Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar hosted Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen in Jerusalem, marking the first such visit in nearly a decade amid EU discussions on Israel.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar hosted his Finnish counterpart, Elina Valtonen, at the ministry in Jerusalem during an official diplomatic visit on Sunday.
Valtonen’s visit marked the first time a Finnish foreign minister has visited Jerusalem since 2016.
The Foreign Ministry viewed the visit as a significant diplomatic opportunity, particularly against the backdrop of the complex international climate in which Israel is operating and the discussions taking place within the European Union regarding ties with Israel.
Sa’ar and Valtonen first met privately, then held an expanded meeting with delegations from their respective countries. Sa’ar’s office described the talks as “substantive and in-depth,” focusing on two main tracks: strengthening bilateral relations and recent regional developments.
Sa’ar thanked Valtonen for Finland’s support of the EU’s decision to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar hosting his Finnish counterpart, Elina Valtonen, at the Foreign Ministry, Jerusalem, February 15, 2026. (credit: SHLOMI AMSALEM/GPO)
“This is the first visit in a decade, and we did not want to miss the opportunity to influence the Finnish government,” a source familiar with the details said concerning Israel’s goals for the meeting.
Sa’ar attempts to counter criticism of Israel’s West Bank bills
Sa’ar also presented Valtonen with a map of Israel, intended to illustrate the country’s limited size, amid international criticism of recent decisions regarding Israel and the administration of the West Bank.
The map showed that Israel is approximately one-fifteenth the size of Finland, with Jerusalem officials emphasizing that this relatively small size is central to understanding security constraints.
Valtonen is slated to visit Yad Vashem and the site of the Nova music festival – a focal point of the October 7 massacre – during her visit.
The Foreign Ministry estimates that Valtonen’s visit could help shape Finland’s positions within the EU and other international forums in the coming period, particularly regarding regional issues and Europe’s approach to Israel.
Thousands of people traveled from nearby towns and villages to attend Bethlehem’s annual Christmas Eve tree lighting ceremony in the city’s historic Manger Square. Historically an event filled with joy and wonder, it was the first such ceremony since the war in Gaza began in 2023. But hardly any tourists were in attendance.
For more than two years, international tourists and Christian pilgrims have largely stayed away following Hamas’ deadly terrorist attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. As the war in Gaza raged, church leaders canceled Bethlehem’s public Christmas celebrations.
But this year, for Bethlehem Mayor Maher Canawati, the Trump administration-brokered ceasefire was reason enough to try to bring the faithful back to where the Christmas story began.
“Bethlehem, you know, we are living from tourists, from tourism and from pilgrims who come to stay in our hotels, to eat in our restaurants, to buy our souvenirs that we’re producing here,” Canawati said. “And there was a complete halt on tourism for the past two years.”
Members of the clergy take part in the yearly Christmas procession outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Dec. 24, 2025.
Ilia Yefimovich /AFP via Getty Images
Inside the 4th-century Church of the Nativity, one of the world’s oldest and most sacred Christian sites, around 15,000 visitors would arrive every day in times of peace. The absence of tourists has devastated Bethlehem’s tourism industry, and nearly its entire economy, driving unemployment up to 70%. Hotel vacancies have been at record highs.
Muhammad Abu Jurah’s family has run a souvenir shop in Bethlehem for generations. But over the last two years, he’s been forced to lay off all six of his staff members.
“We don’t have a lot of tourists because, you know, the war,” he said. “So, this is why they have a big problem in Bethlehem without tourists.”
Matthew Qasis, who has worked as a tour guide in Bethlehem all of his adult life, says he’s never seen the area so quiet.
His message to Christians around the world: “Come back, because Bethlehem belongs to everyone, and Bethlehem is a message of love and peace. A message needed now more than ever, and a prayer of hope that the faithful return to the place where it’s believed Christmas began.”
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, leads the yearly Christmas procession outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Dec. 24, 2025.
ilia yefimovich /AFP via Getty Images
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Catholic Church’s top leader in the Holy Land and the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, commenced the holiday celebrations Wednesday during a traditional procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, the Associated Press reported. Pizzaballa called for “a Christmas full of light.”
“After two years of darkness, we need light,” Pizzaballa said to the crowd in Manger Square, to whom the cardinal brought greetings from the small Christian community in Gaza, where he had held an early Christmas mass on Sunday, AP reported. “We, all together, we decide to be the light, and the light of Bethlehem is the light of the world.”
“France expects the Israeli authorities to fulfill their obligations under the Vienna Convention and provide protection for diplomatic and consular staff and their buildings,” a French source said.
France has asked the Foreign Ministry for Israel to bolster security at the European country’s consulate in Jerusalem following protests against it, N12 News reported on Thursday.
The outlet stated that the ministry had received the request, which was submitted following protests in September and October, and was also sent to the police.
“France expects the Israeli authorities to fulfill their obligations under the Vienna Convention and provide protection for diplomatic and consular staff and their buildings,” a French diplomatic source told N12.
The consulate, established in 1843 in the western part of Jerusalem, handles France’s diplomatic relations with the Palestinians in east Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. It also serves around 25,000 French citizens living in the city’s western half.
