Houthis claim drone attacks on multiple Israeli targets | LIVE

Six months on, ‘lifesaving aid’ still blocked from Gaza, says UNRWA

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on X that "lifesaving aid" — including food, medicine, and hygiene supplies — remains banned from entering Gaza, six months after Israel halted all aid and commercial deliveries on March 2.

UNRWA urged Israel to “lift the siege” and allow humanitarian organizations to bring in critical supplies, which have been piling up along Gaza’s borders.

Israeli drone strikes excavator in Yaroun, South Lebanon, for second time today

An Israeli drone dropped a bomb for the second time today targeting an excavator in the town of Yaroun, South Lebanon, our correspondent reports.

The repeated strike highlights escalating Israeli drone activity along the border area. No immediate reports of casualties have been confirmed.

Houthis claim drone attacks on multiple Israeli targets

Yemen’s Houthi movement announced that four of its drones conducted military operations against Israel, targeting the General Staff building in Yaffa (south of Tel Aviv), a power station, Ben Gurion Airport, and the port of Ashdod.

“They have successfully hit their targets,” the group claimed.

Additionally, the Houthis said a missile and drones targeted the ship MSC ABY in the Red Sea, accusing it of violating a ban on entering ports linked to Israel.

They claimed the ship was directly hit.

There has been no official confirmation from Israeli authorities regarding these attacks.

Al Jazeera reports the incident amid escalating tensions in the region, noting the Houthis’ growing involvement in the conflict.

Israeli airstrikes hit south Lebanon, drone reportedly crashes

An Israeli aircraft dropped a bomb in the old neighborhood of Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun), where an Israeli drone also reportedly crashed, according to our correspondent.

In a separate strike, an Israeli aircraft targeted an excavator in the town of Yaroun (Bint Jbeil). No immediate reports of casualties have been confirmed.

Israeli army chief: Ground maneuver begins in Gaza City

Israeli army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir announced that the military has launched its maneuver in Gaza City, Haaretz reports.

“We are going to intensify and deepen our operation,” Zamir told reservists called up earlier today. “We are already entering areas we have not entered until now and are operating there.”

He added that the Israeli army is pursuing “nothing short of a decisive outcome,” stating, “The war will not stop until this enemy is defeated.”

DFLP and Hamas discuss strengthening ties with Lebanon

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) hosted a delegation from Hamas at its headquarters in Beirut, led by Hamas’ representative in Lebanon, Ahmad Abdel Hadi. Discussions focused on Lebanese-Palestinian relations.

Both sides emphasized the importance of building strong, fraternal ties with Lebanon, stressing that this relationship should be “comprehensive and not circumstantial,” serving the interests of both peoples.

The meeting comes amid the ongoing handover of weapons from Palestinian camps to the Lebanese Army, in line with an agreement reached on May 21 between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Lebanese Army Commander Joseph Aoun. The latest handover took place on Aug. 31, involving most camps across Lebanon and including heavy weapons.

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MP Osama Saad meets Palestinian ambassador to Bahrain in Saida

MP Osama Saad met with Ambassador Khaled Aref, the Palestinian envoy to Bahrain, at his office in Saida, our correspondent in the south reports.

The two discussed Lebanese and Palestinian public affairs, with a focus on conditions in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and the socio-economic hardships affecting both communities.

They also explored ways to boost cooperation between Palestinian and Lebanese institutions in support of national and humanitarian causes.

The role of the Mahmoud Abbas Foundation in providing scholarships and educational support to Palestinian students was highlighted as a key tool for empowering youth and expanding access to higher education.

Israeli reservists refuse to serve over Gaza City seizure plan

A group of Israeli reservists has publicly declared they will not report for duty if called up to participate in the government’s planned offensive to seize Gaza City, The Times of Israel reports.

“We refuse to take part in Netanyahu’s illegal war, and we see it as a patriotic duty to refuse and demand accountability from our leaders,” said Sergeant First Class Max Kresch at a press conference in Tel Aviv.

The protest highlights growing dissent within Israeli society and the military over the ongoing war in Gaza and the government's military objectives.

eDreams ODIGEO removes listings in illegal Israeli settlements

Spanish travel company eDreams ODIGEO has withdrawn and blocked listings for accommodations in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, its CFO David Elizaga told Reuters.

Elizaga said the company has always had a policy against offering services in these settlements, but some listings appeared automatically after owners uploaded them.

Following protests at its July Annual General Meeting and being named in a 2023 U.N. report on companies operating in settlements, eDreams activated location screenings to filter out such listings.

The company is also working with NGOs and local groups to ensure compliance and avoid future listings in illegal settlements.

Al Jazeera reports this move follows a growing trend of companies reconsidering their presence in Israeli settlements amid international scrutiny.

