The Times of Israel liveblogged Wednesday’s events as they unfolded.

Israeli police are reportedly refusing to release the body of a Palestinian activist who was allegedly shot dead by an Israeli settler earlier this week, demanding his family commit to a series of conditions before doing so.

Awdah Hathaleen’s body was initially held by Israeli authorities so that they could perform an autopsy amid the ongoing investigation into his killing in the southern West Bank on Monday.

But the autopsy was completed at noon on Wednesday, and the Israel Police have yet to return Hathaleen’s body to his family in the village of Umm al-Kheir, Haaretz reports.

Police have told the family that they will release the body only if it agrees to a series of conditions, including not to erect a mourning tent near the family home and capping Hathaleen’s funeral at 15 people.

The IDF has issued a closed military zone order covering the entire village of Umm al-Kheir, claiming that the directive is to maintain public order. Locals say the army is punishing them and preventing the family from receiving condolence visits.

Hathaleen’s family is refusing to agree to the IDF’s conditions for releasing his body, Haaretz says.

A young man was shot dead outside a gas station in the city of Ramle this evening, say police and paramedics.

The victim, in his 20s, was critically wounded by the gunfire and taken by paramedics to Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in neighboring Be’er Yaakov, says the Magen David Adom emergency service.

Medical staff at the hospital pronounced him dead soon after he arrived for treatment.

Police have opened an investigation but have not yet arrested any suspects involved in the shooting.

The US Treasury Department announced fresh sanctions on over 115 Iran-linked individuals, entities and vessels, in a sign the Trump administration is doubling down on its “maximum pressure” campaign after bombing Tehran’s key nuclear sites in June.

The sanctions broadly target the shipping interests of Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of Ali Shamkhani, who is himself an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The US Treasury described the move as the most significant Iran-related sanctions action since 2018, during President Donald Trump’s first administration.

According to Treasury, Shamkhani controls a vast network of container ships and tankers through a complex web of intermediaries that sell Iranian and Russian oil and other goods throughout the world.

Treasury accused Shamkhani of using personal connections and corruption in Tehran to generate tens of billions of dollars in profits, much of which is used to prop up the Iranian regime.

Overall, the new sanctions target 15 shipping firms, 52 vessels, 12 individuals, and 53 entities involved in sanctions evasion in 17 countries, ranging from Panama to Italy to Hong Kong.

A US official says the new move would make it “much more difficult” for Iran to sell its oil, but added that the administration did not anticipate any sustained disruption to global oil markets.

A top French university says it canceled the enrollment of a woman student from Gaza because of her social media posts that the country’s interior ministry called “hateful.”

Authorities did not release the content of the messages, but screenshots shown on social media indicated the young woman had reposted messages calling for the death of Jewish people and glorifying Adolf Hitler.

The woman had been offered a place at the Sciences Po Lille university following a recommendation by the French consulate in Jerusalem, the establishment said.

Sciences Po Lille said that after consultations with the education ministry and regional authorities, it “has decided to cancel this student’s planned registration at our establishment.”

Some of the posts “come into direct contradiction with the values upheld by Sciences Po Lille, which fights against all forms of racism, antisemitism and discrimination, as well as against any type of incitement to hatred, against any population whatsoever,” the university added in a post on X.

Accounts in the woman’s name have been closed.

A peine les premiers réfugiés de Gaza arrivés.. on tombe sur une "pépite"..
Glorification d'Hitler, relaie des appels à "tuer les juifs" et "exécuter les otages????????"..
Elle est hébergée par le directeur de Science Po Lille..
➡️L'islamo-gauchisme à l'université existe.#facealinfo pic.twitter.com/64ggb75kec

— Oxi (@Oxitan30) July 30, 2025

French ministers have demanded an investigation into the case.

“A Gazan student making antisemitic remarks has no place in France,” says Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who added that he had ordered an internal inquiry.

The Washington Post publishes the names and ages of 18,500 Palestinian children who have been killed in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught almost 22 months ago.

