The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they unfold.
Hamas urges UK court to remove terror label; its lawyers claim British army also fits ‘terrorism’ definition
Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk has submitted a lengthy witness statement to a British court, arguing that London should remove its proscription of Hamas as a terror group.
The Palestinian group claims to be “a Palestinian Islamic liberation and resistance movement whose goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project,” in a filing reported by the Drop Site News outlet.
Hamas openly seeks to destroy Israel, regularly attempts to target random Israeli civilians, and led thousands of terrorists who systematically killed and kidnapped Israelis of all ages, including civilians at their homes and at a music festival, as well as British nationals on October 7, 2023.
Abu Marzouk claims the onslaught was solely directed at military targets, falsely asserting that the targeting of civilians that day was marginable or done mainly by non-Hamas members.
He accuses Britain of complicity in the Israeli “genocide” against Palestinians by arming Israel, and claims it poses no threat to the United Kingdom.
A legal team representing Hamas pro bono — since it would be illegal to receive money from the group — claims in its own filing that while Hamas’s actions fit the definition of “terrorism” in British law, so do those of the IDF, the Ukrainian army and even the British military.
According to The Guardian, Britain’s Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel said: “Hamas is an evil Iranian-backed terrorist organization, which kidnaps, tortures and murders people, including British nationals. They pose an ongoing threat to our security and to the peace and stability of the Middle East and they have weapons and training facilities that put lives at risk and threaten our interests. They show no respect for human rights, life and dignity and have oppressed people living in Gaza for too long.”
Vance meets Israeli ex-hostages, relatives of captives at White House
US Vice President JD Vance met earlier today at the White House with a group of former hostages and relatives of current captives in Gaza.
“We remain hopeful” about the chances for a deal, Vance told those present, according to a readout from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents most Gaza captives’ families.
A hostage deal between Israel and Hamas fell apart last month after one phase.
This was Vance’s first organized meeting with such a group, which met yesterday with US President Donald Trump at a National Republican Congressional Committee event in Washington.
During the meeting, Vance acknowledged the hostage families’ pain and the urgency of their loved one’s return, the readout adds.
The Israeli participants expressed their appreciation for the Trump administration’s efforts to secure the release of the remaining 59 hostages.
Attending the meeting were former hostages Iair Horn, Keith Siegel and Aviva Siegel, along with the relatives of hostages Ziv and Gali Berman, Evyatar David, Omri Miran, Eitan Horn, Edan Alexander, Omer Neutra and Itay Chen.
7 arrested during Jerusalem protest denouncing the war in Gaza
Police arrest seven demonstrators at a small anti-war protest in Jerusalem earlier tonight, in Paris Square near the prime minister’s residence.
The left-wing protesters amounted to several dozen and did not appear to have blocked roads to traffic, but police made arrests regardless, confiscating signs bearing controversial slogans.
Participants held banners in Hebrew, English and Arabic demanding an end to Israel’s ongoing Gaza offensive and calling on Israelis to refuse IDF service.
In a clip posted to social media, a protester in a Pikachu costume — a viral symbol of the anti-Erdogan protests in Turkey last month — is seen holding a banner that reads “stop the massacre,” before a plainclothes officer tears it away.
Werever there's fascism thete's resistance. Wherever there's resistance, there's pikatchu pic.twitter.com/f3yNE6NlKl
— Free Jerusalem (@FreeJerusalem1) April 9, 2025
Another woman, who is circling around the plaza with a sign saying “refuse,” is tackled to the ground by several cops.
— نير حسون Nir Hasson ניר חסון (@nirhasson) April 9, 2025
Trump: Israel will ‘be the leader’ of strike on Iran if nuclear talks fail
Israel will “lead” a military strike along with the US against Iran if nuclear talks don’t succeed, US President Donald Trump says.
Asked whether he would use military means against Iran if the latter doesn’t agree to a nuclear deal, Trump responds: “If it requires military, we’re going to have military.”
