Israeli minister presents plan to remove Gaza population
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has set out a plan to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and send them abroad.
Speaking in the run-up to close-fought Israeli elections, he said the plan aimed to see the departure of 250,000 Palestinians from Gaza in the first year, followed by the rest of the roughly two million residents over the following six years.
"It's realistic," said Ben Gvir, claiming that there were countries who were "ready" to take in Gazans, without naming which ones.
Forced displacement of civilians in occupied territory is considered a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.
Israeli attacks in West Bank at 'unprecedented' levels, Palestinian rights campaigner says
Israeli attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have reached "totally unprecedented" levels, says Mustafa Barghouti, veteran human rights activist and head of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI) party. "Their goal is clear: it is ethnic cleansing," he added.
Speaking to the broadcaster from the West Bank city of Ramallah, Barghouti said Israeli settlers were attacking Palestinians with “total impunity” since they are “protected by the Israeli army all over the West Bank”.
Israel says releasing 5 detained Lebanese civilians
Israel has said it has decided to release five Lebanese civilians who it had seized from southern Lebanon, where it has occupied areas near the border.
"After their interrogation was completed, it became clear that they are civilians who are not members of any terrorist organisation, have not engaged in terrorism, and there is no reason to continue holding them in Israel," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
It added the move followed efforts by Israel and Lebanon to locate and return the bodies of leaders of Lebanon's Jewish community abducted and killed in the 1980s.
In its last round of negotiations with Israel in August, Lebanon demanded the release of a first batch of people seized from Lebanese territory since the start of the 2024 war between Israel and Hezbollah, a Lebanese official told reporters at the time.
Lebanese authorities have not officially announced the number of citizens held by Israel during that war and a subsequent 2026 war between the two sides, but a list of more than 30 people has been compiled by their families and a committee following up on their cases.
Iran Guards chief vows to avenge victims killed in wedding strike
Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief Ahmad Vahidi has vowed to avenge the killing of four people at a wedding ceremony, which Tehran has blamed on the US.
"The pure blood of these oppressed martyrs... will not go unanswered and will definitely be avenged," Vahidi said in a statement carried by state television.
Six Iranian navy personnel killed in US attacks, semi-official news agency reports
Six members of the Iranian army's naval forces were killed by US attacks on Tuesday, according to Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency.
"During the criminal attacks carried out by the US terrorist army two nights ago on September 1 on the south of the country, six members of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army Navy were martyred," the report said without specifying where exactly they were killed.
Lebanese man held prisoner in Israel released, handed over via Red Cross
A Lebanese man who had been held prisoner in Israel has been released in the first such handover since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war six months ago, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and two Lebanese security officials said.
The man, identified as Malek Ghazi, was handed over to the Lebanese army via the ICRC, one of the Lebanese security officials said. The other official said they were anticipating the release of another prisoner. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that Ghazi was handed over to the ICRC at the border crossing in the coastal town of Naqoura on Lebanon's southern frontier and was then transferred to a Lebanese army intelligence office in the city of Tyre.
Dozens of Lebanese prisoners are believed to be held in Israeli detention centers, including civilians as well as Hezbollah militants captured during fighting in southern Lebanon. The circumstances of Ghazi’s capture were not immediately clear, but one of the Lebanese officials said he was a civilian.
Three Iranian Army pilots killed in US strikes earlier this week, agency reports
Three Iranian Army pilots were killed in US strikes conducted on Tuesday night, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday.
Israel says economic pressure could push Iran into 'desperate steps'
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that US economic sanctions against Iran have proven to be effective, but the pressure might lead Tehran into extreme measures.
"We see signs indicating that the heavy economic pressure they are under, and the fear of an uprising and the collapse of the regime, may push them to desperate steps," Katz said at a ceremony for defence ministry employees.
Israel launched the Middle East war alongside the United States in late February, but has stayed on the sidelines militarily since President Donald Trump sealed a ceasefire deal in April -- even after that truce later fell apart.
Last month, the US Treasury announced a new series of sanctions to "asphyxiate" the Iranian economy, and the US airforce resumed raids on Iran on Sunday.
In retaliation, Iran attacked US military targets in the Gulf and in Israel's eastern neighbour Jordan, but has refrained from targeting Israel.
"The ayatollahs' regime in Iran knows very well why it does not attack Israel after we struck them powerfully twice, destroyed their nuclear programme, eliminated (supreme leader Ali) Khamenei, and severely damaged their strategic capabilities," Katz said Thursday, referring to previous rounds of confrontation last year and earlier this year.
