The Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they unfold.
Lebanese president outlines plan to disarm Hezbollah, says IDF harming process
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says all weapons in Lebanon must come under exclusive state control in 2025, and describes his plan to do so through direct coordination with Hezbollah in an interview with the Qatari-backed New Arab outlet.
“The decision has been made to place all weapons under the state,” says Aoun, adding, “The execution will happen through dialogue, which I believe must be bilateral between the presidency and Hezbollah.”
Aoun is committed to avoiding internal conflict while pursuing the agenda, which could greatly weaken Hezbollah’s longstanding military and political power in the country, saying he recently told US deputy Mideast envoy Morgan Ortagus, “We want to remove Hezbollah’s weapons, but we will not ignite a civil war in Lebanon.”
The president addresses growing success in asserting the authority of the Lebanese military over the Iran-backed Shiite militia, saying “We have reached the point where the [Lebanese] army is carrying out its missions—south of the Litani, north of the Litani, and even in the Bekaa—without any obstruction from Hezbollah.”
Aoun suggests Hezbollah members could be integrated into the Lebanese army, while also pushing back against US pressure on Lebanon to suppress Hezbollah, urging Washington to shift their focus onto Israel.
“I told Ortagus that Israel’s presence in the five disputed points gives Hezbollah a pretext to keep its weapons,” says Aoun, referring to five strategic points where IDF troops have remained in Lebanon since a November ceasefire with Hezbollah.
Israel says these positions are crucial for protecting Israel’s northern residents amid ongoing conflict with the terror group.
Auon rejects the possibility for normalization with Israel in the near future, saying “The Americans know there can be no negotiations with Israel at this stage.”
According to The New Arab, Auon also says that French President Emmanuel Macron has offered to assist Lebanon and Syria in efforts to demarcate their land border, including the Shebaa Farms area, a major flashpoint of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
While the disputed area, a key strategic vantage point for military forces, has been under Israeli control since the IDF captured it from Syria in the Six Day War, Macron offered to assist negotiations “by providing French archival records that affirm Shebaa Farms’s Lebanese identity.”
In lesser known intel leak, Shin Bet agent said on trial for almost scuttling hostage rescue op
Against the backdrop of the investigation into a Shin Bet agent who leaked classified intelligence, Channel 12 reports on another such incident that took place in the agency, which led to the arrest of a different employee.
The latter employee is suspected of having shared with two of her relatives the details of the IDF’s planned operation to rescue four Israeli hostages from Gaza in June of last year.
That information made its way onto a small Telegram channel several hours before the operation to rescue Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41 was carried out.
The group was small, so the information did not reach Hamas or the wider Israeli public before the operation went ahead.
After the security establishment got wind of the leak, the Shin Bet worker was arrested and barred from meeting with a lawyer for four days. She was indicted and remains under house arrest, as her trial is ongoing.
Report: Autopsies reveal some of medics killed by IDF in ambulance incident were shot in the head
Some of the Gaza medics killed by Israeli troops last month in an incident now being probed by the IDF were shot in the head and chest, autopsy reports obtained by The New York Times reveal.
The autopsies were performed earlier this month by the head of the forensic medicine unit in the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, and they were reviewed by a forensic pathologist in Norway, NYT said.
The autopsies said that the slain 14 men were all wearing their Palestine Red Crescent or civil defense uniforms in part or in whole at the time of the incident.
Eleven of the men had gunshot wounds, including six who were shot in their chests or backs and four who were shot in the head, according to The Times, which said that most of the victims were shot multiple times.
One man had several shrapnel wounds and two others had injuries potentially related to an explosion, the autopsies said, adding that several bodies were missing limbs or body parts, with one man’s body severed from the pelvis down.
The bodies had decomposed after being buried by Israeli troops, so pathologists were unable to definitively determine whether they were shot at close range or whether their hands had been tied beforehand, as a Red Crescent spokesperson has asserted.
The IDF acknowledged earlier this month that it had initially given a false account of the incident in southern Gaza’s Rafah.
The army still asserted that at least six of those killed had been posthumously identified as Hamas operatives, denied that any of those killed had been executed, and said troops had not attempted to hide the incident but rather had informed the UN of the location of the grave they had buried the medics in.
After the incident came to light, the military had initially said the vehicles were without headlights or emergency lights, were uncoordinated, and arrived on the scene shortly after a group of terror operatives. As such, the IDF said soldiers deemed them “suspicious” and opened fire.
The New York Times subsequently published a video that appeared to show the emergency vehicles were clearly marked and had their emergency lights on when the IDF opened fire.
Palestinians have accused Israeli forces of attempting to cover up the incident by burying the bodies in a mass grave.
Rubio discusses situation in West Bank and Gaza with visiting Jordanian PM
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met earlier today with Jordanian Prime Minister and Defense Minister Jafar Hassan.
The pair “discussed opportunities to expand economic cooperation and increase investments between the United States and Jordan,” a US readout with little substantive information says.
“They also discussed the situation in Gaza and the West Bank,” the State Department adds, noting that Rubio thanked Hassan for “Jordan’s cooperation with the US in advancing regional security.”
Highly appreciative of the commitment and support of @SecRubio and the United States of America for Jordan’s security, economic modernization vision and development programs.
The friendship between our two countries is based on our long-shared principles and common interests in… pic.twitter.com/Tu0UYI8Lhq
— جعفر حسّان (@JafarHassan) April 15, 2025
UK maritime agency reports incident east of Yemen’s Aden for first time in months
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations says that it has received a report of an incident 100 nautical miles east of Yemen’s Aden, the first report by the agency in the area in months.
Labor MK pens letter to Pennsylvania governor to express solidarity after Passover arson attack
Labor MK Gilad Kariv pens a letter to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to express his solidarity with the fellow Jewish lawmaker after his residence was targeted in an arson attack on the first night of Passover.
“Passover, which commemorates the Jewish people’s liberation and the triumph of spirit over oppression, serves as a powerful reminder of our mutual responsibility to stand firm against any attempt to harm Jewish life — whether on an individual or communal level,” writes Kariv, who serves as chairman of the Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee.
“The attack on your home, which could have ended in tragedy, was not only an assault on a public servant — it was an assault on the values of freedom, tolerance, and religious faith,” Kariv adds.
Edan Alexander’s father to PM: How do you plan on freeing hostages without ending war?
Asked for his message to Israeli and American leaders amid the latest standstill in hostage negotiations, the father of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander tells NewsNation’s Morning in America, “I wonder when President Trump will lose patience with the situation.”
“He gave a lot of credit to Prime Minister Netanyahu to restart this war. And to Prime Minister, the question still remains, the same one: How do you plan to get the last hostage out without ending this war and without committing to the second phase of this deal?” Alexander says.