Breaking News

The Israeli Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit said on Tuesday that it coordinated garbage collection across the Gaza Strip after residents reported areas requiring urgent cleanup through its Arabic-language social media channels.

COGAT said waste was removed from Al-Nadim Street, the Zeitoun and Tel al-Hawa neighborhoods and several locations in Khan Yunis, with local authorities and international organizations expected to continue the cleanup operations.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee sat down on Tuesday for a jam session with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana in a guitar store in Ma’ale Adumim, east of Jerusalem.

Huckabee described its handmade guitars as created by “genuine craftsmen.”

This was not the first time the American and Israeli pair have played music together. In July, Huckabee and Ohana performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” together on guitar to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he does not trust Iran, and that America retains “total control” of the Strait of Hormuz.

“Why are you saying I trust Iran? I’m the last person to trust Iran,” Trump told reporters. “They’ve lied to me constantly.”

Turning to the Strait of Hormuz, the president said the Islamic Republic does not control the strategic waterway.

“We have total control. We own it,” he said, adding that Tehran might “do something and then they get blown away.”

Iran had been “the bully of the Middle East for 50 years” but it is no longer, said Trump, noting the United States was in “a very good position” vis-à-vis the regime.

An Israel Defense Forces interceptor was mistakenly launched on Wednesday morning at what was later identified as IDF fire from operations in the security zone in Southern Lebanon, the military said.

No injuries were reported and no sirens sounded. The IDF said the incident was under review.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bar Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas from returning to Israel and Judea and Samaria following his trip to Turkey.

“Abu Mazen’s pilgrimage to Erdoğan, who openly declares his antisemitic aspiration to destroy the State of Israel, once again reveals Abu Mazen’s true face—an enemy who heads a terrorist authority that encourages and finances terrorism against the State of Israel,” Smotrich wrote on X, using Abbas’s kunya, or Arabic nickname.

“I call on the prime minister to seize the opportunity and prevent him from re-entering Israel and Judea and Samaria,” the senior minister added. “The Palestinian terrorist authority must be dismantled.”

Abbas landed in Ankara on Tuesday afternoon and was met at the airport by Turkish Trade Minister Ömer Bolat and the P.A.'s envoy to Turkey, Nasri Abu Jaish, according to Ramallah’s official Wafa outlet.

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Ankara, Turkey on Tuesday afternoon for a two-day visit, Ramallah’s official Wafa agency reported.

Abbas was met at the airport by Turkish Trade Minister Ömer Bolat and the P.A.'s envoy to Ankara, Nasri Abu Jaish, according to the report.

The P.A. chief is scheduled to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the visit, in what Wafa described as part of “regular political consultations” between the two leaders.

The talks are expected to address developments in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, as well as ties between the Palestinian Authority and Ankara, Wafa stated.

Wafa said the P.A. delegation includes PLO Executive Committee member Ziad Abu Amr; Fatah Central Committee member Maj. Gen. Majed Faraj, who also heads Ramallah’s General Intelligence Service; and Abbas advisers Majdi al-Khaldi and Mahmoud al-Habbash.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of military aggression “that knows no borders,” saying Ankara occupies roughly 36% of Cyprus, 5% of Syria and 2,000 square kilometers of Iraq, with thousands of Turkish troops stationed across the three countries.

The ministry made the comparison amid Turkish criticism of Israel, writing on X, “Turkey has the audacity to criticize Israel. But what are the facts on the ground?”

Israel, by contrast, “temporarily controls merely 0.1% of Syria,” the ministry said, describing it as “a buffer zone to protect its citizens from proven security threats.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Eytan Halon on Tuesday condemned the overnight vandalism of a tent belonging to With Israel for Peace (MIFF), a Norwegian pro-Israel organization, at the Arendalsuka political festival, calling it “a cowardly attack on free speech, dialogue and democracy.”

“If Norway’s politicians believe in freedom of speech, then we must see immediate and public condemnation,” Halon wrote on X.

Vandals cut the Star of David symbols from MIFF’s tent, sliced out the word “fred” (“peace”) from its slogan, and scrawled “folkemord"—Norwegian for “genocide"—across the fabric, according to MIFF director Conrad Myrland.

Myrland said it was the second consecutive year the group’s tent had been vandalized at the festival, and that no other tents at the event were damaged.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) has accused Israel of committing war crimes against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

“Of course, Zionism here is paired with Islamophobia and xenophobia, as if Zionism is an oppressive force in New York,” wrote Isaac de Castro, of Tablet magazine. Original article here.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202608116431

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-fires-on-ship-breaking-its-blockade-of-iran-d8b99456

Sgt. William Shakin “served in Gaza and carried the unbearable pain of losing friends in battle,” the Israeli Consulate General in New York stated. “His passing is a tragic reminder of the wounds, both seen and invisible, that so many have carried since Oct. 7.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the U.N. Security Council must not ignore Palestinian terrorism as it prepares to discuss violence in Judea and Samaria, citing 896 terrorist attacks, four people murdered and 119 wounded since the start of 2026.

