The Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they happen.
Arab diplomat confirms Egyptian mediators held talks with Hamas on reviving hostage negotiations
Egyptian mediators held an opening round of talks with Hamas in Cairo on Tuesday aimed at reviving hostage negotiations that blew up on July 24, an Arab diplomat confirms to The Times of Israel, adding that talks will continue on Wednesday.
Tuesday’s discussions were largely preliminary and did not delve into specific details of the framework that the sides will try to advance.
Despite assertions from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel is no longer interested in a partial deal, the Arab diplomat says that a similar framework to the one previously discussed will likely be what the mediators try to advance — a 60-day truce that subsequently turns into a permanent ceasefire once the sides agree on the exact terms.
The diplomat says that the mediators would like to broker a comprehensive deal that immediately ends the war and secures the release of all 50 of the remaining hostages at once, but that will be more difficult to do in a short time period, as Israel is demanding that Hamas completely surrender by giving up its control of Gaza along with its weapons.
Man sentenced to 10 years for firing shotgun at upstate NY synagogue while shouting ‘Free Palestine’
A New York man is sentenced to 10 years in prison for firing a shotgun at a synagogue in Albany in December 2023. The shooting was an early example of violence directed at Jews following the October 7 attack and subsequent Gaza war.
Mufid Fawaz Alkhader, 29, is sentenced for charges including conspiring to illegally straw purchase a firearm, obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs with a dangerous weapon, and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, the Department of Justice says.
Alkhader, a resident of the nearby city of Schenectady, took an Uber to Albany’s Temple Israel on December 7, 2023, shortly into the Gaza war and during Hanukkah. When he arrived at around 2 p.m., he approached the synagogue’s front entrance and fired the shotgun into the air twice while shouting “Free Palestine.”
He tried to fire a third time, but the weapon jammed. He then attempted to tear down an Israeli flag outside the synagogue before being arrested, the Department of Justice says.
“Mr. Alkhader’s violent actions were fueled by hatred for individuals simply because of their faith. That hatred caused tremendous terror within the Temple Israel community – and the Jewish community as a whole – as they were preparing for the first night of Channukah,” says Special Agent in Charge Craig L. Tremaroli of the FBI Albany Field Office. “We hope this sentence can play an important part in the community’s continued healing process, but can also serve as a notice that violence, especially borne from hate, will not be tolerated.”
Another suspect in the case, Andrew Miller, lied to a gun store in Albany to purchase a shotgun for Alkhader. Miller was sentenced to 14 months in prison, the Department of Justice says.
48 hours on, IDF mum on why it targeted Al Jazeera journalist when he was with 5 others
Roughly 48 hours since the IDF strike that killed prominent Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif, the IDF remains mum on why it chose to target him when he was with five other journalists who were also killed in the blast on a tent near Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital.
Since the strike, the IDF has doubled down on its assertion that Sharif was an active Hamas operative, pointing to documents it released last year that listed Sharif as the head of a rocket-launching squad in 2019 and a member of the elite Nukhba Force company in Hamas’s East Jabalia Battalion.
However, it has not released any information on the five other journalists killed with Sharif.
As of midnight Tuesday-Wednesday, the IDF had yet to respond to a query on the matter submitted 24 hours earlier.
Al Jazeera said the Sunday strike killed its correspondents Sharif and Mohammed Qraiqea, along with cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed Noufal. Freelancer Mohammad al-Khaldi was also with the group and lost his life in the strike.
UN chief puts Israel ‘on notice’ for sexual violence blacklist; Hamas to be added for first time
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has placed Israel “on notice” for possible inclusion in the UN’s “blacklist” of countries and groups credibly suspected of committing patterns of sexual violence in armed conflict.
The “blacklist” refers to the formal annex naming such parties in the UN’s annual Report on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence. In the current draft of the 2025 report — seen by The Times of Israel and set to be published in the coming days — Israel is not listed in the annex, but Guterres cites “grave concern” in the main body of the document over allegations of sexual violence by Israeli security forces against Palestinians in multiple prisons, a detention facility, and a military base.
In a letter sent yesterday to Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, Guterres warns that Israel is on watch and could be included in next year’s annex. He writes that refusal to grant UN inspectors access has made verification difficult, but says there is “significant concern” over documented patterns of abuse.
The draft also places Hamas in the annex for the first time. The terror group was not blacklisted last year, with the UN citing insufficient evidence directly linking it to reported assaults and calling for further investigation. Hamas’s inclusion follows recently published reports documenting systematic sexual violence both during the October 7, 2023, massacre and against hostages in captivity.
In the letter to Danon, Guterres lists steps Israel must take to avoid blacklisting, including issuing directives against sexual violence, creating enforcement and disciplinary systems, investigating every credible complaint, securing commanders’ personal commitments, and granting the UN free access for monitoring and humanitarian aid.
Among the allegations cited by the UN — which include multiple accounts of the rape of Palestinian male detainees — is the reported assault of a detainee during his transfer to the Sde Teiman facilities, established after October 7 as a preliminary holding site for captured Hamas members and other suspected terrorists. Military police later arrested nine soldiers in connection with the incident, on charges including aggravated sodomy.
In a response to Guterres’ warning shared by his office, Danon rejects the allegations as “unfounded” and based on “biased publications,” demanding Israel’s removal from any consideration for listing, sanctions on Hamas for systematic sexual violence, and an amendment to the report to further reflect Hamas’s October 7 atrocities and what he calls the absence of evidence of a pattern of such crimes by Israeli forces.
A spokesperson for Danon tells The Times of Israel that blacklisting could prompt sanctions or other punitive measures, noting that other listed parties, which include ISIS and Al-Qaeda, have a years-long record of systematic sexual violence — a record they said was in no way comparable to Israel’s, making Guterres’ consideration “absurd” and “grave.”