At least 139 migrants dead, 84 missing after overcrowded boat capsizes off Djibouti

At least 139 migrants, including 15 children, died when a boat carrying more than 300 people capsized off the coast of Djibouti, according to the United Nations' migration agency.

The vessel was carrying 305 people from Djibouti toward Yemen when it capsized Thursday night or early Friday near Guhere, north of Obock, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Sunday.

At least 84 people remained missing as of Sunday, while more than 80 survived. All of the survivors were Ethiopian nationals, according to the agency.

"No one gets into a boat like that unless they believe there is no other safe way," IOM Director General Amy Pope said in a statement. 

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"We cannot keep treating these deaths as normal. Safe and legal pathways save lives. I am asking governments and donors to act before the next boat goes down," Pope added.

The confirmed death toll includes only victims buried by authorities in Djibouti and could rise as additional bodies are verified, IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti Alexandre Coissac told The Associated Press.

Some victims were buried by fellow migrants but will not be added to the official count until authorities can verify the bodies, the outlet reported.

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"What is terrible is that they were buried with no names, in a common grave, like in a war situation," Coissac said. "They all have a mother, a father, and we may never learn what happened."

Coissac said the boat sank shortly after departing on the evening of Oct. 8, "mainly because it was overcrowded."

Survivors were taken to an IOM rescue center in Obock, where they were receiving medical treatment after swallowing seawater as well as psychological support, according to The Associated Press.

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"They're all in a state of shock," Coissac said.

The crossing from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula is a common but dangerous route for migrants seeking work in Gulf countries.

More than 900 migrants died or went missing along the route last year, according to the IOM.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Houthis kill 14 at Saudi airport as expert warns of 'rapid targets' amid Middle East war

Iran-backed Houthis launched a series of attacks on Saudi Arabian airports through Sunday, reportedly killing at least 14 people, including an American, and injuring more than 300 others, according to reports.

The attacks heightened fears of a wider Middle East war as regional experts warned of "cross-domain escalation" amid heightened tensions over Washington's September actions against Iran's aviation sector.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for earlier attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, while U.S. officials blamed the Iran-backed group for Saturday's strike, which reportedly killed 13 people and injured more than 300.

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Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority said another attack on Sunday killed a Pakistani resident and injured 11 others. Meanwhile, an airport in Dammam, in the kingdom's Eastern Province, was also reportedly targeted by the Houthis.

"Cross-domain escalation by Iran and its proxies will continue to be a primary strategy," Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran Program and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital on Sunday.

"The emphasis on aviation targets connects directly to the closing of Iran's aviation sector and sanctions imposed on its commercial airlines under the U.S. maximum pressure campaign," he warned.

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The Houthis also renewed warnings Sunday, urging airlines, airport workers and travelers to avoid Saudi airports as Saudi Arabia vowed to retaliate for the deadly attacks.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned Saturday's attack, confirming that an American was among those killed and calling for an immediate end to the violence.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, left open the possibility of U.S. involvement in Saudi Arabia's military campaign against the Houthis, saying, "We may. We're gonna look at it. We move very quickly."

The escalation comes nearly three weeks after a senior Iranian official threatened to paralyze neighboring countries' airports if they cooperated with U.S. efforts to restrict Iranian flights.

THE HOUTHIS AREN'T SOMEBODY ELSE'S PROBLEM. AMERICA CAN'T AFFORD TO LOOK AWAY

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, warned Sept. 23 that Iran would prevent neighboring countries' airports from operating if they cooperated with Washington's efforts to restrict Iranian flights, according to Reuters.

"This rapid targeting reflects earlier threats made by Iranian officials, including a veiled threat from the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, warning that U.S. sanctions on Iran's aviation sector would lead to retaliatory threats against neighboring aviation infrastructure," Taleblu said.

Iran has long supported the Houthis, but the extent of Tehran's involvement in the latest airport attacks has not been independently established.

