The Times of Israel liveblogged Friday’s events as they unfolded.
Saudi strikes hit telecom facilities in Yemen’s city of Hodeida, held by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, as well as Kamaran island, according to the terror group’s media.
“A Saudi aggression comprising a series of air strikes hit facilities belonging to the telecommunications authority,” Al-Masirah TV channel says, adding that the strikes also targeted Kamaran Island.
Prosecutor Karim Khan will legally challenge his dismissal from the International Criminal Court, his lawyer says, after ICC members voted to remove him following allegations he sexually assaulted a female staff member, which he disputes.
“Mr. Khan will challenge the lawfulness and fairness of the decision through all available legal mechanisms,” lawyer Tayab Ali writes on X, pointing out that Khan has denied the accusations.
Khan spearheaded the issuing of ICC arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, which Israel has called for to be revoked.
The United Nations General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to extend the term of UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk for four more years, in spite of opposition from Israel, the United States and Russia.
Turk has been a harsh critic of Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
A large majority in the 193-member General Assembly earlier voted against a Russian counter-proposal to extend Turk’s term by just over two months to the end of 2026.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has worked closely with Turk in the past and steps down in December, proposed the second four-year term for Turk when his existing term expires in October.
It is rare for the human rights chief to serve two terms.
The Foreign Ministry had called Guterres’ re-proposal of Turk a “moral failure” on X and said the choice should be left to his successor.
Turk has condemned what he calls Israel’s “mass killing” in Gaza, although some, including his own staff, regret that he did not call the killings a genocide — an allegation Israel vehemently denies.
Iran’s Fars news agency, citing an unnamed informed source, says a US missile strike on an LPG tanker in the Gulf of Oman killed two crew members and damaged its engine room, disabling the vessel. Fars says the United States believed the tanker was carrying Iranian gas.
The US military does not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Saudi vessel, NCC MASA, sustained minor hull damage after it was attacked while sailing in the Red Sea today, Saudi state news agency SPA reports, citing an official source at the General Transport Authority.
The vessel continued to its destination after checks confirmed it and its crew were safe, SPA says.
The Iran-backed Houthi terror group in Yemen announced a blockage of Saudi ports this week.
US President Donald Trump repeats his demand that Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords, a deal normalizing its ties with Israel, in order for a recently signed US-Saudi nuclear agreement to take effect.
“In order to do it, they have to be a member of the Abraham Accords, which have been very successful, but it’s time now that they do it,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office.
He insists Saudi Arabia will establish ties with Israel “at some point,” in an apparent acknowledgement that such a deal is not likely to happen in the near future. A key obstacle to the deal has been Israel rejecting Riyadh’s demand to establish a pathway for a future Palestinian state.
Trump claims that countries such as Saudi Arabia had been hesitant to join the Abraham Accords due to Iran, insisting that the problem has been resolved due to the US strikes against the Islamic Republic.
Riyadh and other countries in the region have never cited concerns about blowback from Iran to explain their reticence to normalize ties with Israel.
The deal, inked this week, would see US companies provide nuclear energy to Saudi Arabia, and included the possibility of nuclear enrichment taking place on Saudi territory, a provision that alarmed experts in nuclear proliferation.
A previous version of that agreement, being negotiated during the administration of former US president Joe Biden, would have seen Saudi Arabia establish diplomatic relations with Israel, a goal long sought by Israel and the US.
Trump’s agreement did not include establishing Saudi-Israeli relations. But the day after the deal was announced, Trump said Riyadh would have to normalize relations with Israel for the agreement to take effect.
He repeats that demand in today’s press conference, claiming that Saudi Arabia would be more amenable to establishing ties to Israel now that Iran has been weakened in its war with the US and Israel.
“They and others didn’t want to do it because of the problem that they had with Iran,” he says of Saudi Arabia. “You don’t have that problem anymore. You don’t have a great power there anymore. You have a problem, but the problem is disappearing day by day.”
He adds of the Abraham Accords, “I think it’s very important. So, you know, at some point they’ll join.” He says that condition was always “understood” by the Saudis.
He also claims that enrichment will not be allowed in Saudi Arabia.
US President Donald Trump says the United States and Iran are in talks to negotiate an end to their military conflict, but repeats his claim that Tehran is not yet ready for a deal.
He says making a deal is a “smarter” exit strategy from the war than more fighting.
“There’s a military exit where we just keep going just the way we are, and we can even make it a heavier dose, and it’s knocking out everything they have,” Trump says in remarks to reporters at the White House at an event focused on nuclear energy. “Or there’s a smarter strategy, and that’s [that] you make a deal. And they want to make a deal. I just don’t think they’re ready yet.”
He adds, “We are talking to them. I think they’re being serious. I think … they are being by far the most serious that we’ve seen them, but that doesn’t mean we get there. We’ll see what happens.”
He repeats his oft-stated claim that had he not returned to office last year, “there would be no Israel, and there probably would be no Middle East.”
The US and UK are planning a high-level conference that will bring together European and Middle Eastern senior officials to discuss protecting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Axios.
The conference, to take place next week, has not been scheduled. But it is meant to include defense ministers and military chiefs from participating countries.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and military chief Dan Caine are slated to attend, according to the report.
The news comes as the US and Iran continue to exchange fire over Iran’s obstruction of the strait, a key pathway for the global oil supply.
A man, 20, has been shot and severely injured in the city of Sderot on the Gaza border. He was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Police believe the motive for the shooting is criminal, according to Hebrew media reports.
US President Donald Trump is meeting today with senior advisers and US cabinet members to discuss whether to escalate the conflict with Iran, according to The New York Times.
Iran and the US have been fighting for about two weeks after a truce and negotiations between the countries collapsed. Israel, which began the war alongside the US in late February, is not participating in the current fighting and was not party to the negotiations.
Yesterday, Trump told Axios that he is “considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened a major escalation in the fighting, only to back down and announce a diplomatic breakthrough.
The Palestinian Authority’s presidency condemns violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank after a gunfight in a Palestinian village that killed two Israelis and four Palestinians.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ office says it “condemns Israeli colonists’ terrorism across [the] West Bank,” according to a statement published by PA news agency Wafa.
It condemns attacks “on civilians and their property in the towns and villages of Urif, Surra, Imatin, Far’ata, Umriha, and Masafer Yatta” today, the statement adds.
Venezuela has formally notified the United Nations of its “irrevocable” decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia says.
The Caracas government justifies the move by alleging a “geographical bias” within the court, claiming it disproportionately targets nations in the Global South, specifically across Africa and Latin America, Plasencia says in a post on X.
Only 33 percent of Israelis say Benjamin Netanyahu is the most fitting candidate for prime minister, according to a poll on Channel 12, while 59% of respondents prefer someone other than the incumbent premier.
Eight percent of respondents said they weren’t sure. The election will be held on October 27.
Head-to-head polls pitting Netanyahu against rival candidates have shown in recent weeks that he’s lagging behind centrist former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot, but narrowly leading against former prime minister Naftali Bennett.
