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Israel’s Foreign Minister Says UN Chief Not Fit to Lead

Eli Cohen, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, addresses the media at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023, during a press conference about the hostages held in Gaza since the Israel Hamas war. (AP)
Eli Cohen, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, addresses the media at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023, during a press conference about the hostages held in Gaza since the Israel Hamas war. (AP)
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Israel’s Foreign Minister Says UN Chief Not Fit to Lead

Eli Cohen, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, addresses the media at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023, during a press conference about the hostages held in Gaza since the Israel Hamas war. (AP)
Eli Cohen, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, addresses the media at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023, during a press conference about the hostages held in Gaza since the Israel Hamas war. (AP)

Israel's foreign minister said on Tuesday that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was not fit to head the global body, saying he had not done enough to condemn militant group Hamas and was too close to Iran.

His comments, made at a press conference inside the UN building in Geneva, represent an intensification of Israel's criticism of the UN in the same week that the latter mourned the killing of more than 100 of its staff in Gaza.

"Guterres does not deserve to be the head of the United Nations," Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said.

Cohen was meeting in Geneva with the World Health Organization and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) alongside families of Israeli hostages.

"I think that Guterres like all the free nations should say clearly and loudly: free Gaza from Hamas. Everyone said Hamas is worse than ISIS. Why can he not say it?" he said.

A spokesperson for the United Nations in New York did not immediately provide a comment.

Guterres has previously said there was something "wrong" with Israel's military operation which has killed more than 11,000 so far in retaliation for attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7 which killed 1,200 people. A further 240 people were seized from Israel, including infants, the injured and the elderly.

Cohen, who met with ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric earlier on Tuesday, said he expected the neutral body to do more to gain access to the hostages.

"I think that the minimum is the Red Cross will meet the hostages; the minimum is they receive a proof of life; and the minimum (is) that they will transfer the medicine to the hostages who are needing it," he said.

Spoljaric said the UN was trying to gain access, but said it first needed agreements in place.

"Please know that the ICRC cannot force its way in to where hostages are held," she said.

Health Minister Uriel Menachem Buso said that he would present evidence to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus later on Tuesday that Hamas is using hospitals for military purposes. Hamas denies its fighters are present.

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World

Italy Arrests Nine Over Alleged Hamas Funding through Charities

President of the Palestinian Association in Italy, Mohammad Hannoun, carries a Palestinian flag during a nationwide strike, called by the USB union, in solidarity with Gaza and against the government and its plan to increase military spending, in Rome, Italy, November 29, 2025. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Mohammad Hannoun is among nine people arrested on December 27 on suspicion of financing Hamas through charities based in Italy, in an operation coordinated by anti-mafia and anti-terrorism units. in Italy. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
President of the Palestinian Association in Italy, Mohammad Hannoun, carries a Palestinian flag during a nationwide strike, called by the USB union, in solidarity with Gaza and against the government and its plan to increase military spending, in Rome, Italy, November 29, 2025. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Mohammad Hannoun is among nine people arrested on December 27 on suspicion of financing Hamas through charities based in Italy, in an operation coordinated by anti-mafia and anti-terrorism units. in Italy. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
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Italy Arrests Nine Over Alleged Hamas Funding through Charities

President of the Palestinian Association in Italy, Mohammad Hannoun, carries a Palestinian flag during a nationwide strike, called by the USB union, in solidarity with Gaza and against the government and its plan to increase military spending, in Rome, Italy, November 29, 2025. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Mohammad Hannoun is among nine people arrested on December 27 on suspicion of financing Hamas through charities based in Italy, in an operation coordinated by anti-mafia and anti-terrorism units. in Italy. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
President of the Palestinian Association in Italy, Mohammad Hannoun, carries a Palestinian flag during a nationwide strike, called by the USB union, in solidarity with Gaza and against the government and its plan to increase military spending, in Rome, Italy, November 29, 2025. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Mohammad Hannoun is among nine people arrested on December 27 on suspicion of financing Hamas through charities based in Italy, in an operation coordinated by anti-mafia and anti-terrorism units. in Italy. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

Italian prosecutors said on Saturday they had arrested nine people on suspicion of ​financing Hamas through charities based in Italy, in an operation coordinated by anti-mafia and anti-terrorism units.

The suspects are accused of "belonging to and having financed" the Palestinian group, which the European Union designates as a terrorist organization, prosecutors in the northern Italian city of Genoa said in a statement, Reuters reported.

Those arrested allegedly diverted to Hamas-linked ‌entities around 7 million ‌euros ($8.2 million) raised over the ‌last ⁠two years ​for ‌ostensibly humanitarian purposes, prosecutors said. Police seized assets worth more than 8 million euros.

In another statement on Sunday, police said officers had seized 1.08 million euros in cash found in the offices of a pro-Palestinian charity and in the private homes of suspects, as well as pro-Hamas material.

The ⁠Italian investigation began after suspicious financial transactions were flagged and expanded ‌through cooperation with Dutch authorities and other ‍EU countries, coordinated through the ‍EU judicial agency Eurojust.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni thanked ‍the authorities for "a particularly complex and important operation" which had uncovered financing for Hamas through "so-called charity organizations."

