The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they happen.
Hamas reportedly won’t hold hostage handover ceremonies during Gaza ceasefire
As part of the hostage release and Gaza ceasefire deal being negotiated, Hamas will not hold public ceremonies while freeing captives, an Israeli defense official and Palestinian source close to the terror group tell the New York Times.
The report notes the proposal being discussed would see the return of 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 captives to Israel, with Hamas releasing them on five separate occasions over the 60-day truce.
Columbia University says student data recently stolen by politically motivated hacker
NEW YORK — A politically motivated hacker breached Columbia University’s data systems last week, stealing troves of student documents while briefly shutting down the school’s computer systems, a university official says Wednesday.
The June 24 cyberattack prompted widespread network outages on campus, locking students and staff out of their email accounts, coursework and video conference software for several hours. On the same day, images of US President Donald Trump’s smiling face appeared on several public monitors across the Manhattan campus.
A spokesperson for Columbia declines to elaborate on the political motivations behind the attack. But officials describe a highly sophisticated “hacktivist” who had gained access to private student records in an attempt to further a political agenda.
The spokesperson says it’s unclear if the Trump photo display was connected to the data breach.
“We are investigating the scope of the apparent theft and will share our findings with the University community as well as anyone whose personal information was compromised,” the school says.
US lawmakers propose giving Israel access to bunker-busting bombs, stealth bombers in bipartisan bill
Two US lawmakers, a Republican and a Democrat, have presented a bill that, if passed, would give Israel access to the bunker-busting bombs and stealth bombers used by the US in its strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities last month.
The bill, put forward by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), would give the US president the authority to transfer a supply of the 3,000-pound bunker-busting bombs and the B-2 stealth bombers to Israel in the event that Iran continues working on developing a nuclear weapon.
The US dropped more than a dozen of these bombs on the Fordo and Natanz underground nuclear facilities on June 22, amid Israel’s 12-day war with Iran.
While Israel struck hundreds of other nuclear and military targets across the Islamic Republic, it was unable to target these underground sites, as it lacks the weapons and planes needed for such a strike.
Accordingly, the bipartisan Bunker Buster Act would authorize the US to “take actions to ensure Israel is prepared for all contingencies if Iran seeks to develop a nuclear weapon.”
The bill has been proposed by Gottheimer twice previously, first in 2022 and then in 2024. It did not progress beyond the House floor either time.
“Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans,” he writes on X. “As Iran rebuilds its nuclear program, we must maintain maximum deterrence.”
“My bipartisan Bunker Buster Act will give Israel the tools she needs to deter Iranian aggression and take out their underground nuclear sites — strengthening US national security.”