The Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday’s events as they happen.
Near PM’s home, daughter of hostage urges him to take ‘brave step to bring home those still alive’
Relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas have begun setting up tents near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, where they are camping out overnight as part of a protest urging the return of their loved ones from the Gaza Strip.
“It’s gone from pleading for their return to pleading to save their lives. This is a matter of life or death,” says Ela Ben Ami, whose father Ohad is still captive in Gaza after being kidnapped on October 7 alongside her mother Raz, who was released by Hamas as part of weeklong truce in late November.
She says the families are demanding an “international conference of Qatar, Egypt, the US and Israel, in which they sit in the same room and reach an understanding on how to bring the hostages home.”
Turning to Netanyahu, Ela Ben Ami calls on him to take “a brave step to bring home those still alive, and the bodies [of those killed] to be buried in Israel, as they deserve.”
ההפגנה ליד ביתו של רה"מ בקיסריה: משפחות החטופים, בהם משפחת שם טוב, קלדרון, שוהם, סמרנו, בן עמי, אדר, עידן ושתיוי – הקימו אוהלים מול בית נתניהו@SuleimanMas1 @YoavBorowitz https://t.co/0GhUdy9fVC pic.twitter.com/5wsmjgMJiO
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) January 19, 2024
US says probing cause of drone crash in Iraq after Iran-backed militias claim to down UAV
WASHINGTON — An American drone crashed north of Baghdad, a US defense official says Friday, after Iran-backed militants claimed they fired on an unmanned aircraft flying over Iraq.
“A US UAV crashed near Balad airbase, Iraq” on Thursday night local time, the official tells AFP, without identifying the type of drone that was lost.
“Iraqi security forces recovered the aircraft. There were no injuries reported,” the official says, adding that “an investigation of the cause of the crash is underway.”
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-linked armed groups that oppose US support for Israel, said Friday that it fired on a US MQ-9 — a type of drone that can be used for both surveillance and strikes — which was operating over Iraq the day before.
“Mujahideen yesterday targeted… an MQ-9 drone belonging to the American occupation,” the group said in a statement.
CENTCOM says Houthi anti-ship missiles targeted in latest US strikes
WASHINGTON – US Central Command forces have conducted strikes against three Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed into the Southern Red Sea and were prepared to launch, the US military says on X, formerly called Twitter.
“US forces identified the missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the US Navy ships in the region. US forces subsequently struck and destroyed the missiles in self-defense,” the US Central Command says in the post on X.
After phone call, Biden says two-state solution not ‘impossible’ while Netanyahu in office
WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden says creation of an independent state for Palestinians is not impossible while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still in office, and the two leaders had discussed the issue during their phone call on Friday.
Asked if a two-state solution is “impossible” while Netanyahu is in office, Biden says, “No, it’s not.”
The US president is also asked if he would consider conditioning aid to Israel due to Netanyahu’s remarks on a two-state solution. “I think we’ll be able to work something out,” he responds.
He says Netanyahu is not opposed to all two-state solutions, and there are a number of types possible, adding that some United Nations members don’t have military forces.
“There are a number of types of two-state solutions,” Biden says. “And so I think there’s ways in which this could work.””