The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they unfolded.
Cyberattacks on several local water systems in the US state of Minnesota carry telltale signs of a hacker group affiliated with Iran, US media reports say.
Around 30 water systems were attacked Sunday and Monday using methods that have pointed investigators to a Tehran-backed group, according to the reports, which cite a security firm and US investigators.
The operation disrupted the water supply in the small town of Braham, in the greater Minneapolis area, for about two hours before service was restored.
According to cybersecurity firm Tenable, the method used in the attack “is consistent with” the CyberAv3ngers cybercriminal group, which the US government accuses of operating under Tehran’s control.
US authorities also suspect Iranian hackers, although they have not formally established responsibility at this stage.
On July 22, just days before the attack, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an advisory warning of an offensive by Iran-affiliated organizations against online control systems for infrastructure in the United States.
The FBI did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
In March, the Handala Hack group — also said to be operating under the Iranian government — claimed responsibility for cyberattacks against two US companies: medical equipment supplier Stryker and digital payments platform Verifone. That group has also attacked several Israeli targets.
Stryker confirmed the incident, while Verifone denied that it had occurred.
The hackers described their actions as retaliation for the bombing of an elementary school in Minab, southern Iran, on the first day of the US-Israeli offensive against the Islamic Republic on February 28.
According to the findings of an internal US military investigation revealed by the New York Times, the strike, which killed more than 150 people, appears to have resulted from incorrect coordinates used while targeting an adjacent military base.
It is unclear why the system in Minnesota was targeted, but it is the latest in a series of cyberattacks in the US thought to be linked to Iran, and a former FBI official who spoke to The New York Times said that Tehran is interested in disrupting US water systems.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Egypt’s security is of “utmost importance” to the Islamic Republic.
“Egypt is an important friend and partner in the region, and its security is of utmost importance to us,” Araghchi posts on X.
His comments come after a drone attack targeted vessels at Egypt’s Damietta port, raising fears of the Iran war widening to a new front. No party has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Iran-backed Houthi terror group earlier denied responsibility.
Iraqi government spokesperson Haider al-Aboudi says Baghdad neither approved nor had prior knowledge of US-Saudi strikes on Iraqi territory, the state news agency reports.
Saudi Arabia and the US Central Command carried out strikes against Iran-backed groups in Iraq that they said were responsible for drone attacks on the kingdom’s oil facilities.
Residents of the Upper Galilee have been notified by local authorities that a large blast is expected to be heard this evening, apparently as the result of IDF activity in Lebanon.
There is no immediate comment from the army.
Hamas is inclined to accept the Board of Peace’s disarmament proposal for Gaza, recognizing that doing so would “put the ball in Israel’s court,” an Arab diplomat tells The Times of Israel.
Mideast mediators Qatar, Egypt and Turkey — themselves under pressure from the US to achieve a deal — have been leaning on Hamas to get on board, arguing that the terror group can avoid being deemed as the obstacle to an agreement.
In making the case to Hamas, the Mideast mediators argued that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is unlikely to accept the Board of Peace proposal ahead of the October elections, given that it would require a pull-back of troops from Gaza, the diplomat says.
A first informal UN Security Council poll shows former Costa Rican vice president Rebeca Grynspan as the early frontrunner in the race to become the next secretary-general of the world body, followed by former Guyanese foreign minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, diplomats tell Reuters.
One diplomat says Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, head of the UN nuclear watchdog, is in a “surprise” third place among the seven candidates for the post. In the non-binding “straw poll” voting by the 15 members of the Security Council, Grynspan receives 10 “encourage” votes compared to nine for Rodrigues-Birkett and seven for Grossi.
The candidates are seeking to replace Antonio Guterres of Portugal when he steps down at the end of this year after two five-year terms.
Guterres’s successor faces the task of revitalizing an organization in crisis and declining stature, and under increasing pressure to reform a bloated, costly bureaucracy and cut duplication across its many agencies.
In the straw polls, of which multiple rounds are expected, Security Council members in secret ballots are asked whether they “encourage,” “discourage,” or have “no opinion” on each candidate.
Two sources tell Reuters Grynspan also received one “discourage” vote.
In the early rounds of straw polls, anonymous ballots are cast, allowing diplomats to see overall levels of support and opposition without revealing whether negative votes came from one of the Council’s five veto-wielding permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — whose support is vital.
Historical precedent suggests multiple rounds of polling could continue through the summer and conclude in late September or early October. The process could take longer if no consensus candidate emerges.
At a later stage in the process, the five permanent members use a different color from elected members that reveals whether a candidate has received a “discourage” vote from one of them.
The Security Council ultimately adopts a resolution, traditionally behind closed doors, recommending an appointment to the 193-member UN General Assembly. This needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes.
Grynspan, descended from Holocaust refugees, has relations with leading Jewish organizations, family in Israel and is a source of pride for Costa Rica’s small Jewish community, but is also an insider at the UN, which Israel has long accused of promoting animus against the country on the world stage. Her office has produced reports critical of the Jewish state during her tenure at the UN.
The IDF says troops opened fire on a Palestinian suspect who accelerated in a vehicle toward them in the Beita area in the northern West Bank a short while ago.
The troops called on the suspect to stop, and after he refused, the soldiers opened fire, the army says.
No soldiers were hurt in the incident. The IDF did not provide details on the driver’s condition.
Human rights groups express dismay that Iran’s authorities are poised to execute more young men accused of taking part in January’s mass anti-government protests.
The Islamic Republic’s officials have recently carried out executions nearly every week, including public hangings in the city of Isfahan.
International observers say the cases appear to be part of a broader effort by Tehran to show zero tolerance for dissent, as the country is locked in a war with the United States.
The independent Norway-based rights NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) says in a statement that Benyamin Naghdi, a 26-year-old arrested during the January protests in the city of Shiraz, has had his death sentence upheld by Iran’s supreme court.
It says the Revolutionary Court in Shiraz condemned him to death after he was arrested for spraying a fire extinguisher at security forces on motorbikes. His lawyer has filed for a retrial.
The charges levelled against the young MMA fighter and kickboxer included “membership of groups disrupting national security, assembly and collusion to commit crimes against national security and propaganda activities against the system,” IHR quotes Naghdi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, as telling an Iranian news outlet.
IHL and Amnesty International say Naghdi was convicted on the basis of a “forced confession,” broadcast on state television, and found guilty of “corruption on earth” — which carries a sentence of death.
Thirteen experts working as special UN rapporteurs on Monday said the Islamic Republic’s authorities seemed intent on quashing any form of dissent. Thousands were killed in the regime’s crackdown on the protests, with some groups putting the death toll far higher.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The United States issues new Iran-related sanctions that target global networks supporting Mahan Air, the Iranian carrier Washington says transports Iran’s Revolutionary Guards personnel, as well as weapons and drones.
The US Treasury designated six entities and individuals in China, India, Russia and Iran for acting as sales agents and support networks for the US- and EU-sanctioned airline, the department says in a statement.
Egyptian President Abdel Fatteh el-Sissi warns that the Middle East war is facing a serious escalation, after a drone struck a US-owned gas tanker in an Egyptian port.
According to his spokesman, during a call to Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Sisi “stressed the need for Egypt, Spain, Europe and the international community to work together to halt this escalation.”
Yoav Eliasi, a far-right rapper known as “The Shadow,” is suspended from his position heading the Tel Aviv District’s civilian police volunteer squad, as police probe allegations that he abused his role to prevent the closure of a Tel Aviv nightclub he has a stake in.
