June 2: IDF says dozens of Hezbollah members hiding in Christian area of Tyre, warns they aren’t safe there

US won’t let Iranians with IRGC ties enter as part of World Cup delegation, Rubio says

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio tells lawmakers that the US will not let Iranians with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) embed themselves in the country’s delegation to take part in the soccer World Cup that begins this month.

The Iranian team will play matches in the United States but will be based in Mexico for the tournament.

Despite the war the US and Israel launched against Iran in late February, Rubio says Washington has “no problem” with the Iranian soccer team and its support staff entering the country.

“What we’re not going to allow is for them to embed in their delegation a bunch of people that we know have nothing to do with athletics and have ties to the IRGC or things of that nature, so we were going to watch that very closely,” Rubio says at a House of Representatives committee hearing.

Netanyahu announces $4.5 billion to strengthen war-battered north, vows solution to Hezbollah drones

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the government has approved an extra NIS 13 billion ($4.5 billion) to strengthen the war-battered north, following a special meeting on the subject.

Hailing the “dramatic decisions,” Netanyahu says the money will go toward developing the area within 9 kilometers from the Lebanon border, including reinforcing structures amid frequent attacks by Hezbollah, though he stresses that adding bomb shelters cannot be the only step.

Addressing the persistent threat of Hezbollah explosive drones, Netanyahu says Israel will find a solution and that “the best minds in Israel and abroad” are committed to the “national project” of finding one.

“We will solve this problem. We will restore security and prosperity to the north,” he says.

18-year-old Haifa resident arrested for allegedly threatening LGBTQ community and Bennett amid Pride Month

An 18-year-old Haifa resident was arrested this evening on suspicion of posting online threats against the LGBTQ community and against former prime minister Naftali Bennett, police say.

The suspect allegedly threatened to harm members of Haifa’s LGBTQ community in connection with upcoming Pride Month events.

The Aguda LGBTQ organization says it had filed an emergency complaint with police after the group was tagged early on Monday — “minutes into Pride Month” — in a series of X posts that depicted the deadly 2009 shooting at the Bar Noar gay youth bar in Tel Aviv, as well as “a senior political figure with an X engraved on its head.”

“It’s a painful reminder that the hatred and wild incitement against the LGBTQ community is still raging and could turn into physical violence,” the Aguda says. “We implore all entities responsible for our security to be especially vigilant.”

Knesset votes to split Karhi’s media overhaul bill, paving way for its advancement

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi attends a Knesset committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, June 2, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Lawmakers vote 52-45 to split Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s controversial media overhaul into separate bills, following a lengthy debate and despite objections from both the committee’s legal advisers and Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik.

The split was originally slated to be voted on yesterday, but was pulled from the agenda at the last minute following opposition from the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party over concerns regarding expanded broadcasts, including sports on Shabbat.

The controversial bill, which passed its first reading in the Knesset in January and requires two more votes before it can be passed into law, would give the government significant control over broadcast media, news sites and other media.

Last week, the special Knesset panel established to advance the legislation approved splitting the bill into separate parts, allowing the coalition to push ahead with parts of the legislation while postponing other provisions.

Committee and Knesset legal advisers strongly opposed the move, warning that dividing core sections of the bill simply because the committee has not finished debating them violates accepted legislative procedure.

The legislation itself is highly controversial, with both the Knesset’s professional legal staff and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara having warned that it undermines press freedom and allows for political interference in the media.

Rubio says Netanyahu’s goal to seize 70% of Gaza contradicts Trump’s plan for Strip

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to Review the FY27 State Department Budget Request on Capitol Hill, June 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

During a Capitol Hill hearing, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is pressed by Rep. Rose DeLauro, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, on where the US stands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal of seizing 70% of Gaza to defeat the Hamas terror group.

Rubio says Netanyahu’s statement was not part of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The plan would end Hamas’s rule and rebuild the territory.

“We have a plan — it doesn’t call for that,” Rubio says. “And at the end of the day, we understand that what we want, and I think what the Israelis would ultimately want, is a Gaza that is governed by a non-Hamas” entity.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

IDF says reservist moderately hurt, 3 others lightly injured by Hezbollah drone in Lebanon today

A reservist was moderately injured and three more soldiers were lightly hurt by a Hezbollah explosive drone in southern Lebanon earlier today, the IDF announces.

The troops were taken to a hospital and their families were notified, the army adds.

Senior IDF officer retires from military, reportedly after being questioned for ‘moral offenses’

Brig. Gen. Yisrael Shomer, the incoming head of the Operations Division during a handover ceremony at the IDF HQ in Tel Aviv, June 25, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Brig. Gen. Yisrael Shomer, the chief of the Operations Division, has suddenly requested to step down and retire from the military “due to personal circumstances,” the IDF says.

The officer is reportedly suspected of “moral offenses” and was questioned by the Military Police, although the IDF is not commenting on those allegations as of yet.

The IDF says Shomer’s commander, Maj. Gen. Itzik Cohen, the head of the Operations Directorate, accepted his request. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir also approved Shomer’s “request for immediate retirement, and he will therefore retire from service immediately.”

Until a permanent replacement for Shomer is made, the head of the Planning Department in the Operations Directorate, a colonel, will serve as head of the division.

After facing criticism, Netanyahu arrives at low-attendance meeting on rehabilitating north

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived at a “special meeting” the government is holding on rehabilitating the north, after missing its beginning and after being criticized by opposition leaders over the matter, Hebrew media reports.

Apart from Netanyahu, only four ministers are in attendance — Avi Dichter, Ze’ev Elkin, Amichay Eliyahu and Ofir Sofer.

The meeting isn’t being held in the north, and no northern mayors or residents have been invited.

Northern mayors have long fumed at what they view as insufficient government attention and help for communities that have been continuously hit by Hezbollah attacks and alarms for several years, with many residents having left and businesses closed.

Netanyahu halts legislative process of controversial West Bank and Gaza Antiquities bill – report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has halted the legislative process of a controversial bill seeking to extend direct Israeli civilian control over antiquities in the West Bank and Gaza, widely seen as a significant step toward annexation, an unnamed source from the coalition tells the Haaretz news outlet.

The Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee had scheduled a meeting this morning to vote on amendments to the bill as part of the work to prepare it for its final readings in the plenum, but the meeting was canceled shortly before it started. A new meeting on the bill has not been scheduled yet, though this is not out of the ordinary, as usually the committee’s schedule for the following week is published on Wednesdays and is always subject to change, even at the last minute.

The bill aims to establish a “Judea, Samaria and Gaza Heritage Authority” under the Heritage Ministry.

Supporters of the bill, including its sponsor MK Amit Halevi (Likud) and Education Committee Chairman Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism), have been openly saying that one of the legislation’s goals is to extend Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank and Gaza.

The IDF has officially stated its opposition to the proposal, and the committee’s legal adviser warned that if passed into law, it would violate Israel’s international commitments and reinforce claims of “creeping annexation.”

Last week, a National Security Council official told the Knesset committee that Netanyahu had asked Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs to examine the controversial bill and present him with the government’s conclusions.

During the meeting, Sukkot and Halevi expressed hope that the process to conclude the committee discussion and advance it to the plenum for its final readings could be completed within days, but Sukkot said he would abide by Netanyahu’s request if the prime minister wished to delay.

IAEA says it is offering technical support to UAE after attack on nuclear plant

The International Atomic Energy Agency is offering the United Arab Emirates technical as well as moral support, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi says after a visit to the site of a nuclear power plant that came under a drone attack last month.

Grossi says Emirati authorities reacted very quickly to the attack at the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant by shutting down a reactor because of the loss of external power.

He says a number of activities will take place to complete repairs at the plant, but provides no further details.

