Police probing gunfire at Jewish-owned bakery in Toronto as possible hate crime * Board of Peace Gaza rep praises cabinet decision to allow international force into Strip
- 5min agoIDF confirms two drones shot down over Jordan’s border
- 7min agoLarge fire erupts at Sderot industrial complex
- 9min agoIran says neighboring countries carried out strikes against it
- 12min agoIran says US not involved in talks with Oman over Hormuz strait
By ToI Staff Today, 4:12 am
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boards the Wing of Zion plane at Ben Gurion Airport ahead of a trip to the United States, February 2, 2025. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)
The Times of Israel is liveblogging Monday’s events as they unfold.
IDF confirms two drones shot down over Jordan’s border
The IDF confirms two drones were shot down over the Jordan border a short while ago.
The military says the drones did not cross into Israeli territory, and their origin is under investigation.Share
Large fire erupts at Sderot industrial complex
Firefighters are working to contain a large fire that broke out in Sderot’s industrial complex and spread to two factories in the area, first responders say.
Authorities hurried to evacuate civilians from the area after the Fire and Rescue Service announced it had discovered what it believed to be an ammonia leak in one of the factories, but officials now rule out the possibility.
Twenty-five firefighting squads are currently working in the southern city to extinguish the blazes and prevent them from reaching facilities that do contain hazardous materials.
The fire has so far affected two factories belonging to the Strauss and Tapugan food manufacturers.
A civilian and firefighter are lightly hurt after inhaling smoke from the massive fire, according to the Ynet news outlet, citing Magen David Adom medics.Share
Iran says neighboring countries carried out strikes against it
By Lazar Berman
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei during a weekly press conference at the Foreign Ministry in the capital Tehran, on February 10, 2026. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Neighboring countries carried out strikes against Iran, says Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, confirming reports of strikes by Gulf countries against the Islamic Republic.
Iran has been regularly attacking Gulf nations since the outbreak of war in February, citing their cooperation with and hosting of US troops.
“Against all norms of international law and the principle of being a good neighbor, these countries opened their territory to parties attacking Iran,” Baghaei says.
“In some cases, we know that they independently participated in the military aggression against Iran.”
The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that Bahrain and Kuwait, which came under daily attacks from Iran this month, carried out secret strikes on Iranian drone and missile depots, with the support of the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE carried out its own attacks on Iran earlier in the war.Share
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Iran says US not involved in talks with Oman over Hormuz strait
By AFP
Commercial vessels are seen in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, June 30, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
Iran’s foreign ministry says the United States is not involved in recent talks with Oman over the administration of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
“These talks have no connection with the United States. They are a bilateral matter between Iran and Oman, and they are continuing,” the ministry’s spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei says in a weekly press briefing, adding that the waterway “remains closed.”Share
Likud votes on Netanyahu bid to expand control over party slate
MK David Bitan leads an Economic Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on May 11, 2026 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Likud’s roughly 4,500-member Central Committee is voting today on a proposal to significantly expand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s control over the party’s Knesset slate, granting him eight reserved slots in the top 29 places on the list ahead of the October 27 election.
If approved, the proposal would give Netanyahu unprecedented influence over more than a third of the party’s realistic slate, with Likud currently polling at 21-23 seats.
The plan has sparked rare public dissent within Likud, with critics arguing it would push incumbent lawmakers down the list in favor of Netanyahu’s handpicked candidates.
In a video this morning, MK David Bitan, the proposal’s most outspoken opponent, urges Central Committee members to reject it, accusing Likud Constitution Committee chairman and minister Haim Katz of “building a faction within a faction” and suggesting that Katz had backed the premier’s proposal, first approved by his committee, in exchange for a reserved slot for himself or an ally.
Bitan has previously said several of the slots are expected to go to non-Likud lawmakers, including Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, whose New Hope faction merged with Likud last year. Media reports have also suggested New Hope MKs Ze’ev Elkin and Michel Buskila, as well as either Katz or his close ally MK Eti Atiya, could receive reserved spots.
The expectation that many of the reserved slots could go to politicians from outside Likud as part of the prime minister’s efforts to bolster his coalition has fueled anger among some party lawmakers, even as others have sought to curry favor with Netanyahu in hopes of securing one of the positions.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi urges activists in his own video to vote in favor of the proposal and “stand behind the prime minister until victory,” while Defense Minister Israel Katz and coalition whip Ofir Katz also call for its approval.
The long-delayed and repeatedly postponed vote comes a day after Likud’s internal court struck down Netanyahu’s bid to allow the party to cancel its August 17 primary in the event of a “wartime situation” and instead select candidates through an appointed committee controlled by the premier.Share
Iran warns of ‘unforeseen’ consequences after Ukraine attack on Caspian Sea ship
Iran’s foreign ministry warns of “unforeseen” consequences following Ukraine’s attack on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea over the weekend.
“This action by Ukraine was an absolutely illegal and unjustified act, contrary to the Charter of the United Nations, as well as a dangerous act of adventurism that will certainly not go unanswered by us,” the ministry’s spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei says in a weekly press briefing, adding that the consequences of Ukraine’s action “will certainly be unforeseen.”
Throughout the war in Ukraine, Kyiv has had to counter Iranian-designed drones deployed by Moscow. Kyiv has offered its drone interception expertise to countries in the Middle East that have suffered strikes from Iran.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine’s forces had carried out “long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea – including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran.”Share
Netanyahu’s flight to Washington delayed, reason unclear
By Lazar Berman
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s flight to Washington, which was supposed to take off at 11 a.m., is delayed, his office tells The Times of Israel.
The PMO does not give a new takeoff time, nor does it give a reason for the delay.Share
Hundreds of former defense officials warn Trump settler violence ‘endangers Israeli security, US interests’
Footage of a car burning in a reported settler attack in the Palestinian West Bank village of Turmus Ayya, April 18, 2026. (Screenshot/X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Several hundred former top officials in the Israeli military, police, Shin Bet and Mossad have appealed to US President Donald Trump to pressure Jerusalem to crack down on burgeoning settler violence in the West Bank.
Trump is set to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House tomorrow.
In a letter to Trump and other top administration officials, the group Commanders for Israel’s Security is warning of the potential for major escalation “due to the rise of Jewish terror, coupled with the weakening of the Palestinian Authority.”
The letter, signed by some 600 former commanders and directors, warns that the rising violence “endangers Israeli security, US interests and regional stability.”
They say that “the consequences may prove even more catastrophic than the October 7 Hamas atrocities and its multi-front fallout… It will foreclose any option of proceeding with your Gaza 20 Point Plan and admirable ambition to expand your great achievement — the Abraham Accords, while risking signatories walking away from it.”Share
IDF says it intercepted two suspected drones over Jordanian border
Two suspected drones were intercepted by the IDF over the border with Jordan, near the Dead Sea a short while ago, according to a military source.
Further details are under review by the IDF.Share
Shin Bet chief warning of Iranian efforts to meddle in Israeli election — report
Shin Bet director David Zini at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem during Memorial Day on April 21, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Shin Bet Director David Zini has warned top Israeli officials that Iran and other countries are attempting to meddle in the upcoming Israeli elections, Channel 13’s Michael Shemesh reports.
According to the report, Zini told officials that foreign elements are attempting to undermine the election process. The report does not say how these efforts are manifesting.
Israel is set to hold national elections on October 27.
Zini says the effort is at the top of the agency’s agenda and the second “most concerning” after the threat of major terror attacks, according to the report.Share
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