Police chief Danny Levy opened an inquiry into the suspicions following a Haaretz expose claiming the rapper bragged about thwarting the closure of the John Doe nightclub on Tel Aviv’s bustling Rothschild Boulevard after a security guard was stabbed there in September.
At the time, Eliasi was a partner in a company that had a stake in the building where the club operates, according to Haaretz.
Citing audio recordings obtained the outlet, the report claims Eliasi told one of his business partners that he was “educating” the police “that they can’t touch this club.”
He further urged his partner to call him about any issues regarding the club’s relationship with law enforcement. “You call me right away, no matter the time,” he allegedly said.
Employees told the outlet that Eliasi, who has close ties to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, was able to ensure that the club was only shut down for a week, as opposed to the customary 21 days, following the September stabbing.
The rapper’s lawyers tell Haaretz and Channel 12 that he has not been officially ousted from his role, but instead chose to step aside until further notice as police continue their inquiry into the suspicions.
A reconstructed pilot neighborhood for Gazans will begin to take in residents in November, pending progress in the emerging deal to disarm Hamas, Channel 12 reports.
It is meant to be located in the part of the Strip that the IDF currently controls. Land for that purpose has been cleared.
The Board of Peace tells the outlet that there will be no reconstruction until Hamas is disarmed, and concrete factories will be used solely for plugging up tunnels.
The pilot zones will expand if disarmament continues.
Civilians will pass through checkpoints to get to the new neighborhood under construction.
Tens of thousands of Gazans are meant to move to the zone in its first stage, according to the outlet. Police forces with no connection to Hamas will ensure the terror group can’t infiltrate the site.
Hamas could sign on soon to the gradual disarmament roadmap being pushed by the US and the Board of Peace, White House officials tell Channel 12 news.
Qatar, Egypt and Turkey are pressuring Hamas to sign, possibly in the coming days, according to the outlet. Iran, on the other hand, is pushing the terror group to play for time and not to sign.
The plan would see Hamas give up all of its weapons over a six-to-eight-month period. The technocratic Palestinian government would take over sections of Gaza gradually in order to verify that they are free of weapons.
In addition, Hamas would hand over maps of its tunnels, weapons factories and depots. The weapons would be stored by the new technocratic government and the International Stabilization Force, a peacekeeping body.
According to Channel 12, the anti-Hamas militias will also give up their weapons.
Gazan civilians will also be able to sell personal weapons to the ISF.
Hamas members will be pardoned and remain in Gaza, according to the plan.
Meanwhile, once the agreement is signed, the IDF will return to the Yellow Line meant to demarcate its zone of control in Gaza, and stop assassinating Hamas leaders, but will be able to operate against imminent threats.
A further Israeli withdrawal will take place only once Hamas gives up all its weapons.
“This once sounded like a dream,” an official involved in the talks tells Channel 12, “now we hear a different tone. [Hamas] has moved from a place where they didn’t want to hear about [disarming], to a place where they’re discussing it. I wouldn’t rule it out. It can happen, but the path from talk to an announcement is still long.”
Though an Israeli official said today that Gaza did not come up in the meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, White House sources tell Channel 12 they did discuss the issue. White House envoy Steve Witkoff gave a briefing on the talks, and Netanyahu gave a green light for the disarmament plan.
“Israel knows the details, everything is coordinated,” a Board of Peace source tells Channel 12.
“This is a good deal for Israel,” says an American source, “because it solves the Gaza problem. If Hamas cheats, everything will stop and Israel didn’t give anything up.”
The continued presence of US military aircraft at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport is creating a heavy operational burden that could lead to flight delays during the peak summer season, the Israel Airports Authority cautions.
US aircraft refuelers have been parked at Israel’s main international gateway throughout the war with Iran, crowding out civilian planes. Israel’s Transportation Ministry has limited the number of tankers at Ben Gurion to 20 to try to stem summer flight disruptions.
“The presence of aircraft refuelers at the airport creates a domino effect that impacts the pace of ground operations and flight schedules,” the Israel Airports Authority says. “This impact is felt most acutely during the peak summer season, when Ben Gurion Airport operates at unprecedented volumes, handling an exceptionally high number of passengers and flights daily.”
“We are fully aware that any delay, however brief, can cause inconvenience, disrupt plans, and result in prolonged waiting times for passengers and their families,” the Israel Airports Authority adds.
The Israel Airports Authority reiterates that in accordance with a recent directive by Transportation Minister Miri Regev, the authority’s employees are doing their utmost “to minimize flight cancellations as much as possible and maintain the continuity of air operations to ensure that every flight can take off and land safely and smoothly.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lands back in Israel after his trip to Washington, DC, to meet US President Donald Trump and other senior officials.
His office did not announce his takeoff, and he landed at an Air Force base, likely because of heightened security precautions. Netanyahu also took off for the trip from an Air Force base without prior notice.
Saudi Arabia hosts dozens of military chiefs of staff to discuss a new Saudi-led Multinational Maritime Defense Alliance, says the kingdom’s defense ministry.
The meeting of 43 countries and the EU is reviewing a draft charter for the organization, aimed at confronting maritime threats in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden.
The gathering comes as Saudi Arabia is coming under regular attack from the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, who have declared a blockade on Saudi Arabia.
All countries “sharing its objectives and principles” can join, says the ministry.
Fourteen of the countries signed a joint statement backing the alliance: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sudan, Djibouti and Somalia.
Palestinian officials ask the US Supreme Court to pause a $656 million judgment in a long-running lawsuit filed by Americans killed or wounded in attacks in Israel.
The emergency appeal comes after a lower court reinstated the damages in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that followed more than two decades of litigation.
The Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, which governs Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, argue in court filings that paying the hefty judgment now would “destabilize critical government services [they] provide in the West Bank, injure innocent citizens and jeopardize regional security.”
They ask the justices to pause payment as they appeal the reinstatement of the verdict.
The lawsuit was filed by victims of attacks in Jerusalem in the early 2000s, during the Second Intifada, which killed 33 people and wounded hundreds more. Families brought their lawsuit under the Anti-Terrorism Act, a law aimed at opening US courts to victims of international terror attacks.
A federal court in New York tossed the original verdict on appeal and continued to rule in favor of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority as Congress revised the law to allow suits to go forward. In 2025, the Supreme Court sided with the families and revived the lawsuits.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to reinstate the verdict in March. Attorneys for the plaintiffs said at the time that the families were pleased and relieved by the decision, saying it would allow “justice to be done.”
All of the soldiers of the Givati Brigade’s Tzabar Battalion who abandoned their base earlier, aside from one platoon, have returned, according to the military.
In all, around 100 soldiers deserted the Sde Teiman base en masse following an argument with their commander.
The military says the troops who led the desertion will be sentenced by the commander of the brigade, Col. Netanel Shamaka.
The soldiers from the platoon who have not returned are expected to be declared AWOL and will be handled by the Military Police. A platoon comprises 30 to 40 soldiers.
Regarding the battalion commander who took down decorative signs the troops had put up, leading to the desertion, the military says it supports his conduct, as the signs contained materials meant to disparage rookie soldiers.
Meanwhile, Shamaka and his commander, 162nd Division commander Brig. Gen. Sagiv Dahan, arrived at Sde Teiman to speak with the soldiers regarding the incident.
Police announce that they have arrested a man for smashing the glass door of Channel 12’s offices in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and leaving a note reading, “Someone will die.”
The suspect, a resident of the adjacent city of Ramat Gan, is in his 40s, police say.
