The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they happen.
Blinken raises settler violence in call with Gantz, as FM Cohen remains sidelined
In a call earlier today with Minister Benny Gantz, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed the need for Israel to take “affirmative steps to de-escalate tensions in the West Bank, including by confronting rising levels of settler extremist violence,” the US State Department says.
The decision by Blinken to call Gantz appears noteworthy, given his Israeli counterpart is Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and that the US generally maintains decorum with regard to officials engaging with their counterparts abroad.
But Gantz sits on the more senior war cabinet and is seen as a more moderate force in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government, with whom the Biden administration is likely to have an easier time working.
Gantz met with Blinken during the secretary’s visit to Israel earlier this month.
Cohen has not met or spoken with Blinken since Gantz agreed to join Netanyahu’s government on October 12. The foreign minister is also slated to be replaced as Israel’s top diplomat by Energy Minister Israel Katz of Likud at the end of the year.
During their call today, which focused largely on the Israel-Hamas war, Gantz and Blinken “discussed efforts to augment and accelerate the transit of critical humanitarian assistance into Gaza,” the US readout says.
The two also discussed efforts to secure the release of the hostages, according to the State Department.
2 Palestinians said seriously hurt in Jenin clashes between gunmen and IDF
Israeli forces clash with Palestinian gunmen in Jenin while carrying out a counterterror operation in the northern West Bank city.
The Palestinian Authority’s Wafa news agency says two Palestinians were seriously hurt in the fighting. It also says the Israeli troops were accompanied by military bulldozers.
There is no immediate statement from the Israel Defense Forces.
Netanyahu: Israel had ‘strong indications’ Hamas hostages were held at Shifa Hospital
In a CBS interview, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel had “strong indications” that at least some of the hostages were held in Gaza’s main Shifa Hospital, “which is one of the reasons we entered the hospital.”
However, he goes on, “If they were, they were taken out.”
He says that Israel has “intelligence about the hostages.” But, he notes, “the less I say about it the better.”