Kremlin reveals why CIA chief visited Moscow

John Ratcliffe’s trip revolved around intelligence service contacts, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said

Published 26 Aug, 2026 07:33 |

CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s unannounced trip to Moscow on Tuesdaywas for contact between the US and Russian security services, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

A US Air Force C-17A Globemaster III, identified by flight trackers as RCH4555, flew from Joint Base Andrews to Riga on Sunday evening before continuing on Tuesday to Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport. Later that day, a motorcade with US diplomatic plates was spotted in central Moscow.

CBS News first reported that Ratcliffe was in Moscow for meetings, citing sources familiar with the situation.It was also not clear whether the visit – which ultimately lasted roughly eight hours – involved any other senior US officials.

Asked by the Washington Post on Wednesday about the purpose of Ratcliffe’s trip, Peskov said it was for “contacts between security services” and declined to give further details. Separately, Peskov told TASS that “contacts with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin were not planned.”

Speaking to reporters later on Wednesday, Peskov saidPutin had been kept in the loop about the talks, calling engagement between the special services “a positive phenomenon.” However, he cautioned thatit is “too early to say” whether the talks “will affect the overall process of bringing our bilateral relations out of the deep crisis.”

Media reports have floated several possible subjects of the secretive talks, including detainee negotiations, the Ukraine peace process, the Iran conflict, and broader questions of strategic stability.

The last publicly disclosed contact between Ratcliffe and top Russian officials took place in March 2025, when the CIA director spoke by phone with Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) chief Sergey Naryshkin. At the time, the SVR said Russia and the US agreed to maintain dialogue in order to “promote international stability and security, as well as to reduce tensions in relations between Moscow and Washington.”

Ratcliffe’s visit was the first known trip to Moscow by a CIA director since William Burns traveled there in November 2021, several months before the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. The last publicly known face-to-face meeting between the heads of the CIA and Russia’s SVR before Ratcliffe’s trip was in Ankara in November 2022, when Burns met Naryshkin to discuss nuclear escalation risks and detained US citizens.

https://www.rt.com/russia/644658-kremlin-reveals-cia-visit-moscow/

Kiev’s terror, Orthodox Church persecution and Moscow-Vatican ties: Key points from Lavrov’s meeting with Holy See’s envoy

The Russian foreign minister hailed the Vatican’s “balanced” position on the Ukraine conflict and called bilateral ties “friendly”

Published 26 Aug, 2026 02:37 |

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the Ukraine conflict,Kiev’s persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and restrictions on the Russian language during talks with the Vatican’s top diplomat, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher.

Gallagher, who heads the Holy See’s diplomatic service,arrived in Moscow on Monday for a four-day visit.

The talks also covered the Middle East, Africa, and other global hotspots, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. Moscow and the Vatican also found common ground on protecting traditional values and discussed emerging issues such as AI.

Here are the key takeaways from Lavrov’s remarks following the meeting:

Ukraine conflict

Moscow praised the Vatican’s “balanced position” on the Ukraine conflict and briefed Gallagher on Russia’s approach to ending the hostilities by addressing the “root causes.”

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly saidRussia was forced to launch the military operation in Ukraine to protect civilians in the largely Russian-speaking Donbass.Moscow has also long described Kiev’s deepening military cooperation with NATO as a major threat to Russian national security.

Lavrov also praised the Vatican’s involvement in humanitarian efforts linked to the conflict, including work to reunite children separated from their families.

‘Blatant cruelty’

Lavrov noted the “blatant cruelty” of Ukrainian attacks on Russian civilians.He accused Kiev of striking civilian targets “on a daily basis,” including facilities where children are present.

Lavrov said another wave of Ukrainian strikes on several southern Russian regionsearly Monday killed three minors and injured six others at a childcare center in Krasnodar.

“We will [also] never forget and will seek justice for [Ukrainian leader Vladimir] Zelensky’s bloody terror attack in Starobelsk,” Lavrov said, referring to a drone strike in May on a college dormitory in the Donbass city. The attack killed 21 people, most of them teenage girls.

Russian language crackdown

Lavrov accused Kiev of waging an unprecedented campaign against the Russian language and Russian culture.