The escalation has also renewed scrutiny of reports that Russia has provided intelligence and technical assistance to the Houthis.

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At a Sept. 1 House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing , lawmakers pressed experts on allegations that Russia is providing intelligence and technical support to the Houthis.

"Beyond offering diplomatic cover, there are persistent reports of Russian satellite collaboration, advisory support, and intelligence targeting assistance, as well as unproven allegations regarding select anti-ship systems."

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But he also linked the latest attacks to a broader military escalation as the Houthis expand their territorial control in Yemen.

"This surge did not occur in a vacuum," Taleblu said. "Since April, the Houthis have made territorial gains and pushed back against Saudi forces despite a period of diplomatic lull."

"Airport attacks allow Iran and its regional proxies to inflict pain on Arab states, Israel, and remaining U.S. forces," Taleblu said.

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Trump Russia deal could fuel Putin's war, ex-NATO commander warns as Zelenskyy says 'nyet'

President Donald Trump's efforts to reach a diesel agreement with Russia could provide Russian President Vladimir Putin with fresh revenue to fund his war against Ukraine while allowing Moscow to buy time through negotiations it has little intention of honoring, a former NATO commander warned Sunday.

Retired Gen. Philip Breedlove, former NATO supreme allied commander Europe and head of U.S. European Command, told Fox News Digital that Washington also risks undermining Ukraine's war effort by striking a deal with what he called "the enemy."

"And so we are cutting a deal with the enemy," Breedlove said, warning that "all of this money will go into fueling Mr. Putin's continued attacks in Ukraine."

The Russian government said Saturday it had partially lifted a ban on diesel exports with immediate effect, following the new agreement between Putin and Trump for Russia to supply the U.S. and global markets, Reuters reported.

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, Trump's package calls for the release of 300,000 tonnes of diesel "to the American and global marketplace," followed by 500,000 tonnes in November and another 1 million tonnes afterward.

KATIE ZACHARIA HITS GROUND RUNNING, PROMISES TRUMP DIESEL DEAL DELIVERS CHEAPER GAS FOR AMERICANS

The diesel agreement preceded Trump's announcement Sunday of what he called an "energy ceasefire" between Russia and Ukraine, with the president saying both sides had agreed to halt attacks on energy infrastructure.

"Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, indicated that Ukraine had not been informed of a finalized ceasefire agreement but expressed willingness to halt attacks on Russian energy facilities if Moscow reciprocated. He also accused Putin of repeatedly rejecting peace proposals and continuing strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

"Ukraine has proposed many de-escalatory steps. Putin had one answer to all of them – 'nyet,'" Zelenskyy wrote on X.

"We do hope that he will finally say something to America, Ukraine, and the entire world that will lead to a real and dignified peace," he added.

Zelenskyy also said Russian forces had carried out more than 200 strikes on Ukraine's electricity generation and transmission facilities over the past week, along with 17 strikes targeting gas and oil infrastructure.

He said the attacks had killed more than 150 people and wounded more than 700 over the past week.

Trump's "energy ceasefire" announcement followed tension between Washington and Kyiv over Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries, a component of Ukraine's strategy to weaken Moscow's ability to finance its military campaign.

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Breedlove argued that Russia and Ukraine are pursuing different objectives, accusing Moscow of targeting Ukrainian civilians and critical infrastructure while describing Kyiv's attacks on Russian energy facilities as an effort to disrupt the revenue sustaining Putin's war.

"Russia is carrying on a campaign of what we call counter value. In other words, Russia is attacking the Ukrainian people and trying to force their society to separate themselves from their president, President Zelenskyy," Breedlove said.

Breedlove also predicted Washington would pressure Zelenskyy to suspend attacks on Russia's oil industry despite their strategic importance.

"What I expect will happen is the United States will force or try to force Zelenskyy to stop bombing the petrochemical business in Russia," he said.