In recent months, the consulate was at the heart of a diplomatic spat between France and the Jewish state. Israeli media reported at the time of the protests that Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar had supported closing it after French President Emmanuel Macron announced his intention to recognize a Palestinian state.
A picture shows the French consulate in Jerusalem on June 18, 2024. (credit: Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images)
Further, N12 noted a more recent incident where, last week, Knesset members were at the location during a tour of the Israeli capital.
According to the report, Religious Zionist Party MK Ohad Tal, who was on the tour, confronted a French representative who was outside the consulate and asked, “Why do you work from here if you represent the Palestinians? This is Israel. We will make sure that you can no longer operate from here and represent our enemies.”
Referring to the incident, the French diplomatic source told N12 that “any attack on our staff at the consulate is unacceptable. There have been campaigns against the consulate for a long time. This cannot happen.”
The source continued, saying, “This is clearly a hostile act against a French representative; we are concerned.”
Israel Police arrested Sheikh Abdel Azim Salhab in 2019 after riots at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Sheikh Abdel Azim Salhab, chairman of the Wakf Council, died on Thursday night, according to Palestinian media reports and statements from Palestinian terror groups.
The Jerusalem Waqf Islamic religious trust was instituted by Jordan after Israel’s War of Independence and is best known for controlling and managing the current Islamic edifices on and around the Temple Mount.
Salhab was previously arrested by Israeli forces in 2019 after riots saw thousands of Palestinians storm the Golden Gates, which were closed by court order since 2023. He was later released, though banned from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque for 40 days.
Salhab personally reopened the gate leading into the Bab al-Rahmeh mosque, according to Reuters, which led to hundreds entering the zone.
Palestinian Authority-run media WAFA reported that police raided the home of Salhab and a fellow Wakf official in the middle of the night.
In response to the arrest and subsequent ban, members of Jerusalem’s Muslim community took over and converted a 1,500-year-old structure near the Golden Gate (known as Shaar Harachamim in Hebrew) into a mosque.
Mourning Jerusalem Sheikh Abdel Azim Salhab
Mourning “one of the pillars of Jerusalem,” the Hamas terror group put in a statement that Salhab died after “a life dedicated to serving and defending the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the city of Jerusalem.”
“He consistently stood against the Judaization policies and repeated violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque, and he faithfully and courageously shouldered the responsibility of protecting the Islamic Waqf,” the terror group stated.
Khaled Abu Toameh and Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman contributed to this report.
Can you believe President Trump sat down with him at the White House? That’s the question most of the media has posed after the Monday visit of Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former al Qaeda and Islamist rebel commander who now rules Syria. But what if this framing gets the dynamic backward?
Mr. Trump will meet with anyone, as he’s amply demonstrated. The real geopolitical news here is that a President of Syria has come to the White House—for the first time—to bring his country into the American orbit. This is an opportunity to reverse seven decades of enmity.
Tal Hartuv was at home in northern Israel on the afternoon of Oct. 11 when she saw the list of Palestinian prisoners slated for release as part of the Gaza cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. She recognized a name: Iyad Fatafteh. He was one of two men convicted of stabbing her multiple times with a machete and murdering her American friend 15 years ago.
“There is no justice, and I feel helpless,” said Hartuv, 59 years old, who was born in the U.K. and has been living in Israel for over 40 years. She said Fatafteh’s release has undone the past 15 years of healing. “It brings it all back up again,” she said.
Two years after Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities, the U.S. should be grateful to Israel. The Jewish state has defanged a range of militant actors who despise the U.S. and have killed Americans. Yet the Gaza war, with its substantial civilian casualties, has turned much of the Democratic Party against Israel and fractured European-Israeli relations. Israel’s enemies on the left depict the Jewish state as an illegitimate pro-Trump “apartheid” state, and the war has also stirred anti-Israel sentiments in corners of the American right.
This hostility to Israel wasn’t inevitable; wars have sometimes transformed the Middle East for the better. Take the Six Day War. In the 1960s, the radical Arab republics led by Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser aligned with the Soviet Union. Nasser helped finish off the British in the Middle East, menaced the oil-rich Gulf sheikhdoms, and harassed Israel. Arab nationalism—a crude amalgam of socialism, opposition to Western imperialism, violent cultural chauvinism, and sometimes not-so-latent Muslim pride—had gained sway in the region. Nasser and militant Arabism looked like the future.
The victims of the Ramallah lynching, the bus bombing in Kfar Darom, the Ben Yehuda Street bombing in Jerusalem, and the French Hill suicide bombing are among those who will receive compensation.
The Israel Enforcement and Collection Authority (ECA) announced on Sunday that its operational arm, the Execution Office, collected NIS 25 million for families for the families of those killed and wounded in acts of terrorism.
The Execution Office is the official government body responsible for enforcing civil judgments in Israel. The funds collected from the Palestinian Authority (PA) are the result of the lines placed on funds related to terrorist activities.
Funds collected from the Palestinian Authority
The funds are from monies by the Palestinian Authority to families of those who committed acts of terrorism. The ECA is involved in enforcing civil judgments, including collecting damages awarded against individuals involved in terrorist activities. This includes compensation for victims and families affected by acts of terrorism.
