June 28: After Iran drone attack, Qatar says citizen killed from shrapnel due to ‘military operations’

IDF airs footage of demolition of major Hezbollah tunnel

The IDF publishes footage showing the demolition of a major Hezbollah tunnel under the southern Lebanon village of Majdal Zoun this evening.

The tunnel, which ran some 200 meters (some 656 feet) and reached depths of over 25 meters (82 feet) under the village, was used by Hezbollah to assemble, store, and launch Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles, according to the military.

The IDF publishes footage showing the demolition of a major Hezbollah tunnel under the southern Lebanon village of Majdal Zoun this evening. pic.twitter.com/ZvQmkHXPY3

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) June 28, 2026

US, Iran agree to halt Hormuz attacks, hold talks about strait in Qatar on Tuesday — report

This aerial photograph shows boats anchored off Oman's northern Musandam Peninsula near the Strait of Hormuz on June 27, 2026. (AFP)

After Iran said it canceled its participation in today’s technical talks with the United States amid mutual strikes in the Strait of Hormuz, the two countries have agreed to halt attacks on each other and to meet again on Tuesday in Doha to discuss the issue, Axios reports, citing an unnamed senior US official.

The report, also citing another US official and a source with knowledge of the details, says Tuesday’s talks were originally planned to take place in Switzerland, but the flareup has moved them to Qatar’s capital and changed their topic to the Hormuz standoff, as disputes and gaps remain despite the MOU reached earlier this month.

IDF has blown up major Hezbollah tunnel, Netanyahu and Katz announce

An Israeli soldier is seen in an underground Hezbollah drone facility in Majdal Zoun, southern Lebanon, on June 18, 2026. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

The IDF demolished a large Hezbollah underground facility in the southern Lebanon village of Majdal Zoun a short while ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announce.

The tunnel, which ran some 200 meters and reached depths of over 25 meters under the village, was used by Hezbollah to assemble, store and launch Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles, according to the military.

Journalists were given a tour of the tunnel earlier this month.

In a statement, Netanyahu and Katz say that Israel updated the US and the American representative in Lebanon ahead of the tunnel’s demolition.

The IDF has not yet issued a statement on the demolition, but it warned residents of northern Israel earlier that a large explosion would be heard.

The IDF had previously postponed the tunnel’s demolition amid pressure by the US on Israel to halt all military activity in southern Lebanon amid the ceasefire.

3 members of Venezuela’s Jewish community confirmed dead from earthquake, Jewish leader says

Buildings are collapsed along the coast in Caraballeda, La Guaira state, Venezuela, June 28, 2026, after earthquakes. (Miguel Medina, Pool photo via AP)

Three members of Venezuela’s Jewish community have been confirmed dead as a result of earthquakes that have devastated the country, a communal leader tells The Times of Israel.

Of the approximately 5,000 Jews living in the country, three are now reported dead, and another four are still missing, says Roberto Mishkin, president of the Union Israelita de Caracas, the country’s largest Ashkenazi Jewish congregation. The third death was confirmed earlier today.

At least 15 Jewish families have seen their homes completely destroyed, along with another 30-35 families whose apartments have been rendered unlivable, Mishkin says.

At least 1,450 people overall are confirmed dead in the country, and more than 68,000 are still missing in Venezuela’s state of La Guaira and the capital city of Caracas, after twin earthquakes rocked the country last week.

The first night after the earthquakes, 300 people sheltered at the community’s Jewish Community Center (JCC) and another 200 at Mishkin’s synagogue, he says. Now, about 100 people are still sleeping at the JCC.

Jewish communal service organizations, centrally organized for decades in the tight-knit community, are providing three meals a day for many residents, and residents are working around the clock to help, Mishkin says. Donations to the community can be made here.

Iran canceled participation in technical talks over recent attacks, official tells state TV

Iran did not take part in technical talks slated for today due to recent attacks on the country and unfulfilled conditions of the MOU with the United States, a member of the Office of Preservation and Publication of the Works of Iran’s Supreme Leader tells state TV.

“For example, one of the reasons is checking if we have access to the unfrozen funds, if there is no access then this condition has not been fulfilled,” Mehdi Fazaeili says.

B’nai B’rith award honors efforts to preserve Jewish heritage, strengthen relations in Poland

Winners of the Wdzięczność-Gratitude Awards in Poland, with B'nai B'rith International CEO Daniel Mariaschin (L) and B'nai B'rith World Center-Jerusalem Director Alan Schneider (R), in an image released on June 28, 2026. (Courtesy/ B'nai B'rith International)

B’nai B’rith International has honored four Polish individuals and institutions for their efforts to preserve Jewish heritage and strengthen Jewish-Polish relations.

The fourth annual Wdzięczność-Gratitude awards were presented today at Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin in Lublin, Poland, recognizing efforts ranging from Holocaust remembrance to combating antisemitism, the organization says.

Roman Catholic priest Wojciech Michał Lemański was recognized for more than two decades of commemorating Holocaust victims at sites including Treblinka and for his advocacy of Polish-Jewish dialogue despite conflicts with church authorities.

Historian and photographer Zbigniew J. Nita was honored for documenting and preserving Jewish heritage through historical research, photography and educational initiatives.

Local activist Jakub Wójcik was recognized for preserving the memory of the Jewish community of Grójec through cemetery restoration, Holocaust commemorations and efforts to document the town’s Jewish history.

An institutional award went to Sitwa Organization, a grassroots initiative that combats antisemitism and anti-Zionism through education, advocacy and public programs.

The awards, established in 2023 in honor of Holocaust survivor Marian Turski, are the first annual honors created by the global Jewish community to recognize Poles for contributions to preserving Jewish heritage and fostering dialogue between Jews and Poles, B’nai B’rith says.

North residents warned loud explosion will be heard tonight, as IDF razes Hezbollah infrastructure

Residents of the Western Galilee have been warned by local authorities that an explosion will be heard as the military is set to demolish a large Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon this evening.

“In the next few hours, a high-intensity explosion will occur,” a statement from the Upper Galilee Regional Council reads.

The blast may trigger earthquake warnings on systems that are not connected to the IDF Home Front Command. The military is set to ensure that the explosion does not trigger its earthquake warning system, as it has done in the past for other Hezbollah tunnels that were blown up.

Israel said seeking to revive Gaza migration plan, rebranding it in bid to soften international opposition

Israel is seeking to revive its moribund plan for the voluntary migration of Gazans out of the Strip, and has rebranded it in an effort to soften the blanket international opposition to it, Channel 13 news reports, citing unnamed Israeli officials.

Security agencies have in recent days been told to abandon the “voluntary migration” title due to the global opposition, and it will from now on be officially referred to as a “plan for free movement,” the report says.

The network cites officials familiar with ties with countries that could potentially receive Gazans as voicing optimism that the terminology change will persuade them to drop their current refusal to cooperate with the plan, and recruit other countries.

A senior Israeli official is quoted as saying Jerusalem wants as many Gazans as possible to leave the Strip, viewing this as contributing to any future plan implemented in the territory.

Turkey denounces Israel’s ‘political’ recognition of Armenian genocide

Turkey lashes out at Israel after it recognized massacres of Armenians during World War I as genocide, branding it a “political” decision to cover its own alleged crimes.

“The Israeli government, which has systematically persecuted the Palestinian people before the eyes of the entire world and is being tried at the International Court of Justice on charges of committing genocide against the people of Gaza, is seeking to cover up its own crimes through the political decision it has adopted regarding the events of 1915,” says a foreign ministry statement.

Relations between Israel and Turkey have sharply deteriorated since the war in Gaza erupted after Palestinian terror group Hamas’s attacks on Israel in October 2023.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has often criticized Israeli “terrorism” in Gaza and likened it to Nazi Germany.

“Turkey will continue to work resolutely to bring an end to Israel’s expansionist and destabilizing policies in the region,” the foreign ministry statement says.

