The digest also includes Hamas rejecting disarmament before an Israeli withdrawal, Iraq denying any role in US-Saudi strikes, and fresh economic updates from Türkiye, the United States, Apple and Russia.
US President Donald Trump said an agreement had been reached for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, with Israeli forces to withdraw in phases as the process advances. Hamas pushed back on that account, with Ghazi Hamad saying the group would not begin disarmament before an Israeli withdrawal and linking the issue to Gaza’s reconstruction. Elsewhere, Iraq rejected allegations that it facilitated recent US-Saudi strikes on Iran-backed groups on Iraqi territory and said it had no prior knowledge of the attacks, while the US Central Command, or CENTCOM (U.S. military command for the region), said American forces carried out a “heavy wave” of strikes against Iran. The broader international update also included reported casualties from a US strike on a residential building in Qeshm in southern Iran, China’s rejection of a report about supplying shoulder-fired air defense missile launchers to Iran, and Kuwait’s statement that an Iranian attack hit a building belonging to a Chinese company in northern Kuwait. In Europe, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his government held its final meeting before resigning under a parliamentary procedure, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez ended a national emergency linked to wildfires and separately said resources were being mobilized after migrants tried to enter Ceuta, while France’s Emmanuel Macron condemned a reported violation of Poland’s airspace during overnight Russian strikes on Ukraine. The roundup also carried economic and corporate developments. Türkiye’s unemployment rate fell to a record-low 7.6% in June, the Bank of England kept its policy rate unchanged at 3.75% in a 6-3 vote as it monitored inflation and energy-price pressures, and the US economy grew at an annualized 1.5% in the second quarter of 2026, below expectations. Apple reported $109.4 billion in third-quarter revenue, up 16% from a year earlier, and Russia extended a ban on exports of gasoline, diesel, marine fuel and gasoil through Jan. 31, 2027 to steady its domestic fuel market.