The Times of Israel is liveblogging Monday’s events as they unfold.
Voters in Turkey hand Erdogan thundering defeat in watershed local election
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is licking his wounds after voters dealt him and his party their biggest electoral blow in a nationwide local vote that reasserted the opposition as a political force and reinforced Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as the president’s chief rival.
With most of the votes counted, Imamoglu led by 10 percentage points in the mayoral race in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, while his Republican People’s Party (CHP) retained Ankara and gained 15 other mayoral seats in cities nationwide.
It marked the worst defeat for Erdogan and his AK Party (AKP) in their more than two decades in power, and could signal a change in the country’s divided political landscape.
In a post-midnight address, Erdogan called the resounding defeat a “turning point.”
He tells crowds gathered at AKP headquarters in Ankara that his alliance had “lost altitude” across the nation and will take steps to address the message from voters.
“If we made a mistake, we will fix it” in the years ahead, he said. “If we have anything missing, we will complete it.”
Erdogan, who in the 1990s was also mayor of his hometown Istanbul, had campaigned hard ahead of the municipal elections, which analysts described as a gauge of both his support and the opposition’s durability.
The results represent an even worse showing than losses that had been predicted by opinion polls due to soaring inflation, dissatisfied Islamist voters and, in Istanbul, Imamoglu’s appeal beyond the CHP’s secular base, analysts say.
“Those who do not understand the nation’s message will eventually lose,” Imamoglu, 53, tells thousands of jubilant supporters, some of them chanting for Erdogan to resign.
“Tonight, 16 million Istanbul citizens sent a message to both our rivals and the president,” said the former businessman, who is now widely touted as a likely presidential challenger.
Hamas cheers Gan Yavne knife attack
A statement from the Hamas terror group celebrates a stabbing in Gan Yavne that left a teen and two young men hospitalized in serious condition, without explicitly taking responsibility for the attack.
In language that is largely a carbon copy of other statements following terror attacks, the group praises the stabbing as a “heroic operation,” calling it a “natural and expected response” to Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
The statement also calls on Palestinians to “escalate comprehensive resistance” against Israelis.
Army says building damaged in Eilat drone attack, apparently launched from Iraq
The Israel Defense Forces says a building was lightly damaged in a drone attack in the Eilat region, but there were no injuries in the incident.
The army says soldiers identified a “suspicious aerial target that entered Israeli territory from the east” which impacted “in the Eilat Bay area.”
The IDF statement does not say what building was hit or if any attempt was made to intercept the object.
Reports indicated earlier that the drone hit a naval base in the city.
The reference to the projectile’s origin being to the east appears to confirm a claim by the Islamic Resistance of Iraq that it fired on Israel.
Jordan and Saudi Arabia are also to the east of Eilat.
Possible impact reported in Eilat as explosion heard, smoke seen
Explosions have reportedly echoed through Eilat shortly after a pair of drone alert sirens went off in the city.
A loud roar can be heard in a video shared online by Israel Hayom. A second video shows several ambulances near a naval base in the Red Sea resort city.
פיצוצים נשמעו בשמי אילת https://t.co/TAz4HRr6mu pic.twitter.com/33sOT9wpSP
— ישראל היום (@IsraelHayomHeb) March 31, 2024
אמבולנסים הגיעו למקום בו נפל חלק המיירט באילת
צילום: יהודה בן יתח pic.twitter.com/GhmaH9kLlC— ישראל היום (@IsraelHayomHeb) March 31, 2024
Other videos and pictures published on social media appear to show smoke rising behind buildings in the city from an apparent impact of either a drone or shrapnel following an interception.
אילת "או רשרש" pic.twitter.com/WBbmlD5GUc
— حزام الأسد (@hezamalasad) March 31, 2024
There is no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces.
A statement published on Telegram by Lebanese terror group Hezbollah shortly after the attack from the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a consortium of Shiite terror groups supported by Tehran, claims an attack on “a vital target in [Israel].”
In November, a drone launched from Syria managed to hit a school in Eilat, which has been targeted several times by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Netanyahu hernia operation successful, surgeon says
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is recovering following a successful hernia operation, doctors at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem say following the late-night procedure.
“He is awake, recovering and speaking with his family,” says Prof. Alon Pikarsky, the hospital’s director of general surgery and the attending surgeon, in a short taped statement.
He says the operation went as planned.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the hernia was discovered during a routine checkup on Saturday evening. His office did not say where in the body the hernia had been discovered, although they are most common in the abdomen and hip areas.
Netanyahu, 74, underwent full anesthesia during the operation.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who also holds the role of deputy prime minister, filled Netanyahu’s role temporarily while he was conked out.
Drone alarm sounds in Eilat
A drone infiltration alert is sounding in Eilat and surrounding areas in far southern Israel, the IDF’s Home Front command says.
There is no immediate word on the cause of the alarm, which has been triggered in the past by drone attacks launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.