Palestinian children displaced by the Israeli military offensive on Gaza City, sheltering in tents. (Credit: Daoud Abu Alkas/Reuters.)

Israeli Likud MP calls on chief of staff Eyal Zamir to resign, accusing him of being a ‘politician’

Avichay Buaron, a Likud member of parliament and ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has called on Israel’s Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir to resign, labeling him a “politician,” Haaretz reported.

During a tense six-hour cabinet meeting on Monday, in which Prime Minister Netanyahu reportedly refused to put to a vote a proposed deal involving hostages and a cease-fire, Zamir urged the government to reconsider the decision.

He warned that the plan to conquer Gaza would lead Israel into a full occupation of the Gaza Strip, according to statements leaked by Ynet and other Israeli media.

“You are heading toward a military government. Your plan is leading us there. Understand the implications,” Zamir reportedly said, drawing sharp criticism from far-right ministers.

Erdogan urges Washington to reconsider visa ban on Palestinian officials attending UN summit

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the United States to urgently reverse its decision to deny visas to Palestinian officials — including President Mahmoud Abbas — preventing them from attending this month’s United Nations General Assembly, where several countries are expected to recognize the State of Palestine.

“This measure does not align with the purpose of the United Nations,” Erdogan told reporters aboard his flight back from China, according to a statement from his presidency cited by Reuters.

“The decision must be urgently revised. The U.N. General Assembly exists for global issues to be discussed and solutions to be found,” he said. “The absence of the Palestinian delegation at the General Assembly would only please Israel.”

He added: “What is expected from the United States is to say ‘no’ to Israel’s massacres.”

Settler violence escalates across West Bank and East Jerusalem

A Palestinian man was hospitalized after being injured during an attack by Israeli settlers in the town of Deir Sharaf, west of Nablus, according to the Wafa news agency.

In a separate incident, settlers stormed the village of Kisan, east of Bethlehem, throwing stones at Palestinian homes.

Meanwhile, in occupied East Jerusalem, groups of Israeli settlers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under police protection and performed religious rituals at the site — a move seen as a violation of the sensitive status quo.

These incidents are part of a growing trend of settler violence across the occupied territories, raising tensions and fears among Palestinian communities.

West Bank

Hamas issued a statement condemning the arrest of the mayor of Hebron by Israel, claiming it was part of a "dangerous targeting of the city" by Israel and denouncing its "plans to annex the occupied territories of the West Bank."

Israeli forces arrested Tayseer Abu Sneineh during a dawn raid on the city, searching and ransacking his home before taking him into custody.

Hamas described the raid — which it said was carried out by “a large military force” and caused “considerable damage” to Abu Sneineh’s home — as “a continuation of the brutal and aggressive approach of the occupation and its attacks on all components of our people.”

The statement called on the people of Hebron “to be the protective shield of the national project and to stand as an unbreakable barrier against all occupation plans for the city.”

Gaza

The Qatari Foreign Affairs Ministry addressed the issue of negotiations for the release of hostages and confirmed that no response had been received from Israel regarding the latest proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Qatar had already stated on Aug. 26 that it had not received any response from Israel to the latest proposal, which Hamas had approved a week earlier.

“Israel's plan to occupy Gaza puts everyone at risk, including the hostages,” the Ministry said. “The humanitarian situation must not be dependent on the agreement. The crossing points must be opened and aid must be delivered to Gaza.”

Gaza

At least 73 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn, medical sources in the territory told the pan-Arab Qatari channel Al Jazeera, a report also picked up by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The death toll includes 42 people killed in Gaza City, they said.

The latest attack took place in the al-Mawasi area, south of Gaza, where seven people were killed, including five children who were queuing for water, a source at Nasser Hospital told Al Jazeera.

The U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, is expected to visit Beirut at the end of the week, accompanied by the head of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), for brief security meetings, according to information from LBCI.

No political meetings are scheduled during this visit, LBCI added.

(Credit: Photo shared by our correspondent Sarah Abdallah.)

An explosion triggered by the Lebanese Army to dispose of munitions and other debris in the Zakbet Sahlat al-Maa area, in Hermel, sparked a fire near the detonation site.

Fire trucks were dispatched to the scene to extinguish the blaze, according to our correspondent in the Bekaa region.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty stressed on Monday the urgency of pressuring Israel to “immediately” accept the proposed cease-fire agreement in Gaza, allow aid to be delivered to the Strip, and renounce “untenable demands.”

The Egyptian foreign minister made his comments during a meeting with European Council President António Costa on Monday evening, on the sidelines of the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia.

