Knesset

Israeli officials believe that the armed forces have killed or seriously wounded half of the fighters of the Islamist group Hamas, which the Jewish state has been at war with since the October 7 attack that killed 1,200 people.

The leadership's current assessment is that the end of the months-long offensive in the Gaza Strip will take months, not years, The Times of Israel reports.

A large number of citizens are protesting because the Knesset passed a bill on judicial reform proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Dozens of protesters in Israel were arrested overnight in Jerusalem.

The latest protest against the Israeli government's controversial judicial reform plans packed central Tel Aviv on Saturday, as divisions persist before lawmakers return to parliament.

Holding an Israeli flag, key anti-reform protest organizer Shikma Bressler led tens of thousands of demonstrators outside the Knesset, chanting: "We will not give up!", The Times of Israel reported.
Bressler was arrested at protests last week and later released.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to back down on Wednesday, saying his government has no intention of returning to four abandoned settlements in the occupied West Bank under a law that was repealed by parliament this week.

A coalition of ideologically divergent parties ousted on Sunday the hawk Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, and formed a new government in a seismic shift in the country's turbulent politics.

A motley alliance of Israeli parties on June 13 ended Benjamin Netanyahu's 12 straight years as prime minister, as parliament voted in a new government led by his former ally, right-wing Jewish nationalist Naftali Bennett.

Israel is set to swear in a new government on June 13 that will send Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into the opposition after a record 12 years in office and a political crisis that sparked four elections in two years.

Romania is "a genuine friend of the Jewish people and of Israel in the fight against anti-Semitism," Israeli President Reuven Rivlin told a join plenary sitting of the Romanian Parliament in Bucharest on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's opponents announced on June 2 that they have reached a deal to form a new governing coalition, paving the way for the ouster of the longtime Israeli leader.