TRUMP'S DIESEL IDEA COULD HAVE UNLEASHED A PROBLEM AMERICANS NEVER SAW COMING

Trump has vehemently criticized Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, arguing that they are disrupting global diesel supplies and driving up costs for American farmers and ranchers.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the administration's efforts to increase diesel supplies.

"We're going to do it with all the legal authorities we have," Bessent said Sunday on Fox News. "This is good for the American people, bringing these diesel prices down," he said of the new deal.

Separately, appearing on ABC News' "This Week," Zelenskyy offered to organize Ukrainian elections if Putin agreed to a reciprocal 60-day ceasefire, although holding a vote would face legal and logistical obstacles under Ukraine's martial law.

Breedlove also expressed deep skepticism that Putin would honor any such ceasefire, citing what he described as a pattern of Russian attacks following negotiations with Trump. "Russia has never kept a promise to this president in this war," Breedlove said.

UKRAINE'S ATTACKS ON RUSSIA ARE PUSHING PUTIN CLOSER TO NEGOTIATING TABLE, TRUMP NATO AMBASSADOR SAYS

"He's never changed his expectations, and he's never delivered on his promises. Three out of four of the big cases, the very next day or that same night after the president and Mr. Putin talked, Mr. Putin launched huge attacks in Ukraine," Breedlove continued.

Breedlove also called for a tougher U.S. response.

"We now need an administration that leads from power. We say all the time, 'strength through power,' but when it comes to Russia, our demonstrated position is continued conflict through weakness," Breedlove warned.

"He started this war. This war is to benefit Russia, and this war is to keep Mr. Putin in power. And our administration needs to tell him to stop."

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Italy’s school veil ban exposes Europe’s assimilation fight as expert warns US could be next

In what it called a "Schools Decree," the Italian government announced last month that no student may cover their face in class no classroom may exceed 30% foreign-born pupils and parents who skip mandatory Italian lessons could face fines of up to $1,120.

The decree, which takes effect next summer, is framed as a push for "integration," but it raises the question of whether a Western democracy can force assimilation, or is it already too late?

Nile Gardiner, director of The Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom said that it is "The single biggest issue of our time in Europe: Mass migration and Islamification." And had an ominous warning, "What you’re seeing in London and other European cities can easily happen in the U.S… These cultural shifts will all come to America, unless American leaders are willing to fight back."

Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni defended the decree on X, calling the new rules "Tools of common sense that do not divide, but truly help to integrate, avoiding ghetto classes and giving all students the same opportunities. This is the direction we want to continue to follow: a school that integrates without giving up on rules, that supports those who have more difficulties and that puts everyone in a position to start from the same point."

PORTUGAL ENACTS 'BURQA LAW' LARGELY PROHIBITING FACE COVERINGS IN PUBLIC

Experts say the decree’s principles are not extreme. "Learning the national language and participating in your child’s education are reasonable expectations," said Simone Rodan‑Benzaquen, Senior Envoy to Europe at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

"Requiring students to keep their faces visible in an environment built around communication and interpersonal contact is also entirely reasonable." The question, she told Fox News Digital, is whether such measures actually improve integration or simply target the most visible symptoms while ignoring the deeper forces that discourage participation in wider society.

Italy is not alone. Governments across Europe of every political stripe are tightening integration rules. They range from the "ghetto laws" of Denmark’s center-left government, to France restricting religious symbols in schools, to Germany requiring language and civic courses, to the Netherlands testing newcomers before they even arrive.

Swedish Political scientist Daniel Schatz says, "The real divide is increasingly not between left and right, but between those who believe a state may set firm conditions for membership in a national community, and those who fear those conditions can become discriminatory or exclusionary. It is about whether integration is a voluntary offer or a civic obligation. That question cuts across traditional party lines."

