After morning of sirens, Israelis fall back into well-worn war routines

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — As Israel and Iran traded fire on Monday in the most serious escalation since a shaky ceasefire in April, war-weary Israelis fell back on familiar routines from the last round of war with a sense of resignation and apathy. In the morning, they ran for shelter as missile alerts blared. Afterward, some stayed home and while others ran errands or took their kids to the park, seeking to maintain some normalcy.

In Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial and cultural hub, the usually bustling streets were more subdued than normal, with fewer customers at shops and other businesses than regular weekdays. The muted atmosphere stood in contrast to the festive, rainbow-colored decorations that adorned the city ahead of its annual Pride parade, scheduled for June 12.

Hours earlier, missiles were launched from both Yemen and Iran toward Israel. They came after Israel over the weekend struck Beirut’s southern suburbs, where it said Hezbollah, an ally of Tehran, had military infrastructure.

“We’re not normalizing it,” Liron Eldad, a mother of two, said of the conflict, as she joined other parents at a playground in Tel Aviv, next to a public bomb shelter. But, she said, “we can’t just sit there and be bitter.”

It was an almost ordinary pattern after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. The fighting, air raid sirens and disruptions to daily life have left many people in Israel weary and hopeless.

Eldad said she had lost faith in the country’s leadership and is hoping for political change following elections in October. “It’s clearly not working, what we’re doing, and instead we’re getting deeper and deeper into wars,” she said.

Across Israel on Monday, schools were closed and hospitals paused all non-urgent procedures, moving some patients underground as Israeli air defense systems intercepted missiles overhead.

After Iran said it would halt offensive operations against Israel, those restrictions were lifted and school was set to resume on Tuesday. By Monday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also suggested that Israel’s military raids had stopped, but said the country would respond “with force” to any future Iranian attack.

Still, the brief return to war put Israelis on edge. “I feel like I’m stuck in a place where you have no control over your life,” said Rana Raslan, a doctor and mother who was also at the Tel Aviv playground.

Many here also blamed Netanyahu and his allies in government for reigniting the conflict. After Israel struck Beirut over the weekend, Iran warned it would retaliate for the attack, which Israel launched in defiance of Washington’s request to stand down from major strikes near the Lebanese capital.

“The behavior of the government and the prime minister, and the way he’s brought us into unending wars and his constant lies to his infantile base, don’t help me sleep well at night,” said Moshe Regev, 63, a retired economist who was visiting the beach in Tel Aviv.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251. More than 72,700 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza since then, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government whose numbers are generally considered reliable by the international community.

Several blocks from the shore, 75-year-old Shlomi Yakobi, a fruit and vegetable seller, praised Netanyahu’s performance as prime minister over the past three years. It was a tumultuous period that would have caused a lesser leader to crack, said Yakobi, who has owned his own stall in Tel Aviv’s Carmel market for half a century.

“People are hiding at home instead of going out,” he said, as he sold apricots to a handful of tourists. His business has suffered because of the war, Yakobi said, adding that the country had no choice. Sometimes he ends up with a surplus of produce, which he donates to the synagogue next door.

“For two years now, you never know what’s going to happen in the next five minutes,” he said.

People take shelter as air raid sirens warning of incoming Iranian missiles in Ramat Gan, Israel, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Medical staff transfer patients to a protected underground parking following an Iranian missile attack, at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A man looks at the wreckage of an Iranian missile that landed near the West Bank city of Jericho Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A vendor checks the fruits on his stand at a local street market following air raid sirens warning of incoming Iranian missiles in Haifa, northern Israel, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

People take shelter as air raid sirens warning of incoming Iranian missiles in Ramat Gan, Israel, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The embattled chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was suspended from his duties late Monday, after the court’s oversight body referred Karim Khan for disciplinary proceedings.

In a scandal that has dragged on for more than two years, Khan is facing allegations of sexual misconduct with a female aide. He has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing.

A final decision on the fate of the British barrister is now up to the Assembly of States Parties, the body that oversees the ICC, which will hold a special session to decide if Khan can remain in his job at the global court.

The Bureau of the Assembly of States parties — the executive committee of the court’s oversight body — said in a statement on Monday that it based its assessment on “on the report of an investigation undertaken by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), the underlying evidence, the advice of an ad hoc Panel of judicial experts, and written submissions.”

The U.N. investigation found evidence that Khan had “nonconsensual sexual contact with (the aide) in his office, at his private residence, and whilst on mission,” according to a copy of its report seen by The Associated Press. However, a three-judge panel selected by the executive committee for a legal assessment of the findings found that the investigation was not conclusive enough.

Khan had already temporarily stepped down in May 2025 pending the outcome of the investigation. The process is unprecedented for the ICC, and the Assembly of States Parties has had to repeatedly create new rules to accommodate the situation.

The allegations against Khan were first reported to the court’s independent watchdog more than two years ago. An AP investigation revealed that Khan was alleged to have seen the woman working in another ICC department and moved her into his office. She later became a regular presence on official trips, according to whistleblower documents.

On one foreign trip, Khan allegedly asked her to rest with him on a hotel bed and then “sexually touched her,” the documents said. Other alleged nonconsensual behavior cited in the documents included locking the door of his office and sticking his hand in her pocket. He also allegedly asked her several times to accompany him on a vacation.

Only the Assembly of States Parties has the authority to remove Khan from office, a move that would require a majority in a secret ballot of its 125 member states. Sixty-three countries would need to support a measure to remove him.

No date was immediately set for the session, but the assembly said it would be convened as soon as possible.

FILE - Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, looks up prior to a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, July 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)