Middle East

The UN’s Guterres condemned violations of Syria’s sovereignty as he visited and called for sanctions to be lifted.

The head of the United Nations has condemned the persistent violation of Syria’s sovereignty, as Israel’s forces reportedly carried out new incursions into its neighbour’s territory.

Israeli soldiers advanced towards villages in southwestern Syria on Sunday, setting up a checkpoint at Al-Ardah, while shelling was also heard nearby, Syria’s state news agency SANA reported. Leaflets were dropped warning residents against attempting to obstruct the advance of Israeli vehicles.

The incursion came as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on a visit to Syria, condemned Israel’s violations.

“Syria’s sovereignty, independence, unity & territorial integrity must be fully respected,” he wrote in a social media post. “Violations by Israel of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement are unacceptable & must stop.”

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, he said that the UN is set to submit a comprehensive report to the UN Security Council on the issue at the end of the month.

‘Security zone’

Israel has conducted increasingly regular incursions into Syrian territory since the fall of the regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

In the immediate aftermath, it seized control of the UN-controlled buffer zone separating the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria, saying the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria had collapsed.

Since then, Israel has carried out regular attacks, raids and searches, and established military checkpoints further within Syria.

Israeli officials say they intend to remain in southern Syria, in what they call a “security zone”.

Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani called for Israel’s withdrawal from the buffer zone on Saturday, saying its continued military operations and occupation are a “direct threat to the security of the region”.

In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera’s Al Muqabala, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Damascus was working to reach a security agreement with Israel, involving a group of countries.

“If the security agreement with Israel succeeds, it will pave the way for comprehensive peace without conceding Syria’s right to the occupied Golan [Heights],” he said.

He said that Syria has “no interest” in entering a confrontation with Israel.

Guterres’s visit to Syria is the first by a UN chief to the country since 2009. He is expected to visit the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which has been deployed to the buffer zone since 1974.

On Sunday, he described the country as being at a “moment of opportunity” to recover from its 13-year war, and build a more stable, inclusive and prosperous future.

The UN chief urged the removal of all sanctions imposed on the country during the era of al-Assad, who was deposed by forces led by al-Sharaa in 2024 after over a decade of civil war.

“I welcome steps that have eased sanctions, and opening new possibilities for economic recovery, but all these sanctions must be removed immediately,” Guterres said.

Western countries including the United States have begun lifting economic sanctions, but investors remain cautious. The World Bank has estimated the country’s post-war reconstruction could cost $216bn.

“The United Nations stands with the people of Syria at this pivotal moment. And I came carrying the strongest possible appeal to the international community, an appeal to spare no effort to support the Syrian people and to support the Syrian government,” Guterres said.

This episode examines how mass violence in Darfur has been constructed over time and why many activists, governments and courts have labelled it genocide, even as that term remains politically contested. It traces how environmental stress, neglect of the peripheries and competition over land fed grievances between communities. It shows how Khartoum armed and mobilised militias, how racialised language framed “Arabs” and “Africans” as enemies and how aerial bombing, burning of villages and mass displacement became tools of policy. Through survivors’ testimony and legal analysis, the film follows the path from counterinsurgency to crimes against humanity and alleged genocide and asks what justice has – and has not – been delivered for Darfur.

Extreme heat and strong winds are fuelling a wave of wildfires across North Africa, with major fires burning in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Tunisia has called in international firefighting aircraft as crews battle fires threatening forests, farmland and nearby communities.

Five years after Tunisian President Kais Saied suspended parliament and attained sweeping powers, the country remains sharply divided, grappling with a severe economic downturn and a worsening political deadlock.

Saied’s supporters continue to view the measures taken by him in July 2021 – when he suspended parliament and dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi – as a necessary “correction” to save the country. The opposition says that since then, state institutions have collapsed, promises have gone unfulfilled, and there has been an unprecedented concentration of power in his hands.

Speaking to Al Jazeera’s Ma Waraa al-Khabar (Behind the News) programme, political and economic experts debated the legacy of Saied’s five-year rule, painting a picture of an economy hindered by a poor business climate, populist policies, and a lack of clear vision.

An economy in free fall

Since Saied assumed near-total control of the levers of power five years ago, Tunisia’s economic indicators have largely plummeted.

Ridha Chkoundali, an economics professor at the University of Tunisia, said that the investment rate in the country has dropped from an average of 20 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) between 2015 and 2019 to just 8 percent in 2023.

Chkoundali attributed this sharp decline to an environment that drives away investment, exacerbated by a significant burden from taxes, which have risen by five percentage points since 2015.

Taxation, he argued, is no longer used to stimulate investment but simply to collect revenues at the expense of economic growth.

The crisis has hit ordinary Tunisians the hardest. Food inflation has reached nearly three times the general average, severely eroding purchasing power. Meanwhile, unemployment has surged, particularly among university graduates, pushing many to leave the country for better economic opportunities abroad.

Mohamed Abbou, a former minister of state and former secretary-general of the Democratic Current party, argued that the crisis is rooted in Saied’s style of governance, adding that the rule of law has been replaced by a climate of intimidation and threats.

