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Key updates, 29 August 2026:
Footage shows settlers attacking Palestinian woman, NBC team in West Bank
Masked Israeli settlers were filmed attacking a Palestinian woman and a group of NBC News journalists earlier today.
The NBC crew was in the Palestinian village of Jalud to interview a woman who was recently kicked out of her home by settlers.
She and the group of journalists were walking toward the hilltop where her home is located when they were ambushed by settlers, who threw rocks at them and struck them with sticks.
The woman, Ida Ahmed Abdullah, was evacuated from the scene for medical treatment by the Palestinian Red Crescent.
There were no arrests made.
🇮🇱 🎥 Masked ‘Israeli’ settlers attacked and injured a Palestinian woman and members of an NBC News team reporting in the West Bank on Saturday.
Read more: https://t.co/4VHieg56rd pic.twitter.com/DLEIgoFgSe
— Roya News English (@RoyaNewsEnglish) August 29, 2026
US judge says Trump administration unconstitutionally silencing Israel critics
Students walk by graffiti reading "free Palestine" near university president Richard Saller’s office at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, June 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)
SAN JOSE, California — Citing the importance of the First Amendment, a federal judge in California says the US government is unconstitutionally silencing critics of Israel’s war in Gaza and others as part of the Trump administration’s quest to deport noncitizens who it says disrupted college campuses while expressing their views.
Judge Noël Wise, in a ruling, delivers a victory for The Stanford Daily, the student newspaper at Stanford University, which has said some international students were afraid to speak out because of the deportation threat.
“Freedom of speech is illusory if we are only ‘free’ to express complementary views about the government and its leaders,” the judge writes
The decision largely piggybacks on findings from nearly a year ago by a US district judge in Boston, who ruled that the Trump administration violated the Constitution when it targeted people who are not citizens for deportation solely for supporting Palestinians and criticizing Israel.
Wise wrote that the freedoms of speech and the press are “foundational to America’s enduring democracy.” The judge cited free-speech and vagueness flaws that violate the First Amendment and Fifth Amendment as she struck down portions of the provisions that the federal government follows regarding deportations.
Shin Bet veteran confirms he held direct talks with Hamas’s Hamad, with okay from ‘political echelon’
Adi Rotem, a retired Shin Bet hostage negotiator, in a Channel 12 interview, August 29, 2026. (Screenshot)
Retired Shin Bet officer Adi Rotem reveals that he was the negotiator who held direct talks with senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad in 2024, and stresses that the secret channel was approved by “the political echelon.”
The talks, first revealed on Thursday, reportedly helped enable the deal with Hamas in January 2025, during which dozens of both living and slain hostages were freed in small batches in return for boosted humanitarian aid to Gaza and over 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
Rotem, interviewed on Channel 12, says it was his idea to approach Hamad, who he says had played a role in the Shalit deal, the 2011 agreement under which Israel under Netanyahu freed 1,023 Palestinian security prisoners, including October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar, in return for captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who had held captive by Hamas for over five years.
Rotem says he suggested approaching Hamad to then Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, who obtained the necessary approvals from the political leadership.
Bar was booted from the negotiating team by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February 2025. Rotem, a veteran Shin Bet official, apparently retired from the Shin Bet at around this time.
Asked about Netanyahu’s role, he says the political echelon “sets the boundaries, within which the negotiating team has to formulate the strategy — the mandate. And then the forward team has to put that into practice. We worked according to the instructions — and if we thought we needed more room for maneuver, we would go to the political echelon, sometimes even within the ongoing rounds of talks, and seek permission for this or that — and it was sometimes given and sometimes not.”
Hamad left Gaza some two months before the October 7, 2023, invasion, massacre and abductions, and declared from Beirut on October 23 that there would be “a second, a third, a fourth” such onslaught, with the goal of the annihilation of Israel.
Rotem says the decision to attempt direct talks with Hamas followed the murders in August 2024 of six hostages held by Hamas — Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Carmel Gat.
He says that in the course of 2024, “after we had completed the deal for the release of women and children hostages at the end of 2023,” efforts to negotiate a further deal with Hamas were going around in circles.
A key obstacle, he says, was that it was clear that ostensible mediator Qatar “had the same interests as Hamas.”
Qatar adopted Hamas’s positions as the December 2023 deal collapsed, Rotem says, “which as you recall were full of lies — about women who were soldiers, women they couldn’t find, and so on.”
“The last straw” was the murders of the six hostages. “Everybody took that very hard, and it was clear that we had to try a different approach,” he says.
He says the negotiations with Hamad often took place in phone calls he made from home, and they would often speak late into the night, “very emotional, hard, complex talks.”
“Looking at it solely from the clean, professional point of view, I think [negotiating with Hamas] was the right thing to do, and it was good that the political echelon approved it, because the fact that you are talking with the enemy does not mean that you are giving him legitimacy,” he says. “You are having to negotiate with the terrorist, with the enemy, in order to extricate somebody.”
He says he was “very, very, very” surprised that word of his secret talks with Hamas emerged this week, when the military censor approved the story for publication after censoring it for months, “but a lot of surprising things are happening in the state of Israel. Not all of them positive.”
Footage from Qusra shows settlers attacking Palestinian home as IDF troops stand by, don’t act
Additional footage from today’s settler raid on the Palestinian village of Qusra shows IDF soldiers standing by as the Israeli extremists attack a home on the outskirts of the town.