One notable case involves an enforcement file initiated in 2019 by 41 families who are victims of terror. It rests on a civil ruling against the Palestinian Authority handed down in the Jerusalem District Court.
The court had ordered compensation for various terrorist attacks, including the lynching in Ramallah, the bus bombing in Kfar Darom, the Ben Yehuda Street bombing in Jerusalem, the French Hill suicide bombing, the Megiddo junction car bomb, the Alon Moreh infiltration, and other terror incidents.
Israelis attend a memorial ceremony for the victims of the 1948 Ben Yehuda Street bombing in Jerusalem on February 20, 2014. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
In this case, the total debt amounted to NIS 67,636,330. Through enforcement actions, the authority collected 23,698,281 NIS from PA funds held by the State, along with additional amounts for specific families affected by terror attacks in Jerusalem and the Sbarro restaurant bombing.
These actions are part of Israel’s broader efforts to ensure that victims of terrorism receive compensation, even when the perpetrators or their affiliates are state actors, said the ECA.
“This is what the State of Israel brought me from captivity, from the tunnels in Khan Younis. Matan’s urine. This is what I have from my firstborn son,” Zangauker said
Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, said that she received a bottle of her son’s urine from Israeli authorities who were operating in Khan Yunis during demonstrations for the hostages on Thursday evening in Jerusalem.
“Instead of getting my child back in a deal, instead of endangering soldiers and reservists, instead of ending this war and allowing an entire nation to recover and rebuild itself, to heal both body and soul – this is what the State of Israel brought me from captivity, from the tunnels in Khan Yunis. Matan’s urine,” she said, holding up a bag with a bottle of urine.
“This is what I have from my child. I will not settle for this urine bottle – I want to embrace my son! I want to help him recover! I want to walk him down the aisle with Ilana and his sisters!”
She went on to express her anger with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not having a comprehensive deal after over 700 days of war in Gaza.
“Prime Minister, it is in your hands to bring my son back to me. It is in your hands to return 20 living hostages to us. It is in your hands – with one signature, nothing more is needed – one copy of a comprehensive agreement to return our fallen for burial.”
Hostage families camp outside of Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem
Family members of the hostages, along with former hostage and Matan’s partner Ilana Gritzewsky, are sleeping in tents outside of the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem overnight on Thursday.
This is the fourth night of the hostages and missing families’ emergency encampment on Azza Street. Protesters were expelled from the area on Wednesday evening.
“We will not stop and we will not give up on our 48 loved ones,” the Hostages and Missing Families forum said in a statement. “We call on the people of Israel to come up to Jerusalem tomorrow evening as well and join us in demanding an immediate deal for the return of all hostages and an end to the war.”
Earlier in the day, Bar Godard, daughter of slain hostage Meny Godard, called for Netanyahu to sign a deal to bring back all of the hostages who were killed in captivity or had their remains held hostage.
“This scene is not a horror movie, this is my life. I already buried my mother because of this war and all I’m asking is that no other family joins the ranks of the bereaved. Bring back my father so he can be buried next to my mother,” she said.
“Enough, stop this madness. Don’t let another mother bury her son. I had two loving parents, and now I’m an orphan begging for a grave. Don’t let anyone else join the circle of bereavement.”
Jerusalem — Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a bus stop in north Jerusalem on Monday, killing six people and wounding several others, including a pregnant woman, according to officials. The attack targeted a location on a road that leads to East Jerusalem.
Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA) said five people were killed in the shooting attack, but Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, speaking later during a visit to Hungary, said six people were killed and that a pregnant woman was among those wounded.
Police said two gunmen were also killed. The MDA said earlier that seven people were left in serious condition, but it was unclear if that number had changed as the death toll climbed from an initial four to the six announced by Saar.
The dead included a man “about 50 years old and three men aged around 30,” according to the statement from the MDA, which added that it was providing medical treatment to several of those injured.
A body is seen on the ground as reinforcements arrive to the area and roads are closed as a security precaution following an armed attack at the Ramot Junction, at the entrance to East Jerusalem, Sept. 8, 2025.
Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu/Getty
The late morning attack took place at the Ramot Junction on Yigal Street, an earlier statement by MDA said.
“A painful and difficult morning. Innocent civilians, women, men, and children were brutally murdered and wounded in cold blood on a bus in Jerusalem by vile and evil terrorists,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a social media post. “In the face of this barbarity, we saw extraordinary acts of heroism which prevented even further loss of innocent lives. This shocking attack reminds us once again that we are fighting absolute evil. The world must understand what we are up against, and that terror will never defeat us.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding a meeting to assess the situation after the shooting, his office said.
Hamas, the U.S. and Israeli-designated terrorist organization that has been at war with Israel in Gaza for nearly two years, praised the attack, saying it was carried out by two Palestinian militants.
“We affirm that this operation is a natural response to the crimes of the occupation and the genocide it is waging against our people,” Hamas said in a statement.
“The wounded were lying on the road and sidewalk near a bus stop, some of them unconscious,” paramedic Fadi Dekaidek, who was at the scene, said in a statement provided by the MDA.