The police investigation was conducted in partnership with the Shin Bet.
The attack was the second this month targeting Channel 12, and is the latest in a string of attacks against media outlets that frequently air criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The UN Security Council begins the process of selecting the UN’s next secretary-general, holding a first “straw poll” to gauge the seven candidates’ support for the high-profile global role.
Four women and three men are so far in the running to succeed Antonio Guterres, who will complete his second five-year term on December 31, 2026. A woman has never been chosen for the post.
The candidates are Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Maria Fernanda Espinosa of Ecuador, Rafael Grossi of Argentina, Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica, Olara Otunnu of Uganda, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett of Guyana, and Macky Sall of Senegal.
Although Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has arguably the best name recognition, observers believe that for now there is no clear favorite in the race that could last several months.
Diplomats are reluctant to predict the outcome of the race because of the sway of the five permanent members of the Security Council — the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom — which have not yet indicated their preferences.
Even if a candidate bags the required nine votes from the 15 available in the Security Council, they must also avoid a veto by the five major powers, which are deeply divided.
Once a candidate clears those bars, their name will go to the General Assembly of all UN members for confirmation.
The US military says no US aircraft were destroyed or damaged in recent attempted Iranian attacks, denying a claim it says was made by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that three US F-35 jets and three other aircraft were destroyed.
In a statement, US Central Command also says the commercial vessel M/T Nora had not broken through America’s blockade of Iranian ports, denying a claim it says was made on Iranian state media.
The Health Ministry confirms that six patients have been diagnosed with West Nile fever so far this year.
The Environmental Protection Ministry also reports the capture of mosquitoes infected with the West Nile virus in the Tamar Regional Council in southern Israel.
The ministry has instructed local authorities in areas where infected mosquitoes were found to further expand monitoring and pest control efforts.
The United Kingdom’s Supreme Court says it will hear an appeal against a lower court ruling to allow Britain’s decision to ban anti-Israel activist group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization.
London’s Court of Appeal ruled in June that proscribing Palestine Action under terrorism laws was lawful because of its support for violence, after the High Court ruled in February that the ban unlawfully interfered with freedom of expression.
Huda Ammori, who co-founded Palestine Action in 2020 and brought the legal challenge against proscription, was granted permission to appeal against that decision yesterday, the Supreme Court’s website shows.
She says in a statement: “We will continue to fight this proscription all the way to the Supreme Court and, if necessary, to the European Court of Human Rights to overturn what has become one of the most extreme attacks on free speech and the right to protest in modern British history.”
Before it was proscribed, Palestine Action had increasingly targeted Israel-linked defense companies or firms with links to them with “direct action,” blocking entrances, spraying red paint and attacking staff, particularly Elbit Systems.
The group was banned shortly after a break-in at the Royal Air Force’s Brize Norton base in June 2025, in which activists damaged two military planes.
Roughly 3,000 people have since been arrested for holding signs in support of Palestine Action, including dozens today outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi terror group attacked Saudi Arabia this week from Iraqi territory in coordination with Iraqi armed groups, according to assessments by Saudi Arabia and regional partners, reflecting growing coordination among Iran-aligned militias, two officials in the region say.
The assessments, which differ from official accounts, indicate that members of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance have deepened their ties and ability to inflict damage to US allies in the region despite years of US and Israeli strikes on them from Lebanon to Iran after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
The attacks included strikes on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia’s eastern province, the kingdom’s main crude hub.
Saudi Arabia carried out joint airstrikes with the United States on Iraqi sites yesterday that it said were linked to the attacks, officially blaming Iraqi armed groups aligned with Iran. Yemen’s Houthis have said they carried out the attacks. Iraq has said it is investigating.
The officials in the region who say some of the attacks were carried out from Iraqi territory jointly by the Iraqi groups and the Houthis, add that it is under the supervision of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“There is now direct training and coordination between members of the Axis of Resistance themselves, not just between them and Iran,” says Farea al-Muslimi, a research fellow at the Chatham House think tank’s Middle East and North Africa program.
The Saudi, Iranian and Iraqi governments do not respond to requests for comment, nor do the Houthis, who have said their attacks on Saudi Arabia are in response to Saudi attacks in Yemen and aim to break a “siege” imposed by the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has denied imposing a siege, noting the arrival of dozens of ships to Houthi-controlled ports this year.
Amid significant progress in talks on a roadmap for Hamas’s disarmament, an Israeli official says that Israel objects to the terms of the document currently under discussion in Cairo and will not withdraw from Gaza until it’s fully demilitarized.
The objections surround Hamas’s reported refusal to fully disarm, including surrendering the terror group’s guns.
“Israel is demanding the complete disarmament of Hamas, including the removal of all weapons from Gaza and the full demilitarization of the Strip, as a precondition for any process,” says the official.
“The reported 15-point document does not adequately address these requirements, and Israel has conveyed its reservations on the matter to envoy Tony Blair,” the official continues.
Blair, a former UK prime minister, is a senior member of the US-backed Board of Peace’s Gaza board and a key mediator in talks over the future of the Strip.
“There will be no Israeli withdrawal from the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed and the Strip is fully demilitarized,” the official continues.
The official adds that Gaza did not come up at all in Tuesday’s meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi urges Bulgaria to reconsider its decision to allow the temporary deployment of US military aircraft at the Bezmer airbase, Iranian state media reports.
During a phone call with his Bulgarian counterpart, Velislava Petrova-Chamova, Araqchi says Sofia’s approval of a US request to station military aircraft at the base to support military operations amounts to facilitating aggression against Iran, adding the move is unacceptable and contrary to the traditionally friendly relations between the two countries.
Iran has repeatedly warned countries allowing their territory to be used for US military operations against it that they could “face consequences.”
Araqchi holds a separate phone call with Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, during which he stresses the importance of preventing foreign military bases in Cyprus from being used against Iran.
Bulgaria’s parliament last week approved the temporary deployment of up to eight US KC-135 tanker aircraft and up to 250 personnel at Bezmer air base despite Iranian objections. Sofia has said no offensive weapons would be deployed and that the move did not make Bulgaria a party to military operations.
Cyprus hosts two British sovereign military bases, including RAF Akrotiri, which was struck by an Iranian drone in early March, a few days after Israeli and US strikes launched the war with Iran.
Direct contacts between Jared Kushner and the Palestinian Authority’s exiled former Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan helped secure a breakthrough in Hamas’s disarmament talks with the Washington-controlled Board of Peace.
Dahlan aide Samir Masharawi makes the revelation during an interview with the Jordanian Al-Ghad news outlet.
“Dahlan… intervened in these negotiations… through direct contacts with the American side, specifically with Mr. Jared Kushner, with [Board of Peace Gaza envoy] Mr. [Nickolay] Mladenov and with the entire American team,” says Masharawi, who is a senior member of a Dahlan-led breakaway faction from PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party.
This is the first time that Dahlan has been publicly linked to the Hamas disarmament talks after an extended period in which he worked behind the scenes. Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s top aide and son-in-law, played a key role in reaching the ceasefire in Gaza last October.
An Arab diplomat familiar with the negotiations tells The Times of Israel that Kushner has been consulting with Dahlan since the start of the Trump aide’s involvement in the Gaza file last year.
Dahlan — who lives in Abu Dhabi, where he also serves as a close adviser to UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed — also met earlier this year with Shin Bet chief David Zini, a source familiar with the matter confirmed.
A new right-wing party led by former Likud ministers Gilad Erdan and Yuli Edelstein would win five seats in the upcoming election, but wouldn’t break the deadlock between the pro- and anti-Netanyahu blocs, according to a new poll from The Times of Israel’s Zman Yisrael sister site.
