Israeli police investigate woman over suspected plot to kill Netanyahu
The suspect is accused of having expressed her intent to kill Netanyahu and sought assistance from other activists to obtain weapons and gather information about the prime minister's security arrangements, police said.
The National Unit for Serious and International Crime Investigations and the Shin Bet internal security agency have passed their evidence on to the State Attorney's office pending possible formal charges.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz, quoting sources familiar with the case, said the woman had recently fallen ill and told people she planned to "take Netanyahu with her".
Several people who heard her remarks contacted police, prompting the opening of the investigation. She was arrested around six weeks ago and has been released to house arrest.
Haaretz said the woman, who comes from Tel Aviv and was not identified, was suspected of wanting to target Netanyahu with an explosive device or rocket-propelled grenade.
In 1995 the then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was killed by a right-wing extremist opposed to his peace efforts with the Palestinians. In 1957, Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, narrowly escaped a grenade attack by a mentally ill man.
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The Guardian
37 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Family of Israeli hostage held in Gaza accuses Hamas of starving him
The family of an Israeli hostage held in Gaza said that Hamas is starving him after the release of a video in which he appeared emaciated and weak. The footage, released on Saturday, shows Evyatar David speaking in what appeared to be a Hamas tunnel in Gaza. In scenes that have caused outrage and dismay in Israel, he is shown digging what he says could be his own grave. In comments made under duress, he urges the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to agree to a ceasefire. 'Today is 27 July, at 12:00 pm, I don't know what I'm going to eat. I haven't eaten for a few days in a row,' David says in a weak, slurred voice. He walks away from the camera, revealing his emaciated body. 'Time is running out. You are the only ones who can end this,' he says, in what appear to be comments directed at Israel's leadership. Hamas captured David at the Nova music festival in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, the day Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people and captured around 250 hostages. He is one of 49 hostages still held by Hamas, 22 of whom are thought to still be alive. The family of David released a statement responding to the video, accusing Hamas of starving David for propaganda. 'We are forced to witness our dear son and brother Evyatar being deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas's tunnels in Gaza – a living skeleton buried alive. Our son has only a few days left to live in his current condition,' the family said. They called for humanitarian aid that enters Gaza to be allowed to reach David and urged the US and Israeli governments to do everything possible to secure his release. Gaza is in the throes of famine, with mass starvation on the rise. Israeli officials have said Hamas is deliberately starving its captives. The video was released as the US envoy, Steve Witkoff, visited Israel to discuss a ceasefire in Gaza. He met the families of some hostages on Saturday, and told them Washington was pushing for a comprehensive end to the war that would include the release of all hostages. 'We now need to bring all of them home. We are very close to ending the war,' he said, according to a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. Netanyahu' office said on Saturday that he had spoken to the families of David and another hostage, Ron Braslavski, who was pictured in a video released on Friday. Thousands of people rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to call for the release of the hostages. Relatives of some of the hostages erected a protest camp surrounded by razor wire and displayed pictures of those still held captive. They sat in the middle of the encampment, which they said symbolised the imprisonment of their loved ones. They called for an end to the war in Gaza, with some accusing Netanyahu of prolonging the war to save his governing coalition. 'This is the time for a comprehensive deal and an end to the war. No more delays. No more leaving them behind. Stop this nightmare and bring them out of the tunnels and home,' the families said in their statement. Ceasefire negotiations collapsed two weeks ago, when the US and Israel accused Hamas of not negotiating in good faith. Hamas has denied the accusation and countered that Israel was stalling. Pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire is mounting, as the international community reacts in horror at the growing famine in Gaza, which has killed 175 people, including 93 children. The aid community blames Israel's blockade on aid into Gaza for their starvation, a claim Israel has denied. In response to the stalling ceasefire efforts, Netanyhu had suggested alternatives to his cabinet, including a renewed offensive on Gaza in a redoubled effort to defeat Hamas. Witkoff denied there was any plan for a further offensive, telling the families of hostages on Saturday that Hamas said that it was ready to disarm. In a statement, Hamas later vowed not to demilitarise 'as long as the occupation exists.' Some 60,500 people have been killed in Gaza during Israel's military campaign there over the last 21 months, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
