after a New York Times report on its contents, the full document and an analysis are posted online by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, a government-controlled think tank.
“Events must be planned from which horrifying images will emerge,” reads one passage according to the organization’s translation. “A few car bombs exploding inside an outpost or building and causing massive destruction. Heart-wrenching scenes. Enormous fires. 5 or 10 such images will break their spirit.”
The Foreign Ministry also publishes a picture of a page from the handwritten note, saying that it proves “the massacre wasn’t chaos, but choreography.”
Evidence exposes Hamas’s calculated plan for October 7.
A handwritten document by Hamas leader Yahya al-Sinwar reveals the massacre wasn’t chaos, but choreography.
Terrorists were ordered to film the slaughter of civilians, soldiers and families – not for documentation, but as… pic.twitter.com/sLNFCM8dH4
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 12, 2025
“This wasn’t a ‘spontaneous uprising.’ It was a scripted campaign for the destruction of Israel — planned, rehearsed and executed,” the ministry charges on social media.
Authorities gearing up for brisk Trump visit
Authorities are preparing to receive US President Donald Trump when he lands in Israel tomorrow morning to see through the first phase of a US-backed deal expected to lead to the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
At Ben-Gurion Airport, Defense Ministry staff have hung up dozens of Israeli and American flags and rolled out a 50-meter-long red carpet on the tarmac to greet the American president when he steps off Air Force One at around 9 a.m. tomorrow.
“The staff of the logistics department have been working around the clock in recent days to ensure everything goes according to plan and the event occurs in a successful, respectful manner,” a Defense Ministry statement reads.
Police say road closures are expected in central Israel during the short visit, on routes leading to Jerusalem and within the city itself.
Thousands of police officers will be deployed at Ben-Gurion, in Jerusalem and along main routes leading to the capital starting early tomorrow morning.
Trump is expected to spend some four hours in Israel, traveling from the airport to the Knesset and back.
GHF shuts south Gaza aid points temporarily; footage shows central Gaza site abandoned
Palestinians make their way to Gaza City through the so-called Netzarim Corridor in the central Gaza Strip on October 11, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will keep its aid distribution sites in the southern Gaza Strip shuttered over the coming days, during the release of the hostages held by Hamas. The sites are set to open after the release of the hostages.
Media outlets in Gaza have published footage showing an abandoned GHF site in the Netzarim Corridor area of central Gaza. The site was abandoned on Friday alongside the IDF’s withdrawal from the area.
The footage shows Gazans walking around the empty site.
هذا ما تبقى من مركز المساعدات "الإنسانية" في منطقة نتساريم GHF
هنا كان يتم إذلال الناس للحصول على وجبة طعام أو كيلو رز
هنا كانت الحشود من المحاصرين تقف في طوابير تحت الشمس الحارقة لساعات قبل السماح لهم بالحصول على حقهم في الغذاء..
هنا كان المحتل الصهيوني وحليفه الأمريكي يتناوبان… pic.twitter.com/jhTM2t4H3Q— Khaled Safi ???????? خالد صافي (@KhaledSafi) October 10, 2025
مراسل الجزيرة يرصد منطقة مركز توزيع المساعدات الأمريكية في محور نتساريم | تقرير: رامي أبو طعيمة#حرب_غزة pic.twitter.com/50KMrFM9DV
— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) October 11, 2025
In southern Gaza, according to the Kan public broadcaster, Israel asked the GHF to close its aid sites in areas under IDF control over the coming days to enable the army to concentrate on the release of the hostages and for the Defense Ministry’s COGAT unit to handle the increase of aid entering Gaza as part of the deal with Hamas.
A source involved in the matter confirms to The Times of Israel that the aid sites in Rafah are closed temporarily amid the hostage release, but they say the sites will reopen afterward and be active during the ceasefire.
A spokesperson for GHF also confirms that “over the next few days, during the transfer of the hostages to Israel, there will be tactical changes in GHF operations and temporary closures of some distribution sites may occur.”