The poll shows that Yashar, the centrist anti-Netanyahu party led by Gadi Eisenkot, would lead the pack with 23 seats, followed by Netanyahu’s Likud at 20, a drop from previous polls, as some voters appear to opt for the breakaway party led by Erdan and Edelstein.
Overall, the anti-Netanyahu bloc would win 55 seats, compared to 49 for the pro-Netanyahu camp, both short of a 61-seat majority. The Erdan-Edelstein party belongs to neither, and the remaining 11 seats would go to Arab parties.
A poll excluding the Erdan-Edelstein party likewise finds that the pro-Netanyahu parties would win 49 seats and the anti-Netanyahu parties would win 56. Another four would go to the non-aligned Blue and White party, while the Arab parties would win 11 seats.
The poll included 500 respondents and was conducted on July 29 and 30, with a 4.4 percent margin of error.
A series of bets on the prediction market Polymarket suggests that a government insider is trying to improve Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s odds on the platform ahead of the upcoming election, according to a Haaretz investigation.
The investigation found that, just ahead of the US-Iran ceasefire agreement, someone with the username 25xp correctly predicted that the agreement would be signed, and reaped a $200,000 windfall on slim odds, indicating that they had inside information. That was the only bet the user made until recently, according to the report.
Lately, however, 25xp has been placing bets totalling $40,000 on Netanyahu winning the election, controlling about 25% of the site’s market share on that topic, according to Haaretz. Another user, the more transparently named OnlyBibi2026, is also placing large bets for the prime minister, Haaretz says.
The large bets from 25xp have come right when the premier’s poll numbers drop, or as his odds fall on the site, suggesting that they are efforts to arrest his decline and manipulate his odds on the site to make it seem like he’s in a better position than he might be otherwise.
The report notes that the suspected effort is taking place as Polymarket is seen by many to be a useful predictor of future events. The site has faced accusations of hosting insider gambling on military conflicts, which it says it tries to combat.
In March, an Air Force major was charged with using classified info to place bets on the 2025 war with Iran. Earlier this year, a Times of Israel reporter faced death threats from Polymarket gamblers demanding he insert false information into an article.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels declare that they were not behind a drone strike yesterday that hit a US-owned-and-operated gas storage ship in the Egyptian port of Damietta.
According to the Houthi-affiliated news agency Saba, an official in the Iran-backed terror group’s foreign affairs office says “rumors claiming Yemen targeted a ship in Damietta Port in the Arab Republic of Egypt are unfounded.”
Egypt has not assigned blame for the attack.
A senior military official says a “large number” of the soldiers of the Givati Brigade’s Tzabar Battalion who abandoned their base earlier have returned.
“A large number of the soldiers have already returned, and many of them are back at the base,” the official says.
They add that the unit will hold a roll call soon, “during which we will be able to get a complete picture of the situation and determine the exact numbers.”
The army had set a 4 p.m. deadline for the soldiers to return after they deserted en masse following an argument with their commander.
The Israeli Air Force bombed another four Hamas weapon depots across the Gaza Strip overnight, the military announces.
The IDF says the strikes destroyed sites where assault rifles, explosive devices, anti-tank missile launchers, and other equipment were stored by Hamas.
The army says the weapons were intended to be used in attacks on Israeli troops in Gaza and Israeli civilians, and the sites were struck “to remove the threat.”
במהלך הלילה: צה”ל ושב"כ השמידו ארבעה מחסני אמצעי לחימה של ארגון הטרור חמאס ברצועת עזה
צה״ל ושב"כ תקפו במהלך הלילה במספר מרחבים ברחבי רצועת עזה, והשמידו ארבעה מחסני אמצעי לחימה של ארגון הטרור חמאס, בהם אוחסנו רובי קלצ׳ניקוב, מטעני נפץ, משגרי נ״ט, תחמושת וציוד צבאי נוסף.
אמצעי… pic.twitter.com/FDXDXfPaCz
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 30, 2026
A 36-year-old man is charged in court today with aggravated murder for the fatal stabbing of a prominent rabbi in Netanya at the start of the month.
The defendant, Binyamin Friedrich, is accused of murdering Rabbi Amos Guetta, a 75-year-old sage who led a yeshiva in the coastal city. The aging rabbi was largely bedridden due to medical issues and lived in a room in the yeshiva until his violent death.
According to the indictment filed in the Central District Court, Friedrich entered the rabbi’s room on the morning of July 1 armed with a knife hidden under his clothes, under the pretense of wanting to pray by the rabbi’s side.
After he murmured a word of prayer, Friedrich allegedly approached the rabbi’s bed, unsheathed his knife and forcefully stabbed the man.
The rabbi’s assistant, who was in the room, noticed what had happened and tried to pry the knife from Friedrich’s hands, but was not able to and was injured in the fight, according to the indictment.
The defendant managed to stab Guetta another three times before fleeing the scene as the rabbi bled out in his bed, prosecutors say.
Friedrich is charged with aggravated murder, aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a knife. Prosecutors request that he remain in custody until the end of legal proceedings.
Swiss Air will resume flight operations on the route between Zurich and Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on August 1, rhe German Lufthansa group of airlines announces.
Swiss will operate a daily flight on the Zurich–Tel Aviv route. The Swiss airline has halted flight operations since March due to the US-Israel war against Iran and heightened regional tensions.
The Lufthansa group — which includes Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings — gradually restarted flight services to and from Israel in June. In August, the group of airlines will operate 54 weekly flights to and from Israel, compared to 29 weekly flights in July.
After dozens of troops of the Givati Brigade’s Tzabar Battalion abandoned their base in southern Israel, their commander told them to return by 4 p.m. or face punishment.
“At exactly 16:00, there will be a check in the company to see who has remained/returned. Anyone who has not returned by 16:00 will be immediately classified as AWOL,” a message to the troops read, warning them that the names of those missing will be sent to the Military Police.
The IDF said earlier that the troops deserted the Sde Teiman base, leaving behind their weapons, without the approval of their superiors after the battalion commander decided to take down and destroy signs they had put up that supposedly humiliated rookie soldiers in the unit, according to the army.
A senior IDF official says that “all the soldiers in the battalion, from the battalion commander down to the last soldier, fought in the war and risked their lives in every combat sector.”
“At the same time, this is a serious disciplinary incident that has no place in the IDF,” the officer says. “Just like combat incidents, this incident too will be handled by the commanders with love and respect for the soldiers, while at the same time setting high and uncompromising standards.”
Reports of antisemitic discrimination in British soccer rose 43% during the 2025-26 season, according to racism watchdog Kick It Out, amid a 25% increase in overall reports of discrimination in the sport.
A record 1,744 reports of discrimination overall were recorded during the 2025-26 season, representing 1,255 separate incidents of discrimination across professional soccer, grassroots matches and online spaces, the British organization says. The most common form of discrimination was racism.
The report tallied 93 reports of antisemitism, compared to 65 the previous year. Of these, 16 were reported at grassroots under-18s level, 24 in the professional game, and 53 on social media.
Racism accounted for 792 reports, or 45% of the total, an increase of 19% from the previous season. Reports of sexism rose 12% to 216, homophobia increased 46% to 203, and ableism rose 20% to 89. Islamophobia nearly doubled, increasing 88% to 60, the report says.
Kick It Out also recorded a record 142 reports of discriminatory mass chanting, alongside increases in anti-immigrant abuse and discrimination targeting match officials and youth soccer.