IDF says dozens of Hezbollah members hiding in Christian neighborhood in Tyre, warns they aren’t safe there

The IDF says dozens of Hezbollah operatives are hiding within a Christian neighborhood of the coastal city of Tyre, an area which the military has not yet ordered to evacuate.

“Last week, the Israel Defense Forces issued an evacuation warning for areas in the city of Tyre following activity by the Hezbollah terror organization in the area and its violation of the ceasefire agreement. The evacuation warning did not include the Christian neighborhood in the city,” says Lt. Col. Ella Waweya, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokeswoman.

She says that recently, the military identified activity by dozens of Hezbollah operatives within the Christian neighborhood.

“This is not the first time we have exposed Hezbollah activity from within Christian areas, based on its belief that these areas provide it with a safer refuge,” Waweya says.

She calls on residents of the neighborhood to “demand the removal of the terror organization’s operatives from your areas.”

Addressing Hezbollah operatives, Waweya says: “You are not safe there. If you continue to remain and operate from within this area, the Israel Defense Forces will issue instructions to evacuate the Christian neighborhood and will take the necessary actions against you.”

Government holds meeting on rehabilitating the north, but only 3 ministers show up, and nobody from the north is invited

Only three ministers show up for what has been billed by the government as a “special meeting” on efforts to rehabilitate the war-battered north, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not in attendance, Ynet reports.

After the issue was removed from this week’s cabinet meeting, with today’s meeting announced instead, only ministers Avi Dichter, Ze’ev Elkin and Amichay Eliyahu are participating, the report says.

Hebrew media says the meeting isn’t being held in the north, and no northern mayors or residents have been invited.

Northern mayors have long fumed at what they view as insufficient government attention and help for communities that have been continuously hit by Hezbollah attacks and alarms for several years, with many residents having left and businesses closed.

Israel allocates $350 million for special military tribunal to try Oct. 7 terrorists

Hamas Nukhba Battalion terrorists captured during the October 7 massacre are seen in a jail cell at a prison in central Israel, where high-risk Hamas prisoners captured during the recent war are being held, February 17, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The government allocates one billion shekels ($351 million) to the Defense Ministry and the IDF for putting on trial the Palestinian terrorists who committed the October 7, 2023, massacre.

The decision comes after the Knesset passed legislation last month to establish a special military tribunal to try those accused of participating in the atrocities.

The budgets, which will be allocated over the course of 2026 to 2029, will be used to establish the necessary physical infrastructure for implementing the law, including premises for the court, the prosecution and an IDF command center.

The funds will also be used to employ the necessary personnel for the trials, as well as for building maintenance, computer systems, broadcast services, and other requirements.

“The State of Israel will bring to justice the perpetrators of the most brutal massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and will send a clear and unequivocal message to all our enemies: whoever slaughters, murders, rapes and kidnaps Israeli citizens will pay the full price,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz.

US plans to train Lebanese military as part of Hezbollah disarmament push – report

The United States is planning for its military to train the Lebanese army to confront Hezbollah and ultimately disarm the terror group, the Kan public broadcaster reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.

According to the report, the initiative has Israeli backing and was discussed during talks between Israeli and Lebanese delegations in Washington aimed at reaching a lasting ceasefire agreement and advancing Hezbollah’s disarmament.

Officials briefed on the meeting reportedly say the discussions are taking place in a positive atmosphere and have yielded some areas of agreement.

Report: Netanyahu fears US may further curb IDF freedom of action in Lebanon after tense phone call with Trump

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is concerned that his recent tense phone call with US President Donald Trump over a planned Israeli strike in Beirut could pave the way for additional American restrictions on the IDF’s freedom of action in Lebanon, Channel 12 reports.

According to the report, Israeli officials fear the Trump administration could expand on its demand that Israel refrain from striking Beirut and begin limiting IDF operations in Lebanon more broadly. One Israeli source familiar with the matter tells the network that Netanyahu is particularly concerned Washington could insist that the IDF operate only in cases of an immediate threat to troops, a shift from current policy.

The network reports that Trump was angered by a joint statement issued by Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, as well as a video published by Netanyahu threatening strikes in Beirut. According to a senior US official cited by the network, Trump felt Netanyahu was “out of control” and at risk of undermining ongoing US-Iran negotiations.

An Israeli source briefed on the call describes it as “a terrible conversation,” telling Channel 12 that Trump “really went at Bibi” and demanded he immediately abandon plans to strike Beirut and avoid jeopardizing talks with Iran.

Trump was quoted in an earlier report as telling Netanyahu: “You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”

A separate Channel 12 report reveals that Trump and Netanyahu held an undisclosed phone call several days earlier, during which they reportedly agreed that Israel would issue an evacuation warning for Beirut’s Dahiyeh district – a known Hezbollah stronghold – solely as a threat, without any intention of carrying out a strike. The move was reportedly meant to pressure Hezbollah and support negotiations with the Lebanese government.

According to the report, officials in the Trump administration later became concerned that Netanyahu might use that understanding as a basis for carrying out an actual strike, prompting Trump to intervene and halt the planned operation.

Channel 12 reports that Israel had already prepared for a strike in Beirut and was awaiting only final US approval before Trump intervened to call off the attack.

The network further reports that the statement issued by Netanyahu after his first call with Trump – warning that Israel would strike Beirut if Hezbollah continued firing at Israeli cities – further irritated the administration and led to another, even harsher conversation between the two leaders.

Trump says talks with Iran continuous, countering Iranian claims talks have halted

US President Donald Trump denies Iranian media reports that Tehran has halted talks with Washington.

“The conversations between us have been going on continuously, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago, and today,” Trump writes on Truth Social.

“Where they lead, one never knows, but as I told Iran, ‘It’s time, one way or
another, for you to make a deal,’” he adds.

IDF says troops killed 20 Hezbollah members, seized hundreds of weapons north of Litani in recent days

IDF troops of the Givati Brigade capture Hezbollah weapons in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo released on June 2, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)

The military says troops of the Givati Brigade captured hundreds of weapons and directed strikes that killed some 20 Hezbollah operatives during operations north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon in recent days.

The brigade has been operating in the towns of Zawtar al-Sharqiyah and Zawtar al-Gharbiya, west of the Beaufort Castle, as part of efforts to “strengthen operational control in southern Lebanon, and to remove the direct threat to the Galilee Panhandle and Metula,” the IDF says.

So far during the raids in the area, the military says, the brigade has directed over 100 airstrikes, killing some 20 Hezbollah operatives, alongside locating “hundreds of weapons in civilian homes in the area.”

Countering Trump, Hezbollah official rejects ‘partial ceasefire,’ says targeting of Israel will continue

Hezbollah will not accept a “partial ceasefire” with Israel, a senior official from the Iran-backed terror group says, refusing to halt attacks against northern Israel in exchange for Israel sparing Beirut’s southern suburbs.

“We will not accept a partial ceasefire,” Mahmoud Qomati tells AFP in a written statement, adding that “the Zionist enemy should know that any aggression against the suburbs could lead to a deeper and stronger response” from the group.

Yesterday, US President Donald Trump announced a deal which Lebanese officials later said involved Israel refraining from attacking Beirut’s southern suburbs in return for Hezbollah not attacking Israeli territory.

Hamas member who took part in kidnapping 4 Israelis on Oct. 7 killed in Gaza strike, IDF says

Hamas terrorist Youssef Ayesh Awad Ramadan is seen during the October 7, 2023, onslaught, in footage published by the IDF on June 2, 2026, retouched to include the word "eliminated." (Israel Defense Forces)

A Hamas terrorist who abducted Israeli hostages from a roadside bomb shelter near the Gaza border community of Re’im during the October 7, 2023, onslaught was killed in an airstrike yesterday, the military announces.

