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The emergency landing Wednesday of a Tel Aviv-bound flydubai flight was due to a "terrorist" who wanted to crash the plane and kill Israelis, Israel's far-right national security minister said.
"The naive notion that our enemies cherish life and that we should pity them received another reminder this morning in the form of a terrorist who planned to crash a plane and murder the 180 Israelis on board," Itamar Ben Gvir said in a statement.
Full StoryGaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital said an Israeli airstrike targeting a vehicle killed five people on Wednesday, with the territory's civil defense agency confirming the toll.
Al-Shifa reported that "five martyrs and 13 injured arrived to the hospital following an Israeli airstrike that targeted a vehicle near the destroyed cabinet headquarters in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood". AFP has contacted the Israeli military for a response.
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Hamas and the allied Islamic Jihad group have agreed to form an unlikely electoral coalition with a former top Fatah official who has close ties to the United Arab Emirates, Israel's closest ally in the Middle East, Palestinian officials told The Associated Press.
The alliance could be well positioned to threaten the dominance of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party over the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority — but only if the first national elections in 20 years actually happen, which is very much in doubt.
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The U.S. military announced on Wednesday that it has completed the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, ending a 12-year mission to fight the Islamic State group.
The last U.S. troops left the last air base where they had been present in northern Iraq under an agreement between Baghdad and Washington.
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Iranian authorities said on Wednesday they received the formal U.S. response to their proposal to end the Middle East war, state media reported, days after U.S. President Donald Trump rejected the plan.
"At today's cabinet meeting, the American side's proposal was presented to President Masoud Pezeshkian by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi," government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani told the official IRNA news agency.
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The last U.S. troops were slated to leave Iraq on Wednesday under an agreement between Baghdad and Washington, a move celebrated by Iran-backed groups but which some other Iraqis found concerning, particularly in the Kurdish region.
U.S. troops invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein. They departed in 2011, but three years later, Iraqi authorities invited a smaller U.S.-led mission to fight the Islamic State group, which had rampaged across Iraq, seizing large swaths of territory.
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Israel's opposition chief early Wednesday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of fear-mongering after he alleged that enemies may attack before October 27 elections.
Netanyahu, who polls show is in a close race to hold on to power, has issued warnings in recent weeks to Iran, the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah and even the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, vowing retaliation in case of an attack.
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The U.N. envoy for Yemen said Tuesday he met with Houthi negotiators over the weekend in efforts to avert further escalation in Yemen amid fierce battles on the country's western coast between the Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi-supported, but fragmented, government forces.
The renewed violence, which has killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands, is the latest twist in Yemen's conflict, which began in 2014 when the Iran-backed rebels took over the capital, Sanaa, forcing the country's government to settle into exile in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom entered the war a year later with a multinational coalition.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said there were "indications" that Israel's enemies could try to attack ahead of elections scheduled for the end of October, without giving details.
"We have indications that ahead of the elections our enemies will try to attack us. So... I am sending you a message: Don't mess with us, not now and not ever. Our long arm will reach you anywhere, anytime," Netanyahu said at an air force base, according to a video published by his office.
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The United States has granted Iraqi airlines a sanctions waiver allowing them to fly Iranian pilgrims in and out of the Iraqi city of Najaf, holy to Shia Muslims, an Iraqi government official and an airport source told AFP.
The Iraqi government had on Saturday said it was in talks with the U.S. to seek such an exemption after sanctions on Iran's aviation sector took effect.
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