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Key updates, 21 September 2026:
Vermont man convicted of attempted murder in Nov. 2023 shooting of three Palestinian students
Jason Eaton watches as Hisham Awartani arrives to testify in Eaton’s trial in Burlington, Vt., September 14, 2026. (Glenn Russell/Pool photo via AP)
A jury has convicted a Vermont man of attempted murder in the shootings of three Palestinian college students who were walking near his home, rejecting an insanity defense rooted in his claims that he was acting on orders from the CIA and Mossad.
Jason Eaton, 51, faces up to life in prison in the November 2023 attack near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington, which left Hisham Awartani paralyzed from the waist down and his friends, Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid, wounded.
The jury deliberated for several hours before reaching its verdict after a weeklong trial that saw testimony from the three wounded men and psychiatric experts called by the defense and prosecution.
Eaton was ordered jailed pending sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled. He stared ahead blankly as the verdict was read. Awartani and Aliahmad, sitting in the front row of the courtroom gallery, smiled and hugged people around them.
Eaton had pleaded not guilty but did not dispute that he was the shooter. His lawyers argued that he should be found not guilty by reason of insanity, pointing to his claims that the US and Israeli intelligence agencies transmitted orders to shoot the men to him via FM radio and that God was commanding him to protect his Jewish neighbors.
Had he been found not guilty by reason of insanity, he could have been ordered to undergo mental health treatment.
The shooting, a few days after Thanksgiving, shook Burlington, Vermont, and reverberated in the West Bank, where the three wounded men grew up and became friends as schoolmates in Ramallah before moving to the US for college.
Eaton’s lawyers argued he was suffering from a delusional, psychotic disorder after losing his job at a credit union two weeks before the shooting.
While listening to a local NPR affiliate, Eaton believed he was hearing messages he attributed to the CIA, defense lawyer Joshua O’Hara said. At first, the messages were encouraging and validating, the lawyer said, but subsequent messages turned dark, insisting that Eaton “has to go out and shoot somebody.”
Authorities found three shotguns in Eaton’s apartment and a Ruger .380-caliber handgun that crime lab testing concluded was the gun used in the shooting, prosecutor Sally Adams said. Eaton had purchased the gun seven months earlier from a Vermont gun store.
Trump administration said to propose investing $5 billion in rebuilding Gulf energy sites after Iran war
The Trump administration has proposed investing $5 billion in a new fund that would help Middle East countries rebuild energy infrastructure battered in the Iran war and reduce their reliance on the Strait of Hormuz to transport oil and gas, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing US and Middle Eastern officials and documents.
Reuters cannot immediately verify the report.
IDF says striking Hamas targets in Gaza after unmanned engineering vehicle hit by bomb
The IDF confirms carrying out strikes against Hamas infrastructure sites in the Gaza Strip this evening in response to a bomb that struck an engineering vehicle earlier today.
During routine operations on the Israeli side of the “Yellow Line” in northern Gaza, an unmanned engineering vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, the army says.
No injuries were caused in the incident, which the IDF says is a “blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement by the Hamas terror group.”
In response, several Hamas sites used by the terror group to advance attacks on troops and Israeli civilians were struck this evening, the military says.
Former PA minister who said he mediated between Israel and Hamas before Oct. 7 reveals new details of talks
An undated photo of Sufian Abu Zaida, former Fatah cabinet minister. (Flash90)
A former Palestinian Authority minister who revealed on Friday that he had served as a mediator between Israel and Hamas for roughly a year and a half before the October 7, 2023, attack, says in a new Facebook post that he mediated the talks at the request of senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad.
According to Abu Zaida, a Fatah member who served as the PA’s minister for prisoner affairs from 2005 to 2006, Hamad approached him in March 2022 to ask him if he would consider intervening in Hamas’s negotiations with Israel, saying that they had been stalled for years.
Specifically, Abu Zaida says Hamad wanted him to negotiate the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel in exchange for the two Israeli civilians that Hamas held at the time — Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed — and the bodies of IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul.
He says that Hamad confirmed that then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had approved his plan to approach Abu Zaida about mediating talks.
Abu Zaida, a proponent of the two-state solution who was involved in the Oslo Accords process, defends his decision to accept Hamad’s request and serve as an intermediary with Israel, saying he did it “neither for the sake of Hamas nor for specific individuals,” but “for the sake of Gaza and its people.”
He says he hoped that the negotiations would “secure the release of prisoners, resolve the electricity crisis, facilitate reconstruction, allow workers to enter, address infrastructure destroyed years ago, and lift the Israeli ban on the entry of hundreds of essential items needed by the population.”
It is unclear from Abu Zaida’s post whether the negotiations were still ongoing when Hamas launched its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking the two-year war in the Gaza Strip and thereby drastically worsening the conditions of the enclave for its roughly 2.3 million residents.
The former PA minister said on Friday that he will soon reveal details of those talks, including a message that he passed to Israel from Sinwar.
