Israeli forces killed top militant commander Hamas group in one night air strike on southern GazaIsrael said on Sunday.
In Jordan, three men were sentenced to death for a deadly shooting last month in a Greek Orthodox church. In Yemen, the Houthis said they had freed around 600 detainees captured in the latest escalation of fighting, even as they consolidated their hold on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Sunday. Read our full coverage here.
Israel claims to have killed top Hamas commander in Gaza
Israel said it killed a senior Hamas commander in an airstrike on southern Gaza just after midnight. A Hamas statement confirmed the killing of Samir Mahmoud Hassan Abu Younis and said his funeral would take place later on Sunday.
The Israeli military said Abu Younis had directed plans “to advance and carry out terrorist attacks.” Two months earlier, an Israeli strike had killed his predecessor.
The army said it targeted other Hamas militants in Sunday’s attack, but provided no details.
Jordan sentences three men to death for deadly attack on church
Jordan’s State Security Court on Sunday sentenced three men to death for a deadly crime. shooting in a Greek Orthodox church last month, state broadcaster Al Mamlaka said. The men were accused of “perpetrating terrorist acts”.
The October 23 attack was one of the deadliest against Jordan’s Christian minority in decades, with nine dead and dozens injured. The attackers targeted mourners attending a funeral at St. George’s Church in Hamoud, a village south of the capital Amman.
The three accused – two brothers and their brother-in-law – were arrested three days after the attack, following a shootout with security forces. Jordanian authorities described the men as followers of extremist ideology, but said they were not affiliated with an organized group.
Yemen’s Houthis release hundreds of detainees
THE The Houthis supported by Iran About 600 detainees captured in the latest escalation of fighting were released on Sunday, the largest unilateral release of detainees in the country’s 12-year civil war, said Abdul-Qader al-Murtaza, a Houthi official in charge of prisoner affairs.
Also on Sunday, a group allied with Yemen’s Saudi-backed government said its fighters were withdrawing from areas along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait amid continued Houthi attacks.
The southern armed forces said they would now focus on securing the southern Yemeni city of Aden, held by the internationally recognized government, as well as trying to break the Houthi siege on the crucial city of Taiz.
The move allowed the rebels to consolidate their hold on the strait, a setback for Saudi-backed efforts to dislodge them from the strait. strategic coastal territories of the Red Sea.
In Aden, an Associated Press journalist heard sounds of explosions Sunday evening. Local media reported that the Houthis fired two ballistic missiles at the Buraiqeh district on Aden’s west coast.
UN agency sounds alarm on refugees in Yemen
Clashes have been reported between the Houthis and government forces in an area of Yemen’s southwest Lahj province that has key supply routes near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The Houthis said they fired ballistic missiles at positions of government forces in the Kharaz region, which is home to a refugee camp housing thousands of African refugees.
The United Nations refugee agency warned on Sunday that the clashes were hampering its efforts to offer protection and aid to around 9,600 refugees.
Israel arrests independent journalist suspected of links to terrorism
The Israeli army said it apprehended an Agence France-Presse correspondent in the occupied West Bank early on Sunday on suspicion of “links to terrorism,” adding that he had been transferred to security forces for further questioning.
The French news agency asked Israel to provide evidence of the detention of Mohammad Ateeq, a video journalist who has worked with the AFP for three years.
His wife said Israeli forces blindfolded him and took him from his home in a town near Jenin, according to AFP.
Iran says it hit US radar system in Bahrain
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Sunday morning they had hit a radar system at a US helicopter base in Bahrain, the official IRNA news agency reported.
U.S. Army Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, had no immediate comment. On Friday, CENTCOM said it had intercepted two Iranian drones heading towards Bahrain and denied Iranian allegations that they had struck a US early warning radar system in that country.
The Bahraini military said on Sunday that its air defense systems had intercepted a number of Iranian projectiles before they reached their targets.
Iran rejects German demand to stop uranium enrichment
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei on Sunday rejected Germany’s demand that Tehran stop uranium enrichment, saying the country has the right to enrich uranium as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Baghaei also criticized the UN nuclear watchdog – the International Atomic Energy Agency – for what he described as “non-technical speculation” about a possible new uranium enrichment facility in the central Iranian city of Isfahan. He said Iran had not suspended its safeguards obligations.
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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
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This story was earlier corrected to reflect that the shooting in Jordan took place in the village of Hamoud, in Karak governorate, and not in the town of Karak.
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