Report: IDF warns that Hamas is readying to return to war, but US rules out renewed Israeli operation

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir meets with officers in northern Israel, June 28, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)

Senior officers in the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate and Southern Command submitted a warning last week to Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir that Hamas’s military wing is preparing for renewed war with Israel, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

The terror group has been producing hundreds of explosive devices and anti-tank missiles every month, has been recruiting fighters aged 18-22, and recently restarted training for members of its elite Nukhba force, the officers say, according to the unsourced report.

Hamas is also said to be reconstructing underground infrastructure across Gaza and trying to smuggle drones and communication devices from Sinai.

“Hamas is strong on the ground. Nobody is threatening it, and the organization is unwilling to give up control of Gaza,” the warning says.

The report says the IDF believes the war must resume, but the United States objects to this and wants to preserve the current status quo while continuing to advance US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace initiative.

IDF finds Hezbollah attack that killed 4-person tank crew used drone armed with anti-tank explosive

An IDF probe into a Hezbollah attack on June 19, which led to the deaths of a tank battalion commander and three soldiers, has found that their tank was hit by an explosive-laden drone, and not an anti-tank guided missile.

The drone that struck the tank was likely armed with an anti-tank explosive.

Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, 32, the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade’s 52nd Battalion, Staff Sgt. Yoav Klein, 21, Staff Sgt. Liav Kababia, 20, and Staff Sgt. Nave Habshoosh, 20, were killed in the incident.

Reports: Three people killed in strikes in Gaza in recent hours

Media outlets affiliated with Hamas in Gaza report that a 45-year-old man, Talal Abd al-Aal, has been killed in a strike in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent in Gaza said two people have been killed in a strike in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip.

The IDF has not yet commented on the reports.

Source: Israel-Lebanon security annex preserves full IDF freedom of action; Jerusalem remains wary of Iran interference

(From L-R) Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, US State Department Counselor Dan Holler and Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh sign a framework agreement for a partial IDF withdrawal from south Lebanon at the State Department on June 26, 2026. (Screen capture/YouTube)

A classified security annex of the recently signed Israel-Lebanon framework explicitly preserves the IDF’s full freedom to act against threats in its southern Lebanon security zone and reiterates that there will be no automatic IDF withdrawals, though Jerusalem remains wary that pressure from Tehran could derail the agreement, an official familiar with the content of the agreement tells The Times of Israel, confirming an unsourced Channel 12 report.

The security annex, referenced in the published text of the agreement, has been kept classified at the request of the Lebanese government, according to the details.

Article 4 of the annex includes a provision that the IDF will retain freedom of action against both emerging and immediate threats within the security zone — a top priority for Israel amid recent fears that US-Iran negotiations would limit its ability to respond to threats on troops from Hezbollah.

The article also includes an explicit commitment by both Israel and Lebanon that no IDF withdrawals will take place automatically or according to set schedules; rather, any redeployments will be based on conditions on the ground. The main agreement similarly says the pullout will be performance-based.

The annex is also said to specify that the two pilot zones announced yesterday will remain the only such areas for the foreseeable future, with no immediate plans to expand the arrangement.

Israel’s current assessment is that the pilot project, under which the Lebanese army will enter those initial two designated areas after training and vetting, will take several weeks to implement, while the Lebanese forces prepare to assume responsibility there, according to the details.

Israeli officials remain concerned that Iran could seek to undermine the arrangement through its parallel talks with Washington, pressing the US to demand a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon as part of a broader US-Iran agreement, adds the Channel 12 report confirmed by the official.

Panel appoints judges for first time in 18 months, including judge who panned probes into PM’s aides

Judge Menachem Mizrahi, president of the Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court, attends a farewell ceremony for outgoing Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, September 18, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

The Judicial Selection Committee appoints judges for the first time in a year and a half, filling dozens of vacancies on district and magistrates’ courts, as well as on traffic, youth, and family courts.

The appointments come following a ruling by the High Court of Justice last month that Justice Minister Yariv Levin was obligated to convene the committee and fill some of the 51 vacancies on numerous magistrates and district courts around the country.

Seventeen judges are appointed to magistrates’ courts in the northern and Haifa districts; 12 judges are appointed to the traffic courts; six to the youth courts; and 12 to the family courts.

In addition, six magistrates’ court presidents are promoted to serve as district court judges, while 15 temporary judges are appointed to the district courts to help with the heavy case burden they are facing after 18 months in which numerous vacancies have opened but without new judges being appointed.

MK Karine Elharrar of the Yesh Atid party, representing the opposition, abstains on the promotion of the magistrates’ court presidents, together with the two representatives of the Israel Bar Association, in protest of Levin’s refusal to make appointments to magistrates’ courts in the Central, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem districts, where there are acute shortages of judges.

The three Supreme Court justices on the committee vote with the three coalition representatives on those appointments, however, ensuring that they pass.

Among the magistrates’ court presidents promoted is Judge Menachem Mizrahi, who has overseen numerous procedural hearings in the cases of the Qatargate suspects in his Rishon Lezion magistrate’s court. Close aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are suspected of conducting a public relations campaign for Qatar, which has funded and supported Hamas, while working out of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Mizrahi has frequently criticized the actions of the police and prosecutors in the Qatargate affair, but the Central District Court, where his decisions have been appealed, has repeatedly overturned his decisions, sometimes sharply criticizing his rulings and other aspects of his professional behavior.

After Iran drone attack, Qatar says citizen killed from shrapnel due to ‘military operations’

Qatar’s interior ministry says a Qatari national has been killed after sustaining injuries from shrapnel due to “military operations in the area,” after a vessel carrying him and another person went missing.

The ministry says the second individual was injured, adding that it located the missing vessel in the early hours of today after search operations that started yesterday.

It does not give the location of the incident and does not say whether the shrapnel is linked to Iranian drones launched today against US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain.

Knesset panel to advance measure freezing arrests of Haredi draft evaders for 90 days

MK Boaz Bismuth chairs a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, May 20, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair and Likud MK Boaz Bismuth says he will convene the Knesset panel this week to advance a temporary order freezing the arrest of ultra-Orthodox draft evaders.

The committee is set to hold three sessions this week to advance the measure, following requests by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs today.

According to the text of the bill released by the committee, the temporary order would suspend arrests, investigations and other enforcement measures for 90 days against full-time yeshiva students eligible for military service.

Under the proposal, a yeshiva student would be defined as someone studying at least 45 hours a week at a recognized institution designated by the defense minister and approved by the committee.

If inspectors find that at least 20% of a yeshiva’s students are absent, the institution would be removed from the list of recognized yeshivas.

The proposal is one of two parallel bills being pushed by ultra-Orthodox lawmakers in the hopes of keeping yeshiva students out of the army despite the High Court of Justice’s 2024 ruling ordering the government to start conscripting Haredi men.

Since then, the military has sent out tens of thousands of enlistment orders to members of the ultra-Orthodox community whose exemptions were revoked. Most have ignored the orders, leading to large numbers of young men being classified as evaders and made subject to arrest or other sanctions.

The IDF has repeatedly said it urgently needs 12,000 recruits, while some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted.

Venezuela’s Jewish community launches crowdfunding campaign for relief, recovery from quake

This aerial picture shows buildings destroyed during twin earthquakes in Caraballeda, La Guaira state, Venezuela, on June 27, 2026. (Miguel Medina/Pool Photo via AP)

Venezuela’s Jewish community launches a $2 million appeal for emergency relief and long-term recovery support following last week’s devastating double earthquake.

The appeal says the disaster has displaced hundreds of families, compounding years of economic hardship for a population already struggling with limited resources.

Within hours of the catastrophic event, the country’s Vaad Hakehilot (Communities’ Committee) mobilized, transforming communal facilities into emergency shelters. Over 400 community members are living in these shelters, while an estimated 200 more have sought refuge with relatives.

“We are a small and aging community that has endured years of severe economic hardship, leaving limited resources to respond to a disaster of this magnitude,” says the appeal.

The money raised will be used to meet both immediate and longer-term needs. The former include kosher food, bottled water, medical supplies, hygiene kits and bedding for those in communal shelters. Among the latter are temporary rental assistance, emergency grants for home repairs, and educational support, including tuition and school meals for affected children. Part of the sum will be used to buy and install backup power infrastructure to ensure that essential communal institutions remain operational during future emergencies.

