Australia has summoned the Israeli ambassador following a video posted by Israel’s far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The footage showed detained flotilla workers with their hands tied and forced to kneel while the minister appeared to taunt them. The incident prompted strong condemnation from Australia, joining other countries that have expressed outrage.

In a statement on social media platform X, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong called the images posted by Ben-Gvir, who is under Australian sanctions, deeply distressing and unacceptable. She condemned both the minister’s actions and the degrading treatment of detainees by Israeli authorities. Wong reiterated Australia’s call for the release of 11 Australian citizens who were part of the flotilla and urged Israel to ensure humane treatment of all detainees in line with international obligations.

Wong confirmed that she instructed the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to summon the Israeli ambassador to deliver Australia’s message firmly.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu engaged in a tense phone conversation on Tuesday over their differing approaches to advancing the conflict with Iran, according to a U.S. official cited by CNN. The exchange followed Trump’s earlier decision to delay a planned targeted strike on Iran, reportedly named “Operation Sledgehammer,” after requests from Gulf allies including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The White House and Pakistani mediators have since been in close contact with Gulf states to outline a diplomatic path forward.

The delay frustrated Netanyahu, who has long favored a more aggressive stance against Tehran. Israeli officials said the prime minister pressed Trump during the hour-long call to resume military action, arguing that postponement only benefits Iran. Trump, however, maintained that diplomacy should continue, emphasizing that the situation was at a “final stage.”

Meanwhile, Iran confirmed through state-linked media that it continues indirect message exchanges with Washington via Pakistan. Pakistan’s army chief is expected to visit Tehran as part of ongoing mediation efforts, though key differences over Iran’s nuclear program and frozen funds remain unresolved.

A video showing Israeli forces abusing detained activists from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla has sparked widespread global outrage. Despite the international condemnation, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has remained defiant, defending the actions of the Israeli forces. The footage, released by Ben-Gvir’s office, shows him waving the Israeli flag and mocking flotilla supporters as the national anthem plays, while activists are seen being violently restrained.

Governments around the world have criticized Israel for abducting the activists from international waters. However, Ben-Gvir justified the treatment of the detainees and criticized Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar for suggesting the video harmed Israel’s image. In a post on social media platform X, Ben-Gvir stated that Israel would no longer act weakly toward those supporting Hamas or terrorism.

Foreign Minister Sa’ar publicly rebuked Ben-Gvir, saying he does not represent Israel’s official stance. The incident has deepened divisions within Israel’s leadership and intensified international scrutiny of its actions at sea.

The United States announced sanctions on Tuesday against four activists involved in flotilla missions attempting to break Israel’s 19-year blockade of Gaza. The US Treasury Department accused the organisers of supporting Hamas but did not publicly provide evidence. The sanctions target members of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA) and Samidoun, including Mohammed Khatib, Jaldia Abubakra, Saif Abu Keshek, and Hisham Abu Mahfouz. The measures freeze any US-based assets and prohibit Americans from conducting business with them, potentially restricting their access to global financial systems.

Activists and rights advocates condemned the sanctions as an effort to criminalise humanitarian solidarity with Gaza. Organisers said the flotillas were peaceful missions to deliver aid and protest what they described as Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians. They also reported that Israeli forces intercepted the latest flotilla in international waters, detaining hundreds of activists from more than 46 countries. Several governments, including Turkiye, Spain, and Brazil, criticised the interceptions, while UN officials warned of escalating risks to civilians at sea.

The sanctions come as Gaza faces severe shortages of food, medicine, and fuel under Israel’s blockade, which has been in place since 2007. Activists vowed to continue their efforts through alternative strategies despite the restrictions.

The United States has lifted sanctions imposed on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories. The decision was confirmed through information published on the U.S. Treasury Department’s website. The move came a week after a federal judge issued a temporary suspension of the sanctions.

In its observation, the court noted that the Trump administration may have violated Albanese’s right to freedom of expression by punishing her for criticizing what she described as Israel’s ‘genocidal war’ in Gaza. Albanese has long been a vocal critic of Israeli military operations in Gaza and has expressed concern over the human rights situation of Palestinians in her reports and statements.