Today’s Channel 12 poll indicates that, overall, a majority of Israelis do not favor Netanyahu continuing in the job, which he has held nearly uninterrupted since 2009. A government led by Bennett and Yair Lapid unseated him for a year and a half beginning in mid-2021.
Israel, however, does not hold direct elections for prime minister. Successive polls over the course of months have shown both the pro- and anti-Netanyahu blocs of parties falling short of securing a majority in the Knesset — though the anti-Netanyahu bloc comes closer. Polls show Arab parties routinely garnering around 10 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.
The Channel 12 poll found that 46% of voters favor anti-Netanyahu parties, including Arab parties, while 34% favor pro-Netanyahu parties. Five percent favor parties uncommitted to either bloc, while 15% are undecided.
United Nations Human Rights chief Volker Turk, an outspoken critic of Russia‘s war in Ukraine and Israel’s conduct in Gaza, faces opposition from both countries to a second four-year term ahead of a vote today, diplomats tell Reuters.
Turk, a lawyer who has worked for the United Nations for decades, finishes his first four-year term in October.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has worked closely with Turk in the past and steps down in December, has proposed another full term for the Austrian.
However, Russia has submitted a counter-proposal to extend his term by just over two months to the end of 2026, according to a copy seen by Reuters.
Three diplomats say Israel also opposes a four-year extension and that Washington has raised doubts, turning what had been expected to be a consensus reappointment into a contentious vote.
Others have also privately said Guterres’ successor should have a say.
Since the vote is in the UN General Assembly, the veto powers held by Russia and the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council — China, the United States, Britain and France — do not apply.
A US State Department spokesperson calls the move to reappoint Turk a “process foul” and says it “is another example of the UN’s inherent corruption and incompetence by rushing this vote and preventing adequate debate and oversight by member countries.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry calls Guterres’ re-proposal of Turk a “moral failure” on X and says the choice should be left to his successor.
Asked about Turk’s reappointment this week, a spokesperson for his office said: “I believe the High Commissioner is ready to serve.”
Turk has condemned what he calls Israel’s “mass killing” in Gaza, although some, including his own staff, regret that he did not call the killings a genocide — an allegation Israel vehemently denies.
He has accused Russia of severe violations of human rights and international humanitarian law since its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, allegations Moscow denies.
He has called for investigations into deaths in US immigration custody and denounced hostilities between the United States and Iran. Washington has defended its standard of care in custody.
No other known candidates are under consideration for the position.
Two men have been injured in a shooting outside of Nazareth, according to Hebrew media reports.
One of them is seriously injured and the other moderately injured. They have been taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
The United States imposes sanctions against nine firms and four people in the business network of sanctioned Iranian financier Babak Zanjani for evading sanctions.
The sanctions add to a broader US campaign of military and economic pressure on Iran. The country’s currency has hit record lows, inflation exceeds 60% and US strikes have intensified from the north to the south of the country.
The US Treasury Department says the new designations target Zanjani’s Iran-based operations under his “Dot One” conglomerate and several firms based in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates that have supported his already designated digital asset exchanges, as well as top executives at those firms.
Treasury says Zanjani had leveraged a diverse portfolio that includes financial services, digital asset trading and gold and precious gem production, along with major infrastructure projects, to launder revenue and move funds covertly for Iran.
“The United States is holding Babak Zanjani and his sprawling network accountable for enabling the Iranian regime to evade sanctions and finance its destabilizing activities, including supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” says State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Iran is already paying a “steep economic price for its reckless behavior, with the rial plunging to another record low and inflation up massively.”
Treasury will continue cutting off economic access for members of the Iranian government and their financiers, he says.
Zanjani, a billionaire convicted of fraud, has long been a key figure in Iran’s sanctions-evasion network. He was sentenced to death by Iranian authorities in 2016 for embezzlement. His sentence was commuted in 2024, and he re-emerged as a backer of Iranian government economic projects by 2025, Treasury says.
Also designated were Istanbul-based Zedpay Finansal Sistem Ve Hizmetleri Anonim Sirketi (Zedpay), Dubai-based Zedx DMCC (Zedx) and BZ Diamond FZCO (BZ Diamond), and Zanjani’s partner, Solmaz Bani.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar says the removal of International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan demonstrates his “moral bankruptcy.”
Khan was removed in a vote by the court’s member states over allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies.
Sa’ar repeats Israel’s call for the ICC’s charges against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant to be revoked in light of the allegations and Khan’s removal. Netanyahu and Gallant were charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza war.
“The long-delayed removal of Karim Khan from the ICC for serious misconduct has exposed the moral bankruptcy of a corrupt Prosecutor who rushed to file scandalous arrest warrants against Israel’s PM and former DM, in an attempt to deflect from the serious misconduct he feared would be revealed,” Sa’ar writes on X.
“These were politicized and outrageous arrest warrants against elected leaders of a democracy with an independent legal system defending its citizens against terror,” Sa’ar continues. “These warrants, issued against a country that is not even a member of the ICC, should never have been sought in the first place and should be revoked immediately.”
Member states of the International Criminal Court vote to dismiss Karim Khan as prosecutor following allegations of sexual misconduct, two diplomatic sources tell Reuters.
According to the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, 82 of the court’s 125 member states voted in favor of the prosecutor’s removal. Khan denies the allegations.
Khan, in his capacity as ICC prosecutor, spearheaded the issuing of arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel denies the allegations and has argued that the charges are illegitimate due to Karim’s alleged crimes.
The volunteer who found Yuval Kogen, a missing 4-year-old, following a daylong search says he happened upon the boy after getting lost following hours of looking for him.
The volunteer, Noam Simchi, says in an interview with Channel 12 that he had spent all morning on horseback looking for Yuval, then saw a boy far away resting under a tree. A jeep happened to be passing by, and he loaded the boy onto the vehicle, which took him to safety.
Channel 12 reports that the boy apparently was trying to walk home after getting lost at the beach while with his family. He seems to have walked several kilometers before getting fatigued and falling asleep in the shade.
The boy was conscious but dehydrated and in shock when Simchi found him, he says. Simchi says he then gave the boy cold water and washed his face. He has since been reunited with his family.
“He couldn’t understand the situation, he couldn’t communicate… he was dehydrated, stunned,” Simchi says of Yuval. “I was also really going crazy, I started crying.”
He adds, “I picked him up, I hugged him, I washed his face with cold water that I had on me.”
Simchi, whose interview is interrupted repeatedly by people embracing and congratulating him, praises God for the turn of events and makes several references to Rabbi Nachman of Breslau, a renowned Hasidic leader who lived approximately two centuries ago and has a fervent following in Israel.
דיווח ראשוני: הילד שנאבד בחוף אשקלון נמצא.
יובל נמצא בסביבת ניצנים – 11 ק"מ מאזור ההעלמות (ישראל היום). pic.twitter.com/kDNbuypQX6— (((IsraelMatzav))) (@IsraelMatzav) July 24, 2026
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir vows that the military will hunt down “all the terrorists involved in the terror attack” in the West Bank Palestinian village of Tell this morning.
“We will reach every one of them and settle the score with them,” he says.
Zamir says the IDF has bolstered its forces in the West Bank in recent weeks.