“There is no change to our long-term plan,” the spokesperson adds.
Egyptian Red Crecent members monitor trucks carrying humanitarian aids as they enter the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, following an agreement between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP/Mohamed Arafat)
According to the deal with Hamas, international aid to the Gaza Strip is set to increase significantly during the ceasefire. Hamas officials have claimed in recent days that they were promised the aid would come through the UN and not other sources.
Jordan’s Abdullah headed to Sharm summit along with EU president
Jordan’s King Abdullah II and EU Council President Antonio Costa will attend an international Gaza peace summit in Egypt on Monday, authorities say.
“Jordan will participate in Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit, scheduled to be held on Monday, co-chaired by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and US President Donald Trump, with the participation of leaders from more than 20 countries,” the website of Jordan’s state-run Al-Mamlaka TV says, citing a Jordanian official source.
Costa will represent the EU at Monday’s summit on Gaza, a spokesperson says, though a number of the bloc’s member states are also sending leaders.
The Middle East Peace Plan “offers a real chance to build a just and sustainable peace, and the EU is fully committed to supporting these efforts and contributing to its implementation,” the spokesperson says.
The gathering in the Red Sea resort town aims “to end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and usher in a new era of regional security and stability,” says a statement from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who is co-chairing the summit along with US President Donald Trump.
Neither Israel nor Hamas will attend, according to reports.
UN force says peacekeeper in Lebanon injured by IDF grenade
The UNIFIL peacekeeping force in Lebanon says one of its observers was lightly injured by a grenade dropped by an Israeli drone in the Kafr Kila area of southern Lebanon yesterday, days after it complained about grenades being dropped near Blue Helmets.
“Just before noon yesterday, an Israeli drone dropped a grenade that exploded near a UNIFIL position” in Kafr Kila, the observer force says.
The observer was lightly hurt and received medical assistance, it says.
“Before the grenade was dropped, peacekeepers had observed two drones flying near their position,” UNIFIL adds.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
Earlier this month, UNIFIL accused the IDF of dropping grenades near its observers in southern Lebanon. In response to that incident, the IDF said it was investigating.
Turkey’s Erdogan said joining Egypt peace confab
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to Egypt to attend the Middle East peace summit, broadcaster NTV reports.
US President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are also expected to participate in the summit.
Erdogan, a vociferous critic of Israel who has backed Hamas, has ramped up Turkish involvement in talks surrounding Gaza in recent months, and is thought to have played a key role in securing Hamas’s agreement for a plan ending the war and planning for the postwar governance and reconstruction of the Strip.
The first phase of the ceasefire plan proposed by Trump is set to begin with the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners by Monday.
Neither Israel nor Hamas plan to send representatives to the summit, according to reports.
Tens of thousands in Australia rally against Israel, claiming ceasefire a sham
New South Wales police officers watch pro-Palestinian demonstrators hold flags and placards as they march during a rally in Sydney on October 12, 2025. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)
Australian organizers says 30,000 people are packing central Sydney to protest against Israel, with some expressing skepticism that a ceasefire in Gaza will hold.
The demonstration is one of 27 being held across Australia, according to the Palestine Action Group, as pro-Palestinian demonstrators continue to rally against Israel despite the ostensible end of the war and partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
An anti-Israel protest is also held in Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta.
Lion dancers perform on an Israeli flag during a rally in solidarity of the Palestinians in Gaza, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP/Tatan Syuflana)
“Even if the ceasefire holds, Israel is still conducting a military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank,” Amal Naser, an organizer of the Sydney rally, says in a statement. “The occupation as well as systemic discrimination against Palestinians living in Israel constitute an Apartheid system.”
Australian Broadcasting Corp footage shows protesters, many carrying Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyeh scarves, marching on closed city streets. Some hold pictures of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a faux Hitler mustache, under the words “Child killer.”
Police say there have been no arrests.
“Israel always breaks every ceasefire they’ve ever done,” says protester Abbi Jordan. “For 78 years, they’ve been conducting an illegal occupation in Palestinian territories, and we demand the Australian government sanction Israel.”