“These figures show that discrimination remains deeply embedded across the game at a time when we’re also seeing rises in hate crime and divisive political rhetoric in Britain,” says Kick It Out CEO Samuel Okafor. “But they also show that people are more willing to stand up to abuse when they see it.”
The organization continues to work with soccer authorities, clubs, regulators and social media companies to improve accountability and make the sport more welcoming, he notes.
🚨 Kick It Out received a 25% rise in reports of discrimination last season, with the number of incidents reported also reaching a record 1,255.
🔗 Read more here: https://t.co/NLWAm9jb55
‼️ If you experience, witness or hear discrimination at a football match or online, you… pic.twitter.com/JMFcAvGj96
— Kick It Out (@kickitout) July 29, 2026
A US government map of Africa mislabeled every country during a State Department presentation at a global conference in Brazil this week, causing a stir among attendees who took screenshots and posted them online.
Footage shows the errant map displayed during a presentation about the State Department’s new health agreements.
A Reuters analysis finds the image of the map included in the presentation contained an artificial intelligence watermark that signals it was made with OpenAI tools. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
The State Department says it takes “full responsibility” for the confusion caused and that the map had been produced by a team member who hastily changed the slide deck before the event.
"A senior US State Department official displayed a map of Africa that was completely wrong before high-level officials from African nations, including some whose countries had been mislabeled,' in a dispiriting discussion of new US AIDS response MoUs with multiple African… pic.twitter.com/rcOIBlfJZr
— Sam Zarifi (@SZarifi) July 29, 2026
The map showed Nigeria, where the US currently has several hundred troops deployed, as landlocked in the Sahara Desert. Mozambique, which is in southeastern Africa, was relocated to the Horn of Africa, while Ivory Coast in West Africa was placed on the other side of the continent.
Screenshots of the map first appeared in a Substack post by AIDS expert Emily Bass and are widely shared on LinkedIn, with one post garnering some 40,000 views.
“Whoever created and approved this slide did not know where countries in Africa are and did not care to check their work,” writes Matt Petit, who focuses on AI and geopolitics at the Atlantic Council, in the post.
Dozens of soldiers from the Givati Brigade’s Tzabar Battalion abandoned their base in southern Israel a short while ago amid a row with their commander, the military says.
The IDF says the troops deserted the Sde Teiman base, leaving behind their weapons, without the approval of their superiors after the battalion commander decided to take down and destroy signs that had been put up by the soldiers.
The decorative signs had contained materials that supposedly humiliated rookie soldiers in the unit, according to the army.
Soldiers claim the signs were “part of our company’s tradition.”
“The incident is being investigated and handled by the commanders. This is an incident that is inconsistent with the values of the IDF and with what is expected of its soldiers,” the military says.
Infantry soldiers in the IDF have a history of mass desertion over alleged unfair treatment in the military.
יותר מ-100 לוחמי גבעתי עזבו את בסיס שדה תימן – ללא נשקם
לוחמים ומפקדים מגדוד "צבר" יצאו לנפקדות מהבסיס לאחר עימות עם מפקד הגדוד, ששבר את לוחות המורשת של הפלוגות. "נפקדות, כלא – זה לא מעניין", אמר אחד החיילים pic.twitter.com/v5WY11KGaf
— אוראל סמדר (@orelsmadar) July 30, 2026
Discussions with Hamas and mediators underway in Cairo are “making progress” on disarmament, a diplomatic official tells The Times of Israel.
“We continue to advance the implementation of the roadmap that offers a balanced and pragmatic path forward, with all weapons decommissioned and a phased transition of responsibilities taking place to hand over full authority to the technocratic government,” the official says, stressing that there will be “no exceptions for certain weapons or certain people. One authority, one law, one weapon.”
The roadmap under discussion “creates a process for the elimination of all tunnels, depots of weapons, and any weapons production facilities,” says the official.
The official adds that “this is a comprehensive process.”
If implemented, “there will be no more terror infrastructure in Gaza” at the end of the process, says the official.
Hamas will not be able to control developments from behind the scenes, as Hezbollah has done in Lebanon, argues the official.
“Hamas will have no role in front or behind and all weapons — heavy and light — will be under full control of the NCAG in coordination with and with the support of the ISF, which is led by a 2-star US Special Forces general,” the official continues, referring to the Palestinian technocratic government and the fledgling international peacekeeping force.
The process is built around the principle of reciprocity, says the official. When Hamas fulfills a commitment, Israel will respond in kind.
The official waxes optimistic about the plan’s potential.
“This is a new beginning for Gaza,” says the official. “It has taken a long time to reach this stage, but our guiding light has been President Trump’s Comprehensive Gaza Peace Plan.”
The official says that the roadmap is “a first-of-its-kind agreement that operationalizes the Trump peace plan into steps that both Palestinians and Israelis will have to take to open this new chapter of peace, prosperity and security for Gaza.”
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad-affiliated TV channel Palestine Al-Youm reports that an announcement is expected today on an agreement regarding the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire.
The report appears to refer to an agreement between Hamas and the mediators, which would still require Israeli approval to take effect.
According to the channel, the agreement would include Hamas placing its heavy weapons into storage rather than destroying them. It does not specify which party would take custody of the weapons.
The terror group’s light weapons are not mentioned in the report.
The report adds that the agreement would make the issue of the weapons contingent on a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to targeted killings and military strikes in the Strip.
Based on past negotiations, Israel is unlikely to accept these conditions.
Palestinian workers in the Barkan Industrial Park in the northern West Bank say they received notices from their employers yesterday stating that they were no longer permitted to enter gas stations in the nearby Israeli settlement of Ariel. The notice appears to have been circulated via WhatsApp. According to the labor rights organization Ma’an, which represents Palestinian workers, in at least one case the instruction was also delivered verbally to workers during the workday.
The number of Palestinians using Israeli gas stations in the West Bank has risen in recent weeks because of an acute fuel shortage at Palestinian stations, which Palestinian officials attribute to an economic crisis involving Israeli banks. The crisis has left Palestinian businesses unable to deposit cash, preventing them from converting cash income into bank balances and continuing their normal commercial activity.
The WhatsApp message states that “following an update received from security officials at the Ariel Municipality, Palestinian workers are prohibited from entering the Ten gas station in western Ariel and the Sonol gas station at the entrance to Ariel, whether arriving in their own vehicles or accompanying an employer or another individual to refuel or fill jerrycans.”
It adds that “beginning tomorrow [today, July 30], the directive will be enforced, and any Palestinian worker arriving at these stations may be detained, questioned and barred from working.”
Following the notice, the Ma’an workers’ organization has sent a legal warning letter to the Ariel Municipality and the management of the Barkan Industrial Park, arguing that “the directive has no legal basis” and unlawfully infringes on fundamental rights.
The Ariel Municipality, however, denies any involvement in the notice.
Responding to a request for comment from The Times of Israel, the municipality says: “The Ariel Municipality and all of its departments operate strictly in accordance with the law. We are unfamiliar with the message that was circulated, and the instruction described is not known to us as one issued by the municipality’s security officials.”
The Barkan Industrial Park refers inquiries to the Samaria Regional Council, under whose authority it operates. The Samaria Regional Council says it is unfamiliar with the notice.
The Israel Meteorological Service (IMS) says that there will be an extreme heatwave starting tomorrow and not subsiding until Tuesday.
