The Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday’s events as they happen.
Air raid sirens activated in Eilat industrial area
Air raid sirens are activated in an industrial area outside Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat, with the IDF’s Home Front Command warning of a possible missile attack.
‘Not going to change that’: Biden vows to stay in presidential race, says he’ll again beat Trump
DETROIT — Joe Biden firmly rejects speculation that he will drop out of the US presidential race, telling a rally in the battleground state of Michigan that he will beat “threat to the nation” Donald Trump.
“There’s been a lot of speculation lately. What’s Joe Biden going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out? Here’s my answer: I am running and we’re going to win. I’m not going to change that,” Biden says, to chants of “Don’t you quit.”
New Mexico judge dismisses involuntary manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin
SANTA FE, New Mexico — A New Mexico judge dismisses involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin after his lawyers alleged police and prosecutors hid evidence of the source of the live round that killed “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.
Three days after Baldwin’s trial began in New Mexico, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer rules after hearing evidence, including from the prosecutor who called herself to the stand, on the defense request made earlier Friday.
Baldwin hugged his wife Hilaria Baldwin, who had been in court throughout this week’s hearings, and his sister Elizabeth Keuchler was in tears after the judge’s ruling. Baldwin then left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.
The actor’s lawyers said the Santa Fe sheriff’s office took possession of live rounds as evidence in the case but failed to list them in the “Rust” investigation file or disclose their existence to defense lawyers.
They also alleged the rounds were evidence that the bullet that killed Hutchins came from Seth Kenney, the movie’s prop supplier. Kenney has denied supplying live ammunition to the production and has not been charged in the case. He had been expected to testify against Baldwin.
Meta eases restrictions on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts
WASHINGTON — Meta says it’s rolling back some restrictions that had applied to former US President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.
The social media company indefinitely suspended Trump’s accounts following his praise of people who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The company then reinstated his accounts in early 2023, saying it would monitor Trump’s posts for further violations that could result in another suspension of between one month and two years.
Trump, who is running against US President Joe Biden, will no longer be subject to the additional monitoring, Meta says.
“In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for president on the same basis,” Meta says in an updated blog post.
Some social media experts have long criticized Meta and other platforms for failing to moderate political content, including from political candidates.
Trump was also banned from Twitter, now called X, in 2021. Billionaire Elon Musk restored the account shortly after acquiring the company in 2022, though Trump has only posted once since then.
IDF says senior member of Hamas’s internal security forces killed in Gaza airstrike
The head of a department in Hamas’s internal security forces in the Gaza Strip was killed in an airstrike on Friday, the military says.
According to the IDF, Hossam Mansour also served in Hamas’s military wing, alongside his role in the terror group’s internal security forces.
The IDF says Mansour “took a significant and continuous part in the preservation and presence of Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip, while undermining Israel’s efforts in the region.”
Mansour was also one of the directors of the UK-based al-Khair foundation, an aid group that IDF charges transferred funds to terror groups in Gaza “under the guise of humanitarian activity.”
According to Hamas media, four people working for al-Khair were killed in the airstrike, reportedly at an aid distribution center in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.
IDF strikes Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon; terror group announces deaths of two operatives
Israeli fighter jets struck a building used by Hezbollah, an observation post, and other infrastructure in southern Lebanon’s Kafr Kila, Taybe, and Khiam this evening, the IDF says.
It publishes footage of the strikes.
מטוסי קרב תקפו מוקדם יותר היום מבנה צבאי, תשתיות טרור ועמדת תצפית של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחבים כפר כילא, א-טייבה ואל-חיאם שבדרום לבנון pic.twitter.com/NNRLwwL2IY
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 12, 2024
Hezbollah, meanwhile, announces the deaths of two members killed in recent Israel strikes in Lebanon, bringing the terror group’s toll amid the war to at least 366.