'Post' embeds in Gaza, Netanyahu and Bar clash
Police arrest Sharon area mayor • Ukraine synagogue targeted in attack • Houthis sanction US-based arms companies
Bound in chains, covered in blood: Protesters recreate kidnapping scene of Matan Angrest
Participants wore makeup and costumes to visually represent the violence endured by Angrest, who was wounded while defending civilians at the Nahal Oz outpost.
The family of Matan Angrest, joined by former IDF observers and families of hostages, staged a powerful demonstration this week symbolizing the brutal lynch mob attack that Matan survived during the Hamas-led assault on October 7.
Participants wore makeup and costumes to visually represent the injuries and violence endured by Angrest, who was wounded while defending Israeli civilians at the Nahal Oz outpost.
The event was organized by a group of former IDF observers who have spent months campaigning for the release of their fellow soldiers held captive in Gaza.
Go to the full article >>'Bar could've prevented October 7': PMO refutes Shin Bet chief affidavit
Netanyahu's office argued that Bar did not inform the prime minister in a timely manner on the morning of October 7.
The Prime Minister's Office released a statement denying most of the claims in Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar's affidavit, which he submitted to the court on Monday, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of various offenses.
"Ronen Bar’s affidavit is riddled with falsehoods and highlights his failures," the statement started.
"Bar claims that on the night of October 7, he 'woke up the entire system.' However, he conveniently omits the fact that he did not alert the most critical figures: the prime minister and the defense minister. Had he done so, the massacre might have been prevented."
Go to the full article >>'If they were kidnapped, it would've changed the war': IDF officers criticize Beit Hanoun incident
The attack occurred near the Beit Hanoun when a terrorist cell fired a rocket-propelled grenade at an unarmored military jeep transporting the soldiers.
Five female Combat Intelligence Collection Corps soldiers were wounded in an ambush in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, in an incident that could have ended in a kidnapping, according to reserve officers familiar with the incident.
The attack occurred near the Beit Hanoun when a terrorist cell fired a rocket-propelled grenade at an unarmored military jeep transporting the soldiers. The vehicle overturned, and the soldiers sustained moderate to serious wounds.
Reserve officers later criticized Division 252’s handling of the situation, noting that the area had been considered cleared. “This was a terrorist cell that emerged from a tunnel within territory the IDF believed to be under control,” one officer said. “The army had mapped the tunnel and planted explosives, but commanders on the ground should have assumed there were offshoots that hadn’t been identified.”
Go to the full article >>Cutting off Hamas: 'Post' visits IDF's 'Morag Corridor' in Gaza
'Morag' is intended to drive a wedge between the Rafah and Khan Yunis brigades of Hamas, and then to destroy these formations.
Along the newly established Morag Corridor, in the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF is continuing the daily, Sisyphean work of rooting out Hamas fighters and destroying the organization’s infrastructure.
The corridor, named after a dismantled Jewish community in the area, is intended to drive a wedge between the Rafah and Khan Yunis brigades of Hamas, and then to destroy these formations.
Visiting the eastern part of the corridor, the impression was that the Israeli forces have succeeded in carving out a secure area, from which they are now operating southwards in the direction of Rafah city, where, according to IDF sources, around 150 fighters of Hamas’s Rafah Brigade remain.
Go to the full article >>Trump to speak with Netanyahu on Monday to discuss hostage deal, Iran - report
US President Donald Trump is expected to speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday on the phone to discuss the hostage deal in Gaza as well as the nuclear talks with Iran, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The upcoming talks between the leaders come only two days after the second round of nuclear deal talks between the US and Iran in Rome. It also comes as negotiations over a hostage deal are at a stalemate after another attempt by the US and Egypt to reach a proposal was made last week.
The Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani will arrive in Washington on Tuesday to meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Middle Eastern envoy Steve Witkoff.
Go to the full article >>Netanyahu, Bar set on collision course the moment Hamas invaded - analysis
Tensions between Netanyahu and Bar grew after October 7, as differing views on the war shaped a rift in Israel’s leadership.
It would be easy to get lost in the disparate chronologies and smaller sensational narrative points of the battle between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar, thereby missing the big picture: from the moment Hamas took hostages on October 7 and the moment Netanyahu decided that, despite that disaster on his watch, he would not resign and would seek reelection, he and Bar were on a collision course with history.
There are a number of issues relating to the rule of law that possibly determined the final timing of their public breakup, and I analyze those issues in a separate article, but the broader October 7 and hostages issues made a clash of the titans inevitable.
Normally, the head of the Shin Bet is one of the closest advisers to the prime minister.
Go to the full article >>‘Emergency alarm to Israeli democracy’: Politicians, NGOs react to Shin Bet affidavit
In the affidavit, Bar asserted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to fire him due to a series of measures that posed political threats.
A sworn affidavit filed by Shin Bet head Ronen Bar was an “emergency alarm for Israeli democracy,” Democrats chairman Yair Golan wrote in a post on X/Twitter following the affidavit’s publication on Monday.
Go to the full article >>'Obey PM above all else': Shin Bet chief submits affidavit to high court
"The prime minister expected the Shin Bet to act against citizens involved in protest activities and demonstrations against the government," Bar wrote.
"In the event of a constitutional crisis, I would be expected to obey [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] rather than the High Court of Justice,” Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar claims in his affidavit regarding his dismissal submitted to the High Court of Justice on Monday.
Go to the full article >>Pope Francis dies at 88 after long battle with respiratory illness
Francis, originally from Argentina, was the first Catholic pontiff from the Americas and began his career as a Jesuit priest in Argentina.
Pope Francis, who has been pontiff since 2013, passed away on Monday, following long battles with respiratory illnesses, kidney failure, and declining health.
Go to the full article >>Smotrich faces backlash following comments calling to prioritize destroying Hamas over hostages
Smotrich said that while returning the hostages is an important goal, destroying Hamas is more important.
Hostage families responded with outrage after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Army Radio Monday morning that returning the hostages is not the most important goal of the war, but rather destroying Hamas is.
Go to the full article >>Israel at war: What you need to know
Hamas launched a massive attack on October 7, with thousands of terrorists infiltrating from the Gaza border and taking some 240 hostages into Gaza.
Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were murdered, including over 350 at the Supernova music festival and hundreds of Israeli civilians across Gaza border communities.
59 hostages remain in Gaza.
49 hostages in total have been killed in captivity, IDF says.
The IDF launched a ground invasion of Lebanon on September 30.
The Israel-Lebanon ceasefire came into effect on November 27 at 4 a.m.
Netanyahu confirmed the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire on January 17, 2025.