Israeli voters on Tuesday gave opposition parties a narrow edge over ICC fugitive Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, initial projections showed, after a decades-high turnout in the country's first election since the outbreak of the genocidal war in October 2023.

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister who has led the country for nearly two decades, had run on promises to fight enemies from Hamas to Iran and had spent election day raising fears of the strength of Israeli Arab voters.

Early projections broadcast by Israeli television networks showed that the bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, a centre-right former military chief, had a narrow edge over Netanyahu's bloc, which includes the far-right.

Early exit polls showed Arab parties made sweeping gains, likely giving them a critical role in the next parliament.

With no single party winning a majority, Israeli politicians will likely spend weeks in high-stakes negotiations to cobble together a coalition.

The country's main pollsters, Channels 11, 12 and 13, projected the opposition bloc to win 52 to 53 seats, and Netanyahu's bloc to win around 50, although his Likud would be the largest single party in parliament, with 24 or 25 seats.

In a dash to secure as many votes as possible, Netanyahu had charged that Israeli Arabs were out to "steal the election" and his Likud party unsuccessfully asked election authorities to keep polls open past 10:00 PM (2000 GMT).

His efforts led the opposition to charge that he was looking for pretexts to challenge the results.

"We cannot leave this battle here in the hands of the left and the Arab parties that want to bring an end to the Jewish state," a visibly tense Netanyahu told supporters as he tried to bring up turnout in a Likud stronghold.

Nationwide turnout as of 8 PM stood at nearly 75 percent, the highest in decades.

Arab minority in spotlight

Some 7.3 million people were eligible to vote, with tens of thousands of Israelis estimated to have flown in from abroad for an election seen as crucial to deciding the future character of their country.

Netanyahu, 77, has served as prime minister on and off for more than 19 years.

Throughout his career, he has repeatedly raised the spectre of Arab voters as a threat. He warned Tuesday of Arabs voting by the busload, writing on social media that Israel could wake up to a "government of the left wing and Muslim Brotherhood".

Netanyahu said that three senior officials of the United Arab List had been arrested with envelopes full of cash in the south.

The acting director general of the Central Elections Committee, Dean Livne, said that police had "caught individuals who tried to bribe voters", adding that the unidentified suspects were not at polling stations and were caught near their homes.

He said the matter was a localised case and under investigation.

United Arab List head Mansour Abbas, who could emerge as a kingmaker in a close election, accused Netanyahu of "lying and inciting" to mobilise his voters.

Exit polls from the main Israeli television channels showed the two Arab lists winning 17 or 18 seats in the 120-member parliament between them, up from 10 in the last election in 2022.

In Tel Aviv, left-wing party The Democrats, which is part of Eisenkot's opposition bloc, said police had arrested a man with a knife who had moved threateningly towards its leader Yair Golan.

"Incitement and violence will not intimidate us," Golan said in a statement, blaming the incident on the "poison machine" of Netanyahu.

Netanyahu last returned to power in December 2022, bringing into his coalition far-right ultra-nationalists who have since seen their political clout skyrocket and have aggressively championed settlements in the West Bank.

In the last days of the campaign, he posted an image of a nuclear bomb destroying Tel Aviv and talked up his endorsement by US President Donald Trump, who is also fond of alleging election fraud.

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• The first exit polls from Israel's pivotal general election on Tuesday showed strong gains for the country's Arab-majority parties, whose voter base turned out in high numbers. Exit polls from the main Israeli television channels showed the two Arab lists winning 17 or 18 seats in the 120-member parliament between them, up from 10 in the last election in 2022.
• Israel has so far recorded the highest voter turnout since 1973 as millions of people head to the polls to elect 120 members of the Knesset. Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are not allowed to vote, despite the Israeli government determining the direction of their future.
• Israeli voters on Tuesday gave a narrow edge to opposition parties over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, initial projections showed, after decades-high turnout in the country's first election since the outbreak of the genocidal war.
• The southern West Bank city of Hebron remains besieged for the fifth consecutive day following a deadly shootout on Friday, which prompted a large military operation that has displaced nearly 4,000 Palestinians.
• Meanwhile, the war in Yemen rages, with the Saudi-led coalition intercepting Houthi ballistic missiles and Houthi-affiliated media reported that Yemeni government forces launched air strikes in Taiz province

An Iraqi court on Tuesday jailed seven French nationals for belonging to the Islamic State group, after they were transferred along with dozens of others from Syria last year.

Six of the defendants were handed life sentences, which under Iraqi law are equivalent to 20 years in prison.

They were found guilty of belonging to IS and "of having contributed, together with members of the group, to spreading terror", according to an AFP journalist at the court.

The judge told the defendants the court had "commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment, given that you are young, to offer you a chance...to get your life back on track".

The court sentenced a seventh French national to 15 years in prison. The now 24-year-old had been taken to Syria by his mother, who joined IS more than a decade ago.

All seven were part of a group of 47 French citizens transferred from Syria last year.

The larger group includes Adrien Guihal, who claimed responsibility for the 2016 Nice attack for IS.

"These sentences offer a certain form of relief, especially for the families, because the death penalty was legitimately feared," said Matthieu Bagard, the French lawyer for four of the seven defendants sentenced on Tuesday.

He told AFP, however, that it "did not make a difference to everything we have denounced".

"There are French citizens being judged without a fair trial," he said, mentioning "the torture they suffered and the forced confessions".

Marie Dose, the lawyer for the now 24-year-old, reproached France for accepting "that this fate should be reserved for children who have become adults, who bear no responsibility whatsoever for their parents' choices".

The jihadist group swept across Syria and Iraq in 2014, committing massacres and forcing women and girls into sexual slavery.

Iraq, backed by US-led forces, proclaimed victory over IS in 2017, and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces ultimately defeated the group in Syria two years later.

Iraq is nonetheless still reckoning with the group's legacy, with mass graves still being uncovered and testimonies of IS brutality yet to be investigated.

For years, its courts have handed down hundreds of execution orders and life sentences to those convicted of terrorism offences, including foreign fighters.

Iranian-backed militias carried out a precision strike last month, hitting the pumping stations of Saudi Arabia’s most important oil pipeline. Days later, another attack hit a Saudi military air base, damaging an Italian fighter jet inside a hangar.

Crucial to the strikes' success was what was happening in the skies overhead: For days beforehand, a constellation of Russian spy satellites converged over the pipeline and the air base to gather intelligence.

A private geospatial intelligence firm said it examined 40 missile and drone attacks against Saudi Arabia by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and militias in Iraq between July 1 and Oct. 19. In every case, the firm found the same pattern of Russian government and military satellites orbiting above the areas for days before and after.

"What we found is a 100% match" between the satellite activities and strikes, said Nawaf Obaid, founder of Geneva-based AURORAH Geosignal Intelligence.

The findings illustrate how Russia is believed to be helping Iran and its allies in the region target Saudi Arabia’s oil and military infrastructure in attacks that have helped raise global energy prices.

