The Times of Israel is liveblogging Tuesday’s events as they unfold.
‘I cannot celebrate my independence’: Yarden Bibas urges social media users to highlight captives’ plight
Former hostage Yarden Bibas has issued a plea to Israelis to highlight the plight of the 59 remaining captives during this week’s Independence Day, a call joined by other captivity survivors and relatives of abductees.
“On Israel’s 76th Independence Day, I was in a tunnel and didn’t think that Israel was celebrating Independence Day while at war and with hostages in captivity,” Bibas says on Facebook and Instagram. “Now, on the 77th Independence Day, the war is still ongoing, and there are still hostages in captivity — only this time, I am home.”
“This year, I cannot celebrate my independence because I have brothers and sisters who are still being held hostage and my heart is still there with them,” he continues. “I will not be able to heal or rest until they return.
“Join me: Add the caption ‘I have no independence because they are still there’ to your profile picture and share it on social media,” Bibas asks the public, alongside a photo of himself holding a piece of paper with those words in Hebrew.
Other ex-hostages, including Arbel Yehoud, Shani Goren and Omer Wenkert, quickly join the campaign with posts of themselves holding banners with the same slogan.
Einav Zangauker, father of hostage Matan Zangauker, joins as well, writing that “as long as our boys and girls are held [in Gaza], we can’t celebrate Independence Day. The Jewish people has no independence while they are there. We must end the war and [reach] a deal to free them all to truly feel independence again.”
Liberals win Canada election overshadowed by Trump, but unclear if they will have majority
Canada’s ruling Liberals have retained power in the country’s election, but it is too soon to say whether they will form a majority government, CTV News and CBC predict.
Prime Minister Mark Carney asked for a strong mandate to help him handle US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and annexation threat, but CTV and CBC say the Liberals have not yet secured the 172 electoral districts, known as seats, they need for a majority.
The size of the Liberal government might not be known for some time and could depend on the westernmost province of British Columbia, where polls closed last.
The Liberals are leading or elected in 139 seats, followed by the Conservatives with 107, according to CBC.
Carney has promised a tough approach with Washington over its tariffs and said Canada will need to spend billions to reduce its reliance on the US. But the right-of-center Conservatives, who have called for change after more than nine years of Liberal rule, show unexpected strength.
The House has 343 seats and if Carney only captures a minority, he will have to negotiate with other parties to stay in power. Minority governments in Canada rarely last longer than 2-2.5 years.
The result, though, caps a notable comeback for the Liberals, who had been 20 points behind in the polls in January before unpopular former prime minister Justin Trudeau announced he was quitting and Trump started threatening tariffs and annexation.
Trump’s threats ignited a wave of patriotism that swelled support for Carney, a political newcomer who previously led two G7 central banks.
US has lost 7 multi-million-dollar drones in Yemen area since March — official
The United States has lost seven multi-million-dollar MQ-9 Reaper drones in the Yemen area since March 15, a US official says.
Washington launched the latest round of its air campaign against Yemen’s Houthis in mid-March, and MQ-9s can be used for both reconnaissance — a key aspect of US efforts to identify and target weaponry the rebels are using to attack shipping in the region — as well as strikes.
“There have been seven MQ-9s that have gone down since March 15,” the US official says on condition of anonymity, without specifying what has caused the loss of the drones, which cost around $30 million apiece.
The US Navy has meanwhile announced the loss of another piece of expensive military equipment: an F/A-18E warplane that fell off the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in an accident that injured one sailor.
A tractor that was towing the F/A-18E — a type of aircraft that cost more than $67 million in 2021 — also slipped off the ship into the sea.
“The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard,” the Navy says in a statement.
The carrier and its other planes remain in action and the incident is under investigation, the Navy adds. No details of recovery work are released.
It is the second F/A-18 operating off the Truman to be lost in less than six months, after another was mistakenly shot down by the USS Gettysburg guided missile cruiser late last year in an incident that both pilots survived.
The Truman is one of two US aircraft carriers operating in the Middle East, where US forces have been striking the Houthis on a near-daily basis since March 15.
US demands UPenn strip transgender athletes of women’s sports awards or face enforcement steps
The US Education Department alleges that the University of Pennsylvania’s policy on transgender athletes violates federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in programs that receive federal funding.
The Education Department says in a statement that it has proposed a resolution agreement to the university under which the Ivy League school would issue a statement saying it will comply with federal law, transfer records and awards won by transgender athletes to athletes assigned female at birth, and issue a letter of apology to the female athletes.
The department says the university has 10 days to resolve or risk a referral to the US Justice Department for enforcement proceedings.
The Education Department does not immediately respond to a request for comment on what kind of enforcement actions it seeks. The university has no immediate comment.
The university, which made national headlines in 2022 when a transgender swimmer competed on its women’s team, has previously said it “has always followed NCAA and Ivy League policies regarding student participation on athletic teams,” and remains in full compliance with regulations.