“This morning, we deployed many additional forces to strengthen the defense and offensive operations against terrorist infrastructure in the area,” he adds.
Two Israelis and four Palestinians were killed in the clash, and eight others were wounded.
US President Donald Trump says he does not believe China or Russia are “participating” in the ongoing Iran conflict, but warns that if they do get involved, “it would be very bad for them.”
“President Xi, at our recent meeting in Beijing, China, told me that he would not, under any circumstances, give or sell Weapons to the Islamic Republic of Iran — And that statement included Chinese Companies,” he writes on Truth Social.
“Likewise, President Putin, despite the horrible War going on in Ukraine… told me that he would not sell Weapons to Iran,” Trump adds.
Trump says it would not be in Beijing’s or Moscow’s best interest to supply weapons to Tehran.
A military official says illegal Israeli settlement outposts in the West Bank are currently among the IDF’s “biggest challenges.”
He says the more than 80 outposts in the territory are creating challenges for the military’s ability to maintain control and order in the West Bank.
“The issue of the outposts today, especially the violent ones, is one of the most challenging issues there is,” the official says on condition of anonymity.
Settler violence has surged in the West Bank in recent months, with near-daily attacks, though arrests and indictments for the violence are rare. Critics have accused the government of condoning the attacks and doing too little to stop them.
Alongside the outposts, there are also 126 settlement farms, which are also illegal under Israeli law, but have been established with full support from the government.
The officer says the farming outposts are also creating a “huge challenge” for the army’s efforts to protect them.
As a result, two weeks ago, the IDF deployed two more battalions permanently to the West Bank, bringing the total number there to 24.
Today, following a deadly clash in a Palestinian village in which two Israelis and four Palestinians were killed, the army deployed five more companies to the West Bank.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reports that three people were injured in a settler raid by dozens of masked settlers on the Palestinian West Bank village of Sarra, following a gunfight that killed two Israelis and four Palestinians.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reports that settlers partially or completely set fire to six homes, as well as several vehicles.
Benayahu Mellet, the civil defense squad member who was killed in a gunfight in a West Bank Palestinian village earlier today, is laid to rest in a military funeral in the settlement of Havat Gilad.
Coalition lawmakers and government ministers are present at the funeral, including Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Orit Strock, Ze’ev Elkin, Limor Son Har Melech and Amit Helvi, according to Hebrew media reports. Mellet receives a military burial because he is recognized as a fallen soldier.
Mellet, 32, was one of two Israelis to be killed in the clash, along with IDF officer Yuval Ezra, who will be laid to rest on Sunday. Four Palestinians were also killed in the clash.
At the funeral, Mellet’s widow, Esther, says they were together for 14 years that “ended in a moment.”
“You always leapt at being the first one to go anywhere,” she says in a eulogy, according to the Arutz 7 outlet. “This time as well, there was no question. It was clear to me that you were there.”
She adds, “I wasn’t worried when I saw the helicopters [responding to the clash], because you always came back. Just this time you didn’t come back at all.”
His father, Boaz, calls in his eulogy for Israel, in the final days of the current right-wing government’s term, to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, expand settlements in the West Bank, and establish settlements in Gaza and the strip of southern Lebanon controlled by the IDF.
“You have the opportunity to take advantage of this last minute to dismantle the terror group… the Palestinian Authority,” he says. “We know the danger here is great.”
He adds, “Benayahu worked, toiled, for the settlement of the land… I call to follow the path of Benayahu and our loved ones.”
At the funeral, attendees also chant “revenge.”
Palestinian media report that dozens of settlers raided the village of Sarra in the northern West Bank. Footage published online appears to show stone-throwing between the settlers and village residents. No injuries have been reported thus far.
There are also reports that settlers set fire to land in the area surrounding the village.
The village is located a few kilometers from the village of Tell, where a gunfight took place earlier today in which two Israelis and four Palestinians were killed.
مئات المستوطنين يشنّون هجومًا على قرية صرّة غرب نابلس. pic.twitter.com/IPjqmjG8IX
— Hisham Abu Shaqrah | هشام أبو شقرة (@HShaqrah) July 24, 2026
🎥شاهد | مواجهات عنيفة خلال تصدي الشبان لهجوم المستوطنين على قرية صرّة، جنوب غرب نابلس pic.twitter.com/RfwuWysZsf
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) July 24, 2026
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir held an assessment at the site of the deadly clash in the West Bank village of Tell, the military says.
Zamir was joined by senior officers to conduct an investigation of the incident, which resulted in the deaths of an Israeli soldier, an Israeli civil defense squad member and four Palestinians.
A Houthi spokesman says the Iran-backed terror group is not blocking traffic through the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait into the Red Sea, after declaring a maritime blockade earlier this week on its foe Saudi Arabia.
“There is no closure of Bab al-Mandab as some are suggesting,” says Mohammed Abdusalam, who is also a top Houthi negotiator, adding that the group’s position is “limited to a maritime blockade that only affects the Saudi side.”
The Israeli Air Force bombed Hamas infrastructure sites in the Gaza Strip overnight, the military says.
The IDF says the targets included weapon depots, weapon manufacturing sites and tunnels.
The weapon depots were used to store assault rifles, RPGs, mortars, explosive devices and other military equipment, according to the military.
The IDF says Hamas “continues to systematically and blatantly violate the ceasefire agreement, while attempting to rebuild the organization’s military capabilities and infrastructure.”
במהלך הלילה: צה"ל ושב"כ תקפו והשמידו תשתיות טרור של ארגון הטרור חמאס ברצועת עזה
צה"ל ושב"כ תקפו והשמידו במספר מרחבים ברצועת עזה במהלך הלילה (ה'), תשתיות טרור של ארגון הטרור חמאס ובהם מחסני אמצעי לחימה, תשתית לייצור אמצעי לחימה ותשתית תת-קרקעית.
במחסנים אוחסנו כלי נשק מסוג… pic.twitter.com/ewVY1D6M0U
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 24, 2026
A drone was shot down by allied fighters under NATO command and control in Romanian airspace, NATO Air Command confirms.
Romanian authorities said earlier on Friday that an F-16 fighter jet had shot down a drone that had entered the country’s airspace.
NATO says an investigation is ongoing and that the alliance is in close contact with Romanian authorities.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will fly on Monday to Washington, DC, where he will meet US President Donald Trump and attend the funeral of the late US senator Lindsey Graham.
The meeting with Trump will take place on Tuesday, as will the service for Graham, a Republican and stalwart supporter of Israel.
The Netanyahu-Trump meeting, the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since February and the start of the Iran war, comes amid an escalation in fighting between the US and Iran, with Israel on alert for the possibility that Tehran will decide to expand its strikes and attack Israel.
The Prime Minister’s Office does not indicate when he will be returning to Israel.
At least 15 people, including 12 soldiers, are killed in a suicide bombing northwest Pakistan, the military says in a statement.
Israeli commandos apprehended two Palestinians who allegedly took part in the deadly clash in the West Bank village of Tell earlier today, the military says.
Soldiers of the Duvdevan Unit raided a hospital in Nablus, where the two suspects had been brought after being wounded in the clash earlier.