All donations are being channeled through the GoFundMe website to Friends of Yajad-Venezuela, a US-registered charity. The funds will be used exclusively for relief, humanitarian aid and recovery efforts. The Vaad Hakehilot has committed to overseeing the transparent allocation of these resources based on documented needs and providing regular progress updates to donors.

Those interested in discussing major contributions or seeking detailed briefings on the community’s status are invited to contact the Vaad Hakehilot directly.

IDF says it killed Hezbollah gunman who killed a soldier overnight in Lebanon

The Hezbollah gunman who killed an IDF officer in southern Lebanon overnight was killed by troops today, the military announces.

In the overnight incident, the Hezbollah operative fired at troops of the Golani Brigade as they entered a structure in the village of Deir Siryan, killing Cpt. David Hazutt, 21, a platoon commander, and wounding another soldier. The operative then fled.

Following extensive searches in the area, Israeli troops located the gunman hiding in a nearby building and killed him, the IDF says.

Likud to hold August 4 primary, as Netanyahu gives up on reported threat to cancel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a news conference in Jerusalem, June 15, 2026. (Ronen Zvulun, Pool Photo via AP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party will hold an internal primary voted on August 4, Hebrew media reports, amid ongoing disagreements over the election format and the number of reserved slots on the party’s Knesset slate.

The premier is reportedly demanding 11 reserved slots within the top 40 places on the list, while Likud Constitution Committee chairman Haim Katz opposes that. No agreement has yet been reached.

According to the reports, the Constitution Committee is set to meet today to discuss the primaries, with a final decision on the number of reserved slots to be allocated to Netanyahu expected in July.

The party has been locked in an internal dispute after Netanyahu reportedly threatened to replace the primary with a selection committee if he was not granted the authority to place up to 10 handpicked candidates in the top 35 spots on the slate.

The proposal faced strong opposition from senior Likud figures, including MK David Bitan, who last week petitioned the party’s internal court to block any attempt to cancel the primary.

Likud is one of only a handful of Israeli parties that hold primaries to select both their leader and Knesset slate, alongside the left-wing Democrats, which is set to hold internal elections on July 20, and the Arab-majority Hadash, which held a primary in May.

Likud is currently projected to fall from its current 32 seats to around 22-24 in the next election, with several recent polls showing it running neck-and-neck with, or even trailing, Gadi Eisenkot’s newly formed Yashar party.

The August primary will only be for the Likud slate, as Netanyahu already won the party leadership uncontested in November.

Netanyahu: Erdogan calling for Israel’s destruction is taken ‘very seriously,’ we will alert US to remarks

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, seen during a vote on the state budget in the Knesset, Jerusalem, March 29, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); this handout photograph taken and released by the Turkish presidential press service on April 4, 2026, shows Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) during a meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (unseen) at Dolmabahce Presidential Office, in Istanbul. (TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned during today’s cabinet session that Israel takes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rhetoric against the Jewish State “very seriously” and will draw US attention to it, according to Hebrew media reports confirmed to The Times of Israel by the premier’s office.

“Hardly a day goes by without Erdogan calling for the destruction of the State of Israel. We take those words very seriously, because if there is one thing we have learned from the history of our people, it is that when someone says they intend to destroy you, you should take them seriously,” the premier is quoted as saying.

“We will also draw the attention of our American friends to these remarks. We are not ignoring them,” he tells fellow cabinet members.

Erdogan and other senior Turkish officials have ramped up threats against Jerusalem recently, with Turkey’s interior minister calling earlier this month for the country to “liberate” Jerusalem.

Since the start of the war sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, Erdogan has been one of the foreign leaders most harshly critical of Israel, accusing Jerusalem of genocide in Gaza, welcoming ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, and calling on the UN to recommend the use of force against Israel.

Some Western and Israeli outlets reported that Erdogan called for God to destroy Israel during a prayer service marking the end of Ramadan in March 2025, saying: “May Allah, for the sake of his name… destroy and devastate Zionist Israel.”

US President Donald Trump, who often praises Erdogan, suggested last week that the latter could have entered the US-Israeli war against Iran in support of Tehran because he doesn’t like Israel, though Turkey gave no indication that it was preparing to enter the conflict.

Trump indicated on the same day that he was preparing a sale of weapons for Turkey ahead of an upcoming NATO summit there, including F-35 stealth fighters and dozens of jet engines — a prospect that has sparked concern in Jerusalem for months.

Police: 3 Israelis hurt in West Bank stone-throwing clash; Palestinians report 1 injured

Police say they have opened an investigation into an incident this morning in which three Israeli shepherds were injured near the Mitzpeh Avraham outpost in the Gush Etzion area of the West Bank.

According to police, the incident involved a clash between Israelis and Palestinians, including a violent confrontation and stone-throwing.

Hadshot Hagvaot, a media outlet affiliated with settlers, reports that, according to settlers, ten residents of the village of Arab al-Rashayida attacked the shepherds with clubs and stones, and that one of the injured Israelis was taken to the hospital unconscious.

By contrast, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency WAFA reports that settlers were the ones who attacked Palestinian shepherds, injuring Khalil Rashayida, a 45-year-old Palestinian who was reportedly beaten.

Police add that forces have begun collecting evidence and testimonies and are searching for suspects involved in the attack.

רועה צאן מגבעת מקנה אברהם הותקף הבוקר במזרח גוש עציון.
על פי התושבים, כעשרה בדואים הקיפו אותו בזמן שרעה את צאנו, תקפו אותו באלות ובאבנים, והוא חולץ מהשטח כשהוא מחוסר הכרה. שני תושבים נוספים נפצעו במהלך החילוץ.

במשטרה אישרו כי נפתחה חקירה וכי כוחות פועלים לאיתור החשודים.

לטענת… pic.twitter.com/mQs3ovcTTG

— יותם דשא | yotam deshe (@Yotamdeshe97) June 28, 2026

Smotrich says all hostages returned thanks to him; ex-captive reacts: ‘Gaslighting propaganda’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich leads a Religious Zionism faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, June 22, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich draws outrage by claiming credit for the return of all the Gaza hostages, after critics slammed him throughout the two-year ordeal for repeatedly pushing back and voting against proposed hostage deals, including ones that ended up being approved.

“I think I have a dramatic, even decisive, impact on the war,” Smotrich tells Nadav Perry’s “All In” podcast.

“I think that if not for me, the war in Gaza would have been halted even before [the operation in] Rafah,” he says. “By the way, unlike how some are trying to portray me as some heartless person who doesn’t care about the hostages, I think it is thanks to me that all the hostages are here.”

He argues that after a January 2025 deal that returned all but 20 of the living captives, another partial deal was proposed that would return eight of the hostages.

“If in this moment I hadn’t set a red line and told [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu that this won’t happen… we would have been holding negotiations with Hamas to this day over another one, and another one and another one,” he says.

Returned hostage Or Levy reacts by calling Smotrich’s claim “gaslighting propaganda.”

“If you mean to say it is thanks to you that hostages were murdered [in captivity] while you torpedoed deals — then yes,” he writes. “If it were up to you, we wouldn’t have returned to this day… Bezalel Smotrich, you are a shameful minister, a shameful citizen and a shameful human.”

Wildfire forces evacuation of some homes in West Bank settlement

An Israeli airtanker drops flame retardant on a wildfire in the northern West Bank on June 28, 2026. (Fire and Rescue Service)

Firefighters are working to extinguish blazes in the northern West Bank as some residents of a nearby settlement are forced to evacuate their homes.

The wildfire broke out near Taybeh, an Arab Israeli city near the Green Line, and spread to Sal’it in the West Bank. It has been raging for over three hours as firefighters struggle to bring it under control.

Residents who live on the outer edge of Sal’it have evacuated their homes, while the remainder are advised to stay indoors until the flames are extinguished, the Fire and Rescue Service says.