The Post takes the numbers from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which says that it relies on hospital and morgue records, vetted reports from victims’ families and reliable media outlets to document each death. The ministry also presents the ID numbers of every single Palestinian it says has been killed in the war.

Israel argues that the ministry is an arm of Hamas that disseminates propaganda that can’t be trusted, though it has not provided alternative figures for Gaza deaths, beyond rough estimates for how many terror operatives it says it has killed. The current figure, released in January, is 20,000. Hamas says 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in total.

“Some were killed in their beds. Others, while playing. Many were buried before they learned to walk. Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),” the Post writes.

The Post lists those up to age 17.

A breakdown of the figures indicates that 915 of the Palestinian children documented were killed before their first birthday. Each age year between 0 and 12 had at least 800 children who were killed. There were roughly 1,000 children killed for each of the ages between 13 and 17.

The top rabbinic leadership of the ultra-Orthodox community rejects any conscription legislation containing quotas or enlistment targets for yeshiva students, declaring that it was “forbidden to go to any military framework.”

‘No sanctions and decrees, punishments and arrests will affect us in any way to divert us from our ways,” the rabbis say in a statement following a gathering at the central Israeli kibbutz of Ma’ale Hahamisha.

The meeting, which is the initiative of several Hasidic leaders, is aimed at coming to an agreement regarding how to advance efforts to obtain service exemptions for members of their communities.

Rabbi Meir Tzvi Bergman, an influential member of the rabbinical advisory panel steering the United Torah Judaism party, tells attendees of the conference that “a Haredi who enters the army does not leave the army as a Haredi” and that there is “an absolute prohibition against joining the army, and one must be willing to give their life for this,” Radio Kol Barama reports.

In a video tweeted by Ynet reporter Shilo Freid, Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein, a prominent posek, or decisor of Jewish law, could be heard saying that it is preferable to leave Israel rather than serve in the army.

“Listen, I am telling you to desecrate Shabbat on Shabbat eve and to flee the country,” he declares.

Both the Ashkenazi United Torah Judaism and Sephardic Shas parties have been pushing hard for the passage of legislation enabling most ultra-Orthodox males to continue to avoid military conscription or other national service, in the wake of last year’s High Court decision that such exemptions are illegal on equality grounds.

Earlier this month, UTJ quit the coalition after being presented with a copy of a proposed enlistment bill prepared by the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s then-chairman, Yuli Edelstein. It was quickly followed by Shas, which, while quitting the government, has remained part of the coalition.

According to Channel 13, while they were initially slated to attend the conference, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri prevented members of his party’s ruling Council of Torah Sages from taking part in order not to create difficulties should the Haredi faction decide to return to the government.

At the same time as the conference in Ma’ale Hahamisha, Rabbi Dov Lando, the spiritual leader of UTJ’s Degel Hatorah faction, meets with Kollel student who was told by the army that he will be arrested if he does not report for duty in the coming days.

“Don’t go, don’t go at all,” the 94-year-old rabbi declares.

A second gathering of yeshiva deans is scheduled for tomorrow in the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak under the auspices of the Vaad HaYeshivot (Yeshiva Committee), which was until recently the Haredi community’s primary vehicle for coordination between ultra-Orthodox yeshivas and the Defense Ministry in matters of service deferments. A Times of Israel investigation this March found that the group has been actively advising yeshiva students to ignore enlistment orders in apparent violation of the law.

UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis criticizes the British government for saying it will recognize a Palestinian state unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the war and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Mirvis says UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision encourages Hamas to refuse a ceasefire-hostage deal.

“Our Government has announced its intention to recognise a Palestinian State – even if terrorists remain in power and hostages remain captive in tunnels,” Mirvis says in a post on X.

“This can only disincentivise Hamas from agreeing to a ceasefire. It therefore fundamentally undermines the cause of peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis alike. The asymmetry of establishing a clear ultimatum for Israel but not for Hamas is an unfathomable misstep,” Mirvis says.

