The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they happen.
Hospital declares death of young boy wounded in West Bank terror shooting
Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem announces a young boy has died of wounds he suffered in a terror shooting on an Israeli bus traveling on a West Bank highway.
A statement from the hospital says the child was brought to the trauma unit in critical condition, with doctors forced to declare his death after intensive efforts to save him.
The terror victim, who has yet to be named, was earlier identified by the Magen David Adom ambulance service as a 12-year-old boy.
Three other passengers were wounded in the attack — a woman who was moderately injured and two people who were lightly hurt.
Top US general in Mideast visits Lebanon to monitor first withdrawal of Israeli troops
A top US military officer visited Beirut on Wednesday to monitor the withdrawal of the first Israeli troops from Lebanon under a ceasefire agreement reached last month, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) says.
Army General Michael Kurilla, CENTCOM’s commander, visited the monitoring headquarters in Beirut for the ceasefire and met with the commander of Lebanon’s armed forces, General Joseph Aoun, CENTCOM says in a post on X.
Kurilla was there to monitor “the ongoing first Israeli Defense Forces withdrawal and Lebanese Armed Forces replacement in Al Khiam, Lebanon, as part of the agreement,” CENTCOM says.
“This is an important first step in the implementation of a lasting cessation of hostilities and lays the foundation for continued progress,” Kurilla says.
The US and France serve as monitors of a 60-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah that calls for a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops after more than a year of fighting that began when the Lebanese terror group began launching attacks a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in southern Israel.
Israel said to launch strikes on Assad military targets in Syrian coastal provinces
A monitor of Syria’s war says that Israeli airstrikes targeted sites belonging to ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s military in the coastal Latakia and Tartus provinces.
“Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes” targeting “military sites” including “the Latakia port” as well as warehouses in neighboring Tartus province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says, adding that “Israeli warplanes continue to destroy what remains of Syria’s military arsenal for the fourth consecutive day since the fall of the former regime.”
UN General Assembly passes non-binding resolution demanding immediate Gaza ceasefire
UNITED NATIONS — The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approves resolutions demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and backing the UN agency for Palestinian refugees that Israel has moved to ban over allegations that staffers are involved in terror.
The votes in the 193-nation world body are 158-9 with 13 abstentions to demand a ceasefire now and 159-9 with 11 abstentions to support the agency known as UNRWA.
The first resolution also includes a demand for the release of all hostages.
The votes culminate two days of speeches overwhelmingly calling for an end to the 14-month war between Israel and Hamas, which was sparked by the Palestinian terror group’s October 7, 2023, atrocities in southern Israel.
General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, though they reflect world opinion. There are no vetoes in the assembly.
Israel and its close ally, the United States, are in a tiny minority speaking and voting against the resolutions.
IDF says troops encircling Bethlehem amid manhunt for terrorist who shot up bus
The IDF says troops are setting up roadblocks while encircling Bethlehem, as they search for the terrorist who wounded several Israelis in a shooting attack on a bus passing by a highway junction in the area.
US House advances defense bill that includes over $600 million for Israel’s security
The US House advances a massive defense spending package that will include over $600 million in funding for Israel’s security during the current fiscal year.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes $500 million in spending on US-Israel missile defense cooperation, $80 million in bilateral anti-tunnel cooperation and another $47.5 million in tech cooperation.
The legislation includes a provision that requires the Defense Department to establish the United States and Israel Trauma and Amputee Rehabilitation Education and Training Program.
The legislation still needs to be approved by the Senate before being brought to the president’s desk.
AIPAC hails the House’s passing of the NDAA, saying it will help Israel in the fight against Iran and its proxies.