Tensions with Turkey and its expanding military footprint in Syria: Brigadier General (Res.) Oren Solomon addressed the escalating friction across the Syria-Turkey-Israel triangle on Sunday during a morning broadcast interview, arguing that “we are practically witnessing a return to the conduct of the Campaign Between the Wars (MABAM).”
“I call on the Prime Minister to establish far clearer red lines, and if Turkey continues to entrench itself in Syria—for instance by deploying air defense systems—they must be targeted directly to prevent the gradual depletion of our resources, just as we previously operated in Syria,” Solomon stated. Solomon subsequently addressed recent remarks made by US Presidential Envoy to Lebanon Tom Barrack, in which Barrack criticized Israeli military actions: “Anyone analyzing foreign envoys can identify underlying commercial and business interests. Beyond his natural disposition, there is a clear attempt to influence policy in accordance with his own personal and business interests.”
Map of Syria | Photo: Shutterstock
Last week, Tom Barrack publicly commented on the decisive Israeli airstrike in Syria, arguing that Israel should have coordinated with and notified Turkey prior to the operation because Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan could have mounted a counter-response against Israeli aircraft.
Elhanan Hananya, an IDF career soldier who was moderately wounded on Sunday morning in a terrorist stabbing attack in the Jordan Valley, was en route to a family vacation in Tiberias to celebrate his wedding anniversary. Hananya was traveling with his pregnant wife, their two young daughters, and his father-in-law when he made a brief stop on Route 90 near the Arab village of Al-Auja, where he was ambushed and stabbed by a terrorist who fled the scene.
IDF forces in pursuit of the terrorist | Photo: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit
According to family members, Hananya had taken leave from his military base to celebrate with his family. Speaking from Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, his brothers, Yosef and Shlomo, described his severe condition: “He suffered a fractured shoulder and internal bleeding. Medical teams are working to stabilize him. He is in severe pain and finds it difficult to speak.” Recounting the terrifying moments of the attack, the brothers explained that Elhanan stopped to make a quick purchase. As he returned to the vehicle, the terrorist lay in wait and lunged from behind. “When he saw my brother’s back was turned, he jumped him and stabbed him multiple times,” they recounted. “Elhanan fought him off fiercely. His main panic was protecting his children. His wife was screaming in terror. His father-in-law stepped out of the vehicle, which caused the terrorist to break and flee. His oldest daughter witnessed the entire horrific attack.”
Scene of the attack in the Jordan Valley | Photo: MDA Operational Documentation
Security camera footage captured the attack, showing the terrorist charging Hananya from behind and stabbing him. Following the attack, Israeli security forces initiated an extensive manhunt, establishing roadblocks and conducting widespread searches across the village of Al-Auja, the city of Jericho, and the broader Jordan Valley sector. An IDF Spokesperson statement confirmed: “Forces are pursuing the terrorist in the village of Al-Auja, the city of Jericho, and throughout the surrounding sector. Security forces are interrogating suspects and conducting intensive intelligence-gathering operations to locate the assailant.”
Elhanan Hananya, moments after being stabbed | Photo: Used in accordance with Section 27A of the Copyright Law
The initial distress call was received at 09:18 at MDA’s 101 emergency dispatch center. Emergency teams met Hananya near the village and evacuated him to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem fully conscious and in moderate condition. MDA emergency medical technician Gal Shani reported: “We received a report of a man wounded in a stabbing attack. We linked up with the victim, who was fully conscious and suffering from penetrating wounds to his upper body. We administered urgent medical care and transported him in an intensive care mobile unit to the hospital in moderate and stable condition.” An initial investigation by the Israel Police revealed that Hananya pulled over on Route 90 adjacent to a commercial complex. While standing just outside his car, a suspect lurking nearby ambushed him from behind, inflicted stab wounds to his shoulder, and fled. Israel Police, the IDF, and security agencies continue operations across Judea and Samaria to apprehend the perpetrator.
After 16 hours of operations, firefighters have fully extinguished a massive fire that tore through a car lot in Kiryat Arba. Hundreds of vehicles burned at the site, causing extensive damage to the lot.
Fire in Kiryat Arba | Photo: Fire and Rescue spokesperson
More than 30 firefighting crews from the Judea regional station and neighboring districts worked throughout the incident and into the morning hours. The teams worked to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby homes and an industrial area.
IDF forces also took part in the operation, assisting with water supply and engineering equipment. Israeli police blocked traffic routes and created a safe working perimeter for the crews. Fire investigators from the Judea and Samaria district are working to determine the cause of the blaze.
Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman sharply criticized Israel’s Gaza policy today (Sunday), accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of allowing hundreds of aid trucks into the Strip while Hamas prepares for the next attack. “While Hamas is rearming and preparing for the next massacre, Netanyahu continues to flood the Strip with hundreds of ‘aid’ trucks carrying Coca-Cola, gummy candies, and Nutella, and is allowing Gaza reconstruction to begin before Hamas is disarmed,” Liberman wrote on X.
