Netanyahu threatens to 'escalate' in Gaza; Hamas warns Israel risks recovering hostages 'in coffins' | Live

Thousands on the street in Israel protesting government

Thousands of protesters marched from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem to the Knesset in a demonstration against his ruling coalition's moves to politicize the judicial appointments process, Haaretz reports.

Prior to the outbreak of the war in October 2023, Israel had experienced a year of widespread demonstrations calling for Netanyahu's resignation over these same judicial reforms.

Several Israeli opposition MKs are also participating in tonight's protests, which are expected to grow in the coming hours and come after a week of public outcry and mass protests against Netanyahu's political maneuvers, and his decision to collapse the cease-fire with Hamas and restarts the war on Gaza, where 58 hostages are still being held.

Hamas confirms cease-fire negotiations continuing

Hamas official Basem Naim said that cease-fire negotiations with the mediators are continuing, after Egyptian sources previously told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed the talks had stalled.

According to a report from Haaretz, Naim emphasized that the group "treats every new proposal responsibly, with a positive approach and flexibility, provided that every agreement leads to an end to the war and the eventual withdrawal of forces."

Naim also made it clear that "no one will accept a situation in which the agreement will only be a temporary period of calm, in which the hostages ... will be released in exchange for food and drink, with fighting resuming later alongside plans for expulsion."

Palestinians chant slogans during a protest against the renewed war in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on March 26, 2025. (Credit: AFP)

Protestors chant slogans against Hamas during anti-war protest in Gaza

Hundreds of Palestinians have protested in northern Gaza to demand an end to war and chanting "Hamas out," Reuters reports, referencing social media posts, in a rare public display of opposition to the group whose Oct. 7 al-Aqsa Flood operation sparked the war in which Israel has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians.

Northern Gaza has been one of the most devastated areas of the Strip. Most buildings in the densely populated area have been reduced to rubble and much of the population has moved several times to escape the conflict.

"Out, out, out, Hamas get out," chanted those seen in one of the posts published on X, apparently from the Beit Lahiya region of Gaza, on Tuesday. It showed people marching down a dusty street between war-damaged buildings.

"It was a spontaneous rally against the war because people are tired and they have no place to go," said one witness, who spoke on condition that his name not be used for fear of retribution. "Many chanted slogans against Hamas, not all people but many, saying 'Out Hamas.' People are exhausted and no one should blame them," he said.

Read the full report here.  👈

Israel launches 'large-scale military exercise on the Lebanese front'

The Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesperson said that a “military exercise" was launched "on the Lebanese front" by two of the army's divisions and other army personnel whose role was protecting border villages.

“Today, a large-scale exercise was launched with the participation of Divisions 91 and 146, as well as the air force, navy, police, fire and rescue services, and intervention units responsible for protecting villages,” Avichay Adraee announced in a post on X.

"The exercise simulates complex and varied scenarios, both defensive and attacking. It also aims to reinforce the protection of border villages along the security fence, while incorporating various scenarios involving security forces operating in the region.”

Israel has had a particularly difficult time trying to convince the 60,000 residents of its north who fled during the war with Hezbollah to return to their homes, with local municipal leaders regularly criticizing the government for failing to provide a trustworthy sense of security.

Yemen Signal chat leak

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a group chat on encrypted messaging service Signal about attack plans against the Houthis was set up for the purposes of coordinating, but someone "made a big mistake" by adding a journalist, Reuters reports.

Rubio, speaking to reporters on a visit to Jamaica, said the White House was looking into how it happened. He claimed there were no war plans on the chat and the Pentagon has said the information was not classified.

The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was, for reasons unknown to him, added to a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal, whose most high-profile members included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National security adviser Mike Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Elon Musk, the billionaire advisor to President Donald Trump, has offered his technical experts to investigate how the journalist was added, the White House said in a statement cited by AFP. "Elon Musk has offered to put his technical experts on this to figure out how this number was inadvertently added to the chat," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing.

Israeli intrusion: Lebanese Army blocks roads

The Lebanese Army announced on X that “enemy forces penetrated the Labbouneh region in southern Lebanon and proceeded to build two roads.”

“A Lebanese Army patrol went to the site of the intrusion and blocked the two roads with embankments,” the military institution said. It added that another patrol “proceeded to remove the barbed wire that the Israeli enemy had previously installed in Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil).”

The Israeli army still occupies five strategic positions in southern Lebanon, including Labbouneh and Alma al-Shaab in the Sour district.

Meeting between Haykal and Lázaro

Lebanese Army Commander General Rodolph Haykal received on Wednesday UNIFIL Commander-in-Chief General Arnaldo Lázaro to discuss means of cooperation between the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL.

The cease-fire, which came into effect on Nov. 27, 2024, to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah that had lasted since Oct. 8, 2023, includes a gradual Israeli withdrawal from occupied villages in southern Lebanon, allowing the Lebanese Army to deploy in border areas. However, the Israeli army still occupies five positions it considers strategic.

