The delay in the reaction of Iran and Hezbollah is part of the plan, and part of a deception.

Washington is increasingly pessimistic due to Hamas’s public rejections of the latest bridging proposal, but still holds out hope.

A new Defense Ministry pilot for the South includes fortified physical barriers and rapid-response teams.

The hostages’ remains were found near the bodies of Hamas terrorists, and their cause of death remains unclear, according to the IDF.

Israel Today commentator Yossi Aloni reports on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Israel and the prospects for a ceasefire and hostage deal.

Israel must not repeat the same mistake and give up on the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Sinai border.

The hostages were identified as Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popwell, Yogev Buchstat and Haim Perry. The other name has not been officially announced.

Earlier in the day, a Hezbollah barrage killed an IDF officer from the Bedouin Trackers unit and wounded four others.

The incident took place on a main highway some nine miles north of Jerusalem.