Following US President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban transgender athletes from participating in female-only school sports, the NCAA — the governing body for US collegiate sports — updated its rules to limit competition in female-only competitions to athletes assigned female at birth.
Last month, Trump’s administration suspended $175 million in funding to the University of Pennsylvania over its transgender sports policies.
This month, the administration sued Maine over the same issue. Maine argues that federal law does not prohibit transgender girls in women’s sports.
Ben Gvir meets 4 GOP lawmakers on the Hill, including chair of key US House panel
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir tells The Times of Israel that he met today with four Republican US lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including one who heads the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The meetings indicate that the far-right Israeli lawmaker, whom Joe Biden’s administration considered sanctioning last year, is making inroads in American politics — at least on the Republican side of the aisle.
Rep. Brian Mast was the most senior lawmaker to meet with Ben Gvir today. Mast is a major backer of Israel’s settlement movement who is directing staff on the Foreign Affairs Committee to refer to the West Bank only by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria. Ben Gvir is a resident of the Kiryat Arba settlement outside of Hebron.
The minister held meetings with two of the more conservative members of the Republican caucus in Reps. Jim Jordan and Claudia Tenney, but he also sat down with the more moderate Rep. Mike Lawler.
Ben Gvir says he didn’t come to the Hill with a particular agenda, other than to give those who agreed an opportunity to get to know him.
He says the lawmakers expressed their full-throated support for Israel and its war against Hamas. They didn’t try and urge him to change Israeli policy either.
Ben Gvir says a number of Republican lawmakers updated him on their efforts to crack down on the finances of pro-Palestinian groups in the US.
“I didn’t ask them afterward whether they’ll vote for Ben Gvir, but they wanted to get to know me and I think they really liked what they heard,” he says.
Ben Gvir did not hold any meetings with members of US President Donald Trump’s administration during his weeklong trip, though he insists that was never part of the plan. There had been reports of a potential meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, but that sit-down never materialized.
Spain, Portugal say massive power outage nearly resolved
Spain’s power grid operator has restored electricity supplies to about half of the country after a huge power outage brought the Iberian Peninsula to a standstill, and the rest should be restored by Tuesday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says.
Authorities are yet to establish what caused the blackout and are not ruling out any hypothesis, he adds in a televised address.
La Vanguardia newspaper has reported that the massive outage was caused by a failure of the interconnection between the grids of Spain and France, quoting Spanish grid operator REE’s system operations chief Eduardo Prieto.
Meanwhile, Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro says power in the country will be fully restored in the coming hours.
He says all the state services have remained operating in the country despite all the difficulties.
After claim of breakthrough, Israeli sources deny significant progress in hostage-ceasefire talks
Multiple Israeli news outlets quickly cite sources denying claims of a breakthrough in the negotiations with the Hamas terror group for a ceasefire and hostage deal.
Reuters has cited two Egyptian security sources saying there has been a “significant breakthrough” in the talks, adding that there is a consensus on a long-term ceasefire in Gaza, yet some sticking points remain, including Hamas arms.
But the Walla news site cites an unnamed senior Israeli source saying there has been no breakthrough, the Kan public broadcaster attributes the same thing to an Israeli source, and Ynet cites Israeli sources saying there hasn’t been meaningful progress and Jerusalem won’t agree to a yearslong truce that doesn’t include the disarmament of Hamas.
Earlier Monday, a senior Israeli official said Israel would not accept a five-year ceasefire deal being pushed for by mediators.
In 1970, Egypt’s leader Nasser said he had ‘no interest’ in Palestinian cause, wouldn’t fight Israel — newly aired audio
A 1970 recording of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser indicating a lack of interest in the Palestinian cause is causing a stir in Egypt, Haaretz reports.
“We have no interest in the Palestinian issue. We will only talk about Sinai. When [the Israelis] leave Sinai, there will be an agreement,” he says to Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in the audio clip.
Nasser threatened to destroy Israel in his speeches, created the Palestine Liberation Organization, led the Arab side in the 1967 Six Day War against Israel, and imprisoned hundreds of Jews after Israel’s victory.
But in the 1970 recording — aired on Abdel Nasser’s son’s YouTube channel — he showed no interest in fighting Israel: “If someone wants to struggle — let them struggle, and if someone wants to fight — let them fight. But today the Iraqis are telling us — all of Palestine from the river to the sea, or nothing.”
He seemed to think that defeating Israel in battle was a pipe dream.
“If we want to achieve our goals, we must be realistic,” he said to Gaddafi. “You are welcome to mobilize the forces, go to Baghdad and try to fight against Israel. We will stay away from this operation, leave us alone — we will choose a non-violent and defeatist solution. I can live with that.”
A recently released bombshell recording has sparked major controversy in Egypt and the Arab world.
In 1970, former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser told Gaddafi:
"I am ready to normalize with Israel, and I have nothing to do with the Palestinian cause." pic.twitter.com/BvtGYJUn52
— Xumas (@xumas_iq) April 28, 2025