Ukraine is the only country to have outright banned Russian, he stated, arguing that no other state has gone as far in targeting Russian speakers.

“We discussed how Ukraine treats the Russian language, Russian education, Russian media, and Russian culture in general,” Lavrov said.He expressed hope that Vatican diplomats would raise the issue directly with Kiev.

Plight of Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Gallagher was also given a copy of its latest report on Kiev’s persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The report details “unlawful actions” against the church, the clergy, and parishioners and has already been submitted to the UN and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Lavrov said.

The Ukrainian authorities are “legislatively pursuing the destruction of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” he warned, urging the Vatican to take a closer look at the issue.

Zelensky’s government has targeted the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for several years, accusing it of maintaining ties with Moscow despite the church declaring independence from the Russian Orthodox Church in 2022.

The crackdown has includedmonastery raids, property seizures, and dozens of criminal cases against clergy on collaboration charges. Kiev also supports the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which the Russian Orthodox Church considers schismatic.

Moscow-Vatican ties

Despite deep geopolitical divisions elsewhere, Russia and the Vatican have managed to keep their relationship “trustworthy, friendly and pragmatic,” Lavrov said.

He praised the Holy See for favoring diplomacy and peaceful solutions and saidMoscow remains ready to work closely with the Vatican on humanitarian issues.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the two sides discussed defending traditional spiritual and moral values, family reunification, prisoner exchanges, and the protection of Christian communities around the world.

https://www.rt.com/russia/644653-vatican-envoy-lavrov-meeting/

Netanyahu declares West Bank ‘our land’

The Israeli prime minister has vowed to annex more territory for Jewish immigrants

Published 26 Aug, 2026 12:56 | U

Israel will continue building illegal settlements in the West Bank in preparation for a “major” wave of Jewish immigration, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. Israel’s most recent settlement expansion triggered rebukes from its Arab neighbors and Western partners.

“Today, many of our brothers and sisters around the world understand: This is our land and it will remain ours,” Netanyahu said in Jerusalem on Tuesday. “And when I say our land, every Jewish man and every Jewish woman, the door is open. We are waiting for you. We are preparing the door for major Aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel).”

It is unclear whether the “major Aliyah”predicted by Netanyahu is actually coming. Israelis have emigrated in growing numbers since Hamas’ 2023 attack and the subsequent war on Gaza. More than 150,000 Israelis left the country from 2024 to 2025, according to a report by 972 magazine.

The Israeli prime minister spoke at an event organized by the Binyamin Regional Council, which governs 47 Jewish settlements in the West Bank. All of these settlements, which are located outside Israel’s 1967 borders, are considered illegal by the UN, and Israel’s transfer of population to them has been deemed a breach of the Geneva Convention by the International Criminal Court.

Although the Israeli state sometimes pre-authorizes the construction of settlements, they typically begin as outposts on Palestinian land, until they are retroactively legalized by the Israeli government. During his speech on Tuesday, Netanyahu boasted that his government has established and regularized “104 settlements and 160 farms and we continue to do more.”

“It isn’t easy, it’s never easy,” he continued. “The land of Israel is acquired through suffering. Sometimes also through smiles, sometimes also through arguments, but it is being acquired by us.We are not giving up, we have a vision, this is our land, and it will remain ours.”

Last week, Israel opened bidding for the construction of more than 1,200 homes in the E1 settlement project, located east of Jerusalem. Named after its designation on Israeli planning maps, the project will comprise more than 3,400 homes, and was green-lit by Netanyahu’s government last year.

The E1 plan will establish a land corridor between East Jerusalem and the existing settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, both of which are built on Palestinian land. It will also sever road links between the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem, located to the north and south of Jerusalem, respectively.

Eight Arab and Muslim states, including Mecca Pact members Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Türkiye, “categorically”rejected the plan, describing it as “a dangerous escalation.” The UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, European Commission, and 15 European states also condemned the project.

“The E1 settlement will undermine the prospect of the two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank,” they said in a statement last Thursday. “At a time of grave instability in the West Bank with unprecedented levels of violence by settlers against civilians, and serious restrictions on the Palestinian economy, this decision is even more concerning.”