“Tunisia has lost all credibility,” Abbou said. “Everyone fears the situation in Tunisia because there is no rationality… there is no stability in laws, taxes, or anything else.”

Abbou particularly criticised Saied’s approach to international finance, pointing out that the president rejected a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) purely to maintain a populist image. At the same time, he quietly implemented many of the IMF’s harsh austerity demands, such as halting public sector hiring and reducing imports.

However, supporters of the current government argue that it is unfair to blame Saied’s administration entirely for an economic crisis that predates his rule.

Political analyst Souhaib Mezrigui says the current situation is the result of an absence of any clear economic or social vision over the past 10 years. He placed blame for the current crisis squarely on the political class that has ruled Tunisia since the 2011 revolution.

Protests and political prisoners

Tunisia’s economic stagnation has manifested into tangible anger on the streets. Coinciding with the five-year anniversary, thousands of Tunisians rallied in the capital’s Habib Bourguiba Avenue on Saturday, protesting against deteriorating living conditions, rolling water and electricity cuts, and a backsliding in democracy.

Organised by a coalition of opposition parties and the “Nafas” civil initiative, the crowds called for Saied to “leave” and revived the 2011 democratic revolution’s rallying cry: “The people want the fall of the regime”.

A central demand of the protests was the release of political prisoners, who have filled Tunisia’s jails since Saied began his crackdown on dissent. Among the most prominent detainees is Rached Ghannouchi, the 85-year-old former parliament speaker and Ennahdha leader, who was recently sentenced to life in prison.

Ghannouchi’s health has rapidly deteriorated in detention. He recently fainted in Mornaguia prison, where temperatures reportedly reached 52 degrees Celsius (126 degrees Fahrenheit). Rights groups and families of detainees, such as opposition politician Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, have repeatedly warned about the dire conditions inside the detention facility and the toll it is taking on elderly inmates.

Imed al-Khamiri, a spokesman for the Ennahdha party, told Al Jazeera that the continued detention of political figures and opposition leaders remains a “disgrace to the Tunisian state”.

US lawmaker calls for sanctions

Saied’s consolidation of power has also drawn renewed international condemnation. Marking the anniversary, US Representative Joe Wilson issued a scathing statement, accusing Saied of transforming the Arab world’s only constitutional democracy into a “one-man dictatorship”.

Wilson accused the Tunisian regime of phenomenally increasing corruption, destroying opportunities for the youth, and shifting its alliances to become a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iran, and Hezbollah.

Noting that Saied’s government has even jailed US citizens, Wilson urged the US State Department to issue a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory for Tunisia.

“I will also continue to work to pass the Tunisia Democracy Restoration Act imposing sanctions on Saied and his inner circle,” Wilson stated on the social media platform X, adding: “Democracy in Tunisia will win in the end. Madmen tyrants will not last.”

Sumaya Yaghi returns to what’s left of her destroyed home in southern Lebanon after Israeli troops withdrew from her ‘pilot zone’ village under a US-backed agreement.

In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Ahmed al-Sharaa discusses regional security, Lebanon’s crisis and domestic challenges.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has revealed that Damascus is actively working to reach a security agreement with Israel with the participation of several countries.

Speaking in an exclusive interview on Al Jazeera’s Al Muqabala programme, the full interview, to be broadcast at 19:00 GMT, al-Sharaa said he hopes the deal with Israel could serve as a gateway to a comprehensive peace.

He also assured that such an agreement would not compromise Syria’s right to the occupied Golan Heights, which Israel has illegally occupied since 1973.

He said Syria is avoiding any clashes with Israel, and that a security arrangement could pave the way for a broader and more comprehensive resolution to the crisis.

It comes after repeated Israeli incursions and strikes in southern Syria, since al-Sharaa came to power in December 2024 following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Lebanon’s crisis and regional fears

Al-Sharaa also confirmed that Syria has no intention of launching any military intervention into neighbouring Lebanon, despite repeated rumours on the issue.

Instead, his government is currently discussing ways for Lebanese authorities to help the country overcome its current crisis and steer it towards safety.

Southern Lebanon is currently being occupied by Israel, amid months of fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces. The Lebanese state is seeking to reclaim these occupied territories and have a monopoly on all weapons in the country.

Furthermore, he declared Damascus’s firm support for restricting weapons and containing decisions of war and peace exclusively to the Lebanese state.

Al-Sharaa stressed that addressing the Lebanese crisis requires more than just a security approach but a comprehensive solution tackling a range of issues.

Any descent into chaos in Lebanon would have direct and immediate repercussions on Syria, and the potential expansion of the US-Israel war on Iran in the region would lead to a severe regional fall-out, he warned.

Sanctions, the SDF and missing persons

On domestic and economic fronts, al-Sharaa argued that merely lifting the economic sanctions imposed on his country by the US and other countries would not be effective unless Syria was also removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Addressing the internal agreement with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab armed groups that controls parts of northern and eastern Syria, the president acknowledged a delay in its implementation.

However, he affirmed that the government remains fully committed to the agreement and continues to bet on its ultimate success.

Al-Sharaa also announced that Syrian authorities have established a special committee to manage the issue of people missing during Syria’s war, between 2011 and 2024.

