The commander of the Givati Brigade’s Rotem Battalion sentenced 16 of his troops to prison after they refused to enter an armored personnel carrier in the Gaza Strip for operational activity last week because a female paramedic was attached to the force.
As a result of their refusal to enter the APC, the mission on Tuesday night was canceled.
The military says five troops who led the disobedience were sentenced by the battalion commander to 10 days in military jail. Two of those soldiers will also face a committee before being allowed to return to combat roles.
In addition, another 11 soldiers involved in the refusal were sentenced to five days in prison, the IDF adds.
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef has attacked National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who often visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, saying those who go to the Mount may “die in excruciating agony.”
Ultra-Orthodox Jews believe it is forbidden to go to the Mount, once the seat of the ancient Jewish Temples.
“Why are you going up to the Temple Mount? What authority does your rabbi have?” Yosef is seen asking followers in footage broadcast by Channel 12.
Ben Gvir is a disciple of Rabbi Dov Lior, formerly the chief rabbi of the Jewish community in Hebron.
“What kind of rabbi does he have in Hebron?” Yosef says. “I know his books. With all due respect, he doesn’t come close to any of the great rabbis.
“The great rabbis of the generation made a decision [against visiting the Mount]. That’s it. Start listening to the great rabbis. Who do you think you are?”
Those who go to the Mount “will be punished for this, there’s no doubt about it,” he says. “Everyone dies in the end, right? Everyone dies. The question is how you die… Maybe they’ll die in excruciating agony… I’m not cursing them. I’m stating a reality.”
Yesterday Yosef was quoted assailing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, calling on God to “finish her” over her recent order to delay until after the coming Knesset election a state-funded memorial event marking the death of his father, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, over electioneering concerns.
Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party fires back after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed during a TV interview that Eisenkot tried to prevent aggressive action in Gaza during the war.
“A detached prime minister sits there with the only thing he has to offer the country’s citizens being yet more ridiculous lies about Eisenkot,” a statement from the party says.
“We all know why you refuse to establish a state commission of inquiry. You’re terrified of the moment Israeli citizens discover the truth: who really pushed for what, and who was so afraid of a ground operation in Gaza, the capture of Rafah and an attack on Iran.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his government is working to expand Jewish settlement in the Negev and Galilee, including by offering reservists preferential access to land, saying legal obstacles for doing so would be “overcome.”
During his lengthy appearance on Channel 14’s “The Patriots” program this evening, Netanyahu is asked about illegal Arab construction in the two regions, which the host portrays as a growing security and demographic threat.
In response, Netanyahu points to a recently approved benefits package for reservists “to essentially receive land for free in the Galilee, in the Negev, in communities near the border.”
Netanyahu says he has recruited a team of individuals “in order to bring the farms into the Negev and into the Galilee. In other words, to strengthen settlement [there.]”
“Farms” is the term increasingly used by the settler movement to refer to illegal outposts established throughout the West Bank, often in the vicinity of Palestinian communities. Many attacks by violent extremist settlers have come from such wildcat outposts.
“”There are some legal questions… It doesn’t matter; we’ll overcome it,” he says, adding, “We are acting out of recognition of the importance of settlement, both in the Negev and in the Galilee, and of the importance of giving reservists a genuine opportunity and preferential treatment so that they will be there, so that they will settle our land.”
Netanyahu does not elaborate on the “legal questions” involved.
The comments come three days after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich unveiled a pre-election plan to expand what he calls his settlement “revolution” from the West Bank to the Negev and Galilee, explicitly describing the initiative as a program to “Judaize” the regions.
Smotrich’s proposal would seek to accelerate Jewish settlement through Israel’s planning and land-allocation authorities, including by canceling some existing plans for Arab communities, stepping up enforcement against illegal construction, and prioritizing Jewish development.
Asked if he too means to “Judaize” the regions, Netanyahu answers: “Call it what you will.”
Israeli soldiers are filmed ordering Palestinians in the Old City of Hebron to close their shops for the day, as the IDF secured a weekly march of settlers through the flashpoint southern West Bank city.
A left-wing activist filming the incident is heard asking one of the IDF soldiers why troops pointed their weapon at Palestinian children.
The soldier claims the children were throwing stones and calls them “terrorists,” as he orders the activist to move out of his way in order to clear the area ahead of the settler march.
Every week Israeli settlers march through the Old City of Hebron, accompanied by the army, harassing Palestinians on their way. Sometimes these marches turn into full-scale pogroms, with settlers burning Palestinian businesses and attacking people with impunity.
Yesterday was… https://t.co/QRRopT9wOT pic.twitter.com/FJUwcnguju
— Andrey X (@the_andrey_x) August 30, 2026
Meanwhile, a right-wing journalist accuses the activist who filmed the clip of trying to provoke the soldiers in order to make them look bad in front of the international press.
The IDF does not respond to a request for comment on why a march by settlers warrants shutting down Palestinian shops in Hebron on a weekly basis.
Hebron is a contested city that is home to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a site considered holy to Muslims, Christians and Jews. Hundreds of hardline settlers live in fortified enclaves under military protection in the heart of a city of more than 200,000 Palestinians.
♦️ חיילים מרחיקים עיתונאים כדי לאפשר טיול של יהודים בחברון, כמובן לאחר סגירת כל העסקים והרחקת את כל התושבים מהרחובות. pic.twitter.com/k0ESoaGjcq
— Asslan Khalil (@KhalilAsslan) August 29, 2026
A military source tells The Times of Israel that the troops were acting in order to prevent clashes between settlers and Palestinians.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say a US attack on Larak Island killed and wounded several Iranian fighters and civilians, and vows to respond and punish those responsible, state broadcaster IRIB reports.