MASS MIGRATION ERODING WESTERN SOVEREIGNTY, IMMIGRATION EXPERT WARNS

University of California Irvine political science professor Sara Wallace Goodman calls Denmark "an interesting case where you've seen broad consensus on the immigration issue." She says that due to Denmark’s "very generous welfare state" that "applies to their citizens," the government has been forced to make it "very difficult for outsiders to establish themselves and really to gain access to those similar entitlements."

Goodman, who also works with the European University Institute’s Global Citizenship Observatory, says Denmark’s center-left government "can get traction by looking tough on immigration," which can "really defang the competitors that will come at you from the right."

Underneath these policies lies a shared fear: the emergence of "parallel societies" - neighborhoods, schools and social environments where newcomers live largely separate lives. Governments worry that linguistic isolation, concentrated poverty and strong communal pressures can create self‑contained worlds that operate alongside, rather than within, the national civic space.

Goodman points to a U.K. report in the mid-2000s from Trevor Phillips, then the head of the Commission for Racial Equality under Prime Minister Tony Blair, in which he wrote about "parallel societies" that "were living separate lives." Phillips said the "avowedly multicultural" Britain was "sleepwalking into segregation." Goodman says integration policies try to "break up these non-integrated communities by fiat, but the flip side is that such a blunt instrument… can be restrictive and oppressive and destabilizing."

FRENCH SCHOOL RIOTS DEEPEN AS EXPERTS POINT TO FAR-LEFT ALLIANCE FUELING ‘BROADER CONFRONTATION’

The parallel society Phillips warned about may already be taking hold. A video distributed on TikTok shows shoppers at an Asian market in London waiting in a line mostly separated by gender. Nile Gardiner called the video disturbing. "I think it’s an illustration of the advancing Islamification of the United Kingdom, which has been accelerated in the last decade, and I think it poses a threat to the future of the U.K.

"What we’re seeing is the imposition of the Islamic culture in Britain, which is the heart of Western civilization," Gardiner told Fox News Digital. He points directly at the "red-green alliance," noting that "France is in a state of anarchy and a lot of the violence is driven by Islamists in conjunction with the far-left. We are seeing a growing alignment between the greens, the socialists and the Islamists. They’re increasingly working together. This is the case in multiple European cities, from Berlin to London to Vienna to The Hague."

Schatz said that the politics of migration are driven less by numbers than by visibility. "A country can have falling asylum numbers and still experience an intensifying migration debate if voters believe integration has failed," he said. "Essentially, the issue is not whether Europe should have immigration. It is whether Europe still has the confidence to expect newcomers to join the society they entered."

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But Rodan‑Benzaquen warned that coercive measures only reach the surface of the problem. She said governments "cannot demand attachment to common institutions while those institutions fail children or block advancement, or Islamist propaganda that encourages people to reject those institutions. Nor can public authorities negotiate away basic principles whenever an organized group challenges them."

She added, "Governments often concentrate on the most visible manifestations of a problem while paying insufficient attention to what produces it... Where there are organized efforts to discourage participation in wider society, we need to examine the people, institutions and financing behind those efforts. Regulating clothing will not, by itself, address them."

Since 2004, France has restricted conspicuous religious symbols in public schools, including Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and conspicuous Christian crosses. Rodan-Benzaquen says "the principle is that children should be able to develop their own judgment and freedom of conscience in a shared educational space," and it is part of France’s assimilation model.

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She said the "central promise" of the French model "remains worth defending… you can become fully French whatever your origins. Although," she adds, "sustaining it is becoming more difficult."

Rodan-Benzaquen continued, "There has to be something clearly understood to integrate into," adding, "a language, a political community, a history and freedoms and responsibilities that people are expected to share. A society embarrassed to transmit these will struggle to ask newcomers to embrace them."

Goodman said, "Europe is in a really unique situation where it has accepted immigration, but it hasn't accepted the long-term consequences of immigration. Societies over time adapt and start to see themselves as immigrant receiving countries and as multicultural, and a lot of societies in Europe have resisted this transformation." She said that the "society that birthed the Enlightenment and the ideas of liberalism and pluralism" must evaluate itself "and say there's a boundary on this."

