In a statement, the families said: "The agreement to bring the hostages home is now being blatantly violated. Our struggle is not over. Eighteen hostages are still in Hamas captivity. Our moral, ethical, and national obligation is to bring them all home, every last one. Their return is a prerequisite for true Israeli recovery and rebuilding."

They continued: "It is our responsibility, the people of Israel, to ensure the full implementation of the deal. Its violation must be met with a firm response by the government and the mediators. We cannot let history repeat itself. A nation that abandons its fallen, abandons its future."

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan Zangauker survived Hamas captivity, opened her remarks with gratitude: "Matan, our Matan, is home. Right now he is sitting in the living room watching you, the people of Israel, with a heart full of thanks." She thanked the public for the determination and faith that "brought her son back," but stressed: "Our struggle is not over, it will end only when every hostage is returned and laid to rest with dignity."

Zangauker sharply criticized the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom she held responsible for "the October 7 disaster and the ongoing failure to bring the hostages back." She added: "They are responsible for children being kidnapped from their beds, for soldiers falling again and again in the same places, and for a nightmare that has continued for two years." She called for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry and demanded that those responsible "step down and be held accountable."

Orna Neutra, mother of Capt. Omer Neutra, spoke of her son as "a dedicated fighter" raised on the values of mutual responsibility, love of the land, and loyalty to the state. She described the battle in which Omer was critically wounded and said he saved his comrades' lives before being taken to Gaza, where he died from his wounds a week before his 22nd birthday. The family has been waiting for more than two years to bring him home for burial.

She urged the Israeli government and the public to continue fighting for all hostages and fallen Israelis: "A grave for our loved ones is not a right, it is the moral duty of the state." She criticized those trying to erase the hostages from public consciousness and concluded: "We will not rest, we will not be silent until the last hostage is returned. A nation that remembers its living hostages, a nation that brings back its living hostages, the people of Israel live."

Ayelet Goldin, who has fought for 11 years to bring back her brother Hadar, said: "The deal brought 20 miracles, but 18 hostages are currently being abandoned." She warned against the emerging narrative that "everything possible was done." Goldin criticized past agreements and policy decisions that she believes fostered abandonment, citing previous cases as warnings: "The script is already being written."

She called on the public and Israeli citizens not to accept the "we did everything" narrative, and to uphold values and symbols. This, she said, is "the last and hardest battle of all." She stressed that Hadar is still a hostage, that 18 hostages remain in captivity, and issued a clear call: do not fall asleep at the watch, keep fighting until everyone is brought home.

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Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, commander of the Israeli Air Force, ordered aircraft to be stationed in the Eilat and southern regions to ensure a rapid response to hostile drones launched toward the area.

An Air Force inquiry found that both detection and interception capabilities around Eilat must be strengthened. Additional systems will be deployed to protect the city, including fighter jets and attack helicopters. The Home Front Command's defense guidelines for Eilat and the Arava have not changed.

According to the preliminary investigation, the drone was detected relatively late, though Home Front Command alerts were issued as required under current policy. Iron Dome batteries attempted to intercept the aircraft, but the attempts failed. The cause of the malfunction has since been identified and corrected.

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Video: The shark sighting near Ashdod / Credit: Ashdod Municipality

Bathers were forced to go out of the water, and a black flag was raised signalling the water was off limits in all the city's beaches. "All of the city's bathing beaches have been closed at this time, after the rescue teams located a shark in the water. The lifeguards are operating in accordance with the city's shark protocol and are performing additional scans to preserve the safety of the bathers. We request that the public adhere to the lifeguards' instructions and avoid entering the sea until a further update," the city said.

As a reminder, last April, a shark with an approximate length of 2 meters (6.56 feet) was seen swimming near the Hadera beach. At that time, the reason for the sharks' arrival was apparently a large concentration of dead fish that had been washed into the sea from estuaries. Furthermore, the recommendation was to keep a distance from the sharks, since they are not hazardous to people as long as they are not provoked.

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The Israeli Air Force said attempts were made to intercept the drone before it fell in the city's tourism district. Security officials are investigating how the aircraft evaded Israel's multilayered air defense systems and exploded in such a crowded area.

Video: The moment the drone struck Eilat

The incident triggered sirens in Eilat as residents reported hearing multiple explosions. Police units cordoned off the impact site, and bomb disposal experts were dispatched to determine whether debris at the scene came from an interceptor missile or the unmanned aircraft itself.

The IDF confirmed that the drone had been launched from Yemen and fell within the Eilat area. Search and rescue forces were deployed immediately after the impact.

The attack sparked concern among security officials given the location of the explosion, directly across from one of Eilat's busiest shopping malls, packed with tourists and locals. The air force is now conducting a full investigation into how the hostile drone managed to bypass Israel's air defenses.

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Magen David Adom said that following the air raid sirens in Eilat, triggered by the drone, no emergency calls regarding casualties have been received at its 101 hotline.

Video: Drone hits Eilat hotel

Police reported that officers from the Eilat district were dispatched after receiving reports of a projectile falling in the city and have cordoned off the site.

According to police, bomb disposal experts are working to determine whether the incident involved remnants of an interceptor missile or a drone crash. Authorities urged residents to follow instructions, avoid approaching the scene, refrain from touching rocket debris that may contain explosives, and immediately report such findings to the Israel Police's 100 hotline.