Police said the attackers had opened fire on a bus stop after arriving in a vehicle.
“A security officer and a civilian at the scene responded immediately, returned fire, and neutralized the attackers,” they said in a statement.
Speaking on Israel’s Channel 12, a police spokesperson said there were two assailants involved, with the force later confirming both were pronounced dead at the scene.
The shooting was one of the deadliest incidents of its kind since the war in Gaza was sparked by the Hamas-orchestrated, Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 64,368 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which the United Nations considers the most reliable information available.
According to the police, a 36-year-old suspect was arrested and transferred for questioning in connection with a letter containing a threat to harm the A-G.
Israel Police opened an investigation after finding a letter containing a threat to harm Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara in Jerusalem, Israel Police stated on Wednesday.
According to the police, a 36-year-old suspect was arrested and transferred for questioning in connection with the letter. He is expected to be brought before a court for an extension of his detention to continue the investigation into his actions on Thursday.
The investigation was opened at the request of the Religious Services Ministry, after former Sephardi chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef warned ha had received a letter asking for permission to hurt the A-G.
“The rabbi’s office was alerted to a threat that appears real and may immediately endanger the life of the Attorney-General,” the police stated.
Another letter with a direct threat to Baharav-Miara was found later on near a residential building in Jerusalem, according to the police.
Attorney-General Gali Baharv-Miara seen with Justice Minister Yariv Levin at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on October 1, 2024 (credit: OREN BEN HAKOON/POOL)
A-G Baharav-Miara’s firing and its fight with the government
For the last couple of months, the Israeli government has been in a fight with the A-G with the objective of taking her out of the position.
“The locks on the minister’s office in Tel Aviv were indeed changed, but it is the minister’s office and not of Gali Baharav-Miara’s. Her attempt to make unauthorized use of the minister’s office is another example of puzzling behavior on the part of someone who has already been removed from her position,” Levin said.
Baharav-Miara explained that “the decades-long custom in the Justice Ministry is that the staff of the Attorney-General’s Office sits at the Tel Aviv offices.”
“Only after the government decision [to fire Baharav-Miara] was a one-sided decision reached to block the A-G’s access from the office – and all with no explanation,” she wrote.
She added that this defies the High Court order not to change any aspect of her job. “It appears that the goal of this act was to harm the attorney-general’s standing and professionalism.”
I read Doug Friednash’s op-ed, again highlighting rising antisemitism as a result of the media bias and escalating retaliatory acts between Israel and Hamas.
As a descendant of Lebanese heritage, I find it insulting and remiss that Friednash can’t seem to acknowledge the toll this conflict is exacting upon innocent Lebanese civilians caught in the middle of this conflict. By his logic, failing to mention the collateral damage to the Lebanese people is actually anti-Lebanese.
Please, readers and the American public, appreciate and disavow the unintended consequences of these unending aggressions on Lebanese soil.
Peter Murr, Denver
I liked the piece in Sunday’s paper by Doug Friednash. It’s about time somebody said something. I was surprised to see it in The Post, as the paper is becoming known as the New York Times West!
The question that is never answered is why? Why is our media doing this? These are established American news companies, supposedly staffed by patriotic Americans, yet they slant their coverage to favor the terrorists.
Ralph H. McClure, Greeley
In his attempt to blame the media for presenting a false picture of Israel, Doug Friednash seems to assume that Americans are unable to understand the multiple layers that exist in that region of the world.
I am pro-Israel, but only within its pre-1967 borders. Since Israeli policy denies the right of return with full civil rights to the descendants of the indigenous people who lived there before Israel was established, I am also in favor of a fully sovereign Palestinian state in all of the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital, which makes me pro-Palestine.
I have many Jewish friends — but that does not blind me to the fact that AIPAC’s lobbyists wield an effective veto over U.S. policy in the Middle East. That said, antisemitism is as stupid as racism or being anti-Chinese or anti-immigrant.
Because Zionism is a colonial project that continues to seize Palestinian land, I am an anti-Zionist. I am also vehemently anti-Netanyahu because his policies have killed many more non-Israeli civilians for each Israeli civilian who was killed on Oct. 7.
Friednash seems to expect unquestioning support for all elements of Israeli policy. If not, by some twisted calculus, one is antisemitic. This is nonsense. His real complaint is that for the first time in over 75 years, the American public is finally getting factual reporting on the Middle East instead of the steady diet of pro-Zionist “news” that had been common in the past.
The current policies of the Netanyahu government have covered Israel with shame. What is worse is that they are providing the fodder that has fueled the rise of antisemitism — worldwide. Since it is impossible to kill the idea of Palestinian nationalism with a bomb, this is surely a lose-lose situation for both Israel and the Jewish people.
The letter writer apparently is a bit befuddled; he starts with “all these ballot issues would otherwise violate the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR),” then admits that “TABOR requires that government ask voters for such approval.”
Ideologically, doesn’t the reality of TABOR go against what conservatives always say: “Let the people decide?” That should apply at the get-go of our gross earnings because, personally, I don’t need or want the state to be an annual savings account for me.
His ending, “don’t mess with my TABOR refund,” is reminiscent of the protest signs in a past presidential election that said, “Keep your government hands off my Medicare.”
