Israel entered Yom Kippur on high alert after a terror attack in the West Bank left one man dead and a second attempted attack was thwarted, prompting the IDF to bolster security nationwide. The Day of Atonement closures came into effect as usual, with public transport and airspace shut down, though the mood was overshadowed by the violence and by mounting concern over a possible widening of regional conflict involving Saudi Arabia, the Houthis and Iran. Elsewhere, political controversy engulfed a Shas Knesset candidate, Turkish authorities continued to hold Israeli and Jewish detainees in an ongoing fraud case, and Russia reported an unprecedented wave of drone strikes near Moscow.

Security

A gunman opened fire from a passing vehicle on Israelis performing ritual immersion near the Ein Ria spring by Neveh Tzuf ahead of Yom Kippur, killing a man in his 40s; his son, who was in the car, was unharmed. A soldier returned fire and the attacker fled on foot before being captured roughly three hours later near a local hospital by the Duvdevan unit. In a separate, apparently coordinated incident, a would-be attacker attempting a car-ramming near the settlement of Ganim was shot dead by security forces. The IDF has been placed on high alert amid fears of further attacks and possible regional spillover. Separately, police in Tamra located and neutralised an RPG launcher concealed inside a pipe, using tracker dogs and technical equipment, while a shooting investigation is under way in Silwan after a Jewish man reportedly fired warning shots into the air following a stone-throwing incident targeting a group of young Jewish men. Public transport and airspace closed nationwide for Yom Kippur, with a poll indicating most Jewish Israelis, including around half of secular respondents, planned to fast.

Politics

A Channel 12 investigation has accused Dror Amos, the sixth-placed Shas candidate, of diverting funds from a nonprofit intended to support bereaved families towards yeshiva students, alleging double funding and patronage involving associates. A rights group is calling for a criminal investigation and for Amos to be disqualified from standing in the election. Separately, Blue and White leader Benny Gantz told the Times of Israel's Lazar Focus podcast that he expects to cross the electoral threshold, but that he would suspend his campaign in its final week if polling suggested otherwise, in order to avoid Knesset votes being wasted.

International

Security officials have intensified consultations amid fears that escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis could draw Israel into a wider regional confrontation, potentially triggering an Iranian response with direct implications for Israel. A Saudi analyst noted that despite overlapping threats from Iran and the Houthis, Israeli-Saudi security coordination remains limited and pragmatic due to political constraints. Iran's central military command separately warned that any American strike on Iranian territory would trigger retaliation against US bases and interests with 'no limits', and cautioned regional states involved in such action against expecting restraint from the Revolutionary Guards. The United States issued fresh travel warnings for the Middle East, mentioning the Houthis by name for the first time following an attack on Riyadh, while President Trump left Camp David a day earlier than scheduled without explanation. In Russia, authorities reported downing more than 1,600 drones since Saturday, including 450 aimed at Moscow; some struck an oil refinery and a residential building, forcing the evacuation of 400 people, including 70 children, with two people killed. In Germany, Chancellor Merz faces a test in two state elections, with the far-right AfD expected to make gains, though unlikely to win outright, and a far-left candidate leading polls for Berlin mayor. In Turkey, Jewish community sources say at least eight of nine suspects reported in Turkish media as Israelis in a major fraud case are in fact local Jews, with uncertainty over dual citizenship status; Israeli officials say they have no further information and are awaiting a response from Turkish authorities, amid concern that additional Jews may have been detained. In Britain, singer Ed Sheeran described the Nova festival massacre as 'horrific', saying it 'compounded centuries of Jewish pain', while also calling the situation in Gaza 'catastrophic'. A student, Sarah Cotte, was cleared by the Old Bailey of supporting Hamas after declaring 'unconditional' solidarity with Palestinian armed resistance days after 7 October. Separately, a man was arrested after an alleged imitation firearm triggered a lockdown at a Jewish school in Edgware, while commentary continued on the lasting impact of rising antisemitism on British Jewish communal life. In Iran, a reformist newspaper warned of a 'quiet hunger' driven by poverty, as US sanctions and the oil embargo have forced the closure of school milk and feeding programmes, leaving hundreds of thousands of children malnourished.

Other Developments

International PISA data reveal a catastrophic decline in educational outcomes not only in Israel but across Europe, with France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland recording all-time lows and one in three 15-year-olds across Europe now classified as lacking basic skills. In Baqa al-Gharbiyye, members of the Abu-Much family ended ten days of protest after a suspect who had demanded hundreds of thousands of shekels in protection money, and had earlier opened fire on their supermarket, apologised and pledged to stay away from them, in what the family described as proof that extortion and violence can be successfully confronted.

Sources: Ynet, Walla, www.israelhayom.co.il, Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post