Three officials, including one from Saudi Arabia and another in the top ranks of the Houthis, as well as a private intelligence analyst, told The Associated Press that the Houthis and other Iranian allies have benefited from Russian intelligence, as well as Chinese capabilities. Iranian advisers in the field analyzed and transferred the intelligence to their allies, according to AP reporting.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry’s deputy minister for public diplomacy, Rayed Krimly, told reporters last week that Iran and the Houthis receive intelligence from "elements in Russia and China, even commercial elements sometimes."

"We do discuss these matters regularly with China and Russia, and we will continue to do so," he said.

Russian officials had no immediate comment when asked about the allegations, including AURORAH’s findings.

Russia and Iran have a longstanding military cooperation arrangement, including transferring drone technology. While Russia has not been directly involved in the wars in the region, U.S. and European officials have said Russia has shared intelligence with Iran.

Iranian-backed groups were able to carry out pinpoint strikes

On the morning of Sept. 10, multiple drone strikes from Iraq hit three critical pumping stations along Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline, immediately interrupting the flow of oil. The 1,200-kilometer (746-mile) pipeline across the kingdom has been a vital alternative route for getting its crude to market amid Iran’s attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

The pumping stations are vital to moving oil through the pipeline, which rises more than 1,100 meters (3,608 feet) in altitude as it goes from eastern Saudi Arabia across the Najd Plateau then back down to the kingdom’s western coast on the Red Sea, said Obaid, a fellow at King’s College Department of War Studies who also served as an adviser to various Saudi officials from 2004 to 2016.

"This is where the militias out of Iraq decided to strike," he said.

Beginning in July, his firm observed 11 of Russia’s Cosmos 2600 series satellites concentrating on those three sections of the pipeline. Flybys increased in the weeks leading up to the attacks and in the hours around the strikes, showing reconnaissance before and after, he said.

A week later, King Fahd Air Base in Taif, Saudi Arabia, was hit with multiple projectiles fired by the Iranian-backed Houthis. Along with hangars at the base, an Italian air force Eurofighter Typhoon jet was damaged, according to the Italian Defense Ministry. The Italian military has had assets deployed in Saudi Arabia for years as part of the U.S.-led coalition’s campaigns in Iraq and Syria.

In both those cases, Obaid's firm monitored a 50% increase in the number of Russian satellites orbiting above the targets during a 72-hour period before and after the strikes, compared with July.

Notably, the Taif attack precisely hit the Italian warplane rather than Saudi ones stationed at the same base, suggesting "highly specialized intelligence support that the Houthis and Iranians simply don’t have," Obaid said.

The Houthis have warned foreign powers not to help Saudi Arabia.

A clear pattern of satellites is visible

AURORAH used open-source information as well as other intelligence sources to identify 72 Russian reconnaissance satellites out of more than 11,000 spacecraft orbiting the Earth, Obaid said. It then tracked their trajectories and maneuvers while comparing them to military activity on the ground.

The firm has not intercepted actual transmission of intelligence to Iran or its allies, Obaid said. Instead, the firm has established a definitive pattern of Russian satellite positions and reconnaissance activity around strategic targets ahead of strikes, indicating that intelligence is being collected and transferred for Houthi and Iraqi militia targeting, he said.

Obaid said the same satellite patterns also occurred in connection with Iranian strikes on U.S. bases in the Middle East during the U.S.-Iran war that began in February.

“That is the fundamental transformation in the regional military balance: The intelligence system behind the weapon is becoming as important as the weapon itself,” he said.

Adam Marsh, vice president of technological solutions at California-based Leolabs, an orbital intelligence firm, said the massing of satellites is what one would expect to see for purposes of collecting intelligence. The Russians can deny they are doing it, he said, but he noted there is only a general policy and no regulatory body: “How would you stop anybody?”

Satellite intelligence has also helped Houthis in their fight inside Yemen

An official briefed on investigations in Saudi Arabia into recent attacks said intelligence showed that Russian satellites had helped Houthis and Iraqi militias strike sensitive targets, including the pumping stations on the East-West Pipeline. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

The satellites also helped strikes by Iran in March on Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base, where a U.S. surveillance aircraft was severely damaged, and on a CIA unit inside the U.S. Embassy complex in Riyadh, the official said.

The investigations found that missiles and drones used by the Houthis in their strikes had Russian- and Chinese-made components, the official said.

Russian satellite intelligence has also helped the Houthis in the dramatic advances they made against Saudi-backed opponents in Yemen’s civil war, according to Obaid and a Houthi leader.

AURORAH identified satellite configurations over targets in connection to an Oct. 15 Houthi strike on the presidential palace in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden and a nearby command center used by the Saudi-led coalition, as well as a strike on a government recruitment center in the province of Shabwa that killed 75 new recruits, Obaid said.

Iranian advisers on the ground in Yemen have been providing the rebels with data based on Russian satellite intelligence to help in targeting, a senior Houthi leader told the AP. The leader spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential role of the advisers.

Mzahem Alsaloum, a security analyst who has followed Iranian-backed groups for nearly a decade and now runs a private intelligence firm, said the advisers use Russian spy satellite information to provide Iranians with target lists and operational information.

The Houthi leader also said the Iranians provided the rebels with more advanced equipment, including systems for piloting drones and for helping missiles evade air defenses.

The equipment was developed by the Iranians, bought commercially or provided by Russia and China, he said, though he did not know whether those countries were aware the equipment was being used in the Yemen war.

A drone was shot down near the US embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, triggering three loud explosions near the heavily fortified Green Zone, Iraqi security officials said.

Iraq's Security Media Cell said in a brief statement that the explosions were caused by the interception of a drone near the Green Zone, which houses the US embassy and several government institutions.

Security sources in Baghdad told The New Arab that two surveillance drones had approached the US embassy compound before being intercepted by its C-RAM air defence system.

The sources said Iraqi authorities had launched an investigation but had not yet established where the drones were launched from.

The incident comes as the Iraqi government continues efforts to persuade armed factions to surrender their weapons and bring all military capabilities under state control.

Several factions have agreed to hand over their weapons, but others have refused, including four groups operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

They are Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Harakat al-Nujaba and Harakat al-Awfiya.

Security sources told The New Arab that they suspected the drones belonged to factions opposed to disarmament, although no group had claimed responsibility.

The sources said the factions continued to regard the US embassy as an occupation base and possessed surveillance and drone capabilities unmatched by other local Iraqi groups.

Last week, the four factions accused Washington of violating Iraqi sovereignty and failing to honour its commitments to Baghdad.

In a joint statement, they criticised restrictions on airports and border crossings with Iran, arguing that such decisions were being dictated by the United States.

They also questioned whether Iraq could exercise genuine sovereignty while major national decisions remained subject to foreign influence.

Earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi announced that three of five armed factions that had agreed to surrender their weapons had already done so, while negotiations continued with the remaining two.