The IDF says the strike targeting Youssef Ayesh Awad Ramadan was to “remove a threat” to troops.

Ramadan, a deputy commander of a Nukhba Force cell, invaded Israel on October 7 and took part in the abduction of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alon Ohel, Eliya Cohen and Or Levy, according to the IDF.

The IDF says that during the war and recently, Ramadan advanced attacks on Israeli troops and citizens, “and therefore posed an immediate threat to our forces operating in the Gaza Strip.”

In April, the IDF announced that another Hamas terrorist who abducted those four hostages from Re’im was also killed.

Rubio says US has not offered Iran sanctions relief just for reopening the Strait of Hormuz

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio tells lawmakers that the Trump administration has not offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for just opening the Strait of Hormuz, and says any sanctions relief will be based on Tehran meeting conditions relating to its nuclear program.

Rubio also says there are indications that Iran’s injured Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is increasingly engaged at some level in the negotiations.

Home Front Command eases guidelines for north, permits reopening of schools

Amid the porous ceasefire with Hezbollah, the IDF Home Front Command says it is easing its guidelines, allowing schools to open in areas on the northern border.

Educational activities are now permitted inside a building, or in an area where a shelter can be reached in time, in all communities along the Lebanon border, as well as in Meron, Bar Yohai, Or HaGanuz, Safsufa, Yesud HaMa’ala, Kisra-Sumei, Beit Jann and Sde Eliezer. Previously, educational activities were prohibited in those areas.

Workplaces can also operate in all of those areas, either inside a building or in an area from which an adequate shelter can be reached in time.

According to the latest guidelines, gatherings are now restricted to 100 people outdoors and 400 indoors, after previously being restricted to 50 and 200, respectively, and beaches are being reopened.

In the Upper Galilee and northern Golan, along with Katzrin and Kidmat Tzvi, all restrictions imposed earlier this week have been lifted. These guidelines remain in effect until Sunday at 7 p.m. By then, the Home Front Command will conduct another assessment.

Likud to hold primaries for its electoral slate by July 28

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party will hold primaries for its Knesset slate no later than July 28, says Tourism Minister Haim Katz in a statement.

Katz, who chairs the party’s constitution committee and heads the Likud Central Committee, says the committee voted unanimously on the matter today. It did not set a specific date for the primaries.

A separate leadership primary was held in November, in which Netanyahu was the only candidate and was thus reelected as party chief.

Ahead of the 2022 election, a planned leadership race was canceled after then-No. 2 Yuli Edelstein, the only senior figure to publicly challenge Netanyahu, capitulated to pressure to withdraw his candidacy. Edelstein is widely expected to depart Likud ahead of the upcoming election.

Likud, which holds 32 seats in the outgoing Knesset, uses a complex primary system to determine much, though not all, of its candidate list. It is one of only a handful of Israeli parties that selects its Knesset slate through primaries, alongside the left-wing Democrats party, which is expected to announce internal elections in the coming weeks, and Hadash, which held primaries last month.

Polls conducted in recent months have generally projected Likud, currently the largest party in the Knesset, dropping to between 24 and 27 seats, bringing it neck-and-neck with or only slightly overtaking the Together slate of former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.

Senior Israeli official says Iran war strengthening ties with UAE

Israel and the United Arab Emirates are growing closer because of the Middle East war, a senior Israeli official tells AFP, citing increased military cooperation and opportunities to increase trade and business ties.

Two Israeli delegations will arrive next week, the Gulf-based official says, including a Transportation Ministry team that will discuss a trade corridor linking India, the Middle East and Europe.

The visits will be the first since the war erupted on February 28, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran and triggered an Iranian backlash against nearby Gulf countries that host US military bases.

Weeks of drone and missile bombardment drew a hawkish response from the oil-rich UAE, aligning it more closely with Israel.

“This presents an opportunity to enhance ties. We believe in this market… We believe people should come. There’s a lot of opportunity for cooperation,” the Israeli official says.

“The enhancement in cooperation will grow further, not only in military cooperation,” they add.

The official, who requested anonymity to discuss the subject, does not confirm US comments that Israel sent Iron Dome air defense batteries and personnel to the UAE.

They also refuse to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that the UAE carried out dozens of strikes on Iran in coordination with Israel and the US.

“Israel proved itself a true friend of the UAE when other countries didn’t. Israel came to stand side-by-side… in a country like the UAE, it matters,” the official says.

Rubio says Iran willing to discuss topics it previously would not, as Iran claims to have halted contact with mediators

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio tells lawmakers that Iran has agreed to negotiate aspects of its nuclear program that it previously refused to discuss, but he says that is not a guarantee that talks will lead to a deal to end the US-Israeli war against Iran.

The remarks come shortly after two semi-official Iranian news agencies report that Iran stopped communicating with mediators after Israel threatened to bomb Beirut as it fights the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

British Airways extends suspension of Israel flights until October 25

British Airways has extended its suspension of flights to Israel and some other Middle East destinations until October 25, UK media reports.

The carrier had previously suspended flights to Tel Aviv until August 1.

Flights to Dubai, Amman and Bahrain are also suspended until late October, while the airline reportedly aims to resume flights to Doha and Riyadh in August.

Iran plans 3-day funeral for slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, possibly in mid-June

A demonstrator holds a poster of the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and an Iranian flag during a pro-government gathering at a square in downtown Tehran, Iran, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iran says it will hold a three-day state funeral for slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei, killed by US-Israeli strikes on the first day of the recent war, at a date to be announced.

Ali Khamenei, who led the Islamic Republic for nearly 37 years, was killed in his home in central Tehran on February 28.

A state funeral initially planned for March 4 was postponed due to the war.

“A three-day public funeral is planned,” Tehran Deputy Mayor Mohammad Amin Tavakolizadeh is quoted as saying by state television.

Tavakolizadeh does not specify when the funeral will take place, but says it may be in early Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, which falls in mid-June.

He says funeral events will take place in Tehran, as well as in the holy cities of Qom and Mashhad, where Khamenei will be buried.

“In Tehran, the ceremony will last at least 24 hours,” Tavakolizadeh states, adding that up to 20 million people are expected to attend.

Conference of Presidents heads meet Egyptian president in Cairo amid tense Israel-Egypt relations

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations chair Betsy Berns Korn and CEO William Daroff met today in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to discuss regional developments and issues related to advancing peace, stability and cooperation across the Middle East, the organization says.

The meeting took place despite political tensions between Israel and Egypt. Sissi refuses to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or attend a joint summit with US President Donald Trump, according to reports.

Conference of Presidents Chair @BetsyBerns Korn and CEO William @Daroff met today in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to discuss regional developments and the importance of advancing peace, stability, and cooperation across the Middle East.

“We are grateful to… pic.twitter.com/vqeygEg98m

— Conf Of Presidents (@Conf_of_Pres) June 2, 2026

Roman Gofman becomes new Mossad chief; at ceremony, Netanyahu says Israel will ‘help’ Iranian regime fall

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, shakes hands with new Mossad chief Roman Gofman at a welcoming ceremony, June 2, 2026. (Haim Zach/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Iranian regime is “destined to pass” and vows that Israel will help it do so, while speaking at a welcoming ceremony for new Mossad chief Roman Gofman, who has officially entered the role after lengthy legal challenges to the appointment.

“This regime of terror, whose fate is to pass from the world — and we will help it reach that destination — will not again threaten us with nuclear bombs and thousands of deadly ballistic missiles. That is my directive,” Netanyahu tells those in the audience, reiterating similar remarks he gave at last night’s ceremony for outgoing Mossad chief David Barnea.