The UN estimates that around 100,000 people were forcibly disappeared during the war, while Syria’s National Commission on Missing Persons believes as many as 300,000 Syrians could be missing.

Al-Sharaa said the committee will operate strictly according to international standards, working in close cooperation with countries that possess specialised expertise in this field.

Iran says it has halted ‘retaliatory operations’ in the Gulf but warns that if the US continues its attacks, the conflict will expand across the region. Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia had a message for the US ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington.

Israel is intensifying its crackdown on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank after an attack by Israeli settlers resulted in the deaths of six people. Author and activist Phyllis Bennis says we’re seeing an ‘increase in direct war crimes’ with no accountability.

Thousands marched in Tunisia’s capital to demand the resignation of President Kais Saied five years after he suspended parliament. Protesters revived the 2011 revolution’s slogan ‘the people want the fall of the regime’ as they decried democratic backsliding, economic hardship and political repression.

Anthony Joshua survives two knock downs by Albania’s Kristian Prenga before winning the fight in the second round.

Former two-time world champion Anthony Joshua recovered from two knockdowns to knock out Kristian Prenga in the second round of a dramatic non-title heavyweight fight in Saudi Arabia.

The fight in Jeddah on Saturday was seen as the British boxer’s final step before setting up a long-awaited showdown against his compatriot Tyson Fury.

It also marked his return to the ring for the first time since a horrific car crash in Nigeria in December, during which Joshua lost two of his best friends and sustained injuries.

Back inside the ring, Joshua was floored by an uppercut inside 30 seconds. He beat the count but looked seriously shaken.

Then Prenga knocked Joshua down again, but the former heavyweight champion rose before the end of the count and survived until the bell in the first round.

A quick end to the fight was expected, but nobody thought it would be Prenga’s.

In the second round, Joshua unleashed a flurry of punches and finished Prenga with a right hook, sending the Albanian through the bottom of the ropes.

The turnaround shocked even heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk, whose face was caught by TV cameras as he watched from ringside.

The comeback kept alive the possibility of an all-British fight between Joshua and Fury.

Joshua’s manager Eddie Hearn claims his fighter and Fury have signed a contract to meet for the first time later this year, but on the condition that they come through warm-up bouts this weekend.

“I hope the fans will be in for a lovely treat,” Joshua told the crowd about fighting Fury following his win over Prenga.

Fury played his part by coming out of retirement this year and, on Friday, forcing 46-year-old Polish journeyman Mariusz Wach to retire in round seven in Pattaya, Thailand.

Joshua almost blew his part of the claimed contract before showcasing his champion’s fightback spirit.

Prenga brought a 20-1 fight record with 20 KOs into the match-up with Joshua and looked every bit the knockout artist.

Joshua, fighting for the first time since surviving the car crash that killed his friends Sina Ghami and Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele, acknowledged them straight after improving his fight record to 30-4 (27 KOs).

“It’s more than punch power,” Joshua said of his knockout punch. “That was spirit. That was Latz and Sina. That was the family. You know what I mean? That hurts even talking about it.

“He [Prenga] gave me a good test, but this is what champions do: we rise. We get knocked down and stand up. That is life; that is life’s motto.”

At one point in the documentary, House of Hope, the protagonist, Manar Wahhab, breaks down in a classroom corner in the school she founded with her husband in the occupied West Bank. The cameras keep rolling.

“To step into someone’s life with a camera at the moment when they’re really down, it feels a little bit uncomfortable, but we made the choice together to keep filming during these moments. I wanted the audience to be there with them,” director Marjolein Busstra told Al Jazeera.

The film follows Wahhab, a Palestinian woman who established a Waldorf school with her husband, Milad Vosgueritchian, in al-Eizariya in the occupied West Bank.

House of Hope Vision Kindergarten & School teaches the Waldorf philosophy of non-violent resistance and offers children a space to express their emotions and cope with the trauma and difficulty of living under occupation.

“The school protects the children’s dignity in the present moment. It’s more about refusing to let occupation shape their inner world, so that they can actually be children and have agency,” Busstra said. “It’s in Waldorf philosophy that they make space to express the feelings.”

Working with a Palestinian crew, Busstra spent three years with Wahhab, travelling to the occupied West Bank nine times throughout the course of the documentary. She first met Wahhab 18 years ago during a film workshop in the West Bank.

Although the documentary centres around the elementary school, Wahhab is the story’s driving force. The story follows Wahhab and Vosgueritchian, both at the school and at home with their children.

“I started filming the school, but right away, I knew I wanted to do it about Manar’s inner life,” Busstra said. “I think hope is a difficult word at the moment, but I have a deep awe for Manar, who keeps creating and teaching even while carrying so much herself.”

For Wahhab, her respect for Busstra and their existing friendship helped her trust the film crew during vulnerable moments.

“We both believe deeply in education, in children’s creativity and freedom and in seeing the human being as something whole and beautiful in mind, soul and spirit. Those shared values created openness and trust between us and helped shape a film that is not only about events but also about humanity,” Wahhab told Al Jazeera.