New US plan for Gaza starting to emerge despite sanitised tour for Trump peace envoy
We've seen this many times before. Highly anticipated talks and meetings with America, Israel's closest ally and the one country with the power to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to change course, then nothing changes. We need to give Steve Witkoff time to report his assessments back to the White House before we can give a complete verdict on this visit but what we've seen and heard so far has offered little hope. The pressure on Donald Trump to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is mounting after a small but vocal contingent of his base expressed outrage. Even one of his biggest supporters in Congress, Marjorie Taylor Green, has referred to it as a genocide. It was little coincidence Mr Witkoff was dispatched to the region for the first time in three months to speak to people on both sides and "learn the truth" to quote US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who accompanied him to an aid site in Gaza. 1:56 The pair spent five hours in Gaza speaking to people at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation centre and it's understood saw nothing of the large crowd of Palestinians gathering a mile away waiting for food. Their sanitised tour of Gaza did not include a visit to a hospital where medics are receiving casualties by the dozen from deadly incidents at aid sites, and where they're treating children for malnutrition and hunger. A critical trauma nurse at Nasser hospital told us a 13-year-old boy was among the people shot while Mr Witkoff was in the enclave. An American paediatrician at the same hospital who had publicly extended an invitation to meet with Mr Witkoff heard nothing from the US delegation. 2:12 Dr Tom Adamkiewicz described people "being shot like rabbits" and "a new level of barbarity that I don't think the world has seen". The US delegation was defensive of the controversial GHF aid distribution that was launched by America and Israel in May, hailing its delivery of a million meals a day. But if their new system of feeding Gaza is truly working, why are we seeing images of starved children and hearing deaths every day of people in search of food? The backdrop of this trip is very different to the last time Mr Witkoff was here. In May, life was a struggle for Palestinians in Gaza, people were dying in Israeli bombings but, for the most part, people weren't dying due to a lack of food or getting killed trying to reach aid. Mr Netanyahu's easing of humanitarian conditions a week ago, allowing foreign aid to drop from the sky, was an indirect admission of failure by the GHF. Yet, for now, the US is standing by this highly criticised way of delivering aid. A UN source tells me more aid is getting through than it was a week ago - around 30 lorries are due to enter today compared to around five that were getting in each day before. Still nowhere near enough and it's a complex process of clearances and coordination with the IDF through areas of conflict. Lorries are regularly refused entry without explanation. Then there was Mr Witkoff's meeting with hostage families a day later where we began to get a sense of America's new plan for Gaza. The US issued no public statement but family members shared conversations they'd had with Mr Trump's envoy: bring all the hostages home in one deal, disarm Hamas and end the war. Easier to propose than to put into practice. Within hours of those comments being reported in the Israeli media, Hamas released a video of hostage Evyatar David looking emaciated in an underground tunnel in Gaza. 0:55 Now 24 years old, he was kidnapped from the Nova festival on 7 October and is one of 20 hostages understood to be still alive. The release of the video was timed for maximum impact. Hamas also poured water on any hopes of a deal in a statement, refusing to disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established. Hamas has perhaps become more emboldened in this demand after key Israeli allies, including the UK, announced plans for formal recognition in the last week. It's hard to see a way forward. The current Israeli government has, in effect, abandoned the idea of a two-state solution. The Trump administration's recent boycott of international conferences on the matter suggests America is taking a similar line, breaking with its long-standing position. Arab nations could now be key in what happens next. In an unprecedented move, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt joined a resolution calling for Hamas to disarm and surrender control of Gaza following a UN conference earlier this week. This is hugely significant - highly influential powers in its own backyard have not applied this sort of pressure before. For all the US delegation's good intentions, it's still political deadlock. Israeli hostages and Palestinians in Gaza left to starve and suffer the consequences.