“That is your mission, Roman,” Netanyahu says, addressing Gofman, adding that “the Mossad will continue to stand at the forefront of our struggle against Iranian aggression… In accordance with the consistent policy we have pursued for years, we will not allow the Iranian regime to turn back the clock. We will not allow it to obtain nuclear weapons, and we will not allow it to threaten our existence.”

In his own address, Gofman says that “the strategic reversal that we brought about against the Iranian axis” through Israel’s military actions against Tehran and its proxies “has changed the balance of power across the entire region.”

“But the task is not yet complete. The heart of the Mossad lies in covert operations against its targets. We will safeguard that mission at all costs,“ he vows.

With Gofman taking on the role of Israel’s 14th Mossad director, his prior role of military secretary to the prime minister remains vacant. Netanyahu has not yet announced a successor for Gofman as military secretary, although he is expected to do so soon.

IDF acknowledges it inadvertently damaged a hospital in Lebanon strike yesterday

The Israeli military acknowledges that a strike it carried out yesterday against Hezbollah in the southern coastal Lebanese city of Tyre also damaged a hospital.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported a strike targeting an intersection near the Jabal Amel hospital “hit a building and the parking lot, resulting in several wounded.”

In response to a query by The Times of Israel, the IDF says that it struck Hezbollah infrastructure in Tyre.

“An initial examination indicates that as a result of the strike, damage was caused to a hospital in the area. It should be emphasized that the hospital was not targeted and was apparently affected incidentally as a result of the strikes,” the military says.

The IDF accuses Hezbollah of “systematically positioning itself among civilian infrastructure and population centers, and placing its infrastructure near medical institutions, thereby endangering the lives of patients, medical staff, and civilians in the area, in violation of international law.”

“The IDF emphasizes that it operates only against the Hezbollah terror organization and acts as much as possible to minimize harm to civilian infrastructure, medical institutions, and medical personnel,” the military adds.

Exchange of messages for an Iran-US deal stopped a few days ago, Iranian outlet says

An exchange of messages between Iran and the United States to reach a memorandum of understanding on a deal to end the war stopped a few days ago, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency says, citing a source with knowledge of the matter.

The latest message from Tehran to Washington was “a clear message about Lebanon,” the agency adds without elaborating.

Nahariya mayor said summoned to testify in corruption probe involving city council

Nahariya Mayor Ronen Marelly speaks during a Knesset Finance Committee meeting in Jerusalem on November 25, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Police have reportedly summoned Nahariya’s Mayor Ronen Marelly to give testimony in a corruption case involving local government officials.

Law enforcement this morning arrested 14 suspects, including the northern city’s deputy mayor, on suspicion of involvement in an alleged bribery ring that saw criminals gain illicit influence over Nahariya’s tendering process.

Marelly, who is not currently a suspect, will be questioned about his awareness of the tenders allegedly skewed in favor of criminal elements, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

The outlet says he will also be questioned regarding the municipality’s relationship with one of the case’s central suspects, who police believe is behind bribing public officials.

Haredi rabbis urge coalition to oppose Karhi’s media bill over Shabbat concerns

The ultra-Orthodox Rabbinical Committee for the Sanctity of the Sabbath urges coalition leaders to oppose Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s media overhaul bill, arguing that it would desecrate the Jewish day of rest by expanding access to television broadcasts on Shabbat.

The legislation, which lawmakers are expected to vote on splitting into separate bills in the Knesset plenum today, was supposed to be voted on yesterday but was pulled from agenda at the last minute following opposition from the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party over concerns regarding expanded broadcasts, including sports on the Sabbath.

The controversial bill, which passed its first reading in the Knesset in January and requires two more votes before it can be passed into law, would give the government significant control over broadcast media, news sites and other media.

A week ago, a special Knesset panel established to advance the legislation approved splitting it into separate parts, paving the way for the coalition to push ahead with parts of the legislation while postponing other provisions, despite objections from both the committee and Knesset legal advisers.

New round of Israel-Lebanon talks begins in Washington

Yechiel Leiter (far L), Israeli Ambassador to the US, and Nada Hamadeh (far R), Lebanese ambassador to the US, attend a meeting hosted by the United States at the State Department in Washington, DC, on June 2, 2026. Leading the US delegation are Deputy National Security Adviser Mike Needham (C), State Department Chief of Staff Daniel Holler (L of Needham), and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee (L of Holler). (Kent NISHIMURA / AFP)

The ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon have begun a new round of direct talks in Washington after US President Donald Trump said he had received commitments of de-escalation from both Jerusalem and Hezbollah.

The fourth meeting between representatives of the two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations and have been in a state of war since 1948, is taking place at the State Department and is scheduled to last two days.

Israel plans new community in Gaza border region, named after local council head murdered on Oct. 7

The Israel Planning Administration’s Southern District Planning and Building Committee agrees to deposit for public comment a plan for a new community near Kibbutz Sa’ad in the Gaza border region of southern Israel.

It will be named Ofir, after Ofir Libstein, head of the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council, who was murdered on October 7, 2023, while defending Kibbutz Kfar Aza from invading Hamas terrorists.

The new community, set to spread over some 1,000 dunams (250 acres), will have around 500 housing units of different sizes, alongside educational institutions, commercial areas, a community center, a clinic, a resilience center, a central square and a park.

Israel foils attempt to smuggle tobacco into Gaza, hidden in wheelchair shipment

Security forces thwarted an attempt to smuggle hundreds of tobacco pouches into the Gaza Strip today after finding the packages concealed inside a shipment of wheelchairs, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) says.

Inspectors from the Defense Ministry’s Land Crossings Authority, working alongside COGAT, discovered the hidden tobacco during a security inspection of aid destined for Gaza at the Tarqumiya Crossing in the West Bank.

COGAT chief Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevi ordered an investigation into the incident, the agency says.

COGAT describes the alleged smuggling attempt as a “cynical exploitation” of a humanitarian medical aid shipment, and says organizations coordinating aid deliveries bear responsibility for the contents of their cargo.

“While Israel allows and facilitates the entry of humanitarian aid and medical equipment, Hamas and other actors continue to exploit every opportunity, including medical shipments, for smuggling and military buildup,” Halevi says in a statement.

“We will therefore continue to strengthen our monitoring mechanisms, conduct thorough inspections of every truck, and act with determination and zero tolerance against anyone who attempts to exploit the humanitarian assistance mechanism for the benefit of terrorist organizations,” he adds.

Hamas member to be indicted for allegedly holding body of Israeli hostage in a fridge in Gaza for a decade

Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul (Courtesy)

State prosecutors will file charges this week against the Hamas operative who allegedly held the body of slain soldier Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul for nearly a decade, the Shin Bet and Israel Police announce.

Ibrahim Hilu, a former Hamas commander who fought in the terror group’s Shati Battalion, will be charged Thursday with “severe security offenses” in the Beersheba District Court, the agencies say.

Shaul was killed in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood during the 2014 Gaza War, when the armored personnel carrier he was traveling in came under fire from anti-tank missiles launched by Hamas.

His body was dragged away from the scene by Hamas operatives and subsequently held in Gaza for over a decade.

Israeli forces engineered the recovery of Shaul’s remains in a clandestine operation in January 2025.

Hilu, a Hamas commander turned shopkeeper, allegedly kept Shaul’s body in a refrigerator in one of three shops under his home in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, Ynet reported in January.

After capturing and interrogating Hilu, the Shin Bet and IDF Military Intelligence Directorate enlisted a Palestinian informant to break into his home and retrieve Shaul’s body from the locked fridge.

The informant extracted the body, wrapped it in a rug, and carried it for 1.5 kilometers (roughly one mile) to IDF forces awaiting him, per the report.

