Israeli opposition politician Gadi Eisenkot, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival in upcoming elections, vowed on Thursday (October 15, 2026) to end Hamas rule in Gaza if he wins office following the October 27 vote.

“Today I give a public commitment: from the moment I enter the Prime Minister’s Office, within 18 months Hamas will no longer rule the Gaza Strip,” the leader of the centre-right Yashar party said at a press conference near the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

He said he would achieve this either by implementing U.S. President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan, which provides for the gradual disarmament of Hamas and a transfer of power, or through “creative operations” by Israel’s military aimed at destroying the Palestinian movement’s military wing.

Hamas announced in July that it was disbanding its governing body to facilitate the transfer of Gaza’s administration to a nascent technocratic Palestinian committee called the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG).

The NCAG, currently based in Cairo, was created following the declaration of a ceasefire last October and is overseen by Mr. Trump’s Board of Peace.

Later in July, Hamas announced it had agreed to a deal involving the handing over of its weapons to the NCAG.

But Israel has been sceptical, with Mr. Netanyahu demanding verifiable decommissioning of all weapons before any withdrawal of the military takes place.

Hamas has not gone ahead with disarmament, Israel has refused to reciprocate by starting to withdraw forces, and the NCAG is not operating inside the territory.

Israeli forces were allowed to stay in 53% of Gaza under the terms of the ceasefire, but a year later they control about 70%, according to official accounts.

‘Strategic failure’

Mr. Eisenkot’s campaign pledge is one of the strongest yet from the 66-year-old former military chief.

The close-fought election will be the first since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people.

In response to the attack, Israel launched a massive offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 74,300 people, according to the territory’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas and whose figures are generally considered reliable by the United Nations.

Mr. Eisenkot accused Mr. Netanyahu of a “strategic failure” in Gaza, where he said “Hamas is still the sovereign… armed, arming itself, and militarily active” after three years of war.

He also reiterated a pledge to establish a state commission of inquiry to identify those responsible for any security lapses leading up to October 7, a push the government has so far resisted. “There is a way to prevent the next disaster,” he said.

Current polls show that neither Mr. Netanyahu’s bloc nor that led by Mr. Eisenkot is in a position to win the 61 seats needed to control the 120-seat parliament and form a governing coalition.

At least six explosions struck on Thursday (October 15, 2026) near the palace used by Yemen’s internationally recognised government in the port city of Aden, witnesses said. An official said at least two people were killed, and Iran-backed Houthi rebels based in northern Yemen quickly claimed responsibility.

It was a rare attack on the palace area, as fighting has escalated between the rebels and a Saudi-led coalition in the latest front in the Iran war. The explosions caused panic among residents, who fled the area.

Another six people were wounded, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. The government said the Houthis attacked with missiles and drones, the Aden-based SABA news agency reported.

A security official said at least two explosions were on top of the hill near the Maashiq palace, and two others were near the security gate.

Many of Yemen’s government leaders are living in exile, and those in Aden were safe, a government official said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The Houthis said they attacked a military operations headquarters with the “Saudi enemy,” part of their strategy of attacking Saudi targets that has included a series of attacks on airports and oil infrastructure inside the kingdom.

The escalation has complicated efforts to end the wider Iran war and further rattled global markets as Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s top oil exporters, faces repeated attacks. Regional aviation is affected, too, as the rebels have warned airlines about their use of Saudi airspace for attacks. Thousands of flights across the kingdom have been disrupted.

A new bridge linking China and North Korea opened on Thursday (October 15, 2026) after more than a decade of delay, signalling deeper ties between the two countries.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported that a ceremony for the launch of the New Yalu River Bridge was held, and an on online video from state media outlet China News Service showed the bridge and trucks waiting on it adorned with the national flags of China and North Korea.

Beijing expected that the four-lane, 3-kilometre (1.8-mile) crossing, which connects the northeastern Chinese city of Dandong to the North Korean city of Sinuiju, would further promote economic, trade and “people-to-people” exchanges.

“The relations between China and North Korea have entered a new stage, embarking on a new chapter,” Chinese Premier Li Qiang said in a video address at the ceremony, Xinhua reported.

Mr. Li said that the crossing would become a new landmark symbolising the two nations’ traditional friendship. He hoped both sides would seize the opportunity of the opening to continue to enhance connectivity and explore potential for cooperation in border areas, Xinhua said.

Bridge opens after a 12-year delay

The bridge initially was expected to enter use in 2014, when China had apparently completed construction on its side. But North Korea had not done corresponding work on its side at the time.

The absence of substantial work in Sinuiju fuelled speculation that Pyongyang was wary of becoming more economically dependent on China or displeased with Beijing voting for United Nations resolutions toughening international sanctions on the North over its nuclear program. Some observers suggested North Korea and China also differed over the bridge’s location.

The setback over the bridge prompted an unusually sharp report in the Global Times, a newspaper affiliated with the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which quoted Dandong residents expressing frustration over delays in what they had hoped would be an economic boon for their border city.

New link opens a month after launch of Russia-North Korea bridge

Observers said the new bridge would likely boost bilateral trade and enhance logistical efficiency.

