Israel | DD News

October 28, 2026 8:49 AM

Israeli exit polls show deadlock, point to setback for Netanyahu

Israel's wartime election appeared deadlocked on Tuesday, exit polls showed, with Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc running neck and neck with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's camp, leaving neither side with a clear path to power. The projections pointed to a setback for Netanyahu's coalition and potentially weeks of political wrangling to form a government, though the deadlock could allow Israel's longest-serving prime minister to remain in power as caretaker during coalition negotiations. "...

October 27, 2026 4:45 PM

Israel records highest voter turnout by 10 am since 1981

Voter turnout in Israel's parliamentary elections stood at 16.68 per cent by 10 am on Tuesday, the highest level recorded at that hour since 1981, authorities said. Central Elections Committee (CEC) Acting Director-General Din Livneh said 16.68 per cent of eligible voters had voted by 10 am, compared with 15.9 per cent at the same time during the previous elections. More than 1.2 million eligible voters having cast their ballots, he said. It is the highest turnout at this hour since 1981, whe...

October 26, 2026 4:33 PM

Israel heads to polls on October 27; Benjamin Netanyahu to face ex-IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot

As Israel heads to a crucial parliamentary election on Tuesday, incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a challenge from key candidates including Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid, Avigdor Lieberman and Yair Golan, local media reported. Netanyahu has positioned himself as the strongest candidate to safeguard Israel's security and handle its international ties. His Likud party is focusing on military successes against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, while critics argue that the Oc...

October 15, 2026 3:28 PM

Pakistani pilots, crew barred under new Israeli aviation rules

Pakistani pilots and cabin crew are barred from serving on flights entering Israeli airspace under new restrictions, according to media reports, after a hijacking attempt last month on a flight travelling from the UAE to Israel, in which Indian Captain Smit Machchhar was injured while foiling the suspected plot. Israel's public broadcaster Kan reported that the Transportation Ministry's Aviation Security Operations Centre has issued the new and updated directives following the hijacking attempt...

October 14, 2026 9:58 AM

Trump says Houthis trying to drive up oil prices ahead of US midterm elections

President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused Yemen's Houthi militants of deliberately trying to drive up oil prices ahead of the US midterm elections and warned that he would "never forget" their attacks on Saudi Arabia, amid a widening regional conflict fueled by the US war with Iran. "The Houthis are behaving very badly," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, accusing the group of resuming attacks at Iran's behest after a period of relative quiet following US strikes in Yemen last year. Trump als...

October 9, 2026 11:27 AM

Israel to honour Indian Captain Smit Machchhar with Presidential Award for Civilian Heroism

Indian Captain Smit Machchhar, who fought off an attack from his co-pilot inside the cockpit of a flydubai plane, will receive Israel's highest bravery award for civilians, President Isaac Herzog has said. President Herzog on Thursday presented the Presidential Award for Civilian Heroism to six individuals who were on board the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30, 2026. "Alongside the Israeli heroes whom we honour today, we send our heartfelt wishes for the full and speedy recovery o...

October 8, 2026 11:58 PM

Trump says US will not attack Iran before midterm elections in November

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the US will not launch an attack on Iran before November’s US midterm congressional elections, asserting that the two countries are having “productive” talks about ending the six-month-old war. “We are having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “We will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the midterm elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd.” The war,...

October 6, 2026 1:11 PM

One year on, Trump’s Gaza plan has not stopped Israeli fire or disarmed Hamas

US President Donald Trump’s year-old plan to end the Gaza war has stalled, with Israel mounting near daily attacks and occupying around two-thirds of the shattered enclave where Palestinians face dire conditions. The initial phase resulted in a ceasefire on October 10, 2025 and secured the release of the last remaining hostages seized in Hamas’ 2023 attacks on Israel, along with freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel. But other goals, including disarming...

October 4, 2026 5:18 PM

Iran says Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until conditions are met

The Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until seven Iranian conditions set out in a June interim agreement with the US are met, state media reported Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf as saying on Sunday. Iran presented a proposal during the UN General Assembly under which the Strait of Hormuz waterway could be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days if the conditions were met, with the US replying to this proposal last week via Qatari intermediaries. "The po...

October 4, 2026 5:06 PM

Iraq says it transported 2 million barrels of crude through Strait of Hormuz

Iraq's state-owned Oil Tanker Company transported 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude aboard a very large crude carrier (VLCC) through the Strait of Hormuz, in what its director general described on Saturday as the company's first such operation in decades. The announcement means the company is transporting the crude through the strait rather than delivering it at the port of Basra, giving state oil marketer SOMO greater flexibility in how and where it sells the crude. The company's director gene...