Peak temperatures in the Golan, northern valleys, Galilee and Negev are predicted to be 38-42 degrees Celsius (100-107 Fahrenheit), and 35-36 degrees Celsius (95-97 Fahrenheit) in the central mountain area, including Jerusalem, as well as the coastal plane, including Tel Aviv, and the Shfela region.
The most extreme heat is predicted to be up to 47 degrees Celsius (116 Fahrenheit) in the Sea of Galilee and Jordan Valley areas over the weekend.
“This is the most significant and prolonged heatwave of the current season,” IMS Director Dr. Amir Givati tells the Ynet news site. “There will be dry winds and very low humidity, which means we are concerned about fires.”
The Health Ministry calls on the public to avoid sun exposure — particularly the elderly, children, pregnant women and patients with chronic diseases — and to avoid unnecessary physical exertion, be sure to drink water, and be in air-conditioned or well-ventilated places as much as possible.
The ministry urges the public to take care not to leave infants, children, the elderly and those with disabilities in vehicles that are unattended and not air-conditioned.
Animals should also not be left in a vehicle or in a building without water and ventilation.
There is an increased risk of developing heatstroke for infants and toddlers up to the age of four, cardiovascular patients, people suffering from obesity or other chronic diseases, and those who engage in intense physical activity.
Heatstroke symptoms include high body temperature, red and hot skin, severe headache, dizziness, nausea, confusion or loss of consciousness. The public is urged to call an emergency center to receive treatment immediately if they experience these symptoms. Until help arrives, the patient should stay in a cool, shaded area and must not be given anything to drink. The medical team will give fluids to the patient intravenously.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say that three of the force’s members have been killed in an attack by the United States on the northwestern province of Zanjan.
“In the brutal attack carried out by the terrorist regime of the criminal United States on 30 July 2026, three brave and devoted members of the Ansar al-Mahdi IRGC in Zanjan province… attained martyrdom,” the Guards’ provincial branch says in a statement, according to Tasnim news agency.
Former hostage Evyatar David, who spent over two years in Hamas captivity in Gaza, reveals that he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder that brings him back to the tunnels and the daily battle for survival he faced. He is asking the public to donate to a crowdfunding campaign (Hebrew link) his friends and family have launched for him.
David, who has barely spoken publicly since his October 2025 release, is set to recount parts of his ordeal tonight on Channel 12’s “Uvda” program, alongside his good friend and fellow hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal. David is remembered for being starved by his captors and forced to dig his own grave as part of a propaganda video published by the Palestinian terror group.
“After more than two years in captivity, I was sure that after what I’ve been through, nothing would be beyond me,” David writes on social media.
“I went to dance at the Nova [festival], and in one moment my life was turned upside down. I was kidnapped and put in a dark tunnel, and all I thought about was surviving another day, and another day, until I return home,” he says.
“In the moments when I almost broke down, what kept me afloat were thoughts of my parents, family, friends, and the hope that nobody would give up on me,” David recounts.
“When I returned, I received more love than is imaginable. People whom I didn’t know told me they had prayed that I come back,” he continues. “After everything I saw there, the Nation of Israel reminded me that there is good in the world as well.”
“But slowly, I understood that even when you return home, not everything returns with you. I am dealing with PTSD and flashbacks. There are moments when I am in a safe place, surrounded by people I love, but my head still goes back there. I understood that surviving captivity is one thing, but complete rehabilitation is a different battle,” the 25-year-old writes.
“I am not writing this to be pitied. I am writing because I want to win this battle as well. My dream is to be rehabilitated, to marry, to start a family and truly return to normal life. But the rehabilitation journey is long, and friends and family have started a crowdfunding campaign for me, so I can focus on healing,” he says, asking the public to donate and share the campaign.
“Again, thanks for fighting for me.”
An ambulance driver from the Galilee has been charged this morning with espionage for Iran, which included spying on President Isaac Herzog and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a visit to a northern hospital.
He also documented the town in which former defense minister Yoav Gallant resides, but is not known to have reached the politician’s home.
Amir Hisham Mohammad Titi, a 34-year-old man from the Arab village of Bi’ina, was arrested last month and indicted today in the Haifa District Court, police announce.
He is accused of exploiting his access to medical centers across Israel to pass sensitive intelligence to his Iranian handler, including information about hospitals’ preparedness in emergency situations.
During a visit by Herzog and Smotrich to Nahariya’s Galilee Medical Center, the accused allegedly reached out on his own initiative to his handler, notifying him of their appearance at the hospital.
He sent a photo of Herzog and his entourage to the Iranian agent, prosecutors say.
The alleged espionage went beyond Titi’s work as an ambulance driver, and the defendant was also sent to protest locations, including Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square and the site of a demonstration in Haifa.
The accused also traveled to Amikam, the moshav where former defense minister Yoav Gallant resides, and documented the houses, the streets and a clinic in the area, prosecutors say.
According to the indictment, Titi received tens of thousands of shekels in exchange for the espionage, transferred to him in cryptocurrency.
Two Israeli settlement activists illegally crossed the border into Syria today before being returned to Israel by the IDF, in the latest in a series of such incidents.
The military says the pair arrived in the Mount Hermon area and crossed the border.
“IDF troops who were dispatched to the scene located the civilians, returned them to Israeli territory and detained them,” the military says, adding that they were handed over to the police.
The activists, who call themselves the Bashan Pioneers, call for the establishment of settlements in the southern Syria area.
There has been an increase in attempts by the activists to cross the border into Syria in recent weeks.
“The IDF strongly condemns the incident, which constitutes another serious disruption of operational activity and poses a danger to the safety of IDF troops operating in the area,” the military says.
The IDF adds that “law enforcement authorities are required to bring those involved to justice and to prevent those individuals from repeating this phenomenon, which constitutes a criminal offense.”
There have been no charges filed against Bashan Pioneers members, and despite their illegal actions, they have received support from coalition lawmakers.
The authority overseeing the Egyptian port of Damietta says its operations are ongoing despite a fire breaking out there yesterday that authorities have blamed on a drone attack, widely presumed to have been carried out by Iran.
“The Damietta Port Authority confirms the continued full operational efficiency of the port, with all terminals and berths experiencing regular vessel arrivals and departures, along with ongoing loading, unloading and cargo handling of all types,” the Damietta Port Authority says in a statement.
London’s marine insurance market has widened the area in the Red Sea it deems as high risk after attacks on ships by Yemen’s Houthi movement, according to a July 29 advisory.
Guidance from the Joint War Committee, which comprises syndicate members from the Lloyd’s Market Association and representatives from the London insurance company market, is watched closely and influences underwriters’ considerations over insurance premiums.
New Hope MK Sharren Haskel has been summoned to give open testimony to police amid conflicting accounts about a controversial Knesset vote last month to select Michael Rabello as state comptroller.
The summons, reported by Hebrew outlets, comes after Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara instructed police to probe conflicting affidavits filed by Haskel and the Likud party, and explore the possibility of launching a criminal investigation for perjury into whoever is found to be lying.
Haskel, whose New Hope party merged with Likud last year, testified in the High Court of Justice that she and other coalition lawmakers were instructed to film themselves voting for Rabello, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s preferred candidate and longtime attorney.
The alleged instruction — which flouts a legal requirement mandating a secret ballot for such votes — came after Rabello fell short in the first round of voting. During the second round, some MKs were seen holding their phones as they went to vote for the state comptroller.
Haskel’s testimony contradicted affidavits filed in court by Likud executive director David Sharan and several Likud MKs, who said coalition lawmakers had not been instructed to record their votes.