According to a statement reported by Egyptian media, Abdelatty highlighted the situation in Gaza and called on the international community to put an end to the “flagrant crimes” committed by Israel in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

According to residents contacted by our correspondent in southern Lebanon, Israeli military vehicles advanced Monday evening from the new Jabal al-Batt site, located inside Lebanese territory, toward the al-Ghaba area, near the Maroun al-Ras plain (Bint Jbeil district).

According to these same witnesses, they are still present in the region.

Israeli Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, described the Israeli army chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, as “weak” and said he should resign.

Speaking on public radio station Kan Bet on Tuesday, the minister opposed any agreement on the hostages and advocated the forced displacement of the two million Palestinians living in Gaza, Haaretz reports.

“If the chief of staff says Israel should make a deal, he is wrong and misleading,” the minister said, recalling that Zamir had been “a hero in Iran and a hero against the Houthis,” but that he should be dismissed if he showed himself to be “weak in Gaza.”

(Credit: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP)

Palestinians mourn in front of the bodies of their loved ones killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza City, at the al-Shifa hospital morgue, Sept. 2, 2025.

President Isaac Herzog will leave Israel on Thursday morning for a one-day visit to the Vatican at the invitation of the Pope, Haaretz reports.

During his visit, the president will meet with Pope Leo XIV and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Discussions will focus on efforts to secure the release of hostages, the fight against anti-Semitism worldwide and the protection of Christian communities in the Middle East, the newspaper said.

According to Haaretz, the Israeli army said it intercepted a drone launched from Yemen before it entered Israeli territory.

It added in a statement published on Telegram that no sirens were sounded, in accordance with protocol.

The Israeli army says that 320 trucks carrying humanitarian aid have entered Gaza, accompanied by U.N. fuel tankers, according to a message posted on X by the Israeli authority responsible for government activities in the Palestinian Territories.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has stated that the Palestinian Authority would not oppose an Arab or international partnership for the administration of the Gaza Strip.

“We are ready to assume governance of Gaza, and we have the capacity to do so. We have no objection to an Arab or international partnership to administer Gaza,” Abbas said in an interview with Al-Arabiya published on Monday.

The Palestinian president warned that “Gaza is facing a real famine” and accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being “determined to continue the genocide of the Palestinian people.”

He added that the Palestinian Authority has negotiated “dozens of times with Hamas without reaching an agreement.” “I say to Hamas: We are one state and one people. Hamas must commit to one state and one source of weapons,” he said.

He also praised Jordan and Egypt for their “honorable position aimed at preventing the displacement of the populations of Gaza and the West Bank.”

(Credit: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters)

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military offensive take refuge in a tent camp as Israeli forces intensify their operations around Gaza City on Sept. 2, 2025.

An Israeli drone dropped leaflets in the town of Rabb Thalathin, in the Marjayoun district, at the site where a bulldozer had been targeted on Monday, our correspondent in the south reported.

“This tractor is working to rehabilitate underground military infrastructure used by Hezbollah. There is no economic benefit to be gained from suspicious transactions with the party. Stay away from Hezbollah and its members; they are the ones preventing national reconstruction,” the leaflet read.

An Israeli helicopter dropped a stun grenade on a farm field in the town of Wazzani (Marjayoun district), according to residents quoted by our correspondent.

Medical sources in Gaza report that 28 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since early this morning, including 24 in Gaza City, and that dozens more have been wounded, including nine in an attack on a residential building in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, according to Arab and Palestinian media.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said that 28 of the wounded were taken to al-Quds Hospital, where medical teams are struggling to provide care due to severe shortages of equipment and medicines, Haaretz reports.

There are also reports of four deaths near the aid distribution point on the Nitzamir axis, according to al-Awada Hospital, and five deaths near the aid point in Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital.

The Gaza Health Ministry has warned of a worsening hunger crisis, noting that in August alone, 185 deaths related to malnutrition were recorded, including 70 since the official declaration of famine. Approximately 43,000 children under the age of five and 55,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women are believed to be suffering from malnutrition.

A young woman watching Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's speech on Aug. 31, 2025. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'OLJ)

Hezbollah disarmament

A few days before the Cabinet meeting, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri introduced an initiative. L'Orient-Le Jour reveals the main points in this article.

According to the Palestinian media outlet Quds News Network, early this morning, the Israeli army arrested the Palestinian mayor of Hebron, Tayssir Abu Sneineh, after raiding and ransacking his home in the city, located in the southern part of the occupied West Bank.

The information was reported by several Israeli media outlets.

Recognizing a Palestinian state “is not symbolic,” because it offers “a prospect for the future,” said Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, the Palestinian Authority's deputy foreign minister, on Monday in Rome, according to AFP.