Netanyahu has suggested for years that he intends to annex the entirety of the West Bank, describing the option as “on the table”even as he signed peace accords with Arab states in 2020. Netanyahu’s hardline coalition partners have been more explicit, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urging the prime minister in June to “apply sovereignty here in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] before the elections” in October.

https://www.rt.com/news/644673-netanyahu-west-bank-settlement-expansion/

Bill Gates Warns A.I. Is More Dangerous Than Big Tech Will Admit

In an hourlong interview, he said his industry was downplaying the risks, which he believes include mass unemployment and bioterrorism.

Bill Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, isloudly warning that artificial intelligence poses a grave threat to jobs and human life, and that urgently addressing the risks should be “the world’s top priority.”

In an hourlong interview with The New York Times last week, Mr. Gates said the tech industry was knowingly downplaying those threats because there was too much money on the line.

“In private, people who understand how good this stuff is, and how much better it’s getting, they’re very worried,” he said. But few tech executives, Mr. Gates said, are willing to publicly admit that. “They’re now saying to each other: ‘Hey, man, don’t say that. It’s bad for us — the next trillion dollars we’re trying to raise.”

On Wednesday, Mr. Gates published anearly 6,000-word essay on his personal website laying out his concerns about A.I. and offering solutions, such as new taxes and bans. He said he was motivated to speak now because recent improvements in A.I. had far surpassed his expectations andbecause the industry had ignored technology milestones — like A.I.’s escaping the control of its creators or making recipes for bioweapons — that it once said would warrant more caution.

He proposed a new tax on A.I. use, known as a “token tax,” to make it more expensive to replace people and provide money to help those who do lose work. A token is a basic unit of A.I. computing. The idea of taxing it has gained some traction, including on Wall Street, as a way to increase the cost of using machines instead of human labor.

Some jobs, Mr. Gates said, should be prohibited from being replaced by A.I. — an idea he called “Human Reserved” — because the role is deeply personal, like a caregiver, or the people in those jobs are unlikely to find new employment.

He argued for new international agreements to set clear criteria to monitor and restrict extreme risks like bioterrorism. He said it could take only a few people with access to advanced A.I. to develop new pathogens.

He said he would happily debate anyone who argued against mandatory reviews of any A.I. system that could be weaponized to make new molecules and unleash a pandemic. Mr. Gates added that he was dumbfounded by the kind of voluntary measures that the White House and industry leaders were developing.

“Self-regulation on the most dangerous tool ever invented?” he said incredulously. “No, thanks!”

Mr. Gates said he was in a “state of shock” as to why there was not more urgency on these issues.Many of his concerns echo those raised by the Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei, but Dr. Amodei’s warnings have put him at odds with the Pentagon, the White House and much of the tech industry.

https://archive.ph/onT6F

Fed, NASA and DOJ among victims of China hacker group: Court documents

PUBLISHED WED, AUG 26 2026

KEY POINTS

• The Federal Reserve, Department of Justice, NASA, and other federal agencies were victims of computer intrusion by a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group, the DOJ said as it announced the seizure of online domains used for hacking platforms.

•The hacking platforms, known as “QScan and QTRouter,” were “used to target U.S. critical infrastructure and other sensitive networks,” the DOJ said in a statement.

The Federal Reserve, the Department of Justice, NASA, and other federal agencies were victims of computer intrusion by a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group, the DOJ said on Wednesday morning as it announced the seizure of online domains used for hacking platforms.

The hacking platforms, known as “QScan and QTRouter,” were “used to target U.S. critical infrastructure and other sensitive networks,” the DOJ said in a statement.

“Other targeted networks include those operated by hospitals, telecommunications providers, power companies, financial institutions, and defense contractors,” a court filing said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/26/china-hacker-federal-reserve-doj-nasa.html

Secret Service Spokesman, Two Others Suspended Amid Leak Probe 1/2

Susan Crabtree

Three officials within the U.S. Secret Service’s communications office– including the agency’s top spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi –have been removed from their postsand stripped of their security clearances as investigators examine how classified or sensitive information reached the press, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The three were escorted from Secret Service headquartersin Washington, D.C., on Monday andformally designated “do not admit,” meaning they arebarred from entering agency facilities, two sources told RealClearPolitics, which first reported on the suspensions. One of those sources saidboth the FBI and CIA are participating in the inquiry, pointing to a probe with more weight than a routine internal personnel matter.