"Five factions agreed to hand over their weapons, and three have already done so, while dialogue continues with the others," Zaidi said during a meeting with tribal leaders, according to his office.

Iraqi researcher Mujashaa al-Tamimi told The New Arab that the use of surveillance drones could be intended to signal to Washington that armed factions remained active and capable of carrying out operations.

However, he stressed that this interpretation depended on whether the drones had actually been launched by those groups.

Tamimi warned that the renewed use of drones could signal another period of heightened tensions in Baghdad.

Nearly 5,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes in Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank as Israeli military operations entered their fifth consecutive day, while raids and settler attacks continued across the territory.

The Israeli army has closed all entrances and exits to Hebron while carrying out operations in the neighbourhoods of Deir Baha and al-Jilda, the hometowns of two Palestinians who carried out a shooting attack on Friday that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded others. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to carry out collective punishment against the neighbourhoods following the shooting.

Ola al-Qawasmi, a spokesperson for Hebron Municipality, told The New Arab that municipal records showed 780 families, comprising 4,969 people, had been displaced from their homes.

Those displaced include 336 infants under the age of two, 441 people aged 60 and above, 216 pregnant or breastfeeding women, 44 people with disabilities and 312 people with chronic illnesses, al-Qawasmi said.

She added that displaced families had sought shelter with relatives, while the municipality had opened temporary shelters in preparation for further displacement as the Israeli operation and siege continued.

Military raids and settler attacks

The United Nations said on Tuesday that more than 3,000 people had been displaced by Israeli forces in Hebron since Friday, as humanitarian organisations supported local authorities in responding to the needs of affected residents.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, settlers attacked the village of Umm Safa, northwest of Ramallah, and set fire to three cars, according to village council head Marwan Sabah.

Settlers also stormed the courtyards of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Tuesday morning under Israeli police protection and performed Talmudic rituals. Israeli officials and far-right settlers have increasingly challenged the longstanding status quo at Islam's third-holiest site, under which non-Muslims may visit but are not permitted to pray.

In Nablus governorate, a 44-year-old Palestinian was shot in the foot by Israeli forces at the Huwara checkpoint south of the city. The Palestinian Red Crescent said troops had initially prevented its medical teams from reaching the scene after receiving reports that a vehicle had come under fire. They later allowed medics to enter and evacuate the wounded man to hospital.

A 50-year-old Palestinian was also injured in a settler assault in the town of Burqa, northwest of Nablus, according to the Red Crescent.

Israeli forces also bulldozed memorials erected in honour of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the villages of Beita, Rujeib, Azmut, Madama and Iraq Burin, as well as the town of Beit Furik, east and south of Nablus.

Troops raided several communities across the West Bank, turned homes into military barracks and carried out arrests and house searches in multiple governorates on Tuesday and overnight. Israeli forces also tightened restrictions at checkpoints and roadblocks at the entrances to towns and villages.

In the village of Burin, south of Nablus, Israeli forces had been carrying out a raid since around 2am on Tuesday, according to village council head Ibrahim Omran, who spoke to The New Arab.

Omran said troops had seized a building and converted it into a military barracks while conducting widespread raids on residents' homes. Around 20 Palestinians had been detained, he said, with all but two released by the time he spoke. The raid was still ongoing.

Olive harvest disrupted by settler violence

Settler attacks have also targeted Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest.

In Madama, south of Nablus, a settler uprooted electricity poles, damaging the village's power network and obstructing residents' access to their land. An armed settler also forced four Palestinian families to leave while they were picking olives.

Elsewhere, settlers attacked olive harvesters in several villages around Nablus and Ramallah, smashing a vehicle and stealing harvested olives.

In other incidents, settlers closed off the al-Himma spring in the northern Jordan Valley and fenced off privately owned Palestinian land, cutting off a water source used by residents and livestock, according to Hasan Malihat, director of the al-Baydar Human Rights Organisation.

Israeli forces and settlers also prevented farmers from harvesting olives in Barta'a and Turmus Ayya.

In Masafer Yatta, Israeli forces raided a Palestinian home after settlers attacked the property and assaulted family members, forcing the family to leave. Troops later arrested the homeowner and his son, according to activist Osama Makhamreh.

In Beita, south of Nablus, settlers attacked Palestinian homes and fired live ammunition at residents' vehicles as young men confronted them. No injuries were reported.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir went door-to-door on Tuesday, urging Israelis to vote before polls closed, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition allies intensified efforts to mobilise right-wing voters by portraying a reported surge in Palestinian turnout as a threat.

Footage shared by Ben-Gvir on X showed him accompanied by security personnel and campaign aides as he knocked on apartment doors, asking residents whether they had voted and urging those who had not to head to polling stations.

"In Rahat, the turnout percentages are insane," Ben-Gvir told one resident, referring to the predominantly Palestinian Bedouin city in southern Israel.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ben-Gvir visited the outskirts of Kafr Qasim, a Palestinian-majority town in central Israel, where he warned supporters that high Arab turnout could help Palestinian politicians Mansour Abbas and Ahmad Tibi gain political influence.

"If you want this country to remain Jewish and Zionist, if you want to keep this state from falling into the hands of Mansour Abbas and Ahmad Tibi, go out and vote," he said.

The last-minute mobilisation came as Netanyahu repeatedly warned supporters about Palestinian Arab participation in the election, drawing accusations of racism and incitement from Palestinian political leaders.

Cars flying Netanyahu's Likud party flags drove through Jerusalem playing the Islamic call to prayer and urging people to vote because "Arabs are voting", witnesses told Reuters.

Netanyahu also shared images purporting to show long queues at polling stations in Palestinian-majority communities.

"If we don't wake up now, we'll find ourselves with a government of Mansour Abbas and Ahmed Tibi," he wrote.

Turnout across Israel reached 55.7% during the first nine hours of voting, the Central Elections Committee said, marking the fastest pace on record. However, the national figure does not independently establish the scale of turnout among Palestinian Arab voters.

Palestinian politicians condemned the right-wing campaign, accusing Netanyahu and his allies of treating the democratic participation of Palestinian citizens of Israel as a threat.

Sami Abu Shehadeh, leader of the Palestinian Balad party, said long queues outside polling stations should inspire "pride and joy to anyone who believed in democracy".

"We are receiving all these inciting messages from the petty racists, Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu, and their partners. What are they afraid of? This is actually an excellent sight; it is good for democracy," he wrote on X.

Tibi said strong Palestinian Arab participation could "pave the way for an alternative government and change the grave reality".

Meanwhile, Netanyahu's Likud party sought an extension of voting hours, a request opposed by Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party.

The opposition party accused Likud of attempting to create grounds for challenging the election's legitimacy.

"No exceptional incident has occurred that would justify granting this request, which is intended to lay the groundwork for allegations challenging the integrity of the election, continuing the lies Netanyahu has been spreading since this morning," the party said.