The army says the commandos nabbed the pair in the hospital and took them for further questioning by the Shin Bet.
“The identities of all the terrorists who participated in the attack are known, and the forces are operating to arrest them,” the military adds.
A volunteer search party has found Yuval Kogan, 4, who went missing yesterday on a beach in Ashkelon, after a daylong search.
The boy is reported to be alive and well, with footage showing him sitting in a car with volunteers and police.
Celebrations break out on the beach upon news of his being found.
Speaking with him via videochat, his mother says she is waiting for him with a popsicle.
"מחכה לך עם ארטיק": צפו בשיחה הראשונה של אימו של יובל בן ה-4 – לאחר שאותר בריא ושלם@Itsik_zuarets pic.twitter.com/2cuGf1dDyq
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) July 24, 2026
US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are scheduled to meet in Washington on Tuesday, a White House official says.
An IDF officer was killed in this morning’s gunfight in the West Bank village of Tell after a group of Israelis entered the area without coordinating with the army.
The slain officer is named as Maj. Yuval Ezra, 27, a battery commander in the 282nd Artillery Regiment’s 411th Battalion, from Herzliya.
The officer was hit by gunfire after a Palestinian snatched an assault rifle from a civilian security officer amid the clash.
In all, two Israelis and four Palestinians were killed in the incident.
The IDF has also recognized the second Israeli, a civil defense squad member, as a fallen soldier.
He was named as Master Sergeant (res.) Benayahu Mellet, 32, a commander in the Jerusalem Brigade’s 8119th Battalion, from Yitzhar. At the time of his death, he was serving in the reserves as a regional defense soldier.
Palestinian media have published footage showing IDF forces entering the Nablus Specialized Hospital.
According to reports, the troops detained several Palestinians, apparently on suspicion of involvement in the earlier shooting incident near the village of Tell and the settlement of Havat Gilad in the northern West Bank.
The IDF has not yet commented.
جنود الاحتلال ينكلون بالطواقم الطبية والموظفين وعدد من المدنيين ويحتجزونهم خلال اقتحام مستشفى نابلس التخصصي، في مدينة نابلس. pic.twitter.com/Rrd6EntwA4
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) July 24, 2026
The European Union has imposed new restrictive measures on Iranian judges over alleged human rights violations, the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas says, adding that a leading figure of a cyber group who she said enabled the regime’s repression of information has also been sanctioned.
“As Tehran intensifies its domestic crackdown, the EU will continue to hold those responsible to account,” Kallas says in a statement on X.
Kallas does not specify who was sanctioned.
Jordan’s military intercepted seven missiles and six drones launched by Iran today, it says, as Tehran presses its attacks on US allies in the Middle East.
The military says the interceptions, performed by air defense systems and air force planes, “resulted in no casualties or material damage.”
Shin Bet chief David Zini held an assessment at the site of the deadly clash in the West Bank village of Tell, the security agency says.
“This morning’s attack is severe and painful, and tragically claimed a heavy toll in lives. In recent months, we have foiled dozens of attacks, almost every night. This time, we did not succeed in thwarting it in advance,” he says in remarks published by the Shin Bet.
Zini says he calls on the public “not to take the law into their own hands and to place their trust in the IDF and the Shin Bet, whose mission and duty this is.”
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara urges the High Court to overturn legislation freezing the arrest of ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers.
Submitting the state’s opinion, Baharav-Miara calls the law passed during a final legislative blitz by the government “an extreme and clear case of defective and harmful legislation that does not meet legal standards.”
The court has already temporarily frozen the implementation of the law and Baharav-Miara urges the court to block it completely.
Baharav-Miara says the government’s efforts to exempt the ultra-Orthodox from military service mean that the burden placed on those who do serve has become unbearable.
The law bans arrests, investigations and enforcement measures against draft dodgers enrolled in yeshiva study until November 30, but will actually extend to February 2027 due to legal reasons tied to the upcoming elections.
Some 72,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged 18 to 24 are currently eligible for military service, but have ignored conscription orders. The IDF has said repeatedly in recent months that it urgently needs 12,000 new recruits amid the ongoing multifront conflict.
After a deadly shooting incident this morning, and two stabbing attacks yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announce a series of new measures to crack down on Palestinians in the West Bank, including the establishment of new settlements.
Israel will demolish the home of the Palestinian who killed civil defense squad member Benayahu Mellet, 32, and wounded at least four other Israelis this morning near the village of Tell.
Mellet was shot after the Palestinian grabbed the weapon of a civilian security official from a nearby settlement during a confrontation.
After a security consultation, the two say that the IDF will embark on new operations in villages seen as terror hotbeds to collect weapons. Work permits from those villages will also be revoked.
The IDF is also reinforcing its units throughout the West Bank and setting up new checkpoints.
Israel will speed up the legalization of settler outposts in the West Bank, and will establish new ones, Netanyahu and Katz say.
In a likely warning to settlers who might carry out revenge attacks on Palestinians, the leaders emphasize “that security forces must be allowed to operate freely and with full force against terrorism, and that any action liable to harm their operations or divert them from their central mission — the protection of Israel’s citizens and the defeat of terrorism — should be avoided.”
The UN World Food Programme warns it would have to make deeper cuts to its aid in Gaza, where it supports 70% of the population, unless additional funding is secured.
The comments come after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the global hunger monitor, said more than two-thirds of Gazans could face acute hunger by the end of the year as humanitarian agencies cut aid flows due to funding shortages.
The majority of the population is reliant on aid supplies following two years of war, repeated displacement and restrictions imposed by Israel on aid deliveries.
“Without sufficient funding, we will be forced to scale back assistance for people who depend on it for survival,” Ross Smith, WFP director of emergency preparedness and response, tells reporters in Geneva via video link from Rome.
This month, cash assistance for 75,000 people was reduced by 25%, while 220,000 households saw food rations halved, Smith says. By October, WFP will have to make much deeper cuts unless additional funding is secured.
Israel says it does not restrict the entry of food into Gaza and has facilitated the entry of more than 1.8 million tons of food into the enclave since an October 2025 ceasefire.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society says the number of people injured in the village of Far’ata in the West Bank during a settler attack has risen to seven.
According to the Red Crescent, some were wounded by gunfire and others by stones. It remains unclear whether any of the gunshot victims were shot by the IDF. The army has not yet commented on the incident.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reports that settlers entered the village and set fire to commercial buildings, two homes and agricultural land. No injuries have been reported as a result of the arson.
Far’ata is located just a few miles from Havat Gilad and the village of Tell, where one Israeli and 4 Palestinians were killed in a clash earlier today.
דיווחים על פלסטיני שנפצע מירי בכפר פרעתא, לאחר כניסה של מתנחלים לכפר. תועדה כניסה של כמה עשרות. כמו כן יש תיעוד של עשן ומה שנראה כמו הצתה של רכב. לפי כלי התקשורת הפלסטינים הפלסטיני נורה ע"י צה"ל, בצה"ל בודקים וטרם מסרו תגובה רשמית. מוקדם יותר תועדו עשרות נכנסים לכפר ג'ית גם כן… pic.twitter.com/GLT51Dw7T2
— Nurit Yohanan (@nurityohanan) July 24, 2026
Spain’s government declares a national emergency after wildfires force the evacuation of some 20,000 people from villages near Madrid, while in southern France more than 60,000 residents flee their homes, including by boat, to escape two major blazes.