“Aid trucks to Gaza”, archive | Photo: Flash90
Liberman claimed Netanyahu is returning Israel to the pre-October 7 mindset, pointing to the return of kite terror: “Three years after the massacre, Hamas still hasn’t been defeated or disarmed—on the contrary, it has grown stronger. Hamas terrorists are watching our soldiers, officers and lookouts are warning that fighters’ hands are being tied, those same white vans loaded with armed men are driving around the Strip again, and residents of the Gaza border communities are finding terror kites in their fields that were launched from Gaza.” Earlier today, Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered Israeli forces to act with great force and immediately against the phenomenon of balloons, kites, and drones being launched from the Gaza Strip toward communities in the western Negev and the Gaza border area. The minister’s directive came in response to terror organizations in the Strip attempting to renew aerial terror.
Thousands gathered Saturday night for the central Selichot prayers at the Western Wall plaza, with former hostages Noa Argamani, Itay Regev, Omer Shem Tov, Bar Kuperstein, and newlyweds Eliya and Ziv Cohen in attendance. During the evening, the rabbi of the Western Wall led a special prayer of thanksgiving for their return, alongside prayers for the safety of IDF soldiers and security forces, for national unity, and for Israel’s peace and security.
Photo: Eliya Cohen’s Instagram account
Communications figure Sivan Rahav Meir, who also came to the Western Wall, ran into Cohen and Argamani in the women’s section. “It took me a few seconds to realize who I was standing next to,” she wrote. “I was last night on the balcony of the Western Wall, watching the crowds who came for Selichot, and next to me—Noa Argamani, who was rescued from captivity in Gaza in ‘Operation Arnon,’ and Ziv Abud, who survived the safe room at Nova and married Eliya Cohen last week, who also returned from captivity.” According to her, the two women were absorbed in reciting the Selichot prayers. “I didn’t feel comfortable disturbing them,” she added. “I looked at the men’s section, and there the rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, was leading the prayer, surrounded by Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, Itay Regev, and Bar Kuperstein. All of them were in Hamas tunnels, and all of them are now here, holding prayer books and saying Selichot with emotion. ‘Answer us,’ ‘Master of forgiveness’—every word took on additional meaning.”
Photo: Western Wall Heritage Foundation
One moment particularly moved her: “The cantor cried out: ‘Our God in heaven, redeem us from the hands of all our enemies!’ and I looked at them, thinking to myself that this is the message from this moving ceremony. That sometimes you simply see prayers answered before your eyes. I remembered all the large prayer gatherings held for them, here and around the world, with their names called out in tears.” As you’ll recall, Eliya Cohen and his wife stood under the wedding canopy last week. The two were married before more than a thousand guests at an event that moved an entire nation—and left no eye dry. At the ceremony, Israel’s Chief Rabbi David Lau officiated. One of the central moments was the reading of the ketubah written by Moshe Shapira, father of the late Aner Shapira. On the Shabbat of October 7, Cohen and Abud were in the safe room in Re’im, together with Shapira, who fought the terrorists and deflected grenades thrown into the space. His actions saved the lives of many, including Abud.
Photo: Or Geffen
At the wedding ceremony, Cohen fulfilled the promise he made to God during his days in captivity: “The whole time I was dreaming about the wedding canopy and saying: ‘Father in heaven, if I ever merit this moment under the wedding canopy, I promise you that I’ll stop, won’t acknowledge anyone in the crowd—I’ll say thank you and invite everyone to recite the Shema Yisrael.’” In a chilling speech he added: “My dear Father, only you know what I went through, only you were with me when it was hard for me. You were hungry with me, you hurt with me. You slept with me on nights when I was cold. Father in heaven, I want to say thank you so much for letting me merit standing under this wedding canopy and for making the biggest surprise I could ask for—and keeping alive the woman I love too. Father, I love you.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich toured the separation barrier near Jenin on Sunday, visiting the nearby town of Ram-On. During the visit, Smotrich presented three measures to strengthen security in the area: boosting the military presence, expanding the Jewish community in Judea and Samaria, and attracting young people through incentives.
Photo: Religious Zionism
During the tour, local community leaders raised concerns about an immediate and real threat to seam zone communities. In response, Smotrich outlined a series of steps to significantly strengthen defense systems and military presence in the area, alongside a broad initiative to expand settlement in the Tenachim bloc through land subsidies, housing grants, and employment incentives for young couples.
As the tour concluded, Smotrich said: “We saw in the north and south how important a large security buffer zone is—one that has civilian settlement and has the army. Zionism, Jewish expansion, and security have gone hand in hand for over a hundred years.”
A serious security breach occurred overnight Saturday into Sunday at the Knesset: an intruder managed to pass through two security gates and enter the building, where he was caught sitting not far from Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana’s office. The incident unfolded after Foreign Ministry security guards alerted Knesset security about a man who had arrived at the Bank of Israel asking how to get to the parliament. Following the incident, Ohana ordered the Knesset officer to appoint an investigating officer to examine the circumstances of the breach and submit findings.