The Guards do not provide a precise casualty toll.
The Advisory Committee for Personal Security, which operates under the Prime Minister’s Office, has decided to recommend that the Shin Bet security agency provide security for Yashar party chief Gadi Eisenkot, a leading contender to serve as Israel’s next prime minister, until the October 27 election.
The committee makes its recommendation after the Shin Bet declined to provide Eisenkot with armed guards, saying it did not possess intelligence justifying such a move. Eisenkot’s campaign has said he is facing growing threats as the election approaches.
Channel 12 reported last week that the Shin Bet would allow Eisenkot’s private guards to carry weapons, in a compromise, but would not fund the move.
Eisenkot’s team has said the unarmed private guards he’s hired are insufficient, and warned that Eisenkot would become increasingly exposed as the election approached, with the former IDF chief regularly attending conferences, touring the country and appearing at events whose locations and schedules are publicized in advance.
US forces have struck two Iranian rocket launchers on the Strait of Hormuz in the first military action in a month, a US official says.
“I can confirm that earlier today US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into Strait of Hormuz,” the US official says.
Semi-official news outlets in Iran report sounds of explosions near Larak Island on the strait.
The US military last week completed clearing sea mines from the strait’s international shipping routes.
US President Donald Trump said last week that all mines had been detonated or removed from the international waters of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran has been told that any ship or boat placing new mines will be destroyed.
The last known US strikes on Iran were in late July as the war has reached a stalemate in recent weeks with Washington threatening to impose costly sanctions on countries that support Iran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel’s very existence is at stake in the coming elections, while attacking his chief electoral rival, former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot, over his wartime security positions, during a lengthy guest appearance on the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14’s “The Patriots” program.
Hailing Israel’s military achievements since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, Netanyahu repeats his contention that he was forced to override intense domestic and international pressure to pursue key military operations in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Iran — pressure he alleges also came from Eisenkot.
“From a situation in which we have become a global power — certainly a regional power, but in certain respects a global one as well — we could deteriorate all at once. That is what is at stake in these elections: the existence of the State of Israel,” he proclaims.
Netanyahu again accuses Eisenkot of opposing Israel’s entry into Rafah, seizure of the Philadelphi Corridor and expanded operatons against Hezbollah. Eisenkot has disputed Netanyahu’s account.
Asked by host Yinon Magal whether he would be willing to release transcripts of wartime meetings, Netanyahu replies: “If that’s the request, I’m certainly considering it. I’m certainly prepared to do it. I think it would be a very positive thing, because it’s important for the public to see the truth — what was said.”
He adds that “There are missions that still need to be completed, and there are also new threats,” singling out Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid heightened security tensions with Turkey over events in Syria.
Netanyahu further reiterates his claim that Eisenkot would be dependent on political partners including Yair Golan, Avigdor Lieberman and Mansour Abbas, arguing that such a coalition would be unable or unwilling to “finish the job” as needed on Israel’s various military fronts.
“You know very well what they will do. There will be a fire sale here. They will immediately leave Lebanon. They will leave Gaza. They will leave Syria. And they will establish a Palestinian state here. And they say it. They conceal it, but that’s what they think,” he says,
“And this won’t just be some Palestinian state. It will be a Palestinian state backed by major powers, and that will be the beginning of the end of Israel. We will go into free fall.”
Eisenkot has repeatedly ruled out a Palestinian state, most recently in a weekend interview with the Israel Hayom newspaper in which he said, “Anyone who is thinking about a two-state solution after October 7 is just delusional.”
The Palestinian Authority airs footage of what it says is an Israeli soldier destroying a water pipeline serving Bedouin communities in the northern Jordan Valley over the weekend.
The IDF does not immediately respond to a request for comment on the footage, which has circulated widely across Arabic media.
Palestinians in the Jordan Valley say they have come under relentless attack by settlers in recent years as Israel seeks to limit Palestinian presence in Area C of the West Bank, which is under Jerusalem’s civilian and security control. Attacks have expanded more recently to Areas A and B of the West Bank, which are supposed to be under the civil control of the PA.
Circulating footage shows an Israeli soldier deliberately cutting water lines used by Palestinian farmers in the Sahl al-Buqei'a area of the northern Jordan Valley, disrupting irrigation and threatening crops and local livelihoods. pic.twitter.com/Csohiz7fXC
— Government Communication Center (@pal_gcc_en) August 30, 2026
A man has been found dead in a vehicle that was on fire in an underground parking garage in Rishon Lezion, police say.
Investigators have launched a probe of the incident that occurred below a residential building, while saying they currently do not suspect foul play.
A 22-year-old woman has been killed and five people injured, one seriously, in a shooting overnight at a rave in the Swiss town of Aarau, which local police say could have been an act of terrorism.
Local police say all victims are residents of Switzerland and in their 20s. Italy’s foreign ministry says Swiss authorities informed them that an Italian woman had died, and Italy offered its support with the investigation.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin offers condolences to the family of the victim. “In these difficult hours, my full sympathy goes to all people affected by this tragic event,” he says on social media.
A manhunt is underway, and large areas of the town have been cordoned off, police say, appealing to the public for any images of the incident.
But police admit that they are at the early stages of the investigation, and that they do not yet know how many attackers there were, nor their motives.
“The end is not in sight,” Aargau’s Police Commander Michael Leupold tells reporters.
“Where an active shooter is firing into a crowd of thousands of people at an event, it’s perfectly clear that we consider terrorism as a motive,” he says, adding that investigators are also considering a non-terrorist mass shooting or an unknown criminal motive for the attack.
“We are treating all three possibilities as equally likely.”
