The Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday’s events as they happen.
Ship lightly damaged in strike by ‘unknown object’ in Red Sea near Yemen; crew safe — UK maritime body
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency says that it received a report of an incident on a vessel in the Red Sea, 76 nautical miles northwest of Yemen’s Hodeidah.
The captain confirms that the ship sustained slight damage after it was “struck by an unknown object,” UKMTO says in a statement.
The crew is safe and the vessel is continuing to its next port of call, the statement says, adding that authorities are investigating.
The Iran-backed Houthis, a US-designated terror organization that controls the most populous parts of Yemen, has staged attacks on ships in the waters off the country for months in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid the ongoing war.
The repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden since November have forced shippers to re-route cargo on longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa and stoked fears the Israel-Hamas war could spread and destabilize the Middle East.
Poll: Netanyahu’s job approval rating at 32%, Gantz only slightly higher at 35%
Over seven months into the war with Hamas in Gaza, a new poll puts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s job approval rating at only 32 percent.
Among Likud voters only, that number rises to 35%, according to the Channel 12 poll.
Netanyahu’s main opponent, National Unity chair Benny Gantz, is only slightly more popular, with a 35% overall job approval rating. That number goes up to 42% among center-left voters, according to Channel 12.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who spoke out against Netanyahu in a televised address this week, gets good grades from 43% of Israelis, the poll finds.
Other ministers in Netanyahu’s government also fare poorly in the poll, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s approval rating put at 21%, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at 28% and Transportation Minister Miri Regev at 27%.
Opinions on IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi amid the ongoing war are more divided, according to the poll, with 46% of respondents rating him favorably and 46% negatively.
The Channel 12 poll was conducted by Midgam/Mano Geva in collaboration with iPanel.
IDF: Palestinian terrorist behind May 2023 murder of Israeli man is killed in West Bank airstrike
The Israeli airstrike in the West Bank city of Jenin a short while ago targeted a command room belonging to a local terror network and killed a terrorist behind the murder of an Israeli in May 2023, the military and Shin Bet say.
According to a joint IDF and Shin Bet statement, fighter jets and attack helicopters targeted a building used as an “operational war room” by Jenin’s terror network.
Several gunmen were gathered at the command room when it was struck, including those involved in several shooting attacks in the Jenin area, the IDF says.
It says that members of the network planned additional attacks in the near future.
Among those killed is Islam Khamayseh, who the IDF says was wanted over his involvement in a series of terror attacks, including a shooting near the settlement of Hermesh in May 2023, killing Meir Tamari, and another attack in the area in June 2023 that wounded four soldiers and one civilian.
The military says the targeted site was “a dangerous terrorist infrastructure,” and the airstrike “was carried out to remove an imminent threat posed by the terrorists who were involved in advancing terror attacks in the area of Jenin and Israeli territory.”
It publishes footage of the strike.
מטוס קרב ומסוק קרב של חיל-האוויר, בהכוונה מודיעינית של שב״כ תקפו מבנה אשר שימש כחמ״ל מבצעים של תשתית הטרור בג׳נין.
במבנה הסתתרו מספר מחבלים מרכזיים, ביניהם מחבלים אשר היו מעורבים בביצוע פיגועי ירי בגזרת ג'נין וכן תכננו לממש פיגועים נוספים בתקופה הקרובה.בתקיפה חוסל אסלאם… pic.twitter.com/gmKNg9rXPC
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) May 17, 2024
Report: Senior US officials held indirect talks with Iran in Oman this week to avoid Mideast escalation
Two senior American officials held indirect meeting with Iranian officials in Oman this week in an effort to avoid a regional escalation, according to the Axios news site.
The talks focused on “clarifying the consequences of actions by Iran and its proxies in the region and to discuss US concerns regarding the status of Iran’s nuclear program,” according to two sources quoted in the report.
A government official confirms to the Times of Israel that White House Middle East czar Brett McGurk and special envoy on Iran Abram Paley were in Oman this week for the talks.
McGurk was also in Saudi Arabia this week, according to the same official.
Axios says it was unclear who represented Iran at the Oman talks and there was no official statement from either country.
The talks come after Iranian threats in recent weeks that Tehran will change its doctrine on nuclear weapons — currently banned under a fatwa by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — if its existence is threatened by Israel.
Similar talks were held between the United States and Iran in Oman January, when reportedly Tehran asked the Biden administration to secure a ceasefire in ongoing Gaza war while Washington pressed the Islamic Republic to curb attacks by its proxies.
Palestinian reports: One dead, 8 wounded in IDF airstrikes on Jenin
At least one person has been killed and eight wounded in an Israeli airstrike on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, according to Palestinian reports.
The Palestinian health ministry says the eight wounded people are in stable condition and receiving treatment at hospitals.
Reuters can not immediately confirm their identities.
A short while ago, the Israel Defense Forces said a fighter jet conducted the strike, a rarity in the West Bank, where violence had been surging long before war in Gaza erupted with Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
Residents of the refugee camp say a house was targeted.