The film was produced by Think-Film, the company behind The Voice of Hind Rajab, which tells the story of the five-year-old Hind killed by Israeli forces in 2024. Soldiers fired 335 bullets into the car carrying the girl and six of her family members – a story that became a symbol for the system failure to protect children in Gaza.

Although sometimes difficult, Wahhab said she made an effort to let the crew document multiple facets of her life.

“Over those three years, the crew met many versions of Manar. Sometimes they arrived, and I was fresh, energetic and cooperative. Other times, they found me exhausted, angry, overwhelmed, or ill,” she said. “I understood that I had to be as authentic as possible, because I was representing not only myself, but also my community, hope, peace and the voice of Palestinians.”

Wahhab and Vosgueritchian founded the school out of a desire to offer a different kind of education to Palestinian children and to provide a place where they felt safe and could share their emotions.

“The school was born many years ago when we saw the hardships surrounding our community and wanted to create something different, a space of love, safety, creativity and healing,” Wahhab said. “House of Hope is an idea, a mission and an energy that we carry wherever we go.”

In an increasingly violent Israeli occupation, Wahhab considers the Waldorf philosophy essential.

“I do not see nonviolence as weakness. Actually, I believe the opposite. Violence is easy. Nonviolence requires courage, awareness, patience and inner work. It asks us to see beyond our own pain and ego and to hold on to our humility even when circumstances are trying to pull us away from it,” she said.

“The world absorbs the energy that we create, and right now, there is so much fear, anger and violence in our world. I think we need more peace within ourselves, peace with one another and peace with nature,” Wahhab added.

After Hamas’s incursion into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, came Israel’s brutal military response. Life became increasingly difficult for Wahhab, Vosgueritchian and the children at House of Hope, but the crew continued to document their realities.

“The story I wanted to create with Manar stayed the same, but after October 7, everything became heavier. They were so down for a while. They were like different people, like they lost all hope,” Busstra said. “The school built this safe haven, but the occupation is always rattling at the door.”

Israel’s intensified military actions in the West Bank, including the shooting and killing of children, are a constant spectre. In another scene, Wahhab watches her son leave for school and checks to see if he has a phone charger and spare clothes in case he is held at a checkpoint for hours.

“The energy is so heavy now. I hope people understand that we are not asking for something extraordinary. We are asking for basic human rights, the right to live with dignity and freedom, the right to safety and the right to be fully human beings,” Manar said.

Busstra, who closely followed Wahhab for three years, said she wants audiences to go “beyond the framing of us vs them”.

“I hope that this stays with people, not as something distant that happens to others, but something they can locate within their own understanding of what it means to love someone in an unsafe world.”

Wahhab believes the film offers a more nuanced perspective of Palestinians.

“I think that in the West, many people see a very limited picture of Palestine and the Middle East. Sometimes they see us through stereotypes as terrorists, as people who are undeveloped or somehow less than themselves,” she said. “I hope this film helps people look beyond those images. The news does not tell the full reality. It often shows only violence and people killing one another. It doesn’t show the essence of people’s lives. It shows negativity,” she said.

Wahhab encouraged people to consider the documentary through a lens of shared humanity.

House of Hope won the best international feature documentary prize at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in May 2026 and was recently screened at UNESCO in Paris. It will soon be screened at the Jerusalem Arab Film Festival.

“Even though our story is deeply rooted in the West Bank, its message is universal. Our hope is that people everywhere can see our story and take something meaningful from it.”

The US military has released footage it says shows forces boarding one tanker and disabling another accused of attempting to breach its naval blockade of Iran. CENTCOM says 12 commercial vessels have been redirected and two disabled for failing to comply.

Tehran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen have fired missiles and drones at two of Saudi Arabia’s most strategically important oil facilities on the Red Sea, in a major escalation of the latest simmering regional conflict to be reignited by the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.

But the skies over the country at the epicentre of the widening war were quiet for a second successive night, with no new US attacks on Iran reported by Sunday morning.

Iran had been pounded by 13 consecutive waves of overnight US air strikes since July 11, after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attacked tankers trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz. As hostilities escalated, both sides declared that an interim peace agreement signed in June was dead, and a second phase of talks to finalise a comprehensive peace deal appeared doomed.

But there have been no US air strikes since Friday, and tentative signs are emerging that Washington and Tehran are still talking via mediators and might return to more meaningful discussions.

Even if another fragile truce is agreed, however, the cascade of consequences unleashed by the war is still stoking conflict and confrontation elsewhere.

Iran’s attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have put a stranglehold on exports of oil and raw materials for fertiliser, sending energy prices soaring and raising the risk of a food security crisis in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries.

In March, in response to attacks on Iran, the Tehran-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon resumed missile attacks on Israel, which then launched a devastating invasion of southern Lebanon that has displaced 1.2 million people.

Now, another smouldering regional conflict has erupted again, between US-allied Saudi Arabia and the Houthi movement which controls most of northern and western Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa. Saudi Arabia and its regional allies joined a brutal civil war against the Houthis in 2015, until a truce was agreed in 2022.

