Jerusalem, 26 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — It is estimated that 111,000 Holocaust survivors are currently living in Israel; over 12,000 survivors have passed away in the past year. This is according to Israel’s Ministry of Welfare and Social Security.

Ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Ministry published updated data on Holocaust survivors in Israel.

For example, approximately 41,800 Holocaust survivors receive services from either or both the Ministry of Welfare and local authorities. This is 37% of all survivors, but a decrease of 4% compared to 2024.

Also, about 73% of all survivors are eligible for a long-term care benefit, and among those registered with social services, the eligibility rate is even higher, at about 85%.

The average age of Holocaust survivors receiving services from the Ministry of Social Affairs is 87 years old, and 413 of them are over 100 years old.

Jerusalem, 26 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — During what the Israel Prisons Service called a “large-scale operational activity” carried out at Rimonim-Ofek Prison, prison officers, in cooperation with officers from other security units, acted against “negative elements” in the facility.

During the searches, prohibited items were located and seized, including incendiary material, improvised means of attack, prohibited content, a game console and other means prohibited from possession. Disciplinary measures were taken against those involved.

“The Prison Service will continue to act decisively to strengthen prison governance and maintain the security of prison fighters and the facility,” it said.

Jerusalem, 26 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — The funeral of Ran Gvili will be held on Wednesday in his Negev hometown of Meitar.

Jerusalem, 26 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Monday and with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov. Sa’ar departed Sunday for a state visit to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, accompanied by a large Israeli business and economic delegation.

During a meeting with just Aliyev, the two discussed advancing bilateral relations between the countries. Among other things, they discussed deepening cooperation between the countries in the fields of energy, artificial intelligence, agriculture, water, defense, and tourism. Minister Sa’ar noted that the large business-economic delegation that joined his visit to the country will strengthen ties between the countries in these and other areas, said Israel’s Foreign Ministry.

Aliyev’s office added that emphasis was placed on the successful development of relations between the two countries in various areas, including economic, trade, energy, tourism, and other fields. Cooperation in agriculture, water resources management, high technologies, and artificial intelligence was highlighted. The contribution of reciprocal visits and contacts at various levels to deepening cooperation was also noted.

Minister Bayramov said that in his meeting with Sa’ar there was an “in-depth exchange of views on regional and global developments, challenges to international security, and cooperation within multilateral institutions.”

“We reaffirmed our strong partnership, mutual trust, and commitment to further deepening strategic cooperation based on shared interests,” he said.

Jerusalem, 26 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu met with visiting Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

The Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of Albania held a one-on-one meeting, followed by an extended meeting with their teams.

Netanyahu called Rama a “dear friend of the Jewish people and the Jewish state, and a good personal friend as well.”

“You stood by Israel when we were attacked by these barbarians,” Netanyahu told Rama. “Your moral conscience has not wavered.”

Netanyahu went on to speak about the growing Israeli tourism to Albania and the increase in Israeli business investment in the country.

“Albania and Israel have excellent relations that stem from a deep friendship between Albania and the Jewish people, forged over centuries of history,” said Prime Minister Rama. “As Jews fled persecution time and again in the West, they came to our shores and settled there.”

“We stand with the kidnapped and their families against Hamas and the neo-Nazi slaughterers,” he added, “whose actions have brought great suffering not only to Israelis, but also for a long time to our Palestinian brothers and sisters who are being dehumanized by Hamas, which uses them as a tool of war, turning them into a defensive infrastructure made of human flesh, something unheard of in the history of barbarism – simple meat for the terrorist fire.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu, today:

“Honored guests, I wish to open with a blessing of thanks: ‘Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this season.’

My friends, Members of the Knesset, a short while ago we returned Ran Gvili, a hero of Israel. There are no more hostages in Gaza.

I commend the commanders and soldiers of the IDF and the ISA for the perfect execution of this sacred mission. I embrace Talik, Itzik, and the entire noble Gvili family. I looked them in the eyes and said: ‘We will bring Ran home.’ I promised you, citizens of Israel: We will bring them all home.

We all wore the pin, and now that the mission is complete, the time has come to remove it. For ‘the sons have returned to their borders and the daughters have returned to their borders.’

I wish to thank Gal Hirsch for his tireless devotion to this mission. 

I thank my colleagues in the Government, who provided their support throughout. I thank President Trump, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and theirteam for their great and vital support. I thank the entire People of Israel for their prayers and their strength.

We have completed this mission, as I promised, and we shall likewise complete the rest of the goals we have set.”

Jerusalem, 26 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — The Israel Defense Forces said gunfire at an Israeli motorist near Shechem (Nablus) earlier today was carried out by Palestinian Authority security forces and was not a terror attack.

According to the IDF, the driver mistakenly entered Shechem, and, while attempting to exit, accelerated around a PA checkpoint in order to bypass it. PA security personnel opened fire as the vehicle passed. The checkpoint is located in Area A of Judea and Samaria, which is under full Palestinian Authority civil and security control.

The IDF says Israeli and Palestinian coordination mechanisms were immediately activated to review the incident. Security officials reiterated that Israeli civilians are prohibited by law from entering Area A.

Jerusalem, 26 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Elbit Systems Ltd. has been awarded a $228 million follow-on contract by General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems to supply its Iron Fist Active Protection System (APS) for U.S. Army Bradley Fighting Vehicle upgrades. The three-year deal marks the system’s third selection by the U.S. Army.

The Iron Fist APS is a compact, hard-kill system that provides 360-degree defense against threats, including anti-tank rockets, guided missiles, loitering munitions, drones, and kinetic tank rounds.

Jerusalem, 26 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — More than 55,000 Jerusalem children under the age of three are in unsupervised daycare frameworks, Knesset lawmakers were told on Monday.

The figures were presented during a joint session of the Knesset Education, Welfare, and Children’s Rights Committees, which convened after last week’s deadly incident at an unlicensed Jerusalem daycare.

Four-month-old Leah Goloventzitz and six-month-old Aharon Katz died, and 53 other infants were injured, in what police describe as severe overcrowding, with some children sleeping on mattresses under a bathroom toilet. Authorities suspect heat exhaustion and dehydration caused by a faulty heating system led to the deaths.

Only 21% of Jerusalem’s toddlers attend supervised daycare, far below the national average.

Lawmakers were told that an additional 39,000 toddlers are in unauthorized daycare in Tel Aviv, Beit Shemesh, Bnei Brak and Rahat.