Updated by Faith Barbara N Ruhinda at 1126 EAT on Friday 23 October 2026
Israeli media report that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the cancellation of all Likud party political events scheduled for today following an early-morning shooting at the northern entrance to Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
Two Palestinians were reportedly killed in the incident, while six Israeli soldiers were injured.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has said closer international cooperation is needed to address the confrontation between the United States and Iran, the conflict in Yemen and Russia’s attacks on grain shipments in the Black Sea.
He called for joint efforts to protect international shipping routes ahead of talks with his counterparts from seven countries in Istanbul.
“We all feel the impact of attacks on shipping routes, whether at the petrol station or in the supermarket,” Wadephul said before his departure.
He warned that disruptions to fertiliser deliveries could also trigger famine in several parts of the world.
“We will not accept Iran and the Houthi militias holding global trade hostage and continuing to strangle the world’s energy and fertiliser supplies,” he said.
“The indiscriminate attacks on shipping and neighbouring countries must end.”
Israeli political analyst Akiva Eldar has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of deliberately provoking Palestinians ahead of Tuesday’s Israeli elections.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Eldar said Netanyahu’s strategy depended on escalating tensions to advance his political interests.
“What [Netanyahu] needs is escalation. He has been doing everything in order to provoke, if not Iran, the Palestinians, by rhetoric and his support for the violent settlers,” Eldar said.
Eldar suggested Netanyahu could use the attack in Hebron as a pretext to suspend elections by arguing that Israeli citizens were no longer safe in the occupied West Bank.
“He may even argue that since this attack happened, we cannot hold the elections in the occupied West Bank,” he said. “He will try even to go to court and to use even the emergency law to say that.”
Israeli forces have detained two Palestinians in the Hebron governorate and closed access points across the area following a shooting at a military checkpoint, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.
Soldiers raided and ransacked several homes in the Arroub refugee camp. Security sources identified the two men detained in separate operations across the governorate as Jamal al-Din al-Huraybat and Mohammad Zeitoun al-Halaika.
The operations followed an early-morning shooting at the northern entrance to Hebron, in which two young Palestinians were reportedly killed and six Israeli soldiers injured.
Israeli forces subsequently imposed a lockdown across the governorate, closing military checkpoints and installing iron gates at entrances and exits to restrict residents’ movement.
Europe is heading into winter with historically low gas reserves and has little capacity to withstand further supply disruptions, Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), has told Al Jazeera.
Birol said Europe was particularly vulnerable because of its reliance on fuel supplies from the Middle East and had been severely affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.
“The best day for a ceasefire would have been yesterday,” Birol said.
“Normally before the winter, European countries have a lot of gas stocks, but the gas stocks we have while we are entering this winter are much lower than historical averages.”
Birol warned that the situation could remain difficult for the continent beyond this winter.
“Life will not be easy for Europe this year and also next year,” he said.
“If we have a harsh winter, we may see higher prices of natural gas in Europe,” he added.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has described military cooperation between the United States and Israel as “parasitic”.
In a post on X, Araghchi claimed that the US had spent “$11 BILLION in taxpayer money on missile defense for Israel” over the past three years. He also said Washington had “fired more interceptors defending Israel than Israel has”.
The remarks come less than two weeks before Americans vote in the congressional midterm elections, amid polling indicating significant public frustration with US involvement in conflicts in the Middle East.
Israeli medical sources say six Israeli soldiers have been injured in a shooting near a military checkpoint outside Hebron, with two reported to be in critical condition.
According to Israeli sources, Palestinians driving a car bearing Israeli licence plates opened fire on soldiers near the checkpoint.
The checkpoint is among several military barriers surrounding Hebron and restricting residents’ movement.
The sources said the exchange of fire lasted about 20 minutes, complicating efforts to evacuate the wounded soldiers for medical treatment.
Palestinian rights groups and other organisations have repeatedly condemned Israeli forces over allegations of excessive use of force against Palestinians, including cases in which those wounded during alleged attacks were denied medical assistance and due process.
However, details of the Hebron incident remain unclear. While Israeli sources have described the shooting as an attack, further information is needed to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The shooting comes amid heightened tensions ahead of Israeli elections and a reported increase in settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The Yemeni Women Empowerment Foundation (YWEF) says it has documented 491 alleged violations by Houthi forces in Yemen’s Taiz governorate between October 14 and 22.
In a report cited by the government-run Saba news agency, the organisation said Houthi shelling, sniper fire, landmines and attacks on residential areas had killed 130 civilians.
The report also documented 68 abductions, 74 raids on homes and damage to 52 houses and 29 civilian vehicles. It said Houthi forces had fired about 356 projectiles during the period, including nine ballistic missiles.
One of the reported incidents involved an attack on an ambulance in the al-Sarari area, which allegedly killed a paramedic and a young woman, injured a doctor and destroyed the vehicle.
YWEF called for independent investigations into the alleged violations and urged the international community to take measures to protect civilians and medical personnel.
Foreign ministers from seven European and Middle Eastern countries are holding talks in Istanbul on Friday, with discussions focusing on the Strait of Hormuz and the wider regional crises.
Ministers from the E3 group, comprising the United Kingdom, France and Germany, met their counterparts from the newly formed R4 group, which includes Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt, to discuss the Palestinian issue, developments in Yemen, the Strait of Hormuz and efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, according to a Turkish Foreign Ministry source cited by AFP.
The office of British Foreign Minister Ed Miliband said the talks would focus primarily on the Strait of Hormuz and the situation in Saudi Arabia.
Miliband is expected to advocate a diplomatic solution to restore full freedom of navigation, his office said. It added that the UK had deployed RAF Typhoon fighter jets this week to help stabilise the region and defend Saudi airspace against Houthi attacks.
At least six people have been injured in an exchange of fire between armed individuals and Israeli forces near the Telem settlement in the Hebron area, according to Israel’s ambulance service.
Local reports said the shooting targeted a reserve battalion affiliated with Israel’s Home Front Command and lasted more than 20 minutes, prompting the deployment of military reinforcements to a nearby checkpoint.
Earlier, the Israeli military said two suspected attackers had been killed in a shooting near Hebron.
-Aljazeera
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