The clip shows settlers hurling stones at the home, while the soldiers standing nearby refrain from taking action to apprehend them.
No arrests have been made of the settlers involved in the attack; however, prosecution against such acts of violence by Jewish extremists in the West Bank is highly rare, and critics accuse the government of ignoring and even tacitly supporting the phenomenon.
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that vehicles were confiscated at the scene, the Haaretz daily says that those cars were not the ones used by settlers in the attack.
בתיעוד המטריד הבא מקוסרה היום – נראים חיילים עומדים לצד המבנה לעברו המתנחלים מיידים אבנים, ולא עושים דבר .
בהמשך התיעוד נראים המתנחלים נכנסים דרך החלון לתוך המבנה. החיילים נותרים במקומם.כאמור, הפורעים לא נעצרו.
החיילים מאידך בחרו לעצור דווקא את תושבי הבית שהותקף.לגבי… pic.twitter.com/6v0FuzSIkQ
— Matan Golan (@MatanGolanPhoto) August 29, 2026
Activists say settlers ‘kidnapped’ foreign activist during raid of Palestinian village
Settlers have kidnapped a foreign activist during a raid on the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair in the southern West Bank, activists say.
The kidnapped activist, who is identified as British man Finn Joughlin, was in the village to try to protect the locals amid repeated settler attacks. The volunteer activity is known as protective presence, and has become increasingly common throughout the West Bank, where settler violence takes place on a near-daily basis with almost complete impunity.
Nadav Weiman, from the left-wing Breaking the Silence group, says that the kidnapped foreign activist has not been heard from since he was filmed being pulled to a nearby Israeli illegal outpost by settlers over an hour ago.
“Children of settlers from the outpost stole a ball from Palestinian children [in Umm al-Khair] and then called armed adults [to the scene], and they kidnapped the activist,” Weiman writes.
“Note the settler children in the video. This is how their parents raise them,” he adds.
לפני זמן קצר מתנחלים חטפו פעיל נוכחות מגינה בינלאומי מהכפר הפלסטיני אום אל ח׳יר הוא נלקח למאחז הסמוך וכרגע לא יודעים איפה הוא נמצא
ילדי מתנחלים מהמאחז גנבו כדור של ילדים פלסטינים ואז קראו למבוגרים חמושים שחטפו את הפעיל
*שימו לב לילדי המתנחלים בסרטון ככה ההורים שלהם מחנכים אותם pic.twitter.com/swlcBcIksi
— נדב וימן Nadav Weiman (@weimanadav) August 29, 2026
Responding to the footage shared by Weiman, Democrats MK Gilad Kariv calls on the IDF to rescue the kidnapped activist.
“After you locate him, arrest the kidnappers,” he says.
“Anarchy and violence are rampant in the area under your direct responsibility. These images are further evidence of the complete collapse of the rule of law in the territories,” Kariv adds.
Witnesses say IDF troops fired tear gas, detained residents inside Qusra home attacked by settlers
An IDF soldier patrols the site of an attack by settlers on Palestinian properties in the West Bank village of Qusra, August 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Saddam Oday, one of those trapped in the home attacked in the Palestinian West Bank village of Qusra today, says the military fired tear gas into the home and detained the residents inside while letting him go.
He says the Israel Defense Forces had not detained any of the settlers and had allowed them to leave.
The owner of the house, Luay Bayruti, says when the military arrived, they handcuffed, blindfolded, and beat those inside, before later releasing them.
The military said in a statement that troops and border police forces had arrived on the scene to remove “rioters” and protect the residents inside the house.
The military does not immediately respond to a request for comment on why they had reportedly fired tear gas at the house and detained and beaten the residents.
Bayruti says that after calling the military for help, he and six others were trapped inside the home for more than an hour as settlers threw stones.
Bayruti shows a Reuters reporter his bandaged arm, which he says had been injured by a stone during the attack.
Oday, a medic, says four of those trapped had suffered injuries due to the tear gas, and two had suffered injuries from the stones thrown by settlers.
The attack occurred a few hundred yards away from three homes to which settlers laid siege this month, drawing international condemnation and a massive IDF deployment that residents say has kept them effectively trapped in their homes.
“They spotted the residents working on their house, which is still under construction, and they started throwing rocks,” says Loui Abu Ridi, a Palestinian-American whose home was one of the three under siege this month. He says he watched today’s attack occur from his home.
Police say Qusra investigation ongoing, officers searching for attackers
IDF soldiers secure a building under construction as ambulances evacuate injured Palestinians following an attack by settlers in the West Bank village of Qusra, August 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Police say officers in the West Bank are “continuing to investigate the violent incident that happened earlier in the area of the village of Qusra.”
Settlers, who have besieged homes in the Nablus-area village for weeks, earlier today took over a Palestinian home with the family inside. The IDF claimed it tried to get the settlers out, but did not say if troops succeeded.
Police say Border Police officers and IDF soldiers worked together in Qusra “to bring back order and disperse those involved.”
Officers were also dispatched to the area “to advance the investigation, while carrying out scans alongside IDF forces to locate those involved who had been dispersed.”
Police Superintendent Moshe Pinchi, chief of police in the West Bank, held an assessment with other security officials near the area today, police say, adding that the Shin Bet is involved in the investigation.
Israeli forces are currently “focused on locating those involved and continuing to locate findings in the field, along with the seizure of the vehicles found in the field, in order to bring those involved to justice.”
The statement indicates officers first dispersed the “Israeli rioters” and then pursued them to carry out arrests. It does not say why no arrests were made on the scene. No arrests of settlers have been reported.
Shin Bet confirms it urgently brought Yair Netanyahu to Israel from Miami due to threat
Yair Netanyahu at a court hearing on his request for a restraining order against Haaretz journalist Uri Misgav at the Jerusalem District Court in Jerusalem, July 15, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The Shin Bet security agency confirms that it spirited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son, Yair, away to Israel after a threat to his life.
The agency’s comments came after a report said earlier this week Yair Netanyahu was the target of an Iranian assassination plot in December 2025 while he was living in Florida, and after Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 14 in a phone interview that “Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to kill, to murder one of my sons.”
“There was a significant threat to harm Yair Netanyahu, and in light of this and after an assessment, a decision was made together with the security team to urgently rescue him and return him to Israel,” the Shin Bet tells Channel 12 news, without specifying the threat.
In order to carry out the operation, the Shin Bet took some of its agents away from President Isaac Herzog, who happened to be in New York at the time, to Miami, Channel 12 reports.
IDF says Hamas commander and sniper killed in strike in north Gaza yesterday
A Hamas commander and a sniper in the terror group were killed in a strike in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, the military announces.
According to the IDF, the strike killed Hani Abd al-Hai Fakhri Mazloum, a company commander in Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force, and Hassan Zidan Hassan Deiri, a Hamas sniper.
Both terror operatives were also involved in “trafficking and supply of weapons to Hamas terrorists,” the military says.
The IDF justifies the strike amid the ceasefire by saying that both operatives had been advancing attacks on troops and civilians, as well as trying to restore Hamas capabilities, “all in violation of the ceasefire agreement.”
The strike was carried out to “remove the threat,” the military adds.
להסרת איום מיידי: צה"ל חיסל מפקד פלגת נוח'בה וצלף מארגון הטרור חמאס ברצועת עזה
צה"ל תקף בצפון רצועת עזה אתמול וחיסל את המחבלים האני עבד אלחי פחרי מזלום, מפקד פלגת נוח'בה ואת חסן זידאן חסן דירי, צלף בזרוע הצבאית של ארגון הטרור חמאס pic.twitter.com/S0AcZdp1Eq
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 29, 2026
Breaking silence, Netanyahu decries ‘criminal violence’ after settlers again attack besieged West Bank village
In his first comment on the violence in the area, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemns “the criminal acts of violence” by Israeli settlers in the Palestinian West Bank villages of Qusra and Jalud today.
In a statement, Netanyahu says the individuals are a “handful of rioters” who are “causing a huge injustice to the law-abiding settler public, hindering the IDF in fulfilling its missions, and harming Israel’s standing in the world.”
“Security forces are working quickly, seized three vehicles, and brought an end to the incident within a short time,” Netanyahu says.
He does not say if any arrests were made.
Dozens of extremist Israeli settlers attacked the West Bank village of Qusra today, where they took over a Palestinian home while the family was inside, before the military was called to the scene to remove them. It was not immediately clear, however, whether any settlers remained inside the house or in Qusra.
Netanyahu asserted in December 2025 that violent settlers numbered just some 70 youths who, he said, were not even from the West Bank. In July, however, he revised that figure upward to 150 “juvenile delinquents,” who he said were “brought into the West Bank.”
However, activists on the ground have said those behind the attacks are Israelis who have established illegal outposts throughout the West Bank in record numbers over the past three years. Netanyahu’s government has provided significant funding and protection to these wildcat communities, which critics say are being used as a tool to dispossess Palestinians of their lands.
Israel has come under fire for rarely carrying out arrests in instances of settler violence, with indictments and convictions even more infrequent.
Key Update
Yisrael Beytenu MK Sharon Nir says she will not run in next election
Yisrael Beytenu MK Sharon Nir attends a House Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 7, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Yisrael Beytenu MK Sharon Nir announces she will not compete in the upcoming election on October 27.
“Over the past four years, I’ve had the privilege of working for citizens of the State of Israel, for IDF reservists and soldiers — during a time of intense war,” Nir says in a post on Facebook.
Haredi protesters block buses from arriving in Jerusalem before Shabbat ends
Ultra-Orthodox protesters block the entrance to Jerusalem to stop buses from entering the city before the end of Shabbat.
Images show the protesters placing roadblocks to stop the buses, which arrived from the north of the country.
ושוב. באופן חריג מאוד עשרות חרדים חוסמים אוטובוסים של אגד בכניסה לירושלים. חסומים כבר חצי שעה 10 אוטובוסים
אין משטרה pic.twitter.com/swjo0o5DY6— לירן תמרי | Liran Tamari (@liran__tamari) August 29, 2026
Two killed in car crash on highway in north
Two men were killed in a collision between two vehicles near the northern community of Lapidot, the Magen David Adom ambulance service says.
MDA says medics who arrived on the scene on Route 854 also treated a man in his 30s suffering from severe wounds and took him to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
Severe storms in region causing flight delays
Severe thunderstorms in Cyprus and the Mediterranean Sea are causing some delays in flights in the area, Channel 12 news reports.
The report says a flight from Athens to Larnaca was diverted to Beirut because of the weather.
According to the Ben Gurion Airport schedule, flights coming from Greece, Cyprus, and Georgia to Tel Aviv are facing delays of several hours.
IDF says Gaza strike killed Hamas commander hiding near hospital
Smoke billows following Israeli demolition of residential structures east of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on August 25, 2026. (Eyad Baba/AFP)
A Hamas commander who was planning attacks was killed in an Israeli strike in central Gaza a short while ago, the military says.
The IDF says the commander was targeted in a strike in the Deir al-Balah area, while “hiding adjacent to Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital.” The military says that it took steps to mitigate harm to civilians in the area.
“This is another example of Hamas’s cynical use of humanitarian infrastructure and Hamas’s systematic embedding within medical facilities to advance and carry out terror activity,” the military says.
The IDF says the Hamas commander had recently been advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians, as well as acting to restore the capabilities of the terror group, “while systematically violating the ceasefire.”
“The strike was carried out to remove the threat,” the army adds.
Key Update
IDF: Dozens of settlers took over home with Palestinian family inside in West Bank’s Qusra
Dozens of Israeli settlers took over a Palestinian home in the West Bank village of Qusra a short while ago, while the family was inside, according to the military.
IDF troops and Border Police officers were dispatched to Qusra after dozens of “Israeli rioters” raided the village and attacked residents, including throwing stones at Palestinians and others, the army says.
“Upon the arrival of the forces, dozens of rioters were identified barricading themselves in a Palestinian home, while there were Palestinian residents in the home,” the IDF says in a statement.
The army says it is aware of reports of Palestinians being wounded in the settler attack, including a woman who was taken to a hospital.
“The troops first worked to remove the rioters from the house and separate the populations, to protect the occupants of the house,” the military says.
Security forces also confiscated several vehicles belonging to the settlers, which the army says they used to reach the village.
Other “findings” were also seized and handed over to the police, the IDF says, but there have been no reports of arrests.
The IDF says it continues to operate in Qusra and Jalud — where settlers had set up outposts and attacked residents frequently in recent weeks — to “prevent rioting and return order.”
“The IDF strongly condemns any type of violence,” the military adds.
It is not immediately clear if any settlers remain inside the home and the village.
גם השבת בדקתי, ומדובר ביהודים. אזהרת טריגר טויוטות לבנות עם רעולי פנים pic.twitter.com/8LLtrMhAqq
— רועי שרון Roy Sharon (@roysharon11) August 29, 2026
Death toll in Nepal flood rises to 675, disaster authority says
Rescuers search for bodies in a building along the river Trishuli following flash floods in Nepal’s Nuwakot district, August 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
KATHMANDU, Nepal — Devastating floods near the border with China this week have killed at least 675 people in Nepal, its disaster authority says.
Chinese state media earlier confirmed seven dead in Tibet following Wednesday’s disaster, taking the total killed to 682.
Dozens of settlers reportedly setting fires, vandalizing besieged Palestinian village of Qusra in West Bank
Settlers arriving on the outskirts of Qusra in the West Bank on August 29, 2026. (Screen grab/Quds News via X)
Palestinian media reports that dozens of Israeli settlers are attacking the West Bank village of Qusra, amid an ongoing siege of Palestinian homes in the area.
Footage shows the settlers arriving on the outskirts of the village and removing stones from a road.
جانب من هجوم مليشيات المستوطنين على قرية قصرة جنوب نابلس pic.twitter.com/gOcNpoX9ds
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 29, 2026
Another video shows several fires near the village, which, according to the reports, were set by the settlers.
There is no immediate comment from Israeli authorities on the incident.
مستوطنون يحاصرون فلسطينيين داخل منازلهم في قرية #قصرة جنوب #نابلس، بالتزامن مع إحراق أشجارهم والاعتداء على ممتلكاتهم.
ماذا ينتظر المجتمع الدولي؟ هل ينتظر أن تُحرق قصرة عن بكرة أبيها، ومن ثم يُقال: كان يجب على المنظومة الدولية التحرّك؟
تماما كما يُقال الآن عن مجازر القرن… pic.twitter.com/Bkx5vToT2d
— أحمد سليمان العُمري Ahmad Al Omari (@ahmadomariy) August 29, 2026
Yesterday, settlers were filmed driving freely through what is supposed to be a closed military zone that the IDF instituted in Qusra.
While the IDF dismantled several outposts that the settlers set up on the outskirts of Qusra at the start of the siege, settlers continue to roam the area, without any repercussions.
Over the past week, IDF forces have maintained a presence in the area to prevent settlers from rebuilding makeshift structures and again blocking access to the residents’ homes.
Ultra-Orthodox protesters rally for 9th week at Jerusalem cafe open on Shabbat
Protesters hold a counter-demonstration in support of the Basimta cafe in central Jerusalem, August 29, 2026. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
Images show ultra-Orthodox men protesting at central Jerusalem’s Basimta cafe for the ninth straight week, as Haredi demonstrations continue against the cafe operating on Shabbat.
There is also a counter-protest in support of the cafe.
The protests against Basimta began on July 4, when dozens of ultra-Orthodox demonstrators, many of them minors, gathered outside the cafe in several waves, banging on its windows and, according to staff, overturning tables.