“We discussed the recognition of the Palestinian state, and I made it clear that this recognition was not symbolic. The recognition of the Palestinian state offers us a future,” she told reporters after a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

“It shows that we are preserving the two-state solution, which has long been eroded. It also sends a clear message: The only solution is to recognize a Palestinian state living in peace and security alongside the State of Israel,” she added.

According to Al Jazeera, the municipality of Gaza City has warned of sewage overflows in the city due to damage caused by the Israeli army at the start of its siege.

The spokesperson for Gaza's civil defense reported on Tuesday that 13 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes carried out overnight in Palestinian territory against residential buildings.

The Israeli air force struck the top floor of a residential building in the southwestern part of Gaza City, killing 10 people, spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said in a statement sent to AFP.

Bassal also reported that Israeli helicopters had struck an apartment in the west of the city, killing three people and injuring several others.

In southern Lebanon, our correspondent reported new incidents involving the Israeli army, which still occupies at least five strategic points despite the cease-fire agreed with Hezbollah last November.

After 10 p.m., drones were heard flying intensively over the villages of Shaqra and Braasheet in the Bint Jbeil district, as well as over Mais al-Jabal and Majdal Salem in the Sour district.

After 10:30 p.m., an Israeli drone dropped a sound bomb on the outskirts of the village of Majdal Salem.

After midnight, the Israeli army fired flares over the Israeli site known as the “radar” and opened machine gun fire toward the outskirts of the village of Shebaa, in the Hasbaya district.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir strongly condemned Belgium's decision to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations.

"European countries that indulge in naivety and submit to Hamas' manipulations will sooner or later experience terrorism firsthand. Here in Israel, some once believed in such illusions — and the result was rape, murder and massacre. Instead of rewarding terrorism, the free world must unite against it," he said in a statement quoted by Haaretz.

In Israel, part of the population continues to mobilize against the war in Gaza, where the death toll continues to rise day after day:

According to Haaretz, dozens of doctors blocked traffic on the northbound lanes of the Ayalon Highway near Tel Aviv on Tuesday morning, demanding the release of hostages and an end to the war, before being dispersed by police.

“We will not normalize a state of malicious abandonment or the breakdown of the moral values that are the foundation of our lives,” the protesters said.

On Monday, nine Palestinians, including three children, died of hunger and malnutrition in Gaza in the last 24 hours, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The Ministry added that 98 people were killed and 404 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza during the same period. With these figures, the total number of war casualties now stands at 63,557 dead and 160,660 injured since Oct. 7, 2023.

According to the official Israeli count, 48 hostages are still being held in Gaza, 22 of whom are believed to be alive.

Belgium will recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly, Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said on Tuesday, adding further international pressure on Israel after similar moves by Australia, the U.K., Canada and France, according to Reuters.

Under growing pressure from the international community over its war in Gaza, Israel has been aggravated by commitments to formally recognize a Palestinian state at a summit planned during the U.N. event this month.

Israel is considering annexing part of the occupied West Bank in response to the recognition of a Palestinian state by France and other countries, three Israeli officials told Reuters.

The idea is to be further discussed on Sunday, another official said.

Other important news from last night:

On Tuesday, Amnesty International accused Syrian government forces and affiliated groups of summarily executing 46 Druze in Sweida on July 15 and 16, and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.

Clashes in the southern Syrian province of Sweida, which has a Druze majority, broke out on July 13 between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouins, before security forces and tribesmen from other parts of Syria intervened to support the Bedouins.

The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported last week that the death toll had risen to 2,000, including 789 Druze civilians who it said had been “summarily executed” by “members of the Defense and Interior Ministries ."

Amnesty said it had documented “the deliberate shooting and execution of 46 Druze” in Sweida “in a public square, in homes, a school, a hospital and a ceremony hall.”

This morning's top story:

Two missiles fired from Yemen crashed on Saudi territory, according to Israeli media outlets Haaretz and Ynet.

Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi threatened on Sunday to intensify attacks against Israel after a strike killed about half of the 22 members of the government, whose role is mainly administrative. He warned that Israeli strikes would not “deter” them.

Thousands of Yemenis attended the funeral in Sanaa on Monday for the prime minister of the Houthis and 11 other officials killed last week in an Israeli strike that decimated nearly half the Cabinet.

On Sunday, Israeli media reported that Israel had moved two scheduled government meetings to a “secret, fortified location” following the deadly strikes in Yemen.

On Monday, the rebels claimed responsibility for an attack on a Liberian-flagged tanker in the Red Sea.

Good morning! We are now launching our live coverage of the situation in the Middle East, where the Israeli army continues to relentlessly pound the Gaza Strip, Lebanon — whose south it is still bombing almost daily — as well as Syria and Iran.