US says it downed multiple Iranian drones targeting ships in Hormuz

The Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday’s events as they unfold.

Lebanese army said withdrawing from positions near Nabatieh as IDF advances

The Lebanese army has withdrawn from its positions in the southern town of Kfar Tebnit, close to Nabatieh, as the IDF advances in the area, according to Lebanese media.

Footage published by Lebanese media shows armored vehicles of the Lebanese Armed Forces driving away from Kfar Tebnit.

The town is located on the outskirts of Nabatieh, which is considered to be a Hezbollah stronghold.

بالفيديو: الجيش اللبناني ينسحب من ثكنة كفرتبنيت في قضاء النبطية pic.twitter.com/pjNGmijLKt

— هنا لبنان (@thisislebnews) June 13, 2026

This week, an IDF official said the military was poised to launch an offensive against Hezbollah in Nabatieh.

Pakistan PM says US-Iran peace deal signing expected within 24 hours

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says that the United States and Iran have agreed to a framework for a peace deal that would end the months-long conflict in the Middle East, with a final text of the deal reached.

Pakistan is now preparing for an electronic signing expected within the next 24 hours, followed by technical-level talks next week, Sharif added.

Iran says funeral for late Supreme Leader Khamenei to begin July 4, burial set for July 9

The funeral for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will begin in Tehran on July 4 and conclude with his burial in the northeastern city of Mashhad on July 9, state media reports.

Khamenei was killed in Israeli and US strikes on Iran in February. His death marked the end of more than three decades at the helm of the Islamic Republic.

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IDF issues evacuation warnings for 4 more south Lebanon villages ahead of strikes

The IDF warns the residents of four more villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate ahead of airstrikes on the Hezbollah terror group.

“For your safety, you must immediately evacuate your homes in the villages and towns and immediately move to the north of the Zahrani River,” warns army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.

Three-year-old dies of suspected bacterial blood infection

A 3-year-old child died at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv after being rushed to the hospital with suspected meningococcemia, a deadly type of blood sepsis caused by a virulent bacterium, Ichilov says.

Efforts to save the child failed, and he was declared dead, the hospital says.

The hospital notes that “there is a vaccine against meningococcus B, which is recommended by the Pediatricians’ Association. We call on the public to vaccinate infants and toddlers and save lives.”

Trump’s name removed from Kennedy Center in predawn operation

Workers stripped US President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center early this morning, less than six months after it went up, complying with a judge’s ruling that the performing arts landmark cannot be renamed without an act of Congress.

The work began around 1:20 a.m. (0520 GMT), hours after the Department of Justice said the government would miss the court-ordered deadline of 11:59 p.m. on Friday to take Trump’s name off the Washington venue, created a half-century ago to honor an assassinated president.

The center’s board, which Trump chairs, voted in December to rename it The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Workers began affixing his name to the building the next day.

After erecting scaffolding late on Friday, workers draped tarps over the temporary structure in the predawn hours and were seen removing letters around 3:10 a.m. in an operation that took about 30 minutes.

Late on Friday, the DOJ had said in a court filing it would miss the deadline because of thunderstorms that could pose safety risks for the workers, seeking a 12-hour extension.

Democratic US Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, who brought the lawsuit that forced Trump’s name to be removed, called the request to extend the two-week-old deadline “inexcusable” and part of “a pattern of non-compliance,” according to the DOJ filing.

The center opened in 1971 as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat assassinated in 1963. Trump, a Republican, has packed its board of trustees with allies since resuming office last year.

UNRWA fires 70 Gaza staffers amid Israeli accusations agency staff riddled with Hamas operatives

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says it fired 70 staffers in Gaza “to mitigate safety and security risks for the refugees” amid Israeli accusations that many of its staffers are Hamas operatives.

Announcing the move on Thursday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) temporary head Christian Saunders says the firings take place with “immediate effect” and “were taken further to an assessment of the safety and security of UNRWA operations in Gaza.”

However, the statement does not mention Hamas and states that “the dismissal of the staff is not part of a disciplinary process and does not constitute in any way a validation of the claims made against them.”

“UNRWA has repeatedly asked the Israeli authorities to provide information and evidence to substantiate allegations against individual UNRWA staff members in Gaza, but has received no response to date,” the statement claims.

Israel has repeatedly alleged and shown evidence that employees of the agency were actively involved in terror groups in the Gaza Strip, and some participated in the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and slaughter. Israel has also shown repeated use of UNRWA infrastructure for terror activities and provided evidence that the agency’s schools incited hatred of Israel and glorification of attacks against Israelis.

UN Watch, the prominent pro-Israel lobbying group at the United Nations, welcomes the move, but accuses UNWRA of hypocrisy in refusing to openly acknowledge the links to Hamas.

“Our sustained documentation of UNRWA’s deep infiltration by Hamas — including our UNRWA Terror Network map identifying at least 400 culprits — together with the USAID Inspector General, has finally forced the agency’s hand,” says Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch. “

“For years, UN Watch has exposed how UNRWA teachers, school principals and other employees are intertwined with Hamas, including terror chiefs heading the staff unions. Today’s action, while welcome, is only a small beginning,” says  Neuer.

“This incoherent position — firing people while refusing to acknowledge why — reveals an institution still more interested in protecting itself and its Hamas-embedded workforce than in genuine neutrality or accountability,” UN Watch says.

Lebanon reports IDF strikes in south after Israeli warning

Lebanese state media reports Israeli strikes on the country’s south shortly after the IDF issued an evacuation warning for 20 locations, including the city of Nabatieh, ahead of raids there.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reports Israeli airstrikes in several areas covered by the evacuation warning, including the villages of Rihan and Sujud, located not far from Nabatieh.

Police defusing unexploded missile interceptor found near Yokneam

Police sappers are defusing an unexploded missile interceptor found near the northern city of Yokneam.

The Yokneam municipality warns residents that they are likely to hear explosions as the sappers deal with the ordinance.

The interceptor was fired during the flare-up earlier in the week when Iran fired several salvos of missiles at Israel.

מיירט שנפל בזמן השיגורים מאיראן ולא התפוצץ אותר סמוך ליקנעם, חבלני משטרה במקום@CBeyar (צילום: דוברות מועצה אזורית מגידו) pic.twitter.com/jvZ61uZBNk

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 13, 2026

IDF issues evacuation order for 20 towns in southern Lebanon ahead of strikes on Hezbollah

The IDF warns of imminent strikes on south Lebanon, telling residents of 20 towns and villages, including many near Nabatieh city, to evacuate.

“For your safety, you should evacuate your homes immediately and move to the north of the Zahrani River,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee says in a post on X.

“Anyone who is in the vicinity of Hezbollah installations or means of warfare is endangering their lives,” he adds, accusing the terror group of violating the truce.