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ABC News

Netanyahu says Israel will block Palestinian state

PHOTO: A child leans on a fence as Palestinians take shelter in their tents in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Nov. 15, 2025.
1:45
Ramadan Abed/Reuters
Trump asks Israeli president to pardon Netanyahu
By David Brennan, Nadine El-Bawab
Last Updated: November 17, 2025, 7:33 AM

There are now three remaining deceased hostages in Gaza, following Thursday's return of the body of Meni Goddard. Israeli authorities have been releasing the bodies of Palestinians in exchange for the return of hostage remains.

The ceasefire is broadly holding in Gaza. Elsewhere, Israel is continuing strikes on what it says are Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces is also continuing raids in parts of the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, last week that the war "has not ended," warning that "those who seek to do us harm are re-arming."

Netanyahu and other officials, meanwhile, have reiterated their intention to block future Palestinian statehood ahead of a planned United Nations Security Council vote on the U.S. plan for post-war Gaza.

Key Headlines

  • Netanyahu says Israel will block Palestinian state, won't hear 'lectures'
  • Body returned to Israel identified as hostage Meni Goddard
  • West Bank mosque torched by Israeli settlers
Here's how the news is developing.

Nov 17, 2025 7:33 AM

IDF blames bad weather for firing on UN troops in Lebanon

Israeli forces fired at United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon -- UNIFIL -- troops in southern Lebanon on Sunday, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson confirmed.

IDF international spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said on X that the incident occurred in the El Hamames area in southern Lebanon, when IDF troops fired "warning shots" at "two suspects."

PHOTO: Israeli soldiers ride a Merkava main battle tank at a position in northern Israel along the border with southern Lebanon on Nov. 6, 2025.
Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images
Israeli soldiers ride a Merkava main battle tank at a position in northern Israel along the border with southern Lebanon on Nov. 6, 2025.
Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images

"After a review, it was determined that the suspects were U.N. soldiers who were conducting a patrol in the area and were classified as suspects due to poor weather conditions," Shoshani said. "The incident is under examination."

UNIFIL said earlier on Sunday that its personnel came under Israeli fire "from a Merkava tank from near a position Israel has established in Lebanese territory."

"Heavy machine gun rounds hit approximately five meters from the peacekeepers, who were on foot and had to take shelter in the terrain," UNIFIL said.

"Peacekeepers asked for the IDF to stop firing through UNIFIL's liaison channels," the force added. "They were able to leave safely thirty minutes later, when the Merkava tank withdrew inside the IDF position." There were no casualties, UNIFIL said.

"Yet again, we call on the IDF to cease any aggressive behavior and attacks on or near peacekeepers, who are working to support the return to the stability that both Israel and Lebanon say they seek," UNIFIL said.


Nov 17, 2025 7:33 AM

Netanyahu says Israel will block Palestinian state, won't hear 'lectures'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a Sunday cabinet meeting that his government's opposition to Palestinian statehood "has not changed one bit," as Israeli officials mobilize against a U.S.-backed United Nations Security Council resolution that is expected to go to a vote on Monday.

PHOTO: A view of tents used by displaced Palestinian are pictured in the central Gaza Strip, on Nov. 16, 2025.
Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
A view of tents used by displaced Palestinian are pictured in the central Gaza Strip, on Nov. 16, 2025.
Mahmoud Issa/Reuters

The U.S. is hoping to secure consensus on its plan for post-war Gaza, but Israeli leaders have pushed back on any hint of future Palestinian statehood. Regional U.S. partners like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and Turkey are all advocating for a credible path to Palestinian statehood as part of any settlement.

The U.S. draft resolution says that after reforms to the Palestinian Authority are "faithfully carried out and Gaza redevelopment has advanced, the conditions may be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood."

According to a readout published by his office on Sunday, Netanyahu said, "Our opposition to a Palestinian state in any territory west of the Jordan [River], this opposition is existing, valid and has not changed one bit."

"I have been rebuffing these attempts for decades and I am doing it both against pressures from outside and against pressures from within," the prime minister said. "So, I do not need affirmations, tweets or lectures from anyone."

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz wrote in The Washington Post on Friday that a "refusal to back this resolution is a vote either for the continued reign of Hamas terrorists or for the return to war with Israel, condemning the region and its people to perpetual conflict."