Over twenty firefighting squads are operating alongside six airtankers at the scene of the fire, propelled by strong winds headed east.

Israel sold advanced F-15 systems to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, report says

Advanced Israeli weapons systems, including air defense systems and computerized battle helmets for F-15 jets, have been sold to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the Haaretz news outlet reports, citing public documents and open-source analysis of images.

Out of the Qatari royal family’s 11 planes, three have Elbit’s C-MUSIC air defense system installed, the report says, citing analysis of publicly available photos, and adding that they were installed between 2020 and 2022 while undergoing maintenance in Basel.

The report says that the contract for the 2017 US-Qatar deal to sell F-15QA Ababil warplanes to Qatar shows that Israeli firms won tenders for $150-250 million subcontracts to supply advanced parts and systems for the jets, including 160 JHMCS helmets worth some $200,000 each, and AN/AVS-9 night vision glasses.

The report also cites a US Defense Department statement from 2010 as showing that, as part of a Boeing contract to sell F-15SA jets to Saudi Arabia, Riyadh received 462 JHMCS helmets and 462 night vision glasses of the same models sold to Qatar.

It says online footage shows the helmets are indeed in use.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar both have no diplomatic relations or open defense ties with Israel. Alleged ties to Qatar by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s circle are at the center of the Qatargate scandal.

Data shows Israeli college students have far worse literacy and math levels than OECD average

Israeli college and university students have far worse literacy and numeracy than the OECD average, according to OECD data obtained by The Economist.

Among tertiary students under the age of 35 who were enrolled at the time they took the tests, 22% of the Israeli students displayed a math understanding that wasn’t higher than the level expected from 10-year-olds, and 20% of them displayed no better literacy.

Both figures are more than double the OECD average — 8% for math and 7% for literacy.

Partial charts published by The Economist, showing a list of 16 selected countries out of the 38 OECD members, show Israeli students did the worst out of those 16 countries in math, and the second-worst in literacy.

IDF chief says ‘historic’ Lebanon deal was enabled by military achievements

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir meets with officers in northern Israel, June 28, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says the agreement signed with Lebanon is “historic and significant,” and that the military achievements “are what created the conditions for it.”

“We will honor the agreement and work to ensure its success. The test now is one of action by both sides, and the coming period will determine the future,” he says, according to remarks provided by the military.

Zamir had visited the Northern Command to approve plans for future operations in Lebanon, as the IDF is set to partially withdraw as part of the deal.

Venezuela Jewish official says 2 community members among quake dead, 4 missing

An official in Venezuela’s Jewish community says there are two Jews among the 1,430 people confirmed dead so far in the devastating earthquakes that have rocked the country.

“A man and a woman from the Jewish community were rescued from the rubble with no signs of life,” Ezra Kaim, the director of the Hebraica Caracas Jewish Community Center, tells Israel’s Kan public broadcaster.

“Additionally, there are still four missing [Jews] and many families who lost all their belongings in the quake.”

Sa’ar hosts South Sudan’s FM, touts expanding ties and aid amid refugee crisis

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, right, meets with his South Sudanese counterpart James Pitia Morgan in Jerusalem, June 28, 2026. (Shlomi Amselam/GPO)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar meets with his South Sudanese counterpart James Pitia Morgan in Jerusalem, highlighting Israel’s humanitarian assistance to the country as the sides express their intention to expand cooperation in “many fields.”

In joint remarks, Sa’ar says Israel continues to assist South Sudan during the ongoing refugee crisis in the African country through MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, as thousands flee Sudan’s civil war, and adds that Israel continues “to expand meaningful cooperation with South Sudan in many fields.”

“We appreciate your support for Israel in international forums,” Sa’ar tells Morgan.

Morgan responds warmly, calling Israel South Sudan’s “best friend in the world,” and noting that Juba recently granted Israeli veteran David Uri Ben-Uziel a state honor over five decades after he led a Mossad mission to support South Sudanese rebels seeking autonomy during the first Sudanese civil war.

“We highly appreciate Israeli support and its remarkable achievements in innovation, technology, agriculture, water management, healthcare, education and national development,” Morgan says, adding that he hopes the two countries will “chart a forward-looking agenda that translates our strong political relationship into tangible economic and development outcomes.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel visited South Sudan last summer, marking the first official visit to the East African country by an Israeli government representative. The visit came amid reports that Israel was in talks with South Sudan over the potential resettlement of displaced Palestinians from the war-torn Gaza Strip, though any such plans appear to have stalled as Washington advances efforts to shape postwar governance in the Strip.

Israel to invest $59 million in Diaspora Jewish education

The government has unanimously approved a NIS 200 million ($59 million) national initiative aimed at expanding Jewish education in the Diaspora, the Prime Minister’s Office and Diaspora Affairs Ministry say in a joint statement.

The program, to be led jointly by the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, will seek to strengthen Jewish identity, deepen ties to Israel and increase enrollment in formal Jewish educational institutions, particularly in North America. The government sees global Jewish education as “a strategic goal of paramount national importance,” especially in light of increasing antisemitism since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

Only a small portion of the 1.8 million Jewish school-age children living in the United States receive a Jewish education, according to the joint statement. The initiative will address barriers including high tuition costs, limited geographic access, and insufficient support for students with learning disabilities, as well as developing new digital tools, it explained.

The program will be implemented in partnership with major Jewish organizations, including the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), the statement says.

It follows a similar collaboration between the Diaspora Affairs Ministry and JFNA, known as Project Aleph Bet, focusing on increasing enrollment and improving educational quality at Jewish day schools and early childhood centers in North America.

Israeli aid groups begin operations in Venezuela, with more teams en route

Damaged buildings are seen three days after earthquakes struck in La Guaira, Venezuela, June 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Amid an international response to the devastating double earthquake in Venezuela, SmartAID, an Israeli organization that specializes in integrating technology into humanitarian aid, says it already has volunteers with American, Venezuelan, and dual Israeli-Venezuelan citizenship on the ground.

The volunteers are distributing basic hygiene and other supplies to families who have lost their homes.

“Our main mandate is to help as human beings,” says Shachar Zahavi, SmartAID’s Founder and CEO.

In the coming hours, the SmartAID-Magen 17 volunteer search and rescue team, currently in Panama, will enter Venezuela with Venezuelan government permission, and help local teams searching for remaining survivors under the rubble.

During the coming days, the charity additionally plans to fly off-grid clean energy and water equipment in from the US, along with Starlink internet services.

The equipment has been donated by US companies with which SmartAID USA has had partnerships for years, and is currently being packed for transport by volunteers in the organization’s warehouse.

“The real crisis is that there’s no electricity, internet or clean water,” Zahavi says. “Our team will fly into Venezuela with the equipment and install it in hospitals, clinics, and various first responder sites, in coordination with local government and local grassroots charities.”

Among other Israeli organizations, IsraAid has a team in the air and expecting to land in Venezuela, while its Columbian-based team is already in the disaster zone.

Natan’s medical team is leaving for Panama this evening, and has not yet received permission to enter Venezuela, while the Joint Distribution Committee’s team is still in Israel, working remotely through local partners.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday it was making “immediate preparations” for the possible deployment of an aid delegation to Venezuela. However, there was no sign of an official delegation being sent — Venezuela broke diplomatic ties with Israel over Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in 2008-2009.

The official death toll in Venezuela has reached 1,430, with families reporting at least 68,900 people missing.

Analysis of 2022 election finds correlation between religious identity and voting preference

People walk past an election campaign billboard showing Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli prime minister and the head of Likud party, in Bnei Brak, Israel, October 25, 2022. (Oded Balilty/AP)

An analysis of the 2022 election by the Israel Democracy Institute finds a strong correlation between religiosity and voting patterns, with more religiously observant Jewish Israelis overwhelmingly backing the parties that now make up the governing coalition, while secular voters are far more likely to support the opposition.

According to the analysis, 97 percent of ultra-Orthodox voters cast their ballots for parties that now make up the hardline coalition, with 58% voting for United Torah Judaism and 28% for Shas.

