The Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they unfold.
5th round of Israel-Hamas talks said to end without progress, with Palestinian official blaming Israel
A fifth round of proximity talks in Qatar on a potential Israel-Hamas deal for a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza has ended without significant progress, the Saudi Asharq News outlet reports, citing unnamed “informed sources.”
A Palestinian official is cited as claiming matters are “at a standstill,” charging that the Israeli negotiations team is “limiting itself to listening rather than negotiating” and consulting on “every issue” with officials back in Israel.
The official claims the Israeli team lacks authority to make actual decisions, and that this is “a continuation of the stalling policy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to obstruct any potential agreement.”
Netanyahu and Trump were joined by Vance in White House meeting — Israeli readout
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump were joined by Vice President J.D. Vance at their White House meeting, which wrapped up a half hour ago.
The Israeli readout does not reveal any details on the content of the meeting.
US Vice President JD Vance also attended the meeting, which was held in the Oval Office in the White House. pic.twitter.com/qGeQpQ5HLa
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 8, 2025
Police summon journalist for questioning on suspicion of shoving employee for PM’s wife
Police summon journalist Aviad Glickman for questioning under caution on suspicion that he shoved an employee from Sara Netanyahu’s team during a court case in late May.
Glickman, Channel 13’s legal correspondent, was covering a hearing in a lawsuit filed by Gal Dabush, the employee for the prime minister’s wife, against a former worker at the Prime Minister’s Residence.
Footage showed him shoving Dabush while trying to get through a door at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court, after which Likud spokesperson Guy Levy shouts at him that he will file a police complaint for assault. Glickman is then sent away from the court as Levy films him and hurls insults at the reporter, who is a staunch critic of the premier.
ביציאה מאולם הדיונים של בית משפט לענייני העבודה במשפט הדיבה של גברת שרה נתניהו נגד עובדת במעון רה"מ סילבי גנסיה כתב הפלילים אביעד גליקמן תקף עובדת מצוות של שרה נתניהו. pic.twitter.com/CxS0hAuxw6
— Boris Aplichuk בוריס אפליצ'וק (@aplichuk) May 28, 2025
Now, the Israel Police’s Tel Aviv District has called Glickman for questioning under caution after getting the necessary approval from prosecutors to do so, Hebrew media reports.
Dabush claims the incident left her bruised and in pain, calling Glickman a “bully posing as a journalist” and “thinks a microphone gives him immunity.”
Bar Association head Amit Becher slams the police move.
“Summoning journalist Aviad Glickman for questioning following a complaint by an official affiliated with the leadership is worrisome,” Becher contends, voicing concern that this may be a move to intimidate journalists critical of Netanyahu and his associates.
Netanyahu-Trump meeting ends after just over an hour, White House official says
The meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump is ending, a White House official tells The Times of Israel.
The meeting lasted a little more than an hour.
The leaders did not issue statements to the media.
Witkoff delays his departure to Qatar in sign talks not yet fully ripe, sources tell ToI
WASHINGTON — US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff has pushed back his flight to Doha where he was slated to join the ongoing proximity talks between Israel and Hamas on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, two sources familiar with the matter tell The Times of Israel.
Witkoff was initially slated to fly to Qatar on Tuesday, the sources say, adding that a new departure date has not been set.
The US envoy informed mediators that he still plans to travel to Doha in order to help bring the deal across the finish line, so his decision to push back his trip indicates that a significant amount of progress still needs to be made.
Earlier Tuesday, Witkoff told reporters that he is hopeful a deal can be reached this week and that three of the four sticking points have been resolved over the past three days of proximity talks in Doha.
Israel to submit new set of maps of IDF’s proposed withdrawal, after Hamas rejected previous offer — source
WASHINGTON — Due to disagreements over the parameters of the IDF’s withdrawal from Gaza during the 60-day Gaza truce being negotiated in Doha, Israel is slated to submit a new set of maps on Wednesday showing its proposed redeployment of troops after the previous version was rejected by Hamas, a source familiar with the negotiations tells The Times of Israel.
A compromise on the issue will take more time to secure, the source says, declining to elaborate further.
‘Hostage,’ Eli Sharabi’s memoir about life in Hamas captivity, coming to the US in October
A memoir by former hostage Eli Sharabi, who was held in captivity for more than a year by Hamas, is coming out this fall in the US.
Sharabi’s “Hostage,” written in Hebrew and already a bestseller in Israel, is the first published memoir by anyone kidnapped by the Palestinian terror group during the deadly onslaught of October 7, 2023. Harper Influence, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced today that the English-language edition of his book will come out this coming October 7, on the 2-year anniversary.
Sharabi, 53, was released in early February and has said that he had shrunk to under 100 pounds (45 kg) — less than the weight of his youngest daughter, who was killed along with his wife and older daughter. Some 1,200 were killed in the attack and 251 were taken hostage.
“It was important to me that the story come out as quickly as possible, so that the world will understand what life is like inside captivity,” Sharabi says in a statement. “Once they do, they will not be able to remain indifferent. But I also want readers to know that even in the darkest of times, you can always seek out the light and choose humanity.”
According to Harper Influence, Sharabi writes about his experience with his captors in “stark, unflinching prose, detailing the relationships the hostages formed with one another, including Alon Ohel, still a hostage in Gaza, with whom Sharabi formed an unbreakable father-son bond.”
“Along the way, Sharabi reveals how his faith gave him the resilience to endure the horrific conditions and overcome mental anguish,” the announcement reads in part.