“Israel will obviously be very much involved in that — it’ll be the leader of that,” he tells reporters in the Oval Office, in what appears to be the first time he’s explicitly threatened an Iranian strike by Israel, let alone one led by the Jewish state.
But he appears to partially walk back the comment in his next breath. “Nobody leads us. We do what we want to do.”
Trump: "With Iran, yeah, if it requires military, we're gonna have military. Israel will obviously be very much involved in that." pic.twitter.com/WqLDE7N6v5
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 9, 2025
He says the US will “absolutely” use military force against Iran if necessary and that he has a timeline for how long they will take, though he doesn’t specify. Reports have said Trump is giving the process two months.
The US president says that Saturday’s slated summit in Oman is the “start” of a process. His envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is slated to represent the US, while Iran will be represented by its Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Trump has said the talks will be direct, while Iran has said they will be through a mediator.
“We have a little time, but we don’t have much time because we’re not going to let them have a nuclear weapon,” Trump says.
“We’re going to let them thrive. I want them to thrive. I want Iran to be great. The only thing they can’t have is a nuclear weapon. They understand that.”
“I was a little bit surprised because when the election was rigged, I figured that they would get the weapon because with me, they were broke,” he claims, without elaborating.
2 men shot dead amid violent clashes between Bedouin rival clans, police in Negev
Two young men were shot dead tonight in the southern Bedouin village of Ararat an-Naqab, also known as Arara Banegev, during shootouts involving several residents and police in which at least four more people were injured.
Local Arabic-language outlets report that one of the victims, named Wahib Abdelqader Abu Arar, in his 20s, was shot by police when they arrived at the scene of a violent clash between rival local clans, amid a dispute between that is currently wreaking havoc in the Negev town.
Paramedics called to the scene found Abu Arar in critical condition at around 10 p.m, says a spokesperson for the Magen David Adom emergency service.
They initially took him to a local clinic, but soon shuttled him to Beersheba’s Soroka Hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds.
Police have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Hours later, at around midnight, another man is killed in a shooting incident that lightly injures one other. Paramedics administered CPR to the 27-year-old, who is named by media as Imad Suleiman Abu Arar, while taking him to Soroka Hospital, but he soon died of his wounds.
Footage posted to social media depicts several homes going up in flames tonight, apparently as a result of the dispute. A school is also reportedly set on fire over the course of the night.
Netanyahu speaks with Liri Albag after PM’s backers attacked freed hostage online
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with former hostage Liri Albag and her parents, Shira and Eli, after the freed captive was attacked online by many pro-Netanyahu accounts for blaming the premier for her abduction.
The Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement that during the call, the prime minister said he “expresses solidarity with Liri in light of the attacks she has faced on social media in recent days.”
In a since-removed promotional clip of an upcoming interview with Albag on the Kan public broadcaster, Albag sharply criticized Netanyahu, telling the interviewer that if she were to meet the premier, she would tell him that she blames him for the failures surrounding the October, 7, 2023, Hamas assault, during which she was taken captive.
Albag, who was released from captivity during the recent ceasefire, requested the video’s removal from the air due to a wave of hate she received from Netanyahu supporters on social media, with some accounts calling her “a trash girl” and suggesting sending her “back to Gaza.” According to Channel 12, a large number of the hateful messages came from pro-Netanyahu Facebook groups, with up to 90,000 members.
Netanyahu offers Albag words of support over the phone, and “expresses admiration for her resilience and bravery while in Hamas captivity,” says the PMO.
The premier tells Albag that he and his wife Sara Netanyahu had maintained regular contact with the Albag family, that he is committed to securing the return of all hostages, and “that he would like to meet soon” with Albag and “the fellow [IDF] observer soldiers that returned with her,” referring to released hostages Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Karina Ariev.
Liri thanked the prime minister for “the emotional conversation, for his courageous decision to secure her release and that of other hostages, and urged him to continue efforts to bring everyone home,” the PMO adds in its readout of the conversation.