"Every departure from this path, be it by those who wish to play political games or to re-litigate the past, will come with a real human cost," Waltz wrote.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Somayeh Malekian


Nov 17, 2025 7:33 AM

'No Palestinian state,' defense minister says ahead of UN vote

Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated the Israeli government's intention to block any independent Palestinian state in a post to X on Sunday, ahead of Monday's planned United Nations Security Council vote on key elements of the Gaza ceasefire.

PHOTO: A child leans on a fence as Palestinians take shelter in their tents in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Nov. 15, 2025.
Ramadan Abed/Reuters
A child leans on a fence as Palestinians take shelter in their tents in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Nov. 15, 2025.
Ramadan Abed/Reuters

Katz's latest remarks come as discussions over the next phase of the U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire continue. Phase one of the agreement came into force in October, facilitating the return of living and dead hostages from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

Phase two will focus on demilitarization and security measures, which include the proposed formation of an international security force to oversee Hamas' disarmament.

"Israel's policy is clear: no Palestinian state will be established," Katz wrote. "Gaza will be de-fortified down to the last tunnel and Hamas will be disarmed in the yellow side by the IDF and in the old Gaza by the international force -- or by the IDF," he added.

The "yellow side" was a reference to the so-called "yellow line," a demarcation line inside Gaza to which the IDF withdrew per last month's ceasefire deal.

The Israel Defense Forces will also "remain at the peak of Mount Hermon and in the security zone," Katz said, referring to the strategic mountaintop area just inside Syria's border occupied by IDF troops earlier this year.

Reports this week suggested Israeli concern over possible U.S. pressure to withdraw from the mountain following Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's recent White House visit.



Nov 16, 2025 7:56 AM

Israeli troops shoot dead alleged West Bank attacker, IDF says

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Sunday that one person was shot dead in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after allegedly throwing an explosive at Israeli troops there.

PHOTO: This file photo shows Israeli forces hindering access of Palestinians and foreign activists to olive trees during olive harvest, in the village of Tell, near Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Oct. 20, 2025.
Raneen Sawafta/Reuters
This file photo shows Israeli forces hindering access of Palestinians and foreign activists to olive trees during olive harvest, in the village of Tell, near Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Oct. 20, 2025.
Raneen Sawafta/Reuters

"During an offensive operation by a reserve battalion from the Samaria Brigade last night in the Nablus area, a terrorist threw an explosive device at the force," the IDF said.

"The force responded with fire and eliminated the terrorist," it added. "There were no casualties among our forces."


Nov 12, 2025 8:48 AM

Conditions in Gaza still 'desperate' as winter looms, MSF says

The Médecins Sans Frontières NGO said in a Tuesday statement that Palestinians in Gaza "continue to face tremendous hardship, including dire living conditions and insufficient aid," one month into the ceasefire.

PHOTO: Palestinians light fires to keep away mosquitoes amid the destruction left by Israeli air and ground offensive in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, on Nov. 11, 2025.
Jehad Alshrafi/AP
Palestinians light fires to keep away mosquitoes amid the destruction left by Israeli air and ground offensive in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, on Nov. 11, 2025.
Jehad Alshrafi/AP

"Living conditions in the strip remain desperate, with vital infrastructure destroyed, mass displacement and insufficient aid," the MSF said. "The ceasefire must be respected and accompanied by an immediate, massive, and sustained scale-up of aid into and across the strip."

Caroline Seguin, the MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza, said, "Palestinians are still being killed and injured by Israeli forces almost every day in the areas close to the yellow line, behind which Israel maintains control."

"Palestinians often risk their lives by going back to look for their houses, as this line is still not always clearly marked," Seguin said. "To make matters worse, some main hospitals are in areas controlled by Israeli forces, which means safe access to health care is reduced."

Many displaced Palestinians "are still living in makeshift tents and without access to running water and electricity, next to piles of rubbish and overflowing sewage," Seguin said, reporting subsequent respiratory, skin and gastrointestinal infections.

Israeli authorities, Seguin said, "continue to impose significant restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza." She called for Israel to "immediately allow a massive scale-up of unimpeded humanitarian assistance."

"Winter is coming soon, with temperatures dropping and heavy rains and wind expected," Seguin warned.


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