Schatz said that any successful integration model in Europe "will not be one that is simply ‘tough’ or simply ‘welcoming.'… A state that cannot enforce its borders or its basic civic rules eventually loses the public confidence needed for a generous and sustainable integration policy."

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Abbas delays Palestinian elections again, making more than two decades without vote

More than two decades after being elected to what was supposed to be a four-year term, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has once again postponed elections, extending a nearly 20-year wait for voters to choose a new legislature.

Abbas issued a decree Friday pushing Palestinian Legislative Council elections from next month to Sept. 11, 2027, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. Presidential elections, which have not been held since Abbas' 2005 victory, are also scheduled for that date.

The delay allows Palestinian leaders to remain in power without facing voters and could further damage the credibility of the Palestinian Authority, which has faced criticism over corruption and its security cooperation with Israel.

NICARAGUA'S ORTEGA SAYS COUNTRY WILL 'NEVER AGAIN' HOLD ELECTIONS, SHUTTING OUT OPPOSITION

The Palestinian Authority, dominated by Abbas' Fatah party, governs parts of the West Bank under agreements reached in the 1990s.

Palestinian officials cited conditions in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem as reasons for postponing the vote. The Palestine Liberation Organization's Executive Committee, which Abbas heads, claimed Israel had blocked election materials and international observers from entering Gaza, according to The Associated Press.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rejected the claim, accusing Abbas of trying to shift blame for the delay.

Abbas' "attempt to drag Israel into this, falsely claiming that Israel imposed obstacles to holding elections, is yet another ridiculous lie designed to evade responsibility and accountability," Saar wrote on X.

Hamas, meanwhile, welcomed the postponement, calling it "a step in the right direction" and urging further talks on rebuilding Palestinian institutions before holding elections.

Palestinians last held legislative elections in 2006, when Hamas won a majority of seats. Israel and Western countries subsequently boycotted the Hamas-led government, fueling unrest that ended with Hamas taking control of Gaza in 2007.

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Since then, Hamas has controlled Gaza while Abbas' Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority has governed parts of the West Bank.

The postponed election also threatened to bring new challenges to Abbas' leadership. Before the delay, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and a faction led by Mohammed Dahlan, a former Fatah security chief who fell out with Abbas, had been discussing an unlikely political alliance.

"Abbas is terrified by the electoral alliance bringing our faction together with opposition factions and forces within Fatah that reject his leadership," Dimitri Dilliani, a spokesperson for Dahlan's faction, said in a statement.

The decision comes as the Palestinian Authority's future role in Gaza remains uncertain under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire plan reached last year.

The plan calls for the authority to eventually play a role in Gaza, but its immediate responsibilities remain unclear. Hamas continues to govern the territory, while a committee of Palestinian technocrats remains in Cairo awaiting permission to enter Gaza and oversee a transition of power.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Pope Leo announces tumor on lung, surgery planned in 'next few days'

Pope Leo XIV announced Sunday that he will undergo surgery to remove a small nodule from his lung, revealing the unexpected health concern to thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square following his traditional Angelus prayer.

The 71-year-old pontiff said doctors discovered the nodule at a "very early stage" and recommended its removal. The surgery is scheduled for the coming days, with the pope expected to remain hospitalized for approximately one week, according to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.

"Doctors found a small lump in the lung," Leo said after the Angelus address. "It was identified at a very early stage and well situated."

POPE LEO VISITS SITE OF MIRACLE CURES, MEETS PEOPLE WHOSE UNEXPLAINED HEALINGS STUNNED DOCTORS

"The doctors consider it appropriate to intervene and so, following their advice, I decided to have surgery to remove it," he continued. "The surgery is already scheduled for the next few days. I thank you for your spiritual closeness and I rely on your prayer."