Mirvis says many in the UK Jewish community view the step as “a profound betrayal of Israel’s quest to live free of terror on its borders.”

“And as is often the case, when the Jewish state appears more vulnerable, extremists at home and abroad are emboldened, and Jewish people are more vulnerable as a result,” he says.

Mirvis urges the UK to apply pressure to Hamas, not Israel.

Our Government has announced its intention to recognise a Palestinian State – even if terrorists remain in power and hostages remain captive in tunnels.

This can only disincentivise Hamas from agreeing to a ceasefire. It therefore fundamentally undermines the cause of peace…

— Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis (@chiefrabbi) July 30, 2025

The IDF says it has completed sending out an additional 54,000 draft orders to ultra-Orthodox men who are eligible for military service and have not yet enlisted.

The orders, which constitute the first stage in the screening and evaluation process that the army carries out for recruits ahead of enlistment in the military in the coming year, come after a landmark High Court ruling in June 2024 that said there was no longer any legal framework allowing the state to refrain from drafting Haredi yeshiva students into military service.

Currently, approximately 80,000 Haredi men between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible for military service and have not enlisted.

Between July 2024 and May 2025, the IDF issued 24,000 draft orders to Haredi men up to the age of 28, though only a small percentage were actually drafted.

This past month, the IDF says it sent out another 54,000 orders. This means that all Haredi men who previously had exemptions for being yeshiva students have now received a conscription order.

In addition to those orders, the IDF is also sending out first draft orders to all Israelis who turn 16.5, without exempting Haredim as it previously did. (Soldiers only join the military from age 18, but the recruitment process begins earlier.)

“The IDF will continue to operate in accordance with the law and the directives of the political echelon and will do everything in its power to expand recruitment and adapt the conditions for the Haredi population serving, while preserving their way of life,” the military adds.

The issue of Haredi exemptions from the army is particularly volatile in Israel amid the ongoing war, with the burden of service falling on the secular and national religious communities. The army has also stated that it is facing a manpower shortage and currently needs some 12,000 new soldiers — 7,000 of whom would be combat troops.

Hundreds of protesters calling for the continuation of Israel’s war in Gaza march to the Knesset in Jerusalem. They are led by wounded soldiers, alongside bereaved families of soldiers and hostage families from the right-wing Tikvah Forum.

“We’ve come to deliver a clear message: there is no other way, Hamas must be defeated. Only victory will bring true security to the residents of the south, the Gaza border communities, and the citizens of Israel,” declares Lt. Col. Itamar Eitam, a reservist brigade commander, outside Shaare Zedek Hospital before the march sets out to the Knesset.

“The prices we paid, with our limbs, the scars we bear, the blood of our comrades, these cannot be wasted with retreats. It is our duty to bring the hostages home and crush Hamas,” he continues.

Ofir Engelsman, a soldier who lost his leg in a car-ramming attack in Hebron, tells the crowd that he would have “been willing to lose the other if he knew it would lead to total victory.”

“This is my demand of the prime minister: to finish this war to the end. To erase Hamas and achieve victory,” he says.

Police do not report any arrests over the course of today’s march.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty discussed the need to intensify pressure to reach a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal as soon as possible, according to a readout from Cairo about a phone call the pair held earlier today.

The call was held before Witkoff departs for Israel, where he will meet with officials in Jerusalem on Thursday to discuss efforts to secure the release of the hostages, end the war, and alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Witkoff and Abdelatty “exchanged views on the joint efforts of the three guarantor parties—Egypt, the United States, and Qatar—to secure a ceasefire by intensifying pressure so that an agreement to be reached as soon as possible,” the Egyptian readout says.

Abdelatty stressed that the “humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip resulted from blatant Israeli violations and the use of starvation as a weapon against Palestinians,” the readout adds. Israel has denied using hunger as a weapon, arguing that it has facilitated the entry of enough aid into the Strip, but this is after it maintained a blockade for 78 days.

A drone launched at Israel by the Houthis in Yemen was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force a short while ago, the military says.