Israel threatens to act with “maximum force"

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has threatened to act with “maximum force” on new areas of Gaza, where the truce ended on March 18 with the resumption of Israeli bombardments.

“The army will soon carry out operations with maximum force on new areas of Gaza,” Katz declared in a video on X, addressing the inhabitants of the Palestinian territory. “Hamas is endangering your lives, making you lose your homes and more and more territory,” the minister added in this statement in Hebrew, subtitled in English.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the opposition of "fueling anarchy" by supporting the growing anti-government protests against the dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet (Internal Security) and the resumption of hostilities in Gaza.

"Perhaps, for once, you could try to respect the will of the people?" Netanyahu told his "opposition colleagues" during a heated session of parliament in Jerusalem. "Perhaps you will stop fueling sedition, hatred, and anarchy in the streets?" he added, asserting "once and for all [that] democracy is not in danger [in Israel, unlike] the power of bureaucrats," under his government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to further intensify pressure on the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army resumed its military offensive on March 18, if Hamas persists "in its refusal to release the hostages."

"The longer Hamas persists in its refusal to release our hostages, the more powerful the pressure we will exert," Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem. "I say ... to Hamas: This includes the seizure of territory, as well as other measures that I will not detail here."

The Israeli army announced that a "projectile" fired from the Gaza Strip fell in southern Israel, near Palestinian territory, while another was "intercepted."

"Following sirens that sounded at 12:03 p.m. in towns near the Gaza Strip, two projectiles were identified entering Israeli territory from the central Gaza Strip," a military statement said. "One projectile was successfully intercepted by the [Air Force] and one projectile that fell was identified in the Zimrat area," about 7 km from the Israel-Gaza border.

The Health Ministry in Gaza announced that 830 people had been killed since the resumption of Israeli bombardments on the Palestinian territory on March 18, including 38 in the last 24 hours.

The ministry added in a statement that Israel's bombardments and ground offensive have also injured 1,787 people since March 18 and that the total death toll since the start of the war, triggered by the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, now stands at 50,183 in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas claimed that the Israeli hostages it is holding in Gaza could be killed if Israel tries to free them by force and if strikes on the Palestinian territory continue.

The Palestinian movement said in a statement that it was doing "everything possible to keep the captives alive, but the indiscriminate Zionist (Israeli) bombardment is putting their lives in danger."

"Every time the [Israeli] occupation tries to recover its captives by force, it ends up bringing them back in coffins," it added.

Several Israeli drones continue to fly over different regions of Lebanon, including at low altitude the village of Deir Qanoun al-Nahr and the Sour region, the Khiam region, the Bekaa and Baalbeck regions, and the border area with Syria, according to L'Orient Today's correspondents. 

Hamas threatens to return the hostages in "coffins" if Israel attempts to free them by force.

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Date for municipal elections set, Israeli drone strike kills one in Nabatieh: Everything you need to know this Wednesday

Date for municipal elections set, Israeli drone strike kills one in Nabatieh: Everything you need to know this Wednesday

A Houthi media outlet reported this morning 17 new strikes on the Saada and Amra regions in northwest Yemen, attributing them to U.S. forces. On their Ansarallah website, the Houthis announced that U.S. warplanes had carried out "aggressive strikes ... causing material damage," but they did not provide details on possible casualties.

Read the full story here.

Anti-Hamas slogans were chanted yesterday at a demonstration of several hundred Palestinians calling for an end to the war with Israel in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, witnesses said.

"Hamas out," "Hamas terrorist," chanted protesters in a march of hundreds of people, mostly men, who began by calling for an end to the war, these witnesses said. The Israeli army resumed its bombardments of the Gaza Strip on March 18 after a nearly two-month lull in the war triggered by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Find out more about the protest here.

The health ministry in the Gaza Strip said yesterday that 792 people had been killed since the resumption of Israeli bombardments of the Palestinian territory a week ago, including 62 in the past 24 hours.

In a statement, the ministry reported 792 deaths and 1,663 injuries since the resumption of Israeli strikes, bringing the total death toll since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, to 50,144.

UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed by telephone efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, the UAE state news agency WAM reported late yesterday, as cited by Reuters.

During his phone call with Trump, the Emirati president emphasized the need to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza and support the two-state solution. The WAM report did not specify whether the two leaders discussed the Arab and President Trump's plans for Gaza. 

The UAE is among the few Arab states that normalized relations with Israel in 2020 under U.S.-brokered deals under President Trump.

According to information from L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south, Israeli drones are flying over the Zahrani region as far as Saida and the surrounding camps. 

Two Israeli drone strikes targeted the area known as Shaara in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, a mountain range bordering Lebanon and Syria, around 9 a.m., according to L'Orient Today's correspondent. Sources did not immediately have information regarding possible casualties.

The visit to Damascus by Lebanese Defense Minister Michel Menassa was postponed at the request of the Syrian authorities, for reasons that have not yet been clarified, a source from the Grand Serail confirmed to L'Orient Today. 

The minister was reportedly the first Lebanese official to make an official visit to Syria since the formation of Nawaf Salam's government. 

Read the details here.