The High Court froze Rabello’s appointment earlier this month, ordering a new vote to assuage concerns over possible violations of the process. The coalition has refused to hold a new vote, and Rabello has refused to take the role without a revote, meaning the comptroller position is currently vacant.
The state comptroller vote took place before Haskel resigned from her position as deputy foreign minister in protest of a coalition-backed law to ban the arrests of Haredi draft dodgers. She gave her testimony to the High Court after quitting the government.
Fuel prices in Israel will rise by some 7.5% at midnight Saturday-Sunday, the Energy Ministry says.
The price of 95 octane unleaded gasoline in self-service will be NIS 8.09 ($2.62) per liter, up by NIS 0.61 from the current price. The addition for full service stays at NIS 0.25.
In Eilat, where there is no 18% added VAT, the 95 octane price will rise by NIS 0.51 to NIS 6.85 ($2.22), with full service addition staying at NIS 0.21.
Kuwait’s defense ministry says an Iranian strike that hit a building belonging to a Chinese company in the country’s north has killed one person.
“The heinous Iranian aggression targeted a building belonging to a Chinese company in the north of the country, resulting in the death of one worker and causing severe material damage to the building,” reads a statement published by the ministry.
Mediator Pakistan confirms that negotiations between the United States and Iran are “ongoing” during a flare-up in fighting across the Middle East.
“Negotiations between parties are ongoing, particularly on [the] Strait of Hormuz and to de-escalate,” Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi tells reporters in Islamabad.
He adds that Pakistan is doing its “utmost” to bring the two countries back to full talks under the memorandum of understanding, aimed at halting their war, to which Islamabad is a signatory.
“We are doing our utmost to bring all parties back to the Islamabad MOU,” Andrabi says, adding that Pakistan is encouraging the countries to “fully adhere to their commitments to hold technical talks” under the agreement.
A drone is what caused a fire on two ships at Damietta port yesterday, initial investigations have shown, Egypt’s cabinet says.
No party has claimed responsibility, and authorities are continuing their investigations and taking necessary measures to protect Egypt’s interests and national security, the cabinet adds.
Iran is widely presumed to be behind the attack.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he hopes that Iran wants to make a deal with US President Donald Trump.
“Anything that will produce the end of Iran’s nuclear program is what we want,” he tells ABC News. “That is our common goal, we talked about it.”
If there is sufficient economic and diplomatic pressure on Iran to accept a deal, “give it a try,” says Netanyahu.
He insists that he did not try to persuade Trump to resume attacks on Iran, calling that narrative “a caricature.”
“It’s his decision,” says Netanyahu.
He also dismisses the notion that he misled Trump into launching the war. “I didn’t mislead anything,” he says. “Nobody tells President Trump what to do. ”
Asked if his goal is regime change, Netanyahu says: “My goal is to make sure that Iran, with this regime, doesn’t have nuclear weapons.”
Netanyahu acknowledges that Trump is the “senior partner” in the alliance and he is the “junior partner.”
Asked about Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz, he says that before the US-Israel campaign, “I thought they could do it, but I thought they’d have to consider what would be the consequences.”
Netanyahu blames Mayor Zohran Mamdani for attacks against Jews in New York City, saying that he “celebrates the [Hamas] barbarians, and a day later a Jew is stabbed coming out of a synagogue. I don’t think that’s accidental.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say that two oil tankers attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz with US support turned back after one of them caught fire.
“Last night, two oil tankers, encouraged by American aircraft, attempted to leave through the unsafe southern route of the Strait of Hormuz,” the Guards say in a statement. “After a major fire broke out on one of them, both vessels quickly turned back.”
The statement does not say if an attack by the Guards had caused the fire.
Iran has kept control of the Hormuz since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East on February 28.
It has since insisted that ships transiting the waterway crucial for energy trade should cross through a route designated by Iran after requesting permission and paying service fees.
The Guards reiterate that the strait is “our territory” and “cannot be reopened as long as the excessive rhetoric and threats of American officials and their interference in maritime movements in the region continue.”
A Hamas sniper commander and a terrorist who invaded Israel during the October 7, 2023, onslaught were killed in separate strikes in the Gaza Strip this week, the military announces.
One strike on Monday in southern Gaza killed Ahmad Hisham Mahmoud Louh, commander of a sniper cell in Hamas’s Nuseirat Battalion, according to the IDF.
The IDF says a separate strike on Monday in northern Gaza killed Mahmoud Ali Mahmoud Taroush, a platoon commander in Hamas’s military wing, who invaded Israel on October 7.
The military justifies the strike amid the ceasefire by saying that the two terror operatives were planning attacks on troops and Israeli civilians. “The terrorists posed a threat to the troops and were eliminated in precise aerial strikes,” the IDF says.
צה"ל חיסל ראש חוליית צליפה בגדוד נוציראת של ארגון הטרור חמאס ומחבל שפשט לשטח מדינת ישראל ב-7 באוקטובר
צה"ל תקף בדרום רצועת עזה מוקדם יותר השבוע, וחיסל את אחמד השאם מחמוד לוח, ראש חוליית צליפה בגדוד נוציראת של ארגון הטרור חמאס.
מחמוד לוח פעל כראש חוליית הצליפה האחרון בגדוד… pic.twitter.com/JmJiTczIvV
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 30, 2026
Two unnamed Iranian sources are quoted by The New York Times as heavily implying that Tehran was behind yesterday’s drone attack on a US-owned gas tanker in Egypt, the first targeting of that country in the current war.
The attack was “designed to show that global shipping and energy supplies could be more deeply disrupted if Iran chose to escalate,” the report says the Iranians said.
However, the sources reportedly did not explicitly say if Iran or its terror proxies launched the attack.
Hamas-affiliated Palestinian media outlets in Gaza report that an 8-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man were killed in an Israeli strike this morning in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
They also report that a child, whose age is not specified, was killed overnight in a separate strike on a residential building in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
An Israeli security official tells The Times of Israel that the strikes are known to the military and were directed at terror operatives.
The IDF has not yet commented on either incident.
The Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reports that talks in Cairo between Palestinian terror group Hamas and mediators regarding the US plan for postwar Gaza — Egypt, Qatar and Turkey — have in the last few days been nearing agreement on a proposal submitted by Board of Peace Gaza envoy Nikolay Mladenov regarding the second phase of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
According to the report, there is broad consensus between the parties on the wording of the proposal concerning weapons and disarmament. Rather than requiring Hamas and the other terror groups in Gaza to fully surrender their arms, to be removed from the Strip or destroyed, the proposal calls for the weapons to be retained in Gaza but transferred to the hands of Palestinian security forces linked to the yet-to-be-installed technocratic National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG). An agreement could be announced within days, the report says.
The report also says that the agreement would include the entry of the NCAG into the Strip and the deployment of international forces there.
Israel, Hamas and the mediators have been negotiating the terms of a ceasefire agreement for months. According to previous reports, Hamas had so far rejected Mladenov’s proposed language regarding the disarmament of Hamas.
Even if Hamas agrees to the proposal, the chances of it being implemented remain uncertain, given the group’s longstanding insistence on retaining its weapons and repeated statements by its leaders over the years that they would not relinquish them until a Palestinian state is established “from the river to the sea,” in place of the State of Israel.
Jordan’s military says in a statement that its air defenses have shot down five missiles coming from Iran that targeted the kingdom’s territory, adding that the attack caused no casualties.
The military’s official spokesperson says “air defenses engaged five missiles launched from Iran targeting the kingdom’s territory early this morning, Thursday. The missiles were detected, intercepted and shot down according to established defense plans,” the statement says.
