Iran to restart indirect nuclear talks with US, IDF stops Houthi missile

If the US gets Iran to voluntarily shift away from an enrichment program, that is the most permanent way to make sure that they never get a nuclear weapon, US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff told Breitbart News Network on Friday. 

"If we get them to voluntarily shift away from an enrichment program where they can enrich to not have centrifuges, to not have material that can be enriched to weapons-grade levels 90 percent, if we can get them to voluntarily do that that is the most permanent way to make sure that they never get a weapon," Witkoff said.

Witkoff said that he believes in US President Donald Trump's policy of attempting to settle the Iranian conflict through dialogue.

Israel will not be part of distributing aid in Gaza, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee said on Friday morning.

Israel will be involved in security in the Gaza Strip, he added. Huckabee said, "President Trump wants food distributed in Gaza safely and efficiently."

Huckabee spoke about the need to transfer humanitarian aid to Gaza, stating, "There is a desperate need for humanitarian aid in Gaza, but Hamas is not capable or willing to provide it."

Spanish airline, Air Europa, announced that Sunday's flights between Tel Aviv and Madrid have been cancelled "due to the situation in Israel," according to a Friday statement on their official social media.

Global airlines have been cancelling flights over the past week due to fears of a recurring Houthi missile attack, after an interception failure led a missile to crash near an access road to Ben-Gurion Airport on Sunday morning, temporarily halting takeoffs and landings.

Air Europa is part of SkyTeam, a major airline alliance which includes Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic, KLM, and Air France, among other global partners.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed his concern about the fate of the hostages and the humanitarian plight in Gaza in a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a German government spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.

Merz "expressed his hope that negotiations on a ceasefire would soon get underway," said the spokesperson, who added that the situation in Syria was also discussed in the Thursday call.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth canceled his scheduled visit to Israel next week, prior to President Donald Trump's visit to the region, a source familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post.

The IDF on Friday morning released the names of two soldiers who fell in battle in Rafah's al-Jeninah in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump met Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Thursday and discussed the nuclear talks with Iran and the Israel-Hamas War, Axios reported, citing two sources briefed on the meeting.

Less than 24 hours between two Israeli Air Force (IAF) strikes that hit deep into Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen, marking a significant escalation in Israel's aerial operations against regional threats.

The attack, carried out by Squadron 69 - nicknamed "The Hammers" - targeted key terror infrastructure in the port city of Hudaydah and the capital, Sanaa. According to the IDF, the missions aimed to disrupt the Houthis' weapons supply chain and degrade their ability to operate through strategic maritime and aerial routes.

The first operation took place earlier this week, with dozens of F-151 "Ra'am" fighter jets departing from Hatzerim Airbase. Preparations unfolded inside the squadron's subterranean facilities, where technical crews moved swiftly between aircraft, and pilots engaged in briefings focused on terrain analysis and real-time intelligence.

The primary targets included Houthi assets at the Hudayah seaport and a concrete plant allegedly used for constructing underground bunkers. Aircraft were dispatched on separate flight paths - some aimed at inland infrastructure, others at coastal military sites.

“When they return, my first look is at the empty weapons racks,” said an armorer from the squadron. “It’s very satisfying to know you built that—and now it was used in a historic mission.”

Israeli Air Force preparing for IAF strike on Houthi-controlled Yemen (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Within hours, preparations began for second strike

Within hours of the jets returning from the Hudayah operation, preparations began for a second strike - this time focused on the Houthi-controlled airport in Sanaa, several power stations, and an additional concrete production facility linked to a tunnel network.

A fighter pilot from Squadron 69 participated in both missions. In the first, he led the planning team. Less than a day later, he was back in the air for the second sortie.

Despite his operational experience, the pilot said the mission stood out for its pace and precision. “When flying to a new location, you’re always struck by how similar the view from above is to the maps you studied. That’s when you know the preparation was done right.”

According to the IDF, the Sanaa airport served as a conduit for weapons and financial transfers. The attack, combined with strikes on power stations, aimed to disrupt the Houthis' logistics chain and deliver a message: no area used for terror is immune.

Upon returning to base, the pilot described a moment of quiet satisfaction. “When I landed back from Sana’a,” the pilot said. “I took a breath, embraced the ground crew and fellow pilots. Knowing the mission succeeded brought immense satisfaction.” 

Hamas tried to use Omer Shem Tov in a terror trap designed to kill IDF soldiers, the released former hostage revealed in an interview with Channel 12's Uvda program on Thursday evening.

In the interview, Shem Tov recounted how terrorists began spreading what Shem Tov estimated to be around three million shekels on the floor, before instructing him to blow up a building on top of the tunnel they were keeping him captive, he said. When he refused to participate in the trap, he recounted how the terrorists threatened to shoot him in the head. 

"Shoot me in the head, then,” Shem Tov responded.

The Israelis abducted by Hamas on October 7

The released hostage, who was abducted from the Nova Music festival on October 7 and spent his 505 days as a captive in Gaza, also recounted being starved underground and given “salty water.”

“There was a good party and then suddenly the music stopped. You start hearing gunshots and you see people falling to the floor too,” he described, speaking of October 7 and Ori Danino’s attempts to rescue him. 

Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Alexander Lobanov and Almog Sarusi. (credit: Hostages and Missing Families Forum/Screenshot )

Danino was one of six hostages found murdered in a tunnel in Rafah. The 25-year-old successfully escaped the massacre but was abducted while returning to save more festival attendees.