“We are experiencing a dramatic situation, not just in several Spanish regions but also in neighboring countries,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez writes on X.
“My solidarity with all the people who have been affected and been forced to leave their homes.”
Authorities in southwestern France order more mass evacuations along the Atlantic coast because of the large wildfires. France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez says 40,000 people have been evacuated in the Gironde department, and 23,000 in the Landes.
Spain and France both ask fellow European Union members for help.
Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires this summer. Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as quickly as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned civilians in the Middle East to stay away from US forces, state media reports.
“We warn the general public in countries where American soldiers are stationed to immediately stay out of a radius of 500 metres from the places where American soldiers are hiding, in order to be safe,” the Guards say in a statement carried by state TV.
The IDF says it has cancelled weekend furlough for troops serving in the West Bank following this morning’s deadly clash in the village of Tell.
“IDF soldiers are preparing for extensive counterterrorism operational activity in the sector. Accordingly, soldiers’ leave across the sector has been postponed and reinforcement of soldiers across the sector has been implemented,” the army says.
The Israeli military is gearing up for reprisal attacks by settlers against Palestinians following this morning’s deadly clash in the West Bank village of Tell.
The IDF says it is deploying forces ahead of the funeral for Benayahu Mellet, 32, who was killed in the incident, to prevent “confrontations” between Israelis and Palestinians.
A military official warns that there has been an “atmosphere” of revenge since the deadly incident, and calls to enter Palestinian villages and carry out attacks. The official says the army’s main goal for the coming hours is to maintain order in the area.
Palestinian media has reported at least two incidents of settlers rampaging through Palestinian towns, with at least two people injured.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes a security consultation after a deadly clash between Palestinians and settlers in the West Bank.
Among those participating are Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF chief Eyal Zamir and the head of the Shin Bet David Zini.
The IDF says the “hike” by Israelis in the northern West Bank this morning, which resulted in a deadly clash, was not coordinated with the military.
The group of dozens of Israelis, among them children, entered areas A and B of the West Bank, which are normally off limits for Israelis, according to a military probe of the incident.
As the Israelis arrived in the southern outskirts of the village of Tell, next to a mosque, a violent confrontation erupted with dozens of Palestinians. Amid the confrontation, Israeli settlers opened fire in the air, a military official says.
The civilian security coordinator for the nearby settlement of Havat Gilad then reached the scene, along with another member of the civil defense squad. An IDF company commander and platoon commander also arrived at the scene to disperse those involved, according to the probe.
Shortly after, one of the Palestinians snatched the assault rifle from one of the armed Israeli civilians and opened fire, killing civil defense squad member Benayahu Mellet, 32, and wounding at least four other Israelis.
The IDF platoon commander returned fire at the Palestinian gunman and killed him, the IDF says.
Three more Palestinians were killed, and four others were wounded in the incident. The military is still investigating how they were shot.
A United Nations committee votes to inscribe a major archaeological site in the West Bank and a set of castles in southern Lebanon as World Heritage sites, despite objections from Israel, which had urged the committee to reject the bids.
The decision at a UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization meeting in South Korea comes days after the Foreign Ministry urged the committee to reject efforts to designate the small West Bank town of Sebastia and the Lebanese castles, calling the nominations a “weaponization of cultural heritage.”
At their meeting in Busan, members of the UNESCO committee decided to place Sebastia and five castles in Lebanon’s Mount Amel area on both the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger after reviewing the nominations on an emergency basis.
Sebastia, a hilltop town about 10 kilometers (6 miles) northwest of Nablus in the West Bank, is identified by scholars as ancient Samara, capital of the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The area’s archaeological remains span the Iron Age, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods. Christian and Islamic tradition holds that John the Baptist was buried there, according to a UNESCO website.
Sebastia’s nomination, first submitted by the Palestinian delegation to UNESCO in 2012, argued that World Heritage status was needed to help preserve the site, saying it remains largely undeveloped under Israeli control and requires additional conservation despite attracting tourists.
The designation comes as Israel, which does not recognize a Palestinian state, moves to expropriate large swaths of land around the site, even as it faces pressure to crack down on violence by Israeli settlers in the area.
The five castles in the Mount Amel region are recognized for their layered architectural heritage, combining Crusader, Ayyubid, Mamluk and local influences, reflecting the evolution of fortified architecture over nearly nine centuries, according to a UNESCO description.
In Tuesday’s statement, the Foreign Ministry accused the Palestinian delegation of waging a “hostile, one-sided campaign” at UNESCO by falsely portraying Sebastia as an area facing an emergency, calling the effort a political attempt to “erase the site’s profound, well-documented Jewish and Christian history.”
Israel withdrew from UNESCO in 2019, accusing the organization of being biased against it and of downplaying historical Jewish ties to the Holy Land.
The Foreign Ministry also took objection to efforts to list Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon as a World Heritage site. The castle was part of the nomination covering five castles in the Mount Amel area.
The ministry said Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terror group, has turned Beaufort Castle into a military stronghold by building tunnels beneath the site and launching rockets from the area, and accused UNESCO of ignoring those developments.
Israeli forces captured Beaufort Castle in May.
Palestinian media reports that dozens of settlers enter into Palestinian villages in the West Bank and attempt to set fires after a deadly clash in which an Israeli and four Palestinians were killed.
In the village of Far’ata, reports say one Palestinian was wounded by gunfire during clashes between settlers and Palestinians.
Footage from the scene shows dozens of settlers entering the village. Palestinian reports say the settlers set fire to property and attempted to torch homes, though no casualties have been reported as a result of the arson.
Smoke can be seen billowing from the village.
هجوم المستوطنين على قرية فرعتا شرق قلقيلية وحرق بعض المنازل بالإضافة لاصابة شاب بالرصاص الحي بالصدر pic.twitter.com/sjaxjefw7c
— Hisham Abu Shaqrah | هشام أبو شقرة (@HShaqrah) July 24, 2026
According to the reports, the Palestinian was shot by IDF troops. The IDF has not yet commented.
In a separate incident, Palestinian media also publishes footage showing dozens of settlers entering the nearby village of Jit.
مراسل الجزيرة يفيد بأن عشرات المستوطنين هاجموا منازل الفلسطينيين في قرية جيت شرقي قلقيلية شمال الضفة الغربية#الأخبار pic.twitter.com/nEOIcAvgrR
— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) July 24, 2026
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that the Palestinian villages of Tell, Iraq Burin and Beit Furik “should look like the refugee camps in Nablus and Tulkarem,” in reference to the widespread demolitions carried out there by the IDF in recent operations.
He makes his comments in reference to the killing of Benayahu Mellet earlier today by a Palestinian during a clash between settlers and Palestinians near the village of Tell.
He also says he will demand that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu establish a new settlement close to the site of the incident by transferring the territory from Area B to Area C, a move which would be a severe violation of the Oslo Accords.
