Condemnations pour in after Israeli assault on Qatari capital

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The Global Sumud Flotilla for Gaza said early on Wednesday that one of its boats was hit in a suspected drone attack, with no injuries reported, a day after the group said another of its vessels was struck in Tunisian waters.

The flotilla is an international initiative seeking to break Israel's naval blockade and deliver humanitarian aid to war-torn Gaza using civilian boats supported by delegations from 44 countries.

At least nine aid seekers were killed on Tuesday as Israel continues to target Palestinians searching for provisions, Wafa reports.

A total of 52 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday in Israeli attacks.

Algeria asked the United Nations Security Council to meet after Israel carried out an attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar, diplomats said on Tuesday.

Algeria requested the 15-member council meet on Wednesday, diplomats said. 

US President Donald Trump denied any role Tuesday in Israel's strikes on Qatar, saying the decision to launch the attacks was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's and not his.

"This was a decision made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform, adding that he wants the Gaza war to "END, NOW!"

Italy on Tuesday expressed solidarity with Qatar after Israel's air strike on Hamas in Doha, and called for avoiding further escalation in the region.

"On behalf of myself and the Italian Government, I express my sincere sympathy to Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Qatar, reiterating Italy's support for all efforts to end the war in Gaza," Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on X adding that "Italy remains opposed to any form of escalation that could further aggravate the crisis in the Middle East",

"The attacks have damaged the sovereignty of a friendly country that has been working for months to stop the war in Gaza and to help Israel itself recover the hostages still in the hands of Hamas terrorists", Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in a statement.

"The ceasefire, negotiations and a definitive truce are essential steps to avoid a new crisis that would be even more devastating and dangerous for the entire Middle East", he added.

Qatar will continue trying to mediate a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza despite Israel's deadly attack on a Hamas compound in Doha, its prime minister said on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Qatar reserved "the right to respond to this blatant attack", calling the strike a "pivotal moment" for the region.

But he added: "Nothing will deter us from continuing this (mediation) role for all the different issues around us in the region."

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned Israel's airstrike against Hamas leaders in Qatar on Tuesday, saying the attack was "an intolerable expansion of violence" that poses a risk of escalating conflict throughout the region.

"Canada condemns Israel's strikes in Qatar, an intolerable expansion of violence and an affront to Qatar's sovereignty," Carney said on X.

"Regardless of their objectives, such attacks pose a grave risk of escalating conflict throughout the region, and directly imperil efforts to advance peace & security, secure the release of all hostages, and achieve a lasting ceasefire, efforts in which Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani plays a highly constructive role," Carney added.

Israel's air strike against Hamas leaders in Doha breaches international law and Qatar's territorial integrity, the European Union said in a statement late on Tuesday, warning against risks of a further escalation of violence in the region.

"We express full solidarity with the authorities and the people of Qatar, a strategic partner of the EU," a spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a post on X.

"Any escalation of the war in Gaza must be avoided - it is in no one's interest. We will continue to support all efforts towards a ceasefire in Gaza."

Qatar told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that it will “not tolerate this reckless Israeli behaviour and the ongoing disruption of regional security” after Israel carried out an attack targeting Hamas leaders in Doha.

“The State of Qatar strongly condemns this cowardly criminal assault, which constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and norms,” Qatar’s UN Ambassador Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani wrote to the council in a letter seen by Reuters.

“Investigations are underway at the highest level, and further details will be announced as soon as they are available,” she added, describing the Israeli attack as a “serious escalation.”

Turkey condemns Israel's attack against Hamas members in Qatar's capital Doha, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday, adding this showed Israel had adopted "expansionist politics in the region and terrorism" as state policies.

"The targeting of the Hamas negotiating delegation while ceasefire talks continue shows that Israel does not aim to reach peace, but rather continue the war," the ministry said in a statement.

"This situation is clear proof that Israel has adopted its expansionist politics in the region and terrorism as a state policy," it added. 

Qatar denied receiving advance warning from the United States of Israeli strikes on Doha on Tuesday, saying the notification came after the attack had already started.

"Statements circulating about Qatar being informed of the attack in advance are false. The call received from an American official came as explosions sounded from the Israeli attack in Doha," Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari posted on X.

A Hamas official told Qatar's Al Jazeera that its top negotiator's son was among several people killed in Israeli strikes on Doha on Tuesday, but that senior leaders survived.

"The Hamas leadership survived the cowardly assassination attempt," Hamas political official Suhail al-Hindi told the broadcaster, adding that negotiator Khalil al-Hayya's son and aide were among the dead.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned Israel's air strikes on Doha on Tuesday, targeting Hamas political leaders, saying the attack violated Qatar's sovereignty and risked "further escalation" in the volatile region.

"I condemn Israel's strikes on Doha... The priority must be an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, and a huge surge in aid into Gaza," he posted on X. "This is the only solution towards long-lasting peace."

French President Emmanuel Macron said Israel's air strikes on Tuesday on the Qatari capital Doha were unacceptable, whatever the reasoning behind them might be.

The strikes "are unacceptable regardless of motive", Macron wrote on X, adding that "the war must not be allowed to spread in the region". Israel's strikes on Doha targeted Hamas political leaders in the first attack of its kind in the Qatari capital.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned Israeli air strikes on Doha targeting leaders of Hamas on Tuesday, warning they threatened regional security and stability.

"His excellency stated that the brutal Israeli attack on Qatar constitutes a blatant violation of international law and an escalation that threatens regional security and stability," Abbas's office said in a statement reported by the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa.

President Donald Trump believes Israel's strike on Hamas targets in Qatar was unfortunate, and he directed a top aide, Steve Witkoff, to warn Qatar that the attack was coming, the White House said on Tuesday.

Trump spoke to both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the emir of Qatar after the strikes, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. He assured the Qatari leader that "such a thing will not happen again on their soil."

US President Donald Trump did not agree with Israel's choice to conduct strikes against Hamas inside US ally Qatar, the White House said Tuesday.

While eliminating Hamas was a "worthy goal," a strike in the Qatari capital Doha "does not advance Israel or America's goals," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, reading from a statement.

"The president views Qatar as a strong ally and friend of the United States, and feels very badly about the location of this attack," she added.

Germany condemned Israel's air strikes on Doha Tuesday targeting Hamas political leaders, calling them "unacceptable".

"Israel's attack on Doha not only violates Qatar's territorial sovereignty, but also jeopardises all of our efforts to secure the release of the hostages. This attack is unacceptable," Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in a statement.

Hamas said six people were killed in an Israeli strike on the group's compound in Doha on Tuesday, including its top negotiator's son and a Qatari security officer.

Three bodyguards and Gaza ceasefire negotiator Khalil al-Hayya's aide and son were all killed in the attack, the group said, affirming "the enemy's failure to assassinate our brothers in the negotiating delegation".

The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen on Tuesday, after AFP journalists reported air raid sirens sounding in Jerusalem.

"Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, the IAF (Israeli air force) intercepted a missile that was launched from Yemen," a military statement said.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday slammed Israel's attack on Hamas in Qatar, calling the strike a "criminal act" in a call with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince affirmed the Kingdom's full solidarity with... Qatar and its condemnation of the blatant Israeli attack on the State of Qatar, which constitutes a criminal act and a flagrant violation of international laws and norms," read a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency.

Netanyahu said Tuesday the Gaza war could end "immediately" if Hamas agrees to a truce proposal put forward by US President Donald Trump, saying Israel had already accepted the conditions.

"Israel has accepted the principles, the proposal put forward by President Trump to end the war, beginning with the immediate release of all our hostages," Netanyahu said at a US embassy event in Jerusalem. "If President Trump's proposal is accepted, the war can end immediately," he added.

Qatar's interior ministry said a member of its internal security forces was killed in the Israeli strike targeting Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday.

"According to preliminary information, the attack resulted in the martyrdom of Corporal Bader Saad Mohammed al-Humaidi al-Dosari, a member of the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya)," a statement said, adding that other security personnel were also wounded.

At least 39 people have been killed and over 20 are missing following Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip since dawn, Al Jazeera English reports, citing medical sources.

Among the dead are seven Palestinians awaiting humanitarian aid.

Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya survived an assassination attempt, but his son Hammam and a senior aide were killed, Suhail al-Hindi, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, told Al Jazeera.

The attack targeted al-Hayya and other leaders who were meeting to discuss US President Trump’s ceasefire proposal.

Al-Hindi added that contact has been lost with three other bodyguards.

He emphasised that the loss of any life is tragic, saying, “The blood of the leadership of the movement is like the blood of any Palestinian child.”

Several governments have condemned Israel’s attack on Doha. Yemen’s Foreign Ministry said the strike “undermines regional and international efforts aimed at ending the war against the Palestinian people” and “obstructs peace efforts” on the Palestinian issue.

Algeria described the attack as “brutal”, saying it shows that “the occupier is not inclined toward peace, sees no limit to its recklessness and arrogance, and pays no attention to the most basic values, rules, and regulations adhered to by the world’s nations.”

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said the events “fall within the series of aggressions committed by Israel” and reflect its determination to undermine efforts for regional stability and security.

Oman warned of a “dangerous escalation that threatens the security and stability of the region and distances it from the path to peace,” calling on the international community to “assume its moral and political responsibilities” to prevent further violations.

Breaking | An Israeli air strike targets the leaders of Hamas in Doha city, Qatar. pic.twitter.com/GGQTKjaUiE

— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) September 9, 2025

The main Israeli group campaigning for the release of hostages held in Gaza expressed "deep concern" following an Israeli attack on Tuesday on Hamas's leadership in Qatar, which has been mediating ceasefire talks.

"The families of the hostages are following the developments in Doha with deep concern and heavy anxiety. A grave fear now hangs over the price that the hostages may pay," a statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said, adding that: "The chance of bringing them back now faces greater uncertainty than ever before".

Israel notified the United States before it carried out air strikes on senior Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital Doha, a White House official said Tuesday.

"We were informed in advance," the official told news agency AFP on condition of anonymity about the strike on Qatar, a key US ally that's home to a large US military base.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes targeting Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday, following a deadly shooting in Jerusalem a day earlier claimed by the Palestinian group.

"Yesterday, following the deadly attacks in Jerusalem and Gaza, Prime Minister Netanyahu instructed all security agencies to prepare for the possibility of targeting Hamas leaders," said a joint statement from Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz.

"Today at noon, in light of an operational opportunity... the prime minister and the defence minister decided to implement the directive given last night."

Israel’s Army Radio reported Tuesday that the assault on Qatar had been in preparation for several months. The outlet claimed that over the past month, “since Hamas showed greater intransigence regarding the deal,” Israel decided to speed up plans for the operation.

According to the report, the Israeli military held weekly meetings to coordinate intelligence and operational bodies ahead of the strike, which involved 15 fighter jets.

Qatar’s Interior Ministry confirmed that the sounds heard in Doha earlier were caused by an attack on a Hamas residential headquarters.

In a statement on social media, it said specialised teams are working at the scene and stressed that “the situation is safe,” urging the public to rely only on official sources for information.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday condemned Israel’s strikes as a “flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar.”

He said Qatar has been playing a very positive role to try and achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages held by Hamas.

“All parties must work towards achieving a permanent ceasefire, not destroying it," Guterres told reporters. 

Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, diplomatic advisor to UAE president Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan, declared that the "security of the Gulf states is indivisible," voicing full support for Qatar following what he called a “treacherous Israeli attack.”

“We stand wholeheartedly with Qatar, condemning the assault and reaffirming our complete solidarity in confronting this aggression,” Gargash said in a statement.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, also reaffirmed support for Qatar after the Israeli strike in Doha that targeted a Hamas delegation discussing a US ceasefire proposal.

Posting on X, Sheikh Abdullah wrote: "We stand in full solidarity with Qatar."

The UAE’s remarks come amid mounting criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank, despite its normalisation of relations with Israel under the 2020 Abraham Accords.

Netanyahu’s government had earlier been warned by Abu Dhabi that Israeli annexation of the West Bank would be a “red line” threatening regional integration.

Qatar was previously under blockade by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt between 2017 and 2021, but relations between the two Gulf states have significantly improved in recent years.

أمن دول الخليج العربي لا يتجزأ، ونقف قلباً وقالباً مع دولة قطر الشقيقة، مدينين الهجوم الإسرائيلي الغادر الذي استهدفها، ومؤكدين تضامننا الكامل معها في مواجهة هذا الاعتداء.

حفظ الله قطر قيادةً وشعباً، وحفظ دول الخليج العربي.

— د. أنور قرقاش (@AnwarGargash) September 9, 2025

The Israeli prime minister’s office indicated that Israel acted alone in carrying out the strike in Doha.

“Today’s action against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation,” it said in a social media post.

“Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility.”

Neither the Israeli military nor Netanyahu directly mentioned Doha in their statements.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told state TV that Israel’s strike was “an extremely dangerous and criminal action… a gross violation of all international rules and regulations, a violation of Qatar's national sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Israel has said it targeted Hamas leaders but did not specify the location.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad described Israel’s “targeting of a meeting of leaders of... Hamas in the Qatari capital, Doha” as “a blatant criminal act that violates all human standards and values, as well as the most basic international laws and norms.”

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on X that “terrorists have no immunity and will never have immunity from Israel's long arm anywhere in the world,” praising the strike as “a right decision and a perfect execution by the IDF and the Shin Bet.”

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid also issued a statement, “Congratulating the Air Force, [Israeli army], Shin Bet, and all security forces on an exceptional operation to thwart our enemies.”

The US Embassy in Doha has issued a shelter-in-place order for its staff following reports of missile strikes in the Qatari capital.

In a social media post, the embassy confirmed the order and urged US citizens in Qatar to do the same.

Speaking to The New Arab, Palestinian journalist and academic Lamis Andoni said the strike showed Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was seeking to eliminate Hamas’s leadership rather than engage in negotiations.

"Netanyahu is trying to finish the Hamas leadership. He is not in negotiations or a ceasefire or an end to the war," Andoni said.

"Just when Qatar was able to get Hamas to agree to that last brokered arrangement, he decided to kill what is left of the leadership."

"He wants to destroy Gaza and is not willing to spare the people of Gaza. I expect more assassination attempts," she added.

Majed Al Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, said in a statement that the attack targeted residential buildings where several members of Hamas’s political bureau were based.

"This criminal attack constitutes a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms and a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents of Qatar," the statement read.

The Foreign Ministry added that Qatar "will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior and its continued tampering with regional security, as well as any action targeting its security and sovereignty."

Al Ansari said investigations are underway at the highest level and further details will be released once available.

The armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a shooting attack in Jerusalem that killed six people a day earlier.

The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades posted a statement on Telegram reading: "The Al-Qassam Brigades announces its responsibility for the shooting attack that took place yesterday (Monday) morning... near the Ramot settlement junction, which lies on the lands of our beloved Jerusalem."

 Several blasts were heard in Qatar's Doha on Tuesday.

Axios reporter Barak Ravid citing Israeli officials said the explosion in Doha is an assassination attempt against Hamas officials.

Smoke was seen rising over the Katara District in the capital, an eyewitness said.

🚨בכיר ישראלי: הפיצוץ בדוחא הוא פעולת התנקשות נגד בכירים בחמאס

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) September 9, 2025

Several blasts were heard in Qatar's Doha on Tuesday, according to news agency Reuters.

Smoke was seen rising over the Katara District in the capital, an eyewitness said.

Lebanon's army is set to fully disarm Hezbollah near the border with Israel within three months, Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi told AFP on Tuesday.

In August, the Lebanese government ordered the military to draw up plans to disarm the once-dominant militant group by the end of the year, having come under pressure from the United States and Israeli strikes.

The cabinet said last week that the army would begin implementing the plan, without disclosing details.

Raggi said army chief Rodolphe Haykal had presented the government with a five-stage plan last week to ensure all weapons are held by the Lebanese state.

The first stage should take "three months... during which the removal of weapons will be completed south of the Litani River", around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Israel, by the end of November.

"There will be no warehouses, no weapons, no weapons transfers, no fighters, and no display of arms" in the area, Raggi said, describing the army's plan.

In parallel with the first phase, the army's plan stipulates that "security measures" will be implemented across the country.

The army will "tighten and increase the number of checkpoints, prevent the movement and carrying of weapons... but without conducting raids, arresting individuals, or confiscating weapons from warehouses", Raggi added.

"At the very least, the movement of weapons from one area to another will be prohibited."

Raggi said the next four phases of the plan will see disarmament in other regions, including Beirut and the eastern Bekaa, "but without timelines".

Russia and Qatar are discussing humanitarian aid to Syria and the restoration of its energy sector, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said during a visit to Damascus on Tuesday.

Spain on Tuesday said it was barring two far-right Israeli government ministers from entering the country, a day after announcing measures aimed at stopping what its leader called "the genocide in Gaza".

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich would be sanctioned and "not be able to enter Spanish territory", Madrid's top diplomat Jose Manuel Albares told a press conference, the latest escalation in a growing row between the two countries.

The head of the Syrian presidential administration received a Russian delegation led by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, the Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday.

Russia is working to build ties with the new leadership of Syria that last year toppled former president Bashar al-Assad, Moscow's longstanding ally. Novak is President Vladimir Putin's point man for energy issues.

Activists on a Gaza aid flotilla which alleged it was targeted by a "drone attack" off Tunisia overnight said Tuesday they remained "determined" to reach the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

"Our will is stronger and we are more determined (than ever) to break the blockade against Gaza," Tunisian organiser Ghassen Henchiri told a crowd in Tunis.

Nadir al-Nuri, a member of the steering committee, told news agency AFP that the departure was still scheduled for Wednesday from the Tunisian capital.

The Civil Defence rescue service in Gaza says its teams are using their bare hands to pull survivors from beneath the rubble of homes destroyed in Israeli air raids on several neighbourhoods of Gaza City.

According to the organisation, up to 25 people are missing in the Shati area of western Gaza City, with some believed to be “alive under the rubble” while others remain unaccounted for.

Civil Defence described the widespread targeting of residential buildings as a “crime.”

الدفاع المدني: طواقمنا نجحت في إنقاذ رجل وامرأة من تحت أنقاض منزل عائلة الحصري الذي استهدفه جيش الاحتلال في منطقة الشاطئ الشمالي شمال غربي مدينة غزة pic.twitter.com/wE5obzZXqJ

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) September 9, 2025

Israel's military said Tuesday it will act with "great force" in Gaza City and told residents to leave as it stepped up a deadly assault on the Palestinian territory's largest urban centre.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a similar warning, as Israel intensified its bombardment in preparation for an operation to seize Gaza City despite global calls to end the war.

"To all residents of Gaza City... the defence forces are determined to defeat Hamas and will act with great force in the Gaza City area," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X.

"Evacuate immediately via the Al-Rashid axis," he added.

According to various news outlets, planes dropped hundreds of leaflets urging residents to flee southwards.

"I ask Israel: where are we supposed to go?" 36-year-old Khaled Khuwaiter told AFP news agency after he fled from Gaza City's Zeitoun neighbourhood.

"Bombing and killings are everywhere. We have only God, because the world watches our slaughter and does nothing."

A Palestinian beer managed to find its way to British store shelves this week from the Israeli-occupied West Bank despite onerous border checks, a distance of some 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) and a raging war in the region.

“My grandfather used to say, if you can make it succeed and happen in Palestine, you can succeed anywhere else in the world,” Madees Khoury, brewmaster at Taybeh Brewing Co. and daughter and niece of the founders told news agency The Associated Press. “Because of these challenges and obstacles that we go through — it just makes you stronger.”

Scottish beer company Beergooder co-founder James Hughes saw an article about Taybeh’s struggles and offered to collaborate on a beer that could help it avoid checkpoints, boost business and raise money for charity.

“I don’t think we’ve ever come across a brewery that has faced the hardship that Taybeh has,” Hughes said.

"Traditionally collaborations are a celebration of fun and the sort of different styles and quirks that exist within the brewing industry. This one is just a completely different narrative and situation altogether."

Taybeh, which was founded 34 years ago by Khoury’s father, Nadim, and her uncle, David, claims to be the oldest microbrewery in the Middle East.

The narrative of Taybeh Brewing Co. is one of repeatedly defying the odds.

Business has suffered since Israel's war on Gaza that has led to the deaths of more than 64,000 Palestinians in the Strip.