Danino, Shem Tov said, "kept telling us: 'Get your head down, get your head down,' Ori really, really took care of us.”

Despite Danino’s efforts, their car was captured and terrorists quickly descended upon them. “One of the terrorists grabed him (Danino), threw him to the floor and tied his hands. [Then] he got on me, stepped on me, beat me,” and threw Shem Tov in front of the car’s front wheels.

“The only thing going through my mind right [then] is that he 's going to crush me,” Shem Tov explained, adding that his mind conjured thoughts of Gilad Shalit and his five years in captivity.

Omer Shem Tov's time as a hostage in Gaza

From the moment he arrived in Gaza, Shem Tov told Uvda he knew he had to try to build a connection with his captors. He asked the terrorist holding him his name and sang ‘Queen of the Roses’ after being instructed to sing for them.

For 50 days, Shem Tov was held alongside Itay Regev, being shuffled between apartments. At one point, he recounted how buildings shook around them as a result of IDF airstrikes.

Shem Tov described his fears at being left alone when Regev was released. “Suddenly, there was silence in the apartment, and then the pressures began, the concerns began, the feeling of loneliness. I just felt like I'm going crazy," he shared.

He was then transferred to a small, cramped tunnel where he spent 50 days without light and was only given a biscuit a day to eat - a significant drop from the two pitas a day he had received in the early days of his captivity.
“The water during this period,” he said,  “was salty.” 

"I was very, very thin. I could already see the bones," he said, speaking on the impact of his prolonged starvation.
He was eventually taken to a larger tunnel, where he spent 400 days. His captors gave up on their interrogations after becoming pre-occupied with nearby IDF soldiers, he said. 

While he escaped interrogations, which other released hostages have described as incredibly violent, he shared that the nearby soldiers only worsened the terrorists’ attitude and treatment toward him. They would spit on him and curse at him, he shared.

Knowing the IDF was operating nearby, Shem Tov fantasized about escaping but his attempt was thwarted quickly after the idea was formed.

“I said okay. The IDF is above me right now, I have a chance to escape . It was at night, everyone was asleep," he recalled. " I looked around to see if anyone was reacting. No one was reacting. I got to my feet, my heart was pounding” but as he approached one of his captors, the terrorist took out a pistol before lowering it back to the ground. 

“I believe it was fear. To be a deterrent," he said.

As over a year passed, Shem Tov was sometimes able to learn snippets of news from Al Jazeera. It was from watching a broadcast that he learnt he was one of 33 hostages to be released in a ceasefire-hostage deal.

Once the ceasefire began, Shem Tov said Hamas began giving him more food. 

After 450 days underground, he was finally able to “breathe fresh air,” which he described as “heaven.”

While Shem Tov is now free, he admitted to feeling guilt about the others left behind. 

 "You tell yourself: Why am I here and they are not? What about them? I don't understand why I am here and they are not. In what way am I worth more? We are the same. There should not be a list. It should be everyone and that's it.”

Shem Tov concluded by stating he believed only another ceasefire deal would bring home the remaining 59 hostages and the hold up on one was down to politics.

Herut Nimrodi, mother of hostage Tamir Nimrodi, named him as the Israeli hostage with serious concerns for his life, during an interview with Kan on Thursday.

Nimrodi, 20, was abducted by invading terrorists from near Erez Crossing at only 18 years old alongside Ron Sherman and Nik Baizer. Both Baizer and Sherman were mistakenly killed during an IDF strike.

He was taken barefoot, in his pyjamas and without his glasses. He was serving as an education NCO at the Coordination and Liaison Administration on the Gaza border.

Herut’s announcement came after US President Donald Trump claimed that there were only 21 living hostages in Gaza, three fewer than the 24 previously understood to be alive - although the condition of Nimrodi remains unknown.

The abduction of Tamir Nimrodi

Herut discovered her son’s abduction through social media, she told LBC in October. 

Tamir Nimrodi (credit: Hostages Families Forum)

"My youngest daughter, she was 14 at the time, came screaming and saying, 'My brother is being abducted. My brother is being abducted!',” Herut recounted. "She came to me with this video she's seen on Instagram from the GoPro cameras. I saw my son in his pajamas. He was barefoot. He was hiding his face so they wouldn't hit him because they brutally punched him and his two friends.”

“The last footage we saw was of him being dragged over his friend's dead body through the brick walls into the Gaza Strip,” she told The Sun.  "They pushed him outside of the shelter with their hands in the air. They put all three of them near a wall with their hands behind their heads.

"They started to kick them. That's where I got the footage of three of them.

"After that they grabbed him by his neck and took him running very far through the break walls. He was paying what went through his mind. I can't even start to imagine."

Nimrodi’s mother has often relayed to Israeli media what his role meant to him, particularly as he struggled with ADHD for much of his life.

“It’s not that there’s new information,” she told reporters on a Zoom meeting organized by the Hostages Family Forum. “They are just mentioning the three hostages for whom there have been no signs of life since October 7.

“Obviously we fear for his fate and are extremely concerned. But since there is really nothing new about this and it is not based on any new evidence, we are choosing to continue to hope and await substantial news. Every political figure needs to know that words have much meaning, and that they must treat this with caution.”

“The last sign of life is a video of him being dragged on his feet, in his pajamas and without glasses. Since then, no sign. I can’t even begin to describe what I’m going through,” she added, “He always said I was his best friend. We had a rare connection. I pray for the chance to have moments with him again. The emptiness in my heart is indescribable.”

Nimrodi’s mother, sisters Amit and Mika and father Alon await his return.