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Tag: Hamas

  • ‘I screamed in pain’: Former hostage Matan Angrest says Hamas terrorists electrocuted him – N12

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    Former Gaza hostage Matan Angrest told Channel 12’s ‘Uvda’ about his captivity, including Hamas torture, the loss of his tank crew, bonding with fellow hostage Gali Berman, and his eventual release.

    Content warning: This article contains disturbing imagery, including torture and abuse.

    Former Gaza hostage Matan Angrest told Channel 12’s ‘Uvda’ that he was tortured, including by electrocution, during his time in Hamas’s terror captivity, in an interview broadcast on Thursday evening.

    Angrest, who was serving in a specialized tank unit with classified equipment under the 7th Armored Brigade near Nahal Oz during the October 7 massacre, was the only member of his tank crew who survived the terror attack. His crewmates, Capt. Daniel Perez, St.-Sgt. Itay Chen, and Sgt. Tomer Leibovitz, were all murdered, with their remains taken by terrorists into the Gaza Strip.

    Things that fall under ‘die and don’t tell’ during torture, interrogations

    “I woke up in Gaza in some house, and could not open my eyes or move my hand – my hand was burned,” Angrest said, describing the first moments he recalls following the massacre.

    “I opened my eyes, and eight people were sitting in front of me. They started asking things like ‘Where were you kidnapped from? Where do you serve [in the IDF]?’ but they talked to me in Arabic, and I could not understand,” he continued.

    “Someone came to me with two wires and put them on my wounds. I felt like I was being electrocuted. I screamed in pain, and then he did it to me again,” he told the interviewer.

    According to the report, the terrorists already knew that Angrest was part of a tank crew containing classified systems equipment, and knew that he, as the only survivor, would be able to tell them information that could help future terror acts succeed.

    “In the really hard interrogations, they kept asking things that were classified. Things like ‘Can the driver kill? Does he have a weapon?’ and I kept telling them that the driver is like a regular driver,” he said.

    Angrest’s ability to move improved over time, but Hamas terrorists kept increasing the pressure. “They tortured me to the extreme. Electric shocks – trauma that will stay with me. The longest interrogation was about eight hours continuously, where they made me tell things in the ‘die and don’t tell’ category,” he recalled.

    Angrest also noted that he found out via terrorist radio chatter that his three tank crewmates were murdered on October 7. “I locked myself in a room alone [after finding out], you understand that it’s over. I just thought about them and all of our experiences.”

    Angrest recounts meeting Gali Berman, no longer being alone

    Angrest was held alone for weeks, in locations both above ground and within the underground terror tunnels, Channel 12 noted.

    Then, he was joined by fellow hostage Gali Berman. “I was with Gali for a long time, and connected with him a lot,” he recalled.

    But he was separated from the other hostages and continued to be interrogated. “I would say to Gali: ‘I’m scared. I don’t know what they’ll do to me. How will I sleep at night?’”

    “He tried to comfort me, [but I knew that] if they find out more things about me, it’ll be the end for me,” Angrest added.

    Angrest recalls Oct. 7 massacre

    During the interview, Angrest recalled how, during the massacre, he jumped into his tank and saw a white Toyota with a green-white license plate. “I rubbed my eyes. How did it get in? Suddenly, we heard gunshots, and asked ourselves, ‘Did they infiltrate into the country?’”

    Perez commanded his tank to mobilize out of the Nahal Oz outpost, running over terrorists moving towards it, moving towards a firing position overlooking Shejaia. “Not long after, we were told over the radio to return to the outpost, as there was an incident. I passed by the place where I sleep – where I played backgammon with Tomer (Leibovitz) the day before,” he recalled.

    He noted coming across the scene of the fight between terrorists and Golani Brigade company commander, Maj. Shilo Har-Even and his five soldiers, who were all massacred at the outpost. Perez told the tank crew to “shut off their emotions,” Angrest said.

    “‘Our goal is that there will be no kidnapping,’ I don’t know how he said that – how he predicted the future,” Angrest added, citing what Perez said to the crew at the time.

    “Matan, you need to be sharp. They’ll try to take whoever is in the operations room and kidnap them,” Perez warned, according to Angrest.

    Angrest then noted how just after 8:30 a.m., the tank returned to the breached border fence and discovered another wave of terrorist infiltrators.

    “I told Perez, ‘Look, they’re entering the country, they’re coming towards us,” he told the interviewer.

    They were faced with a dilemma of whether to risk the tank to the possibility of anti-tank missile fire by closing in, or attempting, and likely failing, to stop the wave of infiltrators with long-distance fire, he noted.

    Angrest, the tank’s driver, was instructed by Perez to “reverse quickly” and towards the terrorists.

    “As a team, we began to understand, it’s either them or us. After the shell Itay [Chen] fired, I could see terrorists flying into the air from the blast, 50 meters away from me. While I was seeing this, I continued driving, thinking, ‘How do I destroy them all? it’s… an insane amount. I knew that things could end for us at any moment,” he recounted.

    Angrest still struggles to recall everything that happened, but black box recordings fill in some gaps, Channel 12 noted. The last few moments of the recordings included someone crying, “Did someone get hit? Perez! Perez! Perez!”

    Angrest recalls finding out he was being released

    Angrest was released from captivity in October of 2025, after 738 days of being held by Hamas terrorists within the Gaza Strip.

    It came as a surprise, he said. “They took Gili [Berman] and me somewhere while blindfolded. They removed them, and suddenly we saw [fellow hostages] Alon Ohel and Guy Gilboa-Dalal.”

    “One of the senior terrorists pointed at us and said, ‘You four – you leave tomorrow. Life changed [after being released]. You wake up in the morning and look for the next step. For everyone, it seems like the struggle is over, and you go back to living normally. It goes from zero to one hundred in some ways, but in others from one hundred to zero. The scars will always remain,” he said.

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  • Rubio plans to update Netanyahu on US-Iran talks in Israel next week, officials say

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    Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to travel to Israel next week to update Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, two Trump administration officials said.Rubio is expected to meet with Netanyahu on Feb. 28, according to the officials, who spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity to detail travel plans that have not yet been announced.The U.S. and Iran have recently held two rounds of indirect talks over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. Officials from both sides publicly offered some muted optimism about progress this week, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi even saying that “a new window has opened” for reaching an agreement.”In some ways, it went well,” U.S. Vice President JD Vance said about the talks in an interview Tuesday with Fox News Channel. “But in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.”Netanyahu visited the White House last week to urge President Donald Trump to ensure that any deal about Iran’s nuclear program also includes steps to neutralize Iran’s ballistic missile program and end its funding for proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.Trump is weighing whether to take military action against Tehran as the administration surges military resources to the region, raising concerns that any attack could spiral into a larger conflict in the Middle East.On Friday, Trump told reporters that a change in power in Iran “seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.” He added, “For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking.”The Trump administration has dispatched the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, from the Caribbean Sea to the Mideast to join a second carrier as well as other warships and military assets that the U.S. has built up in the region.Dozens of U.S. fighter jets, including F-35s, F-22s and F-16s, have left bases in the U.S. and Europe in recent days to head to the Middle East, according to the Military Air Tracking Alliance, a team of about 30 open-source analysts that routinely analyzes military and government flight activity.The team says it’s also tracked more than 85 fuel tankers and over 170 cargo planes heading into the region.Steffan Watkins, a researcher based in Canada and a member of the MATA, said he also has spotted support aircraft, like six of the military’s early-warning E-3 aircraft head to a base in Saudi Arabia.Those aircraft are key for coordinating operations with a large number of aircraft. He says they were pulled from bases in Japan, Germany and Hawaii.