The surgery is likely to take place within a few days at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, which is known as the "Pope's" hospital, Vatican sources told Fox News.

The Vatican has not disclosed whether the nodule is cancerous, and no further details about the pope's diagnosis or the planned procedure were immediately available.

The announcement comes as a surprise for the American-born pontiff, who has no previously known health problems and is known for maintaining an active lifestyle.

Leo regularly plays tennis and swims at the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo, according to The Associated Press.

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The pope is also scheduled to embark on a major international trip from Nov. 6–17, with planned stops in Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. It remains unclear whether his surgery and recovery will affect those travel plans.

In addition to addressing his health, Leo used his Sunday remarks to renew his appeal for peace in war-torn Ukraine, warning that the conflict continues to inflict suffering far beyond the country's borders.

"The war in the martyred Ukraine continues to create suffering, even beyond its borders, especially in the poorest countries, where many people depend on the exports of cereals and grains," the pope said.

Leo called on those involved in the conflict to ensure the safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments through the Black Sea, emphasizing the consequences for vulnerable populations around the world.

"I send a strong appeal for all those involved that they can guarantee the safe transport of grains in the Black Sea," he said. "The daily life of many people cannot be hostage to war."

Fox News’ Courtney Walsh contributed to this report.

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Inside Israel's plot to kill Hezbollah chief as Netanyahu warned Biden aide would 'jump out of his skin'

As Israel prepared to assassinate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in September 2024, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his senior defense officials disagreed over whether to notify the Biden administration ahead of the operation, fearing Washington could try to stop the mission, according to Wall Street Journal editorial writer Elliot Kaufman and a second source familiar with the deliberations.

"140%, they won't approve of the mission," Netanyahu told senior Israeli defense officials, according to Kaufman, co-author of "In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel's Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis," who recounted the exchange in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi favored informing Washington, believing the Americans might support a strike against a Hezbollah leader linked to the deaths of U.S. service members, according to Kaufman. Netanyahu, however, warned that then-U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan would "jump out of his skin" if he learned of the plans.

The disagreement reflected a widening divide between Jerusalem and Washington over Israel's military campaign against Iran's regional proxies, as the Biden administration sought to prevent the fighting from escalating into a broader regional war.

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When Israeli jets struck Hezbollah's headquarters in Beirut on September 27, 2024, the Pentagon said it had received no advance warning. Gallant spoke with then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin while the operation was already underway.

The strike killed Nasrallah, who had led the Iranian-backed terrorist organization for more than three decades, marking a major turning point in Israel's campaign against Hezbollah, which opened a second front against Israel on October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas' deadly attack in southern Israel, and had since launched repeated rocket and missile attacks on northern Israeli communities.

Kaufman argued that Israel had spent nearly a year waiting for American diplomacy to end Hezbollah's attacks on its northern communities, without success.

"From Israel's point of view, it had been sitting and waiting for 10, 11 months while Hezbollah had been pounding the north of Israel with rockets and with anti-tank missiles, waiting for American diplomacy to succeed," he said. "It didn't work. Something had to change on the northern front."

Kaufman said the confrontation exposed a fundamental difference in how the two governments approached the war.

"The United States may not have been in Israel's war room, but it could never be denied a seat at the table when it asked," he said.

"What I was told from the Israeli prime minister's office is ‘America's goal is to de-escalate the war. Our goal is to win the war,' and we saw that clash at every point, especially during the Biden administration."

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The book, written by Kaufman and Jerusalem Post senior military analyst Yonah Jeremy Bob, also describes how Netanyahu initially resisted launching a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, only to emerge later as one of the strongest advocates for continuing the war.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu had just seen the IDF, Israel's military, fail miserably on Oct. 7, and Israel's intelligence services fail miserably on October 7," Kaufman told Fox News Digital.