Under the accords, Area B is under Palestinian civilian control and Israeli security control. Area C is under full Israeli control.
Footage shows the moment of the clash between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank village of Tell this morning, during which one Israeli and four Palestinians were killed.
The video shows armed Israeli settlers, members of Havat Gilad’s civil defense squad, in a confrontation with dozens of Palestinians on the outskirts of the village.
An IDF soldier is also seen in the area trying to push back the Palestinians.
In the video, a Palestinian is seen grabbing the assault rifle of one of the armed Israelis, the security coordinator for Havat Gilad, as gunfire rings out.
The video is filmed by Israelis who were “hiking” in the area. Among the Israelis are children.
תיעוד מטורף מחטיפת הנשק והירי בפיגוע היום בכפר תל בשומרון pic.twitter.com/VbgkhFelVw
— Haim Goldich | חיים גולדיטש (@HGoldich) July 24, 2026
Settler activists eulogize Benayahu Mellet who was killed in a violent incident in the West Bank this morning, lauding his efforts and saying that he was continually working to expand Jewish settlements in the area.
Meir Ettinger, a convicted settler extremist, says that Mellett was the “living spirit” and the founder of the “Struggle for Every Dunam” organization.
“He was never satisfied with recognized roads and fences, and strived continuously to conquer the region,” writes Ettinger on Twitter.
“Benayahu always insisted on not making a distinction between areas C and B [of the West Bank]” Ettinger continued in reference to Mellet’s efforts to exert control over territory in the West Bank.
Under the Oslo Accords, Israelis are prohibited from living in Area B, although there are currently at least 21 illegal settlement outposts in Area B which the Israeli authorities have failed to dismantle, Peace Now has said.
Elisha Yered, a key illegal outpost organizer, says Mellet established the Struggle for Every Dunam organization which he used to advance the creation of illegal settlement outposts in Areas C and B.
“Benayahu understood that it is forbidden to distinguish between areas, C and B and worked to establish settlement outposts in these territories,” writes Yered.
He also credits Mellett with warning of what settlement activists allege is a plan by the Palestinian Authority to take over large areas of Area C, and working to thwart that plan by establishing Jewish settlements in the region where he was active.
“In direct continuation of his will we in the Forum have begun to prepare quickly for settlement cadres to establish more settlements in the region in which Benyahu planned Jewish settlements during his life,” adds Yered.
The IDF says it has dispatched five companies of troops to the West Bank following the deadly shooting incident in the Palestinian village of Tell this morning.
The military has imposed a closure on Tell and Nablus following the incident, and has also been operating in Beit Furik and Tubas following attacks yesterday carried out by Palestinian residents of the two towns.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reshuffled top posts as he tries to boost the fortunes of his deeply unpopular government ahead of regional elections in which a far-right party could get its first state governor.
Merz took office less than 15 months ago with pledges to reform and turn around Germany’s economy, Europe’s biggest, after years of stagnation. But that economic turnaround has been slow to start. And the middle-of-the-road coalition of Merz’s center-right Union bloc and the center-left Social Democrats, two traditional rivals, has yet to persuade voters that it can produce results.
That has resulted in Merz’s popularity sinking to rock-bottom levels, while the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has gained support on the back of widespread discontent.
Merz takes the opportunity to make a series of changes after a senior ally quit as the leader of his party’s parliamentary group over personal conduct that undermined his credibility. Merz plans to put his chief of staff, Thorsten Frei, in that job.
The German leader says Health Minister Nina Warken will take Frei’s place at the chancellery, a post that is key to the smooth functioning of the government. She will be the first woman to take that job. Another close ally, Carsten Linnemann, the general secretary of Merz’s Christian Democratic Union party, will become health minister.
Merz says there will be further Cabinet changes, but didn’t offer details. He said those decisions will take “a few days yet, and perhaps more time.”
Palestinian officials say a deadly shooting incident in which four Palestinians and an Israeli were killed started when a group of settlers attacked the village of Tell.
Essam Saifi, a local leader in the Palestinian Fatah party from Tell, tells Reuters in a phone call that about 25 to 30 Israeli settlers initially attacked the eastern area of Tell and tried to break into two houses there.
The residents came out to confront them and the settlers opened fire, Saifi says.
Half an hour later, Saifi said, the Israelis returned and attacked the western part of the town, striking a minor with a weapon. This caused chaos, and then the Israeli military arrived and started shooting, along with the settlers, Saifi tells Reuters.
Settlers and the IDF say Palestinians attacked Israelis “hiking” in the area and that later one of them grabbed a weapon from a civilian security coordinator for the nearby Havat Gilad settlement and opened fire.
Police and the Shin Bet launch a massive manhunt to search for 4-year-old Yuval Kogan, who went missing yesterday on a beach in Ashkelon.
His mother appeals to the public to join in the search.
In a video posted online, Kogan’s mother says: “We’ve been checking this area for almost 24 hours; it’s possible he’s not in this area. It could be that he was kidnapped, I don’t know with what motive – it could be nationalist, or maybe some psychopath took him.”
“There are police, and there are Shin Bet involved, but it’s not enough – I want everyone on their feet, I beg of you,” she says.
Kogan was last seen around 12:30 p.m. yesterday in the area of Hofit Beach, where he was picnicking with his two siblings and father. He is described as having a slim build and brown hair, and was wearing a green shirt at the time of his disappearance.
According to the boy’s mother, her husband was attending to their daughters for a few minutes, and then discovered Yuval was gone.
His mother says he’s unlikely to have gone into the water, noting he is afraid of the sea.
Police ask the public to be alert and to provide any useful information they may have to the 100 hotline.
The Israeli victim of the shooting in the West Bank is identified as 32-year-old Benayahu Mellet, settlement officials say.
Mellet was part of the civilian defense team from the settlement of Havat Gilad.
According to the IDF, Palestinians confronted Israeli “hikers” near the village of Tell and one of them stole the weapon of the security coordinator and opened fire, killing Mellet and wounding several others.
At least four Palestinians were killed in the incident.
The statement says Mellet was married, a father of two, and responsible for agriculture at the settlement.
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, calls Mellet “a man with a heart of gold, a true and dedicated family man, who loved the Land of Israel with all his soul and was a member of a family with deep roots.”
The Israeli military says troops killed the Palestinian who snatched a weapon from a civilian security coordinator and opened fire near the West Bank village of Tell.
Israeli soldiers operating in the area “eliminated the terrorist who carried out the attack and injured several Israeli civilians,” the army says.
The IDF says “the terrorist was eliminated immediately after carrying out the attack, and IDF troops recovered the stolen weapon.”
Palestinian health officials reported that four Palestinians were killed and four were injured in the incident.
One Israeli was killed, and at least two others were injured by the gunfire carried out by the Palestinian who snatched the weapon.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir says he instructed the bolstering of forces in the West Bank following this morning’s “severe terror attack” in the Palestinian village of Tell.
During an assessment, Zamir ordered “a broad reinforcement of forces to strengthen defense in the area and to capture all the terrorists involved in the attack.”