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Steve Witkoff's sanitised Gaza tour snubbed US doctor who said people being 'shot like rabbits'
We've seen this many times before. Highly anticipated talks and meetings with America, Israel's closest ally and the one country with the power to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to change course, then nothing changes. We need to give Steve Witkoff time to report his assessments back to the White House before we can give a complete verdict on this visit but what we've seen and heard so far has offered little hope. The pressure on Donald Trump to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is mounting after a small but vocal contingent of his base expressed outrage. Even one of his biggest supporters in Congress, Marjorie Taylor Green, has referred to it as a genocide. It was little coincidence Mr Witkoff was dispatched to the region for the first time in three months to speak to people on both sides and "learn the truth" to quote US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who accompanied him to an aid site in Gaza. 1:56 The pair spent five hours in Gaza speaking to people at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation centre and it's understood saw nothing of the large crowd of Palestinians gathering a mile away waiting for food. Their sanitised tour of Gaza did not include a visit to a hospital where medics are receiving casualties by the dozen from deadly incidents at aid sites, and where they're treating children for malnutrition and hunger. A critical trauma nurse at Nasser hospital told us a 13-year-old boy was among the people shot while Mr Witkoff was in the enclave. An American paediatrician at the same hospital who had publicly extended an invitation to meet with Mr Witkoff heard nothing from the US delegation. 2:12 Dr Tom Adamkiewicz described people "being shot like rabbits" and "a new level of barbarity that I don't think the world has seen". The US delegation was defensive of the controversial GHF aid distribution that was launched by America and Israel in May, hailing its delivery of a million meals a day. But if their new system of feeding Gaza is truly working, why are we seeing images of starved children and hearing deaths every day of people in search of food? The backdrop of this trip is very different to the last time Mr Witkoff was here. In May, life was a struggle for Palestinians in Gaza, people were dying in Israeli bombings but, for the most part, people weren't dying due to a lack of food or getting killed trying to reach aid. Mr Netanyahu's easing of humanitarian conditions a week ago, allowing foreign aid to drop from the sky, was an indirect admission of failure by the GHF. Yet, for now, the US is standing by this highly criticised way of delivering aid. A UN source tells me more aid is getting through than it was a week ago - around 30 lorries are due to enter today compared to around five that were getting in each day before. Still nowhere near enough and it's a complex process of clearances and coordination with the IDF through areas of conflict. Lorries are regularly refused entry without explanation. Then there was Mr Witkoff's meeting with hostage families a day later where we began to get a sense of America's new plan for Gaza. The US issued no public statement but family members shared conversations they'd had with Mr Trump's envoy: bring all the hostages home in one deal, disarm Hamas and end the war. Easier to propose than to put into practice. Within hours of those comments being reported in the Israeli media, Hamas released a video of hostage Evyatar David looking emaciated in an underground tunnel in Gaza. 0:55 Now 24 years old, he was kidnapped from the Nova festival on 7 October and is one of 20 hostages understood to be still alive. The release of the video was timed for maximum impact. Hamas also poured water on any hopes of a deal in a statement, refusing to disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established. Hamas has perhaps become more emboldened in this demand after key Israeli allies, including the UK, announced plans for formal recognition in the last week. It's hard to see a way forward. The current Israeli government has, in effect, abandoned the idea of a two-state solution. The Trump administration's recent boycott of international conferences on the matter suggests America is taking a similar line, breaking with its long-standing position. Arab nations could now be key in what happens next. In an unprecedented move, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt joined a resolution calling for Hamas to disarm and surrender control of Gaza following a UN conference earlier this week. This is hugely significant - highly influential powers in its own backyard have not applied this sort of pressure before. For all the US delegation's good intentions, it's still political deadlock. Israeli hostages and Palestinians in Gaza left to starve and suffer the consequences.