    WASHINGTON —

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to travel to Israel next week to update Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, two Trump administration officials said.

    Rubio is expected to meet with Netanyahu on Feb. 28, according to the officials, who spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity to detail travel plans that have not yet been announced.

    The U.S. and Iran have recently held two rounds of indirect talks over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. Officials from both sides publicly offered some muted optimism about progress this week, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi even saying that “a new window has opened” for reaching an agreement.

    “In some ways, it went well,” U.S. Vice President JD Vance said about the talks in an interview Tuesday with Fox News Channel. “But in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.”

    Netanyahu visited the White House last week to urge President Donald Trump to ensure that any deal about Iran’s nuclear program also includes steps to neutralize Iran’s ballistic missile program and end its funding for proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

    Trump is weighing whether to take military action against Tehran as the administration surges military resources to the region, raising concerns that any attack could spiral into a larger conflict in the Middle East.

    On Friday, Trump told reporters that a change in power in Iran “seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.” He added, “For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking.”

    The Trump administration has dispatched the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, from the Caribbean Sea to the Mideast to join a second carrier as well as other warships and military assets that the U.S. has built up in the region.

    Dozens of U.S. fighter jets, including F-35s, F-22s and F-16s, have left bases in the U.S. and Europe in recent days to head to the Middle East, according to the Military Air Tracking Alliance, a team of about 30 open-source analysts that routinely analyzes military and government flight activity.

    The team says it’s also tracked more than 85 fuel tankers and over 170 cargo planes heading into the region.

    Steffan Watkins, a researcher based in Canada and a member of the MATA, said he also has spotted support aircraft, like six of the military’s early-warning E-3 aircraft head to a base in Saudi Arabia.

    Those aircraft are key for coordinating operations with a large number of aircraft. He says they were pulled from bases in Japan, Germany and Hawaii.

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  • IDF to increase Gaza border security due to smuggling risks

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    IDF officials identified Hamas’s struggle in Gaza, after more than two years of war have left it without stocks of standard explosives, to obtain weapons as well as additional equipment.

    The IDF announced it will deploy military police at crossings along the border fence between Israel and Gaza, in an attempt to prevent smuggling by inspecting military vehicles and the belongings of Defense Ministry contractors operating in the Yellow Line area.

    IDF officials identified Hamas’s struggle in Gaza, after more than two years of war have left it without stocks of standard explosives, to obtain weapons as well as additional equipment intended for its future military buildup.

    The Southern Command, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and police understand that Hamas’s need for equipment is driving it to seek out actors inside Israel who will help supply what it lacks, including by establishing contact with Bedouin or Arab Israeli elements who have ties to contacts in Gaza. From there, the process develops through the construction of smuggling routes, some of which rely on soldiers, contractor employees, and officials operating in the Yellow Line area around Gaza.

    On Monday, the police informed the Southern District Court that the State Attorney’s Office would file dozens of indictments against 16 suspects allegedly involved in smuggling to Gaza. As of now, the police, the Shin Bet, and the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division are handling two significant smuggling cases into Gaza. In parallel, there are investigations into the removal of weapons from IDF storage sites along the Yellow Line into Israel, with some of them ending up in criminal hands.

    In recent weeks, Southern Command, under Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor and the Gaza Division 143, under Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram has led a move to tighten supervision of movement at crossings between Israel and Gaza.

    HUNDREDS OF packets of cigarettes being smuggled. (credit: POLICE SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)

    There are two types of crossings along the border with Gaza. The first are regulated crossings for the transfer of goods, operated by the Defense Ministry, including the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings. Oversight at these crossings is regulated and strict, and includes technological measures to prevent smuggling. The second type of crossings is “operational gates,” gates along the fence through which IDF forces, contractors, and suppliers of military equipment cross from Israel into the Yellow Line area.

    It was decided to install technological systems at the crossings to monitor entries. It was also decided that the gates would remain locked around the clock, and only when entry is required would a sector patrol arrive with the keys.

    Only after a name check would be conducted and cross-referenced with the sector command center list, confirming that everyone in the vehicle is approved and that their entry into the Yellow Line has been coordinated, would authorization be given for the patrol to open the gate.

    Southern Command allocates military police to West Bank crossings, Gaza border

    In parallel, Southern Command decided to deploy military police forces trained in inspections to crossings in the West Bank and along the Gaza border. The aim is to increase supervision by conducting inspections of vehicles entering and exiting, exactly as the IDF did during the period when it held the security zone in Lebanon, or at entry crossings such as the Fatima Gate in Metula or at the Rosh Hanikra crossing, where military police carried out checks to prevent smuggling.

    At the same time, the IDF says this is a preventive activity that will be prioritized by the Shin Bet, the police, the Intelligence Directorate, and the Defense Ministry.

    The IDF is determined to act forcefully against attempts to develop smuggling routes from Israel to Gaza through the crossings, based on the understanding that Hamas will continue in the coming period to try to induce Israelis to cross the lines and smuggle into Gaza tobacco products, cigarettes, drugs, mobile phones, drones, explosive materials, weapons, and more.

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  • Israeli strikes kill 29 Palestinians, including children, one of highest tolls since ceasefire

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    Hospitals in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 29 Palestinians Saturday, one of the highest tolls since the October ceasefire aimed at stopping the war.Israeli strikes hit locations throughout Gaza, including lethal ones on an apartment building in Gaza City and a tent camp in Khan Younis, officials at hospitals that received the bodies said. The casualties included two women and six children from two different families. An airstrike also hit a police station in Gaza City, killing at least 14 and wounding others, Shifa Hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.Related video above: The last family in a West Bank Bedouin community is forced out after years of Israeli settler intimidationThe series of strikes came a day before the Rafah crossing along the border with Egypt is set to open in Gaza’s southernmost city. All of the territory’s border crossings have been closed throughout almost the entire war. Palestinians see Rafah as a lifeline for the tens of thousands who need treatment outside the territory, where the majority of medical infrastructure has been destroyed.The crossing’s opening, limited at first, marks the first major step in the second phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Reopening borders is among the challenging issues on the agenda for the phase now underway, which also include demilitarizing the strip after nearly two decades of Hamas rule and installing a new government to oversee reconstruction. Still, Saturday’s strikes are a reminder that the death toll in Gaza is still rising even as the ceasefire agreement inches forward. Nasser Hospital said the strike on the tent camp caused a fire to break out, killing seven, including a father, his three children and three grandchildren. Meanwhile, Shifa Hospital said the Gaza City apartment building strike killed three children, their aunt and grandmother on Saturday morning, while the strike on the police station killed at least 14 — officers, including four policewomen, and inmates held at the station. The Gazan Interior Ministry said Palestinian civilians were also killed in the strike.Hamas called Saturday’s strikes “a renewed flagrant violation” and urged the United States and other mediating countries to push Israel to stop strikes.Israel’s military, which has struck targets on both sides of the ceasefire’s dividing line, said its attacks since October have been responses to violations of the agreement. It said in a statement that Saturday’s strikes followed what it described as ceasefire violations a day earlier, when the army killed at least four militants emerging from a tunnel in an Israeli-controlled area of Rafah.Gaza’s Health Ministry has recorded 509 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the start of the ceasefire on Oct. 10. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.___Magdy reported from Cairo and Metz from Jerusalem.

    DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip —

    Hospitals in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 29 Palestinians Saturday, one of the highest tolls since the October ceasefire aimed at stopping the war.

    Israeli strikes hit locations throughout Gaza, including lethal ones on an apartment building in Gaza City and a tent camp in Khan Younis, officials at hospitals that received the bodies said. The casualties included two women and six children from two different families. An airstrike also hit a police station in Gaza City, killing at least 14 and wounding others, Shifa Hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.

    Related video above: The last family in a West Bank Bedouin community is forced out after years of Israeli settler intimidation

    The series of strikes came a day before the Rafah crossing along the border with Egypt is set to open in Gaza’s southernmost city. All of the territory’s border crossings have been closed throughout almost the entire war. Palestinians see Rafah as a lifeline for the tens of thousands who need treatment outside the territory, where the majority of medical infrastructure has been destroyed.

    Anadolu

    Smoke rises after an airstrike hit a building in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, Gaza, despite the ceasefire on January 31, 2026. The Israeli army has carried out intense attacks on various areas of the Gaza Strip since the morning.

    The crossing’s opening, limited at first, marks the first major step in the second phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Reopening borders is among the challenging issues on the agenda for the phase now underway, which also include demilitarizing the strip after nearly two decades of Hamas rule and installing a new government to oversee reconstruction.

    Still, Saturday’s strikes are a reminder that the death toll in Gaza is still rising even as the ceasefire agreement inches forward.

    Nasser Hospital said the strike on the tent camp caused a fire to break out, killing seven, including a father, his three children and three grandchildren. Meanwhile, Shifa Hospital said the Gaza City apartment building strike killed three children, their aunt and grandmother on Saturday morning, while the strike on the police station killed at least 14 — officers, including four policewomen, and inmates held at the station. The Gazan Interior Ministry said Palestinian civilians were also killed in the strike.

    Hamas called Saturday’s strikes “a renewed flagrant violation” and urged the United States and other mediating countries to push Israel to stop strikes.

    Israel’s military, which has struck targets on both sides of the ceasefire’s dividing line, said its attacks since October have been responses to violations of the agreement. It said in a statement that Saturday’s strikes followed what it described as ceasefire violations a day earlier, when the army killed at least four militants emerging from a tunnel in an Israeli-controlled area of Rafah.

    Gaza’s Health Ministry has recorded 509 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the start of the ceasefire on Oct. 10. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

    ___

    Magdy reported from Cairo and Metz from Jerusalem.

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  • IDF announces capture of one of Hamas’s top remaining commanders during overnight operations

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    The capture happened after Friday’s strike, in which three out of eight Hamas terrorists were killed while leaving a tunnel in Rafah, the military announced.

    The IDF announced the capture of one of Hamas’s top remaining commanders during Friday’s operation in Rafah, where eight terrorists were identified by troops coming up from below the ground, and were then struck by the Israeli air force, successfully killing three of them.

    After the strikes, the IDF performed searches in the area and apprehended one of the fleeing terrorists. He was later identified as a key commander in Hamas’ Eastern Rafah Battalion.

    “IDF troops, together with the ISA, continue searches and additional activities in the area in order to locate and eliminate the additional terrorists,” the military said.

    According to reports by Army Radio, the other four terrorists identified as leaving the tunnels were not captured, and their location remains unknown.

    Hamas members stand at the funeral of Marwan Issa, a senior Hamas deputy military commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike during the conflict between Israel and Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip, February 7, 2025. (credit: Ramadan Abed/Reuters)

    IDF strikes Hezbollah in southern Lebanon

    Also on Friday, the IDF targeted a Hezbollah terrorist in the Seddiqin area in southern Lebanon, citing several ceasefire violations by the terror organization.

    The IDF said in a statement that the terrorist took part in attempts to reestablish military infrastructure sites belonging to Hezbollah.

    Strikes in southern Lebanon on Hezbollah infrastructure continued into Friday evening, according to IDF updates.

    The IDF also identified four armed terrorists on Friday near the Yellow Line, approaching IDF troops in a way that constituted an immediate threat. The troops alerted the Israeli Air Force, which struck and successfully killed the four terrorists.

    IDF held back during Gaza war to protect hostages’ intelligence

    During the Israel-Hamas War, the IDF sometimes avoided killing certain Gazan terrorists who knew where Israeli hostages were being held, a senior IDF Intelligence Corps commander reported Thursday.

    This disclosure resolved a two-year mystery of how Israel managed to kill Hamas’s leaders while not losing the ability to locate the hostages. At the start of the war, some officials worried that Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif might be immune from elimination because they could be the only ones who knew certain hostage information.

    “There is always a dual dilemma” about whether to “let security forces kill terrorists to remove a threat” versus intentionally avoiding killing them to continue gaining intelligence from them, or in this case, use them to maintain updated intelligence and rescue possibilities regarding hostages, the IDF Intelligence officer said.

    Jeremy Yonah Bob contributed to this report.

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  • Israel says remains of last hostage recovered from Gaza, clearing way for phase-two of ceasefire with Hamas

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    Israel said Monday that the remains of the last hostage in Gaza had been recovered, clearing the way for the next phase of the ceasefire that stopped the Israel-Hamas war. The announcement came a day after Israel’s government said the military was conducting a “large-scale operation” in a cemetery in northern Gaza to locate the remains of Ran Gvili.

    The return of all remaining hostages, living or dead, has been a key part of the Gaza ceasefire’s first phase, and Gvili’s family had urged Israel’s government not to enter the second phase until his remains were recovered and returned.

    In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said representatives had informed Gvili’s family “that their loved one has been identified and is being buried.”

    “With this, all of the abductees have been returned from the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said.

    Ran Gvili, an Israeli police officer killed at the age of 24 during the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, is seen in a photo provided by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

    Handout/Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters


    Israel and Hamas have been under pressure from ceasefire mediators, including the Trump administration, to move into the second phase of the U.S.-brokered truce, which took effect on Oct. 10.

    Israel had repeatedly accused Hamas of dragging its feet in the recovery of the final hostage. Hamas had said it had provided all the information it had about Gvili’s remains, and accused Israel of obstructing efforts to search for them in areas of Gaza under Israeli military control. 

    Both sides have accused the other of violations of the ceasefire since it came into effect, and dozens of Palestinians have been killed since October, including three journalists killed in an Israeli strike last week, one of whom had worked extensively for CBS News. 

    Israel’s military said of that attack, as it has other deadly instances during the ceasefire, that it was investigating, but claimed its forces had struck suspects who posed a threat to the safety of troops.

    In a statement on Monday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the recovery of Gvili’s body, “confirms Hamas’s commitment to all the terms of the agreement to halt the war on the Gaza Strip, including the exchange track and its full completion in accordance with the agreement. Hamas will continue to adhere to all aspects of the agreement, including facilitating the work of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and ensuring its success.”

    Qassem called on all mediators of the ceasefire, and the U.S. in particular, to compel Israel “to stop its violations of the agreement and to implement the obligations required of it.”

    Israel’s military had said the large-scale operation to locate Gvili’s remains was “in the area of the Yellow Line,” which has divided the territory since the ceasefire came into effect.

    The ceasefire deal aims to wind down the war that was sparked by the Hamas-led terrorist attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage. Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health says more than 71,000 people were killed in the territory during the war, a figure which CBS News cannot independently verify and which Israel disputes, though the United Nations considers it the most accurate death toll estimate available.

    Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer known affectionately as “Rani,” was killed while fighting Hamas militants during the attack.