One Israeli was killed and two others were injured after being allegedly attacked by Palestinians while “hiking” near Tell. Four Palestinians were also reported killed in the incident.
Several blasts sound near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, an AFP journalist says.
Explosions are heard after air defenses were activated, according to the journalist, who also saw drones hovering over the city and smoke rising in the airport area.
Since hostilities resumed in the Middle East, drones have repeatedly been intercepted over Erbil, which is also home to a major US consulate complex.
Zehava Shaul, mother of Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, who was killed and captured by Hamas in 2014 and whose body was held captive by the terror group for more than a decade, has died at the age of 71.
President Isaac Herzog pays tribute to her, calling her “a brave, determined and inspiring mother, who dedicated more than a decade to an uncompromising struggle to return her son” for burial in Israel.
“Zehava’s image will be etched in the heart of the nation as a mother who never gave up on her son for a moment, and as a symbol of perseverance and hope even in the most difficult moments. May her memory be blessed,” Herzog wrote.
On July 20, 2014, amid the 2014 Gaza war — known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge — troops of the Golani Brigade’s 13th Battalion entered Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood in an M-113 armored personnel carrier. The APC got stuck in one of the neighborhood’s narrow streets, and during attempts to extract it, the carrier came under attack by Hamas operatives launching anti-tank missiles.
Seven soldiers were killed in the incident, including Shaul, whose body was dragged away from the scene by Hamas operatives. His body was recovered by the IDF in January 2025 amidst the Gaza war.
Her husband Herzl Shaul died in 2016 and did not live to see the return of his son’s remains.
Zehava Shaul will be buried on Sunday in Poria Ilit.
Elisha Yered, a key organizer of illegal settlement outposts, says that there were two sites where Palestinians from Tell “tried to lynch” settlers who he claimed were hiking in the area.
According to Yered, who has said openly that he works to expel Palestinians from Area C of the West Bank, several soldiers who arrived at the scene were also attacked but “hesitated” in opening fire themselves.
He posts pictures showing Palestinians confronting the settlers with sticks and poles.
He also says that other Palestinians succeeded in grabbing the gun of a settlement security official and shot and wounded him.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene a security briefing with the defense minister and IDF chief of staff after a deadly West Bank shooting incident that saw one Israeli and four Palestinians killed, his office says.
The meeting will examine “options to respond to the murderous attack near Havat Gilad,” the statement says.
“We will respond with force against the terrorists and those who send them and will not allow terror to raise its head in Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu is quoted as saying, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name.
The Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv says one of the wounded from the West Bank shooting is in a critical condition and doctors are working to save his life.
A second patient is in a serious condition.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls on the IDF to take harsh action against the Palestinians after a deadly clash between Palestinians and settlers in the West Bank.
“We cannot normalize the erosion of deterrence and our enemies raising their heads in recent weeks against the settlement pioneers and the farms. I demand that the IDF take strong action against the murderous village and its surroundings and restore governance and deterrence,” Smotrich says in post on X.
At least 4 Palestinians and one Israeli were killed and eight others injured in the incident.
“The heroic farm workers and settlement pioneers are the protective wall of the State of Israel. We will continue to strengthen and honor them for their steadfast stand for our existence in the Land of Israel against Arab terrorism,” Smotrich says.
The Israeli military says it has launched a manhunt for several Palestinians involved in the deadly shooting incident near the West Bank village of Tell.
According to the IDF, troops were dispatched to an area adjacent to Tell after Israeli settlers reported being attacked while “hiking” there.
“Subsequently, terrorists stole the weapon of the [civilian] security coordinator who had arrived at the scene, and opened fire at the Israeli civilians,” the army says.
Magen David Adom says that one Israeli man in his 30s was shot dead and at least two others were injured by gunfire, including a man in his 20s in serious condition and a man aged 25 in moderate condition.
The Palestinian Authority’s health ministry reported that four Palestinians were killed and four others were wounded in the shooting.
“Additional IDF troops were dispatched to the scene and are conducting a manhunt for the terrorists and setting up roadblocks in the area,” the military says, adding that it has imposed a closure on Tell and Nablus.
It was not immediately clear if settlers or soldiers fired at the Palestinians.
Iran’s army says it carried out drone strikes against several American military facilities and bases in Bahrain and Jordan in retaliation for the latest US attacks against the Islamic Republic.
“This morning, the fuel tanks, large equipment warehouses and silos and the barracks of the US terrorist army forces at the Isa Air Base in Bahrain were targeted by Arash kamikaze drones,” the army says in a statement carried by state TV.
Sirens had sounded in Bahrain.
Just Now :🚀💥Several explosions rocked Sheikh Isa Air Base in #Bahrain. pic.twitter.com/daWo1kQkQG
— Mahalaxmi Ramanathan (@MahalaxmiRaman) July 24, 2026
The Iranian army also claimed drone attacks against Jordan, targeting “aircraft hangars, aviation maintenance hangars and a barracks” at Al-Azraq base.
Jordan has not reported any strikes in the last few hours.
Tehran argues that any facility or base in the Middle East that the US military uses for strikes on Iran is considered a legitimate target for retaliation.
An overnight US attack on Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan killed at least four people and injured several others, Iranian state media reports.
“Following the missile attack by the terrorist US enemy on areas around the city of Ahvaz, four of our compatriots were martyred, and five others were injured,” Valiollah Hayati, deputy governor of the province, is quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
One Israeli was killed in the shooting incident in the West Bank, Magen David Adom says.
MDA says two others are seriously wounded, and one is listed in light-to-moderate condition.
The Palestinian Authority health ministry reported four dead and four injured in the incident.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says four Palestinians were killed in the shooting incident near the Palestinian village of Tell, near the settlement of Havat Gilad.
According to the ministry, four other Palestinians were wounded, three of them seriously.
At least one Palestinian was killed and seven Israelis and Palestinians were injured in a clash at the West Bank village of Tell, close to the settlement of Havat Gilad, medics say.
The Palestinian Red Crescent adds that four Palestinians were wounded by gunfire, including one person who later died of their wounds. Two are in a serious condition and one person was shot in the leg.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service says it is treating four people who were injured amid the shooting, including one who is unconscious.
An Israeli man and three Palestinians were injured in a shooting incident near the West Bank settlement of Havat Gilad, medics say.
Magen David Adom says it is treating one conscious Israeli after he was hit by gunfire in an area east of Havat Gilad.
The Palestinian Red Crescent says three Palestinians were seriously wounded by gunfire: a 19-year-old, a 34-year-old, and a 41-year-old.
The incident began as a group of Israelis was “hiking” near the Palestinian village of Tell, close to the settlement, according to the military.
The Israelis arrived at a mosque on the outskirts of the village, where they claim they were attacked by Palestinians.
A security officer from the settlement rushed to the scene, and at one point his weapon was snatched by a Palestinian, who then opened fire on the Israelis, injuring one, the IDF has found.
The injured man was taken to a hospital for treatment, and IDF troops were dispatched to the scene.
