Netanyahu claims Israel has indications of possible pre-election attack plot
From air force base, PM warns unspecified 'enemies' not to try * Reports indicate army failed to coordinate Jalud operation with cops, Shin Bet, leaving small force to fend off mass settler rampage * UK denies arms embargo widening
Qatar: We are passing messages between the US and Iran
Qatar is continuing to mediate and pass messages between the US and Iran “to build common ground that brings viewpoints closer and leads to a peaceful solution,” says Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Anjed Al-Ansari.
He stresses that Qatar is working for “de-escalation and restoring full freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.”
“Qatar condemns the targeting of infrastructure, energy facilities, and ships, as this threatens the interests of peoples and violates the principles of international law and good neighborliness,” says Ansari. “The continuation of the crisis and instability in the region affects energy, food, and industrial supplies and increases pressure on the global economy.”
Hamas confirms death of Northern Gaza Brigade commander in Israeli strike
Hamas confirms the death of Izz al-Din al-Bik, the commander of the Northern Gaza Brigade in the terror group’s military wing, in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City overnight.
The terror group says al-Bik was previously chief of intelligence in the brigade, making him “one of the commanders” of the October 7, 2023, onslaught.
When former Northern Gaza Brigade commander Ahmed Ghandour was killed by Israel on November 10, 2023, al-Bik assumed command of the unit, leading the fighting against Israeli troops throughout the war, Hamas says.
Eisenkot’s Yashar party tells PM to update Lapid on potential threat to election to ensure it isn’t ‘political maneuver’
Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must update Opposition Leader Yair Lapid if there are security threats ahead of the upcoming election, in response to the premier’s warning today.
“If Netanyahu’s statements regarding the security threats are correct, this requires an immediate update to Opposition Leader Yair Lapid,” the party says on X, adding that such a meeting is needed “to ensure that it is indeed a genuine threat and not a political maneuver intended to harm the election.”
Ship struck in Hormuz, but crew safe and fire put out — monitor
An “unknown projectile” struck a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, sparking a fire on board that has been extinguished, a British maritime agency reports.
The ship was hit on Monday evening but the crew is since confirmed safe, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) says.
“The fire has since been extinguished and the vessel is underway,” the agency says. “There has been no reported environmental impact or damage assessment.”
Netanyahu: Enemies may be planning to attack Israel before election
There are suspicions that “enemies” may attempt to attack Israel ahead of the October 27 election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims during a visit to the Tel Nof air base.
“We have indications that, ahead of the elections, our enemies will try to attack us,” he says in a video.
“So from here, from the Air Force base, from the long arm of Israel, I am sending you a message: Don’t mess with us — not now, and not ever. Our long arm will reach you anywhere and at any time,” he adds in the Hebrew-language message.
Netanyahu, who has taken to preempting IDF announcements of high-value strikes as the vote nears, also boasts of killing over 100 terrorists in recent weeks in Gaza.
New arms export rejections don’t amount to widening restrictions, UK official insists
A British government source denies reports that the United Kingdom has tightened restrictions on military exports to Israel, after Middle East Minister Stephen Doughty announced that London has refused more than 80 export licenses.
When export restrictions meant to block sales of arms that the UK did not want used in Gaza went into effect in 2024, the policy applied to around 30 licenses.
The 50 licenses rejected since then are simply the result of new applications received in the interim, not an expansion of restrictions, the British official tells The Times of Israel.
In September 2024, then-foreign secretary David Lammy announced the suspension of 30 arms export licenses, out of 350. He argued the move did not amount to a blanket ban or an arms embargo, but only involved items with concerns over their use during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Iranian rial hits record low as economic warfare takes toll
Iran’s currency has fallen to a new record low, with traders in Tehran exchanging more than 2.5 million rials to the US dollar in a stark reflection of how the war in the Middle East has steadily eroded the Iranian economy.
The latest decline comes just 27 days after the rial hit its previous record low of 2.2 million to the dollar on September 2. The currency has repeatedly reached new lows since the war began in February.
US President Donald Trump and his top aides are insistent that Iran’s economy cannot sustain a conflict much longer and have expressed confidence that Tehran will be forced to capitulate.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a Monday appearance on Fox News said Iran was heading toward an economic “cataclysm.” Administration officials say that a combination of new sanctions and a US naval blockade aimed at preventing Iranian oil from going to market has imperiled Tehran.
“And so when you’re denying them money through oil sales and sanctions, you’re not just punishing them,” Rubio said. “You are preventing them from getting access to money that they will use to try and kill Americans and others around the world and their own people and build weapons and threaten the world and ultimately break out to a nuclear weapon program.”
Man shot, moderately wounded in Hafia
A 31-year-old man was shot in Haifa’s Wadi Nisnas neighborhood a short while ago, according to first responders.
The man was rushed to the city’s Rambam Medical Center in moderate condition, medics say.
Officers are scanning the area for suspects, police say, adding that the shooting is “likely criminal” in nature, rather than nationalist.
Army reportedly failed to coordinate Jalud return with police, Shin Bet, leaving soldiers outmanned
Police and Shin Bet sources cited by Hebrew media accuse the IDF of failing to notify them of its plan to enable a displaced Palestinian family to return home in the Nablus-area West Bank village of Jalud overnight.
The family’s return was thwarted when over 100 settler extremists staged a riot in the village, attacking Palestinians and troops and setting fire to homes and other property.
Because of the lack of coordination, just 12 Border Police officers were on call to provide backup for soldiers escorting the family, Haaretz reports.
“The IDF failed massively in one of the most important tests and acted of its own accord with a small force,” the newspaper quotes a senior law enforcement official as saying.
Sources cited by Channel 12 say the small force that was securing the operation sheltered with the Palestinian family on the second floor of the home they were attempting to return to. Troops fired rubber bullets at the rioting settlers to keep them at bay until reinforcements began to arrive from the police and Shin Bet, the report says.
French far-right leader dismisses antisemitism allegations as political hit job
Jordan Bardella, a key ally of French far-right presidential frontrunner Marine Le Pen, dismisses allegations that he made antisemitic comments in 2013, calling the accusation part of a “total war” against their party ahead of elections next year.
“We are seeing the beginnings of a total war, an attempt to destabilize the presidential campaign,” National Rally (RN) leader Bardella, flanked by Le Pen, tells party deputies.
On Monday, investigative website Mediapart published a report based on a review of dozens of private messages from Bardella from 2013 to 2015 that it said showed a pattern of antisemitic and conspiratorial rhetoric.
Mediapart cited one message in which it said Bardella claimed, “All the banks are owned by Jews.”
Bardella has denied the report. He denounces the allegations as a bid to “kill my political career.”
Le Pen says she has “total confidence” in Bardella, 31, who is tipped to become prime minister if she wins the presidency after he made a meteoric rise through party ranks over the last decade.
“Our opponents will do absolutely anything — including the most disgusting things — to try to derail this momentum” ahead of the 2027 election for a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron, she alleges.
“I think it’s Mediapart that needs to be told to put on its Kevlar vest, because there will obviously be a response to the way they are behaving,” she adds.