The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they happen.
MK in Gantz’s party says it would join gov’t to ensure approval of hostage deal
Blue and White-National Unity MK Alon Schuster is asked by the Kan public broadcaster about its report that Benny Gantz’s party is considering rejoining the government if needed to shore up votes for a potential hostage release and Gaza ceasefire deal.
“There are currently no contacts about joining the government, but if we understand that doing so will lead to the release of hostages then that is what we will do,” Schuster says. “What do you expect? That we will let the hostages die?”
Hamas: Israeli plan to conquer Gaza City shows ‘blatant disregard’ for truce efforts
Hamas says that Israel’s military plans to conquer Gaza City show its “blatant disregard” for efforts to broker a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the nearly two-year conflict.
The “announcement by the terrorist occupation army of the start of an operation against Gaza City and its nearly 1 million residents and displaced persons,” the terror group says in a statement, displays “a blatant disregard for the efforts made by the mediators.”
Hamas recently accepted a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire and hostage release. Israel is weighing the offer.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.Â
US Reform group says it opposes death penalty for shooter who killed Israeli embassy staffers
The US Reform movement’s Religious Action Center (RAC) sends a letter to US Attorney General Pam Bondi stating the group’s opposition to the death penalty for Elias Rodriguez, who is accused of killing two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, earlier this year.
Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, the group’s director, writes to Bondi: “I write to you with a heavy heart to urge that in holding accountable the murderer of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, you do not seek the death penalty. Even in this most heinous circumstance, we cannot endorse the further taking of human life.”
The letter points out that Milgrim grew up in the Reform movement in Kansas City.
“Despite the pain of Sarah and Yaron’s murders and despite the hateful motivation behind their deaths, we believe that the death penalty is a stain upon civilization and our religious conscience. For the past 2,000 years, with the rarest of exceptions, Jewish courts have refused to punish criminals by depriving them of their lives,” the letter says. “Both in concept and in practice, Jewish tradition found capital punishment repugnant, and we continue to do so today.”
“We pray that as you work to hold the perpetrator accountable for his actions, you ensure he is both punished for his crimes and is never again a threat to Jews or anyone else. As you do so, do not compound the already deep pain by pursuing the taking of another life,” the letter says.
US prosecutors said earlier this month that they were examining a possible death sentence for Rodriguez.
Father of former American-Israeli hostage thanks Palestinian-American mediator for helping free his son
Adi Alexander, father of former American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, spoke on the phone with Palestinian-American mediator Bishara Bahbah earlier today, thanking him for his involvement in the May release of his son, both parties on the call confirm to The Times of Israel.
Bahbah operated a backchannel in the hostage talks over the past several months, passing along messages between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior Hamas officials, and playing a key role in Alexander’s release.
Hamas’s decision to free Alexander was framed as a goodwill gesture to the Trump administration that the group hoped would lead the US to coax Israel into ending the war in Gaza.