Eighty percent of national religious voters backed the coalition, including 45% who voted for the joint far-right Religious Zionism-Otzma Yehudit list led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, while 22.5% voted for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud.

Among religious Israelis who identify as traditional, 66.5% voted for coalition parties, with 46.5% backing Likud.

By contrast, only 24% of secular Israelis voted for parties that now make up the coalition. Thirty-nine percent voted for Yesh Atid, followed by 20% for Likud and 16% for Labor and Meretz, which have since merged to form the Democrats.

The analysis draws on 20 surveys conducted between November 2022 and October 2023 and includes 12,322 Jewish Israelis aged 18 and over.

Health Ministry to invest $27.4 million to strengthen medical services in Eilat

The Health Ministry says that it has approved a plan to upgrade Yoseftal Medical Center and other healthcare services in Eilat and the adjacent Eilot region for a total of $27.4 million (NIS 82.5 million).

The plan includes developing training for healthcare and psychology professions, creating a support package to attract students to these fields,\ and then retain them in the region.

It also includes NIS 30 million ($10 million) for the treatment of children with autism in the region by funding the flights and lodging costs of skilled therapists to be allocated over the next four years.

The ministry says it has also approved NIS 42.5 million ($14 million) to maintain an active civilian helicopter in Eilat, the country’s southernmost city, to improve the availability of medical evacuation options for patients who require it.

“The decision we approved today is a direct continuation of the steps we are taking to strengthen the healthcare system in the south,” says Health Minister Haim Katz.

Hezbollah lawmaker warns of ‘internal conflict’ in Lebanon over agreement with Israel

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah speaks during an interview with an AFP journalist at the Lebanese Parliament in Beirut on April 20, 2026. (Anwar AMRO / AFP)

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah warns of “internal conflict” in Lebanon over the country’s agreement with Israel, which the Iran-backed terror group rejects, predicting that the deal would not be implemented.

The agreement, signed in Washington on Friday after five rounds of talks, aims to pave the way to peace between the neighbors and includes plans to disarm Hezbollah.

Fadlallah spoke a day after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told US President Donald Trump in a phone call that the Lebanese state “will assume its responsibilities” in implementing the framework agreement.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Far-right MK Sukkot tours Umm al-Fahm as local education system strikes against his visit

Far-right lawmaker Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism) tours Umm al-Fahm and hangs an Israeli flag outside one of its schools as the city’s education system strikes against his visit, which has sparked sharp opposition from residents.

The parents’ committee in Umm al-Fahm declared a strike last night ahead of Sukkot’s planned tour in the Arab city, shutting down schools for the entire day and calling the stunt a “racist provocation” meant to invigorate his right-wing base ahead of elections.

Sukkot, who chairs the Knesset Education Committee, claims in a video filmed from his car that he came to “check the education system in Umm al-Fahm,” claiming without providing evidence that its schools have ties to terror organizations.

In footage from his visit, he is seen outside the gates of a school while guarded by a police entourage as residents protest his presence in the city.

He tells the right-wing Israel National News outlet, which accompanied him on the tour, that there were no Israeli flags flying outside schools he visited, despite a law mandating a flag be placed in educational institutions and other public buildings.

“They did not put one up, so we’ve come to help them,” he says, sticking a flag atop one of the fenceposts outside a school.

As he talks to the cameras, a protester brings up Sukkot’s 2010 arrest on suspicion of setting fire to a mosque in the West Bank.

“It’s shameful that the chairman of the Education Committee behaves this way,” the protester says.

Yousef Jabareen, a resident of the city and newly elected chairman of the communist Hadash party, is seen joining a protest outside a school decrying Sukkot’s tour.

“In Umm al-Fahm we are proud of our educational system and its accomplishments. Zvi Sukkot is not coming to Umm al-Fahm to learn or meet people. He comes with one goal, to incite and spread hate,” Jabareen says.

Earlier this month, Sukkot was filmed using a circular saw to break open the gate to a school in the northern Bedouin town of Tuba-Zangariyye during a similar visit.

Golan’s Democrats party unveils 51 candidates for July 20 primary, touts membership of 85,000

The Democrats chairman Yair Golan speaks during a party conference in Tel Aviv, May 31, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/ Flash90)

Yair Golan’s left-wing Democratic Party announces the final list of 51 candidates set to compete in its July 20 primary, and reports that a record 85,000 members have registered to vote in the primary, ahead of the upcoming national election set to be held by October 27.

Membership remains open until July 12, with only registered members eligible to vote in the primary the following week.

The list includes MKs Naama Lazimi, Gilad Kariv and Efrat Rayten, former Meretz MKs Michal Rozin, Mossi Raz, and Gaby Lasky, former deputy national security adviser Eran Etzion, Rabbis for Human Rights CEO Avi Dabush, Danny Elgarat, brother of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat, Arab rights activist Somaya Bashir, secular rights activist Naor Narkis, and anti-government protest leaders Moshe Radman, Ami Dror, Moran Michel and Nava Rozolyo. MK Merav Michaeli, a former Labor chair, will not run.

Golan occupies the top spot on the slate and will not be competing in the primary. Candidates below him will be ranked according to the number of votes they receive, subject to party rules meant to create gender parity, representation for Meretz candidates, kibbutzim and moshavim, and Arab and Druze minorities.

The party says that the list represents a “diverse range of communities from Beit Jann in the north to Sde Boker in the south” and includes 19  women, with candidates coming from the Jewish, Druze, Arab and LGBTQ communities.

“While the rest of the political map retreats into closed rooms, relying on arranging committees or a single leader, we are offering the public a transparent, open, principled and stable governing alternative,” says party secretary-general Omer Lubaton, calling the party “the only democratic party” in the opposition bloc.

Only a handful of Israeli parties, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and the Arab-majority Hadash, use primaries to select their Knesset slates.

The Democrats currently holds four Knesset seats but has consistently polled at 10-11 seats in recent months, including in surveys conducted by The Times of Israel’s sister site Zman Yisrael.

Government unanimously approves landmark proposal to recognize Armenian genocide

A sign captioned 'I remember and demand' calls for recognition of the Armenian genocide in Jerusalem's Old City, August 28, 2025. (Nava Freiberg/The Times of Israel)

The government has unanimously approved a proposal for Israel to officially recognize the Armenian genocide.

“It is never too late to do the right thing,” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says in a Hebrew-language statement on the move.

“This horrifying genocide, which took place more than 100 years ago and about whose historical facts there is truly no dispute, involved the murder of one and a half million people and the destruction of an ancient cultural and historical heritage,” he says.

“In my view, it is our moral duty as Jews —-and certainly as the state of the Jewish people — to make the decision we made today. I would like to thank Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his backing, and my fellow government ministers for their support,” the foreign minister says.

Sa’ar said last week he would propose a cabinet resolution today to officially recognize the genocide against the Armenian people during the final years of the Ottoman Empire — a move that will no doubt provoke rival Turkey. Armenians have long sought international recognition of the killings in the early 20th century, which reportedly left some 1.5 million of their people dead, as a genocide. Turkey — the Ottoman Empire’s successor state — strongly rejects the allegation that the massacres, imprisonment and forced deportation of Armenians amounted to genocide.

Jerusalem has previously refrained from recognizing the World War I atrocities as genocide over fears it could harm its relationship with Ankara. However, with ties deteriorating sharply since Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rose to power, particularly following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza — where the Turkish leader has claimed genocide  — Netanyahu last year said for the first time that he recognized the genocide.

Asked last night if he supported the proposal, Netanyahu stated that he had never made any effort to block this move or any past proposals, saying, “I certainly support it,” but declined to comment on whether there was any concern about how Turkey would react.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Iran FM warns any challenge to Tehran’s control of Hormuz will ‘increase tensions’

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks during a news conference with his Iraqi counterpart Fouad Hussein after their meeting at the foreign ministry in Baghdad, Iraq, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iran’s foreign minister warns that any challenge to the country’s control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz will increase tensions despite ongoing negotiations to end the Middle East war.

