Wafa: Israeli settlers raid West Bank north-east of Hebron, dozens of hectares on fire

Thousands of people today accompanied Idan Shtivi, who was kidnapped on 7 October by the Nova festival, murdered in Gaza and brought back to Israel a few days ago by the IDF, to the cemetery in Kfar Ma'as, an agricultural locality east of Tel Aviv, Idan Shtivi, who was kidnapped on 7 October by the Nova festival, murdered in Gaza and brought back to Israel a few days ago by the IDF. His father reconstructed the last minutes before he was killed by the terrorists: Idan got out of the car, stopped Guy Illouz's jeep (kidnapped and murdered while in captivity in Gaza, and transferred some of the wounded from the Nova Festival to it. They drove about 50 metres until the terrorists fired again. Idan and Guy fled towards the trees and the terrorists killed the wounded inside the car. Then a militia team arrived and tried to capture Idan. He struggled, they could not get close because he shot them in the back and wounded them. Then the civilians in Gaza assassinated him. There is a video that the army has not released, only I have seen it. To see what they are doing to your son is the worst thing for a father. Identification tests were needed to identify him, on his tattoo, his shoes. In the end, he was recognised,' he said.

For the Viminale 'the Italy-Israel football match, scheduled for 14 October in Udine, can be played regularly'. Sources at the Ministry of the Interior emphasised to Adnkronos that 'at the moment there are no risks to public order'. It was the mayor of the Friulian city, Alberto Felice De Toni, who had requested the postponement of the match in view of the situation in Gaza.

The Houthis are launching drones against Israel in retaliation after last Thursday's IDF attack in Sanaa in which the Iranian-backed group's premier, several ministers and senior officials were killed. This was reported by Israeli military sources, explaining that the former has already been shot. The air force is monitoring and preparing to intercept the unmanned aircraft loaded with explosives. The arrival time of the drones from Yemen to Israel is several hours. Last night, the Houthi chief of staff Mohammed al Ghamari, declared that 'Israel has opened the gates of hell'.

"Gaza is not for sale". With these words, Bassem Naim, member of the Hamas political bureau, dismissed the alleged plan of US President Donald Trump's administration, which would involve the US taking control of the Gaza Strip and temporarily relocating the population. (see 8:27 a.m. news story)

"I am a man of peace, I hope there will be peace all over the world, it hurts my heart to see civilians and children losing their lives; after that, however, we do another job, president Gravina is working hard to find solutions to be able to play the match in Udine with Israel perfectly". This was said by the new coach Gennaro Gattuso during the first conference at Coverciano. "Israel is in our group, we have to play there, unfortunately there is a war going on and this hurts," remarked Gattuso.

"Israel's policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide". This was stated in a resolution voted by the 500 members of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), the most influential international association of scholars and academics of genocide in its historical and legal aspects. The document was approved by an overwhelming majority of 86% of the members, according to UK media reports. The declaration refers to Article II of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), which specifies acts that fall under the definition of genocide 'committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group'.

Financial divorce between the Central Bank of Ireland and the Israeli authorities. The Dublin central bank, in fact, was not used for the latest prospectus of bonds issued by the Jewish state which was instead approved by Luxembourg. As Central Bank of Ireland Governor Gabriel Makhlouf explained, 'as a result, from 2 September 2025, it will not be possible for the State of Israel to offer bonds under' the guarantees offered by Dublin from 2024'. Protester groups and Irish opposition parties had called for a law giving Dublin the power to refuse on humanitarian grounds the sale of Israeli 'war bonds'.

"Due to the dangerous weather conditions, we carried out a sea trial and then returned to the harbour to let the storm pass. This led to a delay in our departure to avoid taking risks with the smaller boats. Facing winds in excess of 30 knots and the unpredictable nature of the Mediterranean, we took this decision to prioritise the safety and wellbeing of all participants and to protect the success of our mission," he said. This was stated in a note released by the Global Sumud Flotilla. The storm that hit the Catalan coast forced the Global Sumud Flotilla to return to the port of Barcelona. The forced stopover allowed the promoters of the humanitarian initiative to make further changes to the boats making up the group. The Flotilla had set sail at 3pm yesterday, Sunday 31 August, for Tunisia, but after several hours of sailing, prohibitive sea conditions forced the crews to return to Spain. The new departure is set for this afternoon.