Risk of global crisis

The truce collapsed this month after an attack on Sanaa airport to stop an Iranian plane landing provoked the Houthis to fire ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia. Last Monday, the Houthis declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, and late on Friday the Saudis launched air strikes on the Houthi-held city of Hodeidah.

In retaliation, Houthi forces launched Sunday’s attacks on facilities belonging to Saudi state oil giant Aramco in the coastal cities of Jizan and Yanbu, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said.

There has been no comment from Saudi Arabia on the extent of any damage to Aramco’s refinery in Jizan, but a large column of smoke was seen rising after the attack.

In Yanbu, Saudi Arabia’s principal west coast export gateway, two ballistic missiles aimed at oil installations were intercepted by a Patriot battery operated in Saudi Arabia by the Greek military under an agreement ‌with Riyadh.

The escalating conflict has raised fears that the Houthis could block the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. If both the Bab al-Mandeb and Hormuz straits were blocked, the resulting supply chain crisis would cause major economic damage across the world.

Entangled wars

Besides spreading to the Red Sea, the US-Iran war has become entangled with the deadliest active conflict in the world – Russia’s attempted conquest of Ukraine.

A long-range strike on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea on Saturday caused an explosion that killed one sailor and wounded another, according to Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which blamed the attack on Ukraine and summoned Kyiv’s charge d’affaires in Tehran to convey its condemnation of the “hostile and criminal” act.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X that Kyiv had achieved “very strong results” with long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea, hitting “vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship”.

Zelenskyy claimed in further comments on X on Saturday that since the start of July, Kyiv had detected “active Russian satellite ⁠surveillance of the Gulf states and US military facilities located there”. He said the satellite images were passed to Tehran to help the IRGC identify targets for ballistic missile and drone attacks.

US President Donald Trump has not given a reason for the sudden cessation in air strikes on Iran, but a senior administration official told the Reuters news agency that Trump “has always been clear that his preference is diplomacy, but he has shown Iran what will happen if they fail to come to the table in a serious way”.

Trump said on Friday that there was still some communication with Iran.

“They are talking to us right now; they’d love to make a deal,” he said. “I don’t think they’re ready to … but I’m willing to listen.”

Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Tehran, said Iranian officials had confirmed the two sides were exchanging messages.

“There have been proposals conveyed by the mediators, and Tehran is still reviewing them,” Serdar said, adding there was “not much progress yet” due to “fundamental differences” in their positions and deep mistrust.

Protest group says at least 200 demonstrated in Israeli capital a day after major escalation of West Bank violence.

Israeli police have arrested nine people at a Tel Aviv demonstration decrying settler violence in the occupied West Bank, according to media reports and protest organisers.

Hundreds of people gathered on Kaplan Street on Saturday to demonstrate against the settler violence and Israeli military rule in the occupied Palestinian territory, according to Israeli media. The protest was organised by the left-wing Hadash party and its allies.

The Mothers Against Violence protest group said more than 200 people took part in the demonstration, and accused police of using force against demonstrators, including the nine they confirmed were arrested.

Israeli police said demonstrations had gone ahead without authorisation and had begun to “disrupt public order and block the roadway”, according to local media.

The protest came a day after Israeli forces shot dead four Palestinians in the town of Tal, near Nablus, during a settler incursion on their land. Two Israelis were also killed in the confrontation.

On Friday, about 30 settlers entered Tal, next to the illegal Israeli settlement of Havat Gilad, and tried to break into two houses on Friday, said Essam Saifi, a local Fatah official. Residents confronted them, and the settlers opened fire.

A video shows a Palestinian man seizing a rifle from a settler and shooting him before soldiers shot him dead. Three others were killed and four wounded.

Ubai al-Aboudi, a rights activist in Ramallah, told Al Jazeera that one week prior, settlers set fire to a home in Tal with the family still inside. “It was a miracle that the residents of Tal were able to get that family out of the house before they were burned alive,” he said.

In retaliation for Friday’s shooting incident, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a wide-scale military operation across the West Bank, and Israeli forces arrested nearly 50 Palestinians in Tal while raiding about 70 homes.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said at least 80 Palestinians were held across the West Bank the day after the incident, calling it “collective punishment”.

Funerals for the four killed were held before dawn under restrictions on attendance.

Political analyst Ori Goldberg said video of the attack on Tal had made denial impossible for the Israeli public.

“They saw the Jewish terrorist come into the villages and they saw the response … I’m not expecting the public to rise in protest in response, but I do expect this might revivify the last dregs of liberal Zionism in protest,” he told Al Jazeera.

“This may be a threshold moment in what Israelis have previously termed as ‘settler violence’ in an attempt to distance it from themselves,” Goldberg added.

At least 1,182 Palestinians have been killed, 13,000 wounded and nearly 24,000 arrested in the occupied West Bank since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, according to official Palestinian figures.

Yemen’s Houthis say they have targeted oil facilities in Saudi Arabia owned by Aramco, in the latest escalation between the two sides. Saudi authorities say they intercepted the missile and drone attacks. Yousef Mowry has more details from Sanaa.

Tehran summons Ukrainian envoy over the attack, which it says killed one sailor and wounded another.