    Before Gvili’s remains were recovered, 20 living hostages and the remains of 27 others had been returned to Israel during the ceasefire, most recently in early December. Israel in exchange has released the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians to Gaza.

    The next phase of the 20-point ceasefire plan calls for creating an international stabilization force, forming a technocratic Palestinian government and disarming Hamas.

    President Trump has warned repeatedly that if Hamas refuses to disarm in line with the agreement, “there will be hell to pay.”

    Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has launched his new international Board of Peace initiative, inviting dozens of nations to join his administration on a vaguely defined mission to end conflicts in the Middle East, and suggesting ambitions beyond the region.

    While the Board of Peace was often mentioned by Mr. Trump as an entity that would focus on rebuilding the decimated Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory is was not mentioned explicitly in the board’s founding charter, signed by Mr. Trump and about 20 other national leaders during the World Economic Forum in Davos last week.

    European nations, America’s oldest and closest allies, have thus far declined to join the board, and major rival powers China and Russia have also adopted a wait-and-see approach to the initiative.

    In:

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  • ‘I’m sorry for bringing you into such a cruel world’: Yarden Bibas mourns Kfir on his 3rd birthday

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    Kfir, his older brother Ariel, and his mother Shiri were all murdered by Hamas terrorists after being taken hostage on October 7. His father was the only survivor of the family.

    “I’m sorry for bringing you into such a cruel world,” ex-hostage Yarden Bibas lamented in a post on Instagram for his slain son Kfir’s third birthday on Sunday.

    Kfir, his older brother, Ariel, and his mother, Shiri, were all murdered by Hamas terrorists after being taken hostage on October 7. Yarden Bibas was the only survivor of the family.

    “You were forced to evacuate your home because of a round of fighting in Gaza just a few months after you were born,” Bibas mourned. “You managed to taste solid food, you started to crawl, you reached your brother’s fourth birthday. You didn’t reach your first birthday, so how can I acknowledge your third?”

    Kfir and Ariel Bibas murdered by Hamas after just a month

    Kfir was kidnapped and taken hostage when he was nine months old. The IDF confirmed that he and his brother were murdered in captivity by Hamas only a month after their abduction.

    “I’m sure that Mom, Ariel, and Tony are celebrating for you in the Garden of Eden,” Bibas said. “I’m sure that Mom is giving you the best and happiest birthday possible, just like she knows how to do.”

    “I love you the most in the world, always,” he concluded.

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  • Tony Blair, Rubio, Kushner, Witkoff to help oversee Gaza reconstruction, White House says

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    The White House released the names of some of the leaders who will play a role in overseeing the next steps in Gaza after the Palestinian committee set to govern the territory under U.S. supervision met for the first time Friday in Cairo. 

    The committee’s leader, Ali Shaath, an engineer and former Palestinian Authority official from Gaza, pledged to get to work quickly to improve conditions. He expects reconstruction and recovery to take about three years and plans to focus first on immediate needs, including shelter.

    “The Palestinian people were looking forward to this committee, its establishment and its work to rescue them,” Shaath said after the meeting, in a television interview with Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News.

    Under President Trump’s plan, Shaath’s technocratic committee will run day-to-day affairs in Gaza under the oversight of a Trump-led “Board of Peace,” whose members have not yet been named.

    The White House said an executive board will work to carry out the vision of the Board of Peace.

    The executive board’s members, announced Friday, include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and Mr. Trump’s deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel.

    Nickolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian politician and U.N. Middle East envoy, is to serve as the executive board’s representative overseeing day-to-day matters.

    Mr. Trump supports the group’s efforts to govern Gaza after the two-year war between Israel and Hamas. Israeli troops withdrew from parts of Gaza after the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, while thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to what is left of their homes. 

    Kushner and Witkoff were key negotiators in helping Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas reach a ceasefire deal, the premise of which was based on a 20-point blueprint from the White House. In an interview with “60 Minutes” in October, Kushner said the success or failure of the peace plan would depend on whether Israel and the international partners involved can create “a viable alternative” to Hamas’ violent tactics.

    “If they are successful, Hamas will fail, and Gaza will not be a threat to Israel in the future,” Kushner told “60 Minutes.”

    Earlier this week, Witkoff announced the U.S. was moving into what the White House has called the second phase of the Gaza peace plan. In a post to X, Witkoff said this involved Hamas returning the remains of the final deceased hostage still in Gaza. 

    “Failure to do so will bring serious consequences,” Witkoff wrote.  

    Now, there will be a number of huge challenges going forward, including the deployment of an international security force to supervise the ceasefire deal and the difficult process of disarming Hamas.

    The White House also announced the members of another board, the “Gaza Executive Board,” which will work with Mladenov, the technocratic committee and the international stabilization force.

    Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, Rowan and Mladenov will also sit on that board. Additional members include Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan; Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi; Hassan Rashad, director of Egypt’s General Intelligence Agency; Emirati minister Reem Al-Hashimy; Israeli businessman Yakir Gabay and Sigrid Kaag, the Netherlands’ former deputy prime minister and a Middle East expert. 

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  • Mamdani calls Hamas “terrorist organization” after protest chant backlash

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    New York City Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani reacted to pro-Hamas chants bellowed at a Thursday night protest in Queens, saying in part the following day that demonstrations in support of “a terrorist organization have no place in our city.”

    Newsweek reached out to the mayor’s office via email on Friday night for comment.

    Why It Matters

    A protest outside a Queens synagogue drew national attention after pro-Palestinian demonstrators chanted in support of Hamas and pro-Israel counter-demonstrators responded with slurs and threats, The New York Times reports. The clash, which occurred in the Kew Gardens Hills neighborhood—home to a significant Orthodox Jewish community—prompted widespread condemnation.

    The rhetoric at the protest has reignited debate over rising antisemitism, public safety and the responsibility of political leaders to condemn hate speech.

    What To Know

    The demonstration unfolded Thursday night during an event promoting American real estate investment in Jerusalem. Pro-Palestinian protesters chanted in support of Hamas, saying, “Say it loud, say it clear, we support Hamas here,” while counterprotesters shouted racial and homophobic slurs, per the Times.

    When asked by reporters about the protest chants on Friday, Mamdani said, “the rhetoric and displays that we saw” at the protest “are wrong and have no place in our city,” the Times reports.

    “My team is in close touch with the N.Y.P.D. [New York City Police Department] regarding last night’s protest and counterprotest,” Mamdani added in a statement to the news outlet. “We will continue to ensure New Yorkers’ safety entering and exiting houses of worship as well as the constitutional right to protest.”

    The publication says the statement was sent “hours after he made similar remarks at an event shortly after noon.”

    Taking to X on Friday evening, Mamdani reiterated his condemnation of the pro-Hamas outcry, saying, “As I said earlier today, chants in support of a terrorist organization have no place in our city. We will continue to ensure New Yorkers’ safety entering and exiting houses of worship as well as the constitutional right to protest.”

    Mamdani also faced some backlash on social media for the timing of his remarks.

    New York State Democratic Assemblymember Sam Berger said on X Friday morning, “Still waiting on condemnation of support for Hamas at a protest in a Jewish neighborhood from @NYCMayor“

    X account Israel War Room also said on Friday morning, “Terror supporters in NYC explicitly chanted their allegiance to Hamas, the genocidal, anti-American terror group. Leaders must universally condemn this disgusting support for terrorists who want to annihilate Jews worldwide. We await your condemnation, Mayor Mamdani @NYCMayor.”