Coalition MKs disrupt Knesset event on violence against Palestinians, threaten attendees

Otzma Yehudit's Almog Cohen shouts during an event titled 'Transfer in Practice: Palestinian Communities Under Attack' at the Knesset in Jerusalem, June 2, 2026 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Coalition lawmakers have stormed a Knesset event on settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, threatening participants in what the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party calls “displays of violence, incitement, and political thuggery.”

At various times throughout the event, called “Transfer in Practice: Palestinian Communities Under Attack,” right-wing lawmakers entered the hall, shouting at attendees, including Israeli peace activists, civil society groups, diplomats, and bereaved families. “Transfer” is a term that refers to the idea of forcibly expelling Arabs from Israel or the West Bank.

Footage from the event captures lawmakers shouting at and threatening participants. Otzma Yehudit’s Almog Cohen told attendees, “May two thousand of your mothers weep and not one of ours,” while Religious Zionism’s Zvi Sukkot said, “We will transfer you, but we’ll keep it classy. We’ll put you on organized buses and stick to the law.”

He later added that “we have no problem with Arabs” but only with “terror supporters.”

Ayala Metzger, daughter-in-law of slain hostage Yoram Metzger, was escorted from the hall by Knesset security as Cohen and Likud’s Nissim Vaturi yelled at her, calling her a “terror supporter” and a “terrorist,” according to Hadash-Ta’al.

In another incident, Vaturi filmed himself taking food from the conference and distributing it in the Knesset hallways, telling the cameraman that he was taking food “from the terrorists.”

The event was organized by Hadash-Ta’al MKs Ofer Cassif and Aida Touma-Sliman to highlight what organizers describe as “government policy encouraging settler violence” and the displacement of Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

Attacks by extremist settlers have been taking place against Palestinians in the West Bank on a near-daily basis with almost total impunity, with critics accusing the government of turning a blind eye to the violence. Thousands of Palestinians have been displaced.

Israeli arms sales break record for 5th year in row, reaching $19.2 billion in 2025

Illustrative: Israeli Air Force soldiers pose in front of an Arrow air defense system battery, in a photo issued by the IDF on June 26, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Annual Israeli arms sales reached a new record in 2025, for the fifth consecutive year, up nearly 30 percent compared to the previous year, according to Defense Ministry figures released Tuesday.

The ministry’s International Defense Cooperation Directorate, known as SIBAT, said defense exports totaled nearly $19.2 billion last year, up from $14.8 billion in 2024 — the previous record high.

Sales to the Asia-Pacific region alone nearly doubled, from around $3.4 billion in 2024 to $6.1 billion last year.

The rise in arms deals comes after Defense Ministry Director-General Amir Baram last year approved a series of reforms to boost Israel’s defense exports, including a “significant easing” in the licensing process and a “substantial expansion” of the list of permitted countries for export.

Government-to-government (G2G) sales made up more than half of exports in 2025, amounting to around $10 billion. Over half of the total exports, 53%, were in deals worth over $100 million, the ministry said.

Despite some governments, especially in Western Europe, canceling weapon deals with Israel or sanctioning Israeli defense firms — including barring them from defense expos — over the war in the Gaza Strip, ministry officials said they were still seeing a high demand for Israeli weapons from Europe.

On Monday, the Defense Ministry said France had barred Israel from participating in the Eurosatory defense exhibition in Paris, preventing the ministry from establishing a national pavilion or sending government representatives to one of the world’s leading forums for arms sales.

The move followed similar bans on Israeli companies displaying offensive arms at French defense shows in recent years.

Israeli source downplays reported severity of ‘tense’ Netanyahu-Trump call

A member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s staff admits to Channel 12 that the premier had a “tense” call with US President Donald Trump last night over Israel’s planned attack on Hezbollah targets in Beirut, but denies an earlier report by the network that Trump cursed at Netanyahu and personally attacked him during the exchange.

The report clarifies that two calls took place between the leaders last night, one at 7 p.m. local time and one close to midnight — the latter, according to Channel 12, being the more tense call.

After the initial phone call, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the IDF would not attack Beirut and that Israel and Hezbollah would refrain from attacking each other, while Netanyahu warned later that he would carry out his previous plans to strike Beirut if Hezbollah did not halt its attacks on northern Israel, and that Israel’s expanded offensive in southern Lebanon would continue.

The second phone call focused on mutual complaints by the two leaders regarding their respective readouts of the call, according to the Channel 12 report, with Trump upset that Netanyahu had implied that, aside from postponing strikes in Beirut, the war was continuing at full intensity, and Netanyahu frustrated that Trump’s post implied that Israel had ceased fire on all fronts.

However, the Israeli source denies that Trump cursed at or personally attacked Netanyahu, claimed to be protecting him from going to prison or stated that the premier and Israel are hated around the world — contradicting what US officials had told Channel 12’s Barak Ravid, who also writes for Axios.

“Trump did say during the conversation that it is difficult to present Israel’s position to the world and that this fuels hostility toward it,” the Israeli source says, adding, “The conversation ended with understandings according to which Israel would refrain from carrying out the postponed strike in Beirut, provided that it is not attacked within its own territory.”

Further confusing the issue, Ravid tells Channel 12 later on Tuesday afternoon that it was during the first call, not the second, that Trump swore at Netanyahu. The president, Ravid says, quoting US officials, came to that call convinced that Netanyahu was “out of control,” and believing that the prime minister was about to launch an attack on Beirut in which many innocent people would be killed. The conversation became “increasingly heated,” to the point where Trump twice used the f-word.

Head of Knesset gay caucus accuses Rome Pride organizers of antisemitism after ban on Jewish group

Lawmakers and LGBTQ community activists attend a meeting to mark the Knesset's LGBTQ Community Day, in Jerusalem, June 2, 2026. (Noam Lehmann/Times of Israel)

MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzanu, head of the Knesset’s informal LGBTQ caucus, accuses organizers of the Rome Pride Parade of antisemitism, after they barred the Jewish LGBTQ group Keshet Italia over its failure to denounce Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

“My grandmother was forced to flee Italy in the 1930s because there were people who thought Jews are a problem,” Lahav-Hertzanu says at the start of a caucus meeting to mark the Knesset’s annual LGBTQ Community Day.

“I’m Jewish, Israeli and gay… Israel is the only place in the Middle East where I can exist,” says the lawmaker, a member of the opposition Yesh Atid party that is now a faction in right-wing former premier Naftali Bennett’s Together slate.

“You can criticize the Israeli government — my colleagues and I do, day in, day out,” he says.

But, he adds, turning criticism of the Jewish state, and no other country, into “a precondition for participation” in Pride, is “a double standard — and a double standard aimed at Jews is antisemitism.”

“Nobody should have to pick between their Jewish identity and their LGBTQ identity,” he says. “You’re not protecting Pride — you’re defiling it.”

IDF says strikes yesterday hit Hezbollah weapon depots, command centers

The IDF says it struck Hezbollah weapon depots, command centers, and other infrastructure where members of the terror group were operating in southern Lebanon yesterday.

The military publishes footage showing some of the strikes.

כוחות צה״ל ממשיכים בפעילות בדרום לבנון: אוגדה 91 וחיל האוויר תקפו מחבלים ותשתיות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה

כוחות צה״ל ממשיכים לפעול בדרום לבנון.

אתמול, אוגדה 91 וחיל האוויר תקפו מחסני אמצעי לחימה, מפקדות, ותשתיות טרור נוספות בדרום לבנון מהם פעלו מחבלים של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה pic.twitter.com/Cq4XJ3h9jn

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 2, 2026

Lebanon speaker says he’ll guarantee Hezbollah respect for ‘global’ truce with Israel

Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri chairs a parliamentary session to elect a president, in Beirut, January 9, 2025. (Anwar Amro / AFP)

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, will guarantee the Iran-backed group’s adherence to a “global ceasefire” with Israel, his adviser says.