Police say a 25-year-old woman has been seriously wounded, four others are moderately wounded and three are lightly wounded following a collision between four cars in the northern Negev.
Medics treated the wounded at the scene near the village of Al-Zarnug. The wounded were taken to Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center.
Four Palestinians have been shot during a joint raid of the central West Bank village of al-Mughayyir by Israeli soldiers and settlers, Palestinians say.
The Palestine Red Crescent Emergency Service says its medics treated four Palestinians struck by live fire and evacuated them to a nearby hospital.
Footage shows settlers participating in the raid along with the soldiers.
One clip shows settlers stealing belongings from Palestinians in one of the homes targeted.
There is no immediate comment from the IDF.
After carrying out the pogrom, Israeli settler terrorists looted belongings from a Palestinian home on the outskirts of the village.
And all of this happened under the protection of the Israeli army. pic.twitter.com/DNNOF7OWS9
— Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) August 30, 2026
A new poll by Kan news sees both Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism and Ofer Winter’s People of Israel passing the electoral threshold in the October election.
However, such a result does not seem to improve Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prospects, with his current coalition of right-wing parties securing only 48 seats in parliament. If Winter joins him — as he has indicated he would — it would rise to 52, still far below a 61-seat majority.
Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar leads the poll with 24 seats; Likud has 21; B’Yachad 14; The Democrats 9; Yisrael Beytenu 8; United Torah Judaism 8; Joint (Arab) List 8; Otzma Yehudit 7; Shas 7; Religious Zionism 5; Ra’am 5; and People of Israel 4.
The opposition bloc, without the Arab parties, would clinch 55 seats in this scenario.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says that a victory for the far-right AfD party in next week’s regional election in Saxony-Anhalt would damage the eastern state and deter foreign companies from investing there.
“I cannot imagine international investors attending a groundbreaking ceremony with an AfD Minister-President to set up new plants and establish new businesses in Saxony-Anhalt,” he tells ARD public television in an interview.
“However, that is a decision for the voters in Saxony-Anhalt to make. The state will suffer considerable damage if things turn out as we now fear they might,” Merz says.
The anti-immigrant AfD or Alternative for Germany party currently holds a strong lead in opinion polls, on 42% compared with 22% for Merz’s conservative Christian Democrats, according to a recent poll.
If that level of support remains unchanged until the election on September 6, it would probably leave the AfD just shy of an absolute majority of seats in state parliament. But the outcome of the vote could depend on whether smaller parties clear the 5% entry threshold needed to get into parliament.
Syrian security forces say that they killed an army commander who served under ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad, after he opened fire on them as they tried to arrest him.
In a statement, the forces accuse Firas Abdul Karim Hammoud of having taken part in anti-government insurrections that killed security personnel.
Since Assad’s fall in December 2024, Syria’s new Islamist authorities have arrested dozens of security officials from his rule, and trials began in April.
Likud says a final count of the party’s primary results will see MK Eti Atia placed 25th on the Knesset slate, a spot secured for a woman, pushing Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel to the next one down — number 35.
The party says Atia received 22,210 in a revised count, while Gamliel won 21,754.
Gamliel has filed a polcie complaint over the recount, claiming votes were fraudulently added for Atia, who is a close associate of Likud Central Committee Chairman Haim Katz.
Channel 12 says police are seeking to arrest settlers who rioted in Qusra, with some suspects thought to be in hiding.
The network says police suspect other settlers are aiding the suspects.
None have been arrested so far after dozens of settlers descended on the town from a nearby hillside on Saturday and occupied a Palestinian home there, in the latest in a string of assaults on the village.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to increase the pressure on smaller right-wing parties to unite ahead of the September 8 deadline to finalize candidate rosters for the October 27 election, Channel 12 reports.
In particular, the network reports Netanyahu has not given up on his desire to see Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism and Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit unite, despite the latter having announced there will be no such merger. It says Netanyahu will increase his public calls for the merger.
Netanyahu fears that Smotrich’s failure to pass the electoral threshold — as some polls project — will cost him precious votes he’ll need to form a coalition.
The United Arab Emirates and Egyptian central banks are coordinating with regard to Banque Misr, they say, after the US Treasury said it was cutting off all the bank’s UAE branches from dollar transactions over its dealings with Iran.
Banque Misr will take all necessary measures to conduct its business as usual, the central banks say in their joint statement.
Two civilians were killed near the Druze-majority city of Sweida in southern Syria today, two local security sources tell AFP, during suspected clashes between local armed groups and government forces.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor reports the same death toll, adding that government forces and armed groups from the Druze minority group had been exchanging fire since last night.
Tensions have been high in Sweida province since clashes between Druze and government-aligned forces last year led to some of the worst communal violence since the fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
A Druze security source tells AFP on condition of anonymity that a shell launched from a government-controlled area “targeted the outskirts of the city of Sweida, striking a tractor and killing two people on board, the driver and a woman who was with him.”
Sweida city and other parts of the surrounding Druze-majority province are run by armed groups and are the last major areas outside the grasp of Syria’s new Islamist authorities, who have been trying to unite the country after toppling Assad.
The Druze are an Arabic-speaking religious minority in Syria comprising around three percent of the country’s population.
The security source, requesting anonymity, also says that “intermittent clashes have been taking place between the National Guard and government forces since Saturday night,” referring to prominent Druze leader Hikmat al-Hijri’s armed group.
The Syrian government does not immediately comment.
A NATO official says Russia is stepping up hybrid acts in Europe, but that at this time the alliance sees no imminent threat of attack.
“Even as the Russians are facing very substantial resistance from Ukraine, they are stepping up attacks on Ukraine as well as hybrid acts in Europe,” the official says.