JERUSALEM — A year after Hamas’ fateful attack on southern Israel, the Middle East is embroiled in a war that shows no signs of ending and seems to be getting worse.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive was initially centered on the Gaza Strip. But the focus has shifted in recent weeks to Lebanon, where airstrikes have given way to a fast-expanding ground incursion against Hezbollah militants who have fired rockets into Israel since the Gaza war began.
Next in Israel’s crosshairs is archenemy Iran, which supports Hamas, Hezbollah and other anti-Israel militants in the region. After withstanding a massive barrage of missiles from Iran last week, Israel has promised to respond. The escalating conflict risks drawing deeper involvement by the U.S., as well as Iran-backed militants in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
When Hamas launched its attack on Oct. 7, 2023, it called on the Arab world to join it in a concerted campaign against Israel. While the fighting has indeed spread, Hamas and its allies have paid a heavy price.
The group’s army has been decimated, its Gaza stronghold has been reduced to a cauldron of death, destruction and misery and the top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah have been killed in audacious attacks.
Although Israel appears to be gaining the edge militarily, the war has been problematic for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, too.
Dozens of Israeli hostages are languishing in Hamas captivity, and a year after Netanyahu pledged to crush the group in “total victory,” remnants of the militant group are still battling in pockets of Gaza. The offensive in Lebanon, initially described as “limited,” grows by the day. A full-on collision with Iran is a possibility.
At home, Netanyahu faces mass protests over his inability to bring home the hostages, and to many, he will be remembered as the man who led Israel into its darkest moment. Relations with the U.S. and other allies are strained. The economy is deteriorating.
Here are five takeaways from a yearlong war that has upended longstanding assumptions and turned conventional wisdom on its head.
A region is torn apart by unthinkable death and destruction
A long list of previously unthinkable events have occurred in mind-boggling fashion.
The Oct. 7 attack was the bloodiest in Israel’s history. Young partygoers were gunned down. Cowering families were killed in their homes. In all, about 1,200 people died and 250 were taken hostage. Some Israelis were raped or sexually assaulted.
The ensuing war in Gaza has been the longest, deadliest and most destructive in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Gaza health authorities say nearly 42,000 people have been killed — roughly 2% of the territory’s entire population. Although they do not give a breakdown between civilians and combatants, more than half of the dead have been women and children. Numerous top Hamas officials have been killed.
The damage and displacement in Gaza have reached unseen levels. Hospitals, schools and mosques – once thought to be insulated from violence – have repeatedly been targeted by Israel or caught in the crossfire. Scores of journalists and health workers have been killed, many of them while working in the line of duty.
Months of simmering tensions along Israel’s northern border recently boiled over into war.
A growing list of Hezbollah officials – including the group’s longtime leader — have been killed by Israel. Hundreds of Hezbollah members were killed or maimed in explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies. Israel’s ground offensive is its first in Lebanon since a monthlong war in 2006.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has displaced tens of thousands of Israelis and over 1 million Lebanese. Israel promises to keep pounding Hezbollah until its residents can return to homes near the Lebanese border; Hezbollah says it will keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.
The leaders of Hamas and Israel appear in no rush for a cease-fire
When the war erupted, the days appeared to be numbered for both Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
Netanyahu’s public standing plummeted as he faced calls to step aside. Sinwar fled into Gaza’s labyrinth of tunnels as Israel declared him a “dead man walking.”
Yet both men — facing war crimes charges in international courts — remain firmly in charge, and neither appears to be in a rush for a cease-fire.
The end of the war could mean the end of Netanyahu’s government, which is dominated by hard-line partners opposed to a cease-fire. That would mean early elections, potentially pushing him into the opposition while he stands trial on corruption charges. Also looming is the prospect of an unflattering official inquiry into his government’s failures before and during the Oct. 7 attack.
Fearing that, his coalition has hung together even through mass protests and repeated disagreements with top security officials pushing for a deal to bring home the hostages. After a brief period of post-Oct. 7 national unity, Israel has returned to its divided self — torn between Netanyahu’s religious, conservative, nationalist right-wing base and his more secular, middle-class opposition.
Sinwar, believed to be hiding in Gaza’s tunnels, continues to drive a hard bargain in hopes of declaring some sort of victory. His demands for a full Israeli withdrawal, a lasting cease-fire and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for scores of hostages have been rejected by Israel — even as much of the international community has embraced them.
With cease-fire efforts deadlocked and Netanyahu’s far-right coalition firmly intact, the war could go on for some time. An estimated 1.9 million Palestinians remain displaced in Gaza while an estimated 68 hostages remain captive in Gaza, in addition to the bodies of 33 others held by Hamas.
Bitter enemies experience the limits of force
Early in the war, Netanyahu promised to destroy Hamas’ military and governing abilities.
Those goals have been achieved in many ways. Israel says it has dismantled Hamas’ military structure, and its rocket barrages have been diminished to a trickle. With Israeli troops stationed indefinitely in Gaza, it is difficult to see how the group could return to governing the territory or pose a serious threat.
