Netanyahu Orders West Bank Operations After Fatal Settler Shooting

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered expanded military operations in the West Bank after a 30-year-old Israeli settler was fatally shot near the Neve Tzuf and Halamish settlements north of Ramallah on Sunday. The attacker reportedly opened fire from a vehicle before being detained at a hospital. In response, Israeli forces closed all entry and exit points to the cities of Ramallah and el-Bireh.

Shortly after the shooting, the Israeli military killed a Palestinian man near the Ganim settlement near Jenin who attempted a vehicular ramming attack against soldiers. These events followed a counterterrorism operation in Al-Mughayyir that resulted in the detention of 28 people. Netanyahu characterized the attacks as "despicable."

In other regional developments, Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh on Saturday, which Saudi Arabia reported was intercepted without casualties. Mohamed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi political bureau, later assured the Donald Trump administration that the group would not target U.S. vessels in the Red Sea, though he warned other nations against joining Saudi Arabia in Yemen's civil war.

Diplomatic activity continued as CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo to discuss shipping navigation and the Iranian crisis. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi began travel to the U.N. General Assembly in New York via Qatar.