“As always, NATO remains vigilant and alert to the variety of threats we face. At this time, we see no imminent threat of attack,” the official says, adding: “We continue to stand with Ukraine. And NATO continues to work around the clock to keep our one billion people safe.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said yesterday that Poland and NATO must be prepared for various scenarios, and that a provocation by Russia against any NATO member cannot be ruled out.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Russia on Tuesday to meet briefly with intelligence counterparts. Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Ratcliffe brought up the possibility of a Russian operation against a NATO member during that meeting, though it was unclear if that was the sole purpose of the trip.
The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, says top US military officials have warned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that dragging out the full-scale campaign against Iran is unsustainable, straining military readiness and compromising the military’s capability to respond to other threats around the world.
The report says the warning was outlined by the chiefs of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, along with other top officers in an August 14 document presented to the secretary.
A person with knowledge of the military’s position tells the post the general assessment is that the campaign has been “too much for too long.”
Seeking to strengthen his party’s appeal in the south, especially in the Negev and among residents of the Gaza border communities, Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot announces the addition of former Yeruham mayor Tal Ohana Hachmon and Kissufim resident Col. (Res.) Nir Hajbi to his party’s slate ahead of the October 27 election.
Ohana Hachmon later went on to serve as a project manager for the rehabilitation and growth of northern communities as part of the Ma’ale Yosef Regional Council while Hajbi, who lost his son on October 7, subsequently served as a battalion commander for hundreds of days during the war in Gaza. He also served as the community manager of Kibbutz Kissufim.
“Tal and Nir are leaders who grew up in the south and dedicated years to security, community building, and the development of the Negev and the Gaza Envelope. As people of action who deeply know the region and its needs, they bring rich experience and a profound commitment to its rehabilitation and prosperity. Together, we will place the restoration and development of the south at the top of the national priority agenda and work to turn it into a safe, thriving, and growing region,” says Eisenkot in a statement.
“For four generations, the Negev has been my home and my public mission,” says Ohana Hachmon, asserting that by working with Eisenkot, she will be able to “bring the experience I have gained in local government and regional development [in order] to put the Negev and Galilee at the forefront of the national agenda, and to transform them into a major growth engine for the State of Israel.”
Hajbi says that “our responsibility is not just to restore the Western Negev to what it was before October 7, but to build it stronger, safer, and more prosperous for those we lost, and for the generations that will grow up here after us.”
Ohana Hachmon and Hajbi’s addition to the Yashar list come a week after former Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern and former Kulanu MK Roy Folkman joined the party.
Folkman served as a MK for the Kulanu party from 2015 to 2019 and served as the faction’s chairman. He recently assisted Gilad Erdan in his efforts to establish the Unity Party.
Organizers of the next annual Met Gala in New York are considering moving its planned May 3, 2027, date to avoid it coinciding with Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom HaShoah, as they controversially honor fashion designer John Galliano, who is known for once praising Adolf Hitler, The New York Times has reported.
At the same time, Jewish opposition to the decision to honor Galliano is growing, the report says, with donors threatening to take action if Galliano is feted at the event.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who is Jewish, is quoted as saying in a statement: “Our cultural institutions, particularly those that receive funding from the City of New York, have a responsibility to demonstrate that hatred and bigotry carry consequences. Words matter, and whom we choose to elevate is a direct statement of our values and what we are willing to tolerate.”
Galliano was fired as chief designer of Dior in 2011 after praising Hitler and hurling antisemitic abuse at patrons at a Paris café. He has since repeatedly apologized and attributed his comments to substance abuse.
Yisrael Beytenu party chief Avigdor Liberman says of Ofer Winter, head of the new right-wing People of Israel party: “I welcome any good man who joins the political system. Winter is a man of values, a combat soldier, and I welcome [him].”
Asked by a reporter if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be worried by his reported good relationship with Winter, amid reports the premier is concerned Winter will ally with the opposition, Liberman says, “Fearful people should go to the doctor. There is medication against paranoia; they should take it.”
EU Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process Christophe Bigot visited Qusra in the West Bank this morning following the recent settler attack on the Palestinian village, an EU spokesperson says in a statement.
During a visit to the Nablus governorate, Bigot, along with representatives of the EU Representative Office and humanitarian organizations, was briefed by the head of Qusra’s village council “about the recent incidents of settler violence and the siege of some residential homes in Qusra by extremist settlers,” the statement says.
Bigot also spoke by phone with a resident of a home besieged in the weekend attack, the statement reads.
“The EU takes this opportunity to underline its consistent position in condemning extremist settler violence and in calling to ensure accountability for the perpetrators of crimes. The EU supports initiatives to protect and provide assistance to Palestinians threatened by extremist settlers,” the statement concludes.
Qusra, southeast of Nablus, has been the target of a wave of recent settler attacks, including a weeks-long siege on several Palestinian homes, which has drawn international attention to the village and has caused a prolonged military deployment in the area, which has itself led to the forced displacement of several Palestinian families from their homes.
According to Hebrew media, there have still been no arrests made after dozens of settlers attacked Qusra this weekend and took over a Palestinian home while the family was inside. The military was called to clear the settlers from the home.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the incident yesterday, while downplaying the wave of violence against Palestinians as the act of a “handful of rioters” who don’t represent the broader settler public.
A passenger ferry capsizes off Northern Cyprus shortly after leaving port, and it is not known yet whether there were casualties, the local government says.
“Around 100 passengers have been evacuated and taken to shore,” the transport minister of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Erhan Arikli, tells local television.
He adds that the vessel was “taking on water” and a rescue operation was under way.
It is not immediately known how many people in total had been on board the ferry, which had left the Northern Cyprus port of Kyrenia headed for the Turkish port of Tasucu.