But in other ways, total victory is impossible. Despite Israel’s overwhelming force, Hamas units have repeatedly regrouped to stage guerrilla-style ambushes from areas where Israel has withdrawn.
Across the Middle East, bitter enemies are witnessing the limits of force and deterrence.
Israel’s deepening invasion of Lebanon and repeated strikes on Hezbollah have failed to halt the rockets and missiles. Missile and drone attacks by Iran and its allies have only deepened Israel’s resolve. Israel is vowing to strike Iran hard after its latest missile barrage, raising the likelihood of a broader, regionwide war.
Without diplomatic solutions, the fighting is likely to persist.
Israel and Gaza will never be the same
Israel is still deeply traumatized as people try to come to terms with the worst day in its history.
The Oct. 7 killings and kidnappings had an outsized impact on a tiny country founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Israelis’ sense of security was shattered, and their faith in the military was tested like never before.
Photos of Israeli hostages are everywhere, and mass demonstrations are held each week calling on the government to reach a deal to bring them home. The prospect of ongoing war looms over families and workplaces as reserve soldiers brace for repeated tours of duty.
The trauma is far more acute in Gaza – where an estimated 90% of the population remains displaced, many of them living in squalid tent camps.
The scenes have drawn comparisons to what the Palestinian call the Nakba, or catastrophe – the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948. The Palestinians now find themselves looking at a tragedy of even greater scale.
It remains unclear when displaced Palestinians in Gaza will be able to return home and whether there will be anything to return to. The territory has suffered immense destruction and is littered with unexploded bombs. Children are missing a second consecutive school year, virtually every family has lost a relative in the fighting and basic needs like food and health care are lacking.
After a hellish year, the Palestinians of Gaza have no clear path forward, and it could take generations to recover.
Old formulas for pursuing Mideast peace no longer work
The international community’s response to this bloodiest of wars has been tepid and ineffective.
Repeated cease-fire calls have been ignored, and a U.S.-led plan to reinstate the Palestinian Authority in postwar Gaza has been rejected by Israel. It remains unclear who will run the territory in the future or who will pay for a cleanup and reconstruction effort that could take decades.
One thing that seems clear is that old formulas will no longer work. The international community’s preferred peace formula – the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel – seems hopelessly unrealistic.
Israel’s hard-line government opposes Palestinian statehood, says its troops will remain in Gaza for years to come and has further cemented its undeclared annexation of the West Bank. The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority has been pushed to the brink of irrelevance.
For decades, the United States has acted as the key mediator and power broker in the region – calling for a two-state solution but showing little political will to promote that vision. Instead, it has often turned to conflict management, preventing any side from doing anything too extreme to destabilize the region.
This approach went up in smoke on Oct. 7. Since then, the U.S. has responded with a muddled message of criticizing Israel’s wartime tactics as too harsh while arming the Israeli military and protecting Israel against diplomatic criticism. The result: The Biden administration has managed to antagonize both Israel and the Arab world while cease-fire efforts repeatedly sputter.
This approach has also alienated the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, complicating Kamala Harris’ presidential aspirations. The warring sides appear to have given up on the Biden administration and are waiting for the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election before deciding their next moves.
Whoever wins the race will almost certainly have to find a new formula and recalibrate decades of American policy if they want to end the war.
Air sirens sounded and aerial defense operations were in place in Bethlehem and Jerusalem after Iranian drones were launched Saturday evening toward Israel. U.S. forces in the Middle East have shot down some of the Iranian-launched drones, two U.S. officials told CBS News. Charles Faint, the deputy editorial director for the Modern War Institute at West Point, joins CBS News with more on how Israel could respond to the attacks.
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Tens of thousands of Israelis thronged central Jerusalem on Sunday in the largest anti-government protest since the country went to war in October. Protesters urged the government to reach a cease-fire deal to free dozens of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas militants and to hold early elections.Israeli society was broadly united immediately after Oct. 7, when Hamas killed some 1,200 people during a cross-border attack and took 250 others hostage. Nearly six months of conflict have renewed divisions over the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, though the country remains largely in favor of the war.Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and bring all the hostages home, yet those goals have been elusive. While Hamas has suffered heavy losses, it remains intact.Roughly half the hostages in Gaza were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November. But attempts by international mediators to bring home the remaining hostages have failed. Talks resumed on Sunday with no signs that a breakthrough was imminent.Hostages’ families believe time is running out, and they are getting more vocal about their displeasure with Netanyahu.”We believe that no hostages will come back with this government because they’re busy putting sticks in the wheels of negotiations for the hostages,” said Boaz Atzili, whose cousin, Aviv Atlizi and his wife, Liat, were kidnapped on Oct. 7. Liat was released but Aviv was killed, and his body is in Gaza. “Netanyahu is only working in his private interests.”PROTESTERS HAVE MANY GRIEVANCESProtesters blame Netanyahu for the failures of Oct. 7 and say the deep political divisions over his attempted judicial overhaul last year weakened Israel ahead of the attack. Some accuse him of damaging relations with the United States, Israel’s most important ally.Netanyahu is also facing a litany of corruption charges which are slowly making their way through the courts, and critics say his decisions appear to be focused on political survival over the national interest. Opinion polls show Netanyahu and his coalition trailing far behind their rivals