Ben-Gvir Orders Closure of Prisoner-run Bakeries

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. (dpa)
Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. (dpa)
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Ben-Gvir Orders Closure of Prisoner-run Bakeries

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. (dpa)
Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. (dpa)

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has ordered the closure of bakeries inside the Rimon and Ketziot jails, which provide fresh bread to the inmates.

Israeli media said that Ben-Gvir took this step because the bakeries are run by Palestinian inmates.

Speaking to Israel Hayom, Ben-Gvir said he "went crazy" after he knew about the bakeries.

"Prisoners cannot get such a privilege," he was quoted as saying.

This step follows a series of similar steps taken by Ben-Gvir including the transfer of inmates between prisons, depriving them of privileges, and building new strict departments.

Ben-Gvir also called for the death penalty for Palestinian attackers who killed Israelis.

The Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said that the closure of bakeries proves that the occupation "has stripped itself of all humanitarian and ethical morals and values."

This also reflects the occupation’s failure to face the inmates in prisons, the Commission added in its statement.

It continued that the false claims by Ben-Gvir that the “inmates are living in luxury and hotels” are a justification he uses to escalate the war against the inmates.

The rise in tension in the prisons was triggered by raids by the repression units against several departments in Ofer, Naqab, Megiddo, and Damon prisons, assaulting prisoners, isolating dozens, and confiscating their belongings.

Palestinian prisoners started on Tuesday protest steps against the Israeli Prisons Administration, refusing to have breakfast or to undergo "security check". The inmates are exerting pressure on the Administration to back offon its recent measures.

The female prisoners in Damon prison delivered an audio message on Wednesday revealing that they are being tortured by the Israeli Prisons Administration.

There are 4,700 prisoners in Israeli occupation jails, including 29 women and 150 children and minors.



Israeli Foreign Minister Says No Plans to Deport Palestinians from Gaza

Palestinians look on from the street at the damage to a house that was hit by an Israeli strike following an evacuation warning in the Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on September 8, 2026. (AFP)
Palestinians look on from the street at the damage to a house that was hit by an Israeli strike following an evacuation warning in the Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on September 8, 2026. (AFP)
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Israeli Foreign Minister Says No Plans to Deport Palestinians from Gaza

Palestinians look on from the street at the damage to a house that was hit by an Israeli strike following an evacuation warning in the Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on September 8, 2026. (AFP)
Palestinians look on from the street at the damage to a house that was hit by an Israeli strike following an evacuation warning in the Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on September 8, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Wednesday that the government does not plan to deport Palestinians from Gaza, after two Israeli ministers this month floated proposals for the mass removal of Palestinians from the coastal territory.

"We are not planning to expel or ‌to deport anyone ‌from (the) Gaza Strip," ‌Saar ⁠told a press ⁠conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

"If someone wants to immigrate (on) his own will, and there is a country which is ready to accept him .... we will not oppose that, ⁠but we will (also) not enforce ‌anyone ‌against (their) will," he said.

Saar is in ‌Slovenia to open the ‌Israeli embassy in Ljubljana.

Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said on September 2 there was "no real solution for ‌Gaza in the end without this migration" of Palestinians.

Far-right ⁠security ⁠minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on September 3 outlined a seven-year plan for removing Gaza's population through what he described as "voluntary emigration."

The US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has said that Israel has no plans to force Palestinians to leave Gaza.

Israel is to hold a general election on October 27.


Lebanon Says One Dead in Israeli Drone Strike

This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of al-Hanniyeh shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the al-Mansouri village, on September 9, 2026. (AFP)
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of al-Hanniyeh shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the al-Mansouri village, on September 9, 2026. (AFP)
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Lebanon Says One Dead in Israeli Drone Strike

This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of al-Hanniyeh shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the al-Mansouri village, on September 9, 2026. (AFP)
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of al-Hanniyeh shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the al-Mansouri village, on September 9, 2026. (AFP)

An Israeli strike killed one person in Lebanon's south, the Lebanese state news agency said on Wednesday, in a region where Israel has intensified attacks despite a ceasefire.

An Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle in Zebdine in the Nabatieh region, killing a man, Lebanon's National News Agency said.

Since announcing last week the capture of the Ali al-Taher ridge, a strategic Hezbollah position in Nabatieh, the Israeli army has stepped up its strikes in the area.

The attacks have killed at least 29 people since Friday, including 12 members of the same family, according to Lebanese authorities and official media.

Fighting in Lebanon had calmed since a US-Iran memorandum of understanding and a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon were reached in June.

But Beirut still reports recurring Israeli strikes, which it says have killed more than 4,300 people in total since March, and Israeli forces continue to occupy a so-called occupied "security zone" in the south.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday expressed concern about the Israeli "escalation" in southern Lebanon, according to his spokesperson.

In an online petition posted this week, nearly 400 Lebanese public figures, including legal experts and human rights advocates, called for Lebanon's army to be deployed in Nabatieh.

They also voiced concern over a possible "expansion of the Israeli occupation" toward the city, which is about 11 kilometers (seven miles) from the Israeli border.

"This city does not belong to any political group," added the signatories, referring to Hezbollah, which is well established in Nabatieh.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Lebanese army said its units were "deployed in all areas that Israel does not occupy, particularly in the Nabatieh region".


Warehouse Explosion in Northwestern Syria Kills at Least 14

Members of Syria's security forces inspect damaged weapons and munitions at the site of an explosion at what the Defense Ministry said was a warehouse used to store weapons and munitions near Sarmada, in Idlib province, Syria, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP)
Members of Syria's security forces inspect damaged weapons and munitions at the site of an explosion at what the Defense Ministry said was a warehouse used to store weapons and munitions near Sarmada, in Idlib province, Syria, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP)
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Warehouse Explosion in Northwestern Syria Kills at Least 14

Members of Syria's security forces inspect damaged weapons and munitions at the site of an explosion at what the Defense Ministry said was a warehouse used to store weapons and munitions near Sarmada, in Idlib province, Syria, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP)
Members of Syria's security forces inspect damaged weapons and munitions at the site of an explosion at what the Defense Ministry said was a warehouse used to store weapons and munitions near Sarmada, in Idlib province, Syria, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP)

An explosion at a weapons warehouse in northwestern Syria killed at least 14 people and injured 11 others, state media reported Wednesday, citing the Health Ministry.

The cause of the blast near the town of Sarmada, in Idlib province, was not immediately clear. Such incidents are a relatively common occurrence in the country, which has been battered by over a decade of war.

The warehouse was used to store weapons and munitions left over from the country's uprising and civil war from 2011 until 2024, the state-run SANA news agency said, citing the Defense Ministry, without providing further details.

Civil Defense and Syrian Red Crescent first-responders are continuing to search for survivors trapped under the rubble. A photographer for The Associated Press at the scene saw bodies being recovered.

Video footage widely circulated after the blast showed a large plume of black smoke, while the sounds of smaller explosions could be heard.