Israel imposed widespread closures and displaced residents in the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday following attacks by Palestinian gunmen that killed two soldiers.
Meanwhile, an airstrike killed four people in Yemen, and a senior Iranian military commander said his country will not allow U.S. warships to enter the Persian Gulf. The comments come as attacks have increased in the Strait of Hormuz, raising fears of a return to all-out war.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Saturday. Read our full coverage here.
Israel imposes closures across Hebron
Taxis piled up behind gates controlled by Israel's military outside Hebron, waiting for Palestinians who are forced to cross on foot. All gates leading in and out of the city were closed to vehicles, according to Basma Radio, a Telegram channel Palestinians use to monitor checkpoints and road closures.
Palestinian news outlet WAFA said Saturday that Israeli troops forced dozens of residents to evacuate their homes and closed all entrances and roads leading into Hebron.
Up to 300 families left Deir Baha, a residential area on one of the city’s hillsides, and the two adjacent neighborhoods, according to a Saturday morning tally from Hebron’s municipality. Associated Press reporters saw Israeli flags draped over a home seized for military use in Deir Baha after the army ordered the evacuation.
Israel's army didn't respond to questions about the operation. On Friday, it said that in response to the killing of two soldiers and wounding of others, its forces had begun “conducting precise, targeted and thorough searches” in the area of Hebron from which the two gunmen had operated.
Death toll from church attack in Jordan rises to 8
An eighth person has died after gunmen opened fire during a funeral at a church in Jordan, the health minister said Saturday.
Ibrahim Badour told Al-Mamlaka TV that more than two dozen people were still receiving treatment in Jordanian hospitals, with one person in critical condition.
His comments come one day after gunmen opened fire at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak, south of Jordan's capital, Amman.
Footage broadcast on Jordanian state television Saturday showed a crowd fleeing in panic from what appeared to be two gunmen at the church that came under fire. Some people fell to the ground as they scrambled to escape, while the apparent gunmen moved back and forth through the scene. A person lay motionless on the ground as others rushed past him.
Karak is home to a minority Christian population. In 2016, gunmen ambushed police in a series of attacks in Karak, including at a Crusader castle popular with tourists, killing 10 people, including seven officers, and wounding dozens. Jordanian security forces killed the gunmen after a long standoff.
Airstrikes kill 9 people in Yemen, including women and children
Two days of strikes on Yemen have killed nine people including women and children, according to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
Two separate strikes killed five people, including a woman and child, in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Saturday, according to the Houthi-run Health Ministry.
Also Saturday the Houthi media center said a wave of strikes struck the coastal city of Mokha in Taiz province, which the Houthis captured in early September. The center didn’t provide details on what was struck and The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the Houthi claims.
On Friday an airstrike killed four people — two women and two children — from the same family when it struck a house in the town of Hiba near the city of Taiz, a hotbed of violence in the country’s revived civil war.
The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for the strikes, which came as fighting between the kingdom and the Iranian-backed rebels has escalated. Saudi Arabia did not respond to a request for comment.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said it intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis early Saturday toward the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and Taif and Yanbu cities. It also said it destroyed a drone over the country’s eastern region.
The UAE closes beaches after oil spill from tanker
The United Arab Emirates has closed beaches and warned fishermen to avoid parts of its Gulf shores after an oil spill from a tanker.
The spill impacted the beaches of Umm Al Quwain, one of the seven emirates making up the federation, and cleanup efforts were underway, the Climate Change and Environment Ministry said. Images obtained by AP showed oil washing up along the beach in Umm Al Quwain.
The ministry said the spill poses no health risks but did not provide details about the scale of the leak.
The spill came two weeks after Iran’s state-run broadcaster reported an oil tanker had struck a naval mine and caught fire while attempting to transit through the Strait of Hormuz without coordinating with Iran.
Iran says it will not allow US warships to enter Persian Gulf
A senior Iranian military commander said Saturday that Iran will not allow U.S. warships to enter the Persian Gulf, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
Gen. Ali Abdollahi, chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces and commander of its joint military command, said U.S. naval forces were no longer able to approach waters around the Gulf or Iran’s territorial waters.
He also warned U.S. President Donald Trump that U.S. forces would never return to the waterway and criticized Trump’s claims that U.S. strikes had destroyed Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Israeli strikes kill 1 in Gaza
Israeli strikes Saturday killed at least one person in Gaza City and injured others, health officials at Shifa Hospital said.
Israel's army said it struck a military operative. More than 1,500 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by the Israeli military since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began in October 2025, according to the territory’s health ministry.
The ministry maintains detailed records and is regarded as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Part of the Hamas-run government, the ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up nearly half of those killed.
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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