The launches appear to be a reaction to widespread overnight US attacks on Iran. Jordan is home to US bases that have repeatedly been targeted by Tehran in recent weeks.
US Central Command says it has completed “a heavy wave of strikes” on dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran, a day after the Iranian military force targeted American troops in the region with ballistic missiles.
A statement from CENTCOM says the targets hit in the strikes included command centers, facilities for missiles and drones, as well as other military and surveillance sites, with the aim to “further diminish threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American forces, commercial shipping, and neighboring Gulf countries.”
US Central Command announces that it has renewed airstrikes in Iran, in what it calls “a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East.”
CENTCOM doesn’t immediately provide further details on the strikes, which come after US President Donald Trump threatened a response to the Iranian attacks, which broke a lull in fighting that began when he declared a halt to hostilities over the weekend.
The United States is conducting airstrikes in Iran, Axios reports, citing a US official.
Azerbaijan bans two Iranian outlets, saying they “act against the national interests of the Republic of Azerbaijan and conduct propaganda against the country’s sovereignty, constitutional order, territorial integrity and national security,” according to the state APA news agency.
The Azerbaijani Media Development Agency calls on all journalists in the country to stop cooperating with the Sahar TV channel and the Mehr News Agency.
The move comes in response to Iran’s Intelligence Ministry listing Azerbaijan’s state AzTV as an ‘enemy media organization.’
Meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Democratic Senator John Fetterman calls New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani “worthless.”
“It’s been disappointing as a Democratic politician in how our party continues to behave,” says Fetterman, one of Israel’s most prominent supporters in the Democratic Party.
“And we had the culmination of that where that worthless mayor in New York saying these kinds of ridiculous claims.”
Mamdani called Netanyahu a war criminal and said he should be arrested over the war in Gaza if he visits the city for the United Nations General Assembly.
“As far as I know, I was the only Democrat that was proud to push that trash back,” says the Pennsylvania lawmaker.
Dressed in his trademark shorts and hoodie, Fetterman says he doesn’t understand where the Democrats “have arrived politically.”
“I’m proud to stand with Israel through everything,” he says, adding that he is “proud to remain the conscience of the Democratic Party.”
The man who repeatedly rammed a car into the Chabad Hasidic movement’s world headquarters earlier this year is sentenced to time served.
Dan Sohail, 36, pleaded guilty to damaging religious property in May.
Sohail slammed his car into the revered religious site in January, causing widespread alarm.
He was initially charged with a hate crime, but later told investigators that he was seeking to connect with his “Jewish heritage.”
An investigation found that Sohail had made outreach to Jewish groups ahead of the incident and had mental health problems.
The judge in the case says Sohail needs mental health treatment and did not exhibit any hatred toward Jews.
Sohail is sentenced to time served. He has been incarcerated for six months and will be released next week.
The judge in the case, Eric Vitaliano, orders Sohail to pay $19,000 in restitution.
Vitaliano criticizes the Department of Justice for seeking a harsher sentence.
Israel has shown itself to be “the best ally we’ve had since Great Britain in World War II,” US Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting in Blair House.
“That’s the last time we’ve had a nation that’s fought shoulder-to-shoulder with us, side by side, against our common enemy in Iran, and against the radical terrorism we face,” says the Republican lawmaker and former Army officer.
Cotton says he will always stand up for the US-Israel alliance “because it makes both of our nations safer.”
The US Army has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $58.62 billion for production of Patriot interceptor missiles, the Department of Defense says, a record contract awarded as conflicts across the globe diminish US weapons stockpiles.
The US has supplied large quantities of weapons to allies while also using munitions in its own military operations in Iran, raising concerns about inventories of key air defense and precision-guided weapons.
The award converts a previous one-year contract action worth $4.7 billion awarded in April into a seven-year draft agreement, creating a multiyear procurement plan for the interceptors from fiscal 2026 through 2032, the US Army says.
Opposition lawmakers block the transfer of an approximately NIS 392 million ($116 million) budget earmarked primarily for Haredi education and the Settlements Ministry, preventing a vote after an 11-hour Knesset Finance Committee marathon session runs past the allotted time allowed for parliamentary meetings during a recess.
The transfers failed to secure approval due to a filibuster by opposition lawmakers, who deliberately prolonged the debate. The gambit was aided by internal disagreements between Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — whose Religious Zionism party draws much of its support from the settlement movement — and ultra-Orthodox parties over the distribution of coalition funds between their respective constituencies.
The funding is now highly unlikely to be approved before the October 27 elections, since opposition consent would now be required for further Knesset consideration of the matter.
The government sought to approve the transfers in the wake of the Knesset’s dissolution nearly two weeks ago, prompting opposition parties to accuse it of trying to shore up the ruling coalition ahead of the October 27 election by doling out public funds to political allies.
The funding included more than NIS 284 million ($94 million) earmarked for Haredi education and related programs through the Education Ministry, including NIS 13.5 million ($4.5 million) to build Haredi schools. According to Hebrew media reports, the budget also earmarked NIS 26 million ($8.6 million) to prevent yeshiva students from dropping out and about NIS 18.5 million ($6.1 million) for Torah educational institutions.
It also included around NIS 83 million ($24.5 million) for the Settlements Ministry, of which NIS 67.5 million ($22.4 million) was intended for programs serving so-called “hilltop youth,” referring to young settler radicals known for setting up illegal outposts and taking part in regular attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
That funding would have come on top of NIS 1.3 billion ($431 million) that the government recently announced had been allocated by the security cabinet in June to fund the establishment of dozens of new West Bank settlements approved by Israel over the last three and a half years.
The Finance Committee has previously sought to divert funds to Haredi institutions despite legal and procedural objections. In March, it approved nearly NIS 100 million ($33 million) for Haredi educational institutions as part of a broader NIS 1 billion ($331 million) transfer that had been frozen by the High Court of Justice in December, after opposition lawmakers argued the government was funding schools that do not teach the core curriculum required by law.
US President Donald Trump reportedly lashed out at aides during a meeting last week due to frustration over his military options against Iran and inability to close a deal to end the conflict.
Despite public displays of satisfaction with how the war is going, neither he nor his top aides are pleased with the status quo, a US official tells NBC News.
His aides also can’t agree on a path forward, with the US official saying, “After all this time, there is no unity.”
“The president is exasperated,” a Trump ally who has spoken with the president in recent weeks tells NBC News.
“I don’t think he believed it was going to be this difficult to get the Iranians to agree to a deal. There was not a real strategy for how long or what they should do to get to the endpoint,” the Trump ally adds.
“He did not intend this to be a long, drawn-out war.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denies that Trump lost his temper last week.
“This is false. The president has a great team whom he trusts, and everyone on the team knows he’s the final decision-maker,” Leavitt says.
The lack of clarity on the administration’s goals for the war — whether it’s preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, ensuring the Strait of Hormuz is open or destroying Iran’s missile and drone programs — has made planning an endgame difficult, the US official says.
The military has been preparing for a renewed major offensive without clear guidance, the US official tells NBC News.
“We have had a series of tactical victories,” the official says. “But are facing a strategic defeat without clear policy guidance or a decision about where this is going.”
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell tells NBC News in a statement that the Defense Department is “locked and loaded, ready to execute the president’s directives at a moment’s notice.”
“Secretary Hegseth, CENTCOM Commander Admiral Cooper, and Chairman Caine stand completely aligned and are united in mission, strategy, and resolve regarding overseas operations involving Iran,” he adds.