“That is the real security challenge since the beginning of 2026,” the ministry wrote on X.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research & Development on Tuesday, where he reviewed new defense technologies and efforts to strengthen Israel’s technological independence.

Herzog said he was briefed on lessons drawn during the war and developments across a range of fields, including an experimental neurofeedback system being tested to bolster mental resilience and help soldiers cope with post-traumatic stress.

“Israel is a powerhouse of revolutionary and innovative development and technology,” Herzog said, thanking directorate chief Dr. Danny Gold and his team.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned Colombia’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, calling it “a flagrant violation” of the U.N. Charter and international law, and reaffirming that the territory “is an inseparable part of its” sovereign land.

Colombia’s government said Monday it recognized Israeli control over the Golan as “an essential component” of Israel’s national defense, becoming the second U.N. member state after the United States to do so.

Syria’s ministry cited U.N. Security Council Resolution 497 and past statements by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres affirming the Golan as Syrian territory, and said support for a U.N. General Assembly resolution on the issue rose from 97 countries in 2024 to 123 in 2025. The ministry also reaffirmed its “categorical rejection” of continued Israeli strikes and incursions into Syrian territory, and pledged to pursue “all legitimate diplomatic and legal means” to recover the territory.

Former Mossad director Yossi Cohen said Tuesday that Israeli intelligence personnel had repeatedly toured Iran’s underground Fordow uranium enrichment facility to study the site before it was bombed by the United States.

“We toured the Fordow nuclear site many times in order to understand the site,” Cohen said at the Galilee Conference in Safed.

He called the June 2025 U.S. bombing of the facility “the fulfillment of all my dreams,” while adding that uranium enriched to 60% is “still far from a bomb.”

Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Tuesday that negotiations with Israel were making progress and remained preferable to war, arguing that Israeli attacks on Lebanon had decreased since the signing of a negotiating framework.

“There is no disagreement among the Lebanese regarding the objectives: the Israeli withdrawal, the return of prisoners and the reconstruction of what was destroyed,” Aoun said during a meeting with a delegation from the Maronite Foundation for the Diaspora. “In the end, we will not allow Israel to remain on even an inch of our land, nor a single Israeli soldier to remain on our soil.”

Aoun also rejected calls to recover Lebanese territory through force, saying events on the ground had shown that approach to be ineffective.

“It is time for the people of the South to rest and settle on their land, instead of wars continuing to be waged in their name for non-Lebanese objectives,” he said.

The latest round of U.S.-brokered direct talks was held in Rome last week. Israel briefly suspended the negotiations over what an Israeli official described as misleading leaks by the Lebanese side, but the talks subsequently resumed and concluded on Thursday.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on Tuesday that it had received a report of an incident involving a container ship and military forces in the Gulf of Oman, adding that authorities were investigating.

Separately, Reuters reported that the Tanzania-flagged Tihamah, a small cargo ship, was attacked in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, resulting in the death of three crew members. Two Yemeni coast guard sources and two government military officials attributed the attack to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, who had not claimed responsibility.

The sources said two Pakistanis and one Indonesian were killed aboard the vessel, which was sailing from Salalah, Oman, via Djibouti. If confirmed, the deaths would be the first from a Houthi attack on a ship since the latest Middle East conflict began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.

The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the transitional body established under U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, has held a joint coordination meeting with United Nations agencies operating in the Strip, the NCAG announced on Tuesday.

The session, co-chaired by U.N. Deputy Special Coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov and NCAG Chief Commissioner Ali Shaath, aimed to align the U.N.’s early-recovery strategy with the NCAG’s Gaza Recovery Program, according to the statement.

The U.N. delegation included senior representatives from the World Food Program, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the U.N. Development Program, the International Organization for Migration, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the U.N. Office for Project Services, along with representatives from the Office of the High Representative of the Board of Peace and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, according to the NCAG.

Parallel sessions following the plenary addressed shelter, health, small-business support, waste management, water and sanitation, governance and food security.

Participants affirmed the need for continued coordination between the United Nations and NCAG to address Gaza’s humanitarian and reconstruction needs under the roadmap tied to Trump’s peace plan, the NCAG said.

Israeli Border Police officers arrested two suspects, including a Palestinian who was illegally residing in the Jewish state, after they were allegedly caught stealing more than a ton of watermelons from farmland near Ein Hamifratz in northern Israel, police said on Tuesday.