“Any attempt to adopt new or separate arrangements compared to what is underway by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will only lead to more complicated situations and delays in the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and will increase the tensions, as we witnessed in the past two nights,” Abbas Araghchi says at a news conference on a visit to Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Tehran’s top diplomat calls on all parties to “adhere to the memorandum of understanding and not to allow this MOU to deviate from its course” after both sides traded attacks in recent days.

Iran imposed a blockade in the strait soon after the US and Israel, on February 28, launched a bombing campaign on the Islamic Republic in a bid to destabilize its regime and destroy its ballistic missile and nuclear programs. The blockade has triggered a global spike in energy prices.

Traffic through the Strait has increased since the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this month, but is still well below prewar levels. Iran has warned vessels not to enter or leave the Gulf through the strait without permission, but ships have continued to move, some using a route not authorized by Tehran.

Man injured in Holon car blast dies of his wounds; 5th homicide since midnight

Police and rescue forces at the scene where a car exploded in a suspected assassination attempt, in Holon, June 28, 2026 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

A man injured in a car blast in Holon has died of his wounds, after medics took him to the hospital in unstable condition.

He is the fifth person to be killed in a violent incident in Israel since midnight.

The victim, a man in his 30s, is the second person to be killed today in a vehicle explosion, after a similar incident in Jaffa left a man dead and moderately wounded his six-year-old son. No arrests have been made in connection to either incident.

IDF soldier killed in clash with Hezbollah gunman in south Lebanon

Cpt. David Hazutt, killed in Lebanon on June 28, 2026 (Israel Defense Forces)

An IDF officer was killed in a clash with a Hezbollah gunman in southern Lebanon overnight, the military announces.

The slain soldier is named as Cpt. David Hazutt, 21, a platoon commander in the Golani Brigade’s 12th Battalion, from Ashkelon.

According to an IDF probe of the incident, at around 2 a.m., Golani soldiers encountered a Hezbollah operative as they entered a structure in the village of Deir Siryan. During the clash, Hazutt was killed and another soldier was lightly hurt.

The IDF says the wounded soldier was taken to a hospital and his family was notified.

Troops have launched searches for the operative, and struck Hezbollah sites in the area, the military adds.

Iran’s FM calls for security framework with Gulf nations, just hours after attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks during a news conference with his Iraqi counterpart Fouad Hussein after their meeting at the foreign ministry in Baghdad, Iraq, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iran’s foreign minister calls for the establishment of a security framework with Gulf countries, just hours after Iran attacked Bahrain and Kuwait in response to US strikes.

“We should reach a new framework that includes all countries in the region and without the presence or interference of any country from outside the region,” Abbas Araghchi says at a news conference on a visit to Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Man seriously injured in Holon car blast, the 2nd such explosion in central Israel within hours

The scene of a car blast in Holon on June 28, 2026. (Magen David Adom)

A car has exploded in Holon, seriously injuring a man and leaving him unconscious.

The incident occurs just hours after a man was killed and his young son moderately wounded in a similar car blast in Jaffa, just a few kilometers north.

Medics dispatched to the scene say the wounded victim in Holon is around 30 years old and in unstable condition.

Police are operating at the scene of the suspected car bombing and searching for suspects.

Opposition MKs, along with 1 coalition MK, slam bill equating Torah study with IDF service

Israeli security forces stand guard as ultra-Orthodox Jews gather to protest against the detention of Haredi draft evaders outside the Bet Lid military prison in Kfar Yona on June 17, 2026. (Ilia Yefimovich/AFP)

Opposition lawmakers slam their ultra-Orthodox colleagues during the first of a series of scheduled Knesset panel hearings this week on the coalition’s controversial proposed law to declare Torah study a foundational value of Israel, accusing them of supporting mass draft evasion and desecrating the Torah.

Lawmakers vocally object after United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf’s claims that there are “also draft dodgers who live in Tel Aviv,” that those studying Torah full-time and not enlisting are “a small group,” and that anybody who claims that Haredim do not serve is “denying reality.”

Haredim who do not serve “are not draft dodgers” and are contributing through their Torah studies, Goldknopf says, calling on lawmakers on the Knesset House Committee deliberating on the bill “be as one man with one heart” and vote unanimously to advance it.

Opposition lawmakers erupt in anger, with Yesh Atid MK Merav Cohen calling his words “a slap in the face” and bemoaning the fact that “even three years of a difficult war have not made you change your mind.”

Cohen says the law — which states that recognizing Torah study as a foundational value is intended to create “a just balance with respect to other foundational values” — would only serve to allow Haredim to continue avoiding military service while continuing to receive billions of shekels in government funding.

“You are causing a desecration of God’s name, and you should be ashamed of it because it is not Jewish, not Zionist, not Israeli, not anything,” she says.

Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer accuses the ultra-Orthodox of bringing about a civil war and cites the Biblical verse “Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here?”

Religious Zionism MK Moshe Solomon, who broke ranks with the coalition to vote against the bill in its preliminary reading, also argues against it, declaring that “legislating a law about Torah study harms Torah study, harms the value of Torah study, and harms the ability of the entirety of the People of Israel, across its whole spectrum, to respect, love, and embrace the Torah world.”

Hitting back, committee chairman and coalition whip Likud MK Ofir Katz accuses Solomon of serving “the left’s campaign.”

2025 immigration total revised upward to 22,522

New immigrants from France arrive at Ben Gurion Airport on June 25, 2025 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

In a summary report on immigration to Israel in 2025, the Immigration and Absorption Ministry updates last year’s total number of new immigrants to 22,522, from the 21,900 originally reported in December.

The ministry says the figure is about a third less than 2024’s total due to factors related to the Russia-Ukraine war and changes in immigration patterns amid the war sparked by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

The Central Bureau of Statistics has previously said more than 69,000 Israelis left the country in 2025, meaning that despite the revised number, the country is still recording a negative migration balance for the second straight year.

Some 8,500 immigrants arrived from the United States, France, Britain, and Canada, a 25 percent increase from the previous year, the ministry says. This group of four countries, which see the largest numbers of immigrants from Western countries, now represents 38% of all immigrants, compared to 25% in 2024, as French immigration rose 51% to 3,360 and US immigrants increased by 10% to 3,781.

About 8,300 immigrants of Russian descent arrived in 2025, a 57% decline from 2024. Most of Israel’s dramatic rise in immigration and subsequent decline since 2022 is attributable to the surge from Russia and Ukraine at the start of that war, demographers have noted.

During 2025, when Israel fought multiple wars and antisemitism abroad remained at high levels, immigration trends shifted younger, with increasing numbers of single immigrants and those between the ages of 18 and 35, the ministry notes.

“The report indicates a significant change in the nature of immigration, with more immigrants from Western countries, more young people of working age, more professionals needed by the economy, and more young families choosing to establish their home in Israel,” the ministry says.

Top commander in Hamas’s naval police among terror operatives killed in weekend Gaza strike, IDF says

A top commander in Hamas’s naval police, along with two other operatives in the terror group, were killed in an Israeli strike in the central Gaza Strip over the weekend, the IDF announces.

The IDF says the naval police “operates under Hamas’s military wing and advances and directs terror attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.”

The strike on Friday targeted Mansour Sami Mahmoud Shahtout, the commander of Hamas’s naval police in the Central Camps, according to the military.

Two other commanders in the naval police who were with Shahtout in the targeted vehicle were killed in the strike, the military says.

The IDF says Shahtout recently worked to advance attacks on Israeli troops. All three operatives “were traveling in a vehicle while armed with weapons, and as such posed a threat to IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip,” the army adds.

להסרת איום: צה"ל ושב"כ חיסלו את מפקד המשטרה הימית של מחנות המרכז ושני מפקדים נוספים בחמאס

צה"ל ושב"כ תקפו וחיסלו במרכז רצועת עזה שלשום את המחבל מנצור סאמי מחמוד שחתות, מפקד המשטרה הימית של מחנות המרכז בארגון הטרור חמאס.

מנצור שחתות פעל בתקופה האחרונה לקידום מתווי טרור נגד כוחות… pic.twitter.com/eAXGyYPktp

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 28, 2026

Israeli strike reported in south Lebanon

Lebanese media reports an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon.

