Israel locks down West Bank and launches operations after Hebron checkpoint attack

This is the morning edition of the One News Page Global Briefing, for Sunday, the twenty-fifth of October, twenty twenty-six. Here is what matters now.

Two Israeli soldiers have been killed and two suspected gunmen shot dead in an attack near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron. Israeli authorities said the gunmen opened fire at a military checkpoint on Friday morning, and the military described the incident as a terror attack. At least five people were injured, several of them critically, and were taken to hospital. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a large-scale military operation in the West Bank and ordered a full closure of the territory. Israeli forces are now imposing the lockdown and conducting operations, with the latest reports saying around two hundred and fifty Palestinian families have been removed from Hebron. The violence comes days before Israeli parliamentary elections and has sharply raised security tensions. While multiple current accounts describe the lockdown and ground operations as already underway, some reports continue to frame the full closure as ordered or in preparation.

In Germany, a fire has gutted the Kehlsteinhaus, Adolf Hitler's former mountain retreat known as the Eagle's Nest, in the southern state of Bavaria. The blaze broke out on Friday night at the remote site near the Austrian border, and about two hundred firefighters were deployed. Police detained a thirty-three-year-old German man in connection with the fire, and no injuries were reported. The structure, completed in one thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight as a retreat for Nazi officials and later a tourist attraction, was probably not salvageable, according to police. Hitler himself rarely used the building.

Meanwhile, in East Asia, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has travelled to China across the newly opened New Yalu River Bridge, arriving in the Chinese border city of Dandong. South Korean officials and the Yonhap news agency reported the visit, which is his first known trip abroad in more than a year. It comes as Pyongyang seeks to deepen ties with Beijing and Moscow in what it calls a 'new Cold War' against the United States.

In the United States, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York has agreed to pay eight hundred million dollars to about one thousand three hundred survivors of sexual abuse by clergy members and lay leaders. An attorney for some plaintiffs said all of the survivors have agreed to the settlement, which could allow the archdiocese to avoid bankruptcy. It is the second-largest clergy abuse settlement in the United States, after an eight hundred and eighty million dollar deal reached by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in twenty twenty-four.

In Jordan, gunmen opened fire during a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in Karak on Friday, killing seven people and wounding between thirty-four and forty others. Footage broadcast on Jordanian state television showed two or three gunmen approaching the church with pistols and a rifle. Jordan's national police force said security forces are pursuing the attackers. Karak, about one hundred and eighty kilometres south of Amman, is home to a longstanding Christian community.

In sport, Aston Villa have ended Manchester City's perfect start to the Premier League season with a two-one victory at Villa Park. Nicolas Jackson scored twice for Villa, either side of a header by Erling Haaland for City. The defeat was Manchester City's fourth in a row at Villa Park.

In the Americas, U S Senator Marco Rubio has called on Cubans seeking 'positive change' to form a discrete partnership with the C I A. The agency posted a video on X explaining how to contact it. The Trump administration has repeatedly said it aims to bring about a change in Havana's leadership.

Also in the U.S., Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton has told A B C News that Donald Trump and J D Vance should 'look at the facts' regarding a campaign advertisement that featured her estranged mother. She made the remarks after a rally in Cleveland where former President Barack Obama criticised Vivek Ramaswamy and the Republican Party over the ad.

On U S elections, the Department of Justice has sent letters to county registrars in parts of California demanding that they set aside and verify ballots the department suspects may belong to noncitizens. The order marks the latest escalation in a legal battle between California and the Trump administration over voting ahead of the midterm elections.

In diplomatic news, the United States is reducing staffing at four embassies in the Middle East after intelligence indicated that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U S personnel. Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton said in a Friday memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio that his teams had received the intelligence, and the State Department has cut staff at several missions in recent days.

In Britain, Chancellor John Healey is set to announce seven million pounds in his budget for a full feasibility study into hosting the Olympic Games in northern England, possibly in the 2040s. The study is backed by northern mayors and leading athletes.

That was the morning edition of the One News Page Global Briefing. Read the complete briefing and explore its supporting coverage at one news page dot com.