According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, 98 people were killed and 404 injured in the last 24 hours as a result of IDF attacks. In the official note, the ministry writes that several victims are still under rubble and in the streets, but rescue teams and civil defence cannot reach them. The overall death toll since the beginning of the war has risen to 63,557 dead and 160,660 wounded. According to Hamas, the victims also include those defined as 'humanitarian aid': in the last 24 hours, 46 people have died and 239 have been injured while trying to get aid. The total of these victims now stands at 2,294 dead and over 16,839 injured.

The new school year also opens today in the Holy Land, but for the third year in a row it will not be in Gaza. This was recalled "with deep sorrow" by the Cardinal Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, in a letter written to mark the new school year. "Once again, our schools in the Holy Land open their doors to welcome tens of thousands of students, Christians and non-Christians, who sit side by side on the same desks, united by their love of learning and animated by hope in the future. Each one of them is a precious gift from God, a sacred trust entrusted to our care. Yet, with deep sorrow, this joy does not extend to our children in Gaza, who for the third year running are deprived of their right to education because of the war. Their schools have been destroyed, their classrooms closed. We carry them in our prayers, imploring that peace,' says Pizzaballa, 'prevail soon so that they can return to their desks and reclaim their childhood.

The Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health reported nine deaths due to famine and malnutrition, including three children, in the last 24 hours. Al Jazeera reports this, pointing out that this brings the death toll from famine and malnutrition in the enclave to 348, including 127 children. Meanwhile, the tally of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks since dawn has risen to 34, according to the broadcaster citing hospital sources.

According to Army Radio sources, during the cabinet meeting held from last night until the early hours of the morning, the ultra-right Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir pushed for the complete annexation of the West Bank. Sources report that Israel believes it has 'tacit approval' from the Trump administration for an annexation limited to the Jordan Valley area.

The Yemeni Houthis claimed to have fired a missile at an 'Israeli tanker' in the Red Sea, which was not hit, according to a maritime security agency. "Our naval force conducted a military operation against the Israeli tanker Scarlet Ray in the northern Red Sea using a ballistic missile," said rebel military spokesman Yahya Saree. The British maritime security agency Ukmto reported on Sunday evening of an attack 40 nautical miles southwest of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. 'A captain reported that he observed an impact in the immediate vicinity of his ship, caused by an unknown projectile, accompanied by a loud roar,' the agency said, adding that the crew was 'safe and sound' and that the ship continued on its course. According to the security company Ambrey, the ship flies the Liberian flag and is Israeli-owned.

'Let's not stir up controversy, it's really not the case,' he says. However, his idea is to postpone and then 'recover' the Italy-Israel football match scheduled for 14 October. The reason: possible public order problems. The mayor of Udine, Alberto Felice De Toni, proposed this in an interview with Messaggero Veneto. A year after the controversy (and the match itself), there is one difference: the mayor can count on the support of 20,000 signatures collected by an online petition launched by Possibile to ask for the match to be stopped.

A classified Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) document circulated within the army has concluded that Operation 'Chariots of Gideon' (the name given by the army to the major offensive launched against Hamas in May and ended last month) failed to achieve its main objectives. The document, partially published by Channel 12 news, as reported by the Times of Israel, states that the operation did not achieve any of its objectives: to overthrow Hamas and free the hostages. The material was distributed last week by the Operational Information Centre of the IDF ground forces and has already been viewed by several brigades, according to the broadcaster. Officials who reviewed the document reportedly expressed concern because it foretold an imminent Idf attack on Gaza City and doubted that the army had learned the necessary lessons for the new offensive, codenamed 'Chariots of Gideon II'.

During the Israeli security cabinet meeting, which ended in the early hours of the morning, the IDF expressed support for an agreement to release the hostages, but Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu clarified that 'there was no agreement on the agenda'. This was reported by Channel 13. According to Ynet, meanwhile, most of the ministers expressed opposition to a partial agreement. Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and other ministers called for a vote in principle against a partial agreement, but Netanyahu said it was not necessary to vote because it was not on the agenda.

Captain Yotam Vilk has been fighting on the front lines in Gaza, leading tanks and ground manoeuvres for over a year. But today, having seen the war from the inside, he makes a dramatic appeal to the New York Times: stop, say 'enough'. In his account, the turning point comes when awareness becomes unbearable. "If on 7 October 2023 we went to war to save what we held most dear," he writes, "it soon became clear to me that we were fighting because our leaders had never planned to stop.

His is a direct indictment of Israeli policy, which he says has turned Gaza into a 'lawless zone' and imposed on the soldiers a war 'without a deadline, without achievable goals, without an exit strategy'. Vilk speaks of a conflict led "by nationalist populists who refused to pay the political price necessary to make the decisions to end the war", instead shifting the burden "onto soldiers, hostages and Palestinians".