#شاهد | من موقع إصابة ضابط بجيش الاحتلال حارس مستوطنة "حفات جلعاد" قرب بلدة تل جنوب غرب نابلس. pic.twitter.com/KbHTDF6HYY
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) July 24, 2026
The IDF says it has received reports of gunfire in the West Bank settlement of Havat Gilad.
Further details are under review.
Bahrain activates its sirens, warning residents to shelter from detected fire hours after the US military said it had wrapped up its 13th night of strikes against Iran.
The Gulf states have come under frequent fire over the past week as the US and Iran exchange escalating strikes in fighting that began with a struggle over control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Malaysia’s ambassador to the United States was summoned by the US State Department to explain Kuala Lumpur’s position on Israel, state media reports, citing the country’s foreign minister.
Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said Ambassador Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob tell the State Department that Malaysia’s longstanding policy of not recognising Israel was not new.
“It has always been Malaysia’s policy. Our immigration policy does not recognise the State of Israel or the Zionist regime. This has long been our position.”
“There was an individual with dual citizenship, the US and Israel, who entered Malaysia using his US passport. However, subsequent checks revealed that he also held Israeli citizenship, and we asked him to leave,” Bernama cites Mohamad as saying.
Reuters has sought comment from the US embassy in Malaysia.
The row was triggered after Network School, the “digital nomad” community founded in Malaysia by US investor Balaji Srinivasan, came under scrutiny after social media users alleged that it included participants from Israel.
Malaysia does not have diplomatic ties with Israel and is known to be a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause.
An immigration probe into the Network School followed, and authorities found that all its participants had valid travel documents. However, it was eventually shut down by authorities on Tuesday.
Eight US congressmen later sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing outrage over Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s plan to track down and immediately deport any Israeli citizens found in Malaysia.
They urged the State Department to review US security and economic ties with Malaysia.
They also called on the State Department to cut off funding for the International Military Education and Training programme, which provides professional US training for Malaysian military personnel, unless the decision is reversed within 15 days.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that US President Donald Trump’s threat to use seized Iranian assets to pay for repairs to ships damaged by strikes in the Strait of Hormuz would be an “incendiary” precedent.
“Those who celebrate or profit from such funds should remember: once governments normalize confiscation, no one’s assets are safe,” Abbas Araghchi writes on social media. “Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful.”
US President Donald Trump was reportedly furious that his energy secretary announced a civilian nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, leading him to the shock move of then making it conditional on Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords.
According to a CNN report, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright had not told Trump that he would be announcing the deal, and the move left many in the White House shocked and angry.
Trump was reportedly further riled after watching criticism of the deal roll in from many conservative outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and Fox News.
While many suggested Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had lobbied Trump into adding the condition, the White House spokeswoman said the pair had not spoken in the interim.
CNN pointed out that Trump’s post on Truth Social announcing that the already signed deal was conditional on Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords came just minutes after a Fox News panel which questioned the wisdom of the agreement.
Two Iranian officials cited by The New York Times say that the next stage of the escalation in fighting between Washington and Tehran will include Iran striking Tel Aviv.
The newspaper reports the officials saying that if US President Donald Trump follows through with his threats to hit Tehran as well as infrastructure in Iran, the Islamic Republic will retaliate by striking Tel Aviv and also asking the Houthi rebel group in Yemen to impose a maritime blockade on the Bab al-Mandab strait.
During the first stage of the war, which began on February 28, the IDF took part in the strikes on Iran, and Tehran fired hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel. But Israel has been sitting out the current renewal in fighting and Iran has not struck Israel in recent weeks.
The US military says it completed its latest round of strikes on Iran that marked a 13th consecutive night of American attacks.
The latest wave of strikes lasted more than two hours, according to the US Central Command.
CENTCOM says the latest attacks concluded shortly before 5 a.m. local time.
The strikes were designed to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters” as the Americans push to regain control over the Strait of Hormuz and restore the flow of international shipping.
“CENTCOM targeted Iranian military command centers, drone storage facilities, communication networks, coastal surveillance sites and maritime capabilities,” it says in a statement.
After the US said it launched its latest wave of strikes on Iran, state media reports a series of explosions at sites around the country.
Iranian state media reports that US missiles hit the southwestern city of Ahvaz, and explosions are heard in nearby Omidiyeh, as well as the port city of Bandar Abbas and the island of Qeshm on the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has reportedly rejected a ceasefire deal passed along from the United States by Iraqi mediators.
According to The New York Times, citing Iranian and Iraqi officials, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi traveled to Iran today with a proposal formulated not long after he met with US President Donald Trump in the White House earlier this month.
Iranian officials tell the newspaper, however, that they are not interested in a “temporary deal” that does not address the final status of the Strait of Hormuz, a key sticking point in negotiations.
Al-Zaidi’s office says he visited Tehran today to call for peace and dialogue, and promised not to allow Iraqi territory to be used for attacks on Iran.
US President Donald Trump is going ahead with new double-digit tariffs on dozens of US trading partners just as the clock runs out tomorrow on stopgap levies he imposed after a stinging defeat at the Supreme Court.
The United States will slap taxes of 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 trading partners accounting for 99% of US imports, charging that they have inadequately enforced bans on goods produced by forced labor.
“The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it; it’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” says US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
The new tariffs will take effect just as temporary 10% worldwide tariffs expire at 12:01 a.m. Friday. Trump had turned to those temporary levies after the Supreme Court struck down his biggest and boldest tariffs in February.
The United States military says it is attacking Iran for the 13th night in a row.
“US forces started another night of strikes against Iranian military targets at 6:45 p.m. ET (2245 GMT) today,” US Central Command (CENTCOM) says, adding that the “strikes aimed to hold Iran accountable and diminish threats from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to commercial shipping.”
US President Donald Trump warns that the United States will use Iranian money under Washington’s possession or control to pay for “any and all damages” done to ships and cargo by strikes in and around the Gulf.
“Please let this statement serve to represent, until further notice, that from this point forth, any and all damages done to Ships, Cargo, or anything related thereto, will be paid for by Iranian Money that the United States has in its possession, and controls,” Trump writes on the Truth Social platform.
United Nations Human Rights chief Volker Turk, an outspoken critic of Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s conduct in Gaza, faces opposition from both countries to a second four-year term ahead of a potentially contentious vote on Friday, diplomats tell Reuters.
High Commissioner Turk, an Austrian lawyer who has worked for the United Nations for decades in major offices like Geneva and field locations like Kosovo, ends his first four-year term in October.
UN documents showed he was proposed for another term until October 2030 by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has worked closely with Turk in the past and who steps down in December.
However, Russia has submitted a counter-proposal to extend his term by just over two months, until the end of 2026, according to a copy seen by Reuters. Three diplomats say that Israel also opposes a four-year extension and that Washington had raised doubts, turning what had been expected to be a consensus-backed reappointment into a contentious vote.
Others have also privately questioned another full term, saying the matter should instead be determined by Guterres’ successor, when the UN chief’s decade-long tenure finishes in December. “It’s up to the next SG,” one diplomat said.
Russia and Israel’s diplomatic missions did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When asked about his reappointment earlier this week, a spokesperson for Turk’s office, Thameen Al-Kheetan, declined comment, adding: “I believe the High Commissioner is ready to serve.”
