Netanyahu says the biggest West Bank operation since 1967 is “on the way” as Israel’s top court briefly halts Hebron demolitions; Trump floats “another little Epic Fury” on Iran as oil passes $117; and Macron calls the Trappes shooting a racist terrorist attack. Ten stories as of Friday evening, October 23.
1. Hebron / occupied West Bank. A day after two Israeli soldiers were killed at a checkpoint outside Hebron, Benjamin Netanyahu said plans are drawn up for the largest Israeli military operation in the West Bank since 1967. No date is set, “but it is on the way,” he said, The Guardian reported. He’s put Hebron and nearby Halhul under siege and said residents of the gunmen’s home neighbourhoods would be forced out, while Defence Minister Israel Katz said “the Jenin refugee camp model arrives in Hebron.” Bulldozers started on Palestinian homes within hours, before Israel’s high court issued a temporary order to stop the demolitions after a rights lawyer petitioned. Israeli forces have since launched what they call a “targeted and thorough” operation in the city, per Al Jazeera. Israelis vote Tuesday, and Netanyahu’s Likud cancelled campaign events set for Friday morning, BBC News reported.
2. Fort Myers, Istanbul and the Gulf / Iran. At a Florida rally on Friday, Donald Trump said, “We may do another little Epic Fury,” the name of the U.S.-Israeli operation that started the Iran war in February. He didn’t elaborate, France 24 reported, but he’s signalled openness to new strikes after the November 3 midterms. Hours earlier in Istanbul, foreign ministers from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Britain, France, Germany and Italy urged Washington and Israel not to restart the attacks, warning it would spread the war, The Guardian reported. Brent crude passed $117 at one point, its highest since April, before easing to about $116, per The Guardian. The Saudi-led coalition said it shot down a Houthi ballistic missile aimed at Riyadh, per Al Jazeera. And oil from the tanker Gem No.2, hit near the Strait of Hormuz earlier this month, is now washing ashore near Umm Al Quwain in the UAE, closing some beaches, BBC News reported.
3. Karak / Jordan. The death toll from Friday’s attack on a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak rose to seven, with about 40 wounded, two of them critically, The Guardian reported. CCTV footage verified by BBC News appears to show three gunmen walking from a road toward the church. Jordan declared three days of national mourning, and Prime Minister Jafar Hassan blamed “terrorist ideology and blind extremism.” Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya said a group of “extremists” carried out the attack and that authorities already have the suspects’ names, though they haven’t released them, DW reported. UN Secretary-General António Guterres called it “especially heinous.”
4. Trappes and La Verrière / France. Emmanuel Macron went to Trappes on Friday and called the drive-by shooting west of Paris “a terrorist and racist attack” that “marks a turning point for our country,” saying the gunman picked victims by the colour of their skin, The Guardian reported. The man killed was named as Pengo Bossio Wangi; a 12-year-old girl was shot eight times and is in hospital. Prosecutors named the 39-year-old suspect as Kevin T. and said he had a Sten gun, a World War II submachine gun, plus teargas grenades, and had booby-trapped his home with gas canisters wired to a timer. Meanwhile, France is deploying 70,000 police for Saturday’s protests, DW reported. Macron posted:
5. Oleshky / Ukraine, and Moscow. Russia has confirmed the local truce for occupied Oleshky that the White House says Melania Trump helped broker, and says it will halt fire at 4 a.m. on October 27, earlier than the October 29 start Washington announced, DW reported. Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said the plan is a ceasefire first, then aid, then free movement out of the city. In Russia, all four Moscow airports shut down twice on Friday during a drone raid, and Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 17 drones were shot down approaching the capital, the Kyiv Independent reported. Ukrainian defence ministry sources say Starlink is still having problems after Trump said Elon Musk had “put it back”; Trump said Friday, “If there is a problem, I will get it straightened out,” per BBC News.
6. Nairobi / Kenya, and Bunia / DR Congo. Kenya recorded its second Ebola death, a 65-year-old woman who was a close relative of the first victim and was already in quarantine, BBC News reported. Seven other patients are being treated, and the health ministry says all cases are in one cluster with “no evidence of community spread.” In Bunia, the WHO says the first people were vaccinated in a trial testing whether the Ervebo vaccine protects against the Bundibugyo strain behind this outbreak, which has no approved vaccine, Al Jazeera reported. Separately in Nairobi, a multistorey building under construction collapsed in the busy Eastleigh district; about 11 people in ground-floor shops are unaccounted for, and police are hunting the owner, per Al Jazeera.
7. Buenos Aires / Argentina. A federal judge dropped the criminal investigation into President Javier Milei and his sister Karina over the $Libra cryptocurrency, which crashed after Milei posted about it in February 2025, BBC News reported. Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi, acting at prosecutors’ request, said “the reported events do not constitute a criminal offence.” He also dismissed the case against U.S. businessman Hayden Davis, the token’s self-described launch adviser. The presidential office called it “absolute proof of his innocence,” per Al Jazeera.
8. Canuto / Ecuador. A judge ordered opposition leader Luisa González held in pre-trial detention, a day after her arrest in the rural town of Canuto in a money-laundering probe into about $500,000 of 2023 campaign advertising, Al Jazeera reported. She calls the charges “absurd.” Her Citizen Revolution party, whose president said Ecuador is “living under a dictatorship,” has been barred from next month’s local elections.
9. Washington and Ottawa / Canada. The White House is lifting some of its 50% tariffs on Canadian goods from October 30, including plywood, some paper products, certain machinery and refrigeration equipment, while adding levies on others such as carpets, BBC News reported. Maine Republican Susan Collins, in a tight Senate race, says she lobbied for the relief for her state’s farmers. Canada’s Dominic LeBlanc said Ottawa “stands ready to work constructively.” Trump said Canada “is working very hard to make a deal with us,” per DW.
10. Taiwan, and Nagqu / Tibet. Typhoon Champi raked Taiwan’s north-east, killing one person and injuring at least 350, with more than 4,300 evacuated and over 400mm of rain in Yilan County on Friday, Al Jazeera reported. Forecasters say the worst comes Saturday as it heads toward Okinawa and China’s east coast. In Tibet, the injured count from Thursday’s magnitude 7 quake rose to 76, with the death toll still 16, and more than 5,000 rescuers deployed, per ABC News.
Coming Up
Confirmed dates on The Watch: October 25, Brazil’s presidential runoff (Flávio Bolsonaro vs Lula) and Serbia’s snap parliamentary election. October 27, Israel’s election for the 26th Knesset, as the Fed’s two-day meeting opens in Washington (October 27–28). Full board at the link.