Images broadcast by Turkish television show the upside-down ferry in the water, with people wearing life vests atop its orange hull. The weather was sunny and several boats were seen in the area to lend assistance.
The TRNC, which is recognized only by Turkey, controls the northern third of the island of Cyprus, which has been divided since 1974.
YÜZLERCE YOLCU TERS DÖNEN GEMİNİN ÜZERİNDE KURTARILMAYI BEKLİYOR!
Girne Limanı'ndan çıkış yaptıktan kısa süre sonra 2-3 km açıkta alabora olan 250'den fazla kişinin bulunduğu Filo Jet'e ait Express Yolcu Gemisi'ndeki yolcular ters dönen geminin üzerinde kurtarılmayı bekliyor!… pic.twitter.com/IwYiaQs3pY
— Özgür Gazete Kıbrıs (@CyprusNewspaper) August 30, 2026
NASA’s newest crown jewel blasts off to hunt for planets around other stars, explore secret dark energy and survey the cosmos like never before.
SpaceX launches the $4.3 billion Roman Space Telescope shortly after daybreak aboard a triple-the-fire-power Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center. Roman is blazing toward an observation point 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away that’s home to the Webb Space Telescope, one of NASA’s other big-ticket eyes in the sky.
The bus-sized telescope — named after the late Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer — will take more than three months to reach its destination. Once there, it will cast the widest gaze yet on the hidden parts of the universe from space, uncovering the unimaginable with unsurpassed speed.
“It’s going to find thousands of supernovae, tens of thousands of planets, billions of galaxies and tens of billions of stars,” says NASA science mission director Nicky Fox. “It’s going to be able to do things that we’ve never been able to do before with its massive field of view.”
Fairing separation. Free of its protective shell, our Roman telescope has its first taste of space. pic.twitter.com/LnZx28lFpb
— NASA (@NASA) August 30, 2026
The Foreign Press Association says it is “deeply alarmed” by attacks by settlers on journalists and Palestinian civilians, a day after masked individuals were filmed attacking a woman and a group of NBC News reporters.
“Journalists were once again attacked in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers while carrying out their work,” the association says in a statement.
“This is not an isolated incident — it is part of a recurring pattern of violence against members of the press and Palestinian civilians,” the FPA says.
The FPA calls on the IDF’s Central Command, which has responsibility for the West Bank, and the police “to investigate the attacks, hold those responsible accountable, and immediately take concrete steps to guarantee the safety of journalists reporting in the West bank.”
Yesterday, a group of masked Israeli settlers was filmed carrying out an attack on the NBC crew that was in the Palestinian village of Jalud to interview a woman who was recently kicked out of her home by settlers.
There have been no arrests.
צפייה חובה! תיעוד מלא של המתנחבלים תוקפים צוות חדשות של ה-NBC בג'אלוד
משחיתים את רכבם, מרביצים להם עם מוטות ופוצעים אותם באורח קל-בינוני. 5 פצועים בזירה.pic.twitter.com/ya9fYWYxMz— Arbel – ארבל 🟦 (@ArbelReports) August 29, 2026
Police announce the arrest over the weekend of seven people suspected of desecrating Christian and Muslim holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The suspects were all released under restrictions after officers questioned them on suspicion of conduct that could harm public safety, police say.
Three of the suspects, all adults, were detained for allegedly vandalizing Muslim gravesites, police say, without specifying when the crime took place.
Appended to the statement is footage that shows three people approaching a tombstone and two of them kicking it.
שבעה חשודים עוכבו בחשד ליריקה לעבר מבנה דת והשחתת קברים מוסלמיים בעיר העתיקה. pic.twitter.com/ugX2DAM7oy
— זירת החדשות (@ZiratNews) August 30, 2026
The four other suspects were detained “in real time” after allegedly spitting at the Armenian Patriarchate compound, according to police.
Arabic media published security camera footage on Wednesday of at least one spitting incident at the patriarchate’s St. James Cathedral that reportedly took place the night before.
However, the police statement indicates the four detained suspects allegedly spat at the church compound only later in the week.
فيديو يوثق اعتداء مستوطن بالبصق على مدخل دير القديس يعقوب في الحي الأرمني بالقدس المحتلة pic.twitter.com/lB5X3wCnnS
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 26, 2026
The IDF announces that a Hamas operative was killed in an Israeli strike in central Gaza a short while ago.
The strike in Deir al-Balah killed Hassam Osama Hussein Nasir, who the military says was advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians.
Gaza medics, linked to Hamas, say that a three-year-old boy, Tayyem Hamdan, was also killed.
The military says it took steps to minimize harm to civilians in the strike.
The IDF justifies the strike amid the ceasefire by saying it was carried out because the Hamas operative “posed an immediate threat.”
Two more members of Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force were killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, the IDF announces.
The military says the strike in Khan Younis killed Yasser Abu al-Khair and Mohammed al-Din, both Nukhba operatives who had been advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians.
The IDF justifies the strike amid the ceasefire by saying that the pair had been trying to restore Hamas capabilities, “in violation of the ceasefire agreement.”
There have still been no arrests made in connection with the settler attack on the Palestinian village of Qusra in the West Bank yesterday, despite the fact that footage shows the faces of a number of those involved, Channel 12 news reports.
The outlet notes that international media published images and footage in which a number of those who carried out the raid can be identified.
Dozens of settlers attacked the village and took over a Palestinian home while the family was inside. The military was called to clear the settlers from the home, but to date, no arrests appeared to have been made.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed the ongoing wave of violence against Palestinians as the act of a “handful of rioters” that don’t represent the broader settler public.