Officers responding to a farmer’s report on Aug. 5 spotted the suspects picking watermelons and loading them into a vehicle while a flock of some 300 sheep was inside the agricultural property. Police later weighed the produce at 1,014.5 kilograms (2,237 pounds).

The second suspect was accused of employing and transporting the Palestinian, bringing the flock onto the property and damaging and stealing crops. Both were indicted on Tuesday. The flock’s owner was also fined 150,000 shekels ($44,000), and the vehicle allegedly used in the offenses was seized.

Israel Defense Forces soldiers demolished the home of the terrorist who carried out the shooting attack near Havat Gilad in Samaria in which Maj. Yuval Ezra and Capt. (res.) Benayahu Mellet were killed, the military said on Tuesday.

Forces from the IDF’s Samaria Brigade, the Yahalom combat engineering unit and Israel Border Police officers carried out the demolition overnight Monday in the village of Tell, according to the statement.

The military noted the demolition came less than three weeks after the July 24 attack.

“The IDF will continue to act to thwart terrorism in a proactive and offensive manner throughout Judea and Samaria, and to bring the full force of the law to bear against terrorists who acted to harm the citizens of the State of Israel,” the statement concluded.

The Israeli embassy in Vienna on Monday called on the public to help locate a mother and daughter, both Israeli citizens, with whom contact has been lost in the Austrian capital since Aug. 7.

In a Hebrew-language Facebook post, the embassy identified the two as Mali and Liel Yahalomi, and asked anyone in touch with them to have them urgently contact their family, the embassy or the police.

The post listed an emergency number for the mission, +43-676-367-2304, and asked followers to share the post.

A Syrian court sentenced former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his brother, Maher al-Assad, to death in absentia on Tuesday, convicting them of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Syria’s 14-year civil war, according to Syria’s state-run SANA news agency and other outlets.

The conflict killed an estimated 500,000 people. The ruling marks the first verdict issued by Syria’s transitional authorities, who began prosecuting former regime officials this year, both in person and in absentia.

Assad’s maternal cousin, Atef Najib, was sentenced to death in the same case for leading the crackdown in Syria’s southern Daraa province that sparked the 2011 uprising against Assad’s rule. Najib, a former brigadier general who headed the Political Security Branch in Daraa, appeared in court in a defendant’s cage as the judge read the sentence.

Assad and Maher fled to Moscow in December 2024 after opposition forces, led by current interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, seized Damascus and toppled the government.

The first reserve battalion of the Israel Defense Forces’ ultra-Orthodox Hasmonean Brigade completed its first battalion-level exercise in the Golan Heights last week, formally completing its establishment and preparation for operational activity, the military said on Tuesday.

The Shimon Battalion (1200) trained in open-terrain combat, raids and urban warfare. It is made up of Haredi reservists, including graduates of the IDF’s Stage B program who had previously received exemptions from military service, as well as Haredi soldiers from other military frameworks.

The troops also underwent specialized training in demolitions, covering fire, drones, combat mobility, combat medicine and the use of mortars. The battalion is expected to deploy to Israel’s northern sector in the coming months and during the Jewish High Holiday period, according to the IDF.

The Israel Defense Forces told JNS on Tuesday that it was not aware of any strikes near Nabatieh in Southern Lebanon, after Lebanese state-run media reported that an “enemy drone” had targeted vehicles in the area.

“We are not aware of strikes in the area of Nabatieh,” the IDF said in response to a JNS query.

Sagui Dekel-Chen, who was abducted by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, and held captive in Gaza for 498 days, on Sunday debuted his album “Minus One” in a live performance at Kibbutz Nir Oz, nearly 18 months after his release, Ynet reported.

All nine songs were written and composed in his head during captivity, since he had no way to write them down or test the melodies on an instrument, according to the report.

Some 3,000 people attended the show, part of the Israel Festival, marking the first event of its kind held at the kibbutz, that was devastated by the Oct. 7 massacre.

“I’m not a singer, I’m a father who sings,” Dekel-Chen wrote in a personal letter included in the concert’s song booklet. “I never intended to become a singer, or to sing. I was kidnapped, they took everything from me.” He said music became one of the things that helped him preserve “hope, health and sanity” throughout his captivity.

Dekel-Chen was released on Feb. 15, 2025 as part of a U.S.-brokered hostage deal with Hamas, and recorded all nine songs on his phone two nights later while still hospitalized, capturing melodies and lyrics that until then had existed only in his memory.

Several songs were written for his wife, Avital, and their daughters, including one for his daughter Shahar Mazal, who was born while he was held in Gaza and whom he had not yet met at the time he composed it.