Tehran has accused Ukraine of attacking an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, causing an explosion that killed one sailor and injured another.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran to protest what it described as a “hostile and criminal” attack on Saturday, state news agency IRNA reported.

The ministry claimed the attack had been acknowledged by the Ukrainian leadership and said it reflected Kyiv’s continued “irrational and hostile approach” towards Iran. It warned Iran would defend its national interests.

It also described the incident as a violation of Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter and said it could further inflame and expand the Russia-Ukraine war.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also discussed the matter in a phone call with the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas, his office said in a statement.

Araghchi strongly condemned Ukraine’s military attack on the vessel in the Caspian Sea, and reportedly “called for a firm response from the United Nations Security Council, the European Union, and the international community, and for the perpetrators and supporters of this criminal act to be held accountable”, according to the statement shared on Telegram.

‘Pressure’

“The Iranians are not really happy with [the attack], while they’re also dealing with a US blockade on the southern coast,” said Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran.

He explained that the attacks on Iran’s northern coast are “putting extra pressure” on Iran’s maritime trade.

In its condemnation, Iran’s Foreign Ministry reiterated that Tehran has never intervened in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The incident came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in a post on X that Kyiv had achieved “very strong results” with long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea, hitting “vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship.” He did not identify the commercial vessel named by Tehran as a target.

Zelenskyy separately alleged that Russia had been passing satellite imagery of Gulf states and US military sites to Iran. He said surveillance on July 19 and 20 covered airbases in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait.

Iran and Ukraine have been at odds since 2022, when Iran sold Russia the Shahed drones that Moscow has since adapted and launched in their thousands at Ukrainian cities.

Kyiv says it has shot down more than 44,000 of the Iranian-designed drones since Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine has also offered its drone interceptors and expertise to governments in the Gulf that have come under Iranian attack during the US-Iran war, deploying anti-drone specialists to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

At least one person was killed and several injured when Israeli drones hit a group of Palestinians near Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Hospital. Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum was outside the hospital as the attack happened. Here’s his report.

Four other Palestinians were also killed by Israeli air strikes, and a policeman died from wounds sustained last week.

The head of the Hamas-led police force in northern Gaza has been killed by an Israeli air strike, while other attacks have claimed the lives of five more Palestinians, the Hamas-run interior ministry and medics said.

Brigadier-General Abdel-Nasser Al-Maqadma, who also served as governor of northern Gaza, was targeted in the Sheikh Radwan area north of Gaza City on Saturday. The Israeli military said he had also been a member of the military wing of Hamas.

Israeli strikes also killed a Palestinian medic in the Nuseirat refugee camp, and two people in a house in Khan Younis. Israel’s military said the house was attacked to target a member of the Islamic Jihad group

Later on Saturday, another air strike on Khan Younis killed high school student Khaled Al-Breim. Relatives said he was killed as he sought to bring ⁠sweets to distribute to relatives and friends who had flocked into his family home to offer their congratulations as he had just concluded high school and was preparing for university.

A sixth death was a policeman who was wounded by an Israeli strike last week and died from his injuries on Saturday.

In recent months, Israel has killed dozens of members of the Hamas-led police force, alleging that many were tied to Hamas’ armed wing and represented an active threat.

Hamas accuses Israel of deliberately targeting the force to destabilise the enclave, calling it a further breach of the US-brokered ceasefire reached in October.

The ceasefire deal has been mostly ignored by Israel. Since the truce agreement was signed, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,180 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Over the same period, four Israeli soldiers have been killed in attacks in Gaza.

Media freedom organisations and opposition lawmakers have criticised sweeping media reforms pushed through by Israel’s right-wing coalition as part of a legislative blitz before the parliament’s dissolution in advance of elections later this year.

The parliament, or Knesset, last week approved the bill that could give the government a far greater say in Israel’s news and broadcast sectors. The controversial measure strips away traditional oversight safeguards, eliminates requirements for minimum journalism standards and lifts longstanding limits on cross-ownership, among others.

Following the July 17 vote, watchdog groups, including the Union of Journalists in Israel, along with opposition parties, successfully petitioned the High Court of Justice to freeze parts of the legislation. They warned that some provisions that were set to take effect immediately, including the removal of limits on ownership of multiple media outlets and the stripping away of newsroom standards, could permanently distort the media landscape before the October 27 election, potentially influencing its outcome.

The government has until Sunday to respond, after which the court will decide whether to keep the freeze, widen it, or allow the provisions to take effect. Other, less contentious and immediate sections of the law were left to stand.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not vote on the measure. He is currently bound by a 2020 conflict-of-interest agreement that bars him from participating in government decisions that could affect his ongoing corruption trial, where, among other charges, he stands accused of using his position to unduly influence media coverage of his administration.

Nevertheless, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi thanked Netanyahu directly, saying: “Mr prime minister, I want to thank you and tell you that the mission you gave me four years ago – to deliver right-wing reform of the media – was today successfully completed.”