    Adam Carlson, founding partner of Zenith Research polling, said on X Friday: “I am a vocal & passionate support [sic] of Mamdani’s But I’ve waited patiently all day for him to forcefully condemn Hamas — watching dozens of other city & state electeds do so — and am still waiting This is not only hurtful to me, but it’s bad politics & distracts from his agenda”

    What People Are Saying

    Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul, on X Friday morning: “Hamas is a terrorist organization that calls for the genocide of Jews. No matter your political beliefs, this type of rhetoric is disgusting, it’s dangerous, and it has no place in New York.”

    New York Attorney General Letitia James, on X Friday: “Hamas is a terrorist organization. We do not support terrorists. Period.”

    Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, on X Friday: “Let’s be clear: Hamas is a terrorist organization committed to the destruction of Jews while imposing its brutal rule on Palestinians. Chanting support for Hamas is antisemitic and unacceptable. This hate must have no place in NYC, in the U.S. or around the world, and must be loudly condemned.”

    X account StopAntisemitism, on Friday: “NYC Mayor Mamdani’s office granted Hamas supporters a permit to riot extremely close to a Jewish Day School last night. Listen as they scream ‘we support Hamas’ and ‘Long Live October 7th’. Ready to leave NYC? DM us to be connected to a robust database of realtors all over the U.S.”

    What Happens Next

    As public debate continues over the boundaries between political protest and prohibited hate speech, officials indicated a commitment to ensuring New York remains a safe and inclusive city for all residents and communities.

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  • Israel strikes multiple sites in Lebanon

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    Israel’s air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country’s third-largest city.A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanon’s army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited.At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.On Monday, the Israeli army hit several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon saying they held infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.Those strikes took place nearly two hours after Israel’s military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. The later strike in Sidon was unannounced and the Israeli army did not immediately issue a statement on it.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.The areas were evacuated after the Israeli warning and there were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel — known as the south Litani area — will be clear of Hezbollah’s armed presence.The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.Monday’s airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.The disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

    SIDON, South Governorate —

    Israel’s air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country’s third-largest city.

    A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanon’s army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.

    An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited.

    At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.

    On Monday, the Israeli army hit several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon saying they held infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

    Those strikes took place nearly two hours after Israel’s military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. The later strike in Sidon was unannounced and the Israeli army did not immediately issue a statement on it.

    Mohammad Zaatari

    Lebanese Red Cross volunteers search for possible victims in a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, early Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026.

    Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.

    The areas were evacuated after the Israeli warning and there were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.

    The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel — known as the south Litani area — will be clear of Hezbollah’s armed presence.

    The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.

    Monday’s airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.

    The disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.

    The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.

    The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.

    Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

    Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

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  • Israel strikes multiple sites in Lebanon

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    Israel’s air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country’s third-largest city.A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanon’s army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited.At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.On Monday, the Israeli army hit several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon saying they held infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.Those strikes took place nearly two hours after Israel’s military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. The later strike in Sidon was unannounced and the Israeli army did not immediately issue a statement on it.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.The areas were evacuated after the Israeli warning and there were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel — known as the south Litani area — will be clear of Hezbollah’s armed presence.The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.Monday’s airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.The disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

    SIDON, South Governorate —

    Israel’s air force struck areas in southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday and early Tuesday, including in the country’s third-largest city.

    A strike around 1 a.m. Tuesday leveled a three-story commercial building in the southern coastal city of Sidon, a few days before Lebanon’s army commander is scheduled to brief the government on its mission of disarming militant group Hezbollah in areas along the border with Israel.

    An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the area was in a commercial district containing workshops and mechanic shops and the building was uninhabited.

    At least one person was transported by ambulance and rescue teams were searching the site for others, but there were no immediate reports of deaths.

    On Monday, the Israeli army hit several sites in southern and eastern Lebanon saying they held infrastructure for the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

    Those strikes took place nearly two hours after Israel’s military Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings on X that the military would strike targets for Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas groups in two villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley and two others in southern Lebanon. The later strike in Sidon was unannounced and the Israeli army did not immediately issue a statement on it.

    Mohammad Zaatari

    Lebanese Red Cross volunteers search for possible victims in a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, early Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026.

    Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a home struck in the village of Manara in the Bekaa Valley belonged to Sharhabil al-Sayed, a Hamas military commander who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in May 2024.

    The areas were evacuated after the Israeli warning and there were no reports of casualties in those strikes. Earlier Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members.

    The Lebanese army last year began the disarmament process of Palestinian groups while the government has said that by the end of 2025 all the areas close to the border with Israel — known as the south Litani area — will be clear of Hezbollah’s armed presence.

    The Lebanese government is scheduled to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament during a meeting Thursday that will be attended by army commander Gen. Rudolph Haikal.

    Monday’s airstrikes were in villages north of the Litani river and far from the border with Israel.

    The disarmament of Hezbollah and other Palestinian groups by the Lebanese government came after a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah in which much of the political and military leadership of the Iran-backed group was killed.

    The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Israel launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon in September 2024 that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.

    The war ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S.

    Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes since then, mainly targeting Hezbollah members but also killing at least 127 civilians, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

    Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

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  • IDF destroys Hamas shaft in northern Gaza with loaded ‘ready to fire’ rocket aimed at Sderot

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    The military slammed the terror organization for breaching the ceasefire, noting that loading the launcher is a violation of the US-brokered agreement.

    The IDF struck and destroyed a Hamas tunnel shaft in northern Gaza that contained a rocket launcher that was loaded and ready to fire at the southern Israeli city of Sderot, the military announced on Saturday evening.

    “The shaft was used by Hamas to conceal a rocket launcher that was ready to fire toward southern Israel and posed an immediate threat to Israeli civilians,” the IDF stated.

    The military went on to slam the terror organization for breaching the ceasefire, noting that loading the launcher was a violation of the US-brokered agreement.

    The IDF also asserted that it had employed measures ahead of striking the Hamas target to reduce harm to civilians in the area through the use of “precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence.”

    Palestinian Hamas terrorists gather at the site of the handing over of the bodies of four Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza on February 20, 2025. (credit: EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images)

    Some 13,500 rockets fired from Gaza throughout Israel-Hamas War

    Prior to the implementation of the ceasefire in October of last year, Hamas’s capacity to fire rockets was decimated throughout the course of the war. Still, since the outbreak of the fighting on October 7, 2023, Gazan terrorists fired some 13,500 rockets at Israeli territory, according to the Institute for National Security Studies.

    It went on to note that Israeli troops would continue to operate in the area in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and would continue to work to confront additional immediate threats.

    IDF strikes terrorist in Lebanon, cites Hezbollah ceasefire violations

    Hamas’s violation of the ceasefire was the second ceasefire violation of the day that the IDF said it responded to.

    Earlier, the military noted that it had struck a Hezbollah terrorist in the Al-Khiyam area of southern Lebanon.

    The IDF stated the strike was a response to “Hezbollah’s continued violations of the ceasefire understandings,” but did not provide any details on the identity of the terrorist or the activities the individual was engaging in at the time of the strike.

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  • 12/29: CBS Evening News

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    12/29: CBS Evening News – CBS News









































    Watch CBS News



    Massive winter storm generates life-threatening conditions across U.S.; Trump warns “hell to pay” if Hamas doesn’t disarm.

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  • Trump says Hamas must disarm very soon or

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    President Trump said after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday that Hamas must disarm soon or “there will be hell to pay.” He said the next phase of the Gaza peace plan could move forward quickly if Hamas disarms. 

