The Cradle ✔

Iran rejects US ‘paper commitments,’ demands concrete action before new talks Officials in Tehran reiterated that repeated US violations of commitments sabotaged the last four rounds of negotiations over 18 months

❗️Study details historic collapse of Christian population in occupied Jerusalem under Israeli pressure The Christian share of the population in occupied Jerusalem has plummeted from 25 percent in 1922 to just 1.56 percent by late 2023, according to a landmark demographic report released by the Jerusalem International Foundation today. The study documented that fewer than 15,300 Christians remain in the city, of whom approximately 13,100 are indigenous Palestinians. The foundation attributed the dramatic demographic collapse to a systemic policy of economic, legal, and social pressure enforced by Israeli occupation authorities, alongside restrictive residency laws, such as the arbitrary revocation of Jerusalem residency permits under the "center of life" policy, designed to systematically erode the Palestinian presence in the holy city. Beyond demographic displacement, the report documented aggressive campaigns targeting Christian church endowments and properties, which comprise nearly 28 percent of endowment lands in occupied East Jerusalem. Occupation authorities and settler groups have utilized forced long-term leases, discriminatory tax schemes, and judicial maneuvering to seize control of historic Christian assets. The study further highlighted a sharp rise in hate crimes by Israeli settlers, including physical assaults on clergy, spitting attacks on worshippers, and the desecration of historical cemeteries, monasteries, and religious symbols. Strict military restrictions imposed on access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during Easter and Holy Saturday celebrations have further restricted freedom of worship. Warning that these hostile policies pose an existential threat to the pluralistic character of Jerusalem, the foundation urged international legal bodies and diplomatic channels to take concrete action to protect Christian holy sites, church endowments, and the endangered Palestinian Christian community.

❗️Turkiye says proposed gas pipeline with Turkish Cypriots could power all of Cyprus Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said a proposed natural gas pipeline connecting Turkiye with the breakaway Turkish Cypriot community could eventually supply electricity to the entire island of Cyprus. Announced earlier this year, the project involves constructing a mostly subsea, 101-kilometer pipeline to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) to supply the community with natural gas. Ankara says the infrastructure could also eventually be connected to Europe. Speaking to international media representatives in Istanbul on Thursday, Bayraktar said Turkiye plans to transport gas to the island to fuel a power plant, allowing the Turkish Cypriot administration to generate its own electricity. If an agreement is reached between the two sides, the TRNC could eventually supply some of that electricity to the Greek Cypriot government. "If we find some gas or someone else can find some in ​the eastern Mediterranean, they ​can use ⁠this pipeline with the reverse flow and they can bring the gas to the island and from the island to ​Turkey and to the European market," he said. Bayraktar also said Ankara remained open to energy cooperation with Greece.

❗️Congenital anomalies spike in Gaza, up 75% since genocide The number of birth defects recorded among newborns in the Gaza Strip during the first nine months of this year has surpassed the total number of cases documented throughout 2022 prior to the start of the genocide, local medical sources told WAFA. Health officials reported 260 cases of congenital anomalies between January and September, exceeding the 184 cases recorded in all of 2022. Medical records further showed that 322 cases were documented across 2025—marking a 75 percent increase compared to pre-genocide figures. Documented conditions include cleft lip and palate, ambiguous external genitalia, shortened upper limbs, and umbilical hernias, with several infants presenting multiple severe malformations. Medical sources highlighted maternal starvation, prolonged exposure to toxic environmental pollutants from Israeli bombardment, and the systematic collapse of prenatal healthcare under the blockade as major contributing factors. Calling for an urgent, independent international scientific investigation into the spike, Palestinian health authorities echoed warnings issued by Human Rights Watch detailing catastrophic, life-threatening risks faced by pregnant women and newborns due to the deliberate destruction of health infrastructure and severe shortages of essential food, clean water, and medical supplies.

❗️Israeli occupation forces killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, medical sources reported. The teenager, identified as Mohammad Nidal Barbakh, was shot by Israeli occupation soldiers in the Bir 19 sector of al-Mawasi, an area declared a 'safe humanitarian zone' situated outside direct Israeli ground positions, and later succumbed to his wounds.

WATCH | Yemeni Armed Forces (Ansarallah) releases footage showing operations to repel Saudi-backed troop build-ups, led by Saudi officer Badr al-Harbi, from several positions in the strategic Kahboub mountain range east of the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Turkiye bows to US pressure, cuts Turkmenistan gas imports via Iran Ankara continues to facilitate the transit of Azerbaijani oil to Israel despite the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza

❗️Israeli forces detain foreign activists & journalists during West Bank olive harvest Israeli forces detained 17 people, including 12 foreign activists, two foreign journalists, and three Palestinians, while they were participating in the olive harvest in the occupied West Bank village of Kafr Ni'ma, west of Ramallah. The arrests followed an attack by a group of Jewish settlers on olive harvesters in the Salem area near Jabal al-Risan in the village. Israeli occupation forces have recently intensified their targeting of international activists taking part in solidarity initiatives and agricultural activities across the West Bank. On 22 October, they arrested several foreign activists in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, before deporting them from the country.