Qusra, located southeast of Nablus, has been the target of a wave of recent settler attacks, including a weeks-long siege on a number of Palestinian homes, which has drawn international attention to the village and has caused a prolonged military deployment in the area, which has itself led to the forced displacement of several Palestinian families from their homes.
The army says its forces have maintained a presence in the area to prevent settlers from rebuilding makeshift structures and again blocking access to the residents’ homes.
Footage from Saturday’s settler raid on the village showed that IDF soldiers were in the area when it occurred, but that they stood by and allowed the rampaging extremists to attack a home on the outskirts of the town.
The Haifa District Attorney’s Office charges two Kiryat Motzkin residents aged 14 and 16 with vandalism, surveillance and attempted recruitment on behalf of an Iranian intelligence agent, which they allegedly did in exchange for several hundred shekels in cryptocurrency.
One of the teens also allegedly posed as a soldier in the Military Intelligence 8200 unit in an attempt to receive more missions.
The suspects are indicted at the Haifa District Juvenile Court on counts including property damage, contact with a foreign agent and providing intelligence to an enemy, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
One of the suspects made contact with the agent, alias Daniel, in June via a Telegram group devoted to job postings, and later recruited the other suspect, prosecutors say.
Police say the suspect who made the initial contact was arrested upon arrival at Ben Gurion Airport. The police statement does not specify when the arrest took place or where the suspect was arriving from.
The contact continued even after Daniel answered affirmatively when asked by one of the suspects if the agent was linked to Iran, prosecutors say.
Tasks carried out by the suspects allegedly included gathering footage of malls in the Herzliya and Tel Aviv areas; passing on information about the entrances and number of security guards at one of the malls; forming a Telegram group to find other minors willing to take part in “high-risk” missions; and spray-painting slogans in the Kiryat Motzkin area.
Police describe the spray-painted slogans as “inciting against the government.”
Former hostage Eli Sharabi and actress Shani Cohen will host this year’s October 7 memorial event, organizers say.
The event is organized by Kumu (“Rise Up”), a group of bereaved families and survivors.
“I am keeping a promise to my wife, Lianne, my daughters, Noya and Yahel, and my brother, Yossi, may their memories be a blessing, that we will never forget them and what happened to them, and to us,” Sharabi says. “October 7 must remain cast in iron, engraved in our hearts forever.”
“It must not be blurred, and time must not forget. This terrible day must not pass without a national, central and significant ceremony,” he says. “The pain still touches us everywhere, and I know that it will be a charged and difficult situation. But I will stand there with all the strength and love that I receive from [the public], to pay respect to the murdered and the fallen, to the bereaved families, and to the entire people of Israel.”
Sharabi was abducted on October 7, 2023, from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri during the devastating Hamas terrorist attack. He returned home to Israel to find out that his wife, Lianne, and two daughters, Noya and Yahel, were murdered on October 7, and that his brother, Yossi, was taken hostage from his Kibbutz Be’eri home and killed in captivity.
Some 30,000 people attended last year’s event.
The event stands in place of an official state ceremony on that day — the government has opted instead to recognize a national day of remembrance corresponding to the Hebrew anniversary of Hamas’s attack.
Organizer Yonatan Shamriz, the brother of slain hostage Alon Shamriz, said earlier this year that the group wants to hold “the largest memorial event in the history of the country.”
Police say the British activist seen led away by armed settlers in the southern West Bank’s Umm al-Kheir yesterday was arrested following an interrogation.
The man, identified as Finn Joughin, was detained by the head of a security squad “of one of the settlements next to Ma’on on suspicion of committing an indecent act against a minor,” police say, stressing that this was “contrary to baseless claims about an abduction.”
Footage filmed by settlers indicates the settlement whose security chief snatched the activist is Barkai, an illegal offshoot of the recognized Hebron-area settlement of Ma’on.
The interrogation of the British national “included, among others, the taking of testimonies that indicated a suspicion of a case of assaulting a minor,” police say in response to a query. “The suspect was arrested at the end of his interrogation and the investigation of the case is ongoing.”
The activist was performing so-called “protective presence” with Palestinians.
The footage filmed by the settlers showed him using his body to try and block a Jewish child who tries to cross a fence into Umm al-Kheir.
במהלך השבת, אנרכיסט זר בשם Finn Joughin, הטריד מינית ילד יהודי בן 10, תוך כדי שהוא מונע ממנו לעבור בשכונה שלו, ביישוב כרמל. (גם התיעוד שלנו מתחיל באיחור, התקיפה המינית המשמעותית יותר קרתה לפני שנדלקה המצלמה).
מבוגרים שנכחו במקום נאלצו להרחיק אותו באופן פיזי עד שתגיע משטרה וכרגע… pic.twitter.com/tFthfuO36z
— ככה זה עובד (@thatshow_itwork) August 29, 2026
Nepali rescuers trying to reach hydropower workers believed trapped in tunnels swamped by flood debris are deploying heavy machinery, after rain and rising river waters hampered earlier efforts.
“Drilling of four holes has been completed… preparations are now underway to enter the tunnel directly… and proceed with search and rescue operations,” Nepal’s energy ministry says in an update.
Rescue operations entered their fifth day since the floods, with teams battling difficult conditions at the disaster sites.
Nepal’s government says more than 100 workers may still be alive and trapped inside multiple tunnels at hydropower projects, with key rescue efforts focused on the Trishuli 3A and 3B sites in the Himalayan river valley.
They are among 933 hydropower workers missing since a wall of mud and debris swept down on Wednesday morning, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.
Russia’s Council for Civil Society and Human Rights has appealed to the head of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention over the reported arrest at Ben Gurion Airport of Russian-Israeli historian Artyom Kirpichenok, according to the Russian legal news agency RAPSI.
