Settlers reportedly shoot at Palestinians, slaughter 20 sheep in separate West Bank attacks
Key updates
Yemen’s Houthis free 159 pro-government fighters under amnesty
Yemen’s Houthis announce the release of 159 pro-government fighters under an amnesty announced after they seized swathes of land in a major offensive last month.
The prisoners had “voluntarily surrendered themselves without fighting” as the Iran-backed group captured strategic positions along the Red Sea, Houthi official Abdelqader al-Murtada tells a press conference in Sanaa.
The Houthis’ war with the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government reignited in July, triggering attacks on Saudi oil shipments and other targets including airports.
The International Committee of the Red Cross confirms the unilateral release of 159 prisoners and says it has given support by organizing interviews and health checks, contacting families and helping arrange transport.
Murtada says 323 prisoners were released under the amnesty last month after surrendering in Hodeidah governorate.
Liberman urges anti-Netanyahu voters not to waste ballots on smaller parties
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman urges voters to back only one of the four parties in the “serving bloc,” a grouping of Zionist opposition parties that advocate military service for ultra-Orthodox men, a day after accusing fellow opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot of seeking to form a government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the October 27 election.
“I call on my colleagues in the serving bloc to focus on just two messages,” Liberman writes in a post on X, calling for voter turnout to exceed 76% and urging Israelis to “vote only for one of the four parties in the bloc, and not waste votes on fringe parties.”
The appeal comes a day after Liberman accused Eisenkot, whose Yashar party leads the opposition bloc in polls, of trying to siphon votes from allied parties to strengthen his position ahead of potential coalition negotiations with Netanyahu.
Eisenkot, who has publicly ruled out forming a government with Netanyahu, dismissed the accusations as a “spin” and told Israelis to “not be rattled by the background noise,” saying he seeks “a clear majority of more than 61 Zionist seats for change.”
Journalist undergoes surgery, suffers broken vertebrae after Israeli settler attack
Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine is undergoing surgery on her finger, which was nearly detached from her hand after she was beaten by settlers in the West Bank, her daughter says.
Ashley Milner tells The Associated Press that the finger on her mother’s left hand was cut to the bone and a tendon was visible. She says Levine also has a broken rib and multiple broken vertebrae as well as lacerations across her body.
Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villages across the West Bank yesterday, setting fire to cars and trees and beating residents as well as Levine in the latest violence to disrupt the territory’s annual olive harvest this month.
Levine said the perpetrators — armed with bottles and slingshots — “were kicking me for like 10 minutes and I was trying to hold onto my cameras and my bag.” She said her helmet and protective vest, which was marked “PRESS,” likely saved her from more serious injuries.
Settler violence against Palestinians has soared this year and spiked further in the weeks leading up to Israel’s October 27 election. Israeli authorities have been accused by local residents and rights groups of doing little to stop the attacks.
Saudi Arabia executes five Saudis convicted of ‘terrorism-related’ offenses
Saudi Arabia has executed five Saudi nationals convicted of “terrorism-related offenses,” including joining an unspecified foreign organization designated as terrorist, attacking security forces and supporting attacks inside the kingdom, the interior ministry says.
Pope Leo to be discharged from hospital, Vatican says
Pope Leo is expected to leave the hospital this afternoon following surgery for lung cancer, the Vatican says.
He will lead prayers from his apartment at the Vatican to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square tomorrow, his first public appearance since he was hospitalized.
Egypt’s Sisi says his presidency will end in 2030
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi says that his presidential term will end in 2030 and that the question of his departure from office was “settled and will not be discussed”, reaffirming that Egypt’s constitution would not be further amended.
Sissi, who has ruled Egypt since 2014, was granted the ability to remain in office until 2030 under constitutional amendments approved by Egypt’s parliament in 2019.
If he completes his current term, he will have served as president for 16 years.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
IDF: Troops dispatched to West Bank village after Israeli injured in clash
The military says troops and Border Police officers were dispatched to the West Bank village of Beit Lid following reports of a “confrontation between several Israeli civilians and several Palestinians in the area.”
An Israeli civilian was injured in the area and taken for medical treatment, and “reports of additional injuries are being examined,” the army says.
“The forces are conducting searches in the area,” the IDF adds.
Saudi airstrikes killed three children in Yemen, Houthis say
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels say that airstrikes from Saudi Arabia killed three children in Yemen’s southwestern province of Dhamar yesterday.
The Houthi-run health ministry says that yesterday’s strikes hit houses in al-Ar village in the Dawran Aness district, killing one child aged 8 and two children aged 10 and wounding more than a dozen people.
The Houthis blame Saudi Arabia for the strike, which comes amid heightened fighting between the group and the kingdom and its Yemeni allies. Saudi Arabia doesn’t immediately comment on the strike.
The children are among 124 people the Houthis say have been killed in their territories since fighting resumed in September, according to the ministry.
Settlers stab to death some 20 Palestinian-owned sheep in West Bank — report
Settlers stabbed to death some 20 Palestinian-owned sheep during a raid on a farm in the West Bank village of Kafr Malik, northeast of Ramallah, Palestinian media reports.
According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, settlers entered the farm on the outskirts of the village and stabbed the animals.
Footage circulating online shows the apparent aftermath of the attack, with the mutilated carcasses of numerous sheep piled together.
Report: One Palestinian killed in strike near Gaza City school
A Palestinian man was killed in an Israeli strike near a school in Gaza City, Hamas-affiliated media in the Strip report.
The drone strike near Dar al-Arqam school in the city’s Al-Tuffah neighborhood killed Majid al-Subagh, according to Palestinian media reports.
The area of the school has been targeted by Israel in the past, with the IDF previously saying the site was being used for Hamas activity.
The IDF tells The Times of Israel that it struck a terror operative in the area, and the results are under review.
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