The campaign echoes Netanyahu's previous election tactics, in which he has sought to rally right-wing voters by warning of high Palestinian Arab turnout.

The election is the first since the October 2023 Hamas-led attacks and Israel's subsequent wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

Opinion polls ahead of the vote suggested Netanyahu's coalition could lose its parliamentary majority, although opposition parties also faced difficulties securing the 61 seats needed to form a government.

Residents of southern Syria buried seven civilians, including three children from the same family, on Tuesday following a massacre caused by Jordanian airstrikes on Daraa province, as a grieving grandfather described desperately searching through the rubble for his grandchildren.

The funeral procession began at Al-Sanamayn Military Hospital and travelled to the town of Al-Tuff in the Lajat region of northeastern Daraa, where mourners gathered to bid farewell to those killed in Monday evening's bombing.

The strikes killed seven civilians and wounded three others, bringing the total number of casualties to 10, according to information obtained by The New Arab.

Among the dead were three siblings, Yassin Hadi al-Sulaim, 11, Osama Hadi al-Sulaim, eight, and Lamis Hadi al-Sulaim, six, whose father has been missing since his detention under the former regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Their grandfather, Masoud al-Sulaim, told The New Arab that he had returned home on Monday evening after working at a well, prayed and eaten with his family before going to sleep.

He woke about an hour later to what he believed was thunder, accompanied by lightning and the sound of aircraft overhead.

Moments later, an explosion struck as he walked towards a wall, forcing him to take cover. When he emerged, he discovered that the place where his family had been staying had been destroyed.

"I called and called, but nobody answered. I just wanted someone to say 'ah', but nobody spoke, nobody opened their mouth," he told The New Arab.

He said he began searching frantically through the rubble, moving stones and debris in the hope of finding survivors.

His three grandchildren were among those killed.

Al-Sulaim said other grandchildren, from his daughter's family, had been inside a building made of concrete blocks and corrugated metal sheets when parts of its walls collapsed during the bombing.

Their mother managed to pull them from the rubble, and they were taken to hospital with injuries.

He said he had received telephone calls reassuring him that they were alive but had not yet been able to see them.

The other confirmed fatalities were identified as Lotfiya Hosni al-Ali, 64, Zaher Masoud al-Sulaim, 23, Riyad al-Karad, 65, and Mutlaq al-Sulaim, 70.

Mohammed al-Dukhan, a relative of the victims, told The New Arab that he initially believed the aircraft overhead were Israeli.

He said the strike hit a civilian tent sheltering an elderly woman and her three grandchildren, whose father had been detained in Syria's notorious Saydnaya prison in 2018.

Jordan acknowledges civilian deaths

Jordan expressed regret on Tuesday over the civilian deaths but defended its airstrikes, saying they targeted Islamic State (IS) positions linked to the perpetrators of a deadly church attack in the Jordanian governorate of Karak.

Government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said the operation was based on intelligence about threats to Jordanian national security and claimed that more than 20 IS members had been killed and a large weapons depot destroyed.

Momani insisted that Jordan had taken precautions to avoid civilian casualties and deliberately avoided locations where civilians were believed to be present.

However, an unnamed Jordanian source told the state-owned Al-Mamlaka television channel that civilians had been killed when an airstrike hit a small concrete building near their tent.

The source claimed the building housed an alleged militant and that the force of the explosion killed an elderly woman and three children sheltering nearby.

Jordan's military said the operation, named "Jordanian Deterrence – Hammoud", targeted groups allegedly linked to the recent attack on Hammoud Church in Karak.

Momani said Jordan would work with Syria to establish a joint committee to investigate the consequences of the operation and improve security coordination.

Damascus condemns violation of sovereignty

Syria's foreign ministry strongly condemned the airstrikes, describing the bombing of locations in Daraa and the entry of Jordanian aircraft into Syrian airspace without prior coordination as a violation of national sovereignty.

In a statement on Tuesday, Damascus said the attacks were unacceptable under any circumstances and violated the principles of good neighbourly relations.

The ministry nevertheless stressed the importance of maintaining relations with Jordan and announced plans for an urgent joint security committee to prevent further incidents and improve border coordination.

Syrian Interior Ministry spokesman Nour al-Din al-Baba offered condolences to the victims' families and said authorities were working to establish the circumstances of the bombing.

He emphasised that protecting civilians must remain a priority in efforts to combat terrorism and cross-border crime.

The massacre has left several generations of one family dead, including three young siblings whose father disappeared into the prisons of the former Assad regime, as their relatives struggle to come to terms with another devastating loss.

The UK on Monday imposed sanctions on 15 Sudanese military figures it said were involved in a campaign of sexual violence in the city of El-Fasher.

The commanders are from both the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and are accused of committing atrocities against civilians.

Among those sanctioned are Hussein Abu Jalak, an RSF colonel thought to be involved in atrocities carried out during the capture of the city, and Al-Nour Ahmed Adam – known as "Al-Qubba" – who has been identified as playing a major role in the attack on the city.

The sanctions include asset freezes and travel bans on the commanders.

The measures came a year after the fall of El-Fasher following an 18-month siege by the RSF.

The UN has estimated that at least 6,000 people were killed by the militia between 25 October and 27 October 2025.

In one instance, gunmen massacred at least 460 people in a hospital and took doctors and nurses hostage.

Human rights monitors have documented mass rape carried out by RSF fighters inside the city. Thousands of others are thought to have starved to death during the siege.

The announcement comes after a UK-funded investigation by the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) revealed what the government called a "campaign of systematic starvation and conflict-related sexual violence" against civilians carried out by both sides of the war.

"One year later, further UK-supported CIR reporting this week has shown the brutal tactics used during the siege are still being deployed across Sudan," the Foreign Office said.

"Sexual violence is also rampant, with CIR reporting describing women and girls being abducted, repeatedly raped, and held in conditions amounting to sexual slavery," it added.

The government announced it would allocate £5 million to assist survivors of sexual violence in Sudan and another £10 million in additional humanitarian assistance.

"A year on from the atrocities in El Fasher, UK-funded investigations have shown that rape and starvation are still being weaponised against the people of Sudan," Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said.

"These are crimes against our humanity - the perpetrators must be held accountable, and support from all external backers to the warring parties must end."

The UAE has been accused of heavily backing the RSF's campaign against the army with money, weapons and foreign fighters.

The RSF is composed mainly of fighters from the Arab Janjaweed militia, which is accused of committing genocide in Darfur in the 2000s.

The group has been linked to a series of atrocities during the current war and was accused of perpetrating genocidal violence by the Biden administration in 2025.

Welcome to TNA's continuing coverage of the Israeli elections and news from across the Middle East and beyond.