The lifting of sanctions marks a significant development in the ongoing debate over freedom of expression and accountability in international human rights advocacy.

A recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report has claimed that the United States has lost or sustained damage to at least 42 military aircraft in its ongoing conflict with Iran. The list includes fighter jets, drones, and support aircraft such as four F-15E Strike Eagles, one F-35A Lightning II, one A-10 Thunderbolt II, seven KC-135 Stratotanker refueling planes, one E-3 Sentry AWACS, two MC-130J Commando II, one HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter, 24 MQ-9 Reaper drones, and one MQ-4C Triton drone.

According to the report, the Pentagon has not yet released a full accounting of the losses. CRS stated that its findings were based on analysis of various news reports and statements from the US Department of Defense and CENTCOM. Jules Hurst III, the Pentagon’s top financial officer, said the cost of the Iran-related military operations has reached about $29 billion, largely due to updated estimates for equipment repair and replacement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi shared the CRS report on social media, asserting that Iran has learned important lessons from US and Israeli operations and warning of stronger resistance if future conflicts occur.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump postponed a planned military strike on Iran after receiving warnings that launching an attack during the Hajj season could severely damage Washington’s image in the Muslim world, according to a report by Middle East Eye. Two senior Gulf officials reportedly cautioned the Trump administration that such an operation could trigger a major crisis in the region, potentially trapping hundreds of thousands of pilgrims in Saudi Arabia. A senior U.S. official confirmed that discussions took place and that Trump was warned about possible reputational harm.

The report notes that the Hajj, scheduled to begin on May 24 and last six days, draws around one million foreign pilgrims annually. An attack during this period could have disrupted air travel across Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, particularly affecting passengers from South and East Asia. Trump later stated that he delayed the strike at the request of Gulf leaders, including those of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

Unnamed officials suggested that hostilities might resume after the Hajj. The report also highlights ongoing regional tensions following earlier U.S. and Israeli strikes and Iran’s retaliatory actions against American interests in the Gulf.

Beijing hosted U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in close succession, welcoming both with similar pomp and ceremony. Despite the matching grandeur, China’s approach carried subtle distinctions. Trump was greeted by China’s vice president, a largely ceremonial figure, while Putin was received by a senior Communist Party Politburo member, signaling that Beijing views Moscow as a closer partner in an emerging non-Western order.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov downplayed comparisons, but Russian state media framed Putin as a “trusted ally” and Trump as an “uncertain partner.” While Trump’s visit produced few tangible results on trade or technology issues, Putin’s trip held deeper strategic weight amid Russia’s economic strain and Western sanctions. Discussions included the long-delayed Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline, though no concrete timeline was announced.

Analysts cited in the report said Chinese President Xi Jinping gained the most diplomatically, portraying himself as a global power broker by hosting both leaders within the same month. However, neither visit yielded progress on major conflicts such as the war in Ukraine or Middle East tensions.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned on Wednesday that any renewed attacks by the United States or Israel against Iran would cause the ongoing conflict to spread beyond the Middle East. The statement, published on the IRGC’s Sepah News website and reported from Tehran by AFP, declared that further aggression would trigger destructive retaliation capable of crushing the attackers.

The warning followed US President Donald Trump’s threat to strike Iran again within days if no lasting agreement is reached. Both sides have exchanged proposals to end the fighting while simultaneously escalating threats. The war began on February 28, with a ceasefire taking effect on April 8. During the roughly 40-day conflict, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior leaders were killed, prompting Tehran to launch missile and drone strikes across the region.

Trump said on Tuesday that new attacks could begin soon if talks fail, adding that Gulf Arab leaders had previously urged him to hold back from immediate action.

International criticism of Israel has intensified following the release of video footage showing the treatment of workers detained from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. The footage allegedly depicts workers with their hands tied and being mistreated, prompting strong reactions from several countries.

Germany’s ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, described the behavior as completely unacceptable in a post on social media platform X. Belgium’s Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot also expressed deep concern, noting that Belgian citizens were among those detained and calling the situation unacceptable.

The flotilla, carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, was recently intercepted by Israeli forces. The videos circulating online have raised alarm among governments and human rights organizations, leading to growing international condemnation of Israel’s actions.