The appeal argues that Kirpichenok’s detention is arbitrary, saying that the reasons for it and his legal status have not been disclosed, that no formal charges have been brought against him, and that the case materials have not been made public. It also says the historian’s access to a lawyer has been restricted and that he is unable to challenge the legality of his detention in court because the grounds for his arrest have been classified.
The appeal states that the detention was carried out by the Shin Bet security service, “which in Israeli practice is generally associated with suspicions of offenses against state security,” providing grounds to believe that Kirpichenok’s arrest “was motivated by his political views,” which the Council says would constitute “a gross violation of the right to freedom of expression,” citing Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“His state of health is of particular concern: he suffers from hypertension with a risk of retinal detachment, which requires constant medical monitoring,” the document states.
The appeal calls on the UN to demand an explanation from Israeli authorities for Kirpichenok’s detention, ensure his immediate access to a lawyer and qualified medical care, and provide information about the conditions in which he is being held.
Kirpichenok, who resides in Russia, arrived in Israel on August 4 for a conference but hasn’t been seen or successfully contacted since getting off the plane, according to Hebrew media reports. Russia’s ambassador in Israel, Anatoly Viktorov, has reportedly reached out to Israeli authorities about the matter, following reports that the Shin Bet had taken Kirpichenok into custody.
Kirpichenok lived in Israel for more than a decade and has taken a critical tone toward the country, with Haaretz describing him as part of a small left-wing communist faction in Russia that supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He reportedly traveled to Iran twice, an extreme rarity for Israeli citizens, and has recently published several articles harshly criticizing Israeli foreign and domestic policy.
The Foreign Ministry and Shin Bet did not respond to requests for comment on the appeal.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir posts a video of himself berating Palestinian women detained at the Damon security prison in northern Israel.
The women, whose faces are blurred, stand in a row next to a wall as they speak with the far-right minister and his entourage.
Speaking via a translator, one of the inmates says she is a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and that conditions in the prison are harsh. She says prison staff regularly raid the cells, that inmates have no “normal showers” or water in their cells and do not receive medical care.
Ben Gvir, in response, says, “The days of summer camp in prisons in Israel are over.”
“I’m responsible for that,” he says. “Whoever hurts my brothers won’t receive hotel conditions.”
He adds that Islamic Jihad held Israeli hostages in Gaza “who could only pray to get these kind of conditions.”
“I’m happy we brought down these conditions to the bare minimum,” Ben Gvir says.
זה לא עובד עליי ״ההתבכיינויות״ של המחבלות על התנאים בבתי הכלא, לחטופים שלנו לא היו שום תנאים, אמשיך להוביל מדיניות מינימום של המינימום! pic.twitter.com/4WTESzG5eH
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) August 30, 2026
Fuel prices in Israel will rise at midnight Monday-Tuesday, the Energy Ministry says.
The increase means that prices will reach a 14-year high, with the cost of gas set to equal the price in September 2012, Hebrew-language media reports.
The price of 95 octane unleaded gasoline in self-service will be NIS 8.25 per liter (approximately $2.77), up by NIS 0.16 from the current price. The addition for full service will be NIS 0.26, an increase of NIS 0.01.
In Eilat, where there is no 18% added VAT, the 95 octane price will rise by NIS 0.14 to NIS 6.99 ($2.34), with full service addition rising to NIS 0.22, an increase of NIS 0.01.
An alleged gun smuggler was shot by Israeli forces in the Jordan Valley on Thursday, the police and military announce this morning.
Police officers and IDF troops had been stationed near the Jordan border in the West Bank when they identified a suspect armed with a knife.
The IDF and police say the forces carried out a “suspect arrest procedure” which included gunfire at the man, who was hit but fled.
As the forces chased after the man, they located a bag which contained seven pistols, which police say were smuggled into Israel.
The alleged smuggler is still at large.
Weapons smuggling is a constant challenge for Israel along its long, porous eastern border with Jordan.
Russian forces have begun preparations to launch massive strikes against Ukraine’s energy facilities in response to attacks on Russia’s civilian infrastructure and energy sector, the Russian Defense Ministry says.
It adds that Russian forces had continued overnight to carry out coordinated strikes against Ukraine’s defense industry facilities.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei urges Gulf rulers in a written message to identify their “real enemy,” understand its plans and confront it.
The message, marking the birthday of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad’s birthday and published on Khamenei’s Telegram account, also calls for unity, mutual defense against “enemies” and cooperation among Muslims worldwide.
Khamenei has not been seen in public since being injured in the US-Israeli airstrikes six months ago that launched the war, killing his father and previous supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel’s killing of terrorists who participated in the October 7, 2023 onslaught continues, with another member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force targeted yesterday.
The IDF announces that a strike on Saturday in northern Gaza’s Jabalia killed Abd al-Fatah Abu al-Eish, a Nukhba Force commander who invaded Israel on October 7.
The same strike also killed Raed Adel Mohammed Alyan, a Hamas operative, according to the military.
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.
קידם מתווי טרור בטווח הזמן המיידי: צה"ל חיסל מפקד נוח'בה בזרוע הצבאית של ארגון הטרור חמאס שפשט לשטח מדינת ישראל בטבח ה-7 באוקטובר
צה"ל תקף אתמול במרחב ג'באליה שבצפון רצועת עזה, וחיסל את המחבל עבד אלפתאח אבו-אלעיש, מפקד נוח'בה בזרוע הצבאית של ארגון הטרור חמאס>>> pic.twitter.com/3eVZvqn7aF
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 30, 2026
The US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is sailing past Singapore as it heads home after a grueling deployment in the Middle East.