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for more than 200 Jewish organizations, condemns the protest organizers.
“They want the deal to fail, which would mean the war would continue,” co-chief executive Peter Wertheim says in a statement.
Israel to shift focus to razing Gaza tunnels, Katz says
Defense Minister Israel Katz says he has instructed the IDF to prepare to demolish all of Hamas’s tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
“The major challenge for Israel after the phase of returning the hostages will be the destruction of all of Hamas’s terror tunnels in Gaza, directly by the IDF and through the international mechanism to be established under US leadership and supervision,” he says on X.
“This is the primary meaning of implementing the agreed principle of demilitarizing Gaza and disarming Hamas,” Katz says, adding that he “instructed the IDF to prepare to carry out the mission.”
It is unclear how the IDF will demolish Hamas’s tunnels in areas of Gaza outside of the army’s control under the ceasefire deal.
IDF cracks down on shows of Hamas support in West Bank
Ahead of the upcoming release of 250 Palestinian security prisoners as part of the hostage deal with Hamas, Israeli defense authorities say they detained more than a dozen suspects in the West Bank who participated in a march in support of the terror group and other “terror incitement.”
Over the weekend, the IDF and Border Police say forces were dispatched to several villages in the Ramallah area where gatherings in support of Hamas were held.
The troops operated in Silwad and Nil’in to disperse the crowds, seize vehicles with “terror incitement flags,” and remove Hamas flags. Eight suspects who participated in the march were detained, the military and police say.
Separately, seven more suspects were detained for alleged terror incitement, including Abd al-Aziz Khamayseh, who, according to Israeli authorities, manages a social media page with tens of thousands of followers, where he spreads “inciteful content that encourages terrorism.”
Khamayseh is the brother of Islam Khamayseh, a Palestinian terrorist behind a deadly shooting attack, who was killed in an airstrike in May 2024.
The IDF, Shin Bet, Border Police, and the Civil Administration say they are prepared to continue to prevent “incitement and events supporting terrorism in the framework of the release of the terrorists.”
Israeli authorities say they also began this morning to make warning calls to the families of the security prisoners set to be released, warning them against celebrations.
Reasserting control, Hamas forces reportedly begin taking down rival militias
Displaced Palestinians inspect the remains of their destroyed homes in the heavily damaged Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat reports that armed Hamas operatives in northern Gaza have begun hunting down militias opposed to their rule, as they seek to reassert power in the Strip following the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Security forces — including the Internal Security branch, which is responsible for maintaining order, and the intelligence apparatus of Hamas’s military wing — have in recent days begun deploying in the Jabaliya neighborhood and refugee camp in the northeast of Gaza City, according to the report.
According to the report, Hamas operatives have killed some militia members and arrested others.
Yesterday, outlets affiliated with Hamas reported that the group killed several members of the Dormush family, which has previously been reported as resisting Hamas. The clan later put out a statement denying the claim.
In southern Gaza, where some armed clans had begun attempting to carve out anti-Hamas enclaves, reportedly with the support and protection of Israel, militia leader Hussam al-Astal distributed a video to journalists yesterday denying reports that Hamas had killed a fellow anti-Hamas militia commander in northern Gaza.
Hostage families say they conveyed ‘deep appreciation’ during Witkoff, Kushner meeting
Steve Witkoff, left, and Jared Kushner, second left, listen as Ofir Braslavski speaks in Tel Aviv on October 11, 2025. (Paulina Patimer/Hostages Families Forum Headquarters)
During a meeting last night, families of the 48 hostages remaining in Gaza thanked US US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s daughter and son-in-law Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner “for their instrumental role in securing the historic deal to bring all their loved ones home,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum says in a statement.
Families met with the trio ahead of a rally for the hostages in Tel Aviv last night, where they addressed the massive crowd. Witkoff and Kushner played significant roles in brokering the ceasefire deal that is expected all of the living hostages and most of the bodies of the others returned by tomorrow.