Palestinian worker found dead in Umm al-Fahm reportedly fell from height, avoided medical treatment for fear of prosecution
The Palestinian worker whose body was found today in the northern Arab city of Umm al-Fahm is identified in Arabic media as Omar sl-Sadda, from the village of Jit in the northern West Bank.
Sadda, who was in Israel without a permit, reportedly fell from an elevated surface several days ago but avoided seeking treatment out of fear he would be prosecuted for his status and would lose his source of income.
Israel has severely restricted the entry of Palestinian laborers from the West Bank since the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023.
The unemployment rate in the West Bank in the second quarter of 2026 was nearly 28%, about double the rate before the onslaught, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Central Bureau of Statistics.
IDF: Unmanned IDF engineering vehicle hit by explosive in Gaza; no injuries caused
An unmanned IDF engineering vehicle was hit by an explosive device a short while ago in the northern Gaza Strip.
No injuries were caused in the incident, according to the military.
Palestinian media reports Israeli strikes in Gaza City a short while ago, apparently in response to the bomb.
Qatar: If any of our financial aid reached Hamas, it’s Israel’s fault
Qatar firmly rejects allegations in a New Yorker article that money it had been sending to Gaza was being massively diverted to Hamas, including its military wing.
According to the article, which cited papers seized by Israel, a Hamas leader told Qatar’s foreign minister in 2019 that “the Qatari grant is the main artery of the Hamas movement,” a Hamas leader told Qatar’s foreign minister in 2019.
“The October 7th attacks revealed what Qatar’s money had helped buy,” the article continued, “Hamas forces assembled in a vast system of tunnels outfitted with ventilation systems, surveillance cameras, and communications networks; they emerged wearing body cameras and carrying antitank missiles.”
In a statement, Qatar says the article is part of “a broader disinformation campaign” against the emirate, adding that there is evidence of far-right Israeli involvement in the anti-Qatar campaign.
Qatar says all the aid it sent to Gaza went through “mechanisms coordinated with Israeli authorities and international partners.”
“Under these aid mechanisms, all financial assistance, along with food, medicine, fuel, and other essential supplies, was routed through Israel before entering the Gaza Strip,” the statement continued. “None of this aid was allowed entry without the involvement of Israeli authorities at various stages of the process.”
Qatar stresses that its aid was coordinated with successive Israeli governments with three different prime ministers. “Any funds that may have reached Hamas are not the responsibility of the State of Qatar, but rather Israel, which oversaw their delivery,” says Qatar.
Those spreading the “false allegations” are trying to spread “chaos and division” in the region, Qatar alleges.
Statement by the International Media Office of the State of Qatar in response to false allegations published by The New Yorkerhttps://t.co/Q2Rg1tfT0c pic.twitter.com/I5kiecpY67
— Qatar's International Media Office (@IMO_Qatar) September 21, 2026
Key Update
At least 11 arrested in Tunisia after pro-Palestinian protest
At least 11 people have been arrested in Tunisia after taking part in a protest demanding the release of jailed organizers of a Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla last year, lawyers and activists say.
The number of those detained over Saturday’s demonstration remains unclear. Activists say at least 13 have been arrested, but lawyer Ghassen Besbes, who is representing some of the detainees, puts the number at 11.
Fellow lawyer Fedy Snene, who is also representing some of those arrested, says a judge has extended their detention by 48 hours and that they have been interrogated about slogans chanted during the protest.
Authorities have yet to confirm the arrests.
Expressing their “deep concern,” the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH), the bar association and the UGTT union confederation call for the demonstrators to be freed and for an “end to the obstruction of peaceful gatherings.”
On Saturday, hundreds had protested in Tunis to demand the release of four jailed pro-Palestinian activists accused by Tunisian authorities of money-laundering over their involvement in organizing a Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla.
The four were arrested in March on charges of misusing funds raised for the Global Sumud Flotilla, which attempted to sail to Gaza in 2025 with the aim of delivering aid to the Palestinian territory.
The Global Sumud Flotilla has condemned their arrest and repeatedly called for their release.
The group has said the detained activists’ health was “deteriorating fast” after they began a hunger strike to protest their imprisonment.
One of them, Wael Naouar, has been on hunger strike for over a month and was in a critical condition, according to activists.
Funeral for Neve Tzuf terror victim Netanel Shukrun to be held at 11 p.m. in Alei Zahav
Netanel Shukrun, a father of six from the northern West Bank settlement of Alei Zahav, who was killed in a terror attack at a nearby natural spring on September 20, 2026, the eve of Yom Kippur. (courtesy)
The funeral of Netanel Shukrun, who was killed in a terror shooting yesterday at a natural spring near the West Bank settlement of Neve Tzuf, will take place at 11 p.m. tonight in his home community of Alei Zahav, a settlement in the northern West Bank.
Shukrun, a father of six, went to the natural spring with his eldest son to immerse in the water before Yom Kippur in accordance with Jewish tradition. While he was there, the shooter opened fire toward the spring from a vehicle, hitting Shukrun, who was inside his own car at the time.
The terrorist then got out of his car and fled on foot, still armed.
