Axios

The three Israeli hostages who were mistakingly killed by Israeli troops were holding a stick with a white piece of cloth and shouted "help" in Hebrew before being shot, Israeli Defense Forces officials said on Saturday.

The latest: "The shooting at the hostages was done in violation of the IDF rules of engagement," IDF chief of staff Herzi Halei said in a statement. "It is not allowed to shoot at a person who is holding a white flag and wants to surrender. But this shooting was conducted under stress and on a battlefield," he added.

Israel's Mossad spy agency director David Barnea met with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Friday night in Europe to discuss resuming negotiations to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

Why it matters: It was the first meeting between senior Israeli and Qatari officials since the collapse of the seven-day ceasefire that led to the expansion of the Israeli military operation to southern Gaza.

The Israeli security cabinet on Friday approved the opening of the Kerem Shalom border between Israel and southern Gaza to allow aid trucks to enter the enclave, the prime minister's office said.

Why it matters: Coming after two weeks of strong pressure from the Biden administration, this is a significant policy shift by Israel, which had refused to allow any aid to enter Gaza through its territory since the Oct. 7 attack.

The U.S. State Department said Friday that it is "deeply concerned" about the wellbeing of imprisoned Russian opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, after his lawyers said they haven't seen him in more than a week.

Driving the news: "We have communicated to the Russian government that they are responsible for what happens to Mr. Navalny in their custody, and they will be held accountable by the international community," a State Department spokesperson told Axios.

The Sun sent out a monster solar flare of high-energy radiation that NASA captured on Thursday in what NOAA Space Weather said was "likely one of the largest" such events ever recorded.

Why it matters: These powerful bursts of energy "can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts," per a NASA statement. Radio frequency blackouts were reported across the U.S. after this one.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday held his first end-of-year news conference since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The big picture: During the four-hour event, Putin ruled out ending Russia's war, suggested global support for Ukraine was flagging and spoke for the first time about detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

A former FBI special agent in charge of counterintelligence at the bureau's New York Field Office was sentenced to 50 months in prison on Thursday in connection to working with a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

Driving the news: Charles McGonigal, 55, pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering as part of his 2021 agreement to provide services to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska.