Al Jazeera

By Noor Kareem and Faisal Aziz Khan

    US President Donald Trump says the war on Iran will end “very soon” without providing any details and reiterates that Tehran will not have a nuclear weapon.

    Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issues an open letter to US voters ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, urging that the Trump administration must be changed.

    Oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz climb closer to pre-war levels, averaging about 13.2 million barrels per day over the past week despite ongoing attacks, according to Kpler.

Israel opposition leader accuses Netanyahu of fearmongering

    Israel’s opposition chief has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of fear-mongering after he alleged that regional enemies may attack before the October 27 elections, the AFP news agency reports.

    The report said that Yair Lapid requested an urgent security briefing after Netanyahu issued the warning in a video recorded in front of a fighter jet at a military base.

    Speaking following the late-night meeting, the opposition leader said he was certain the polls would take place on schedule and that “there is no reason to panic the public”.

    “Netanyahu ignored every warning before October 7 and now, 28 days before the election, he’s suddenly busy fear-mongering,” Lapid said.

    “I of course will not violate the confidentiality of the security briefing but it must be said — security threats must be handled professionally and responsibly,” Lapid added, noting that Israeli military bases “are not the setting for election videos.”

Who are the young Americans held in Israeli prisons

By Noor Kareem

    While the US Senate has failed to pass a bill forcing stricter reporting on violations in the occupied West Bank, a growing spotlight is turning towards the young Americans trapped in Israeli military custody.

    Here are three young US citizens reportedly held in Israeli detention:

    Adam Wajeh Abdelfattah Karakrah: The 16-year-old was arrested by Israeli forces in July. Although set for release in August after his family secured bail, Israeli authorities abruptly reversed the decision to free him.

    Abdalkareem Issa Ahmed Safi: An 18-year-old from Texas, Safi was abducted from his West Bank home in a late-night raid in June. He was subsequently moved from a youth holding area into an adult section at Ofer Prison.

    Sama Safi: The 20-year-old Birzeit University student has been detained since early June. Suffering from a chronic medical condition, her case prompted more than 40 members of Congress to petition US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to urge her release, warning that her health is rapidly deteriorating under severe prison conditions.

    In a recent interview on “Piers Morgan Uncensored”, Sheikh Mohammed said that “it was unacceptable and condemned”, warning that “it’s setting a precedent of attacking the mediator that has never happened throughout the wars in history”.

Amnesty calls for immediate release of detained Palestinian herder

    Amnesty International’s senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns, Erika Guevara Rosas, has warned that “Yousef Bisharat remains detained” at the Salem military detention centre without being brought before a judge since September 24.

    Bisharat is a Palestinian herder from the northern Jordan Valley who has faced persistent harassment and displacement threats from Israeli settlers and forces. He was detained amid ongoing coercive measures aimed at driving herding communities off their lands.

    “We are extremely concerned Israeli authorities may now issue an administrative detention order, allowing him to be imprisoned without charge or trial,” Guevara said in a post on X.

    “At Amnesty, we have long denounced Israel’s systematic use of administrative detention against Palestinians,” she wrote. “Such detention can be renewed indefinitely and has repeatedly been used against Palestinians defending their land and human rights.

    “We have condemned this practice as cruel and unjust, and its systematic use as arbitrary detention,” she added.

    “Israel must release Yousef immediately, and pending his release, ensure he is protected against torture and other ill-treatment.”

Sanders points to growing Senate support for restricting US military aid to Israel

    US Senator Bernie Sanders says a growing number of Americans and lawmakers are demanding an end to US military aid to Israel, pointing to a close Senate vote earlier in the day as clear evidence of the shift.

    The US Senate blocked a resolution that would have forced the Trump administration to report on Israeli pogroms against Palestinians and violence against Americans in the occupied West Bank. But the vote was close, with 47 to 51 against the measure, and Sanders stressed that the tally shows a massive jump in support compared with past votes.

    “In January 2024 I forced a vote to investigate human rights abuses by Israel in Gaza. Only 11 Senators supported it. Today, 47 Senators voted on a similar resolution to investigate Israel’s actions in the West Bank,” Sanders wrote in a post on X.

Are Houthis using new modified cruise missiles in Yemen’s war

By Yashraj Sharma

    Yemen’s internationally recognised, Saudi-backed government has alleged that the Tehran-backed Houthis have modified Iranian air defence weapons into loitering cruise missiles with the assistance of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

    The Yemeni government has warned that the capability of such missiles – which operate on a heat-tracking system, it is alleged – in practice threatens civilian air traffic over Yemen and the crucial Red Sea.

    Meanwhile, the Houthis have ramped up attacks on Saudi Arabia as they fight Yemeni government forces. On Thursday, Riyadh said it intercepted six ballistic missiles aimed at Taif in western Saudi Arabia and the Yanbu port area on the Red Sea.

    The Houthis also said they attacked “a sensitive target” in Riyadh and Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group used ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones in the two operations.

Oil prices climb past $103 a barrel

    Oil prices rose on Wednesday after Trump denied he would be willing to ease sanctions on Iran, following a drop in the previous session driven by a recovery in Middle Eastern crude supply.

    Brent crude futures rose $1.14, or 1.11 percent, to $103.73 a barrel as of 01:30 GMT.

    Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude went up 34 cents, or 0.38 percent, to $89.72.

    Brent is headed for a monthly gain of about 14 percent, marking its biggest climb since July, while WTI is on track for a 4 percent rise after having breached $106 for the first time since May.

US Senate fails to pass resolution on West Bank human rights violations

    The US Senate has blocked a resolution that would require the Trump administration to report on human rights violations in the West Bank, including the killings of several Americans.

    The procedural vote was the latest sign of friction between US Democrats and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, and of US Republicans’ continuing strong support for Netanyahu’s coalition.

    The bill would have required the State Department to report to Congress on the killing of US citizens by Israeli settlers or Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and to assess the human rights situation there.

    The Senate voted 47 to 51 to block the resolution. Every Democratic senator except John Fetterman voted in favour, and every Republican senator but Rand Paul voted against. The resolution needed a simple majority to pass.

    The vote came weeks before the US midterm elections. Polls suggest that Republicans could lose their congressional majorities, potentially signalling a major shift in US policy towards Israel in a new Congress.

Pezeshkian says US, Israel trying to sow internal divisions in Iran

    Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that the United States and Israel are pursuing a strategy to sow and exacerbate internal divisions after failing to conquer the nation using military force, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

    “After failing to force the Iranian people to surrender through military war, enemies have focused their entire plan on creating and intensifying internal divisions,” Pezeshkian said during a meeting with mayors from major cities and provincial capitals.

    Emphasising the need to preserve national unity and cohesion, he added: “A group must not weaken the country under the illusion that they are ‘all-knowing’; public participation by all citizens is the most important way to overcome conspiracies.”

Satellite images show Gaza in ruins three years into Israel’s genocidal war

By AJLabs

    Newly updated Google Maps satellite imagery shows the scale of destruction across the besieged Gaza Strip nearly three years into Israel’s genocidal war.

    With neighbourhood after neighbourhood reduced to rubble and little left but the faint outlines of main roads, it is now almost impossible to tell one part of Gaza from another. Farmland has been charred, and centuries-old places of worship have been damaged or wiped from the landscape.

    A recent assessment by the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) found that the number of destroyed structures across Gaza has increased by 9 percent since a “ceasefire” took effect nearly a year ago. Overall, about 82 percent of structures in Gaza, roughly 200,000 buildings, have been damaged, and about two-thirds of those have been destroyed, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.