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Arab World

Israel: Netanyahu Not Consulted on Killing of Haniyeh's Sons

Onlookers check the car in which three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were reportedly killed in an Israeli air strike in al-Shati camp, west of Gaza City on April 10, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (Photo by AFP)
Onlookers check the car in which three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were reportedly killed in an Israeli air strike in al-Shati camp, west of Gaza City on April 10, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (Photo by AFP)
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Israel: Netanyahu Not Consulted on Killing of Haniyeh's Sons

Onlookers check the car in which three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were reportedly killed in an Israeli air strike in al-Shati camp, west of Gaza City on April 10, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (Photo by AFP)
Onlookers check the car in which three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were reportedly killed in an Israeli air strike in al-Shati camp, west of Gaza City on April 10, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli forces killed three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an air strike in Gaza without consulting senior commanders or political leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
Quoting senior Israeli officials, Walla news agency said neither Netanyahu nor Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had been told in advance of the strike, which was coordinated by the Israeli military and the Shin Bet intelligence service.
It said Amir, Mohammad and Hazem Haniyeh had been targeted as fighters and not because they were the sons of Hamas's political leader. The Israeli military did not comment on reports that four of Haniyeh's grandchildren had also been killed.
The killing of Haniyeh's relatives has added a potential complication to negotiations aimed at securing a halt in the fighting in Gaza in exchange for the return of the 133 Israeli hostages still believed to be held in the besieged enclave.
Haniyeh said Hamas had "clear and specific" demands for agreeing to any pause in the fighting.
"The enemy will be delusional if it thinks that targeting my sons, at the climax of the negotiations and before the movement sends its response, will push Hamas to change its position," Haniyeh said on Wednesday.
Global calls for a ceasefire have been growing as the war has entered its seventh month but there has been little sign of progress in the talks.
Hamas is demanding an end to the Israeli offensive, a withdrawal of Israeli forces and permission for Gaza's displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.
Israel wants to secure the return of the hostages but says it will not end the war until Hamas is destroyed as a military force, and that it is still planning to assault the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million civilians have taken refuge.

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Arab World

Palestinians Say Israeli Settlers Torch Mosque, Factory

A Palestinian man checks the torched entrance at the damaged Al-Taqwa mosque, whose walls were also daubed with Hebrew graffiti in an attack allegedly carried out by Israeli settlers in the Palestinian village of Al-Tuwani, south of Yatta, near Hebron in the occupied West Bank on July 19, 2026. (AFP)
A Palestinian man checks the torched entrance at the damaged Al-Taqwa mosque, whose walls were also daubed with Hebrew graffiti in an attack allegedly carried out by Israeli settlers in the Palestinian village of Al-Tuwani, south of Yatta, near Hebron in the occupied West Bank on July 19, 2026. (AFP)
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Palestinians Say Israeli Settlers Torch Mosque, Factory

A Palestinian man checks the torched entrance at the damaged Al-Taqwa mosque, whose walls were also daubed with Hebrew graffiti in an attack allegedly carried out by Israeli settlers in the Palestinian village of Al-Tuwani, south of Yatta, near Hebron in the occupied West Bank on July 19, 2026. (AFP)
A Palestinian man checks the torched entrance at the damaged Al-Taqwa mosque, whose walls were also daubed with Hebrew graffiti in an attack allegedly carried out by Israeli settlers in the Palestinian village of Al-Tuwani, south of Yatta, near Hebron in the occupied West Bank on July 19, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli settlers set fire overnight to a mosque in a village in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian official said Sunday, as an AFP journalist saw the structure's entrance scorched and Hebrew graffiti sprayed on its walls.

The incident came during a period of increased attacks against Palestinian communities by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in 2023.

More than two dozen settlers, some masked, attacked the Al-Taqwa mosque in the village of Al-Tuwani during the night and set it on fire, Mohammed Rabie, head of the village council, told AFP.

The settlers also set fire to two houses and a dairy factory, he said, adding the attackers spray-painted Hebrew graffiti on the walls of the mosque.

Rabie said the settlers fled after villagers emerged from their homes, adding that local volunteers managed to extinguish the flames before they spread further.

AFP photographs showed a child and an elderly man inspecting the charred entrance and windows of the mosque, where part of a prayer carpet had also been burned.

Rabie said the dairy factory, run by women from the Masafer Yatta community, suffered extensive damage.

"We thank God that this attack did not turn into a tragedy with loss of life," he said.

The Israeli police said it deployed officers to the village last night "after a report of suspects who caused damage at the site, including a vehicle that was set on fire, damage to the door of a prayer structure, and graffiti sprayed on walls."

"The investigation into the circumstances of the incident... is still ongoing."