Shortly after the attack, the combat tracker for the military’s Binyamin Regional Brigade opened fire on the gunman as he fled, injuring him, according to the IDF.
Shukrun was taken in serious condition to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
The terrorist was later captured at a hospital near Ramallah.
CNN, MS NOW, Politico sue Trump administration over White House ban
The lawsuit filed by CNN, MS NOW and Politico against the administration of US President Donald Trump is photographed September 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
MS NOW, CNN and Politico say they are suing the Trump Administration to protect their First Amendment rights after US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he was banning them from the White House grounds.
The three news outlets say they notified the government that they were filing their lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia and could see emergency hearings in the case as soon as this week, according to CNN.
Representatives for the White House have not immediately responded to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
Police probing death of Palestinian whose body was found in Umm al-Fahm
Police say they are investigating the death of a Palestinian who was in Israel illegally after his body was found in the northern Arab town of Umm al-Fahm.
Arabic media reports that the man was a worker from the West Bank and that his body was found inside a house earlier today.
Suspect in Ontario synagogue shooting identified as Sean Ward, injured cop as Jeff Smith
Police officers talk near the scene of a shooting where a police officer was shot outside a Yom Kippur gathering at Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, September 21, 2026. (Patrick Doyle/Reuters)
The suspect in a shooting outside a synagogue in Belleville, Ontario, last night has been identified as Sean Ward, 29, according to Canada’s CTV News.
The outlet also identifies the police officer who was critically injured in the shooting as Jeff Smith, whom it says has been with the police for 13 years.
Ward is suspected of opening fire near the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, about 110 miles east of Toronto, on Sunday night.
Authorities say he drove up in a truck, was stopped half a block from the synagogue, and opened fire. Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit said it would make sense to believe that the synagogue was deliberately targeted, but stressed that this was speculation.
Key Update
US refuses visas for several members of Iranian delegation ahead of UN General Assembly, state media claims
The United States has refused to issue visas to members of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s delegation, including his communications team, for this week’s trip to the UN General Assembly, Iranian state media reports.
Pezeshkian will be the highest-ranking Iranian official to enter the United States since the Middle East war began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.
“In an unprecedented hostile move by the US government, [US President Donald] Trump has denied US visas to certain members of the president’s high-level delegation, including members of his communications team,” state news agency IRNA reports.
The Mehr news agency also carries the story, citing a spokesperson for the Iranian presidency, and adds that Pezeshkian will address the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accuses the Trump administration of “trampling on the right of access to information,” pointing to its recent move to bar three major US media outlets from the White House over objections to their coverage.
“When an administration slams its doors shut — even on American journalists it happens to dislike — and bars foreign reporters, including the Iranian president’s media team, whose voices it would rather silence, it is not managing access; it is trying to hide the truth,” Baghaei says on X.
The US has authorized an Iranian delegation to travel for the UN General Assembly but will, like last year, put restrictions in place.
Iran’s delegation will not, for instance, be allowed to purchase luxury goods or other items, the State Department said on Thursday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, part of the delegation to the UN, left Iran on Sunday evening for a stopover in Qatar.
Iran says it has conveyed to the US, via Qatar as mediator, conditions for reopening the strategic Strait of Hormuz oil and gas shipping route, which it has sought to choke off since the war began.
The United States, in turn, is imposing a counterblockade of Iranian ports.
IDF says false identification triggered earlier siren in northern border community
A siren sounded earlier today in the northern border community of Malkia, in what the military said was a false alarm.
The alert was triggered as a result of a “false identification,” and not any rocket fire from Lebanon, according to the army.
Skies, borders reopen and public transport starts back up following end of Yom Kippur
As the 25-hour Yom Kippur fast comes to an end, Israel slowly begins to reopen its airspace and borders, and public transport resumes across the country.
The first arrival at Ben Gurion Airport is scheduled for 10:30 p.m., with the first departure following an hour later.
Meanwhile, the Allenby Crossing with Jordan in the West Bank will reopen tonight, and the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza will resume operating tomorrow.
Buses are resuming across the country, while train service will resume on Tuesday.
Key Update
Magen David Adom: 2 killed in road accidents over Yom Kippur, 368 people treated for fast-related issues
Two men, aged 35 and 45, were killed in traffic accidents over Yom Kippur, and 46 others were injured, Magen David Adom says in a post-holiday update.
Of those injured in road accidents, one was in critical condition with a head injury, another was in serious condition, three were moderately hurt, and the other 39 were suffering from light injuries.
In total, MDA says it treated 3,322 people over the course of the 25-hour fast, including 368 who fainted while fasting or were suffering from dehydration and other fast-related issues.
It says 299 people required medical treatment for injuries sustained while riding bikes, rollerblades, scooters and skateboards — a popular Yom Kippur activity among secular Israelis, as road traffic is heavily reduced during the fast.
The emergency service says one person was killed in a violent incident in Umm al-Fahm over Yom Kippur, and 40 people were injured in various other violent injuries across the country.
Key Update
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