“During the meeting, Witkoff emphasized the United States’ unwavering commitment to the mission and continuing their work not leaving anyone behind,” the statement says.
“The families expressed their deep appreciation for the continued support and dedication shown by the US administration.”
Lapid: Netanyahu had Hostage Square boos coming
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says he was not surprised that prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s name was jeered at a hostage rally in Tel Aviv last night.
“I wasn’t shocked,” he tells the Kan public broadcaster. “If Netanyahu came to [Hostages] Square ever and if he didn’t manage a campaign against the families [of hostages], maybe they wouldn’t have booed him.”
Lapid also criticizes those who spoke out against the derision aimed at the premier, singling out Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who said those booing really owed Netanyahu thanks.
“As if they were doing the hostages a favor by returning them,” Lapid sneers.
Zelensky says he pushed Trump to repeat Gaza ceasefire feat with Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he urged US counterpart Donald Trump to broker peace in Ukraine like in “the Middle East” during a phone call Saturday.
“I had a call with US President Donald Trump. A very positive and productive one,” Zelensky says on Facebook, congratulating Trump for his “outstanding” ceasefire plan in the Middle East.
“If a war can be stopped in one region, then surely other wars can be stopped as well, including the Russian war,” Zelensky adds, calling for Trump to pressure the Kremlin into negotiations.
Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks in August but failed to extract any kind of peace deal.
Diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have slowed in recent months, in part because global attention has shifted to Israel’s two-year war in Gaza, Kyiv says.
Zelensky also says the two discussed “opportunities to bolster our air defense, as well as concrete agreements that we are working on to ensure this. There are good options and solid ideas on how to truly strengthen us.”
The Ukrainian leader said last month that Ukraine had received a US-made Patriot air defense battery from Israel.
Reuters and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Army says it killed Hezbollah man rebuilding terror group in Lebanon
The IDF confirms carrying out a drone strike in southern Lebanon yesterday, saying it killed a Hezbollah operative involved in restoring the terror group’s capabilities.
The strike was carried out near the towns of Qalaouiyeh and Khirbet Selm.
צה"ל חיסל מחבל מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה שעסק בניסיונות שיקום של תשתיות צבאיות של הארגון בדרום לבנון
צה"ל תקף וחיסל אתמול, במרחב קלאוויה שבדרום לבנון, מחבל בארגון הטרור חיזבאללה, אשר עסק בניסיונות שיקום של תשתיות צבאיות של הארגון בדרום לבנון.
בנוסף, אתמול, צה״ל תקף כלי הנדסי ששימש… pic.twitter.com/HRrS9cdKf7
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 12, 2025
The army says the operative was working to restore Hezbollah military infrastructure in southern Lebanon, in violation of the November 2024 ceasefire.
Additionally, the IDF says it carried out a drone strike yesterday on a construction vehicle used by Hezbollah to restore its infrastructure in the town of Blida in southern Lebanon.
IDF seen taking down Hamas flags raised on West Bank streets
Hamas flags were raised in a West Bank town overnight and later taken down by Israeli troops, according to footage and reports from Palestinian media affiliated with the terror group.
Residents of Nil’in were seen in the footage raising the Hamas flags in streets of the central West Bank town, which sits near the Green Line with Israel.
قوات الاحتلال تزيل الرايات الخضراء خلال اقتحام بلدة نعلين غرب رام الله pic.twitter.com/j5eLikoDwI
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) October 11, 2025
According to reports, those responsible did so to celebrate the group ahead of the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages kidnapped on October 7.
Shortly afterward, footage was shared by the same outlet showing Israeli forces taking the flags down.
There is no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces.
قوات الاحتلال تزيل الرايات الخضراء خلال اقتحام بلدة نعلين غرب رام الله pic.twitter.com/j5eLikoDwI
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) October 11, 2025
Israel gymnastics group appeals Indonesia’s decision to bar its athletes
The Israel Gymnastics Federation is appealing Indonesia’s decision to block the country’s gymnasts from competing in a world championship, calling the move by the world’s largest Muslim-majority country “outrageous.”