Senior American generals dispatched by President Biden also warned Israeli leaders that a ground invasion could end in military defeat, even in Gaza City, according to Kaufman.

Netanyahu eventually approved the ground operation on Oct. 27, 2023, after weeks of internal debate.

"Over time, he would gain confidence in the IDF, regain confidence in the military, in Israel's intelligence services, and end up outlasting, exhausting, or simply firing all of his war room rivals," Kaufman said.

Kaufman was more critical when asked about Netanyahu's accountability for Oct. 7.

"I have spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu several times in person, even more on the phone. I had a three hour conversation with him extending well past midnight in Israel," Kaufman said. "I have not heard him take responsibility for what happened on October 7th."

Instead, Kaufman said, Netanyahu consistently points to the failure of senior military officials to alert him before the Hamas assault began. "What he says is, 6:29. They didn't wake me up until 6:29 in the morning on the day of October 7th," Kaufman recounted.

Those remarks came as a new controversy erupted in Israel over the official record of Netanyahu's actions on the morning of the attack.

In a lengthy interview broadcast Thursday by Israel's Channel 12, retired Maj. Gen. Avi Gil, who served as Netanyahu's military secretary at the time, said that the prime minister's chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, attempted to alter the official record of a telephone call between Gil and Netanyahu.

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Gil said a stenographer told him she had been instructed to change the recorded time of their first secure telephone conversation from 6:40 a.m. to 6:29 a.m. Gil said he had raised concerns about irregular recordkeeping with the attorney general's office in real time. Braverman has acknowledged seeking to change the recorded time but denied wrongdoing.

Gil also challenged the completeness of Netanyahu's public account of the events preceding the massacre, saying there were significant gaps between what occurred and what had been presented to the Israeli public and in his written statements.

The Likud party dismissed the alleged attempt to falsify the record, saying "the matter had been investigated by police two years earlier and that police had recommended closing the case because it lacked substance." However, prosecutors have not announced a decision to close the case.

Gil also said that opportunities to secure hostage agreements earlier in the war had been lost because of political considerations.

Asked by Channel 12 whether some hostages who died in captivity could have been brought home alive, Gil replied, "We could have."

He indicated that opposition to ceasefires and hostage deals from far-right ministers in Netanyahu's coalition influenced the prime minister's decisions.

While acknowledging that senior Israeli military officials believed Netanyahu was prolonging the war for political reasons, Kaufman challenged the argument that political survival was his sole motivation, pointing to Israel's subsequent campaigns against Hezbollah and Iran. "There were real strategic interests to be pursued," he said.

"Almost all of the real achievements of this war came later in the war," he said, arguing that the subsequent weakening of Hezbollah, the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria and the attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities complicated claims that continued fighting served only Netanyahu's political interests.

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The book also examines how Israel's early military successes against Iran helped persuade President Donald Trump to authorize U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities during the 12-day war in June 2025.

Kaufman described how a Trump administration official showed him a map of Israeli airstrikes that had opened a route toward Fordow, Iran's heavily fortified underground nuclear facility.

According to Kaufman, Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir subsequently made the case directly to Vice President JD Vance that American forces had an extraordinary opportunity to strike.

"You have a straight shot to Iran's nuclear sites. You will never have a better opportunity than this," Kaufman said, recounting Zamir's message to Vance.

Kaufman said the Israeli military chief told Vance that Israeli aircraft were already operating over the area, but that the U.S. possessed the heavy bunker-busting bombs necessary for the Fordow mission.

He credited the vice president with helping secure Trump's final authorization for Operation Midnight Hammer.

"Vice President Vance played a critical role in ultimately securing American participation in the highly successful 12-day war," Kaufman said.

The account challenges the notion that Trump was reluctantly drawn into the conflict by Netanyahu, Kaufman argued, portraying the president instead as responding to an opportunity created by Israel's demonstrated military capabilities.

Jake Sullivan's response was not received by the deadline.

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