Berri, who heads the Hezbollah-allied Amal party, has long acted as an intermediary between the group and the United States.

US President Donald Trump said late Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to call off strikes on Beirut while Hezbollah agreed “all shooting will stop.”

Adviser Ali Hamdan tells AFP that “speaker Berri’s main demand is a global ceasefire. If a global ceasefire deal is reached, he will guarantee Hezbollah’s respect for it.”

Hamdan says a “global ceasefire means a halt to Israeli strikes by air, land or sea, and that it will not carry out detonations or demolitions” in the south, where Israel is accused of razing entire villages.

Haredi parties seek to enshrine Torah study in Basic Law to protect draft exemptions

MKs Moshe Gafni (R) and Yitzhak Goldknopf of UTJ attend a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 14, 2026 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Ultra-Orthodox parties United Torah Judaism and Shas call for the rapid advancement of legislation enshrining Torah study as a Basic Law, as a way to further cement military draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men.

UTJ’s Degel HaTorah faction says that it will advance a new Basic Law entitled “Basic Law: Torah Study” and that it will be brought before the Knesset in the coming days for a preliminary reading.

The proposed bill would establish Torah study as a foundational national value. It states that those who devote themselves to long-term Torah study are to be regarded as performing “meaningful service” to the State of Israel and the Jewish people, which will have “implications for their rights and obligations.”

Shas says the faction sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanding that the legislation be brought for a preliminary reading in the Knesset as early as Wednesday, and declaring that if there isn’t a guaranteed majority voting in favor of the bill, the party will not vote in favor of any other coalition legislation.

The move marks the latest effort by Haredi parties to preserve exemptions from military service for full-time yeshiva students, which the High Court of Justice has deemed unconstitutional. The parties have repeatedly threatened to bring down the government over its failure to pass legislation on the matter,

Two soldiers lightly injured by Hezbollah explosive drone

Two IDF soldiers were lightly injured in a Hezbollah explosive drone attack in southern Lebanon this morning, the military says.

The IDF says the troops were taken to a hospital and their families were notified.

IDF fire kills three people in Gaza, medics say

Israeli fire killed at least three Palestinians in separate incidents across the Gaza Strip today, Gaza health officials say.

Medics say at least one person was killed and four were wounded when an Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle east of Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. The blast left the vehicle a mangled skeleton. Another strike earlier in the day killed one person and wounded another in the nearby Zawayda town, they add, while Israeli gunfire killed one man in northwest Khan Younis, south of the enclave.

The Israeli military does not immediately comment on any of the incidents.

IDF once again warns civilians to evacuate south Lebanon’s Nabatieh

The IDF reiterates its evacuation warning for the southern Lebanon city of Nabatieh ahead of strikes targeting the Hezbollah terror group.

The military first issued the warning for Nabatieh last week. The latest warning comes after US President Donald Trump announced a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah last night. Israeli officials have said this does not include actions against threats in south Lebanon.

“We renew our urgent warning to the residents of Lebanon located in the city of Nabatieh. For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move north of the Zahrani River,” warns army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.

“In light of the Hezbollah terror organization violating the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is compelled to act against it forcefully. The IDF does not intend to harm you,” he adds.

Cops arrest 14 including deputy mayor and local mob boss in corruption case

View from the northern city of Nahariya. April 13, 2026 (Yossi Aloni/FLASH90)

Police this morning arrested 14 suspects, among them a deputy mayor in northern Israel and a local mob boss, on suspicion of bribery and corruption.

The deputy mayor serves in the Nahariya municipality, according to Hebrew outlets.

The suspects are believed to have participated in a bribery ring that allowed criminals to take control of key decision-making roles in the municipality, enabling them to box out rival contractors from bidding processes, police say. The suspected criminals allegedly worked to push competitors out of municipal tenders while officials acted to ensure they won the contracts, providing them with insider information.

According to police, the suspected criminals reaped millions of shekels in profits due to their illicit influence over the city’s Tenders Committee and Planning and Building Committee.

The suspects have not yet been named by police, but the Nahariya municipality has put out an announcement stating that Mayor Ronen Marelly has instructed “all officials and public employees to cooperate with investigation officials and law enforcement.”

Investigators in the Lahav 433 major crimes and Tax Authority officials had been conducting a covert investigation into the suspicions for over a year, which is made public today with the wave of arrests.

The 14 arrested suspects will be brought to the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court, where police will request their detention be extended. Four additional suspects were detained for questioning but not taken into police custody. Officers also seized luxury cars, real estate and a yacht worth millions of shekels, police add.

Lebanese say IDF strike killed man with son and daughter in their car after university exams

Lebanese official media says an Israeli strike yesterday killed a man, his son and daughter in the country’s south, while a local priest tells AFP they were returning from taking university exams.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) says the man, a dentist from the border village of Qlayaa, “was killed with his son and daughter when a enemy drone targeted his car on the Nabatieh-Khardali road.” Father Antonios Farah, a priest for the Qlayaa parish where some people are still holding out despite sweeping Israeli evacuation orders to leave, tells AFP that the man had been returning home with his son and daughter, both in their early 20s, after they took university exams.

“The man and his two children went to the university in the morning so they could do their examinations, and on their way back the Israeli drone hit their car,” he says. “We don’t understand why this happened,” he says, adding that a bible and prayer book were found in the heavily damaged car.

“He’s a dentist and his children are university students… this is extremely sad news for the village, everyone is suffering,” he adds.

Israel begins seizing 320 dunams of West Bank land to develop Herodium archaeological site

This picture taken on November 24, 2020 shows an aerial view of the Herodium fortress, with the King Herod's tomb site and the theatre built by Herod the Great between 23-15 BCE in the Judaean desert, southeast of Bethlehem (MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP)

The Civil Administration, which manages civilian affairs in the West Bank, says it has begun to expropriate 320 dunams (approximately 80 acres) of land for the “preservation and development” of the Herodium archaeological site.

The Herodium, an iconic palace built by Jewish-Roman vassal king Herod in the first half of the 1st century CE, is southeast of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, but is located in Area C, where Israel maintains full civilian and military control. The ancient remains, standing on top of a hill, are encapsulated in a national park.

“[The expropriation] is being advanced in accordance with the law, following comprehensive professional assessments conducted by the Civil Administration’s Staff Officer for Archaeology and Staff Officer for Nature Reserves,” the Civil Administration says in a statement. “Their findings pointed to an urgent need to regulate the area and promote preservation efforts at the site in order to prevent damage to archaeological remains of unique historical and cultural significance.”

In November, the Civil Administration announced it would expropriate 1,800 dunams (445 acres) of land surrounding the archaeological site of Sebastia, near Nablus, which is thought to have been the capital of the northern Israelite kingdom in the 9th and 8th centuries BCE, in addition to a significant center across history, with remains from the Roman, Crusader, and Ottoman periods.

The latest move comes amid a push by coalition lawmakers to pass a controversial bill extending direct Israeli civilian control over antiquities in the West Bank and Gaza, which is widely viewed as a step toward annexation.

The Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee had scheduled a vote to advance the bill to the plenum for its final readings today, but the meeting was canceled after yesterday’s meeting to discuss amendments to the bill’s language was cut short, as the coalition did not have enough MKs attending the meeting to secure a majority.

Netanyahu: Foundations of Iran’s ‘terror regime’ have cracked, ‘it’s doomed to fall’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a farewell ceremony for outgoing Mossad chief David Barnea, June 2, 2026 (Kobi Gideon / GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “the foundations” of the Iranian regime “have cracked” and that “it is doomed to fall,” in remarks shared by his office from a speech last night at a farewell ceremony for outgoing Mossad chief David Barnea.