if elections were held today.Unless his governing coalition falls apart sooner, Netanyahu won’t face elections until spring of 2026.Many families of hostages had refrained from publicly denouncing Netanyahu to avoid antagonizing the leadership and making the hostages’ plight a political issue. But as their anger grows, some now want to change course — and they played a major role in Sunday’s anti-government protest.Video below: Gaza ceasefire talks to resume in Cairo after Netanyahu greenlightThe crowd on Sunday stretched for blocks around the Knesset, or parliament building, and organizers vowed to continue the demonstration for several days. They urged the government to hold new elections nearly two years ahead of schedule. Thousands also demonstrated Sunday in Tel Aviv, where there was a large protest the night before.Netanyahu, in a nationally televised speech before undergoing hernia surgery later Sunday, said he understood families’ pain. But he said calling new elections — in what he described as a moment before victory — would paralyze Israel for six to eight months and stall the hostage talks. For now, Netanyahu’s governing coalition appears to remain firmly intact.Some hostage families agree that now is not the time for elections.”I don’t think that changing the prime minister now is what will advance and help my son to come home,” Sheli Shem Tov, whose son Omer was kidnapped from a music festival, told Israel’s Channel 12. “To go to elections now will just push to the side the most burning issue, which is to return the hostages home.”In his Sunday address, Netanyahu also repeated his vow for a military ground offensive in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than half of territory’s population of 2.3 million now shelters after fleeing fighting elsewhere. “There is no victory without going into Rafah,” he said, adding that U.S. pressure would not deter him. Israel’s military says Hamas battalions remain there.In another reminder of Israel’s divisions, a group of reservists and retired officers demonstrated in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood.Ultra-Orthodox men for generations have received exemptions from military service, which is compulsory for most Jewish men and women. Resentment over that has deepened during the war. Netanyahu’s government has been ordered to present a new plan for a more equitable draft law by Monday.Netanyahu, who relies heavily on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties, last week asked for an extension.The Bank of Israel said in its annual report on Sunday that there could be economic damage if large numbers of ultra-Orthodox men continue not to serve in Israel’s military.ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE HITS TENT CAMP AT HOSPITALAlso Sunday, an Israeli airstrike hit a tent camp in the courtyard of a crowded hospital in central Gaza, killing two Palestinians and wounding another 15, including journalists working nearby.An Associated Press reporter filmed the strike and aftermath at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where thousands of people have sheltered. The Israeli military said it struck a command center of the Islamic Jihad militant group.Tens of thousands of people have sought shelter in Gaza’s hospitals, viewing them as relatively safe from airstrikes. Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of operating in and around medical facilities, which Gaza’s health officials deny.Israeli troops have been raiding Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, for nearly two weeks and say they have killed scores of fighters, including senior Hamas operatives. Gaza’s Health Ministry said more than 100 patients remain with no potable water and septic wounds, while doctors use plastic bags for gloves.Not far from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, dozens of members of Gaza’s tiny Palestinian Christian community gathered at the Holy Family Church to celebrate Easter, with incense wafting through the rare building that appeared untouched by war.”We are here with sadness,” attendee Winnie Tarazi said. About 600 people shelter in the compound.GAZA’S DEATH TOLL NEARS 33,000 AND HUNGER GROWSThe United Nations and partners warn that famine could occur in devastated, largely isolated northern Gaza. Humanitarian officials say deliveries by sea and air are not enough and that Israel must allow far more aid by road. Egypt has said thousands of trucks are waiting.Israel says it places no limits on deliveries of humanitarian aid. It has blamed the U.N. and other international agencies for the failure to distribute more aid.Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday that at least 32,782 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilians and fighters, but it has said that women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.Israel says over one-third of the dead are militants, though it has not provided evidence, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in residential areas.Amid concerns about a wider conflict in the region, Lebanese state media reported that an Israeli drone struck a car in the southern Lebanese town of Konin.A Lebanese security official told The Associated Press that Hezbollah militant Ismail al-Zain was killed, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Israel’s military called al-Zain a “significant commander.” Hezbollah confirmed the death.Late Sunday, a Palestinian attacker stabbed three people in southern Israel, seriously wounding them, said the Hatzalah rescue service. Police said the attacker was shot, but gave no further details on his condition.___Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report
JERUSALEM —
Tens of thousands of Israelis thronged central Jerusalem on Sunday in the largest anti-government protest since the country went to war in October. Protesters urged the government to reach a cease-fire deal to free dozens of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas militants and to hold early elections.
Israeli society was broadly united immediately after Oct. 7, when Hamas killed some 1,200 people during a cross-border attack and took 250 others hostage. Nearly six months of conflict have renewed divisions over the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, though the country remains largely in favor of the war.
Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and bring all the hostages home, yet those goals have been elusive. While Hamas has suffered heavy losses, it remains intact.
Roughly half the hostages in Gaza were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November. But attempts by international mediators to bring home the remaining hostages have failed. Talks resumed on Sunday with no signs that a breakthrough was imminent.
Hostages’ families believe time is running out, and they are getting more vocal about their displeasure with Netanyahu.