The hawkish minister reiterated the threats against the Islamic Republic that he has made in recent months.
"An Iranian attack on Israel will free Israel from any existing constraint," he said.
"We will strike all of Iran's national military and civilian infrastructure -- including energy infrastructure -- and push Iran deep back into the Stone Age," he added.
Israel's Katz threatens broad retaliation if Iran attacks Israel
Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israel would strike Iran's energy and civilian infrastructure if Iran were to attack Israel, the country's latest threat to Tehran amid a sudden recent escalation of US-Iran fighting.
Fears of renewed escalation gripped the Middle East this week after the US and Iran exchanged their biggest barrage since July, with Washington striking Iran's southern coast and Tehran firing at US bases across the region.
Britain's King Charles to host Oman's Sultan for October state visit
Britain's King Charles and his wife Queen Camilla will host Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq at Windsor Castle for a state visit next month, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday.
The visit from October 20 to 22 will come against the backdrop of escalating tensions in the Middle East since US-Israeli attacks on Iran in February, which prompted retaliatory strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host US bases.
US President Donald Trump has also threatened to bomb Oman - which has been in talks with Iran aimed at restoring commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz - if it "gets in the way".
Iran's army says it attacked US bases in Kuwait, UAE
Iran's army on Thursday said it targeted US bases in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, despite threats of further strikes by US President Donald Trump.
"This morning, the army hit the satellite communication systems, equipment depots and fighter aircraft hangars of the terrorist US army at the Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait with missiles and drones," the army said in a statement carried by state TV.
It added that "the location of forces and radar systems of the child-killing US army at the Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE were also attacked by missiles and drones of the army".
Iran warns US against
Iran warns US against Israeli attack on south Lebanon ridge held by Hezbollah, sources say
Iran has warned the United States that it would respond forcefully to an Israeli offensive on a mountainous ridge in southern Lebanon where Iranian military personnel are holed up alongside Hezbollah fighters, three officials briefed on the message told Reuters.
The message, delivered last month, highlights Iran's continued direct involvement in the ground fighting in southern Lebanon and its readiness to retaliate against Israeli attacks there as the regional war enters its seventh month.
Hezbollah is believed to have built an underground command centre and weapons stores within the Ali al-Taher ridge, which has a commanding view of southeastern Lebanon, according to Lebanese security sources, and has become one of the most contested pieces of ground in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
UAE president and Trump discuss Middle East developments in phone call, UAE state news agency says
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and US President Donald Trump discussed Middle East developments and bilateral cooperation during a phone call, UAE state news agency WAM said on Thursday.
Gulf shipping traffic via Hormuz below 10-day average, data shows
Six commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, down from 11 a day earlier and well below the 10-day average of around 13, preliminary shipping data showed on Thursday.
The vessels included two very large gas carriers, two long-range tankers, one Supramax tanker and one Panamax tanker, Kpler data showed as of 04:05 GMT.
The number of vessels transiting the waterway could change, as some ships typically switch off transponders during the voyage.
🎥 Old videos falsely claim to show new attacks on American bases
As US-Iran hostilities flare up and strikes have resumed, so has a wave of misinformation online. Old and unrelated videos are flooding social media, falsely presented as footage of new attacks.
As tensions escalate, lips filmed in Dubai, Russia and the US have been misrepresented as Iranian strikes on US bases in the Gulf.
Another 68-year-old video of a US nuclear test has been falsely claimed to show Iran detonating mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
Vedika Bahl fact-checks in Truth or Fake.
Kuwait army says intercepting missile, drone attack from Iran
Kuwait's army said Thursday it was intercepting a missile and drone attack from Iran.
"Kuwaiti air defenses are currently engaging hostile missile and drone attacks following the heinous Iranian aggression," the army wrote on X.
Iranian state TV confirmed Tehran was targeting US bases in Kuwait "in response to America's crimes against the Iranian people".
Yesterday's key developments:
- President Donald Trump has suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz as "Trump Strait," despite the fact that the crucial waterway remains contested amid the war with Iran.
- Iranian border guards have seized a vessel with 382,000 litres of smuggled fuel in the northern Gulf, and arrested its foreign crew of 11, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has visited Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, where he vowed not to pull back troops despite a recent push by mediators to advance a US-backed ceasefire plan calling for their withdrawal.
(the broadcaster with AFP, AP and Reuters)