“The price that Iran has already paid is very heavy. The foundations of this regime of terror in Iran have cracked. It will never return to what it once was, and I tell you — it is doomed to fall,” Netanyahu said.

“Let every enemy plotting harm against Israel know that their schemes will fail. The price they will pay will be extremely heavy,” he warned, after he appeared to back down from a planned attack on Hezbollah targets in Beirut yesterday following intervention by US President Donald Trump.

Turning to address Barnea, Netanyahu told him that “great things were accomplished during your watch,” saying his five years as Mossad chief were “among the most fateful in our history.”

“Thank you for 30 years of dedicated service in the Mossad; and special thanks for the past few years, which yielded significant successes and remarkable achievements for Israel’s security,” he said.

Netanyahu’s outgoing military secretary, Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman, is set to enter the role of Mossad chief today.

Lebanese army says 2 soldiers wounded in Israeli drone strike

The Lebanese army says two soldiers were moderately wounded in an Israeli drone strike on a road between the towns of Habboush and Deir al-Zahrani, in the Nabatieh area.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the incident.

Suspected Hezbollah drone in south Lebanon triggers sirens in Kiryat Shmona

A suspected Hezbollah drone identified over an area of southern Lebanon where troops are operating triggered sirens in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona and nearby border communities a short while ago, the military says.

The IDF says the “incident has concluded” and there are no injuries.

Senior Iranian officer says renewed war with US ‘inevitable’

A senior Iranian military officer says that a resumption of hostilities with the United States is inevitable, as negotiations between Tehran and Washington appear to stall.

“The United States demands our total surrender, and the Iranian nation will never surrender,” says Mohammad Jafar Assadi, deputy head of Iran’s central military command, Khatam al-Anbiya. “Without surrender, war is inevitable.”

Sa’ar inaugurates embassy in Fiji, signs agreements

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar (R) shakes hands with Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka prior to a press conference at government buildings in Suva on June 2, 2026. (Leon LORD / AFP)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar inaugurates an Israeli embassy in Fiji during a diplomatic visit to the Pacific island.

“Today’s move is a clear expression of our intent to deepen our friendship with Fiji and Pacific Island countries,” Sa’ar says while speaking at the inauguration ceremony alongside Fiji’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, according to a video shared by his office.

A golden era in Israel-Fiji relations begins today ????????????????@gidonsaar @slrabuka pic.twitter.com/wpKESKvHHr

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) June 2, 2026

Rabuka says the move marks the start of “a golden era” between the countries, and affirms Fiji’s support for Israel’s security, saying, “We recognize Israel’s legitimate security concerns and reaffirm its… sovereign right to protect its people against terrorism and threats to its very existence.”

Israel’s embassy in Suva will also serve nine additional countries in the area, and aims to “strengthen Israel’s presence throughout the Pacific region and deepen ties with other island nations in the Pacific Ocean,” as well as “expand cooperation” with Fiji “in fields including development, economic affairs, security, and more,” according to a statement from Sa’ar’s office.

During meetings with senior government officials from Fiji, Sa’ar also signed “a declaration of Intent on cooperation in the field of national security” and a “Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in diplomatic training,” the statement reads, saying the agreements “will further expand and diversify the areas of cooperation and strengthen bilateral relations.”

Israel previously had an embassy in the country that was closed in 1995 due to budgetary constraints.

Fiji opened its own embassy in Jerusalem last September and has offered consistent backing on the international stage amid global criticism over Israel’s military actions, including by filing in March a declaration of intervention in the genocide case against Israel brought at the United Nations’ International Court of Justice by South Africa, arguing that the accusations are false.

Maya Yaron, head of the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan, is expected to be the new ambassador in Fiji.

IDF says it killed 5 Gaza terror operatives in recent strikes

The IDF says it struck and killed five terror operatives in the Gaza Strip in recent days, “to remove an immediate threat” to troops.

The operatives had planned attacks on forces stationed in Gaza “in the immediate timeframe,” the military says.

They are identified by the IDF as Salem Qariqa, a member of Hamas’s Shejaiya Battalion who worked to build explosives and advanced sniper attacks on troops; Saeed Shamali, a Nukhba Force team commander; Ahmad Khallas, a sniper platoon commander in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad; and two more Hamas commanders who planted bombs targeting Israeli troops.

במטרה להסיר איום מיידי: צה"ל חיסל ברצועת עזה חמישה מחבלים שקידמו מתווי טרור נגד כוחות צה"ל בימים האחרונים

כוחות אוגדה 252 בפיקוד הדרום חיסלו בימים האחרונים חמישה מחבלים מארגוני הטרור ברצועת עזה, שקידמו מתווי טרור נגד כוחותינו בטווח הזמן המיידי.

בין המחבלים שחוסלו:
* סאלם פאיז… pic.twitter.com/SNBXTHEBgX

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 2, 2026

Authorities say Russian attack on Ukraine killed at least 11

Firefighters work on the site of a burning building after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 2, 2026. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Russia’s attack on Ukraine with a barrage of missiles and drones overnight killed at least 11 people, injured dozens and trapped others, authorities now say.

Russia unleashed 73 missiles and 656 drones across Ukraine, according to the country’s air force, with the main targets including Kyiv, the central city of Dnipro, and the eastern cities of Poltava, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian air defense forces destroyed and suppressed 40 missiles and 602 drones.

Hits of 30 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and 33 drones were recorded at at least 38 locations. Debris from destroyed drones fell on 15 locations, the air force says.

At least four people were killed in Kyiv and 63 people were injured, including three children, Ukraine’s state emergency service says. Residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were damaged in eight of Kyiv’s districts. In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, at least six people were killed and 36 others injured after Russian strikes hit the city of Dnipro, according to the emergency service. A second attack as first responders arrived at the scene killed one rescuer.

Iran has not yet sent its response to US in talks — Mehr News

Iran has not yet responded to a proposed final agreement with the United States aimed at ending the conflict between the two countries, and discussions on the final text are continuing in Tehran, a source close to the Iranian negotiating team tells Mehr News.

The source says Iran is reviewing the proposal cautiously because of what it sees as a history of US noncompliance and long-standing mistrust.

“Based on previous experiences, Iran is seeking tangible and real benefits,” the source says.

After Trump declares ceasefire, Lebanese media reports IDF strike on car in south Lebanon

Lebanese media reports an Israeli strike on a car in the southern Lebanon town of Toul, near Nabatieh, a short while ago.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

بالصورة: السيارة التي استهدفتها الغارة الإسرائيلية على بلدة تول بقضاء النبطية جنوبي لبنان pic.twitter.com/gq1jg7Y7hj

— هنا لبنان (@thisislebnews) June 2, 2026

The strike comes despite US President Donald Trump announcing a fresh ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Rubio to testify before Congress for the first time since start of Iran war

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 27, 2026. (Kent Nishimura/AFP)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to face a litany of questions today about the Trump administration’s fragile or stalling diplomatic efforts around the world when he appears for back-to-back hearings on Capitol Hill for the first time since the Iran war began.

The former Republican senator will sit before House and Senate committees to make the State Department’s annual budget request. But the focus is likely to shift quickly to the already unsteady ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, which has been further tested in recent days by back-and-forth attacks.

Cabinet members, including Rubio, have defended President Donald Trump’s decision to launch the conflict despite promises over the years not to engage in “forever wars” in the Middle East. That work has been made more difficult by Trump’s shifting goals for the conflict.