The strike took place near the towns of Deir Siryan and Taybeh, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

Both towns are located inside Israel’s southern Lebanon security zone.

There are no immediate reports of casualties, and the IDF has not yet commented.

The strike comes less than two days after Israel, Lebanon and the United States signed a framework agreement aimed at paving the way for an eventual peace deal between the two long-time Middle East adversaries. Israel has said it will continue to take action against the Hezbollah terror group.

Defense minister calls for halt to arrests of draft dodgers

Defense Minister Israel Katz attends the Muni Expo 2026 conference in Tel Aviv, on June 24, 2026 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Defense Minister Israel Katz calls for a halt to draft evader arrests, pushing Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth to hold an “urgent hearing” on a proposal to end such enforcement.

In a letter, Katz tells Bismuth that, in light of Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs’s letter supporting a moratorium on arrests, his legislative panel should discuss a “temporary provision” that allows full-time yeshiva students to avoid arrest while ensuring “the continuation of criminal enforcement against draft-evaders from the Haredi public who are not studying in yeshivas.”

The proposal is one of two parallel bills being pushed by ultra-Orthodox lawmakers in the hopes of keeping yeshiva students out of the army despite the High Court of Justice’s 2024 ruling ordering the government to start conscripting Haredi men.

It is being advanced alongside the coalition’s controversial proposed Basic Law declaring Torah study a foundational value of the State of Israel.

Katz and Bismuth are both members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

The IDF has repeatedly said it urgently needs more recruits; some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but have not enlisted.

2 men shot dead in Qalansawe, taking toll since midnight to 4

Two men have been shot dead in the central Arab city of Qalansawe, first responders say.

Medics pronounced the victims, both men in their 40s, dead at the scene.

They are the third and fourth Arab men to be killed in Israel since midnight.

Police have not yet commented on the lethal shooting.

Kuwait condemns ‘heinous’ dawn attack by Iran on its territory

Kuwait’s foreign ministry denounces a new Iranian attack on its territory, after Tehran said it had launched strikes against US bases in the Gulf in retaliation for American attacks.

The ministry says in a statement that it “expresses its condemnation and denunciation of… in the strongest terms, the recurrence of Iran’s heinous aggression against the State of Kuwait, the latest of which was at dawn today, in a flagrant violation of its sovereignty.”

Bahrain says it was targeted by missiles, drones in ‘treacherous Iranian attacks’

Bahrain’s air defenses intercepted Iranian missiles and drones, the Gulf kingdom’s military says, after the US carried out new strikes against Iran.

The Bahraini military says it “intercepted and destroyed a number of projectiles used in these treacherous Iranian attacks,” adding that it is on “maximum alert.”

Iran announced earlier that it had launched strikes against the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain and another base in Kuwait, in retaliation for US strikes on its territory.

High Court begins second hearing on petitions against election of state comptroller

Attorney Michael Rabello is seen before a court hearing on the dismissal of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, April 15, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The High Court of Justice begins a second hearing on petitions demanding that the election of Michael Rabello as state comptroller be annulled.

Rabello, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-time lawyer and negotiator, was elected by the Knesset in a controversial election in which several Likud MKs either made their ballot slip visible outside the ballot box or photographed or videoed themselves voting for Rabello, reportedly on the instructions of senior Likud officials.

Petitioners allege that these actions violated the requirement in Basic Law: State Comptroller that the vote by members of Knesset be conducted by secret ballot, and argue that this component of the law was designed to bolster the political independence of the office.

Responding to the petitions, Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik argued that there is no hard evidence that there were any instructions from Likud officials to MKs to record themselves voting, but acknowledged that this would be illegitimate if it happened.

Coalition MK Sharren Haskel of the New Hope party has stated on several occasions, however, that coalition MKs “had been required” to record themselves voting to prove that they voted for Rabello.

The High Court earlier this month strongly recommended that the Knesset redo the election “cleanly and properly” because of the irregularities, but Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana refused, leading the court to issue a conditional order against the Knesset ordering it to explain in a second hearing why the court should not annul the election.

The hearing is being heard by Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, Deputy President Noam Sohlberg, and justices Daphne Barak Erez, Gila Canfy Steinitz, and Ruth Ronen.

IDF says it killed Hamas terrorist seen celebrating next to captured tank on Oct. 7

Hamas terrorist Abd al-Rahman Maher Abd al-Karim Ziyada is seen by an IDF tank on October 7, 2023, in a photo published by the military on June 28, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)

A Hamas terrorist who invaded Israel during the October 7, 2023, onslaught was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip last week, the IDF announces.

The strike on Wednesday in Gaza City’s Shati Camp killed Abd al-Rahman Maher Abd al-Karim Ziyada, who the IDF says was a commander of a Nukhba Force cell in Hamas’s military wing.

He was seen celebrating on October 7 next to a captured IDF tank, from which soldiers were abducted. The tank remained on the border after being disabled.

“The terrorist infiltrated Israeli territory during the October 7 massacre and looted an IDF vehicle, taking it into the Gaza Strip,” the military says. Several army jeeps were taken by Hamas terrorists into Gaza during the onslaught.

A separate strike on Wednesday, in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, killed a Hamas tunnel expert. The military says it targeted Kamal Muhammad Hamdan Najar, head of the tunnel unit in the Khan Younis area.

The IDF says that throughout the war and recently, both terror operatives tried to advance attacks on troops, and therefore they “posed an immediate threat to the forces and were eliminated in precise strikes.”

6-year-old boy moderately injured in Jaffa car blast that killed his father

A car goes up in flames after it exploded, killing a man in his 40s in Jaffa on June 28, 2026. (Magen David Adom)

A car blast that killed a man this morning in Jaffa also moderately injured his six-year-old son, medics say.

The young boy is being treated at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon.

According to reports, the boy suffered burns to his face but managed to exit the car on his own, where medics found him.

The man was reportedly taking his son to school when the vehicle exploded.

Police are investigating the possibility that the suspected car bombing is a revenge killing for the deadly shooting of a teenage boy last week in the city, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

Bahrain condemns Iranian attacks, urges UN Security Council to hold Tehran accountable

After sirens sounded for a second time in Bahrain, the foreign ministry condemns the Iranian attacks as a deliberate and repeated violation of the kingdom’s sovereignty and security.

It urges the UN Security Council to hold an urgent session to hold Iran accountable.

Man killed in car explosion in Jaffa; 2nd person injured

A car goes up in flames after it exploded, killing a man in his 40s in Jaffa on June 28, 2026. (Magen David Adom)

A man in his 40s has died after his vehicle exploded in Jaffa, medics say.

Police have arrived at the scene of the apparent car bombing and are searching for suspects.

Medics found the victim unconscious in his car and declared him dead at the scene, says the Magen David Adom emergency service.

The blast injured another person in the area, who was taken to Wolfson Medical Center in Holon for treatment. There are no further details on their condition.

Iran says US ‘breaking promises’ with strikes targeting ‘monitoring, surveillance’ facilities

A still image taken from drone footage published by US Central Command shows a strike on Iranian military targets on June 28, 2026. (X, CENTCOM)

Iran says that US airstrikes targeted several monitoring and surveillance facilities on Iran’s southern coast, calling the attacks a violation of an interim deal meant to end the four-month-old war between the two countries.

“These brutal attacks … show that the US does not place the slightest value and credibility on its commitments, and breaking promises is part of its nature,” the Foreign Ministry says in a statement.

US President Donald Trump said yesterday that the Islamic Republic of Iran would “no longer exist” if the United States is “forced” to resume the war, as he accused Tehran of violating a ceasefire by striking ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

IDF troops killed a number of armed operatives in south Syria, military says

IDF troops killed a number of gunmen in southern Syria yesterday, the military says in a statement.

According to the military, reservists of the Etzioni Brigade opened fire and killed the “armed terrorists” inside Israel’s buffer zone.

No further details are given on the incident.

On Thursday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces will remain inside security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and the Gaza Strip, “without any time limit.”