The Southeast Asian nation said on Friday it had denied visas to Israeli gymnasts amid an outcry over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, costing Israeli athletes a spot in this month’s World Artistic Gymnastics Championship in Jakarta. A ceasefire in the Gaza war took effect on Friday.
In an emailed statement, the Israeli federation calls Indonesia’s decision “both outrageous and deeply troubling for the integrity of international sport.”
It says it has submitted an urgent appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, seeking an injunction to allow Israeli athletes, including Olympic gold medallist Artem Dolgopyat, to participate in the competition.
“We intend to challenge this decision with every means available,” the group says.
Indonesia, which has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel, cited objections from groups such as a council of Islamic clerics and the local government in the capital Jakarta, where the championship will be held from October 19, for its decision to bar the athletes.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Victory over Oman puts UAE on brink of qualifying for first World Cup since 1990
The United Arab Emirates starting 11 pose for a team photo prior to the World Cup group A qualifying soccer match against Iran in Tehran, Iran, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
The United Arab Emirates edged past Oman 2-1 in the fourth round of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup on Saturday and now needs a draw against host Qatar on Tuesday to reach the World Cup for the first time since 1990.
The loss ended Oman’s chances of winning the three-team Group A and securing automatic qualification for a first World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico next year. But the team can still finish second and advance to the fifth round.
Oman took the lead in the 12th minute when an Amjad Al Harthi shot was deflected in by defender Kouame Autonne at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha.
After holding on for most of the match, Oman’s defense was finally opened up in the 76th minute when Marcus Meloni headed in an Ali Saleh cross at the far post. Seven minutes later, Caio Lucas delivered a cross from the left that eluded everyone to give the UAE the lead to the delight of 5,000 traveling fans.
In Group B, Iraq defeated Indonesia 1-0 to move level on points with Saudi Arabia ahead of their meeting on Tuesday.
Former Manchester United youth player Zidane Iqbal scored the only goal at 76 minutes with a low shot from the edge of the area.
Iraq must defeat group leader Saudi Arabia in Jeddah on Tuesday to qualify for its first World Cup since 1986, as the host has scored more goals, having beaten Indonesia 3-2 on Wednesday.
Death toll in blast at Tennessee military explosives plant updated to 16
Investigators now believe a massive blast at a Tennessee military explosives facility killed 16 people, officials say.
Officials had previously said 18 people were unaccounted for in Friday’s explosion, but two people whose vehicles and personal items were found at the scene were not actually there when the blast erupted, Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis says at a press conference.
The explosion, which was felt for miles, leveled a building at the 1,300-acre (5-square-kilometer) headquarters of Accurate Energetic Systems about an hour’s drive west of Nashville. Officials have notified the families of all 16 people killed, the sheriff says.
Investigators — including agents from the FBI and the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — are still working to determine the cause of the explosion, officials say. The presence of explosives and other ordnance at the property has made searching the scene complicated.
Accurate Energetic Systems develops, manufactures, and stores explosives for “military, aerospace, and commercial demolition markets,” according to the company’s website. The headquarters includes eight production buildings and a quality lab.
UK universities told to crack down on antisemitism after Manchester synagogue attack
Students stand among tents at a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel camp set up on the campus of Queen Mary University of London, on May 14, 2024. (BENJAMIN CREMEL / AFP)
British universities must take stronger action to protect Jewish students, the British government says, after a deadly attack on a synagogue in northern England and amid concerns over antisemitism on campuses in Britain and the United States.
Young people must be equipped to spot and challenge misinformation online, the government says, urging universities to use every tool available to confront hate and division.
“One instance of antisemitic abuse is one too many,” UK Education Minister Bridget Phillipson said in a statement.
“So I’m clear: the buck stops with universities when it comes to ridding their campuses of hate – and they have my full backing to use their powers to do so.”
On October 2, a British man of Syrian descent drove a car into pedestrians and then began stabbing several people on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, outside Manchester’s Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue. Two men were killed in the attack.