Israeli media reported that such a directive by Netanyahu could be a violation of his agreement. Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the Communications Ministry responded to Al Jazeera’s queries over whether Netanyahu’s role in the legislation’s passage represented a conflict of interest. However, Karhi subsequently claimed that he had secured a legal opinion determining that the prime minister was not in breach of the conflict-of-interest agreement.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi have proven repeatedly that they are enemies of independent journalism in Israel,” Martin Roux, of the Reporters Without Borders media monitor, told Al Jazeera.

“This means they’re attacking every Israeli citizen’s right to reliable information from diverse sources. This has been true for years, and it is becoming more obvious every day as the legislative elections, set for the end of October, approach. It’s all about controlling the narrative,” he said.

In a social media post, Karhi claimed the new legislation would bring “more right-wing coverage and less regulation”.

“After a determined struggle against every possible element from the deep state, tycoons, attorneys, officials and fearmongering networks – we managed to pass the right-wing media reform.”

‘Boosting propaganda channels’

However, for many observers, there was little new in overhauling media that had grown used to toeing the government line, with critical coverage of the multiple wars that Israel has engaged in and the international outrage that many have caused typically relegated to the sidelines of the national conversation.

“The reforms are part of Netanyahu’s ongoing media overhaul – undermining the remains of critical reporting and journalistic independence in the country, while boosting Netanyahu’s propaganda channels,” London-based Israeli academic and media analyst Ayala Panievsky told Al Jazeera.

She cited the far-right Channel 14, which she said emboldened Israel’s war crimes and offered unflagging support to what she described as the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.

“In 2020, they amplified ‘the Big Lie’ in the US elections, claiming Trump won the election – they might therefore act similarly following the Israeli general elections in October, if Netanyahu’s coalition indeed loses,” said Panievsky, echoing similar concerns among academics and legal analysts sparked by accusations from lawmakers within Netanyahu’s Likud party that the acting head of the Central Elections Committee, Dean Livne, was “clearly politically biased”.

Analysts and observers from across Israel have long pointed to the strongly nationalist undertone of much of Israel’s current affairs coverage and the absence of space given to Palestinians and Palestinian suffering.

When the United Nations’ Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, Israel’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the findings as “distorted and false“, a framing echoed across domestic outlets rather than scrutinised.

A subsequent Molad report found only 3 percent of Channel 12’s early war coverage referenced Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, with just two of 206 visuals showing Palestinian civilian casualties. Elsewhere, allegations of Israeli war crimes, including sexual abuse, are either omitted or given pro-government framing, observers told Al Jazeera.

“The Israeli media just doesn’t feature Gaza. It’s not there,” political analyst Ori Goldberg said from outside Tel Aviv. “There’s no sense of solidarity with the journalists killed there, or those they don’t let in. They’re just not mentioned.”

Similarly, discussion panels on the various wars that the Netanyahu administration had embarked upon were typically staffed by ex-generals, who had no question with the need for war, only differences over its prosecution, said Goldberg.

However, even this relative compliance was not enough for a prime minister fighting an election that had come to rely on the appearance of forward momentum and paper enemies to sustain his political project.

“Netanyahu always needs to be seen to be pushing the envelope,” Goldberg added. “He needs a media that will give barely critical coverage of his every word, but one that he can still present as the enemy within.”

Tehran, Iran – A public rift has emerged between Iran’s government and state television over how to portray the state of war and negotiations with the United States, as mediators try to nudge both countries towards diplomacy.

The Government Information Council on Friday accused state broadcaster IRIB of “censorship” after parts of a speech by President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier in the week were not shown to the public.

The broadcaster, whose head is appointed by the supreme leader, issued a response on Saturday rejecting the government’s “accusations and improper attributions”, and emphasised that it has a duty to prevent “an incorrect and unreal suggestion of duality in the country’s leadership pillars”.

In his speech, Pezeshkian had pointed out that after last year’s 12-day war with Israel, former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly said there would be no negotiations with Washington – but privately had given his approval.

“We went to the dear leader, explained the situation, and asked him what to do since he had said the ‘no war, no peace’ conditions are bad for the country,” the president said. “He ordered us to go negotiate. We started the talks based on his order.”

The government said in its statement the move to cut that section of the speech was part of a series of “unusual actions” taken by state television concerning recent comments made by the heads of the government, parliament and judiciary.

It pointed out that earlier this month, a part of the parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s interview with state television dealing with negotiations had also been cut. The government council added that a part of a speech earlier this week by judiciary head Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei was not aired either, in which he expressed backing for the president.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has also separately criticised IRIB, saying during an interview with a state-linked outlet released on Saturday that he “fought with a sword” in wartime interviews with US media such as Fox, CNN and others. The chief diplomat said he expected state television to show how Iran’s case was being strongly presented to US audiences and policymakers, but only one or two subtitles from the interviews ended up going on air.

Araghchi also rejected a notion raised by hardliners that the now-suspended memorandum of understanding signed with the US last month was “imposed” on new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, as some hardliners have claimed. He characterised it as the best possible agreement under the circumstances.

In its own statement, the government blamed the actions on “a political faction within” state television, in an apparent reference to the Paydari Front of ultrahardliners, and said their actions could serve to undermine national security and social cohesion.

IRIB, in a statement published by its public relations department, countered that broadcasting the president’s segment would have propagated an appearance of division.