“We believe that no hostages will come back with this government because they’re busy putting sticks in the wheels of negotiations for the hostages,” said Boaz Atzili, whose cousin, Aviv Atlizi and his wife, Liat, were kidnapped on Oct. 7. Liat was released but Aviv was killed, and his body is in Gaza. “Netanyahu is only working in his private interests.”
PROTESTERS HAVE MANY GRIEVANCES
Protesters blame Netanyahu for the failures of Oct. 7 and say the deep political divisions over his attempted judicial overhaul last year weakened Israel ahead of the attack. Some accuse him of damaging relations with the United States, Israel’s most important ally.
Netanyahu is also facing a litany of corruption charges which are slowly making their way through the courts, and critics say his decisions appear to be focused on political survival over the national interest. Opinion polls show Netanyahu and his coalition trailing far behind their rivals if elections were held today.
Unless his governing coalition falls apart sooner, Netanyahu won’t face elections until spring of 2026.
Many families of hostages had refrained from publicly denouncing Netanyahu to avoid antagonizing the leadership and making the hostages’ plight a political issue. But as their anger grows, some now want to change course — and they played a major role in Sunday’s anti-government protest.
Video below: Gaza ceasefire talks to resume in Cairo after Netanyahu greenlight
The crowd on Sunday stretched for blocks around the Knesset, or parliament building, and organizers vowed to continue the demonstration for several days. They urged the government to hold new elections nearly two years ahead of schedule. Thousands also demonstrated Sunday in Tel Aviv, where there was a large protest the night before.
Netanyahu, in a nationally televised speech before undergoing hernia surgery later Sunday, said he understood families’ pain. But he said calling new elections — in what he described as a moment before victory — would paralyze Israel for six to eight months and stall the hostage talks. For now, Netanyahu’s governing coalition appears to remain firmly intact.
Some hostage families agree that now is not the time for elections.
“I don’t think that changing the prime minister now is what will advance and help my son to come home,” Sheli Shem Tov, whose son Omer was kidnapped from a music festival, told Israel’s Channel 12. “To go to elections now will just push to the side the most burning issue, which is to return the hostages home.”
In his Sunday address, Netanyahu also repeated his vow for a military ground offensive in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than half of territory’s population of 2.3 million now shelters after fleeing fighting elsewhere. “There is no victory without going into Rafah,” he said, adding that U.S. pressure would not deter him. Israel’s military says Hamas battalions remain there.
In another reminder of Israel’s divisions, a group of reservists and retired officers demonstrated in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood.
Ultra-Orthodox men for generations have received exemptions from military service, which is compulsory for most Jewish men and women. Resentment over that has deepened during the war. Netanyahu’s government has been ordered to present a new plan for a more equitable draft law by Monday.
Netanyahu, who relies heavily on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties, last week asked for an extension.
The Bank of Israel said in its annual report on Sunday that there could be economic damage if large numbers of ultra-Orthodox men continue not to serve in Israel’s military.
ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE HITS TENT CAMP AT HOSPITAL
Also Sunday, an Israeli airstrike hit a tent camp in the courtyard of a crowded hospital in central Gaza, killing two Palestinians and wounding another 15, including journalists working nearby.
An Associated Press reporter filmed the strike and aftermath at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where thousands of people have sheltered. The Israeli military said it struck a command center of the Islamic Jihad militant group.
Tens of thousands of people have sought shelter in Gaza’s hospitals, viewing them as relatively safe from airstrikes. Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of operating in and around medical facilities, which Gaza’s health officials deny.
Israeli troops have been raiding Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, for nearly two weeks and say they have killed scores of fighters, including senior Hamas operatives. Gaza’s Health Ministry said more than 100 patients remain with no potable water and septic wounds, while doctors use plastic bags for gloves.
Not far from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, dozens of members of Gaza’s tiny Palestinian Christian community gathered at the Holy Family Church to celebrate Easter, with incense wafting through the rare building that appeared untouched by war.
“We are here with sadness,” attendee Winnie Tarazi said. About 600 people shelter in the compound.
GAZA’S DEATH TOLL NEARS 33,000 AND HUNGER GROWS
The United Nations and partners warn that famine could occur in devastated, largely isolated northern Gaza. Humanitarian officials say deliveries by sea and air are not enough and that Israel must allow far more aid by road. Egypt has said thousands of trucks are waiting.
Israel says it places no limits on deliveries of humanitarian aid. It has blamed the U.N. and other international agencies for the failure to distribute more aid.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday that at least 32,782 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilians and fighters, but it has said that women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.
Israel says over one-third of the dead are militants, though it has not provided evidence, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in residential areas.
Amid concerns about a wider conflict in the region, Lebanese state media reported that an Israeli drone struck a car in the southern Lebanese town of Konin.
A Lebanese security official told The Associated Press that Hezbollah militant Ismail al-Zain was killed, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Israel’s military called al-Zain a “significant commander.” Hezbollah confirmed the death.
Late Sunday, a Palestinian attacker stabbed three people in southern Israel, seriously wounding them, said the Hatzalah rescue service. Police said the attacker was shot, but gave no further details on his condition.
___
Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report