On another occasion, dozens of Haredi men burst through barricades and tried to force their way inside. Earlier this month, a woman glued the cafe’s lock, causing a brief delay in its opening.
The recently opened cafe has become a point of tension in Jerusalem, where few cafes operate on Shabbat. The dispute was also complicated by revelations that Cafe Basimta is an official project of Jews for Jesus, a Christian missionary organization that seeks to convert Jews to believe in Jesus. Yoel Ben David, the cafe’s operator, is the group’s top official in Jerusalem.
Key Update
Rob Reiner’s son on his parents’ killings and brother’s arrest: ‘I will never understand why this happened’
Honoree Rob Reiner, second left, poses with his wife Michele, left, and children Jake, center, Romy, and Nick at the 41st annual Chaplin Award Gala at Avery Fisher Hall, April 28, 2014, in New York. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
In his first interview since his parents were killed, Jake Reiner says he “will never understand” why it happened, and that he has not spoken to his brother Nick, who has been indicted for their murders.
Rob Reiner, a director, actor and Hollywood luminary, and his wife, Michelle Singer Reiner, a photographer and producer, were stabbed to death in their home in Los Angeles in December. Nick Reiner was arrested within hours and charged two days later.
“Our parents had unconditional love for all three of us. I will never understand. I don’t care how it is explained to me, I don’t care what facts come out, I will never understand why this happened,” Jake Reiner tells ABC.
“[Nick]’s in jail. It’s like, I physically lost my parents, and then Nick was arrested, now it’s just me and [sister] Romy, and we have to navigate this by ourselves essentially,” he says.
Reiner says that he has not spoken with his brother, and refuses to say if he plans to in the future.
Nick Reiner was the second of the three children. He and his father co-wrote the script for the 2015 film “Being Charlie,” which was partly based on the son’s teenage struggles with addiction and homelessness.
AP contributed to this report.
Vienna thieves steal Egyptian queen’s 673-diamond necklace worn for her daughter’s wedding to future Iran shah
A blue panel covers the area where a display case was smashed and a Van Cleef and Arpels necklace was stolen at Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), in Vienna, Austria, on August 28, 2026. (Jeremy AUDOUARD/AFP)
Two men bought tickets to enter Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) before smashing a display case, and grabbing a 200-carat platinum and diamond necklace that was designed for the former Egyptian royal family, and was worn by Queen Nazli in 1939 for the marriage of her daughter Faiza to the future Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Austrian media says the Van Cleef and Arpels necklace, with 673 precious stones, was worth several million dollars. It is the latest in a series of high-profile heists to hit European museums.
Police say the two men did not wear masks, paid to enter the museum and were clearly seen on surveillance cameras in Thursday’s heist.
This necklace, stolen from an exhibit at Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts, has been added to INTERPOL's Stolen Works of Art database by Austrian authorities.
The piece, adorned with 673 diamonds, once belonged to Queen Nazli of Egypt.https://t.co/Vu7vWW0AkC pic.twitter.com/hgZYl2MLkG
— INTERPOL (@INTERPOL_HQ) August 28, 2026
They “smashed a glass display case” with a hammer before “fleeing with the jewellery in an unknown direction,” says a police statement.
The MAK museum confirms the theft but says it will not comment while the investigation went ahead.
The necklace had been part of an exhibition devoted to the French designers Van Cleef and Arpels. Some 500 pieces had been on display since June. The exhibition is scheduled to end on September 27.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Druze factions block students from taking exams in Sweida province amid row with Syria government
Armed factions in Syria’s Druze-majority Sweida province have blocked students from traveling to sit for official exams, demanding they be held instead in the areas they control, drawing condemnation from the Damascus-appointed governor.
Sweida city and other parts of the southern province are run by local armed groups and are the last areas outside the grasp of Syria’s new Islamist authorities, who have been trying to establish control over the entire country after toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
Tensions have run high ever since clashes last year between the Druze and government-aligned forces that spiraled into some of the worst internecine violence the country had witnessed since Assad’s fall, and triggered Israeli strikes.
The authorities had scheduled an exam session for today in the government-controlled north of the province for students who were unable to take the test two months ago due to the ongoing tensions.
But Druze fighters in Shahba, north of Sweida city, said in a statement yesterday that “all roads are completely closed to the movement of students and proctors to examination centers outside the area,” insisting that tests should be held in their areas instead, citing security concerns.
Sweida governor Mustafa al-Bakkur condemns the move, saying: “Outlaw gangs are working to make the future of Sweida’s students a political bargaining chip to be manipulated as they please.”
He says that around 150 students were still able to sit for their exams, some of them having left Druze-controlled areas days prior to avoid any obstacles.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Nepal says post-flood reconstruction could reach billions of dollars
Residents carry their belongings salvaged from their damaged homes filled with mud and debris in Devighat, in Nepal’s Nuwakot district, August 29, 2026, following the flash floods. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Nepal’s reconstruction bill after devastating floods could run into “billions of dollars,” Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal says, as authorities grapple with the scale of the destruction.
“The reconstruction and rehabilitation would entail perhaps billions of dollars,” he tells reporters in Kathmandu.
“We will do loss and damage research and then we plan, but I am reaching out to our international community for support.”
Three days after the disaster, Khanal says “the urgency is on rescue and saving lives as much as we can,” but the scale of the disaster is already stretching the government’s capacity.