In the aftermath, Phillipson wrote to university vice-chancellors urging “practical and proportionate steps” to ensure campuses remain safe spaces. New rules introduced in August require institutions to have clear policies and reporting mechanisms to address harassment of all kinds.
Last year, Britain reported its second-worst year in modern times for antisemitism, with more than 3,500 incidents recorded, the Community Security Trust, which provides security to Jewish organizations across the country, said earlier this year.
Data from Britain’s interior ministry on Thursday showed Jews suffered the highest rate of religious hate crimes in England and Wales in the year ending in March.
There has also been a surge in antisemitic incidents reported on US college campuses amid tensions over the Israel-Gaza war.
The Trump administration has frozen and threatened to cut federal funds to universities over campus pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests. It says universities allowed displays of antisemitism.
Leaders of France, Spain, Italy to join peace summit in Egypt on Monday; Hamas won’t attend
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during a high-profile meeting at the United Nations aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, September 22, 2025, at UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez confirm their attendance at an upcoming Gaza peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on Monday, adding their names to the list of world leaders who will attend.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also be attending the conference, which will be chaired by US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
Macron was previously reported to be heading to Egypt; he has attempted to take a leadership role in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, leading a push in which a string of Western nations have recognized a Palestinian state. Israel and the US have opposed that effort.
Sanchez is an outspoken critic of Israel. Meloni recently criticized a flotilla that aimed unsuccessfully to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza and deliver a token amount of humanitarian aid there.
Axios has reported that Israel will not participate in the summit, which will occur on the same day that the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza is expected to start.
Hamas has said it will not take part. Hossam Badran, a Hamas political bureau member, told AFP in an interview that the Palestinian terror group “will not be involved.”
Hamas “acted principally through… Qatari and Egyptian mediators” during previous talks on Gaza, he said.
UN chief Guterres confirms attendance at upcoming Gaza peace summit in Egypt
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will also attend the international summit in Egypt next week chaired by US President Donald Trump on his peace plan for Gaza, a UN spokesman says.
Guterres “is traveling to Egypt to attend on Monday the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit for Peace,” his spokesman’s office says, adding that Guterres will return to UN headquarters on Wednesday.
Israel’s hostage envoy told families that handover of hostages, living and dead, will begin Monday morning
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hostage point man Gal Hirsch attends a meeting of the Knesset National Security Committee, September 28, 2025. (Noam Moskowitz, Office of the Knesset Spokesperson)
On Friday, as the 72-hour window for Hamas to release all the hostages began, government pointman Gal Hirsch told families of the captives that Israel believes that “the process of releasing your loved ones—our loved ones, the hostages—will begin on Monday morning,” in a message seen by The Times of Israel.
“Living hostages will be handed over to us, and it is expected that the remains of fallen hostages will also be transferred to us,” he wrote.
Hirsch added that Israel had completed preparations for receiving the living hostage inside the Gaza Strip, at the Re’im IDF base, and at hospitals in Israel.
Bodies of slain hostages “will be transferred in a painful and respectful ceremony, in accordance with the proper protocol, to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for the identification process,” he told the families.
After Israel verifies which bodies it has received, said Hirsch, the multinational task force will start searching for those still in Gaza.
“We demand, expect, and work for 100% effort from Hamas, with the assistance of the international force, in order to complete the mission and bring back all the fallen hostages for burial in Israel,” he stressed.
Hirsch told the hostage families that Israel is maintaining close coordination with the Red Cross, the negotiating teams from the mediating countries, and with other countries and international organizations.
“The Home Front Command and I are with you at this time—with vigilance, with anticipation, with pain, with uncertainty, and with joy,” he wrote.
Sharm el-Sheikh car crash victims are Qatari security guards, not hostage negotiators — source
The victims of a deadly car accident outside Sharm el-Sheikh are not Qatari diplomats involved in the hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas, as reports have claimed, but rather Qatari security guards and protocol officers, a source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.