"The settlers' attack took place in full view of the Israeli army," Palestinian activist Osama Makhamra told AFP, noting that an Israeli military watchtower stands close to the mosque that was set ablaze.

Rabie, however, said Israeli army, police and fire service personnel arrived in the village about half an hour after the attack and inspected the damage to the mosque and other property.

The Palestinian religious affairs ministry condemned the attack.

In a statement, the ministry described the arson as "a full-fledged terrorist act", accusing Israel's "extremist occupation government" of encouraging settler violence in an effort to displace Palestinians from Masafer Yatta and turn the conflict into "a religious war".

In a recent report, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank had reached "unprecedented" levels, averaging six attacks per day that resulted in casualties or property damage.

Excluding East Jerusalem, around three million Palestinians live in the occupied West Bank alongside more than 500,000 Israelis residing in settlements that are considered illegal under international law.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.

Arab World

Eight Peshmerga Forces Wounded in Iranian Strike Targeting Northern Iraqi Kurdistan

A drone is intercepted in the sky over Erbil, Iraq, July 15, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Dlawer/X/via REUTERS
A drone is intercepted in the sky over Erbil, Iraq, July 15, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Dlawer/X/via REUTERS
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Eight Peshmerga Forces Wounded in Iranian Strike Targeting Northern Iraqi Kurdistan

A drone is intercepted in the sky over Erbil, Iraq, July 15, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Dlawer/X/via REUTERS
A drone is intercepted in the sky over Erbil, Iraq, July 15, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Dlawer/X/via REUTERS

Eight members of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces were wounded on Sunday in a drone attack targeting the headquarters of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, a Kurdish opposition group, in Erbil in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

Security sources also told Reuters that an attack drone was shot down near the US consulate in Erbil.

Kurdish media outlet Rudaw quoted Adib Khaledian, a member of the leadership of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, as saying that a drone strike early on Sunday targeted the party's Jamshar headquarters near the Darashakran camp in Erbil province, wounding eight Peshmerga fighters.

He added that "four of the Peshmerga fighters were seriously wounded," and said that "surveillance drones are constantly flying over our positions and gathering information," according to the German news agency.

According to the network, the force has been targeted several times by Iran, with previous attacks killing two Peshmerga fighters and wounding 26 others.

 

Arab World

Egypt, Türkiye Conclude Joint Military Exercise

The training featured conventional and unconventional live-fire drills, vertical assault exercises using an aircraft simulator and training on handling improvised explosive devices. (Egyptian military spokesman on Facebook)
The training featured conventional and unconventional live-fire drills, vertical assault exercises using an aircraft simulator and training on handling improvised explosive devices. (Egyptian military spokesman on Facebook)
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Egypt, Türkiye Conclude Joint Military Exercise

The training featured conventional and unconventional live-fire drills, vertical assault exercises using an aircraft simulator and training on handling improvised explosive devices. (Egyptian military spokesman on Facebook)
The training featured conventional and unconventional live-fire drills, vertical assault exercises using an aircraft simulator and training on handling improvised explosive devices. (Egyptian military spokesman on Facebook)

Egypt and Türkiye have concluded a joint military exercise focused on countering drones and conducting unconventional live-fire drills, with the participation of Egyptian airborne and commando units and Turkish special forces.

According to a statement issued Saturday by the Egyptian military spokesperson, the final phase of the multi-day Golden Eagle exercise included “an operation to storm a terrorist stronghold in a residential area using helicopters, during which hostages were freed and the terrorist elements apprehended.”

The training featured conventional and unconventional live-fire drills, vertical assault exercises using an aircraft simulator and training on handling improvised explosive devices.

Participants trained in first aid and lifesaving procedures, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles and methods of countering them, free-fall simulation in a vertical wind tunnel and operational free-fall parachute jumps.

The exercise comes amid growing military cooperation between Egypt and Türkiye, reflected in a series of joint drills held since the two countries signed a military framework agreement five months ago during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Cairo in February.

The Egyptian military spokesperson said the exercise also included a “friendship jump” in which troops carried the flags of both countries, demonstrating the participants’ “high level of proficiency and advanced technical skills.”

The final phase was attended by several senior Egyptian and Turkish military commanders, as well as Türkiye’s military attaché in Cairo.

The first phase of Golden Eagle included theoretical lectures on a range of subjects aimed at standardizing operational concepts and improving integration and coordination among participating personnel. An exhibition of the weapons and equipment used during the exercise was also held.

Last week, Egypt’s commander-in-chief of the armed forces and minister of defense and military production, Ashraf Salem Zaher, met Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler in Türkiye to discuss strengthening military cooperation in training and the transfer and exchange of expertise between the two countries’ armed forces.