The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they happen.
Officer injured in July 14 ramming attack dies of wounds
An Israeli officer seriously wounded in a car-ramming attack outside a military base in central Israel earlier this month has succumbed to his wounds, the IDF says.
Cpt. Ariel Topaz, 24, from Pardes Hanna, was one of four off-duty soldiers wounded in the terror attack on July 14 at the Nir Tzvi junction.
Topaz served as an officer in the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Research Department.
IDF confirms bodies of four hostages recovered, including soldier killed October 7
The Israel Defense Forces confirms that troops recovered the bodies of three hostages Wednesday and announces that the body of Sgt. Kiril Brodski, 19, was also brought back to Israel.
The hometowns of hostages Maya Goren, 56, Oren Goldin, 33, and Staff Sgt. Tomer Yaakov Ahimas, 20, had earlier announced that their bodies had been recovered in a military operation without providing details.
All four were killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7, and their bodies were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip. The military had previously announced their deaths, based on intelligence information and other findings following the onslaught.
On October 7, Brodski was serving alongside Ahimas in the forward command team of Col. Asaf Hamami, the commander of the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade. All three were killed while trying to defend Kibbutz Nirim amid the onslaught and their remains were abducted. Hamami’s body still remains in Gaza.
The IDF says it had accurate intelligence that allowed troops with the 98th Division and members of the Shin Bet security agency to reach a site in Khan Younis where the bodies had been hidden, amid a new offensive in the city in the southern Gaza Strip.
It is now believed that 112 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 40 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Brodski, from Ramat Gan, was declared dead on November 28 and a funeral for him was held a day later.
“Everything he achieved in his short life, he achieved on his own,” his mother Elana said at the funeral.
Goren, a Nir Oz kindergarten teacher, was setting up the kibbutz kindergarten space early on October 7 when Hamas terrorists attacked the community, killing her and kidnapping her body.
Goldin was a member of the Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak security team, and was also killed battling the terrorists.
Australia slaps sanctions on seven hardline settlers
Australia says it is imposing financial sanctions and travel bans on seven Israeli settlers and a youth group involved in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
The seven are named in Australian media as Yinon Levi, Zvi Bar Yosef, Neria Ben Pazi, Elisha Yered, David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil and Meir Ettinger, some of whom have been subject to sanctions by other Western countries in recent months.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says the seven were involved in beatings, sexual assault and torture and in some cases death.
Australia also says it is sanctioning a group called Hilltop Youth, which Wong says is responsible for inciting and perpetrating violence against Palestinians,
No such organization called Hilltop Youth is known to exist. The term hilltop youth is used to refer to young religious hardliners who attempt to set up illegal outposts throughout the West Bank and have been known to use violence against Palestinians and Israeli security forces.
“We call on Israel to hold perpetrators of settler violence to account and to cease its ongoing settlement activity, which only inflames tensions and further undermines stability and prospects for a two-state solution,” Wong says in a statement.
White House decries anti-Israel protests as ‘disgraceful’
WASHINGTON — The White House is tearing into the conduct of anti-Israel protesters who rioted and clashed with police outside the Capitol building where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress, saying “antisemitism and violence are never acceptable.”
“Identifying with evil terrorist organizations like Hamas, burning the American flag, or forcibly removing the American flag and replacing it with another, is disgraceful,” deputy press secretary Andrew Bates says in a statement.
“Every American has the right to peaceful protest. But shamefully, not everyone demonstrated peacefulness today,” he adds.
Biden explains exit from race to Americans, says he will keep working to end Gaza war
WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden says he is “passing the torch to a new generation” as he explains his abrupt departure from the 2024 presidential race to Americans for the first time on Wednesday night, in an Oval Office address capping over 50 years in politics.
“I revere this office,” Biden says. “But I love my country more.”
“I have decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That is the best way to unite our nation,” Biden says.
He reiterates that he is going to “keep working to end the war in Gaza, bring home all the hostages and bring peace and security to the Middle East.”
US official says hostage deal close, but some issues remain
WASHINGTON — Negotiations on a ceasefire and hostages deal in the Gaza conflict appear to be in their closing stages and US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will discuss remaining gaps on Thursday, a senior US official says.
The official says the remaining obstacles are bridgeable but a deal is close in which a six-week ceasefire would take place in exchange for the release of women, elderly men and wounded hostages over a 42-day period.