Israeli military operations have grown in the West Bank to counter what it says is a growing militant threat, though rights groups accuse Israel of excessive force and killings of innocent civilians.

Violence by settlers also has surged, including the recent torching of a church in Taybeh.

Britain has not concluded that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza despite appalling civilian suffering, according to a government letter.

Israel has been widely accused of the crime, including by the world's biggest group of genocide scholars, over its nearly two-year campaign in the Palestinian enclave that has killed more than 64,000 people according to local authorities.

David Lammy, Britain's foreign minister until Friday, wrote in a September 1 letter to a parliamentary committee that the government had carefully considered the risk of genocide.

"As per the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide occurs only where there is specific 'intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group'," he said in the letter seen by Reuters.

"The government has not concluded that Israel is acting with that intent."

 Israel ordered on Tuesday the demolition of homes in the West Bank hometowns of two Palestinian gunmen who attacked a bus stop in Jerusalem, and will revoke the work permits of hundreds of their fellow villagers and relatives.

The gunmen, from the towns of Qatanna and Qubeiba north of Jerusalem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, opened fire at a bus stop on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Monday, killing six people.

In a statement, Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered sanctions to be imposed on the attackers' family members and residents of the two villages.

Every structure that had been built without permits in the two towns would be demolished, and 750 people would have their permission revoked to work in Israel, the main source of income for many Palestinian families.

Israel says demolishing the homes of relatives of attackers and their fellow villagers is a deterrent to future attacks. Palestinians and human rights groups consider the practice a form of collective punishment, prohibited by international law.

At least 14 people have been killed and over 20 remain missing following Israeli airstrikes across Gaza since dawn, Al Jazeera English reports.

A documentary about an Israeli ex-soldier set to premiere at the Toronto film festival -- after initially being cut from the schedule -- has become the latest flashpoint in Hollywood's internal split over the Gaza conflict.

"The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue," which charts how retired Israeli general Noam Tibon saved his family and others during the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, is due to screen at North America's biggest movie festival Wednesday.

The Canadian-produced film makes use of actual Hamas bodycam footage of the attacks that resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to Israeli data.

A lack of "legal clearance" for this footage was the reason given by organizers for withdrawing the film from the festival's lineup last month -- before it was restored amid outrage over alleged censorship.

More than 1,000 entertainment industry figures including Amy Schumer and Debra Messing had signed a petition accusing the festival of silencing Jewish voices.

A vehicle was struck in Lebanon’s Iqlim al-Kharroub region, according to reports.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said the attack was carried out by a drone, though no casualties were recorded.

The Israeli military has not issued a statement. However, it frequently conducts strikes in Lebanon, claiming to target Hezbollah.

On Monday, Israeli air raids killed at least five people.

مشاهدٌ للسيارة المستهدفة بين برجا والجية pic.twitter.com/jNNKLPApBA

— Lebanon Debate (@lebanondebate) September 9, 2025

Israel’s defence minister has threatened further devastation in Gaza City after announcing that the military struck 30 multistorey buildings.

Israel Katz declared that unless Hamas surrenders its weapons and releases all captives held in Gaza, "they will be destroyed and Gaza will be ruined."

The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), a civilian initiative seeking to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, claims a drone attack caused a fire on board one of its vessels.

According to the group, the blaze- triggered by the alleged drone strike- damaged the Family Boat’s main deck as well as its below-deck storage areas. The GSF also shared a video showing blackened floors and scorched walls on the ship’s foredeck.

"Acts of aggression aimed at intimidating and derailing our mission will not deter us. Our peaceful mission to break the siege on Gaza and stand in solidarity with its people continues with determination and resolve," the organisation wrote on Instagram.

Al Jazeera English reported that around six crew members were on board at the time of the incident, with the GSF confirming that all were unharmed.

However, Tunisia’s National Guard has contradicted the claim, stating that no drone was detected near the Family Boat.

A spokesman for the force, Houcem Eddine Jebabli, told AFP news agency: "According to preliminary findings, a fire broke out in the life jackets on board a ship anchored 50 miles [80km] from the port of Sidi Bou Said, which had come from Spain. The investigation is ongoing and no drone has been detected."

 

 

 

 

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