The source says that Egyptian media reports claiming that three members of Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani’s negotiation team were killed in the crash are false.
Two people have been pronounced dead, however, and two more are in critical condition.
UK’s Starmer confirms he’ll attend Gaza peace summit in Egypt on Monday
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Egypt to attend the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit, where leaders are expected to sign a US-brokered peace agreement aimed at ending the war in Gaza, his office says.
The first phase of the plan is set to begin with the release of hostages and Palestinian security prisoners by Monday, marking what Britain calls a “historic turning point” after two years of war.
The British leader will pay tribute to the role of US President Donald Trump and the diplomatic efforts of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey in brokering the deal, his office says.
He is expected to call for continued international coordination to implement the next phase, which includes deploying a ceasefire monitoring mission and establishing transitional governance in Gaza.
Starmer will reiterate Britain’s “steadfast support” to help secure the ceasefire and deliver humanitarian aid.
Arabic media airs video of Palestinian prisoner phoning family to tell them he’s being released in Gaza deal
Arab media outlets publish footage of Yasser Abu Turki, a Palestinian prisoner said to be from Hebron, calling his family to update them about his pending release.
At the start of the call, the prisoner apparently asks that no celebrations be held upon his release, as public celebrations for prisoners freed in hostage deals are forbidden by Israel.
According to the report, Abu Turki is serving a life sentence.
He is also heard asking during the call whether his mother is still alive.
As a rule, security prisoners — those serving time for offenses against the State of Israel — are not entitled to make phone calls at all while in prison. In rare and exceptional cases, a prisoner may be granted permission to call his lawyer. Over the years, however, many security prisoners have smuggled cell phones into prison and used them to stay in contact with the outside world.
However, the name Yasser Abu Turki does not appear on the list of prisoners slated for release by Israel. It may instead be a fake name for a different prisoner on the list, Yasser Asfour, who is the same age as the man identified by Arab reports as Abu Turki.
According to the list published by Israel, Yasser Asfour is from the southern West Bank, was arrested in 2006, and is serving, among other sentences, a life sentence for murder.
לקראת שחרור האסירים: יאסר אבו תורכי*, מחברון שמרצה מאסר עולם – התקשר למשפחתו והודיע לה על שחרורו. (קריין: הוא לא יכול להתקשר מהכלא, זה טלפון מוברח). קשה לקבוע במאה אחוז, אבל בתחילת הקטע זה נשמע שאומר שלא יקימו חגיגות עם חזרתו כי זה אסור. pic.twitter.com/eva9K33R9J
— Nurit Yohanan (@nurityohanan) October 11, 2025
Witkoff confirms he visited Gaza to ensure Israel complying with Trump’s ceasefire plan
US special envoy Steve Witkoff tweets that he traveled to Gaza earlier today with the head of CENTCOM and Jared Kushner “to verify Israel’s compliance” with the hostage-release phase of the US plan for ending the Gaza war.
“We received detailed briefings on security, humanitarian aid and deconfliction efforts,” Witkoff writes.
“With continued commitment, peace remains within reach,” he adds.
Egypt to host over 20 world leaders at Trump-led summit to finalize Gaza peace plan Monday; Israel said not to be attending
US President Donald Trump listens during a multilateral meeting with leaders of Qatar, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt United Arab of Emirates and Saudi Arabia, during the United Nations General Assembly, September 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Egypt will host an international summit in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday to finalize an agreement aimed at ending the war in Gaza, an Egyptian presidential spokesperson says.
The summit will be attended by more than 20 leaders, including US President Donald Trump, the spokesperson adds in a statement.
The summit was first reported by Axios yesterday, which said Trump had organized the event and that invitations had been extended to leaders or foreign ministers from Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Indonesia.
The outlet reports now that the US State Department issued official invitations to the leaders’ summit, and has significantly expanded the list of invitees to include Spain, Japan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Hungary, India, El Salvador, Cyprus, Greece, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Canada. Iran was also invited, according to one source cited by the outlet, which adds that Israel will not participate.
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