Here are the main developments today:

• Israel has so far recorded the highest voter turnout since 1973 as millions of people head to the polls to elect 120 members of the Knesset. Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are not allowed to vote, despite the Israeli government determining the direction of their future.
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged his supporters to vote, saying: "We cannot leave this battle here in the hands of the left and the Arab parties that want to bring an end to the Jewish state"
• The southern West Bank city of Hebron remains besieged for the fifth consecutive day following a deadly shootout on Friday, which prompted a large military operation that has displaced nearly 4,000 Palestinians.
• Meanwhile, the war in Yemen rages, with the Saudi-led coalition intercepting Houthi ballistic missiles and Houthi-affiliated media reported that Yemeni government forces launched air strikes in Taiz province

A court in Kuwait has sentenced three men to death over an alleged plot to assassinate the country’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Fahad al-Yusuf al-Sabbah, in a case involving charges of spying for Iran, joining Hezbollah and planning hostile acts against the state.

The Criminal Court’s State Security and Terrorism Division issued the sentences on Monday, while eight other defendants received prison terms.

Kuwaiti media reported that the eight were sentenced to five years in prison each. The verdicts are not final and can be appealed, according to Kuwait Times newspaper.

The three men sentenced to death were identified as Shia cleric Hussein Abdullah al-Maatouq, secretary-general of the National Islamic Alliance, Hassan Abdulhadi Hajieh and Iranian national Abdulreza Haidar Dehqani, according to local media reports.

The defendants were convicted of charges including alleged harming of Kuwait’s national interests, collaborating with Iran, plotting to assassinate senior officials and joining the Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah, which Kuwait classifies as a terrorist organisation.

According to two judicial sources cited by AFP, one of the men sentenced to death had previously been convicted of terrorism in 2016 and later received an amnesty from the emir before being arrested again in April.

The prosecution said the case involved 11 defendants, including nine Kuwaitis, an Iranian national and another non-Kuwaiti. Three of the defendants were outside the country. It also said that three defendants had previously received final criminal sentences in state security cases in 2015 and 2017.

According to Kuwait’s Al-Qabas newspaper, prosecutors accused the defendants of attempting to use explosives to carry out the assassination plot. One defendant was separately accused of attempting to bring explosives into the country to enable the others to carry out the alleged operation.

In its reasoning, the court said the defendants had sought to undermine Kuwait’s security, spread social unrest and erode public confidence in the authorities’ ability to protect lives and property.

Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai reported that the indictment accused the defendants of seeking assistance from and communicating with Iran and groups acting in its interests, including Hezbollah, to carry out hostile acts against Kuwait following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on 28 February, at the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran.

The indictment also accused the defendants of joining and participating in a banned organisation, knowingly supporting its objectives and spreading ideas intended to undermine the country’s fundamental political and social systems through unlawful means.

Prosecutors further alleged that the defendants had engaged in activities harmful to Kuwait’s national interests, including attempting to use explosives to carry out the assassination and cause public panic. One defendant was accused of attempting to procure explosives to enable the others to commit the alleged crimes.

The court’s ruling is subject to appeal.

In March, Kuwait announced the arrest of dozens of people it said were linked to Hezbollah and plotting attacks in the Gulf state, which was repeatedly targeted by Iranian missiles and drones after the US-Israeli strikes on Iran triggered a regional war.

Hezbollah, engaged in conflict with Israel for more than three years, has denied it has a presence in Kuwait.

A major diplomatic dispute has erupted between Syria and Jordan after Jordanian airstrikes, launched in retaliation for a deadly attack on a Greek Orthodox church, killed seven Syrian civilians, including three children, and prompted Damascus to close its main border crossing with the kingdom.

The Syrian government condemned Monday's bombardment of southern Syria as a violation of its sovereignty, accusing Jordan of carrying out the operation without prior coordination and demanding an explanation for the strikes.

Jordan launched the attacks in response to Friday's killing of nine people at a church funeral in the village of Hamoud, in the southern Jordanian governorate of Karak, claiming that the perpetrators were linked to militant organisations operating across the border in Syria.

However, Syrian authorities said the airstrikes hit civilian areas in Daraa and Suweida provinces, killing five members of one family and two elderly men.

Syrian Civil Defence said rescue teams responded to four locations targeted by Jordanian warplanes, recovering the bodies of seven people, including three children, three men and a woman.

Five members of one family were killed and three others injured when a strike hit a tent in the village of al-Taff, in the Lajat area of rural Daraa.

An 80-year-old man was also killed when Jordanian aircraft struck a farm near the Nasib border crossing, while a 60-year-old man died after a house was bombed in the countryside of Suweida.

Jordan acknowledged the civilian deaths on Tuesday and expressed regret, but insisted its operation had targeted Islamic State militants connected to the church attack.

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani said Amman respected Syria's sovereignty and remained committed to cooperation with Damascus against terrorism and cross-border arms and drug smuggling.

Jordan claimed that its aircraft had killed more than 20 Islamic State militants and destroyed a large weapons depot during the operation, which its military named "Jordanian Deterrence – Hamoud".

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said it had formally conveyed its objections to Amman, stressing that military operations inside Syrian territory without prior coordination were unacceptable.

It added that communication between the two countries was continuing to establish the circumstances of the operation and address its consequences.

The dispute deepened on Tuesday when Syria's General Authority for Ports and Customs announced the closure of the Nasib border crossing, suspending passenger movements and commercial trade in both directions.

The crossing, known as Jaber on the Jordanian side, is a vital commercial artery linking the two countries and facilitating trade between Syria, Jordan and the wider Gulf region.

Syrian authorities said the closure was necessary to protect travellers and border personnel amid the security situation in Daraa, without specifying when operations would resume.

The Jordanian strikes followed Friday's attack on mourners attending a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in Hamoud, which left nine people dead and 34 wounded.

Jordanian security forces subsequently arrested three suspects, identified as two brothers and their brother-in-law, following an extensive manhunt.

Public Security Director Obeidallah al-Maaytah described the men as extremists who had adopted takfiri ideology, but said they had decided to carry out the attack spontaneously, without advance planning.

Jordanian authorities also indicated that the suspects did not belong to an organised militant group.

However, the Jordanian military subsequently asserted that the attackers were connected to the organisations targeted in southern Syria, without publicly identifying those groups or presenting evidence establishing their involvement.

The apparently conflicting accounts have raised questions about the justification for the cross-border military operation, particularly given the civilian casualties reported by Syrian authorities.

The bombardment and subsequent border closure mark a significant setback in relations between Damascus and Amman, which had sought closer security and economic cooperation following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

Despite their disagreement over the operation, both governments have indicated that diplomatic and security contacts will continue in an effort to prevent further deterioration in relations.

Turkey has intensified diplomatic efforts to reunify Libya's rival eastern and western administrations, hosting negotiations aimed at establishing a unified military command and government capable of managing the country's vast natural resources.

The latest talks, held in Ankara on Friday and Saturday, ended without a final agreement, as disagreements persisted over the structure of the military leadership and its relationship with civilian political authorities, Libyan sources familiar with the discussions told The New Arab.

Saddam Haftar, deputy commander of the eastern-based military leadership, and Abdulsalam al-Zoubi, undersecretary at the defence ministry of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, arrived in Ankara on Friday evening for Turkish-sponsored negotiations.

The discussions centred on a draft agreement to unify Libya's institutions, although the two sides remained divided over whether the deal should focus exclusively on military and technical arrangements or extend to senior political positions, including the Presidential Council.

Sources said the negotiations produced broad understandings on the structure of a unified military institution, but no decisive breakthrough.

Both delegations agreed to consult their respective leaderships in Tripoli and Benghazi before resuming negotiations, although no date has been set for further talks.

The initiative comes as Ankara seeks to consolidate its influence across Libya, strengthen its position in the eastern Mediterranean and secure the future of a controversial maritime boundary agreement signed with Tripoli in 2019.

The agreement has faced opposition from Greece, Egypt and other regional actors over competing maritime claims.

The Benghazi-based House of Representatives' approval of the maritime agreement has been viewed as an important step in Turkey's efforts to build closer relations with eastern Libya, after years of maintaining stronger ties with the Tripoli authorities.

Erdogan calls for Libyan unity

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated Ankara's opposition to Libya's continued division on Monday, saying his government wanted to see unity and solidarity across the country.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan said Turkey was working to reduce regional disputes and expand cooperation.

He also defended the 2019 maritime agreement, rejecting suggestions that Ankara was seeking to undermine other countries' interests in the eastern Mediterranean.

"Our policy towards the eastern Mediterranean is completely clear. We are not seeking to score goals against any party in the eastern Mediterranean," Erdogan said.

He maintained that Turkey was seeking to protect its maritime jurisdiction, rights and interests while advocating dialogue to resolve disputes.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also acknowledged Egyptian reservations about the maritime agreement last Friday, calling for dialogue to address Cairo's concerns.

Turkey's renewed engagement with both Libyan camps comes as the country's oil resources attract growing international attention, particularly as the war involving Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupt energy supplies and push up global prices.

A unified Libyan government could help stabilise oil production and exports to European markets, although significant political and security obstacles remain.

Ankara also hopes to expand commercial and investment opportunities, particularly in construction and infrastructure, sectors in which Turkish companies have historically maintained a substantial presence in Libya.

Military leadership remains major obstacle

Turkish researcher and writer Cahit Tuz told The New Arab that Ankara viewed Libya as a single state and opposed its permanent division.

He said Turkey's priorities included preserving Libya's territorial integrity, establishing a single administration and ensuring that the country's natural resources benefited its population.

Tuz argued that Turkey's diplomatic efforts had already produced tangible results, pointing to the eastern parliament's approval of the maritime agreement as evidence of improving relations.

He also claimed that some regional and international actors, including Israel, were uncomfortable with Turkey's expanding influence in Libya.

Journalist and political commentator Hamza Tekin told The New Arab that Ankara's approach had evolved from working primarily with one Libyan faction to establishing direct relationships with influential political and military figures on both sides.

He said this shift had helped Turkey reopen channels of dialogue between Tripoli and Benghazi.

"Turkey's efforts in Libya stem from a fundamental conviction that the continuation of political and institutional division does not serve Libyans," Tekin said.

He argued that Ankara was seeking to create the conditions for a unified Libyan state rather than merely bringing rival factions together for negotiations.

However, he warned that the central challenge was translating broad agreement on reunification into workable arrangements.

"The real test begins when determining who will assume military command, how responsibilities will be distributed, which political authority the institutions will answer to, and how to ensure that no single party monopolises power," he said.

Tekin stressed that any lasting agreement would depend on the willingness of Libyan factions to compromise and avoid turning institutional reunification into another arrangement for dividing political influence.

He said Turkey's expanding contacts with both camps offered an opportunity for progress, but cautioned that a sustainable settlement must reflect the will of Libyans rather than an externally imposed agreement.

Libya has remained politically divided for years, with rival authorities and competing military structures obstructing efforts to establish a unified government.

Israeli forces demolished around nine memorials commemorating Palestinians killed by Israel across six towns and villages near Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, as part of a widening campaign targeting Palestinian national symbols and public spaces.

The demolitions took place in Madama, Burin, Iraq Burin, Beit Furik, Rujeib and Azmut, where Israeli forces destroyed stone monuments, memorial plaques and structures bearing the names and photographs of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.

The latest raids follow days of similar operations across the occupied territory, during which dozens of memorials have been destroyed in Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps.

Palestinian academics and analysts told The New Arab that the campaign represented an attempt to reshape public spaces in the West Bank by removing symbols of Palestinian identity, resistance and collective memory.

The operations come as Israeli forces and settlers continue attacks on Palestinian communities, including the destruction of agricultural land, attacks on olive harvesters, livestock theft and restrictions on movement through military checkpoints and gates.

Beyond these attacks, Palestinians say Israel is increasingly targeting the physical symbols through which communities commemorate those killed during decades of occupation.

Across the West Bank, memorials bearing the names and photographs of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces have long been a feature of streets, public squares, refugee camps and university campuses.

Many have stood for decades, serving as reminders of individuals whose deaths remain part of local and national history.

Their destruction has coincided with the growing visibility of Israeli flags and Hebrew-language signs along roads connecting Palestinian towns and cities, particularly near Israeli settlements.

Settlers have also written threatening messages on concrete barriers at military checkpoints, including the Arabic phrase "No future in Palestine".

Israeli forces target memorials in Palestinian cities

On 5 October, Israeli forces raided Birzeit University near Ramallah and destroyed a memorial commemorating Palestinians killed by Israel, leaving no trace of the structure.

Similar operations have taken place in central Nablus, its historic neighbourhoods and Jenin, where Israeli troops deployed military vehicles and bulldozers to demolish stone monuments bearing the names and photographs of Palestinians.

Memorials have also been targeted in Ramallah and Tulkarm, including areas classified as Area A under the Oslo Accords, where the Palestinian Authority was granted responsibility for internal security and civil administration.

Israeli forces have distributed leaflets warning Palestinians against erecting or maintaining monuments commemorating people Israel accuses of carrying out attacks.

Israeli authorities have justified the removal of memorials on the grounds that they allegedly glorify "terrorism".

However, Palestinian academics argue that the campaign goes beyond individual monuments and forms part of a broader effort to suppress expressions of Palestinian national identity.

'A war on memory'

Abduljawad Omar, a writer and assistant professor at Birzeit University, told The New Arab that the demolitions served two purposes.

The first, he said, was to reinforce the visible presence of Israeli military forces in Palestinian communities and deter political and social mobilisation.

The second was a direct attack on Palestinian collective memory.

Omar drew parallels with Israel's destruction of Palestinian homes and neighbourhoods in Gaza, arguing that the loss of buildings and personal possessions also erased physical records of Palestinian lives and history.

He said the campaign in the West Bank had taken two forms: the proliferation of Israeli flags and symbols asserting control over the territory, and the removal of Palestinian flags, monuments and other expressions of remembrance.

According to Omar, Israel was using legal and political language centred on incitement to justify targeting memorials and other social practices associated with Palestinian identity.

He argued that the occupation itself, rather than the commemoration of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, remained the principal source of resistance.

'A war on Palestinian consciousness'

Adel Shadid, an analyst specialising in Israeli affairs, told The New Arab that Israel viewed the commemoration of Palestinians killed during the occupation as a means through which resistance remained embedded in collective memory.

He argued that memorials gave those commemorated a lasting social, religious and moral significance, allowing their stories to influence subsequent generations.

Shadid said Israeli authorities were attempting to undermine the cultural and political significance of Palestinian resistance by removing the symbols associated with it.

The campaign, he argued, reflected a wider effort to reshape Palestinian political consciousness through military pressure, educational changes and restrictions on public commemoration.

He also questioned the continued relevance of the territorial divisions established under the Oslo Accords, pointing to Israeli military operations in areas nominally under Palestinian Authority control.

According to Shadid, Israeli forces now operate across virtually the entire West Bank, with Palestinian Authority security headquarters among the few places generally treated differently.

He argued that the demolitions demonstrated the extent to which Israel was prepared to deploy military resources against even small monuments made of stone or marble.

"Israel is forced to bring out its tanks, not to confront another tank, but to confront a memorial made of a piece of marble or stone bearing their name and photograph," Shadid told The New Arab.

Israeli forces have arrested an Egyptian man who crossed the border fence into Israel overnight on Tuesday, in an event the army described as "serious".

The Israeli military said it identified a man crossing the border from North Sinai into Israeli territory near the Nitzana settlement.

Soldiers detained the man and transferred him to security forces for interrogation, it said in a statement on social media.

It said it "views the incident with severity and continues to maintain a high level of defensive readiness in the area".

Egyptian authorities are yet to comment on the incident.

There have been a number of security incidents on the Egypt-Israel border since the Israeli military began its genocidal offensive in Gaza.

In June 2023, an Egyptian policeman shot and killed three Israeli soldiers after crossing the border near Nitzana.

There have been several exchanges of fire between Egyptian and Israeli troops since Israel began its genocidal offensive in Gaza.

In October 2023, an Israeli tank struck an Egyptian military position at the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza. The following May, Egyptian and Israeli troops fired on each other after Israeli forces invaded Rafah.

There have been dozens of incidents involving drones, which are used to smuggle drugs and weapons over the border.

Tensions have risen between the two countries over Israel's assault on Gaza, which sparked concerns in Cairo that Israeli forces could attempt to forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into Egypt.

Egypt has responded by increasing military deployments in the Sinai, triggering accusations from Israel that it is in breach of the 1979 peace treaty.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has removed the head of the country’s National Intelligence Service, while a Baghdad court has issued an arrest warrant for the chairman of a southern provincial council over threats to start civil disobedience in protest against the closure of a border crossing with Iran.

The state news agency INA reported on Monday that al-Zaidi had ordered the termination of Hamid al-Shatri’s appointment as head of the National Intelligence Service. Al-Shatri had held the post since December 2024.

The agency did not provide a reason for the decision or name a successor.

Separately, the Third Karkh Investigative Court issued an arrest warrant for Maysan Provincial Council chairman Mustafa al-Muhammadawi, following a complaint submitted by the prime minister’s office over his threat to declare civil disobedience and block roads unless the government reopened Al-Sheeb border crossing with Iran.

Al-Muhammadawi was later released by the court on Tuesday after complying with the relevant legal procedures, his office said, according to the privately-owned National Iraqi News Agency (NINA).

The legal action followed remarks al-Muhammadawi made during a news conference at the crossing on Sunday, when he gave the federal government until 29 October to reopen it. He threatened to declare civil disobedience and block major roads if the government failed to meet his demand and used language that al-Zaidi’s media office described as inappropriate.

Al-Zaidi ordered an investigation into the remarks on Monday. His office said the move was intended to ensure compliance with the law and constitutional and administrative procedures when dealing with public service and administrative matters. It added that the relevant authorities would determine any legal responsibility arising from the statements.

Dozens of protesters also blocked the nearby Bazargan road, a key route used by oil companies in Maysan, in protest against the continued closure of the crossing. Security forces were deployed around the demonstrations.

Members of Maysan Provincial Council have warned that the closure could have serious consequences for the province’s economy and residents’ livelihoods and called on the government to reopen the crossing.

The Iraqi government ordered the closure of Al-Sheeb crossing on 20 October, with the suspension taking effect the following morning and remaining in place until further notice. Baghdad said the move was intended to improve the crossing’s technical and logistical readiness. An Iraqi border official separately told Reuters that security measures at the crossing were weak and inadequate.

The decision prompted criticism from Iran’s Interior Ministry, which said Tehran had not received prior notification from Baghdad.

Iraq also ordered the temporary closure of the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran in September as a precaution following drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, according to Iraqi security sources. Riyadh said the drones had been launched from Iraqi territory.

On 28 July, joint US-Saudi airstrikes targeted Iran-backed militias in Iraq, which they said were reportedly responsible for attacks on US forces and Saudi energy infrastructure.

Wider government shake-up

Separately, al-Zaidi has ended the contracts of 69 advisers, experts and other staff working in his office, as part of a wider government shake-up that has also included a change at the top of the prime minister’s office.

INA reported on Monday that the decision was set out in an administrative order dated 22 October, which cited the “public interest” but did not provide specific reasons for ending the appointments.

Records reviewed by 964media news site showed that the affected positions covered areas including security, foreign affairs, economic policy, health, education and public administration. Paid posts carried salaries of between one million and five million Iraqi dinars, while several contracts were unpaid.

Some of those dismissed had worked in the office for several years, while others had contracts due to run until 2027.

The list also included political figures, former ministers and judges, The New Arab had learned. The appointments had generated additional costs, including allowances for protection, accommodation and transport.

The prime minister’s office director, Ihsan al-Awadi, was also replaced by Rashad Khalaf Hashim, who took over at a handover ceremony on Monday.

Bloated public sector

The changes come amid expectations of further dismissals and retirements across Iraqi ministries and state institutions.

An unnamed official at the prime minister’s office told The New Arab that the government would begin a campaign to address excessive employment in the public sector, using performance assessments to determine whether officials should remain in their positions or leave public service.

The official said there was broad political agreement on the measures, which would extend beyond Baghdad to include ministries, security institutions and provincial administrations. A recent government review had identified dozens of surplus positions draining the state’s operating budget, some of which had been created under previous governments as political or personal favours rather than to meet administrative needs.

Iraqi political affairs expert Ahmed Ali al-Hamdani told The New Arab that at least 30 other advisers had been retained because they performed actual duties within the government office.

He said some of those whose contracts were terminated had remained in government for as long as 19 years without producing research, policy proposals or ideas, adding that many of the appointments had been made for political reasons.

Al-Hamdani also said the list included the daughter of a former president, the son of a minister, former lawmakers and ministers, and politicians who had lost elections but were subsequently appointed as advisers.

A court ordered a leading independent Egyptian news site closed on Tuesday after its editor-in-chief was convicted of running the site without a licence and taken into custody pending bail, her lawyers and the outlet said.

Lina Attalah of the news site Mada Masr, which has won numerous international awards for its reporting, was fined 3 million Egyptian pounds ($53,400), her lawyers told Reuters.

The court gave her the maximum penalty, ordering the website to be shut down and its equipment confiscated, Mada Masr said in a statement.

After prosecutors referred Attalah to trial last Thursday, a group of 119 rights groups and media outlets, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Protect Journalists, called the case an "unprecedented attack on press freedom".

US Senator Chris Van Hollen said in a statement on the social media platform X on Friday that the charges were baseless and that "journalism is not a crime".

Egyptian authorities say the state is committed to upholding freedom of expression but that the media must operate within the law, respect national security and counter misinformation.

Founded in 2013, Mada Masr is the most internationally prominent independent outlet in a landscape mostly dominated by media owned by or closely affiliated with the state, and it regularly publishes on politically sensitive topics.

It has been blocked inside the country since 2017. Mada Masr says six cases have been brought against it and its journalists over the last six years, though rights groups say this is the first of its kind to be referred to trial.

The case against Attalah—named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2020—follows the arrest last month of the entire newsroom of the fact-checking outlet Matsaddash.

The CPJ said the arrests risked "deepening a climate of fear that threatens independent journalism".

Mada Masr says it has asked for a licence from the Supreme Council for Media Regulation repeatedly since 2018 but heard nothing back and only learned of a rejection when prosecutors raised the issue during an earlier case in 2022.

The outlet contested that decision in court, and says its latest application has been awaiting a response since 2023.

The council has not commented on the case but has said that it facilitates procedures for outlets which meet official requirements and is keen to promote freedom of expression. State authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In September, the US waived rights conditions, which include protecting media freedoms, on a portion of the roughly $1.3 billion of military aid it sends Egypt each year.

Israeli authorities barred a delegation of European politicians and campaigners from entering the occupied West Bank on Monday, detaining its members for eight hours before sending them back to Jordan, SNP MP Lara Bird told The New Arab.

Bird said Israel was deliberately preventing international observers from witnessing its actions against Palestinians, questioning what the authorities were trying to conceal as settler violence and military raids intensify across the occupied Palestinian territory.

"What is abundantly clear is that there is still a very systematic and intentional effort to stop people from coming into the West Bank to witness what is going on in the illegally occupied West Bank," Bird told The New Arab.

"And that’s the thing that needs to be discussed – not our experiences of being denied entry, but what it is that they are so terrified of people seeing."

The Progressive International delegation had travelled to the region to meet Palestinian farmers, students, academics and civil society organisations, and to participate in the annual olive harvest, which has been targeted by escalating Israeli settler attacks.

The delegation included Labour MP Clive Lewis, Scottish Green MSP Kate Nevens, Spanish senator Josu Estarrona Elizondo of the Basque EH Bildu party, and former Labour MP Sam Tarry.

Bird said the group attempted to enter the West Bank through the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan but were detained, interrogated and refused entry "with no justification".

"Everyone is safe, which is important, but it wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience," she told The New Arab after returning to Jordan.

Israeli authorities took delegates to a separate section of the crossing and confiscated their passports.

"Within three minutes, they knew a lot of information about me," she said. "Some people were harassed, shouted at, there was a lot of manipulation – a lot of psychological aggression," Bird added, describing the ordeal as traumatic for several members of the delegation.

Lewis also condemned Israel's decision to prevent the delegation from entering the occupied territory, saying its members had travelled to show solidarity with Palestinians following Israel's genocidal war on Gaza.

"What’s happening here in Palestine is unjust. We’ve just witnessed what Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and many others have called a genocide unfold in Gaza," he said.

"We came here to show the world, and to show solidarity with the Palestinian people. The Israeli government didn’t allow that."

 

 

 

 

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Palestinian olive harvest under attack

The delegation's exclusion comes as Israeli military restrictions and escalating settler attacks deprive thousands of Palestinian farmers of access to their land during the annual olive harvest, a vital source of income and a longstanding symbol of Palestinian attachment to their land.

Palestinian communities have reported attacks involving live ammunition, arson, the destruction of centuries-old olive trees and the theft of harvested olives and agricultural equipment.

Israeli settlers have carried out attacks under the protection of, and in some cases alongside, Israeli forces, as Palestinians face mounting pressure on their land and livelihoods.

The United Nations has described attacks on the olive harvest as "yet another tool of displacement and dispossession".

"We know that violence and demolitions and crackdowns are happening more and more in the West Bank, and that experiences of Palestinians in the West Bank are getting more and more horrific," Bird said.

She also warned that the detention and exclusion of international observers and NGO workers was becoming increasingly normalised, further restricting outside scrutiny of Israel's occupation.

Erik Edman, political director of the left-wing European political alliance DiEM25, said the delegation had intended to meet Palestinian farmers facing attacks on their own land, alongside students, academics and civil society organisations living under Israeli occupation.

"This is an attempt to isolate Palestinians and intimidate those who stand with them. It will fail," he said. "European governments must stop supplying the weapons and diplomatic protection that allow this violence to continue."

Yesterday, I was barred from entering the West Bank by Israeli officials, as part of a @ProgIntl delegation. What's happening here in Palestine is unjust. We've just witnessed what Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and many others have called a genocide unfold in Gaza. We came here to show the world, and to show solidarity with the Palestinian people. The Israeli government didn't allow that.

— Clive Lewis MP (@labourlewis) October 27, 2026

Israeli elections offer little hope of change, MP warns

The incident took place on the eve of Israel's parliamentary elections, with Bird warning that a change of government would not necessarily bring an end to the occupation, settlement expansion or violence against Palestinians.

She rejected the portrayal of Netanyahu's political opponents as a meaningful alternative for Palestinians, arguing that support for Israel's settlement project extends beyond the prime minister's governing coalition.

"With the Israeli elections going on today, there is a false picture being painted that the opposition to Netanyahu’s party is more left-leaning, is more centrist, could be a better alternative or solution to the occupation and apartheid," Bird told The New Arab.

"But that is completely untrue because both parties have made it clear that they agree that settlers should be allowed to rage terror and violence in the occupied West Bank and they believe in the expansion of settlements."

Bird called for sustained international pressure on Israel regardless of the outcome of Tuesday's vote, warning against allowing a change in leadership to divert attention from the treatment of Palestinians.

"It is so important at the moment that we do not continue to lose the pressure that we are placing on the Israeli government, whichever Israeli government comes next," she said.

Otherwise, she warned, "we risk completely eliminating the Palestinian people, their culture, their history, their right to be on their land".