Knesset Building | Photo: Hadas Porush, Flash 90
The incident began when Foreign Ministry security guards at the nearby ministry contacted Knesset security personnel and reported that a man had arrived at the Bank of Israel and asked how to reach the Knesset. Only after the alert were security cameras checked, revealing that the man had already managed to penetrate the parliament grounds.
At 2:15 a.m., a Knesset security guard opened a call after spotting a suspicious figure near the screening facility. Security forces rushed to the scene, located the man, and detained him after he had already entered the building. The man did not reach the Knesset speaker’s office but was caught inside the building, sitting not far from it.
Knesset Building | Photo: Jonathan Sindel, Flash 90
In questioning conducted after his capture, according to the Knesset’s statement, it emerged that the man was mentally disturbed. He was transferred to police custody and from there to supervision at a medical facility. But beyond the circumstances related to the man himself, the incident raises serious questions about the security apparatus at one of Israel’s most sensitive buildings—chief among them, how an intruder managed to pass through two gates and reach inside the building before being stopped.
Following the severity of the incident, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana ordered the Knesset officer to appoint an investigating officer to examine the sequence of events. According to the Knesset’s statement, the purpose of the investigation is to clarify the circumstances of the incident and submit findings to the Knesset Speaker in order to prevent recurrence of similar incidents in the future.
Photo: Hadas Porush, Flash 90
The investigation is now expected to focus on how the man managed to advance into the building, the functioning of security systems, and the stages at which he could have been identified and stopped earlier.
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday instructed Israeli forces to act with great force and immediately against the phenomenon of balloon, kite, and drone launches from the Gaza Strip toward communities in the western Negev and the Gaza border area. The minister’s directive comes amid attempts by terror organizations in the Strip to renew aerial terror, with the security establishment viewing every such launch as an attempt to test the alertness of forces on the ground and harm the security of residents.
Photo: 27A
Under the new directives, the defense minister ordered all necessary measures to be taken to eliminate the threat. The measures include targeted strikes on Hamas leaders and the terrorists responsible for the launches, evacuation of neighborhoods and areas in the Strip from which the launches are carried out, and decisive offensive action against terror infrastructure on site. The defense minister made clear that Israel will not tolerate any harm to the continuity of life for residents of the south.
“We view every launch as a military action in every respect and are committed to absolute protection of the communities,” Katz emphasized, adding that a balloon is treated like a kite, and a kite is treated like a drone—with explosives or without. The minister concluded with an unequivocal clarification that Israeli forces will not allow a return to the reality that preceded October 7, and anyone who organizes, launches, or enables the launches will be dealt with immediately and with full severity.
New operational details emerged on Sunday morning regarding the terrorist stabbing attack along Route 90 near the village of Al-Auja in the Jordan Valley. According to an initial Israel Police investigation, the 24-year-old victim stopped his vehicle near a local shopping center and was standing just outside his car when a terrorist lunged at him from behind, stabbing him in the shoulder before fleeing. The young man was evacuated in moderate condition to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, while IDF forces and police sealed off the sector in pursuit of the assailant.
צילום: תיעוד מבצעי מד”א
Officers from the Jordan Valley Police Station and forensic crime scene investigators from the Judea and Samaria District arrived promptly at the scene, collecting physical evidence and security footage to assist in tracking down the terrorist. An official Israel Police statement detailed: “Following the report of the stabbing incident near the village of Al-Auja, Jordan Valley police officers and forensic investigators from the Judea and Samaria District initiated an investigation, gathering forensic findings and evidence at the scene alongside ongoing IDF sweeps throughout the sector to locate the perpetrator.
“Preliminary findings indicate that the victim stopped his vehicle on Route 90 next to a commercial complex. At one point, while standing outside his car, a suspect lurking nearby ambushed him from behind, stabbed him in the shoulder, and fled. The victim, in his 20s, was evacuated for medical care in moderate condition.” Shaare Zedek Medical Center confirmed that the 24-year-old victim was admitted to the trauma unit in stable condition and fully conscious. Emergency department medical staff provided initial treatment and scheduled him for diagnostic imaging scans.
Our Judea and Samaria affairs reporter Eliya Aviv reported that a senior official in the Jordan Valley security apparatus told Now 14: “We dismantled and seized security cameras from the shops. The terrorist, a youth, stabbed the victim, discarded the knife, and fled. Intensive searches are underway and a tight security cordon has been placed around Al-Auja.” MDA emergency medical technician Gal Shani recounted: “We received a report of a man wounded in a stabbing attack. We reached the victim while he was fully conscious, suffering from a penetrating wound to his upper body. We administered initial medical treatment and evacuated him in an MDA intensive care ambulance to the hospital in moderate and stable condition.” United Hatzalah paramedic Yehonatan Avrahami added: “According to bystanders, he was stabbed while stopping to purchase items at a store near Al-Auja. Working alongside an IDF mobile intensive care team, I provided primary medical assistance at the scene, and his condition is currently classified as moderate and stable.”