    Standing alongside Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, Mr. Trump also claimed dozens of other countries that supported the peace deal are ready to “wipe out” the terrorist group if Hamas doesn’t disarm, but he did not name any of them. 

    The president said of Hamas, “They’re going to be given a very short period of time to disarm.” Standing alongside Netanyahu, Mr. Trump added, “And we’ll see how that works out. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be in charge of that, from our side. But if they don’t disarm, as they agreed to do — they agreed to it — then there will be hell to pay for them. And we don’t want that. We’re not looking for that. But they have to disarm within a fairly short period of time.” 

    “We have 59 countries that signed on, big countries, countries that are outside of the Middle East as you know the Middle East,” the president added. “They want to go in and wipe out Hamas. They don’t want Israel, they don’t need Israel; they want to do it because it’s the right thing to do. Because they were for the deal, based on the fact that Hamas pledged, they swore, that they were going to disarm. Now, if they’re not going to disarm, those same countries will wipe out Hamas.” 

    Mr. Trump said he and Netanyahu still don’t agree completely on the West Bank. 

    Netanyahu said he had a “very, very productive meeting” with the president, and he thanked him for his partnership. He told reporters Mr. Trump would receive the Israel Prize, the most prestigious award in Israel, for his work on the peace negotiations. 

    “We’ve never awarded it to a non-Israeli,” Netanyahu told reporters. “And we’re going to award it this year to President Trump.” 

    Ahead of the meeting, Mr. Trump said the second phase of the peace plan could begin “as quickly as we can,” but “there has to be a disarmament” of Hamas.

    The first phase of the peace plan called for an immediate ceasefire, as well as the return of all hostages and the provision of humanitarian aid. 

    But the second phase — which entails the terrorist group’s disarmament, the effective end of Hamas’ rule and its replacement by a transitional governance entity — has not yet been implemented. Hamas has refused to disarm and has not yet returned all Israeli hostage remains, while Israel has recently conducted some strikes in Gaza. The family of Israeli Sgt. Maj. Ran Gvili, who was killed during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and whose remains have not yet been returned, was at Mar-a-Lago Monday.

    Mr. Trump also said ahead of the meeting that he would support an Israeli attack on Iran, should Iran begin again to build up its ballistic missile and nuclear programs. The president praised Netanyahu, telling reporters “he’s a wartime prime minister who’s a hero.” And the president said he has spoken with Israeli President Isaac Herzog about a pardon for Netanyahu, who is facing bribery and fraud charges. 

    “How do you not give a pardon, you know?” Mr. Trump said. “I think it’s a very hard thing not to do it. … He tells me it’s on its way.” 

    Herzog’s office, however, said in a statement, “There has not been a conversation between President Herzog and President Trump since the pardon request was submitted.” The statement also said that Herzog spoke several weeks ago with a representative of Mr. Trump who had “inquired about the U.S. President’s letter” and who was told “any decision on the matter will be made in accordance with the established procedures.”

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Netanyahu ahead of Mr. Trump’s meeting. Netanyahu’s visit comes a week after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, met with senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey to discuss next steps in the peace plan. 

    The Israel-Hamas ceasefire went into effect in November, more than two years after the war began with the attack by Hamas-led terrorists on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. 

    This was the sixth meeting between Mr. Trump and Netanyahu since the president took office in January. 

    Netanyahu’s visit came on the heels of Mr. Trump’s meeting Sunday at Mar-a-Lago with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as the U.S. president continues to try to to broker a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. After that meeting, Mr. Trump and Zelenskyy said they’re nearly in agreement on a peace plan for Ukraine, and the Ukrainian leader praised what he called “strong security guarantees” from the U.S. But Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom Mr. Trump spoke before and after his meeting with Zelenskyy, hasn’t shown a willingness to compromise on his territorial demands. Russia attacked Kyiv shortly before Mr. Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy. 

    Mr. Trump has been spending the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago estate, mixing in golf with meetings with world leaders. The president will return to the White House after New Year’s Day. 

    Sara Cook and Michal Ben-Gal contributed to this report.

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  • Israel-backed Gaza militias tout themselves as part of any post-conflict solution

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    AMMAN, Jordan — When Israel and Hamas signed a ceasefire earlier this year, it brought into question the fate of militias Israel cultivated during the devastating two-year war as an alternative ruling force in Gaza. Many expected that Hamas — still the dominant force in the Strip — would hunt them down.

    Instead, Israel has shifted the militias to the half of Gaza from which it has yet to withdraw, east of the so-called Yellow Line, the military boundary which divides Gaza in two. In the Israeli-controlled half, five factions, still supported by Israel with arms and aid, have established what are essentially tiny fiefdoms, even as they continue to wage a harassment campaign across the Yellow Line to stop Hamas from reasserting its rule.

    For its part, Israel wants to use the factions as local proxies to secure parts of the enclave under its control, ensure they’re free of any hostile groups, then set up humanitarian distribution points to keep residents there.

    “The objective,” according to a June report on Israeli-supported militias in Gaza from the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, “is to sever Hamas’s access to both the local population and to the incoming humanitarian aid.”

    But the militias, which first arose as criminal gangs exploiting the security vacuum during the war and include members with questionable links to Islamic State, have larger plans: They tout themselves as an integral part of any post-conflict plan.

    “After two years of destruction by Hamas, we are the nucleus of a new Gaza, one which will provide a dignified life for Gazan citizens,” said Hussam Al-Astal, the head of one faction called Strike Force Against Terror and which controls a mostly depopulated village southwest of the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis. He said Israel is working with five different factions operating across the Israeli-controlled parts of the enclave.

    He added that he has hundreds of militiamen under his command, contradicting observers who put the total number of fighters across the five groups at around 200.

    “Israel is now looking for a peace partner in Gaza,” Al-Astal said. “That’s what we will be.”

    The largest of the factions working with Israel is the so-called Popular Forces, which was led until recently by Yasser Abu Shabab, a 32-year-old clansman who was imprisoned twice by Hamas before the war on charges of drug trafficking; and known to have ties to Islamic State in neighboring Sinai. He escaped from a Hamas prison during the war.

    Abu Shabab, who was regularly accused by humanitarian groups of looting aid trucks, was assassinated this month by disgruntled members of his militia, according to a statement from Abu Shabab’s clan.

    He was soon replaced by his deputy, Ghassan Al-Duhini, 39, a no less controversial figure who once served as a security officer with the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, then left it to join Jaysh al-Islam, a Gaza-based armed faction that pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2015.

    Al-Duhini reportedly coordinated smuggling with militant groups in Sinai. He too was arrested twice by Hamas before the war and escaped when it began.

    Since the ceasefire, Israel has been working through the Popular Forces as its proxy in Rafah, the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip which was all but destroyed during the war, razed by Israeli forces.

    The city now lies mostly empty. But the U.S.-led Civilian-Military Coordination Center (the body supposed to monitor the ceasefire, coordinate aid deliveries and start reconstruction in the enclave) is considering Rafah as a pilot for a Hamas-free, so-called “alternative safe community” of some 10,000 to 15,000 people, according to a U.N. official and an aid worker who refused to be named to be able to speak freely.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Mar-a-Lago on Monday, where he met with President Trump and a raft of U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with whom Netanyahu said on X he had “a great meeting.”

    Netanyahu was discussing the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for an interim authority to govern the Gaza, along with an International Stabilization Force that would deploy in Israel’s stead. Both points are problematic for Israel, which has been reluctant to continue on to the second phase without seeing Hamas disarm.