Tehran, Moscow agree to build gas pipelines after Putin hosts Iran’s security chief Rezaei told Putin that Tehran will neither reopen the Strait of Hormuz nor negotiate an end to the war unless Washington meets its seven conditions

❗️IRGC downs US drone over Qeshm Island as military confrontation escalates in Strait of Hormuz Air defense units belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intercepted and destroyed a US military MQ-1 drone over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, Fars reported. According to an official statement issued by the IRGC, Iranian air defense networks detected the US surveillance aircraft breaching local airspace above the strategic island before targeting and destroying it. IRGC military sources noted that the interception marks the 15th US MQ-1 drone brought down by Iranian forces since late February.

❗️Yemen’s Armed Forces establish direct email clearance protocols for Red Sea commercial transit Commercial shipping companies seeking safe passage through the Red Sea can submit direct email requests to naval authorities affiliated with Yemen's Armed Forces, receiving clearance responses within 24 hours, according to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal. The reporting details how the Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center (HOCC) in Sanaa functions as the central authority regulating commercial maritime traffic. Under the established system, ship operators submit vessel ownership, cargo manifests, and destination details via email prior to entering Yemeni territorial waters. The coordination center evaluates compliance to ensure vessels maintain no destination ties or commercial links to Israeli ports before issuing formal transit authorization.

Eisenkot secures majority backing to form Israeli government as Netanyahu faces ouster The Israeli opposition leader refuses to form a government with parties representing Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, leaving the door open for Netanyahu to return as prime minister

❗️Seafarer killed in missile attack on oil tanker transiting Persian Gulf A crew member was killed aboard an oil products tanker following a missile strike in the Persian Gulf, Greek ship management firm Velos Tankers confirmed in a statement reported by Reuters. The Marshall Islands-flagged vessel, MT Velos, was transiting unladen toward Bahrain on Wednesday when an explosion—believed to have been caused by a direct missile hit—struck the ship. Management confirmed that search efforts located the missing crew member fatally injured on board following the initial impact.

VIDEO | Israeli occupation forces violently assaulted two young Palestinian men as they were picking olives near Jabal Aybal, north of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, before releasing them and withdrawing from the area.

Hegseth doubles down on defense of war on Iran amid threat of impeachment The war secretary seeks at least $350 billion in new funding for the war, dismissing the impeachment push against him as 'doomed to fail'

VIDEO | An Israeli bulldozer uproots olive trees on Palestinian land in the town of Beit Awa, south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.

❗️Iranian scholar argues Tehran's 'cognitive warfare' exploits US hesitation to restrict Trump's options Tehran's strategic posture has effectively deepened domestic political vulnerabilities for US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, significantly narrowing their strategic maneuverability in their ongoing military campaign against Iran, according to Iranian political analyst Hassan Ahmadian. In an analysis published on social media following the US midterm elections, Ahmadian asserted that Trump's hesitation stems from an inability to guarantee that a limited military strike against Iran would yield a decisive victory without triggering an all-out regional escalation. "If Trump had a clear idea of how the war could end with a limited strike, and was confident it would end with a symbolic strike, he wouldn’t have hesitated to hit Iran and tell the American public he’d won," Ahmadian noted, emphasizing that the absence of a clear exit strategy has fueled internal fractures within the US administration. Ahmadian highlighted that Iran's "cognitive warfare" has successfully maintained strategic ambiguity, leaving Washington unable to predict the full scale of Tehran's retaliatory response to potential strikes. Warning that the US administration faces an accelerating countdown, the scholar concluded that Trump must urgently determine his military strategy before January.

❗️Israeli occupation forces fired artillery shells at agricultural land near the village of Al-Samdaniyah Al-Sharqiyah in the Quneitra countryside, Al-Ikhbariya reported. The artillery barrage targeted farmland in the southern Syrian governorate, causing material damage to agricultural property. No immediate civilian casualties were reported following the strike.

❗️Tanker reports waterline explosion off Oman as maritime operations remain disrupted in Strait of Hormuz An oil tanker crossing the Strait of Hormuz sustained an explosion at its port-side waterline 16 nautical miles east of Oman's Khasab, maritime security agency United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported. According to a late report released by UKMTO, the strike occurred at 1:00 AM local time on Friday (22:00 GMT Thursday). The agency confirmed that all crew members are safe and accounted for, and the vessel remains operational under its own power as it continues its voyage.

❗️Iran is considering withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), with Atomic Energy Organization chief Ismaili saying the decision to remain or withdraw falls under the country's sovereign authority and must reflect its national security interests and broader strategy. He said US President Donald Trump's repeated threats to strike Iranian nuclear facilities are a sign of Washington's desperation, while accusing IAEA chief Rafael Grossi of being a "US-Israeli agent."