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A one-way attack drone launched by the Houthis struck the entrance of a hotel in Eilat, southern Israel. No casualties have been reported. pic.twitter.com/Kz6pvlDWsT

— OSINTWarfare (@OSINTWarfare) September 18, 2025

He further said, "Second drone within a week, that there's a drone fall here. Both weren't intercepted – one without any warning at all, the second with warning. This is a situation that needs to be investigated. I demanded to investigate the first incident, they investigated and gave us answers, but it's not satisfactory. We'll need to wait for the investigation to understand why this is happening a second time and how we should act."

Houthi drone launched from Yemen struck Eilat, southern Israel. The siren went off only seconds before impact. pic.twitter.com/5rgLEGaYI0

— Leon Sverdlov (@Leon_Sverdlov) September 18, 2025

"At this stage, since this is the situation, I made a decision together with the regional commander to cancel the event that's supposed to take place now at Dekel Beach. I'm the last one who tends to cancel events – everyone knows that. During the war, there were many launches here and we didn't cancel studies or anything. But when a case occurs that we don't know why it happened, the concern is that it could happen again. Therefore, at these hours, half an hour before the event, it's better not to take a risk and not to hold the event on Thursday."

Your office is located about 30 meters from where the drone fell. Were you in the office and did you hear it?

"I don't think they aimed at me, but when a drone falls without warning, it's always a bad feeling. We give full trust to the security forces and the air force that does wonderful work here in the area. There are excellent defense systems here that have proven themselves time after time. There are isolated cases that still penetrated and fell."

"It needs to be said that there's no change in Home Front Command policy, and also that our assessment is that not many people would have arrived at the event because of the proximity of this specific event. Regardless, we want to hear the investigation results."

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The drone penetration comes one day after a drone from Yemen, which was identified but not classified as hostile, struck the passenger terminal at Ramon International Airport.

The IDF updated that within half an hour, the Air Force intercepted three unmanned aircraft. Following alerts activated shortly before in the southern Negev region, the Air Force intercepted an unmanned aircraft launched from Yemen. Additionally, another aircraft was intercepted without alerts being activated according to policy. The interception of these aircraft joins an additional interception carried out earlier in the day in the Arava region.

Channel 14's own correspondent admits it: a Yemeni drone just became the first "international aircraft" to land at Ramon Airport since it opened, and it came in without clearance, sirens, or interception before hitting the passenger terminal. pic.twitter.com/0wym4qRLhW

— Thomas Keith (@iwasnevrhere_) September 7, 2025

 Since the beginning of the war, approximately 150 Houthi drones have been launched toward Israel. More than 98 percent were intercepted. The IDF emphasized that "there is no indication of a technical malfunction in existing detection systems." Parallel to yesterday's impact incident, three additional drones were also successfully intercepted by the Air Force in the area of the Egyptian border.

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According to reports, the drone crashed inside the terminal between the departures and arrivals halls. The drone's engine was still found inside the building. Windows were shattered by the blast, with glass shards injuring one of those present at the airport. The IDF is investigating the incident.

Magen David Adom said its medics and paramedics were providing treatment and evacuating eight people to Yoseftal Hospital. Among them were a 63-year-old man, fully conscious and in mild condition after being hit by shrapnel in his limbs; a 52-year-old woman in mild condition who fell and injured her limbs; two men, aged 63 and 28, and a 24-year-old woman, all in mild condition suffering from tinnitus and blast trauma; and three people suffering from anxiety.

Video: A Houthi drone hit Ramon Airport

The Houthis in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened, "The real revenge has not yet begun."

Over the past week, the Israeli Air Force intercepted five drones and two surface-to-surface missiles launched from Yemen. In recent months, dozens of drones and surface-to-surface missiles fired from Yemen have been successfully intercepted.

About an hour before the attack, three drones launched from Yemen on were detected over the Sinai Peninsula on their way to Israel. the drones were intercepted by the IDF.

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Police said the elderly suspect, who is terminally ill, confessed to the act in order to ease his conscience. He told investigators that he killed his son because the child was sick and physically disabled, claiming he did it out of pity, "out of mercy."

Upon receiving the report, officers from the Eilat police precinct arrested Goldstein, a resident of the city. He is expected to be brought before the Eilat Magistrates' Court today, where police will request that his detention be extended.

Goldstein, who is gravely ill, was previously convicted of murdering his wife, Levana Goldstein, after staging her death to look like a car accident. In 1976, an indictment was filed against him. During the trial, he admitted to manslaughter but denied murder. Reports from that time stated that after killing her, he transported her body in his car outside the city, where he set the vehicle on fire.

In 1979, the Supreme Court rejected appeals by both Goldstein and his accomplice, Israel Omri, and upheld their life sentences. Goldstein was ultimately sentenced to 16 years in prison, of which he served 11.

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The theft was carried out on June 15, during the height of the campaign against Iran in Operation Rising Lion. The suspect, along with partners whose identities are not yet known, planned the break-in in advance and prepared it meticulously – he spray-painted the security cameras, mapped the goods, and conducted surveillance in order to learn the terrain, all while using a vehicle whose identity was falsified in advance, including the license plates.

During the break-in, the suspect and his partners welded chains to the vehicle entrance gate, uprooted iron gates, and broke the building walls. They loaded four containers full of peanuts onto a truck and transferred them to Tel Sheva, a location near the suspect's home.

Central Unit forces began investigating immediately upon receiving the report of the break-in and carried out advanced and rapid investigative operations. Already on the day of the incident, investigators succeeded in locating the suspect's whereabouts and arresting him at his home, where the stolen goods were found.

Central Unit officers successfully seized the goods and returned to their owners about half of the quantity that could be traded and was not damaged in the theft. The operation is being carried out as part of the Southern District Police's increased enforcement activity against property crimes.

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