Rescue teams have retrieved 626 bodies, and more than 2,426 people are still missing in Nepal.
Egypt’s Banque Misr says it is reviewing US Iran sanctions notice
Egypt’s Banque Misr says it is reviewing a US Treasury notice related to restricting US dollar correspondent banking services provided by US financial institutions to Banque Misr’s branch in the United Arab Emirates, according to a statement.
It says Banque Misr’s branch in the UAE continues to provide banking services to its customers in accordance with the applicable rules and procedures.
The US Treasury said on Friday it had moved to cut off Banque Misr’s branches in the United Arab Emirates from dollar transactions for its dealings with Iran.
Iran’s president admits US sanctions impacting economy after previously insisting they’d have no effect
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian takes questions from the media during a news conference in New York on September 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian admits that US sanctions on his country are hurting its economy, despite just days ago insisting they would achieve nothing.
“Some say sanctions have no effect at all; to those people, I really don’t know what to say,” Pezeshkian tells state TV in an interview.
“We are in a war situation, and we must accept these wartime conditions,” he adds.
On Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent laid out plans for the “economic asphyxiation” of Iran, warning of dire consequences for countries that do not join the American campaign. The new measures build on a sanctions regime by the US and allies that has been in place since 2018 when President Donald Trump withdrew from an international deal struck with Tehran on its nuclear program.
Pezeshkian says that Iran’s exports and imports have fallen by 25 to 35 percent in recent months as the US maintains a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
The president says the price of petrol should be increased in Iran to account for the fall in trade.
At least 27 killed in Russian drone attack on warehouse near Kyiv, Ukrainian officials say
At least 27 people have died after a Russian drone struck a warehouse near Kyiv, sparking a huge fire and explosions, authorities say.
“Unfortunately, as things stand, 27 people are known to have died. And this figure may not be final,” Kyiv region governor Tymur Tkachenko says.
Ex-White House teleprompter operator ordered to pay $172,000 for bets on Trump speeches
Gabriel Perez cleans the teleprompter before President Donald Trump speaks at the Future Investment Initiative Institute’s summit, March 27, 2026, in Miami Beach, Florida (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission orders former White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez to pay $172,539 for using advance access to US President Donald Trump’s speeches to make illegal trades on a prediction-market platform.
Perez must repay $107,539.02 in profits and pay a $65,000 civil penalty under a settlement with the CFTC. He also agrees to a three-year trading ban and to cease and desist from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations.
The CFTC says Perez traded presidential “mention market” contracts on Kalshi between December 2025 and February 2026 while working at the White House. The contracts are event contracts that pay out based on whether a president uses specific words or phrases in speeches.
Perez could not immediately be reached for comment. He was put on unpaid leave and is no longer working for the federal government.
French prosecutor: Irish man admitted making death threats to Jewish couple, will stand trial
An Irish man is filmed after allegedly making an antisemitic remark, in a clip posted to social media August 11, 2026. (@ListentoLewko on X)
A 60-year-old Irishman will stand trial in October for “making death threats” and “justifying crimes against humanity” after verbally abusing and making antisemitic remarks toward an Australian Jewish couple in a supermarket near Avignon earlier this month.
A video of the incident went viral on social media.
The accused, who has no known criminal record and was arrested on Wednesday, “admitted to the acts while providing context; he stated that he regretted his remarks, explaining that he had been carried away by anger,” Avignon prosecutor Stéphanie Aouine says in a statement.
“The Avignon prosecutor’s office brought the suspect before the court for a formal hearing on charges of making conditional death threats and condoning crimes against humanity,” the prosecutor adds.
The prosecutor’s office requests that the man be placed under judicial supervision “until the hearing before the criminal court, which is expected to take place sometime in October.”
The face of pure hatred. An Irish citizen visiting France, tells two Jewish visitors he's sorry Hitler didn't finish the job. They started videoing him and he threatens to kill them.
Identified himself as "Paddy from Ireland". pic.twitter.com/lzDFY7chtA
— Daniel (@ListenToLewko) August 11, 2026
Israeli drone strike carried out in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Lebanese media reports
An Israeli drone strike was carried out in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Lebanese media reports.
There is no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces.
Israel has increased its attacks on Hezbollah in south Lebanon in recent days — particularly in the Nabatieh area where the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge is located — while the terror group has targeted troops operating in the area.
Key Update
As Iran war reaches 6-month milestone, Trump says US entered deal with Venezuela for partial control of oil reserves
US President Donald Trump gestures as he disembarks Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, August 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
US President Donald Trump says that his administration has entered a sweeping agreement with Venezuela that, if realized, could give the US access to vast amounts of the South American country’s untapped oil reserves, at cost.
Trump, in a social media post announcing the agreement, says it was negotiated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez.
“The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!” Trump writes.
Rodríguez’s government in a statement says the deal involves the development of 17 fields with a proven potential of 65 billion barrels. It says the agreement could draw $100 billion in investment into Venezuela’s oil industry and yield over $209 billion in taxes for Caracas.
The agreement allows for the United States to partner with an unnamed private operator in Venezuela to create a new private company to take hold of the reserves, according to a US official familiar with the contours of the deal.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, adds that Rodríguez granted the company 100-year rights to develop the oil fields.
The deal gives the United States 55 percent effective output of the new private company — including an ownership stake and rights to buy oil at cost. The company would be the second largest corporate holder of proven reserves after Saudi Aramco, according to the official.