While Rubio is testifying before Congress for the first time since the Iran war started on Feb. 28, he took part in a classified briefing for lawmakers days after the first US and Israeli strikes. He faced Democrats’ anger over the lack of congressional approval but strong support from most Republicans for taking action against one of America’s oldest adversaries.

In the two months since the war began, however, a small but growing faction of Republicans have joined Democrats in questioning the astronomical price tag and overall economic consequences of the conflict as they head into midterm elections in the fall.

Russian attack on Ukraine’s capital kills at least 3, traps others

People react as they look at the site of a Russian missile strike on a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital with a barrage of missiles and drones overnight, killing at least three people and trapping others, authorities say.

At least 29 people were injured, the head of Kyiv’s military administration Tymur Tkachenko says.

Residential buildings were damaged and partially collapsed, trapping civilians inside. Multiple districts in Kyiv were affected, he says.

Home Front Command lengthens rocket warning times for Haifa and 160 other communities in north

The IDF Home Front Command says it will be extending the warning times for rocket fire from Lebanon on Haifa and another 160 communities in northern Israel.

The move means residents will now have 90 seconds to get to a shelter in those areas, while currently there are only 60 seconds from the sounding of a siren.

The Home Front Command, along with other military bodies, analyzed Hezbollah’s rocket fire and the IDF’s detection systems, and determined that 161 communities in the north can be given longer warning times.

The move will take effect today at 4 p.m., according to the Home Front Command.

US in talks to expand nuclear weapons deployments in Europe, FT says

The United States is discussing whether to deploy nuclear weapons in additional European NATO states, the Financial Times reports.

US officials have signaled openness to additional deployments beyond the existing six countries hosting nuclear-capable bombers, the FT says, citing three people briefed on the discussions.

IDF says it downed 2 Hezbollah rockets fired toward Safed; drone appears to strike military post in Western Galilee

Two rockets launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon at the Safed area in the Upper Galilee, triggering sirens in numerous towns, were intercepted a short while ago, the military says.

Meanwhile, an apparent Hezbollah drone struck a military position in the Western Galilee, close to the border with Lebanon. Sirens had sounded in several towns in the area amid the attack.

The IDF says no injuries were caused in the attacks.

Warning sirens activated in Safed, Katzrin and numerous other northern communities

Rocket warning sirens are now sounding in the Upper Galilee city of Safed, the Golan Heights town of Katzrin and numerous other northern Israeli communities near the Lebanese border.

Trump said to tell Netanyahu ‘you’re f**king crazy’ while demanding Lebanon truce: ‘I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel’

US President Donald Trump, right, speaks as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listens during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, December 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

US President Donald Trump reportedly lashed out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call earlier today, calling him “fucking crazy” as he demanded that Israel agree to a ceasefire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and claimed the premier owes him for keeping him out of jail.

Axios cites a US official summarizing Trump’s message to Netanyahu as follows: “You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”

While US officials tell the news site that Trump is aware that Hezbollah has been firing repeatedly at Israel and that Jerusalem has a right to respond, he believes that the IDF has responded disproportionately in recent days, risking Washington’s efforts to secure a ceasefire extension with Iran — which is conditioning a deal on a truce in Lebanon.

Trump “steamrolled” Netanyahu on the call, and “Bibi said, ‘OK, OK, just make sure everything is taken care of,'” the US official tells Axios.

US officials are also quoted saying that Trump told Netanyahu that he has kept him out of prison, a reference to Trump’s repeated public demand that President Isaac Herzog pardon the prime minister, who is in the midst of a lengthy corruption trial.

Netanyahu’s office does not respond to a request for comment.

Rocket warning sirens sound in Lebanon border towns

Rocket warning sirens sound in a pair of northern Israeli communities near the Lebanon border, indicating a potential Hezbollah attack.

The IDF says it’s looking into the matter.

MKs advance bill to dissolve Knesset and potentially move up elections to September

Lawmakers vote 106-0 in favor of the first reading of a coalition bill to dissolve the Knesset, potentially triggering early elections, following a lengthy debate through Monday night and into early Tuesday.

The bill, which must pass three readings in the plenum to become law, was approved for its first reading in the Knesset House Committee on Monday and immediately referred to the plenum for a vote.

Due to internal coalition disagreements, committee chairman and coalition whip Ofir Katz advanced the bill without specifying a date for elections, stating that it would only be inserted into the legislation prior to its final two readings. In the meantime, Katz only said that the range of dates will be somewhere between September 8 and October 20.

Elections must be held within five months of the law’s passing, which would mean mid- to late-October at the latest. The Knesset’s ultra-Orthodox parties reportedly favor an election date in early September during the run-up to the high holidays. Elections must, in any case, be held by October 27.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly urged the ultra-Orthodox parties not to force early elections in September, warning in private conversations that such a timeline would “endanger” his right-wing bloc’s chances of winning.

The legislation passed its preliminary reading 110-0 less than two weeks ago but was not immediately advanced further, with the coalition initially appearing to be in no rush to pass it.

The decision to advance the bill came after Netanyahu’s erstwhile allies in the United Torah Judaism party announced they would push to dissolve the Knesset over the coalition’s failure to pass legislation codifying military conscription exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.

Trump says Iran deal could be reached ‘over next week’ after fixing ‘glitch’ of Israel-Hezbollah fighting

US President Donald Trump tells ABC News he thinks there will be an agreement with Iran “over the next week.”

Eight days ago, he declared that a deal was largely negotiated and has repeatedly claimed that the war would end shortly in the three months since he launched it with Israel.

“There was a little glitch today, but I turned that one around very quickly, as you probably noticed earlier,” Trump says, referring to Iranian anger over Israeli strikes against Hezbollah. Tehran has insisted that Lebanon be covered by the Iran ceasefire. While the US and Israel have pushed back against such linkage, Washington’s effort to secure another Lebanon truce announcement just hours after Tehran threatened to abandon talks with the over the issue indicated that it the Trump administration wasn’t as committed to separating the two fronts as Jerusalem is.

“I spoke with Hezbollah, and I said no shooting, and I talked to Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu], and said, no shooting, and they both stopped shooting each other,” Trump says. He earlier acknowledged that he didn’t speak with Hezbollah officials directly but rather their “representatives.”

Trump adds in the phone interview with ABC that a peace agreement with Iran could be “even better than a military victory.”

“It’s not an easy thing for them. It’s actually not easy from our standpoint either. But we’re getting what we need to get,” Trump insists.

Trump says he hasn’t agreed to the memorandum of understanding that he suggested was nearly final on May 24 because “I still have to get a few more points.”

Trump enjoys taking cold calls from reporters, but is particularly accessible to speak from his personal phone on days he believes he has an accomplishment to trumpet.

‘He turned his Troops around’: Trump thanks Netanyahu for agreeing to call off ‘major raid’ of Beirut

US President Donald Trump thanks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for agreeing to call off a “major raid” of Beirut.

“I had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu today, asking him not to go into a major raid of Beirut, Lebanon. He turned his Troops around. Thank you Bibi!” Trump writes on Truth Social.

Israeli military sources have said no troops were actually en route to Beirut, contrary to Trump’s claim.

“I also had a conversation with representatives of the leaders of Hezbollah, and they agreed to stop shooting at Israel, and its soldiers,” Trump adds, without specifying to whom he spoke.

“Likewise, Israel agreed to stop shooting at them. Let’s see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!” Trump writes.

In the hours since Trump announced the ceasefire, Hezbollah has targeted Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, setting off sirens in northern Israel, and the IDF has reportedly carried out airstrikes in Lebanon.

Trump’s post again doesn’t go as far as to specify that Israel agreed to hold off striking anywhere beyond Beirut, though Hezbollah has claimed the ceasefire covers the entire country.