“There’s a deal ready to move ahead on phase one if we get the arrangements worked out,” the official says during a phone briefing with reporters.
Among the remaining issues are the requirement for Hamas to provide a list of who it will free and when, and how many inmates it wants released from Israeli prison in exchange.
“We need some things from Hamas, including the hostages who are going to come out. We’re not going to do a deal until we know exactly the hostages who are coming out and the schedule that they’re coming out,” the senior administration official explains.
This was a sticking point raised by Israel months ago but has more recently been absent from public comments and leaks regarding the state of the negotiations.
“It’s a very different negotiation now than just a month ago when we had some fundamentally unbridgeable issues,” the official says.
The official clarifies that tomorrow’s meetings won’t be about getting Netanyahu to sign onto a finalized deal.
“I don’t expect the meeting to be a yes or no,” he says, adding that it will instead be aimed at closing gaps in the talks.
The official notes that there will be subsequent critical in-person meetings between stakeholders in Washington over the coming week.
Hezbollah claims late night shelling of northern kibbutz
A rocket siren triggered in kibbutz Hanita on the northern border just after midnight was caused by at least three projectiles launched from Lebanese territory, according to Hebrew media reports.
No injuries or damage are reported.
The Hezbollah terror group says in a statement it shelled Hanita with artillery at 12:30 a.m.
The group also claims to have fired anti-aircraft missiles at Israeli warplanes in Lebanon, forcing them to retreat.
There is no comment from the Israel Defense Forces.
Hostage’s father: Netanyahu said after speech he wants to squeeze Hamas a little more before deal
Adi Alexander, father of hostage Edan Alexander, reflecting on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s mention of the hostages during his Wednesday afternoon address at the Capitol, asks, “Where’s the deal?”
“How do they cross the finish line with the deal that’s on the table?” says Alexander in a phone interview with The Times of Israel. “Where do we stand, how close are we? Three months? Three years? It took five and a half years to get Gilad Shalit out.”
Alexander and his family, who were with the other families of US hostages in the gallery of the Capitol during Netanyahu’s address, says they met with Netanyahu during a reception following the speech hosted by House Speaker Mike Johnson.
He was told by Netanyahu that the prime minister wants to squeeze Hamas a little bit more.
“The ball right now is on the Israeli side,” says Alexander, who along with the other families of American hostages, also met with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this week. “And when we talk about Israel, we’re talking about one person, Benjamin Netanyahu. He needs to decide if it’s ‘yes’ right now, or if he wants to achieve a little bit more.”
Alexander and the other families of American hostages will meet Thursday with US President Joe Biden and Netanyahu together, presumably following Biden and Netanyahu’s one-on-one meeting.
“I’ll try to get some answers tomorrow,” says Alexander. “We need to make sure that everyone does his job. It’s an American law to get hostages out, but there’s no kind of law like that in Israel.”
Blinken, Qatari PM discuss resolving hostage talks logjams
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a phone call earlier today with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani to discuss efforts to secure a hostage release and ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the State Department says.
The pair “discussed the remaining issues on the table and practical solutions to bridge the differences between the parties,” according to a State Department readout.
Blinken “reiterated that the United States will continue to work to ensure an agreement is reached,” the readout continues, adding that the secretary thanked the Qatari prime minister for Doha’s efforts.
The two also discussed planning for the post-war management of Gaza, the US says.
Netanyahu critic Nadler calls congressional address ‘dishonest’
WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler tells The Times of Israel that he thought Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Congress earlier today was “dishonest,” but that he is still glad he went.
“He talked about seeking victory and that he wants the hostages home, but he’s been throwing more conditions in and he actually wants to prevent a deal,” says Nadler.
Yesterday, the veteran Jewish lawmaker branded Netanyahu “the worst leader in Jewish history since the Maccabean king who invited the Romans into Jerusalem over 2100 years ago.”
Before today’s speech he posted a picture of himself reading “The Netanyahu years” by Ben Caspit, a prominent Israeli journalist and Netanyahu critic. Nadler brought the book with him into the chamber as well, but says he didn’t read it while Netanyahu was speaking.
Nadler claims Netanyahu doesn’t want a hostage deal because this would hasten the launch of an inquiry into his conduct surrounding the war. “The moment he’s out of office, he’ll be prosecuted,” he says.
Nadler says he went to the speech to support Israel, not the prime minister and thinks there are better ways to show disagreement with Netanyahu than boycotting the speech, as some 70 other Democrats did.