All three employees are based in the communications office. Placing Secret Service agents or officials on administrative leave and suspending security clearances is standard practice during an investigation and not a confirmation of wrongdoing.

The Secret Service itself has offered a morelimited public accounting of the suspensions and probe.

In a statement Tuesday, an agency spokesperson saidthree non-law enforcement personnel had been placed on leave pending a review by the Office of Professional Responsibility, the internal body that handles misconduct cases. The agency did not name the employees, did not describe what they are accused of, and did not address whether the FBI or CIA are involved.

The statement leaned on the agency’s broader mission, with the spokesperson stressing that the Secret Service holds itself to strict standards of professionalism and integrity as it carries out its protective duties, and that its workforce is expected to show unwavering commitment to duty, honesty, and courage. The agency said it could not comment further while the review is underway.

Itremains unclearwhether the matter under investigation is connected to the furor earlier this year over President Trump’s abrupt,unannounced departure from Turkey– a move reportedly triggered by intelligence pointing to a possible surface-to-air missile threat against Air Force One from Iran.

Guglielmi did not respond to RCP’s phone calls and request for comment.

A pattern of leak investigations

The latest investigation is taking place amid a string of leak-related inquiriesthat have rattled the Secret Service and the wider Trump security apparatus over the past several months.

Agency personnel were previouslyquestioned as part of a separate leak investigation after details first surfaced publiclyabout Trump’s decision not to fly out of Turkey aboard the Qatari-gifted aircraft, reportedly because of the suspected Iranian missile threat. That earlier probe was set in motion from inside the White House, with FBI Director Kash Patel involved in getting it off the ground.

Separately, a Secret Service agent assigned to Vice PresidentJD Vance’s protectivedetail was placed on leave in July after investigators suspected theagent had leaked details about Vance’s security detailand travel schedule. That investigation is still open.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2026/08/26/secret_service_spokesman_two_others_suspended_amid_leak_probe_154446.html

>>24975452

2/2

Taken together, the cases point to anagency increasingly consumed with plugging leakseven as it manages an unusually turbulent period for presidential protection –one that has included multiple attempts on Trump’s lifeand the still-simmering questions over the Turkey episode.

A spokesman with a credibility problem

Guglielmi’s removal adds a new complication to a tenure that has already drawn scrutiny over how forthcoming he has been with the public about the Biden-era Secret Service failures. As the Secret Service’s top spokesman, he was the agency’s public face through some of its most damaging recent failures, including the string of attempts on Trump’s life – chief among them the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, which forced the resignation of the agency’s director and triggered an overhaul of some of the Secret Service’s practices, including its use of drones and drone-mitigation systems.

Guglielmi’s handlingof that episode is itself a point of controversy. Within less than 24 hours of the Butler shooting, RealClearPolitics reported that Secret Service resourceshad been divertedaway from Trump’s rally to cover a same-day campaign stop by then-first lady Jill Biden in nearby Pittsburgh. Guglielmi moved quickly to knock the story down, calling it “very wrong” on X.com rather than answering the detailed questions RCP had emailed him.

A week later, an investigation led by Sen. Chuck Grassley turned up internal Secret Service emails showingthe agency had assigned 12 personnel to Biden’s Pittsburgh event compared with just three for Trump’s rally– essentially corroborating the central claim in the report Guglielmi had dismissed.

Guglielmi also falsely denied an initial report that Sean Curran, current Secret Service directorand the leader of Trump’s security detail during the 2024 presidential campaign, had requested additional security resources but was rebuffed by Secret Service leadership. Kimberly Cheatle, who was hand-selected by then-first lady Jill Biden, was the director at the time of the attempted assassination of Trump at the Butler rally.

“There’s an untrue assertion that a member of the President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed,” he said in a statement. “This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.”

Within a few days, additional reporting undermined that statement.

Before joining the Secret Service, Guglielmi held communications posts at police departmentsin Chicago, Baltimore, and Fairfax County, Virginia.

Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics' national political correspondent.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2026/08/26/secret_service_spokesman_two_others_suspended_amid_leak_probe_154446.html

Trump is not getting credit where credit is due

A Democratic administration with his wins would be yelling them from the rooftops

By David N. Bossi

OPINION:

President Trump’s historic second term is exceeding expectations, no thanks to the liberal media that are simply too dishonest to give him a fair shake.

Over the course of just 18 months, this president, along with the Republican majorities in Congress, has pulled America back from the precipice to which we had been driven by the startling incompetence and reckless policies of the Biden-Harris administration.

Mr. Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act saved every taxpayer from recession-provoking tax increases that would have been Kamala Harris’ first order of business had she prevailed in 2024. Thankfully, this president’s landmark legislation provides massive, across-the-board tax relief for hardworking families. It also gives robust “America First” deductions, with no tax on tips, overtime or Social Security.

The law alsorescues Americans from the suffocating climate change regulationsordered under President Biden, secures our previously open borders for years to come and injects much-needed accountability back into the Medicaid program.

Mr. Trump’s unfolding success story does not end there.

Hisinnovative TrumpRx prescriptiondrug platform, for example, is paying off big time. Along with his administration’s most-favored-nation pricing policy that puts Americans first, prescription drug costs recently posted their largest annual decline in more than 60 years.

This welcome news shows again the benefit of having a political outsider in the Oval Office. Mr. Trump is always thinking outside the box and is undeterred by powerful special interests. Instead of asking why, he courageously says, “Why not?”

No establishment politician from either party has the guts or vision to put this policy into place.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/aug/25/trump-not-getting-credit-credit-due/

>>24975545

2/2

The administration has also completely reversed the illegal immigration invasion of the previous president. Headlines such as “Trump admin marks 15 straight months with zero border releases as apprehensions plunge 94%” send a clear signal to Americans that their security and tax dollars are now being prioritized.

Then there are Trump Accounts, another long-overdue, commonsense policy. Beautifully simple and the sort of initiative that typical career politicians would not touch with a 10-foot pole, they give the next generation a significant leg up in life. They authorize the federal government to provide American children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, with a $1,000 seed contribution to a tax-deferred investment account that converts to a traditional IRA at age 18.

The accounts, which have garnered praise from some across the political aisle, can then either grow on their own through sound investmentor be funded up to $5,000 a year. Millions of children have already been signed up.

Mr. Trump campaigned on being a law-and-order president, and that is exactly what he is delivering for the American people.

When you think of the radical left’s “reimagining policing” idea and its equally horrendous “defund the police” movement, the contrast could not be clearer.The president and congressional Republicans are dedicated to making America safe again, while congressional Democrats are doubling down on sanctuary cities and permissive prosecutors hamstringing police.

==The latest FBI data show violent crime is down 10.6%, homicides= are down 23%, rape is down 18.6%, robbery is down 19.6% and aggravated assault is down 7.2% in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period last year.

Unlike so many politicians before him,Mr. Trump did not leave his wildly successful business empire just to manage America’s decline. On the contrary, he is determined to make our neighborhoods safe by backing the blue and allowing the heroic men and women who put their lives on the line every day to enforce the law patriotically.

Let’s face it:If these plummeting crime statistics took place under a Democratic administration, they would be running on a loop on network news until Election Day.

On account of these successes, Mr. Trump and congressionalRepublicans are well-positioned to defy expectations in the upcoming midterm elections. Because media bias in our country has only worsened since Mr. Trump’s triumphant return to the White House, it is imperative for voters to stay informed and do their homework by studying his extraordinary accomplishments — things for which he deserves far more credit.

• David N. Bossie is the president of Citizens United. He served as a senior adviser to the Trump 2024 and 2020 campaigns. He served as deputy campaign manager for Donald J. Trump for President in 2016 and deputy executive director for the Trump transition team.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/aug/25/trump-not-getting-credit-credit-due/

Trump admin pauses visa appointments worldwide amid heightened screening for applicants. 1/2

Wed, August 26, 2026 at 3:41 AM EDT

The Trump administration has directed U.S. embassies and consulates around the world to postpone immigrant visa interviews while consular officers complete training on new public-charge guidance, temporarily stalling applications that have reached the interview stage.

The State Department told diplomatic posts to reschedule immigrant visa interviews until consular officers complete the training on how to evaluate whether an applicant is likely to become a public charge.