The announcement comes nearly nine months after the US military at Trump’s direction carried out an operation to capture Venezuela’s then-President Nicolás Maduro and spirit him to the United States to face federal narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges.
Trump faces mounting pressure to address high gas prices as the war in Iran reaches a six-month milestone with no conclusion in sight. The US has tapped its strategic petroleum reserves, which in early August fell below 300 million barrels, down by more than 100 million barrels since the start of 2026.
The US-Israel war against Iran has led to a dramatic slowdown of Gulf oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz, which about 20% of the world’s petroleum passed through prior to the conflict.
Israel braces for summer rain, potential flooding for first time in 30 years
A rainy morning in Tel Aviv, September 17, 2024. (Yehoshua Yosef/Flash90)
Israel is bracing for rare August rainfall that could cause flooding and other disruptions.
According to Channel 12, the rain will fall mainly in the north and center of the country, but is also expected to reach the northwest of the Negev desert region in the south.
Heavy rain, lightning, thunder and hail are expected in some areas, with risks of flash floods and treacherous driving conditions.
However, the Israel Meteorological Service has somewhat scaled back the warnings first issued earlier in the week.
Channel 12 reported that, if it materializes, the rain could mark the first such rain event recorded in Israel before September in 30 years.
Iran government vows to resist ‘US-Israeli conspiracies,’ says will stand firm against sanctions
Motorcyclists pass a billboard depicting US President Donald Trump with hands around his neck beneath the words 'Revenge is inevitable' in Tehran, Iran, August 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The Iranian government pledges to stand firm against US sanctions and what it calls US-Israeli “conspiracies,” saying diplomacy and defense are “complementary, coordinated and inseparable” tools for protecting the country’s national interests, security and territorial integrity.
In a statement carried by state media, the government says it will pursue both tracks simultaneously and focus on curbing inflation, creating jobs, supporting domestic production and gradually reducing dependence on the dollar.
Far-right provocateur and Kanye spokesman Milo Yiannopoulos arrested by US immigration enforcement
Milo Yiannopoulos speaks during a rally outside of the Baltimore hotel where the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are holding its Fall General Assembly meeting in Baltimore, November 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
US Immigration officials arrested controversial British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos on Thursday in New Orleans, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Immigration officials announce that Yiannopoulos was arrested at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and accuse him of overstaying after entering the United States legally in May 2019 through New York City. An immigration judge issued a final order of removal on July 22 after Yiannopoulos failed to show up for his immigration hearing, a DHS spokesperson writes in an email.
ICE’s online detainee locator doesn’t say where Yiannopoulos is being held but directs family and legal representatives to the agency’s office in Alexandria, Louisiana, a deportation hub for international flights.
Representatives of Yiannopoulos do not respond to a request for comment. It is unclear whether he has legal representation.
Yiannopoulos is a well-known champion of conservative causes and has frequently taken provocative public positions criticizing feminism, Islam and immigrants. He has been especially supportive of US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
“Zero immigration for the next 20 years. No ifs, no buts,” Yiannopoulos wrote on the social platform X last year.
Yiannopoulos rose to fame in the early 2010s as an incendiary writer for the conservative website Breitbart News. He resigned from the company in 2017 after a video of him endorsing pedophilia resurfaced online. He later apologized for the remarks and said he himself was a victim of sexual assault as a minor.
Controversy around Yiannopoulos ballooned in 2017 when he carried out what he called his “Troll Academy Tour” across college campuses nationwide. Fights broke out when some students protested Yiannopoulos’ appearances and accused him of hate speech, while others celebrated him as a champion of free speech. Around that time, Buzzfeed reported on Yiannopoulos’ cozy relationships with self-proclaimed white nationalists.
In recent years, Yiannopoulos continued to work in the orbit of conservative activism. In 2022, he was an intern for former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, according to the Washington Post. He subsequently ran the short-lived 2024 presidential campaign for Kanye West, known as Ye.
Most recently, Yiannopolous has worked as a spokesperson for Ye, who has been beset by controversy of his own following antisemitic comments that the rapper has since apologized for.
623 confirmed dead in Nepal-Tibet floods, as number of missing soars past 2,400
A damaged house stands amidst debris of flash flooding in Nuwakot district in Nepal, August 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Rescuers in Nepal and Tibet are still battling to locate thousands of people missing days after a deadly, tsunami-like wall of water and debris swept through the Himalayan region, engulfing villages.
The number of missing soared past 2,400 as emergency teams say they have recovered 623 bodies — with some of the dead possibly swept downstream as far away as India.
The trauma of Wednesday’s catastrophe has been “enormous,” and as many as 93,000 people may have been affected, the Red Cross says, with the death toll expected to rise.
Emergency teams have been racing to retrieve survivors from affected zones, where the widespread devastation meant food and water supplies were running out.
Compounding the search for the missing have been fears of further flooding in affected areas.
The deluge of ice and mud caused huge lakes to form, and one of these formations has become a direct threat to emergency workers scouring the region for survivors.
Police mulling probe into far-right MK Sukkot over smashing of Palestinian monument – report
Far-right lawmaker Zvi Sukkot smashes a Palestinian monument to 'martyrs' in the West Bank village of Madama, August 25, 2026 (MK Zvi Sukkot's office)
Police are considering opening a criminal investigation into far-right MK Zvi Sukkot who smashed a Palestinian monument in a West Bank village, law enforcement officials tell Channel 13.