It is expected to lessen the burden on an aging bridge on the Dandong-Sinuiju route, which handles more than 70 per cent of official trade between the two countries.

That decades-old bridge carries a railway line as well as cars and trucks, but vehicle traffic can move only one way at a time.

“The new bridge could facilitate trade that violates UN sanctions, but traffic across it could be more transparent and subject to customs than cross-border smuggling,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

The new bridge’s launch came about a month after North Korea and Russia opened a road bridge as part of their efforts to cement relations.

Experts say Chinese officials likely felt uneasy about that opening

China has long been North Korea’s biggest trading partner and economic pipeline. But in recent years North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has prioritised Moscow, sending thousands of troops and conventional weapons to support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, apparently in exchange for military and economic assistance.

Mr. Kim has recently drawn closer to China with the apparent intent to improve his country’s economy and build a front against the United States. China, for its part, wants to restore its unique influence over North Korea.

About 98% of North Korea’s external trade was with China in 2025. The South Korean government said last year there were at least 17 active road and rail links across the porous North Korea-China border, which stretches more than 1,400 kilometres (870 miles).

“China remains economically indispensable to North Korea in ways that Russia cannot replace, and the bridge may offer an inadvertent window into bilateral relations if flows are visibly interrupted in the future,” Mr. Easley said.

The Saudi-led military coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis on Thursday (October 15, 2026) said it had intercepted a cruise missile in the Medina region — home to one of Islam’s holiest cities, but the Houthis denied carrying out any such attack.

“Interception and destruction of a cruise missile in the Medina region,” coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki wrote on X, with the statement also published by state media.

The Houthis quickly responded by saying they did not target the region on Thursday (October 15, 2026), and had previously vowed to spare the holy cities of Medina and Mecca.

Saudi Arabia has in recent days come under sustained attack from the Houthis, including a strike on Riyadh’s international airport that was the kingdom’s deadliest in years, as the war with the group escalates.

Riyadh has hit back with strikes against the Iran-backed group’s stronghold in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Medina, the burial place of the Prophet Mohammed and home to the Prophet’s Mosque, is one of Islam’s holiest cities alongside Mecca.

The Houthis have vowed to continue targeting airports and other sites across Saudi Arabia but on Sunday said Mecca and Medina would be spared.

“The Yemeni armed forces confirm that they have not carried out any operation today targeting Saudi territory, and that the Saudi enemy’s claims of an attack on Medina are a shameless and brazen lie,” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree wrote on X on Thursday (October 15, 2026).

On Wednesday (October 14, 2026), the Houthis said they had targeted facilities belonging to Saudi oil giant Aramco, with Saudi officials reporting a strike on a building in an area housing the energy giant’s operations centre.

The Saudi-led coalition has supported Yemen’s government militarily against the Houthis since 2015 in a long-running civil war that has created a humanitarian crisis.

Ukrainian drones attacked a refinery in Russia’s Ryazan region early Thursday, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a brief truce spurned by Moscow was over amid deepening tensions with Washington.

The drone strike started a fire at the refinery about 300 kilometres southeast of Moscow, Russia’s Defence Ministry and Ryazan Governor Pavel Malkov said. Russia’s Astra online news outlet posted what it said was a photograph of the blaze.

A senior Ukrainian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to speak publicly, confirmed that Ukraine had hit the refinery.

Zelenskyy complains about U.S. stance toward Ukraine

The strike could further complicate Kyiv’s relations with US President Donald Trump, which have soured again in recent days.

Mr. Zelenskyy was outraged by Russia’s continuing aerial bombardment of his country’s energy infrastructure in apparent defiance of Trump’s demand on Sunday for both sides to halt those attacks.

The Ukrainian government said that it was heeding the ceasefire, but Kremlin spokeperson Dmitry Peskov said that Ukraine never stopped its strikes on refineries that have hurt Russia. It wasn’t possible to independently verify each side’s claims.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov labelled Ukraine’s strikes on oil facilities as a “direct and crude challenge to President Trump.”

Mr. Zelenskyy complained that, despite going along with Trump’s demand for a truce, Ukraine in recent days was denied the usual Western intelligence on Russian ballistic missile strikes and limits were placed on its use of US-made Starlink communication terminals. Both are vital for Ukrainian defences and attack operations.

The Ukrainian leader said that his patience had run out. He said in an interview with the Financial Times published Thursday that Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries would resume. “We’re done,” he was quoted as saying.

Mr. Trump made a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel, despite international efforts to sanction Russia for its invasion and diplomatically isolate Putin.

Mr. Zelenskyy slammed the agreement, saying it would allow Russia to press on with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began more than 4.5 years ago. US efforts under Trump to end the war have made no progress.

Mr. Zelenskyy said in an interview late Wednesday (October 14, 2026) with Piers Morgan on the British journalist’s YouTube show that he felt betrayed by Trump’s deal with Putin, the energy ceasefire announcement and the Starlink operational issues.

“Really, yes, between us,” Mr. Zelenskyy said when asked if he felt betrayed by the American president. “Our country has to survive, and we count on our real partners, strategic partners, the United States and President Trump.”

