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

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald Trump discussed bilateral ties, defense industry cooperation, steps to boost trade, and developments in Gaza and Venezuela in a phone call today, the Turkish presidency says.

The presidency says in a statement on X that the leaders of the NATO allies also discussed other regional and global issues, but provides no further details.

Azerbaijan has no intention of sending a contingent of its troops to take part in peacekeeping operations outside its borders, including in the International Stabilization Force in Gaza, President Ilham Aliyev says.

Aliyev, interviewed by Azeri television channels, says Azerbaijan had been in contact with Donald Trump’s US administration with a list of questions about the operation of a peacekeeping force in Gaza.

“We prepared a questionnaire of more than 20 questions and provided it to the American side. No participation in peacekeeping forces is envisaged,” Aliyev says.

“I am not considering participation in hostilities outside Azerbaijan at all.”

Baku has been leaning in this direction for some time, as reported last month by The Times of Israel.

Additionally, an Azeri government source had said in November that Azerbaijan would provide no troops for such an operation unless there was a complete halt to fighting between Israel and terror group Hamas.

No country has confirmed its participation in the Trump-envisioned Gaza Stabilization Force to date.

Indonesia is the only country to have publicly expressed its readiness to participate in the ISF, even declaring in November that it is prepared to dispatch 20,000 troops, though it has been mum on the issue ever since.

A man has been shot and killed in the Arab city of Kafr Qara, police and paramedics say.

The victim, 30-year-old barber Mahmoud Ghawi, is the third person to fall victim to homicide within hours this evening.

Paramedics declare his death just as President Isaac Herzog issues a rare statement on the violent crime wave in Arab society, saying that it has turned into a “national scourge.”

In his statement, Herzog mourns Adham and Nadim Nasser, a father and his teenage son ,who were shot and killed in Nazareth earlier this evening.

The victims resided in Tur’an, a village just north of Nazareth. They were killed while installing security cameras outside a home in the city, according to Hebrew reports.

Herzog further notes that within just five days since the start of 2026, six Arab citizens have fallen victim to violent crime, calling it a “chilling statistic.”

The recent homicide in Kafr Qara brings the number up to seven.

In 2025, Arab society experienced its deadliest year on record, with a total of 252 homicide victims.

Herzog says that the current reality is “not a decree of fate.”

He calls the fight against violent crime a “critical national mission” and says Israel must “strengthen enforcement, defeat criminal organizations, and restore to citizens — in Arab society........

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