Netanyahu Tells Israeli Troops to Stay In Area of Syria’s Mount Hermon Until End of 2025, Source Says, CNN
The source said Netanyahu’s order was intended to keep forces in place long enough for the political-security situation in Syria to stabilize. He is also waiting, the source said, for clarity on whether Syria’s new leaders intend to honor a 1974 agreement that created a buffer zone along the shared border.
‘No Civilians. Everyone’s a Terrorist’: IDF Soldiers Expose Arbitrary Killings and Rampant Lawlessness in Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor, Haaretz
‘Of 200 bodies, only 10 were confirmed as Hamas members’: IDF soldiers who served in Gaza tell Haaretz that anyone who crosses an imaginary line in the contested Neztarim corridor is shot to death, with every Palestinian casualty counting as a terrorist – even if they were just a child.
Human Rights Watch Accuses Israel of Genocide by ‘Deliberately’ Restricting Water in Gaza, CNN
The group, in an extensive report, found that between October 2023 and September 2024, Israeli authorities deprived Palestinians of what the World Health Organization says is the minimum quantity of water required for survival in prolonged emergency situations. This has contributed to thousands of deaths and the spread of numerous diseases, the report found.
US Won’t Sanction Smotrich and Ben Gvir Before End of Biden’s Term — Officials, The Times of Israel
Deeming far-right ministers responsible for destabilizing West Bank, US weighed unprecedented move for months, but ultimately held off, as Trump would likely reverse it.
Israeli Airstrikes Hit Yemen’s Rebel-Held Capital and Port City After Houthi Attack Targets Israel, AP
A series of intense Israeli airstrikes shook Yemen’s rebel-held capital and a port city early Thursday and killed at least nine people, officials said, shortly after a Houthi missile targeted central Israel.
Tens of Thousands of Israeli Students Stage Walkouts in Call for Hostage Release, Haaretz
On Wednesday morning, classes at more than 200 middle and high schools across Israel, including Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Ashkelon, began late as students walked out in protest, demanding a hostage release deal.
Israel Keeps up Gaza Bombardment as Ceasefire Talks Intensify, Reuters
U.S. and Arab mediators are working round-the-clock to hammer out a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, sources close to the talks said, while in the Gaza Strip medics said Israeli strikes had killed 26 Palestinians on Thursday.
UN Envoy to Syria Expresses ‘Hope’ in New Rebel-Led Government, The Washington Post
Pedersen said he hoped the new government will adopt a new constitution allowing for inclusive government and that there will be “free and fair elections when that time comes.” He also noted that while there is “stability” in Damascus, “challenges” remain in other parts of Syria, particularly the northeast, where U.S.-backed Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed forces have clashed.
Gaza Is Now Counting 45,000 Dead, and Pleading for the World’s Help. Is Anyone Listening?, Haaretz
Jack Khoury shares, “While there still remain some armed Hamas militants as well as militants from the other factions, most of the two million Gazans who are still alive don’t know who can save them from this catastrophe. They see no hope on the horizon.”
On a Flight With Gaza’s Rare Evacuees [Video], The New York Times
The war in Gaza is one of the few conflicts most civilians can’t escape. But in a small number of cases, patients who are sick or critically injured have been evacuated through a complex system controlled by Israel and managed by the U.N. The Times Magazine reporter Nicholas Casey joined a rare evacuation flight out of Gaza to try to understand what it takes to leave.
‘People Simply Vaporized’: Israeli Attacks on the South Gaza Humanitarian Zone Have Killed Scores of Palestinians, Haaretz
Nir Hasson shares, “The Israeli army classified Mawasi as a humanitarian zone and directed Gaza’s civilian population there. But despite its humanitarian classification, the IDF has never refrained from striking it – and the UN says attacks there have intensified recently.”
Bibi Netanyahu Is Failing Ever Upward, The New York Times
Noa Landau, deputy editor in chief of Haaretz, writes, “The fundamental vision of both [Trump and Netanyahu] is to dismantle the old liberal order and its institutions within their own countries. Both want to see the decline of that liberal order, and, apparently, international law, on a multilateral level. Both are nationalist and xenophobic. Both hate media outlets that still insist there is such a thing as a clear fact; in their view, democracy seems to mean complete submission and subordination to the elected leader.”