Three rockets shot down, two fall short of border in first attack since December * Katz appears to threaten Lebanese capital
By ToI StaffToday, 3:19 am
An air defense system fires interceptor missiles at rockets fired from Lebanon, as seen from Mitzpe Netofa, northern Israel, November 3, 2024. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike near the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 21, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)
US President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One upon arrival at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, on March 22, 2025. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
The Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday’s events as they happen.
Katz instructs IDF to respond to rocket fire: ‘The fate of Metula is the same as Beirut’
Defense Minister Israel Katz says he instructed the IDF to respond to the rocket attack from Lebanon this morning.
“We will not allow a reality of fire from Lebanon on the Galilee communities. We have promised security to the Galilee communities, and that is exactly what will happen,” he says.
Katz says that “the fate of Metula is the same as Beirut,” in an apparent threat to strike the Lebanese capital after five rockets were launched at the Israeli border community.
“The Lebanese government bears responsibility for any fire from its territory. I have instructed the IDF to respond accordingly,” he adds.
The IDF is reportedly responding with artillery fire against southern Lebanon after rockets were launched a short while ago at northern Israel.
At least five rockets were launched in the attack on the border community of Metula, with the IDF reporting that it intercepted three projectiles that crossed the border. The other two rockets apparently fell short in Lebanon.
Three rockets were fired from Lebanon a short while ago at the northern border community of Metula.
According to the IDF, all three rockets were intercepted by air defenses. There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
Sirens had sounded in Metula amid the rocket attack, the first from Lebanon since December.
There is no immediate claim of responsibility by Hezbollah for the rocket fire.
Incoming rocket sirens sound twice in the northern town of Metula.
The northern border has been calm since a ceasefire went into effect on November 27.
The military says it is looking into the matter.
Thailand says it’s “disappointed” by the return to hostilities in Gaza and calls for the release of hostages, including a Thai national.
“Thailand is profoundly concerned about and disappointed at the return to hostilities in the Gaza Strip,” says a Thai foreign ministry statement.
The Southeast Asian nation urges “all sides to exercise utmost restraint, cease the hostilities and resume negotiations to implement the ceasefire and hostage agreement.”
It calls for the release of remaining hostages in Gaza — including one Thai — and the repatriation of the bodies of two Thai nationals.
Trump to revoke temporary legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump’s administration will revoke the temporary legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in the United States, according to a Federal Register notice, the latest expansion of his crackdown on immigration.
It will be effective April 24.
Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff says the US president is trying to head off armed conflict with Iran by building trust with Tehran in remarks broadcast.
In an interview with online news anchor Tucker Carlson published on X, Witkoff says Trump’s recent letter to the Islamic Republic had not been intended as a threat.
Witkoff, defending Trump’s outreach, tells Carlson that Trump has the military upper hand and it would be more natural for the Iranians to push for a diplomatic solution.
“Instead, it’s him doing that,” he says of the letter.
“It roughly said: ‘I’m a president of peace. That’s what I want. There’s no reason for us to do this militarily. We should talk,’” Witkoff says.
“We should create a verification program so that nobody worries about weaponization of your nuclear material… because the alternative is not a very good alternative.”
Witkoff says that US discussions with Iran continue through “back channels, through multiple countries and multiple conduits.”
Trump, he says, is “open to an opportunity to clean it all up with Iran, where they come back to the world and be a great nation once again… He wants to build trust with them.”
Trump revokes security clearances of his ex-presidential rivals Harris and Clinton
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump rescinds the security clearances for former vice president Kamala Harris and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and others, according to a memorandum issued by the White House.
The Republican president, who has also revoked the security clearance for former President Joe Biden, faced Clinton in the 2016 presidential election and Harris in last year’s election.
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain call for an “immediate return” to a Gaza ceasefire, as Israel’s military presses its renewed offensive against Hamas.
“The resumption of Israeli strikes in Gaza marks a dramatic step backward for the people of Gaza. We are appalled by the civilian casualties and urgently call for an immediate return to a ceasefire,” the ministers say in a joint statement.
The joint appeal came after Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened Friday to annex parts of the Gaza Strip if Hamas does not release the remaining Israeli hostages being held there.
The ministers — Germany’s Annalena Baerbock, France’s Jean-Noel Barrot and Britain’s David Lammy — call on “all parties to reengage with negotiations to ensure the ceasefire is implemented in full and becomes permanent.”
They say Hamas must release the dozens of hostages remaining in the Palestinian territory and that the terror group “must neither govern Gaza nor be a threat to Israel anymore.”
The allies say Israel must “fully respect international law” and allow the flow of aid into the territory.
Yemen’s Houthis take responsibility for Friday’s night ballistic missile attack against Israel, again claiming to have targeted Ben Gurion Airport.
In a statement, the Iran-backed rebels “warn all airlines that the so-called Ben Gurion Airport has become unsafe for air traffic and will remain so until the aggression against Gaza stops and the blockade is lifted.”
The Houthis also say they launched more drones at US warships in the Red Sea that have been involved in strikes against them.
Content retrieved from: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-march-22-2025/?utm_source=article_hpsidebar&utm_medium=desktop_site&utm_campaign=liveblog-march-22-2025.
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