The Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday’s events as they happen.
Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball game in Italy ends without incident after Israelis urged to stay away
A basketball match in Italy involving Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv has ended without incident after Israeli authorities called on fans to stay home following anti-Israel violence in Amsterdam the previous night against Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans.
“Calls continue on social media to harm Israelis and Jews, and there are concerns that the events of the last 24 hours may lead to a wave of copycat actions and further disturbances and attacks against Israelis abroad,” the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement.
“In light of this, the National Security Council is advising Israelis to avoid attending Maccabi Tel Aviv’s game in Bologna and to avoid displaying visible Israeli or Jewish symbols as much as possible.”
In the end, there were no incidents at the EuroLeague match which Virtus Bologna won 84-77.
Ahead of the game, Bologna’s police chief further reinforced security, which was already high, and assigned a special escort to the Israeli team, Italian media reports.
“Growing antisemitism is unacceptable and horrible, and it is our duty to guarantee complete security to all our citizens of the Jewish religion,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni says in a statement.
Jewish Democratic lawmaker in Florida says suspected assassin arrested with antisemitic manifesto
US Representative Jared Moskowitz says he was informed by police of a potential plot on his life and that a suspect was arrested not far from the Democrat’s Florida home with a rifle and a manifesto that included antisemitic rhetoric.
Moskowitz, who won reelection on Tuesday in Florida’s 23rd congressional district, says in a social media post that a convicted felon with a suppressor and body armor was apprehended by authorities. A target list that had only Moskowitz’s name on it was also found with the suspect, according to the lawmaker.
“I am deeply worried about congressional member security and the significant lack thereof when we are in the district,” Moskowitz writes.
There has been growing concern about political violence in the United States.
Republican President-elect Donald Trump was wounded on an ear in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July. A man was charged with attempted assassination in September after allegedly positioning himself with a rifle outside one of Trump’s Florida golf courses.
Suspected drone alerts sound in pair of southern Golan towns
A suspected drone triggers sirens in a pair of communities in the southern Golan Heights.
Syria says several soldiers hurt, damage caused in Israeli strike in Aleppo and Idlib area
Syria’s state-run SANA news agency says several soldiers were wounded and damage was caused in an Israeli airstrike a short while ago in the Aleppo and Idlib area.
There is no comment from the IDF on the strike.
Syrian state media reports explosion in Aleppo countryside
An explosion was heard in the vicinity of the city of Al-Safira in the countryside of Aleppo, Syria, state news agency SANA reports early Saturday.
At US behest, Qatar has ordered Hamas to leave Doha — Biden officials
Qatar told Hamas that it must close its diplomatic office in Doha roughly ten days ago following a request by the US, senior Biden administration officials tell The Times of Israel.
Qatar has hosted Hamas officials in Doha since 2012, amid requests from successive US administrations who felt it was important to have a communication channel with the terror group.
Following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, the US informed Qatar that it would not be able to maintain “business as usual” with the terror group. However, it held off on asking Doha to shutter the Hamas office, viewing it as critical for the negotiations toward a ceasefire and hostage deal.
Those talks succeeded in a week-long deal last November, but they have failed to secure a permanent ceasefire or the release of the remaining 101 hostages.
A US official tells The Times of Israel that Hamas’s late August execution of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin along with five other hostages and its subsequent rejection of more recent ceasefire proposals are what led the administration to change its approach regarding the terror group’s continued presence in Doha, deeming it “no longer viable or acceptable.”
The US decision also coincided with its unsealing of indictments against Hamas officials, including one of its top leaders Khaled Meshaal, who is known to reside in Doha, the US official says.
“After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, its leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner,” a second senior administration official tells The Times of Israel.
Hamas showed no signs of budging from “unrealistic positions” in the negotiations, including conditions that would have effectively ensured its ability to remain in power in Gaza — “something the US and Israel will never accept,” the US official says.
Two weeks ago, the US asked Qatar to kick out Hamas, the US official says, adding that Doha agreed and gave the notice around October 28.
Details regarding when the expulsion of Hamas officials will actually take place and where they will be ordered to go are still being worked out, the US official says.
Some of the potential landing spots raised in the past have been Turkey, Iran, Oman, Lebanon, Algeria; but each comes with certain drawbacks as far as the US is concerned.
The US official stresses that the Biden administration is continuing to pursue a number of initiatives to secure a hostage deal before the end of President Joe Biden’s term and argues that the expulsion of Hamas will place more pressure on the terror group, along with sanctions and other tools at Washington’s disposal.
For its part, Qatar has yet to confirm that it has ordered Hamas officials to leave the country, but Qatari officials repeatedly told The Times of Israel throughout the past year that it was prepared to oust the terror group and would do so if Washington submitted a formal request to do so.
The US official stresses that Doha has played an “invaluable role” as a mediator throughout the conflict. It’s unclear what role Doha will be able to play moving forward, once it no longer is hosting Hamas leaders.
Qatar has come under fire from Congressional Republicans who have been less praiseworthy of Doha’s role in the conflict and argued that the Islamist Gulf state could have placed more pressure on Hamas in order to secure a deal.
The Biden administration has repeatedly pushed back against this criticism, as it has relied on Qatar’s mediation role in several other conflicts in addition to one in Gaza.
IDF says it downed another drone launched from Lebanon at north
Another drone launched at Israel from Lebanon was shot down by air defenses a short while ago, the IDF says.
Sirens had sounded in the Western Galilee amid the incident.
Strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs after IDF evacuation calls
Lebanese media report a series of Israeli airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs — a known Hezbollah stronghold — after the IDF called to evacuate six sites in the area.
Footage posted by Lebanese media outlets shows smoke rising from the targeted sites.
9 غارات إسرائيلية استهدفت الضاحية حتى الآن pic.twitter.com/Zw3dPnqB0I
— هنا لبنان (@thisislebnews) November 8, 2024
IDF says strike near Tyre hit Hezbollah command rooms where operatives were gathered
Earlier this evening, the IDF says it struck several Hezbollah command rooms where operatives were gathered, near the Lebanese coastal city of Tyre.
The Hezbollah sites were located “in the heart of a civilian population,” the military says.
The IDF in a statement says that “Hezbollah systematically takes control of civilian areas and infrastructures throughout the country and embeds commanders and operatives in civilian areas in order to plan and carry out terror attacks, putting Lebanese civilians in harms way.”
Separately, the IDF says dozens of Hezbollah operatives were killed during fighting in southern Lebanon today, and rocket launchers used in an attack on the Acre area were hit in airstrikes.
Several weapon depots and other buildings used by Hezbollah were also struck in southern Lebanon today, the military adds.
מטוסי קרב של חיל האוויר תקפו הערב, בהכוונה מודיעינית של אגף המודיעין ופיקוד הצפון מפקדות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה מהם פעלו מפקדי ומחבלי חיזבאללה בלב המרחב האזרחי סמוך לעיר צור שבדרום לבנון >> pic.twitter.com/e88iL6YYdE
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) November 8, 2024