A public-charge determination can make an immigrant visa applicant inadmissible under federal immigration law if officials determine the person is likely to become dependent on certain forms of public assistance after arriving in the U.S.

"In early August, we launched a global training initiative at all of our embassies and consulates worldwide. To accommodate this in-depth training, appointments for visa services will be adjusted," a State Department official said in a statement.

One official added that the training is intended to ensure evaluations of visa applicants are made "comprehensively and consistently."

For most diplomatic posts, the training sessions are expected to take place this week.

The State Department did not say when affected applicants would be notified of their rescheduled interview dates.

The scheduling changes have sparked uncertainty among immigrant visa applicants who received emails informing them that their interviews had been canceled without instructions for immediately rescheduling them.

Applicants were told they would receive future notice of a new interview date but were not given a timeline for when that communication could be expected.

The move comes as President Donald Trump pursues a broader immigration crackdown that has extended beyond illegal immigration to legal immigration pathways. While Trump campaigned in 2024 on curbing illegal immigration, his administration has also imposed additional restrictions on legal immigration, including higher fees for certain work visas and new limits on how long some foreign students and journalists can remain in the U.S.

The administration has also pursued visa revocationsand removal proceedings in cases involving political activity and speech, including some anti-Israel activists. Those efforts have prompted court challenges alleging violations of free-speech and due-process protections.

The administration said Monday that it was preparing to revoke the business and tourism visas of up to 200,000 foreignerswho have applied for or are seeking asylum in the U.S., a move that would represent the largest mass visa revocation in U.S. history.

The immigration agenda has also faced legal setbacks.On Friday, a federal judge struck down a State Department policy suspending the issuance of immigrant visas to applicants from 75 countries, ruling that the policy exceeded Secretary of State Marco Rubio's statutory authority.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/trump-admin-pauses-visa-appointments-074157475.html

Western media demands answers from Israel for killing journalists in Gaza

AP and Reuters have issued a joint statement on the first anniversary of the Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital that left five reporters dead

Published 26 Aug, 2026 14:45 |

AP and Reuters have demanded answers from Israel over last year’s strike on Nasser Hospital in Gaza, which killed more than 20 people, including five journalists.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, marking the first anniversary of the August 25, 2025 attack, the news agencies said Israel had yet to provide the “clear answers and accountability that an incident of this gravity requires.” They stressed that the journalists were killed at a hospital, a site protected under international law and a key location for news coverage from Gaza.

The victims included Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri, visual journalist Mariam Dagga, who worked for AP and other outlets, and Moaz Abu Taha, a freelancer who collaborated with Reuters. The other two reporters slain in the attack were Al Jazeera photographer Mohammad Salama and Ahmed Abu Aziz, who worked for the Quds Feed Network and several other media outlets.

Reuters also renewed its demand for an explanation over the October 2023 death of visuals journalist Issam Abdallah, who was killed by Israeli tank fire while reporting in southern Lebanon.

“We again call on the government of Israel to explain the deaths of these journalists and take every step necessary to protect journalists covering the conflict,” AP and Reuters said.

The IDF acknowledged carrying out the ‘double-tap’ strike on Nasser Hospital. It later said it regretted harm to “uninvolved individuals,” denied deliberately targeting journalists, and promised an inquiry.

The attack came two weeks after four Al Jazeera journalists were killed in an Israeli strike near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Israel has repeatedly faced accusations of targeting reporters since launching its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza in October 2023.

In March, RT correspondent Steve Sweeney and cameraman Ali Rida Sbeity narrowly escaped death when a missile struck less than ten meters from their position in southern Lebanon, leaving both with shrapnel wounds. Sweeney later told RT’s Rick Sanchez that he believed the attack was deliberate, noting that both journalists were wearing clearly visible press markings.

In February, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Israel was responsible for two-thirds of the 129 journalists and media workers killed worldwide in 2025. It described Gaza as the deadliest assignment for journalists since the organization began collecting data in 1992.

CPJ also said that Israel had conducted few transparent investigations and that no one had been held accountable in the cases it examined.

The IDF has “strongly” rejected the allegations that it intentionally targets journalists or their families.

https://www.rt.com/news/644675-israel-killing-journalists-gaza/