Sukkot and several of his aides smashed a monument to slain Palestinians, some of them terrorists, with sledgehammers in Madama earlier this week, during a military-escorted tour.
The report says that police have received complaints about Sukkot’s actions and are now looking into the matter, but notes that there is the issue of the lawmaker’s parliamentary immunity.
Police are set to write an opinion on the matter which will be sent to the Attorney General’s Office, which will then decide if further steps should be taken, the report says.
Matters under consideration include whether Sukkot lied to the IDF about the true purpose of the visit.
AG orders memorial event for late Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef be delayed until after election
File: An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man walks near a billboard describing a picture late Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, as part of Shas election campaign, in the northern Israeli city of Safed, February 28, 2020. (David Cohen/Flash90)
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has ordered that a state-funded memorial event marking the death of former chief Sephardic rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who was the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, be delayed until after the October 27 over electioneering concerns.
The Shas-controlled Religious Affairs Ministry proposed to instead hold the gender-segregated event a week earlier, but was shot down by Baharav-Miara, according to the Haaretz daily, which notes the ministry and Jerusalem Municipality have staged the memorial at a cost of NIS 4 million the past two years.
In response, Shas rails at Baharav-Miara, claiming she is “serving the left to harm the memory” of Yosef, while the general-director of the Religious Affairs Ministry claims that a memorial rally for Yithak Rabin should also be cancelled because the assassinated prime minister was “a political person.” Unlike the memorial for Yosef, however, the event in Rabin Square isn’t set to be held until November and isn’t funded by the state.
Hezbollah chief again rejects Lebanon-Israel deal, refuses ‘surrender’
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem again rejects a deal struck between Israel and Lebanon and says his Iran-backed terror group refuses to “surrender” nearly six months after war erupted with Israel.
“We are against the framework agreement and call for its downfall,” Qassem says in a televised address broadcast on the group’s Al-Manar television channel.
Israel and Lebanon launched US-sponsored direct talks after Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 by attacking Israel, which responded with massive strikes and a ground invasion that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.
At talks in late June, Lebanon and Israel signed a framework deal that calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in “pilot zones.”
“The framework agreement is illegitimate, unlawful, humiliating, destructive to Lebanese sovereignty,” Qassem says.
“We do not agree to the ‘pilot zones’ or to what comes from them,” he says, also rejecting any proposed verification system.
A fresh round of talks is planned for early September, but no date has been announced yet.
Qassem says his group supported the implementation of a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end a previous war with Israel.
“We will keep our heads high and we will not surrender,” he vows.
Haredi residents of Bnei Brak block vehicle access to secular neighborhood ahead of Sabbath
The entrance of a secular neighborhood on the outskirts of the ultra-Orthodox town of Bnei Brak was blocked off by Haredi residents just before the Sabbath.
החרדים מעלים הילוך במאבק על התנועה לשכונת מתחם הסופרים בבני ברק, בה מתגוררים גם חילונים. היום, לראשונה, הוצבו מכולות על הגשר המוביל לשכונה מכיוון דרך אם המושבות, כדי למנוע את התנועה אליה וממנה. תושבת מספרת שנהג משאית שהוריד את המכולות במקום אמר שהוא נשלח בידי העירייה pic.twitter.com/g9Nrp2mEc3
— Yair Foldes (@Yair_Foldes) August 28, 2026
Dumpsters were moved onto the road to prevent it from being accessed by cars during the Sabbath.
Secular residents called the police who arrived at the scene, but indicated to residents that it would be difficult to remove the roadblock due to the “complex situation,” Channel 12 reports, suggesting that law enforcement had taken the side of the Haredi extremists.
שכונת הסופרים, שכונה מעורבת בפאתי בני ברק שתמיד הייתה פתוחה בשבת נחסמה הערב באופן פיראטי. משאית הגיעה, הורידה 2 מכולות אשפה באמצע הכביש ועזבה. חלק מהתושבים שרצו לנסוע התקשרו למשטרה ונענו "זה עניין מורכב". עכשיו המשטרה מחפשת את בעל המשאית והמכולות אבל בינתיים גם זה מורכב. pic.twitter.com/qBp2qFzgva
— יוסי מזרחי Yossi Mizrachi (@yosimiz1) August 28, 2026
Turkish comic rearrested on separate charges after release order
A Turkish comedian has been rearrested after a court ordered his release in a separate case in which he was accused of insulting Islam and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish media reports.
Deniz Goktas, 32, whose stand-up performances have attracted millions of views online, was detained at Istanbul airport in July.
His arrest comes amid a widening crackdown by Turkish authorities on critics of Erdogan’s government, with musicians, artists, journalists and politicians among those facing legal investigations.
A court today ordered his release following an appeal against his July detention, the private NTV broadcaster reports.
en sevdiğim şakam, nedense pek paylaşılmadı. pic.twitter.com/7TyBg6pXQb
— Deniz Göktaş (@idgoktas) June 30, 2026
But before the ruling could be implemented, prosecutors launched a separate investigation into Goktas, who is being held in the northwestern town of Corlu.
He was rearrested on charges of “praising a crime and a criminal” over remarks made during one of his performances, preventing his release from prison, according to NTV.
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