The drone was shot down over the Egyptian border area. Sirens were not activated in any towns.

Israel sent a message to Hamas that if it doesn’t accept the proposal on the table for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the coming days, Israel will start to annex territory around Gaza’s perimeter, senior Israeli officials tell Channel 13.

The report of the warning comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with his small group of top aides and ministers to discuss ongoing attempts to make some progress toward a hostage release and ceasefire deal with Hamas.

Israel sent a document with its red lines around IDF troop deployments and prisoner releases to Hamas through the mediating countries, according to Channel 12.

Israel says in the document that it will not leave the Phildelphi corridor or the buffer zone around the Gaza border, will not allow the opening of the Rafah Crossing, and will not agree to a prisoner release that is so far-reaching that it will make it difficult to get Hamas to release the last batch of hostages in a potential ceasefire.

Israel assumes Hamas will not show any further flexibility, according to the report.

“Israel will not be patient for much longer,” says a senior Israeli official.

However, Channel 12 reports that there is currently no appetite in the White House to greenlight an Israeli move to annex parts of the Strip.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem says that those demanding its disarmament are “serving the Israeli project,” accusing US envoy Tom Barrack of “intimidating” Lebanon.

In a televised address marking the first anniversary of the targeted killing by Israel of senior commander Fuad Shukr, Qassem says, “anyone calling today for the surrender of weapons, whether internally or externally, on the Arab or the international stage, is serving the Israeli project.”

He accuses Barrack of using “intimidation and threats” with the aim of “aiding Israel.”

The Trump administration confirms that US special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Israel tomorrow.

Witkoff “will meet with officials to discuss next steps in addressing the situation in Gaza,” a US official says in a statement to reporters.

Senior Haredi rabbis belonging to the Hasidic, Lithuanian and Sephardic communities — including spiritual leaders of the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties — are currently gathered at the central Israeli kibbutz of Ma’ale Hahamisha to hold a joint discussion regarding the conscription of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.

The meeting, which is the initiative of several Hasidic leaders, is aimed at coming to an agreement regarding how to advance efforts to obtain service exemptions for members of their communities. According to Avraham Friend, a reporter for the ultra-Orthodox news site Behadrei Haredim, Shas has been trying to prevent its rabbinic leadership from attending the gathering, as it could impede potential efforts to rejoin the government.

The conference is expected to end with declarations opposing legislation containing enlistment quotas and a ban on IDF enlistment, Channel 13 reports.

A second gathering of yeshiva deans is scheduled for tomorrow in the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak under the auspices of the Vaad HaYeshivot (Yeshiva Committee), which was until recently the Haredi community’s primary vehicle for coordination between ultra-Orthodox yeshivas and the Defense Ministry in matters of service deferments. A Times of Israel investigation this March found that the group has been actively advising yeshiva students to ignore enlistment orders in apparent violation of the law.

Both the Ashkenazi United Torah Judaism and Sephardic Shas parties have been pushing hard for the passage of legislation enabling most ultra-Orthodox males to continue to avoid military conscription or other national service, in the wake of last year’s High Court decision that such exemptions are illegal on equality grounds.

Earlier this month, UTJ quit the coalition after being presented with a copy of a proposed enlistment bill prepared by the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s then-chairman, Yuli Edelstein. It was quickly followed by Shas, which, while quitting the government, has remained part of the coalition.

Motti Babchik, a senior adviser to United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf, said on Monday that UTJ would ask its rabbis about coming back only “after the law on the arrangement of the status of yeshiva students is passed” while Shas spokesman Asher Medina told The Times of Israel last week that for his part to return to the government “there must be a law on the table that is agreed upon by us and has a majority.”

The agenda for the upcoming cabinet meeting on Monday published today, includes an item for firing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

The government has been advancing a new process for firing the attorney general since June this year, and a ministerial committee set up as part of that process recommended last week that the government indeed dismiss her from office.

The government argues that Baharav-Miara has repeatedly blocked government policies, appointments, and legislation on political grounds, and that it........

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