    Plans call for Gaza to be governed by a Trump-led Board of Peace, which would also oversee rebuilding the Strip for its 2.1 million people.

    During a news conference ahead of his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump pointed to the Israeli leader and said he was “looking forward” to the start of reconstruction.

    “We’ve already started certain things, we’re doing things for sanitary and others,” Trump said. “But Gaza is a tough place, it’s truly a tough neighborhood.”

    Reconstruction is likely to start in Rafah, said the unnamed aid worker, which would mean “the U.S. will be cooperating with an ISIS-aligned security force,” using an abbreviation for Islamic State.

    Of Al-Duhini, the aid worker said, “There are so many other, better partners in Gaza than this guy.”

    In a recent propaganda video released by the Popular Forces group, Al-Duhini is shown addressing a group of gunmen, telling them they are working as part of the Trump-led Board of Peace and the International Stabilization Force, which are meant to monitor the ceasefire.

    “We will sweep through Rafah one grain of a sand at a time,” he says, to remove “terrorism” and allow civilians to return to the area. “We want to establish a safe community.”

    What that has meant in practice, according to analysts and people living in areas under the Popular Forces’ control, is a heavy security hand, with militiamen regularly confiscating and inspecting people’s phones, preventing them from communicating with anyone in Hamas-controlled areas, and searching homes.

    “They’re treating them like prisoners,” said Muhammad Shehada, a Gaza expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He added that Israel had given the factions capture-or-kill lists for various Hamas members in Gaza and was supervising interrogations.

    Meanwhile, the militias have also conducted hit-and-run operations against Hamas operatives, killing a number of them when the opportunity arises; the Popular Forces said in June they had killed 50 Hamas members.

    On Monday, Hamas confirmed the death of a number of its top commanders in strikes by Israel during the last year.

    The leaders killed included Muhammad Sinwar, head of its military wing the Qassam Brigade, the head of manufacturing and chief of staff. Also killed was Abu Ubaida, the masked spokesman last seen in a September speech; the group identified him as Huthaifa Al-Kahlout. Israel previously disclosed his identity in 2023.

    The groups have also acted on Israel’s behalf: Last week, a faction called the Popular Defense Army, based near Gaza City, shot at homes in a neighborhood east of the city, forcing residents to leave. Observers said this was aimed at allowing Israel to shift the Yellow Line westward. (The Yellow Line’s location was specified during the ceasefire, but Israel has continued to shift it westward.)

    According to Al-Astal, of the group Strike Force Against Terror, the five militias plan to unite their efforts soon with the establishment of a military council, which he says could act as a transitional government for the moment Hamas falls. He said international recognition would help.

    There are indications of support beyond Israel. Popular Forces’ fighters have appeared with vehicles with markings from the United Arab Emirates, and some of the factions claim they are affiliated peripherally with the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority denied any links.

    “We’re hoping to have better things coming, and that our presence will expand,” Al-Astal said. He added that once this happens, he expects people in Hamas-held areas to shift to eastward to the militias’ control.

    “I’m telling you, if the way before them was open, there wouldn’t be a single person left in those parts of Gaza under Hamas except for just a few Hamas fighters,” he said.

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    Nabih Bulos

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  • State leaders pledge to root out antisemitism

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    BOSTON — Gov. Maura Healey is vowing that her administration will move quickly to implement recommendations in a new report on antisemitism in Massachusetts, which found an “alarming” increase in hate crimes and discrimination targeting Jewish people over the past year.

    The report by the Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism, released earlier this month, said hate crimes against Jewish students in the state have risen dramatically while gaps in anti-bias training and a lack of centralized reporting in public schools mean many incidents of antisemitism go unaddressed.

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    By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter

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  • Trump’s election win filled Hamas with ‘fear,’ hostage held like ‘slave’ for 505 days recounts

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    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Omer Shem Tov was dancing with friends at the Nova Music Festival in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists launched a devastating attack, killing hundreds and loading Shem Tov and dozens of others onto the backs of pickup trucks bound for Gaza.

    The 20-year-old Israeli spent the next 505 days in Hamas captivity, serving as a slave in the terrorist group’s elaborate tunnels until “fear” filled their eyes on Nov. 5, 2024 — when President Donald Trump won the presidential election, he told Fox News Digital.

    Shem Tov recounted his months living in Hamas’ captivity in Gaza as war raged between the terrorist group and Israel, during a recent Zoom interview with Fox News Digital. He was released from captivity in February and traveled to the U.S. shortly afterward to meet with Trump in the Oval Office.

    “As soon as Trump was elected, I saw the fear in their eyes,” Shem Tov said. “They knew that everything on ground is gonna change, that something else is gonna happen, and they were scared. They were very scared.”

    AMERICAN-ISRAELI HELD HOSTAGE IN GAZA FOR OVER 580 DAYS SENDS MESSAGE TO HAMAS: ‘I’LL GIVE YOU HELL’

    Omer Shem Tov spoke with Fox News Digital, recounting his 505 days in Hamas captivity before his February release. (Amir Levy/Getty Images)

    Shem Tov said that for roughly the last five months of his captivity, he lived in Hamas’ tunnel system beneath the Gaza Strip, where he was worked mercilessly.

    “I was digging for them, and I was cleaning for them, and I was moving around bombs from place to places, and (carrying) food. I can tell you, just so you know, crazy amounts of food. Amounts of food that I’ve never seen before,” he recounted. 

    Shem Tov learned about the American presidential election from his Hamas captors, who watched Al Jazeera on a TV kept in the tunnels.

    “The last five months, the terrorists, they brought TV to the tunnel and most of the time they watched Al Jazeera. That’s the only thing they watch. And… they wouldn’t let me watch TV, yeah, but sometimes I would overhear the TV,” he said.

    Omer Shem Tov's release from Hamas captivity

    Hamas militants parade newly-released Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov on stage in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, as part of the seventh hostage-prisoner release on Feb. 22, 2025. (Eyad Baba/Getty Images )

    He said he overheard the terrorists discussing the election and “how they want Kamala to win.”

    Once the election was decided, Shem Tov said, the terrorists changed the way they treated him, even offering him more food. He said he mostly survived on small biscuits throughout his captivity, despite Hamas controlling large amounts of food.

    IDF ANNOUNCES TRANSFER OF DECEASED ISRAELI HOSTAGE REMAINS THROUGH RED CROSS

    Trump family victory

    President-elect Donald Trump gestures during an election night event in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    “So everything changed,” he said of how Hamas reacted to Trump’s win. “The amount of food that I got changed. The way they treated me changed. I could see just them preparing for something bigger.”

    Shem Tov recounted that he spent his 21st birthday in captivity, just weeks after he was first kidnapped. He said that between Oct. 7 and Oct. 30 of 2023, he did “not cry once,” but that he felt a swell of emotion when remembering his family on his birthday. 

    Israeli reacting to release of hostages

    The sister of Omer Shem Tov reacts at a family watch event as he appears on stage in Gaza before his release on Feb. 22, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Amir Levy/Getty Images)

    “At my birthday, it was the 31st of October, it was the first time that I broke down, I cried. It’s for me, thinking of my family, that’s something that really hits me. Understanding that my family, they’re back home, they’re safe, yeah, but they have to worry about me.… They don’t know if if I’m alive, if I’m starving… they had no idea. And I can tell you that while I was there, I suffered. I truly suffered. I was abused, I was starved in the most extreme way,” he said. 