The IDF has been deployed inside southern Syria since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024.

Iran eliminated from World Cup as Austria and Algeria advance to round of 32

Austria and Algeria play to a thrilling 3-3 draw in what amounts to a win-win result in their World Cup group-stage finale, allowing both to advance to the knockout round while eliminating Iran from the tournament.

The game was tied 2-all in the closing minutes, and Algeria looked as if it was content to run out the clock, when Riyad Mahrez scored his second goal with about a minute left in stoppage time. That put Austria on the verge of elimination, only for Sasa Kalajdzic to head in the equalizing goal moments later and rescue Das Team’s World Cup hopes.

Marko Arnautovic and Marcel Sabitzer also had goals for Austria, which finished second behind Argentina in Group J to advance for the first time since 1982. Its reward is a matchup with European champion Spain on Thursday in Los Angeles.

Rafik Belghali also scored for Les Fennecs, who became the ninth of 10 teams from Africa to advance. They finished third in the group but get a potentially easier Round of 32 matchup with Switzerland on Thursday night in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Iran would’ve advanced as one of the eight best third-place teams had Austria or Algeria won. But when Kalajdzic scored in stoppage time to tie the game one last time, it meant Team Melli was eliminated.

Sirens sound for a second time in Bahrain, Interior Ministry says

Air raid sirens are sounding for a second time in Bahrain, the Interior Ministry says.

Iran announced earlier that it had launched strikes against the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain and another base in Kuwait, after US strikes on its territory in response to Iranian strikes on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

“The siren has been sounded… Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place,” the Interior Ministry says on X.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

IDF says it killed RPG-wielding Hezbollah operatives, struck rocket launcher in south Lebanon

The IDF says it struck and killed several Hezbollah operatives who were armed with RPGs and operating close to troops in south Lebanon yesterday.

After the operatives were identified by commandos of the Egoz Unit, the Israeli Air Force carried out strikes on the operatives and the structure they were in in the Nabatieh area, “to remove the threat to the forces,” the military says.

In a separate incident, troops of the Multi-Domain Unit struck and destroyed a Hezbollah rocket launcher that the military says “posed a threat to forces.”

The IDF publishes footage of the strikes.

במטרה להסיר את האיום: צה"ל חיסל מחבלי חיזבאללה חמושים ב-RPG ותקף משגר במרחב נבטיה

כוחות יחידת אגוז בפיקוד אוגדה 36 זיהו אתמול מספר מחבלים חמושים ב-RPG מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה, שפעלו במרחב נבטיה בסמוך למרחב הביטחוני בו פועלים כוחות צה"ל בדרום לבנון.

מיד לאחר הזיהוי, חיל האוויר… pic.twitter.com/5trowGJfY6

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 28, 2026

On Friday, Israel, Lebanon and the United States signed a trilateral agreement aimed at paving the way for a broader peace deal between the two Middle East nations.

La Guardia tunnel in Tel Aviv closed after discovery of a body; no suspicion of foul play

Police on the scene after a body was discovered in La Guardia tunnel in Tel Aviv on June 28, 2026 (Israel Police)

A tunnel in south Tel Aviv has been closed to traffic after the discovery of a body, police say.

The tunnel is closed to vehicles traveling from west to east.

In a statement, police say there is no suspicion of criminal involvement in the death.

Iran’s IRGC warns of ‘crushing response’ to any further US action after overnight strikes

After carrying out strikes against Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for earlier US strikes on Iranian territory, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warns that any further action from the US would be met with a “crushing response.”

In a statement, the IRGC says it “destroyed eight important US military facilities at the Ali al-Salem base in Kuwait and at the Fifth Fleet naval base in Port Salman in Bahrain.

“Any enemy aggression, whatever the pretext, even against insignificant targets… will have a crushing response,” the IRGC adds.

IRGC confirms launching attacks on US military sites in Kuwait, Bahrain

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirms that its navy and aerospace forces launched joint missile and drone attacks targeting US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to recent US strikes on Iran.

“Violating the ceasefire is contrary to Clause 1 of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding and will result in the complete halt of all diplomatic processes,” the IRGC says in a statement, according to Press TV.

Kuwait, Bahrain hit with new missile and drone attacks after US strikes on Iran

Kuwait came under attack from “hostile” missiles and drones, the country’s army says, while in Bahrain, air-raid sirens sound following fresh US strikes against Iran.

“Kuwaiti air defenses are currently engaging hostile missile and drone attacks. Everyone is urged to adhere to the safety and security instructions issued by the relevant authorities,” Kuwait’s army writes on X.

In Bahrain, which hosts a major US naval base, air raid sirens have gone off, the interior ministry says, calling on residents to “remain calm and head to the nearest safe place.”

Trump warns US may be ‘forced to militarily complete the job’ in Iran after new strikes

US President Donald Trump confirms that the US military struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites for violating a US-Iran ceasefire agreement.

“There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” Trump writes on Truth Social.

“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist.”

US defense official tells media latest strikes on Iran are complete

Citing a US defense official, Fox News reports that the latest US strikes on Iranian targets are complete.

The US had said that it launched the strikes “in direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping” after a Panama-flagged tanker was attacked by an Iranian drone early on Saturday.

In Iran, state broadcaster IRIB says that explosions were heard in Sirik in southern Iran, without providing further details.

House minority leader Jeffries congratulates anti-Israel primary winners who refused to endorse him

US Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House minority leader, congratulates recent winners of New York Democratic party primaries, despite two of the candidates declining to support him as a potential House speaker.

Jeffries’ statement congratulates Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez, Brad Lander and Micah Lasher, who all won Democratic party primaries in New York City this week.

All are expected to win seats in Congress in the general election in their Democratic-majority districts.

“From public servants to union organizers to community activists, the path is different but the work is the same,” Jeffries says in a statement. “We must decisively address the affordability crisis and crush far-right extremism.”

Congratulations to our newest members of the NYC congressional delegation.

From public servants to union organizers to community activists, the path is different but the work is the same.

We must decisively address the affordability crisis and crush far-right extremism! pic.twitter.com/f4XC6dpX7q

— Hakeem Jeffries (@hakeemjeffries) June 27, 2026

In each election, Israel was a central issue. Chevalier and Valdez are aligned with anti-Zionist ideology, while Lander is Jewish and defines himself as a “liberal Zionist” but also harshly critical of Israel.

Jeffries, as House minority leader, regularly welcomes new party members to the House, but the congratulatory statement is complicated by political circumstances.

Chevalier defeated incumbent Adriano Espaillat and Lander beat incumbent Dan Goldman. Jeffries had endorsed Espaillat and Goldman.

Chevalier and Valdez, both members of the far left Democratic Socialists of America, have declined to endorse Jeffries as majority leader if Democrats take back the House.

Their refusal to endorse Jeffries highlights the tense relationship between the DSA and more moderate Democrats.

At an election night party for Valdez, attendees chanted, “You’re next,” at Jeffries when he appeared on a screen at the event.

Mainstream Jewish leaders have lined up behind Jeffries amid threats against his leadership from the DSA.

Jeffries has supported Israel’s existence as a Jewish and Democratic state and backed US security assistance to Israel.

He has also been harshly critical of the war in Gaza, saying last year that “the starvation and death of Palestinian children and civilians in an ongoing war zone is unacceptable.”

Those positions put him in line with Democratic Party moderates, while the insurgent DSA is more in line with far left anti-Zionism.

CENTCOM confirms fresh US strikes: Iran had ‘chance to honor the ceasefire but elected not to’

US Central Command, which oversees American military forces in the Middle East, confirms launching fresh strikes on Iran after it attacked a commercial oil tanker with a drone.

In a statement, CENTCOM says Iran had been “given a chance to honor the ceasefire agreement but elected not to” by attacking the ship, which followed US strikes in response to a previous Iranian attack.

CENTCOM says the latest strikes “targeted Iranian military surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities, and minelayer capabilities.”

“Commercial vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz continue,” it adds. “US forces remain vigilant, lethal, and ready.”