He said that the U.S. behaviour “was really strange and what was not like between partners but that they switch off Starlink, so some actually crazy steps between us.”

Zelenskyy says U.S. position isn’t on the right side of history

In the same interview, Mr. Zelenskyy said “we are losing a strong partner” in the United States. He said that “it’s painful when President Trump chooses one side, not our side. But we are OK that he’s in the middle.”

Mr. Zelenskyy said someone is pushing Mr. Trump into a stance that is “not the right side of history.”

The Starlink speed limits choked Ukrainian efforts to defend itself and hit back against Russia, Kyiv officials said.

The absence of Western intelligence leaves Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian ballistic missiles. Mr. Trump has said the U.S. hasn’t stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine.

The Kremlin said on Thursday (October 15, 2026) that Russian diesel had begun to reach global markets following an agreement with U.S. ‌President Donald Trump.

Mr. Trump said last week that Russia had agreed to supply diesel to global ‌markets in an effort to lower fuel prices, ‌while Moscow ⁠partially lifted its ban on diesel exports ⁠from October 10 following the agreement.

“The diesel has started reaching global markets and is expected to have a positive effect on stabilising oil ​markets, although it will not ‌be enough to fully stabilize them,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a daily conference call.

LSEG data showed on Wednesday (October 14, 2026) that Russia had resumed diesel export loadings ‌from the Baltic port of Primorsk.

According to the ​shipping data, a tanker carrying around 40,000 metric tons of ultra-low sulphur diesel was loaded ⁠on October 13 and was heading towards Morocco.

Mr. Trump is keen to lower U.S. diesel prices ahead of U.S. midterm elections ‌on November 3.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European officials and some of Mr. Trump’s fellow Republican politicians strongly criticised the deal.

Russia has rejected European criticism of the diesel deal as “cynical,” given that Europe continues to buy some Russian oil and liquefied natural gas.

Mr. Trump said that Russia ‌would immediately supply more than 300,000 metric tons (2.25 million barrels) of ​diesel to U.S. and global markets. That is less than a day’s supply for the U.S. transport sector ⁠alone, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data, which shows ⁠daily use of around 2.94 million barrels.

Mr. Trump also said Russia would supply another 500,000 tons ‌in November and a further 1 million tons “immediately thereafter”, which is less than four days’ demand for U.S. transport.

U.S. President ​Donald Trump said on Thursday (October 15, 2026) the ‌execution of the Fort Hood shooter ​would not be livestreamed but ⁠that immediate families of the victims would be able to view it in ‌person.

“I think streaming the execution for all to see might ‌have been a strong deterrent ‌for ⁠the World to witness how ⁠America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan but, many very good and well meaning ​people would rather ‌not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device,” Mr. Trump wrote.

“He will die, as ‌scheduled, by firing squad, but ​this event will not be streamed. That said, the execution ⁠may be viewed in person by the immediate families of the victims, ‌if they so choose. They deserve to witness JUSTICE!”

Some of Mr. Trump’s fellow Republicans, including Vice-President J.D. Vance, as well as religious leaders and international observers, had expressed doubts about ‌the Pentagon’s plan to livestream the December ​3 execution of Nidal Hasan. Recent polls have also shown a ⁠majority of Americans opposed livestreaming it.

Hasan, a ⁠former U.S. Army psychiatrist, was found guilty in a military ‌trial of fatally shooting 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas ​in 2009.

A “severe drought” was declared in parts of southern England on Thursday (October 15, 2026) by the U.K. government, which said it took the decision following an “unprecedented period of extreme weather”.

The United Kingdom experienced its hottest summer on record in 2026, featuring several heatwaves and an exceptional drought that resulted from a lack of rainfall not seen since records began in 1836.

More than 80% of England is currently in a state of drought as it continues to experience below average levels of rainfall into the autumn months. “Record-breaking summer heat and severe drought have put our water resources under immense pressure,” said Environment Agency head Philip Duffy.

The “severe drought” status was declared in the English counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, East Sussex and West Sussex. It is the worst stage triggered by “exceptionally low indicators over a long period of time”.

The declaration came as two major reservoirs in southwest England serving nearly 400,000 properties were below 20% of their storage capacity.

The Environment Agency said it “would expect reservoir storage to be around 75 percent for this time of year”. Southeast and southwest England have experienced their driest April to September period in more than a century, according to the government.

Scientists say climate change is intensifying weather events such as drought and heatwaves, resulting in records being broken more frequently. As of last week, average reservoir levels across England stood at 54 percent, with the nation receiving just 10 percent of average October rainfall.

The government has urged water companies to monitor their water intake from natural resources and encouraged customers to cut their consumption, with usage restrictions already imposed in several regions. “This level of drought is something we have not experienced for decades,” environment minister Angela Eagle said.

Months of drought have piled pressure on everyone from farmers and anglers to firefighters who say tinder-dry conditions resulted in challenging wildfires this summer. Since August the government has convened a weekly National Drought Group, involving the weather agency, water companies, experts and farmers’ representatives.