The Lincoln, one of the US Navy’s largest warships, was supporting the US war against Iran. Its deployment included a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 250 days. Concerns have grown about the Lincoln’s lengthy deployment following reports of deteriorating mental health among the crew and shortages of supplies including food and hygiene products.
Thai officials have said the Lincoln will stop in Thailand for rest and recovery before returning to its US base.
Interim leader Delcy Rodriguez assures the public that Venezuela retains control of its oil under a new agreement that allows the United States significant access to it.
“One thing must be absolutely clear: Venezuela retains ownership and sovereignty over its resources,” Rodriguez says in a speech broadcast on state television, nearly nine months after her predecessor Nicolas Maduro was ousted by the US military.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would have control over 65 billion barrels from Venezuela’s oil reserves, which he called “the largest oil deal in history.”
The deal was announced as the White House scrambled to lower gas prices six months into the war with Iran.
Devastating floods near the border with China killed at least 734 people in Nepal and 2,498 remain missing, its disaster authority says, as rescue efforts enter a fifth day.
Chinese state media had earlier confirmed 16 dead in Tibet and 546 people missing following Wednesday’s disaster.
That takes the overall toll to 750 dead and 3,044 missing.
The number of missing in Nepal rose from the 2,426 recorded in its last update yesterday evening.
That list included 589 foreigners, an increase from the 517 previously listed as out of contact.
It also included 933 workers on hydropower projects along the river which the torrent crashed through, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.
The disaster authority says teams had rescued 8,186 people in total, 227 foreigners.
In India, authorities said they had recovered seven bodies from rivers flowing from Nepal, believed to be flood victims. However, they are not included in the toll.
A man aged around 30 has been shot dead in Jaffa, with another young man seriously injured in an adjacent street minutes later, according to medics cited by Hebrew media.
Magen David Adom medics say they found the former victim — named by Hebrew media as Muhammad Katwan from Jaljulia — with no vital signs and with severe penetrating wounds, and pronounced him dead at the scene.
They add that there was “a great commotion” at the scene.
Minutes later, a man aged about 20 was shot in a possibly linked incident.
A Magen David Adom medic says he was fully conscious but with severe penetrating injuries, and was given “life-saving treatment” and taken to Wolfson hospital in Holon in serious condition.
The incidents come amid a prolonged violent crime epidemic in Israel’s Arab community that authorities have for years failed to quell.
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef lambastes Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara as “evil” and “crazy” over her recent order to delay until after the October 27 Knesset election a state-funded memorial event marking the death of his father, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, over electioneering concerns.
Both the late Ovadia Yosef and Yitzhak Yosef have served as the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party — Ovadia having founded the party — and both served as chief Sephardi rabbi of Israel.
The Shas-controlled Religious Affairs Ministry had proposed to hold the gender-segregated event a week earlier, but was shot down by Baharav-Miara, according to the Haaretz daily, which noted the ministry and Jerusalem Municipality staged the memorial at a cost of NIS 4 million ($1.3 million) in the past two years.
In a weekly sermon this evening, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef says: “Suddenly, a legal opinion is issued — by that evil person, the attorney general, what’s her name? Miara, that crazy Miara — that it is forbidden to hold an assembly in honor of [Rabbi Ovadia Yosef].”
“They shouldn’t listen to her. Who is she at all? May God finish her, give her a blow… This won’t pass in silence,” he adds, disregarding the fact that Baharav-Miara did not order the cancellation of the event.
He repeats an argument also made by Shas officials that a memorial rally for former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin hasn’t been canceled, even though the event at Rabin Square isn’t set to be held until November and isn’t funded by the state.
The Bnei Brak Municipality admits it ordered dumpsters and other objects to block the entrance to a secular neighborhood on the outskirts of the predominantly ultra-Orthodox city.
The neighborhood, the municipality claims, “consists of Shabbat-observant residents, who wish to preserve the neighborhood’s character on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.”
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 news reported yesterday, suggesting that law enforcement sided with the Haredi extremists.
Army Radio, however, cited police as saying they were dealing with the roadblocks, while Haaretz reported that after several hours, a police volunteer cleared the dumpsters, though other barricades remained in place.
Police confirm that a British man seen being led away by armed settlers in the southern West Bank’s Umm al-Kheir earlier today is in custody.
The man was detained by the head of the security squad of “one of the settlements adjacent to Ma’on,” a recognized settlement south of Hebron, “on suspicion of performing an indecent act against a minor,” police say in response to a query.
“The suspect has been transferred to interrogation, which is still in its beginning,” police say.
The man was performing so-called protective presence with Palestinians in the area.
That’s How It Works, a social media account that posts claims against such activists, publishes footage in which the British man can be seen holding on to a fence, next to an Arabic sign that reads “welcome to Khirbet Umm al-Kheir,” and pressing his body against that of a child in an apparent attempt to prevent the child from passing through.
במהלך השבת, אנרכיסט זר בשם Finn Joughin, הטריד מינית ילד יהודי בן 10, תוך כדי שהוא מונע ממנו לעבור בשכונה שלו, ביישוב כרמל. (גם התיעוד שלנו מתחיל באיחור, התקיפה המינית המשמעותית יותר קרתה לפני שנדלקה המצלמה).
מבוגרים שנכחו במקום נאלצו להרחיק אותו באופן פיזי עד שתגיע משטרה וכרגע… pic.twitter.com/tFthfuO36z
— ככה זה עובד (@thatshow_itwork) August 29, 2026
A separate part of the footage shows the activist on a mattress inside a structure as a man speaking Hebrew calls him an anarchist and a pedophile.
The Hebrew speaker refers to the child as a resident of Barkan, an illegal outpost in the area of Umm al-Kheir.