Both sides accused each other of undermining the decree issued last week by Mojtaba Khamenei to reach a “sacred unity” in face of military, economic and diplomatic pressure by the US.

Mohammad Mirzaei, a member of parliament and spokesperson of a committee tasked with exerting oversight on IRIB, said on Saturday that directors of the state broadcaster have been warned about the necessity to display different viewpoints and to act as a “sign of national unity”.

Conservative journalist Mohammad Mohajeri told local media that the broadcaster is now at its most expensive and least effective. Reformist activist Mohammad-Sadegh Javadi-Hesar described the deeper problem as “one government being installed and another government called IRIB operating against it”.

Reformist Entekhab news outlet reported, citing an unnamed source, that Pezeshkian sharply reprimanded IRIB chief Peyman Jebeli at a cabinet meeting after the row over the negotiations. Jebeli, who was appointed by Ali Khamenei in 2021, was media deputy at the Supreme National Security Council when Saeed Jalili, the only council member said to have voted against an interim deal with the US last month, was its secretary.

Hardline lawmaker Meysam Zohourian said the president has threatened to cut state television’s budget, but the administration has not confirmed this.

As the public sparring unfolded, mediators from Oman were in Tehran on Friday to discuss the management of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway whose control has become a central point of contention between the US and Iran.

US President Donald Trump argued on Friday the war was going “extremely well” and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Washington in the coming days.

He said the two sides continued to talk through mediators, but that he did not expect any agreement soon.

The US president also refused to answer whether realising his threat of systematically attacking power plants and bridges in Iran in case of a war escalation would constitute war crimes.

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, on Saturday responded by saying missile and drone launches across the region will continue “until the full surrender of the enemy” and avenging the blood of civilians killed during the war.

EXPLAINER

The UN General Assembly voted 144-10 to grant Turk a new four-year term, despite objections from the US, Israel and Russia.

Volker Turk has been elected as United Nations human rights chief for another four-year term, despite strong objections from the United States, Russia and Israel.

The United Nations General Assembly vote on Friday means Turk, who has served in the role since 2022, will become the first person to serve two full terms as the UN rights chief since the position was created in 1993.

Who is Turk and why has his reappointment caused controversy?

Who is Volker Turk?

Turk, an Austrian lawyer, joined the United Nations in 1999 and went on to work in the organisation’s refugee agency. This included posts in Malaysia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He later worked in senior roles at UN headquarters in New York, including as assistant secretary-general for strategic coordination under UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The two are believed to have a close relationship.

In his role as UN rights chief, Turk has been highly critical of both Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He has also been vocal on conflicts and rights abuses in Afghanistan, Sudan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nicaragua.

How was he reappointed?

The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a proposal by Guterres to give Turk another four-year term with 144 votes in favour, 10 against and 13 abstentions.

Earlier, the assembly shot down a US proposal to delay the vote until the end of next week as well as a Russian bid to extend Turk’s term until the end of the year only.

How has Turk angered the US, Russia and Israel?

The role of UN human rights chief is inherently controversial because it requires public criticism of governments of UN members for alleged rights violations.

Turk’s outspoken criticism of policies in Israel, Russia and the US has put him at odds with all three countries.

Turk has repeatedly criticised Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, its deadly assault on Lebanon, and a “shameful” lack of accountability for its rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Turk has also described Russia’s war in Ukraine as “senseless” and a “blatant affront to the UN Charter and the whole body of international law”.

On the US, he has raised concerns about the war on Iran and the “dehumanisation” of immigrants under President Donald Trump, citing routine “abuse and denigration of migrants and refugees”.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticised Turk’s record, saying that under his leadership the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has “erased the atrocities of October 7, misused funds, and betrayed UN neutrality in favor of corrupt political radicalism”.

Russia’s ⁠Deputy Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Chumakov accused Turk of bias and making unfounded allegations against Russia.

What objections were raised to Turk’s reappointment?

Guterres, whose own term is due to end at the end of this year, has faced criticism for how he managed the reappointment. Critics say the vote was rushed and the selection of a rights chief should have been left to his successor.

The UN secretary-general, whose term expires in December, sent letters to regional groups at the UN earlier this month informing them of his intention to reappoint Turk, and held the vote just weeks later.

The US Department of State criticised the vote for being rushed and said it was “another example of the UN’s inherent corruption and incompetence”.

The US also accused Turk of turning “a blind eye to real atrocities and instead pursued a radical ideological agenda”. US Deputy Ambassador Jeff Bartos claimed before Friday’s vote that reappointing Turk would prove that the General Assembly “is dysfunctional”.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry called Guterres’s push for a second term for Turk a “moral failure,” saying that the choice should be left to his successor.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Guterres had followed UN rules and engaged “in a very transparent manner” in appointing Turk, including by holding prior consultations with member states and regional groups.

What other criticism has Turk faced?

Turk’s critics say he could have done more to publicly follow up on a report issued by his predecessor, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, that said China’s detention of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang may amount to crimes against humanity.

Turk also has stopped short of joining independent UN rights experts who have accused Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Turk’s office said he had used both private engagement with Beijing and his public advocacy to support human rights in China.