Former US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who served under two presidents, long opposed costly and overly complex weapons programs, urging instead for affordable next-generation arms. Two decades later, little has changed. The Iran war revealed that producing a Patriot missile takes 36 months and costs $4 million each, while the US military used over 1,200 of them, including against Iran’s low-cost Shahed drones. The conflict underscored Gates’s earlier criticism, exposing serious deficiencies in America’s defense industrial capacity.

Current Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is now addressing the issue, seeking a record $1.5 trillion military budget while calling for “85 percent solution” weapons and multiple suppliers to expand production. Experts, however, argue that financial increases alone cannot fix structural flaws. Rachel Hoff of the Ronald Reagan Institute said real change requires cultural and procedural reform within the Pentagon’s contracting and acquisition systems.

Analysts like Mackenzie Eaglen of the American Enterprise Institute blame the Pentagon’s slow procurement habits and limited-scale buying for production bottlenecks. Officials claim reforms are underway to boost manufacturing three to four times and to engage new defense technology firms.

Canada has summoned Israel’s ambassador following reports of mistreatment of civilians aboard a Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla and the release of a related video. Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Canadian officials have been instructed to take necessary measures regarding the incident. France had earlier summoned the Israeli ambassador over the same issue.

Anand told reporters that the treatment of civilians on the flotilla and the video shared by Itamar Ben-Gvir were deeply concerning and unacceptable. She added that Canada has already imposed strict sanctions on Ben-Gvir for his inflammatory remarks, including asset freezes and travel bans. Anand emphasized that civilian protection and respect for human dignity must be upheld in all circumstances.

According to the report, participants in the Gaza-bound flotilla were not heading to Israel but were in international waters to draw global attention to Gaza’s humanitarian crisis. Israeli forces reportedly blocked their movement amid the ongoing blockade and conflict in the region.

At least 21 people, including children, were killed on Tuesday in Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon, according to the country's health ministry and local media. The state-run National News Agency reported that 12 of the victims died in a single strike targeting a house in Deir Kanoun al-Nahr, where three children and three women were among the dead. The Israeli military did not comment on the incident but previously stated that its operations were aimed at Iran-backed Hezbollah forces. Earlier the same day, a Hezbollah attack on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon killed one Israeli soldier.

The escalation comes less than a week after the United States announced that Lebanon and Israel had agreed to extend a ceasefire by 45 days, with talks expected to resume next month. Lebanon became involved in the broader conflict between Iran, Israel, and the United States on March 2, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in an Israeli strike.

Despite the U.S.-brokered ceasefire being in effect for about five weeks, both Israel and Hezbollah have continued exchanging attacks, particularly in southern Lebanon, where Israeli air raids persist day and night.

A military training aircraft crashed during a routine exercise in Pakistan’s Punjab province on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. According to local and international media reports, the plane went down in an open field in Mianwali district. Both pilots managed to eject in time and survived the crash. The Pakistan Air Force has not yet released details about their physical condition.

Initial reports suggest that a mechanical fault in the engine during takeoff caused the aircraft to lose control and crash. No casualties were reported, and because the plane fell in an uninhabited area, major damage was avoided. Videos circulating on social media showed two uniformed personnel being assisted by local residents, while the wreckage burned nearby.

Authorities have launched an investigation to determine the exact cause of the crash. Some Indian media outlets claimed the aircraft was Chinese-made, but Pakistan has not issued any official statement on that claim.

Israel is considering closing its consulate in Istanbul due to ongoing tensions with Iran and heightened security risks, according to an Israeli diplomatic source. Internal discussions are underway regarding the future of the consulate, one of Israel’s oldest diplomatic missions. Even if the Istanbul office is closed, the Israeli embassy in Ankara will remain formally open but without Israeli diplomats on duty.

Following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, Israeli officials were withdrawn from Turkey, and both the Ankara embassy and Istanbul consulate have since been operated by local Turkish staff. The consulate building, located in Istanbul’s commercial district, faces potential demolition due to earthquake risks and high maintenance costs. A shooting incident near the consulate on April 7 further intensified security discussions.

Relations between Turkey and Israel have deteriorated since the Hamas-Israel war began, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sharply criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza. The two countries had restored diplomatic ties in 2016 after years of strained relations following the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident.