Army denies Hamas claim that targeted gunmen were ‘members of the aid security and protection teams… who were performing purely humanitarian tasks’; US formally lifts Syria sanctions
The Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday’s events as they happen.
Israelis called from unknown numbers with recordings of hostages begging for help
Israelis overnight say on social media that they received calls with recorded messages of hostages begging for help to be released, with sounds of sirens and explosions in the background from unknown phone numbers.
The voices of hostages were taken from Hamas propaganda videos of the captives.
In one of the reported calls, a person can be heard saying, “There are hostages in Gaza, why are you waiting?”
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum says in a statement that the calls were not made on their behalf.
The National Cyber Directorate is investigating the calls, which came from numbers including 0747375311, 0799444000 and 0722604986, and advises the public to block the numbers.
It says the calls are “attempts to create panic among the public.”
Syria hails US lifting of sanctions as ‘positive step’
Syria hails the formal lifting of sanctions by the United States as a “positive step” that will help its post-war recovery.
“The Syrian Arab Republic welcomes the decision from the American government to lift the sanctions imposed on Syria and its people for long years,” a foreign ministry statement says, adding that it was a positive step in the right direction to reduce humanitarian and economic struggles in the country.”
Saudi, Egyptian, Jordanian and French FMs meet to discuss upcoming two-state solution confab
Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt say their foreign ministers met with their French counterpart to discuss the war in Gaza and preparations for an upcoming conference on the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Kyiv mayor says 8 wounded in ‘massive’ Russian drone and missile attack
Russia attacks Ukraine’s capital Kyiv with drones and missiles, triggering fires, strewing debris in districts throughout the city and injuring at least eight people, the city’s mayor says.
Reuters witnesses see and hear successive waves of drones flying over Kyiv, and a series of explosions jolted the city.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko says two residents require hospital treatment and that air defense units are in action.
Klitschko says fragments from one drone struck the top floor of an apartment building in the Solomyanskyi district on the west bank of the Dnipro River, which bisects the city. One apartment building is on fire in the area as is one non-residential building.
Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, says a fire also broke out on two floors of an apartment building in Dniprovskyi district on the opposite bank.
Officials also report a fire in Obolon in the city’s northern suburbs and fallen debris on a shopping center in the same area. They say drone fragments hit the ground in a number of other widely separated neighborhoods.
An air alert remains in effect more than two hours after it was first declared.
The overnight strikes follow several days of Ukrainian drone attacks — some 800 attacks — on targets inside Russia, including capital Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had vowed on Friday to respond to those attacks.
After Trump announcement, Treasury Department says US formally lifting Syria sanctions
WASHINGTON — The United States has lifted comprehensive economic sanctions on Syria, marking a dramatic policy shift following the end of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and opening the door for new investment in the war-torn country.
Syria must “continue to work towards becoming a stable country that is at peace, and today’s actions will hopefully put the country on a path to a bright, prosperous and stable future,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says in a statement.
The move formalized a decision announced by US President Donald Trump last week.
IDF says it targeted armed gunmen spotted near aid trucks in central Gaza this morning
The IDF says it targeted several armed Palestinians — some of them Hamas operatives — who were spotted next to humanitarian aid trucks in the central Gaza Strip early this morning in a drone strike.
In response to a query by The Times of Israel, the IDF says that it targeted the gunmen after identifying them near the trucks, adding “the aid was not hit as a result of the strike.”
The statement doesn’t elaborate on how the army knew that only some of the armed operatives targeted were Hamas members.
Hamas claimed that the targeted gunmen were “members of the aid security and protection teams… who were performing purely humanitarian tasks,” and that six were killed in the strike.
A military source denies Hamas’s allegation that the targets were local security, saying, “This is a false and unfounded claim.”
“This is another example of the cynical use by terror organizations in the Gaza Strip of civilians and humanitarian aid infrastructure that enters the area. The IDF will allow humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, while making every effort to ensure that the humanitarian aid does not reach terror organizations,” the IDF adds in its response.
While critics argue that armed guards are needed to secure aid to prevent looting, given the desperate need for food in Gaza, Israel in the past has targeted gunmen unless their operations are coordinated. But aid groups say that many of their requests to coordinate the transportation of trucks go unanswered by Israel.
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