    Since his release, Shem Tov has praised Trump for his role in freeing the hostages and pursuing peace in the Middle East. He told Fox News Digital that he had long heard Trump’s name and knew he was a “big supporter of Israel,” but had largely stayed out of politics before his kidnapping.

    There is currently a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza after Trump rolled out a 20-point plan to secure peace in the region in September. The plan included the release of all the hostages. All hostages have been released from Hamas captivity except one, slain police officer Ran Gvili, whose body remains in Gaza.

    TRUMP MEETS FREED ISRAELI HOSTAGES, CALLS THEM ‘HEROES’ IN WHITE HOUSE CEREMONY

    Shem Tov was among a handful of hostages who traveled to the White House to meet with Trump earlier in 2025, where he relayed that he and other hostages are “so grateful to him.”

    Trump with hostage survivors

    President Trump meets with Hamas hostage survivors in the Oval Office on March 5, 2025. (POTUS/X)

    “I personally told him that me and my family, and I would say all of Israel, believe that he was sent by God to release those hostages and to help Israel,” Shem Tov recounted of what he told Trump during his meeting in February. “And he made that promise. He made that promise, he said that he will bring back all the hostages.”

    For Shem Tov, freedom after captivity has meant keeping close ties with fellow hostage survivors.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    “I would say they become like my family, like my brothers and sisters. We have many group chats and we see each other every once in a while and there are some who really become like brothers of mine,” Shem Tov said. 

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  • Israel strikes car in Gaza City, says it killed senior Hamas commander

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    The Israeli military said on Saturday it killed Ra’ad Sa’ad, a senior Hamas commander, by striking a car in Gaza City. Gaza health authorities said the attack on the car killed five people and wounded at least 25 others.

    In a joint statement on X, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said they directed Sa’ad be killed after a Hamas explosive device detonated and wounded Israeli soldiers. Sa’ad, according to Israel, held several senior positions in Hamas and was a central figure in its military leadership.

    Hamas, in its own statement, did not confirm Sa’ad’s death, but called the car strike a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that was agreed to in October.

    “This crime reaffirms that the [Israeli] occupation is deliberately seeking to undermine and sabotage the ceasefire agreement through its escalating and continuous violations,” Hamas reportedly said.

    The ceasefire agreement was announced on Oct. 10, two years after Hamas militants killed 1,200 and took 251 hostage in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, most of whom were returned in previous negotiations. Since then, Israeli troops have killed more than 70,700 Palestinians in Gaza, many of them women and children, and have displaced most of the enclave’s population.

    Health authorities in Palestine say Israel has violated the ceasefire multiple times, even daily, and at least 386 people have been killed in strikes by its military since Oct. 10. Israel, meanwhile, says three of its soldiers have died since the ceasefire began, and that it is responding to ceasefire violations by Hamas.

    Multiple die after heavy rain hits Gaza

    Nearly 795,000 displaced Palestinians are at “heightened risk” because of rainfall triggered by Storm Byron this week, the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration said. Storm Byron hit Greece and Cyprus before making landfall in Gaza.

    Heavy rain has been falling across “hundreds of displacement sites, overwhelming areas where even moderate rainfall can quickly become dangerous,” the IOM said.

    “Despite the ceasefire, displaced Palestinians continue to live in overcrowded areas with little protection against rising water levels,” according to the organization.

    This comes as much of Gaza’s infrastructure has already been destroyed in Israeli strikes.

    Sana Abu Harad, 38, spoke to NBC News as she and her child, who the outlet said was shivering, sat inside her drenched tent.

    “Everything is underwater,” said said in an interview with NBC. “Why must this little child sleep in floodwater? I struggled so much just to get this tent, and now nothing protects us. Where will I live with my children now?”

    Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said in a post on X Saturday that WHO is continuing to face challenges in bringing “vital supplies,” including laboratory reagents and diagnostic equipment, into Gaza as being they were classified as “dual-use.” Israel has restricted items it deems can be used for military purposes.

    Aid organizations said, and an Associated Press analysis of data from COGAT showed, that aid deliveries to Gaza are falling far short of the amount ordered by the ceasefire agreement. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid entry, insisted to the AP that it is complying with the agreements call for it to allow 600 aid trucks into Gaza, even though its own figures showed an average of only 459 trucks a day have entering since Oct. 12.

    In Gaza, Tedros said Saturday, at least 10 people died in the last 24 hours because of heavy rains. On Friday, NBC News reported that the Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza said fourteen people had died within 24 hours.

    “Thousands of families are sheltering in tents with scant protection from the harsh winter,” Tedros said. “Combined with poor water and sanitation, a surge in acute respiratory infections, such as flu, as well as hepatitis, and diarrhoeal diseases is expected.”

    He called for the “urgent entry” of resources to Gaza “to enable timely detection, response, and treatment of people facing these diseases.”

    The post Israel strikes car in Gaza City, says it killed senior Hamas commander appeared first on Straight Arrow News.

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  • What courts rule on genocide?

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    Email interview with Shannon Fyfe, a law professor and international criminal law expert at Washington and Lee University’s School of Law, Oct. 7, 2025

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    Interview with Michael Lynk, law professor at Western University, in London, Ontario, Oct. 8, 2025

    Interview with A. Dirk Moses, professor of international relations at the City University of New York, Oct. 9, 2025

    Interview with Sara E. Brown, genocide scholar and regional director at the American Jewish Committee, Oct. 13, 2025

    Email interview with Omer Bartov, Brown University Holocaust and genocide studies professor, Oct. 7, 2025

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    Al Jazeera, Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene decries ‘genocide’ in Gaza, July 29, 2025

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  • Newly-obtained footage shows six Gaza hostages lighting Hanukkah candles in Hamas tunnel

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    The footage, obtained by the IDF, shows the six hostages, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Alexander Lobanov, and Almog Sarusi, who were murdered by Hamas in 2024.

    IDF footage of six Israeli hostages lighting Hanukkah candles in captivity months before they were murdered by Hamas was spread across Israeli media on Thursday.

    The footage, obtained by the IDF, shows the six hostages, coined the “Beautiful Six,” who were murdered by Hamas in Rafah and found by the IDF in August 2024 – Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Alexander Lobanov, and Almog Sarusi.

    Danino is seen lighting small candles balanced on cups while the group sings Shehecheyanu, the blessing said on reaching a special moment. After lighting the first night’s candles, the group sang several traditional songs.

    “Lighting Hanukkah candles in that dark place captures the essence of the Jewish spirit: light prevailing over darkness,” the families of the six said in a statement published by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

    “Hamas filmed these videos as propaganda, but the humanity of the beautiful six shines through this footage. It is stronger than any terrorist organization,” the statement continued. “These videos bear witness to evil and failure.”

    “They were taken alive, they survived in captivity, and they should have come home alive.”

    Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Alexander Lobanov, and Almog Sarusi playing cards while in Hamas captivity. (credit: Courtesy)

    Nearly 20 other videos, photos of ‘Beautiful Six’ released

    Alongside the video of the Hanukkah candle lighting, the forum released nearly 20 other videos and photographs of the six.

    The additional footage shows the six playing cards, counting down to the new year, and giving each other haircuts, walking through the Rafah tunnels, as well as Gat telling a Hamas terrorist that Sarusi needed “professional” medical treatment.

    “We’re calling on every family in Israel,” the statement went on, “When you gather to light Hanukkah candles, remember our loved ones and all the families of soldiers, the wounded, the hostages, the murdered, and the fallen who will never light candles together again, families who have been waiting nearly 800 days for answers.”

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