World

470-kilo WWII Bomb Removed in Belgrade

This handout photograph taken on December 28, 2025 and released by Serbia's Ministry of Interior shows a 470-kg World War II aerial bomb, dropped on Nazi-occupied Belgrade in 1944, found in a construction site in the Serbian capital before being removed by Serbian bomb disposal experts. (Photo by Handout / SERBIAN MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS / AFP)
This handout photograph taken on December 28, 2025 and released by Serbia's Ministry of Interior shows a 470-kg World War II aerial bomb, dropped on Nazi-occupied Belgrade in 1944, found in a construction site in the Serbian capital before being removed by Serbian bomb disposal experts. (Photo by Handout / SERBIAN MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS / AFP)
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470-kilo WWII Bomb Removed in Belgrade

This handout photograph taken on December 28, 2025 and released by Serbia's Ministry of Interior shows a 470-kg World War II aerial bomb, dropped on Nazi-occupied Belgrade in 1944, found in a construction site in the Serbian capital before being removed by Serbian bomb disposal experts. (Photo by Handout / SERBIAN MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS / AFP)
This handout photograph taken on December 28, 2025 and released by Serbia's Ministry of Interior shows a 470-kg World War II aerial bomb, dropped on Nazi-occupied Belgrade in 1944, found in a construction site in the Serbian capital before being removed by Serbian bomb disposal experts. (Photo by Handout / SERBIAN MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS / AFP)

A 470-kilogram (1,000-pound) World War II aerial bomb was safely removed on Sunday from a construction site in a central district of Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, police said.

The US-made AN-M44 bomb was used during Allied air raids on German positions during the liberation of Belgrade from Nazi occupation in 1944.

Ahead of the bomb’s removal, the site, which is near a residential area and a shopping mall, underwent detailed reconnaissance "to ensure safe conditions," AFP quoted police as saying.

Residents were also told to remove vehicles and leave their homes if possible.
The bomb was transported to an army arms training ground 180 km (110 miles) from Belgrade, where it will be destroyed in the coming days.

Several unexploded bombs dating back to past wars have been discovered in Serbia in recent years, all of which were safely removed without detonating.

In September 2024, a century-old artillery shell weighing nearly 300 kilograms (660 pounds) was cleared from a construction site near the Serbian parliament in Belgrade.

Earlier that year, in April, a large bomb from the 1999 NATO bombing campaign was found in Nis, southern Serbia.

In 2021, a 242-kilogram (530-pound) World War II bomb was also removed from a construction site in a Belgrade suburb.

World

Has Iran Built an Espionage Network in Israel?

People walk in the rain during stormy weather in the port of Tel Aviv, Israel, 27 December 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
People walk in the rain during stormy weather in the port of Tel Aviv, Israel, 27 December 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
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Has Iran Built an Espionage Network in Israel?

People walk in the rain during stormy weather in the port of Tel Aviv, Israel, 27 December 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
People walk in the rain during stormy weather in the port of Tel Aviv, Israel, 27 December 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN

For the past year, Israel has arrested dozens of Israeli citizens on suspicion of spying for Iran, Yedioth Ahronoth has reported on.

The Hebrew newspaper revealed on Saturday that some of the recruits were asked to photograph sensitive facilities and to collect information including documentation of Israeli army bases, strategic sites and homes linked to senior Israeli officials.

The newspaper said that since September 2024, Israeli authorities have uncovered 35 serious Iranian espionage cases. In some, individuals acted alone; in others, they were part of organized cells, with a mission to sow chaos, burn vehicles and carry out failed assassination plots.

It said the youngest of their recruits is a 13-year-old boy from Tel Aviv. Others had served in the reserves and regular forces.

They leaked sensitive information, including documentation of sensitive military bases, strategic sites and homes linked to senior Israeli officials.

The recruits included Mordechai “Moti” Maman, 72, of Ashkelon. He entered Iran twice and discussed with the agents the possibility of carrying out terror attacks in Israel.

The Iranian handlers discussed with him the option of assassinating senior figures such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

After Maman told them the level of security surrounding senior officials made such attacks impractical, the sides discussed alternative terror and espionage activities, including possible attacks on former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett or mayors. Maman was arrested in September 2024.

In October 2024, four cells were arrested, including a couple who had been in contact with Iranian agents since 2021 and groups of five to eight people on suspicion of conducting espionage for Iran.

One of the cases involved seven Israelis who immigrated from Azerbaijan, including a father and son, suspected of maintaining ties for two years with operatives from Iran.

As part of that relationship, the suspects photographed military bases that later became targets in Iran’s ballistic missile attack last year. Some of the group were caught surveilling a senior Israeli official and his son, allegedly as part of an assassination plan.

Authorities also uncovered another case in which seven people aged 19 to 23 from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa were arrested on suspicion of conducting espionage for Iran for several months. Their main assignment was to assassinate an Israeli nuclear scientist and a mayor.

In early 2025, another espionage case was uncovered, and an indictment was filed against an Israeli from Petah Tikva, on charges including contact with a foreign agent and passing information to the enemy.

According to the indictment, the recruit photographed the neighborhood of National Unity party leader Benny Gantz and a power station in Tel Aviv.

His handler contacted him via Telegram and offered payment through a digital wallet in exchange for carrying out security-related tasks. These included documenting security facilities, spraying political graffiti, arson attacks on vehicles and other acts.

During 2025, more than nine indictments have been filed against cells and individuals accused of spying for Iran, most of them Jews the newspaper said.
Investigations revealed that most of the spies had carried out various missions in exchange for payment.

The majority of the recruits had not travelled to Iran to complete their recruitment, but communicated with Iranians through social networks or during their presence in other countries.